From this point they expected to meet with their Western reinforcement, and to move upon Fort Douglas and capture it, as Governor Semple had done with Fort Gibraltar.

Their commander Archibald Norman McLeod was the senior officer and would later take command.
They had on the 23rd of June gone but a little way when they were surprised to meet seven or eight boats laden with men, women and children.

These were the fragment of the Colony which had refused to go with Duncan Cameron down to Upper Canada.

They had been sheltered in the Fort during the time of the fight and now were rudely driven away from the settlement, according to the announcement of Cuthbert Grant.
McLeod ordered the convoy of boats to stop and the Colonists to disembark.

Their boxes and packages were opened, including the late Governor Semple's trunks, and examined for papers or letters which might give important information to the captors.