geurs under Colonel
de Salaberry, a French Canadian in the English military service, with
the aid of Colonel McDonnell, in command of seven companies of Lower
Canadian militia. These combined forces did not exceed nine hundred
men, all French Canadians, with the exception of Colonel McDonnell and
several other officers. Three hundred French Canadian Voltigeurs and
Fencibles formed the front {329} of the line, and when the former gave
way to the onslaught of the four thousand men who advanced against them
Salaberry held his ground with a bugler, a mere lad, and made him sound
lustily. Colonel McDonnell, with a remarkably keen understanding of
the situation, immediately ordered his buglers to play, and to continue
doing so while they scattered in the woods. As the woods echoed {330}
to the call of the bugles, to the shouts of the soldiers, and to the
yells of the Indians, the American force halted as if they were
paralysed. Then, believing from the noises that filled the forest in
every direction that they were to be attacked in front and rear by an
overwhelming force, they broke and fled tumultuously. Salaberry and
the Canadians had won a victory that has only a few parallels in
warlike annals. Hampton retreated as rapidly as possible to
Plattsburg, while Wilkinson found his way to Salmon River. These two
victories of Chrystler's farm and Chateauguay were won almost entirely
by Canadian prowess and skill, and must be always mentioned among the
glorious episodes of Canadian history.

[Illustration: Colonel De Salaberry.]

Before the end of the year, General McClure, in command of the American
troops on the Niagara frontier, evacuated Fort George, when he heard of
the advance of the English forces under General Murray. McClure
committed the cowardly outrage of destroying the town of Newark. All
the houses except one were burned, and no pity was shown even to the
weak and helpless women, all of whom were driven from their comfortable
houses and forced to stand on the snow-clad earth, while they saw the
flames ascend from their homes and household treasures. As an act of
retribution the British troops destroyed all the posts and settlements
from Fort Niagara to Buffalo. When the campaign of 1813 closed, Lake
Erie was still in the possession of the Americans, but the Niagara
district on both sides of the river had been freed from the American
{331} forces, and not an inch of Canadian territory except Amherstburg