eneral Macdonell of Glengarry, subsequently the
first Roman Catholic bishop of Upper Canada, performed good service by
assisting in the formation of a Glengarry regiment, and otherwise taking
an active part in the defence of the province, where his will always be
an honoured name. Equally indefatigable in patriotic endeavour was
Bishop Strachan, then rector of York, who established "The Loyal and
Patriotic Society," which did incalculable good by relieving the
necessities of women and children, when the men were serving in the
battlefield, by providing clothing and food for the soldiery, and
otherwise contributing towards the comfort and succour of all those who
were taking part in the public defences. Of the engagements of the war
there are two which, above all others, possess features on which the
historian must always like to dwell. The battle which was fought against
such tremendous odds on the banks of the Chateauguay by less than a
thousand French Canadians, led by Salaberry and Macdonell, recalls in
some respects the defeat of Braddock in 1755. The disaster to the
British forces near the Monongahela was mainly the result of the
strategy of the Indians, who were dispersed in the woods which reechoed
to their wild yells and their ever fatal shots fired under cover of
trees, rocks and stumps. The British were paralysed as they saw their
ranks steadily decimated by the fire of an enemy whom they could never
see, and who seemed multitudinous as their shrieks and shouts were heard
far and wide in that Bedlam of the forest. The leaves that lay thick and
deep on the ground were reddened with the blood of many victims helpless
against the concealed, relentless savages. The woods of the Chateauguay
did not present such a scene of carnage as was witnessed at the battle
of the Monongahela, but nevertheless they seemed to the panic-stricken
invaders, who numbered many thousands, alive with an enemy whose
strength was enormously exaggerated as bugle sounds and Indian yells
made a fearful din on every side. Believing themselves surrounded by
forces far superior in numbers, the invaders became paralysed with fear
and fled in disorder from an enemy whom they could not see, and who
might close upon them at any moment. In this way Canadian pluck and
strategy won a famous victory which saved the province of Lower Canada
at a most critical moment of the war.

If we leave the woods of Chateauguay, where a monument has been raised
in r