Naturally enough the United States forces had made great use of the time granted by the armistice. In very sight of the British supplies of food had been brought up to the American army at Lewiston. Heavy guns had been placed at strategic points on the American shore. Large detachments of troops were sent to the Niagara frontier. Ships which had been held at Ogdensburg, covered by the British guns at Prescott, had been rushed to Sackett’s Harbor. Had there been no armistice, General Brock could have cleared the Fort Niagara district of enemy troops, but now he had, by reason of the delay, to face four times as large an army. Let us take stock of the situation. On the shores of the Niagara River, there were enough United States troops to have conquered Upper Canada. There were over six thousand men between Black Rock and Fort Niagara, while Brock had only fifteen hundred men, and these distributed at several points between Fort Erie and Fort George. Thus he had about a quarter the number of men of the enemy and while their forces were concentrated his were scattered over a line forty miles long. Again the odds looked against him. Volunteers in Upper Canada, however, had rallied to his standard, and he was able to arm them by the very arms he had captured at Detroit. And once again it should be emphasized that the Canadian forces had much better _morale_ than that of the Americans. They felt that they had indeed “their quarrel just.” Moreover, they were fighting in defence of their homes and families. And they had unbounded confidence in their commander. It came to Brock’s ears about October 1st that the United States commanders planned their invasion somewhere along the British forty mile line. It later appeared that Queenston was the point decided upon. The plan of attack seems to have been to capture Queenston, and there to collect a large army with which, next year, an attempt would be made to reach Montreal. Luckily for Brock and Canada too many cooks spoil the broth. There was dissension in the American higher command as to the precise point at which the attack should be made. The British suffered a loss on October 9th. The Americans under Lieutenant Elliott captured two British vessels, the _Caledonia_ and the _Detroit_. This victory gave a fillip to the now jaded spirits of the United States troops, and General Van Rensselaer, now that his men had cheered up, decided to invade Canada. This seems to have been in disagreement with the views of the other American commander, General Smyth. Van Rensselaer sent a spy into the British camp. The spy returned with the information that Brock had set out, with a large force, for Detroit. The spy, however, did his work but poorly. Brock had left Fort George, but he had gone only to the other end of the line, Fort Erie.