ast and west, and
beside Burlington Bay, where he hoped to meet the British
flotilla commanded by Yeo.
Captain Sir James Lucas Yeo was an energetic and capable
young naval officer of thirty, whom the Admiralty had
sent out with a few seamen to take command on the Lakes
under Prevost's orders. He had been only seventeen days
at Kingston when he sailed out with Prevost, on May 27,
to take advantage of Chauncey's absence at the western
end of the lake. Arrived before Sackett's Harbour, the
attack was planned for the 29th. The landing force of
seven hundred and fifty men was put in charge of Baynes,
the adjutant-general, a man only too well fitted to do
the 'dirty work' of the general staff under a weak
commander-in-chief like Prevost. All went wrong at
Sackett's Harbour. Prevost was 'present but not in
command'; Baynes landed at the wrong place. Nevertheless,
the British regulars scattered the American militiamen,
pressed back the American regulars, set fire to the
barracks, and halted in front of the fort. The Americans,
thinking the day was lost, set fire to their stores and
to Chauncey's new ships. Then Baynes and Prevost suddenly
decided to retreat. Baynes explained to Prevost, and
Prevost explained in a covering dispatch to the British
government, that the fleet could not co-operate, that
the fort could not be taken, and that the landing party
was not strong enough. But, if this was true, why did
they make an attack at all; and, if it was not true, why
did they draw back when success seemed to be assured?
Meanwhile Chauncey, after helping to take Fort George,
had started back for Sackett's Harbour; and Dearborn,
left without the fleet, had moved on slowly and
disjointedly, in rear of Vincent, with whom he did not
regain touch for a week. On June 5 the Americans camped
at Stoney Creek, five miles from the site of Hamilton.
The steep zigzagging bank of the creek, which formed
their front, was about twenty feet high. Their right
rested on a mile-wide swamp, which ran down t