Another letter from John Lovett,--secretary to General Van Rensselaer--to Joseph Alexander, gives an idea of the state of affairs from the American point of view, and indirectly bears testimony to the unceasing labour and watchfulness of the British general:-- _Headquarters, Lewiston, September 32nd, 1812._ "The enemy appears to be in a state of preparedness to give or receive an attack. Every day or two they make some movement which indicates a disposition to attack us immediately. The night before last every ship they have on Lake Ontario came into the mouth of Niagara. Then, to be sure, we thought it time to look out for breakers. But yesterday, when Colonel Van Rensselaer went over with a flag to Fort George, there was not a ship in sight nor a general officer there; where gone we know not. Notwithstanding the most positive orders on both sides, our sentries have kept up almost a constant warfare for a month past. On the bank of the river musket balls are about as thick as whip-poor-wills on a summer evening. We are promised reinforcements by companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, {287} and I might almost say armies, but not a single man has joined us in some weeks. Besides our men here are getting down very fast. The morning's report of sick was one hundred and forty-nine. Give Mrs. Lovett the inclosed. It contains an impression of General Brock's seal, with his most appropriate motto, 'He who guards never sleeps.'" [Sidenote: The Niagara frontier] Although this did not happen to be the general's motto, it very well expressed his attitude. That forty miles of frontier to defend with his limited force, was a problem ever present to him. The American army on the Niagara frontier consisted of five thousand two hundred men of the New York militia, three hundred field and light artillery, eight hundred of the 6th, 13th and 23rd Regiments of Foot (regulars), in all six thousand three hundred men, stationed between Niagara and Lewiston, under the command of Major-General Van Rensselaer. At Black Rock and Buffalo, twenty-eight miles distant, were one thousand six hundred and forty regulars three hundred and eighty-six militia and two hundred and fifty sailors under the command of Brigadier-General Smyth. Four hundred Seneca Indians had also joined the United States forces.