Page:History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway.djvu/25

20 to Fort Erie, and another from Port Colborne to the same place. Col O'Neil would readily asume that our forces would come down upon him by one of these routes, and most probably would make use of both. His base of operations consisted of the Niagara River, between Chippawa and Fort Erie, with the possibility, in certain contingencies, of its being changed to the lake shore, between Port Colborne and Fort Erie. If he marched upon Port Colborne along the Grand Trunk Railway, he was leaving himself liable to be cut off from his base by a force coming down from Chippawa along the Erie and Ontario Railway.

The proper plan for Col. O'Neil to have adopted, assuming that the Welland Canal was his objective point, would have been to have landed a small portion of his command at the lower Ferry, who should have marched to the Village, there breakfasted, and then, pushed on along the line of the Grand Trunk Railway as far as they could get in the direction of Port Colborne, burning all the bridges along the road, and cutting the telegraph wires. With the main portion of his force, he should have dropped down the Niagara River in his boats, to Chippawa. He landed at the lower Ferry at half-past three in the morning, if he had gone straight to Chippawa he would have reached there at half-past five, two hours later. After breakfasting there, and burning the bridges over the Welland River, he should then have marched by the right bank of the river to Port Robinson, a distance of some eight miles, burning the Montrose Bridge on his way, the only bridge on the river between Chippawa and Port Robinson. At Port Robinson he would have been in a position to destroy the locks on the Canal, and also the Welland Railway which passes through the Village.

By pursuing this course, the Fenians would have thoroughly protected their right flank by the destruction of the bridges over the Welland River, that river being navigable throughout the whole distance, and being therefore perfectly unfordable. In addition to this, our forces were not prepared at the time