four o'clock in the afternoon
They made haste to return to headquarters with their information , stopping on the way at Fort Stephenson and making it known there . `` Croghan was watchful , wide awake to the dangers that surrounded them . A good many Indians had been seen upon the high ground on the eastern side of the Sandusky River , but had scampered away on being fired at from the six-pounder in the fort . `` At four o'clock in the afternoon the British gunboats , bringing Proctor and his men , were seen at a turn in the river more than a mile distant . They were greeted by shots from the six-pounder , but they came on ; and at a cove somewhat nearer the fort , opposite a small island in the stream , they landed with a five-and-a-half-inch howitzer . `` At the same time the Indians showed themselves in the woods on all sides . In this attacking force there were four hundred British and several hundred Indians .