An American sortie on September 17 captured two of the British batteries and the American troops were able to spike the guns in one of them before being driven back to the fort. Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Eleazer D. Wood was killed leading this sortie. Shortly afterward, the British lifted the siege and retired to positions to the north at Chippawa. After an unsuccessful American attack at Cook's Mills, west of Chippawa, news reached the American forces that the eastern seaboard of the U.S. was under attack. On November 5, 1814, with winter approaching, the Americans destroyed the fort and withdrew to Buffalo.