In response to the Fenian occupation of the township of Fort Erie, Canada West, on the night of June 1, 1866, militia units throughout the Niagara Peninsula had been mobilized or put on alert.

At Port Colborne, a detachment of 51 gunners and NCOs, British Royal Artillery Bombardier Sergeant James McCracken and three officers (Captain Richard S. King M.D., Lieutenants A.K.

[1] Thinking the Fenians were gone, Canadian volunteers turned back upriver to secure the village of Fort Erie and deny them an escape route.

The remaining Canadian volunteers on the gunboat went back to Port Colborne to inform of the situation while O'Neill the Fenian soldiers stayed in Fort Erie.

The remainder, 850 in number,[2] crossed in a body and surrendered to a US naval party from USS Michigan near Buffalo, putting an end to Fenian incursions along the Niagara Peninsula.