"A few shots by our men from their eighteen-pounders soon silenced the gun battery, and the British hastily moved the cannon and placed them near the ravine. During the 3d they hurled shot and shell steadily upon the fort, but with so little effect that the besiegers grew discouraged, and on the 4th the fire was not nearly so constant. "Then Proctor sent Major Chambers with a demand for the surrender of the fort, and Harrison promptly responded, 'Tell General Proctor that if he shall take the fort it will be under circumstances that will do him more honor than a thousand surrenders.' "The cannonade from the fort was feeble because of the scarcity of ammunition, but the guns were admirably managed, and did good execution at every discharge. Captain Wood wrote, 'With plenty of it we should have blown John Bull from the Miami.' "The Americans showed their ability to keep their foe at bay by frequently mounting the ramparts, swinging their hats, and shouting defiance at their besiegers. They were well supplied with food and water and could afford to spend time and weary their assailants by merely defensive warfare. "Still Harrison was anxious, thinking how strong were the foe, and how Hull and Winchester had failed and suffered; he was looking hourly and anxiously up the Maumee for the hoped for re-enforcements. Since Navarre and Oliver went out he had heard nothing from those whom he had expected to come to his aid. But near midnight on the 4th, Captain Oliver, Major Trimble, and 15 men who had come down the river in a boat, made their way into the fort, bringing the glad tidings that General Clay and 1100 Kentuckians would probably reach the post before morning, being but eighteen miles distant. "The cannonading at Fort Meigs was distinctly heard at Fort Winchester, where Oliver had found Clay on the 3d, and Clay was hastening as fast as possible to Harrison's aid, moving down the river in eighteen flat scows, with sides furnished with shields against the bullets of the Indians who might be infesting the shores of the river. "The head of the rapids was eighteen miles from Fort Meigs; it was late in the evening when the flotilla arrived there; the moon had gone down, and the sky was overcast with clouds, making a night so intensely dark that the pilot refused to go on before daylight. Trimble and the 15 others then immediately offered their services to go with Oliver to cheer Harrison and his men with the news that re-enforcements were almost at hand. "It was joyful news to them. Harrison at once despatched Captain Hamilton and a subaltern in a canoe with an order to Clay bidding him detach about 800 men from his brigade and land them at a point about a mile or a mile and a half above Fort Meigs. The detachment was then to be conducted to the British batteries on the left bank of the river. These batteries were to be taken, the cannon spiked, and carriages cut down. The troops must then return to the boats and cross over to the fort.