=Source.=--Her Own Narrative in the _Anglo-American Magazine_,
Toronto, November, 1853: quoted in _The Documentary History of the
Campaigns upon the Niagara Frontier_, edited for the Lundy's Lane
Historical Society by Lieut.-Col. E. Cruikshank.
I shall commence at the battle of Queenston, where I was at the
time the cannon balls were flying around me in every direction. I
left the place during the engagement. After the battle I returned
to Queenston, and there found that my husband had been wounded,
my house plundered and property destroyed. It was while the
Americans had possession of the frontier that I learned the plans
of the American commander and determined to put the British troops
under FitzGibbon in possession of them, and if possible to save
the British troops from capture or perhaps total destruction. In
doing so I found I should have great difficulty in getting through
the American guards, which were out ten miles in the country.
Determined to persevere, I left early in the morning, walked
nineteen miles in the month of June over a rough and difficult part
of the country, when I came to a field belonging to a Mr. Decamp
in the neighbourhood of the Beaver Dam. By this time daylight
had left me. Here I found all the Indians encamped; by moonlight
the scene was terrifying and to those accustomed to such scenes
might be considered grand. Upon advancing to the Indians they all
rose and with some yells said, "Woman," which made me tremble.
I cannot express the awful feeling it gave me, but I did not
lose my presence of mind. I was determined to persevere. I went
up to one of the chiefs, made him understand that I had great
news for Captain FitzGibbon, and that he must let me pass to his
camp, or that he and his party would all be taken. The chief at
first objected to let me pass, but finally consented, after some
hesitation, to go with me and accompany me to FitzGibbon's station,
which was at the Beaver Dam, where I had an interview with him. I
then told him what I had come for and what I had heard--that the
Americans intended to make an attack upon the troops under his
command and would, from their superior numbers, capture them all.
Benefiting by this information, Captain FitzGibbon formed his plans
accordingly, and captured about five hundred American infantry,
about fifty mounted dragoons; and a field piece or two was taken
from the enemy. I returned home the next day exhausted and
fatigued. I am now advanced in years, and when I look back I wonder
how I could have gone through so much fatigue with the fortitude to
accomplish it.