e ever suspicious Sir George Prevost, and caused,
to a very considerable extent, the almost failure of the expedition.
The British columns were advancing somewhat rapidly towards Fort
Tomkins, when they were met by Colonel Backus, at the head of 400
regulars, and some militia, hastily assembled from the neighboring
towns. A sharp contest ensued. Colonel Backus was mortally wounded. His
regulars still maintained their ground, but a serious impression had
been made upon his line. On the militia, so strong an impression had
been made that before General Brown could bring up, to the assistance
of Backus, 100 of the party dispersed at the landing, these irregulars
fled by a road leading south westwardly, through a wood. The regulars
stood firm. Captain Gray, commanding the British advanced corps fell,
and the suspicious mind of Prevost fancied a snare. He saw the regular
soldiery of the enemy standing unmoved; he had learned that a regiment
of American regulars, under Colonel Tutle, were marching at double
step, to the scene of action; and he fancied that the retreating
militia were not at all afraid, but brilliantly executing a circuitous
march to gain the rear of the British line, and cut off their retreat.
It was true Fort Tomkins was about to fall into British hands. Already
the officer in charge of Navy Point, agreeably to orders, and supposing
the fort to be lost, had set on fire the naval magazine, containing all
the stores captured at York; the hospital and barracks were
illuminating the lake by their grand conflagration; and a frigate on
the stocks had been set on fire, only to be extinguished, when Sir
George Prevost's mind became unsettled, concerning the ulterior designs
of the enemy. In the very moment of fully accomplishing the purpose of
the expedition, he ordered a retreat; the troops were re-embarked
without annoyance; the fleet returned safely to Kingston, and the
Canadian public suspected that Sir George Prevost, as a military
commander, had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. They
felt, indeed, most acutely, that Major General Isaac Brock was dead,
and that he was not replaced by Sir George Prevost.

In the west, the Americans, under Harrison, exerted themselves to
recover Michigan. They were blockaded, it is true, and inactive within
Fort George, but, on Lake Erie, the war was vigorously prosecuted.
General Proctor was kept particularly busy. The Americans were
inconveniently near. They showed