a short distance west along Lundy's Lane. The American artillerymen had suffered severely during the fighting, and Hindman had difficulty finding sufficient draught horses to get all his guns away. One American 6-pounder gun had been lost earlier during the close-range fighting, when its drivers had been hit by musket fire and the horses drawing it had bolted into the British lines. Hindman also had to abandon a howitzer with a broken carriage. The Americans were able to drag away one captured 6-pounder gun that had earlier been pushed to the bottom of the high ground in the centre of the former British position. Hindman later found more horses and sent a team back to recover one of the prized British 24-pounder guns. The team was captured by British parties who were wandering around the battlefield. Aftermath In the early hours of the morning of 26 July, Brown ordered Ripley to recover the abandoned British guns the next day. Reinforcing his exhausted men with detachments that had been left at Chippawa, Ripley moved out at daybreak with 1,200 soldiers but found that Drummond had reoccupied the battlefield with 2,200 men. Ripley withdrew, unmolested. The American army fell back to Fort Erie, first deliberately destroying the old British fortifications along Chippawa Creek and burning the bridges behind them. Because they were short of transport, they had to abandon or destroy much equipment and supplies to make room for the wounded on the available wagons. Drummond was later to claim that the Americans had retreated in disorder. After burying some of the British and Canadian dead on the battlefield and burning many American corpses in large funeral pyres, the British withdrew to Queenston until Drummond received reinforcements. In respect to the effect of the battle on the War, the British won a strategic victory, as the Americans on the Niagara had suffered so many casualties that they were now badly outnumbered, and were forced to retire to Fort Erie. Richard V. Barbuto says, "On 26 July, Brown's plan to advance on Burlington Heights was irretrievably shattered... Drummond had secured the forts at the northern end of the Niagara, and he had blunted an American advance. Although there was still a lot of fight in both forces, the balance of combat power on the Niagara Peninsula had swung from the invaders to the defenders". Casualties The British official casualty return had 84 killed,