On July 29 Harrison received word that the siege of Fort Meigs had been raised and that it seemed the intention of the allies to descend upon either Sandusky or Seneca. At a council of war held that night it was decided that Fort Stephenson was untenable and orders were sent to Major Croghan to carry out his original instructions. This order did not reach Croghan until the next morning at eleven o’clock. A council of his officers reached the decision that it was too late to retreat and the famous note was sent and the meeting with Harrison arranged. On August 1 the advance guard of the enemy was seen on the hill over the river. They were the fleet-footed Indians who had been observed by a reconnoitering party from headquarters the day before. There was but one piece of artillery in the fort, “Old Betsey,” and it was promptly fired, causing the redskins to retire. Within a half hour the British gunboats, a part of Commodore Barclay’s fleet, hove into sight. A landing was effected a half mile below the fort and a howitzer disembarked and mounted. A British officer, Major Chambers, with a flag of truce, was sent forward and was met by Ensign Shipp, of the Seventeenth Regiment. The visitor demanded in the name of General Proctor the immediate surrender of the fort. The Americans were warned that it would be almost impossible to restrain the Indians in case of success, and that the whole garrison would be slain. The gallant answer was returned that the Indians would find no one to massacre when the fort fell, for every man had sworn to die before surrender. The battle then opened, the gunboats, the land battery, five hundred Wellington veterans and eight hundred Indians joining in the attack. Throughout the evening Croghan fired his six pounder in a desultory way, moving it from place to place to make it appear that he had more artillery. Ascertaining from the enemy’s fire that the northwestern angle of the fort was to be reached, he made preparation to checkmate his plans. During the night the gun was removed to a block house which commanded that angle and the embrasure was masked. The piece itself was loaded with grape and slugs. Croghan’s foresight was vindicated when the next day additional artillery was landed and the hammering of the doomed angle was renewed. The shaking wall was reinforced with bags of sand and even of flour, making it capable of resisting the pounding. On the evening of August 2 the grand assault was launched, Colonel Short leading the principal column. He rallied his men with great bravery under a destructive rifle fire and gained the ditch beneath the stockade walls. There he ordered his men to cut down the pickets and give the Americans no quarter. At the proper second of time the masked embrasure was thrown open and the slug-charged cannon was permitted to belch its death-dealing contents into the close packed mass of soldiers at short range. Few escaped this destructive fire. Colonel Short was killed.