Page:History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway.djvu/70

 CHAPTER VIII.

THE FENIAN MOVEMENTS.

In a former chapter an account was given of the manner in which the Fenians effected their crossing and their movements until they camped at Frenchman's Creek on Friday, the first of June.

They remained there until about 9 or 10 o'clock that evening, when they again took up the line of march and set off in the direction of Chippawa, by the river road. After marching some two or three miles they turned off from the river by a cross road that comes out quite close to McCarty's farm; they then marched westward until they came to the Black Creek, and, spreading out upon both sides of the road, they camped in the angle formed by the Creek and the Niagara River, keeping the Creek between them and Chippawa. In this place they were quite close to the railway track.

Their position here was admirable. How they happened to discover it so soon is extraordinary, and tends to show that they must have had the ground reconnoitred, and the position of their camp chosen, before they came over.

The Black Creek, rising to the south-west of Stevensville, runs in a general north-easterly direction, and empties itself into the Niagara River, about eight miles from Fort Erie, at the village which takes its name from the stream. It is very sluggish, running through a marsh for a portion of its course, and for two or three miles from its mouth appears quite deep and unfordable. Its left bank on approaching the river is low and marshy, while on the right bank, close to the stream, a ridge about ten feet high and about thirty or forty yards wide, runs parallel to it nearly as far as the river. This ridge is covered with trees, and forms a natural entrenchment in rear of the stream, which makes a natural moat in front of it. There are only two or three bridges across Black Creek at