Page:History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway.djvu/32

Rh unarmed or but partially armed, without, any of the ideas of a soldier, without the feeling that they had embraced the duties of a soldier, and that their business was to fight, without the esprit de corps of a regular force, without the feeling of confidence which a small patrol will give to each other, formed but a sorry substitute for a cavalry scouting force. The consequence was that the information brought back by them was very conflicting and in many cases very erroneous. The numbers of the enemy were magnified, and although the general weight of evidence fixed the location of the Fenian camp at Frenchman's Creek, the fears of the scouts and their local feelings led them to imagine or to report upon very slight foundation that the whole force of the enemy were coming to Chippawa.

In planning his campaign, therefore, it will be seen that Colonel Peacock was at Chippawa on Friday Night with 400 regular infantry and a battery, and that he expected to be reinforced in the night or morning early, at Chippawa, by the St. Catherines volunteers, Lieut.-Col. Currie, the 10th Royals, Major Boxall, and 150 men of the 47th, under Lieut.-Col. Villiers, in all about 1500 men; at Port Colborne he had the Queens Own, Lieut.-Col. Dennis, and the 13th Battalion, Lieut.-Col. Booker, and the York and Caledonia Rifles, in all about 850 under command of Lieut.-Col. Booker; and as above stated the information was that the enemy were roughly entrenching at Frenchman's Creek, and were marching or