mediately after he received word from the rear that the men were giving up with the heat, it being then about 11.30 am. and that great numbers were straggling. Just afterwards Lieut.-Col. Hoste sent him a message stating that his escort had so diminished that it would not be right to go on without having it increased. This decided Col. Peacock to halt for a time to rest, and accordingly after pushing on as far as New Germany so as to hold possession of the cross roads he camped in the fields about the village, and ordered the men to get dinner.
By this time he knew that Lieut.-Col. Booker was falling back and would be unable to meet him at Stevensville, and that he would have to depend upon his own column without the immediate assistance of the other.
The time the men rested was occupied in sending out scouts hunting up information and discovering where the enemy were and the direction they were moving,[1] Here again he felt the want of Cavalry, here one single troop of Cavalry would have made a difference of two or three hours in gaining information, but the effects of the unfortunate feeling against Cavalry were not yet over, and the result was the Fenians had time to escape.
Had Col. Peacock had a force of cavalry with him at Chippawa, he could have moved his whole force from Chippawa to Black Creek, by rail, sending the cavalry spread across the country for two miles, on each side of the track, to see that all was clear. Fifty men could have done it, with perfect safety, and could have retired, and warned the train to retire, or to halt, in case they came upon the enemy. Cavalry, starting an hour before the train, could have searched the woods, and pushed on about five miles an hour, the train
- ↑ This being absolutely necessary to enable him to decide in which direction to move his column. If he had moved to Fort Erie, and the enemy had marched to Port Colborne he would have left the column unsupported, while on the other hand, if he had marched towards Port Colborne while they had gone to Fort Erie, he gave them a good opportunity to escape, or to march to Chippawa and on to the bridge.
