Brown and Woolsey
were authorized to defend the frontier from invasion, but not to act on
the offensive except in certain emergencies.
About the 20th of July, Fernando's company joined the regiment of
Colonel Bellinger at Sackett's Harbor, at the eastern end of Lake
Ontario. Nine days later, the British squadron composed of the _Royal
George_, 24 guns, _Prince Regent_, 22 guns, _Earl of Moira_, 20 guns,
_Simcoe_, 12 guns, and _Seneca_, 4 guns, appeared and bore down on the
American forces there. Fernando was sleeping when the discovery was
made, but was soon roused and saw soldiers hauling in the _Oneida_ so as
to lay her broadside to the approaching enemy. Colonel Bellinger's
militia were many of them raw recruits, and the approach of a fleet
unnerved a few of them; but the majority were cool as veterans.
"Take that thirty-two pound gun up on the bluff," commanded the
colonel, pointing out an old iron cannon down by the shore.
Fernando assisted them to drag it to the rocky bluff, and the whole
battery was placed in charge of Captain Vaughn, a sailing master in the
navy. Slowly the fleet bore in, the _Royal George_, having the heaviest
guns, coming ahead of the others. A wreath of smoke curled up from her
forecastle, and a ball, skipping over the water, struck the sandy beach.
Captain Rose and his company of riflemen took up their station on the
high bluff, where, should the troops attempt to land, they might do
effective work.
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