weather, the flotilla passed the British guns across from
Ogdensburg and halted twenty miles below. There Wilkinson called a
council of war to decide whether to proceed or retreat. Four generals
voted to attack Montreal and two were reluctant but could see "no other
alternative." Wilkinson then became ill and was unable to leave his boat
or to give orders. Several British gunboats evaded Chauncey's blockade
and annoyed the rear of the expedition. Eight hundred British infantry
from Kingston followed along shore and peppered the boats with musketry
and canister wherever the river narrowed. Finally it became necessary
for the Americans to land a force to drive the enemy away. Jacob Brown
took a brigade and cleared the bank in advance of the flotilla which
floated down to a farm called Chrystler's and moored for the night.

General Boyd, who had been sent back with a strong force to protect the
rear, reported next morning that the enemy was advancing in column. He
was told to turn back and attack. This he did with three brigades. It
was a brilliant opportunity to capture or destroy eight hundred British
troops led by a dashing naval officer, Captain Mulcaster. Boyd lived up
to his reputation, which was such that Jacob Brown had refused to serve
under him. At this engagement of Chrystler's Farm, with two thousand
regulars at his disposal, he was unmercifully beaten. Both Wilkinson and
Morgan Lewis were flat on their backs, too feeble to concern themselves
with battles. The American troops fought without a coherent plan and
were defeated and broken in detail. Almost four hundred of them were
killed, wounded, or captured. Their conduct reflected the half-hearted
attitude of their commanding general and some of his subordinates. The
badly mauled brigades hastily took to the boats and ran the rapids,
stopping at the first harbor below. There Wilkinson received tidings
from Wade Hampton's army which caused him to abandon the voyage down
the St. Lawrence, and it is fair to conjecture that he shed no tears of
disappointment.

In September Hampton had led his forces, recruited to four thousand
infantry and a few dragoons, from Lake Champlain to the Canadian border
in faithful compliance with his instructions to join the movement
against Montreal. His line of march was westward to the Chateauguay
River where he took a position which menaced both Montreal and that
vital artery, the St. Lawrence. Building roads and bringing up supplie