Sir William Johnson used his leverage thus gained upon the commander of the doomed fortress with alacrity and success, sending with the officer who went to demand its surrender some of the prisoners captured at the scrimmage up the river, who told the story of their defeat and rout. Had they known it, they might have added that the terror-stricken fugitives from that field of strife hastened to the fleet of boats (in which they had descended the Niagara) and, steering them all into what is called even to this day Burnt Ship Bay, on the shore of Grand Island, set fire to the entire flotilla, lest the English secure an added advantage; and from this fact may we not draw the conclusion that these French hoped to hold the remainder of the great western waterway even if Fort Niagara fell? They could not use those boats very well on the lower Niagara, though with them once in hand they could easily strike at Presqu' Isle and Detroit. [Illustration: Canadian Trapper, from La Potherie.] Poor Pouchot demanded the best terms that he dared; it was agreed that the garrison should retain arms and baggage and one cannon as they marched out of the battered shell of a fort they had endeavoured to hold, and, upon laying down their arms, should be transported, in vessels furnished by the English, to New York; it was also demanded that they should be protected from the insults of the redskin allies of the English. That the latter stipulation was agreed to and honestly enforced illustrates the genuine hold Johnson had upon his brown brethren of the Long House. The articles were signed on the night of July 24th and on the 25th the flag of England rose to the breeze that fanned the lake and the wide-sweeping Niagara frontier--the second flag that had dominated that strategic spot in the century. The garrison numbered over six hundred men and eleven officers; the French total loss was about two hundred including the action at Youngstown; the English loss was sixty killed and 180 wounded. Forty-three iron cannon were found within the fort, fifteen hundred round shot, forty thousand pounds of musket-balls, five hundred hand grenades, and many tools, etc. The important result, however, was the removal of French domination over the warlike Seneca nation in this region and the natural inheritance that came with Niagara, the trade of which it was the centre. Near the site of the destroyed Fort du Portage, at the upper end of the portage, Captain Schlosser erected Fort Schlosser. Fort Niagara itself was improved; the present "bakehouse" was built in 1762. The Niagara of this time has been well described by Mr. Porter: