Page:History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway.djvu/46

Rh enemy were in sight. No 5 company immediately extended from the centre and No. 1 moved up and extended on their left and No. 2 on the right; No. 3 forming the centre support and Nos. 4 and 6 the left and right supports; after moving on in this way for some distance No. 7 company was sent out as a flanking party to the left supported by No. 8, the Trinity College company. The force was in this position on arriving at the garrison road. Before proceeding further with the movements it will be desirable to describe the nature of the ground and the position of the Fenians.

The Ridge road runs from Ridgeway in a direction northerly and easterly, following the course of the Lime Ridge from which the road takes its name; this ridge is about 30 or 40 feet in height, in some places steep, in others of a very gradual ascent; at the point where the battle was fought the ridge is about half a mile wide, of a very gradual rise, the road running along the ridge about half way up. The garrison road running from the west towards Fort Erie ascends the ridge crossing the Ridge road almost at right angles, about half a mile or perhaps a little farther there runs a road parallel with the garrison road which also leads to Fort Erie. It will thus be seen that in moving along the Ridge road from Ridgeway that the ground rises gradually for about a quarter of a mile on the right, and slopes downwards for about the same distance to the left; on both sides there are cultivated fields; on the right extending as far as the top of the ridge where the summit is covered with woods; on the left for half a mile, at which distance the view is shut out with a large hardwood bush. At the north west corner of the garrison road is a tavern called "The Smugglers Home," and on the south east corner of the next cross road there stands a brick farm house with an orchard around it, and a large orchard along the opposite side of the cross road to the right of the Ridge road.

It should also be mentioned that these fields on both sides are much cut up with orchards, and that a large number of