On the 5th of September, 1813, the United States brig Enterprize, of fourteen guns, commanded by Lieutenant Burrows, sailed from Portsmouth, and the next day fell in with the British brig, Boxer, of fourteen guns, commanded by Captain Blythe. The latter immediately fired a shot as a challenge, hoisted English colors, and bore down on the Enterprize. The American vessel manœuvered until she gained the weathergage, and then returned the fire. Obtaining a raking position, the Enterprize soon gained the advantage, and after an action of three quarters of an hour, compelled the British to cry for quarter. Their colors were nailed to the mast, but the firing ceased. Captain Blythe and Lieutenant Burrows were mortally wounded in the early part of the action. Burrows refused to be carried below until the sword of the enemy was presented to him, when he exclaimed, “I am now satisfied--I die contented.” The Boxer had twenty-five men killed, and fourteen wounded. The Enterprize had four men killed, and eleven wounded. [Illustration: BATTLE OF LUNDY’S LANE.] [Illustration] BATTLE OF LUNDY’S LANE. The battle of Lundy’s Lane was the best contested action of the war of 1812. On the afternoon of the 24th of July, 1814, General Brown received a notice that the British general had thrown a thousand men across the lake to Lewistown, nine miles below Chippewa. To divert them from what he supposed to be their object, the American general ordered General Winfield Scott, with his brigade of thirteen hundred men, to advance and threaten the forts at the mouth of the Niagara. Scott, advancing more than two miles, suddenly found himself in front of the whole British army, drawn up in Lundy’s Lane. Undaunted, he formed his line, and the struggle began. For two hours, the fiercest and the most desperate valor was displayed on both sides. Every attempt of the British to turn the flanks of the gallant band opposed to them failed. Their own left was turned and cut off, but their centre stood firm. Night came on, and the struggle was continued solely by the flashes of the guns. The American line had suffered much, but the remnants of the troops stood their ground with indomitable resolution. About ten o’clock the ammunition of the troops began to fail. But General Brown at length came up with strong reinforcements, and relieved the exhausted men. A more equal fight now ensued. Brown determined to carry the battery on the height at the head of the lane, that being the key of the enemy’s position. Riding up to Colonel Miller, he asked him if he would storm the height. [Illustration: SCOTT PILOTING MILLER.]