Before dawn in 1813, British and Canadian forces landed on Horse Island and pushed American troops back to the opposite shore despite fire from Fort Tompkins, the Albany Volunteers, and the militia. Once ashore, the British formed two wings, with one advancing with fixed bayonets parallel to the shore toward the navy yard and the other moving to screen their right and flank the village. Although the British drove most of the militia into flight, other militiamen regrouped in a planned pullback and took up defensive positions behind fallen trees, where they stood firm alongside the regulars waiting to counter the British advance. The British landing force consisted of 870 men, 37 natives, and 2 cannon supported by 6 ships carrying 700 men and 98 cannon, while the Americans had 840 U.S. regulars, a 250-member elite unit of Albany Volunteers, and 550 local militia supported by 3 ships and shore batteries totaling 150 men and 13 cannon. Horse Island, privately owned today, was farmed until the 1930s, and a lighthouse built there by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1831 was replaced by the present brick lighthouse in 1870.