Seeing the mass of boats moving down the river, Lieutenant Clark commandeered a sturdy plough horse from a nearby farm and rode the length of the front from Elizabethtown to Prescott alerting the local militia and civilians with the cry "The enemy is at hand!".

The troops and ammunition were disembarked and marched around Ogdensburg on the south bank of the river, while the lightened boats ran past the British batteries under cover of darkness and poor visibility.

Early on the morning of November 8, Wilkinson ordered Macomb to take his brigade to the Canadian side of the river and march eastwards as an advance party for the main American force.

As Point Iroquois was the narrowest section of the river it was a likely spot for any crossing by American troops, and since the end of 1812 the Dundas Militia had been building breastworks on the heights to command the area.

[4] The Americans were at first thrown into confusion, but men from Col. Rudolph's 20th Infantry advanced from the shoreline into the wooded area around the breastworks, forcing back the scattered militia piquets, as Scott's artillery and Forsyth's riflemen came ashore.

All companies of the Dundas Militia were hastily called out and approximately 200 militiamen gathered under Captains Monroe and Carman in a hollow on the point to resist the American army, along with a small detachment from the Royal Artillery.