The force under Forsyth was soon supported by Major King's[M-22] battalion of the 15th Infantry, consisting of three companies--Captain John Scott's, Captain White Youngs', and that of Captain John Lambert Hoppock, who had been mortally wounded in the boats. When General Pike had landed with the whole body of his troops, the attacking force was represented by the 6th, 15th, 16th, and 21st Infantry, Colonel Maclure's 3d regiment of New York Militia, and several pieces of artillery.
At the first sharp collision, as we have seen, the British were defeated, not without much loss on both sides. On their retreat, the bugles sounded the advance, and the troops pressed forward along the lake shore toward Fort York, which was meanwhile bombarded from the fleet. One of General Pike's staff says: "Our march was by the lake road in sections, but the route was so much intersected by streams and rivulets, the bridges over which had been destroyed by the enemy as they retreated, that we were considerably retarded in our progress. We collected logs, and by severe efforts at length contrived to pass over one field piece and a howitzer, which were placed at the head of our column, in charge of Captain Fanning[M-23] of the 3d Artillery; and thus we proceeded through a spacious wood, as we emerged from which we were saluted by a battery of 24-pounders. The general then ordered one of his aids (Fraser) and a sergeant to proceed to the right of the battery, in order to discover how many men were in the works. We did so, and reported to him the number, and that they were spiking their own guns. The general immediately ordered Captain Walworth of the 16th [_sic_] with his company of grenadiers to make the assault. Walworth gallantly ordered his men to trail arms and advance at the accelerated pace; but at the moment when they were ordered to recover and charge the enemy, the enemy broke in the utmost confusion, leaving several men wounded on the ground which they abandoned."
This first serious obstacle to Pike's advance was the Western battery already described, p. lxvii, where the explosion occurred before Captain Walworth[M-24] could carry out the order to charge this work. This accident caused some loss of life to the defenders, but none to the assaulters. Lossing has, concerning it: