The Battle of Fort Erie was a bloody skirmish in the afternoon immediately following the Battle of Ridgeway on June 2, 1866 in Canada West. The Fenian force, withdrawing from Ridgeway towards the United States, met and defeated a small force of Canadian militia at Fort Erie, then known as the village of Waterloo. Canadian judge Kenneth Mackenzie was retained by the US Government to defend the Fenians. He secured acquittals for about half of them.