Note M-35 — MEMOIR OF ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE. BY ELLIOTT COUES. (continued 2)

This is but a mild sample of the epithets by which Sheaffe's firing of the magazine was stigmatized in phrases current at a time when invective was invoked till language was exhausted. In the cooling of overheated passions a sense of humor stole in to the relief of surcharged feelings, and execration of the shocking catastrophe subsided from the sublime to the ridiculous. "And it was not until after the capture of Fort George," says Whiting, p. 306, "that this explosion ceased to haunt, like a dreadful spectre, the American army. While preparing for that capture, it seemed to be a settled conviction in the mind of the commander-in-chief, that explosions were to be the ordinary means of warfare with the British. On the point opposite Fort Niagara, and not far from Fort George, stood a lighthouse, which was made of stone. The common impression was, that these stones were to be discharged upon our heads whenever we made the attempt to land; it being taken for granted that we should land between that and a neighboring wood, as the open grounds there were completely commanded by the guns of our fort. Many British deserters came over during the month which elapsed between the capture of York and Fort George. The question asked of each was, whether the lighthouse were mined. No answer intimated that it was; still it was determined to land at a safe distance from it, though the point chosen afforded the enemy an excellent cover, where his batteries could be silenced only by our vessels. After the landing had been effected, the lighthouse was approached by stragglers with much caution, until some one, more hardy or more curious than the rest, entering into it, found within its recesses, instead of a Guy Fawkes, some women and children, who had taken shelter there from the dangers of the day."