Proctor sent a demand to the fort for surrender, accompanied by the
usual threat of massacre by the Indians in case of refusal. To his
surprise, Major Croghan sent a defiant refusal. A cannonade from the
gunboats and howitzers which the British had landed commenced.
All night long the great guns played upon the fort without any serious
effect, occasionally answered by the solitary six-pound cannon of the
garrison, which was rapidly shifted from one block house to another, to
give the impression that the fort was armed with several guns. During
the night, the British dragged three six-pound cannon to a point higher
than the fort to open on it in the morning.
It was a trying night for Fernando. All night long, the incessant
thunder of cannon shook the air, and the great balls, striking the sides
of the earthworks, or bursting over their heads, presented a scene grand
but awful.
Morning came slowly and wearily to the besieged. As the gray dawn melted
into the rosy hues of sunrise, many a brave man within that fort looked
up for the last time, as he thought, but still with no unmanly fear,
only with that sad feeling which the boldest will experience when he
sees himself about to be immolated. Such a feeling, perhaps, crossed the
heart of Leonidas, when he fastened on his buckler and waited for the
Persian thousands. Fernando stood near Croghan, who was in front of his
men, calm in that hour of extreme peril.
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