and the immense flotilla of batteaux and
other boats filled with soldiers. Hours passed away and the entire
armada remained almost motionless waiting for the rising of the fog.
Finally when the fog banks rolled away 16 vessels of different sizes
were descried standing across the mouth of the river at a distance of
about two miles from land, followed by no less than 134 boats and scows,
each containing from thirty to fifty men, formed in three compact
divisions one behind the other. At a signal from the flagship the entire
fleet tacked and stood towards the Canadian shore, the small boats
wheeling by brigades and carefully preserving their alignment. Their
approach was gradual and deliberate, being favored by a gentle breeze,
which, however, scarcely raised a ripple on the glassy surface of the
lake. The schooners _Julia_ and _Growler_ each armed with a long
32-pounder and a long 12-pounder mounted on pivots, by making use of
their sweeps entered the mouth of the river and opened fire on the
crippled battery near the lighthouse while the schooner _Ontario_ of
similar force took up a position near the shore to the northward so as
to enfilade the same work and cross the fire of the two first-named
vessels. Two guns and a mortar in Fort Niagara also concentrated their
fire upon this battery, which was occupied by a few men of the Lincoln
artillery under Capt. John Powell. Only a single shot was fired from the
gun mounted there when it again became unmanageable and the gunners were
soon afterwards driven out by the incessant fire directed against them
from different quarters. At the same time the _Governor Tompkins_ of six
guns engaged the one-gun battery near the mouth of Two Mile Creek in
flank while _Conquest_ of three guns anchored in such a position as to
fire directly into it from the rear, which was entirely open and
unprotected. Resistance in this case was obviously out of the question
and it was immediately abandoned. The _Hamilton_, _Scourge_ and _Asp_
anchored within short musket shot of the shore, a few hundred yards
further west, nearly opposite a group of farm houses called Crookston,
which was the place selected for landing the troops. The three largest
vessels, the _Madison_, _Oneida_ and _Lady of the Lake_ drew more water
and were in consequence obliged to remain at a greater distance, though
still well within effective range of every part of the level plain
beyond the landing place. The united broadside of t