The guard in the south-east block-house fired one volley, by which the British commander, Colonel Murray, was wounded, and a portion of the invalids made what resistance they could. A British lieutenant and five men were killed, and a surgeon and three men wounded. Sixty-five Americans, two thirds of whom were invalids, were bayoneted in their beds; fifteen others, who had taken refuge in the cellars, were despatched in the same manner, and fourteen were wounded; twenty escaped, and all the others, about three hundred and forty, were made prisoners. Some accounts say also that the {164}women, in the fort were treated with great cruelty and indignity. On the same morning, General Riall, with a detachment of British troops and five hundred Indians, crossed from Queenstown and attacked Lewiston. The small force of Americans here, under Major Bennett, fought till they were surrounded, and then cut their way out through the enemy, losing eight men. The village was then plundered and burned, the savages adding all the atrocities characteristic of their mode of warfare. Riall next marched his troops through the villages of Youngstown, Tuscarora, and Manchester (now Niagara Falls), and plundered and burned them all, while the terror-stricken inhabitants were butchered or driven away. Nor was the devastation confined to the villages. For several miles from the river, the houses and barns of the farmers were destroyed, and the women and children either killed or turned shelterless into the woods and fields. The bridge over Tonawanda Creek had been destroyed by the Americans, and at this point the enemy turned back, and soon recrossed the Niagara to the Canada side. The alarm at Buffalo brought General Hall, of the New York militia, to that village, where he arrived the day after Christmas. He found collected there {165}a body of seventeen hundred men, whom it would have been gross flattery to call a "force." They were poorly supplied with arms and cartridges, and had no discipline and almost no organization. Another regiment of three hundred soon joined them, but without adding much to their efficiency. On the 28th of December, Drummond reconnoitred the American camp, and determined to attack it; for which purpose he sent over General Riall on the evening of the 29th with fourteen hundred and fifty men, largely regulars, and a body of Indians. One detachment landed two miles below Black Rock, crossed Canajokaties Creek in the face of a slight resistance, and took possession of a battery. The remainder landed at a point between Buffalo and Black Rock, under cover of a battery on the Canadian shore. Poor as Hall's troops were, they stood long enough to fire upon the invaders and inflict considerable loss.