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>> NARRATOR: In early February the British send a detachment of 150 regulars, supported
by militia and First Nations allies, to establish their own forward operating base at Delaware.
>> GLENN STOTT: They were going to operate with the idea that they needed supplies too,
and they also needed to keep an eye on the Americans. So they would send parties along
the Thames, down into the Talbot area constantly - just trying to find our what was going on.
>> NARRATOR: But the base doesn't last long. After a disastrous engagement with an American
raiding party on March 4th, known as the Battle of Longwoods, where 15 British regulars are
killed and many more wounded, the British decide that Upper Canada's Western Frontier
is simply too dangerous to defend. All regular troops are again withdrawn to Burlington Heights,
leaving only resistance forces and scattered militia, under the command of Col. Thomas
Talbot, to defend against American raids. >> GLENN STOTT: Relying on citizen soldiers
like the militia was risky at the best. They basically did very little to prevent the Americans,
the Americans simply rode around them. Westbrook was a master at it because he owned property
all over southwestern Ontario, so he knew all the roads. The story is that they just
basically bypass the militia. >> NARRATOR: In 1814, Westbrook is personally
responsible for at least eight raids into Upper Canada's Western Frontier. In addition
to raiding his home at Delaware, Westbrook raids the New Settlement in Essex on February
5th, burning houses and harassing settlers, and on April 5th, he raids Oxford on the Thames,
looting homes and burning the cabin that the Methodists are using as a Church. Westbrook's
raids on the Talbot Settlement are relentless. >> DOUGLAS LEIGHTON: I think the turncoats
are opportunists. They see a chance to get what they want and at the same time to wreak
a little revenge on people they thought had down them wrong. And Tom Talbot is the chief
wrong doer. >> NARRATOR: On May 20th, Westbrook arrives
with the intent of capturing Talbot, but finds him not at home.