Page:History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway.djvu/8

 PREFACE.

At the suggestion of a friend I had decided, early this spring, to write, if possible, an account of the Fenian Raid which we both felt confident would take place on the Niagara Frontier during the summer; consequently, on being ordered to the front to aid in repelling the invaders I kept the idea constantly in view, and was continually gathering up information of what was passing around me, in every quarter in which I could obtain it; speaking on every opportunity with anyone likely to give me further insight into the proceedings.

This gave me a great advantage in striving to gain the truth, I was not obliged to depend for my account on what I could glean from the newspapers and from the official documents alone, but was able to supplement it with information obtained personally on the spot, and at the time events were transpiring about me.

The account in the following pages will differ to a small extent from the ideas popularly entertained, which are based on the newspaper reports. Reporters on the field, writing at a time when the wildest stories and the falsest rumours are flying about with marvellous rapidity, writing generally in great haste are unable to trace rumours to their foundation, and have not time to apply the test of truth to the numberless stories which are retailed to them; thus the most reliable reporters will be sometimes unavoidably deceived, and false impressions thereby publicly promulgated.