d together with string, and very many with {86}
lock-springs so worn out that they could not be discharged.'

On the 24th Brown made a reconnaissance in the direction of St Hilaire.
He destroyed a bridge over a ravine some distance to the south of St
Charles, and placed above it an outpost with orders to prevent a
reconstruction of the bridge. But when the British troops appeared on
the morning of the 25th, this and other outlying pickets fell back
without making any resistance. They probably saw that they were so
outnumbered that resistance would be hopeless. On the approach of the
troops Brown at first assumed an attitude of confidence. A messenger
came from Wetherall, 'a respectable old habitant,' to tell the rebels
that if they dispersed quietly, they would not be molested. Brown
treated the message as a confession of weakness. 'I at once supposed,'
he said, 'that, followed in the rear by our friends from above, they
were seeking a free passage to Sorel, and determined to send a message,
that _if they would lay down their arms, they should pass unmolested_.'
This message does not seem to have reached its destination. And hardly
had the engagement opened when Brown quickly changed his tune. 'To go
forward {87} was useless, as I could order nothing but a
retreat--without it the people commenced retiring. I tried to rally
the little squads, my only hope being in keeping together the
fowling-pieces we had collected, but finding, after a long trial, my
strength and authority insufficient, I considered my command gone,
turned my horse, and rode to ... St Denis (seven or eight miles), where
... I arrived about nightfall.'

The engagement lasted less than an hour. The rebels, or at any rate
those of them who were armed, seem to have been outnumbered by the
soldiers, of whom there were between three and four hundred. But the
fighting was apparently brisk while it lasted. The British lost three
killed and eighteen wounded. The _Patriote_ losses are not known. The
local tradition is that forty-two were killed and many more wounded.
We know that thirty were taken prisoners on the field.

The defeat of the rebels at St Charles really terminated the rebellion
in the country about the Richelieu. When news of the defeat spread
over the countryside, the _Patriote_ forces immediately disbanded, and
their leaders sought safety in flight. Papineau and O'Callaghan, who
had been at St Hyacinthe, {88} succeeded in gettin