Queenston, Ontario
Under presidential pressure from Washington, D.C. Van Rensselaer began making plans to cross the Niagara River from his base at Lewiston, NY to capture the village of Queenston, Ontario and the nearby heights. He ordered Brigadier General Alexander Smyth to join him in Lewiston with his troops on October 11, 1812. However, Smyth, of the regular US Army, commanding at Buffalo, had issues with taking orders from him. Believing van Rensselaer's hasty maneuver unwise, he and his men remained conspicuously absent from the campaign that followed.