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Title: The Story of Isaac Brock
Hero, Defender and Saviour of Upper Canada, 1812
Author: Walter R. Nursey
Release Date: March 20, 2006 [EBook #18025]
Language: English
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THE STORY OF
ISAAC BROCK
HERO, DEFENDER AND SAVIOUR OF
UPPER CANADA
1812
BY
WALTER R. NURSEY
"By his unrivalled skill, by great
And veteran service to the state,
By worth adored,
He stood, in high dignity,
The proudest knight of chivalry,
Knight of the Sword."
--_Coplas de Manrique._
TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS
1908
Copyright, Canada, 1908, by WALTER R. NURSEY.
[Illustration: _Frontispiece_ PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL
SIR ISAAC BROCK]
A WORD TO THE READER
That Isaac Brock is entitled to rank as the foremost defender of the
flag Western Canada has ever seen, is a statement which no one familiar
with history can deny. Brock fought and won out when the odds were all
against him.
At a time when almost every British soldier was busy fighting Napoleon
in Europe, upon General Brock fell the responsibility of upholding
Britain's honour in America. He was "the man behind the gun"--the
undismayed man--when the integrity of British America was threatened by
a determined enemy.
His success can be measured by the fact that it is only since the war of
1812-14 that the British flag has been properly respected in the western
hemisphere. It is also a fact that after the capture of Detroit the
Union Jack became more firmly rooted in the affections of the Canadian
people than ever.
It must not be forgotten that the capture of this stronghold was almost
as far-reaching in its ultimate effect as the victory of Wolfe on the
Plains of Abraham, and was fraught with little, if any, less import to
Canada.
What with the timidity of Prevost, and the tactical blunders of both
himself and Sheaffe, the immediate influence upon the enemy of the
victories at Detroit and Queenston was almost nullified. Had Brock
survived Queenston, or even had his fixed, militant policy been allowed
to prevail from the first, it is safe to say there would have been no
armistice, no placating of a clever, intriguing foe, and no two years'
prolongation of the war. Had the capitulation of Detroit, the crushing
defeat at Queenston, and the wholesale desertion of Wadsworth's cowardly
legions at Lewiston, been followed up by the British with relentless
assault "all along the line"--before the enemy had time to recover his
grip--then our hero's feasible plan, which he had pleaded with Prevost
to permit, namely, to sweep the Niagara frontier and destroy Sackett's
Harbor--the key to American naval supremacy of the lakes--could, there
is no good reason to doubt, have been carried out. The purpose of this
little book is not, however, to deal in surmises.
The story of Sir Isaac Brock's life should convey to the youth of Canada
a significance similar to that which the bugle-call of the trumpeter,
sounding the advance, conveys to the soldier in the ranks. Reiteration
of Brock's deeds should help to develop a better appreciation of his
work, a truer conception of his heroism, a wiser understanding of his
sacrifice.
Many a famous man owes a debt of inspiration to some other great life
that went before him. Not until every boy in Canada is thoroughly
familiar with "Master Isaac's" achievements will he be qualified to
exclaim with the Indian warrior, Tecumseh,
"THIS IS A MAN."
W. R. N.
Toronto, October, 1908.
NOTE.--Of the hundred and more books and documents consulted in a
search for facts I would register my special obligations to Tupper's
"Life of Brock"; Auchinleck's "History of the War of 1812-14";
Cruikshank's "Documentary History," and Richardson's "War of 1812"
(edited by Casselman).
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. OUR HERO'S HOME--GUERNSEY 11
II. SCHOOL AND PASTIMES 16
III. FROM ENSIGN TO COLONEL 21
IV. EGMONT-OP-ZEE AND COPENHAGEN 27
V. BROCK IN CANADA 36
VI. BRIDLE-ROAD, BATTEAU AND CANOE 40
VII. MUTINY AND DESERTION 47
VIII. FRANCE, THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 52
IX. FUR-TRADERS AND HABITANTS 55
X. THE MASSACRE AT MACKINAW 59
XI. LITTLE YORK, NIAGARA, AMHERSTBURG 64
XII. MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK, GOVERNOR OF UPPER CANADA 72
XIII. THE WAR CLOUD 75
XIV. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DECLARES WAR 80
XV. BROCK ACCEPTS HULL'S CHALLENGE 87
XVI. "EN AVANT, DETROIT!" 92
XVII. OUR HERO MEETS TECUMSEH 96
XVIII. AN INDIAN POW-WOW 100
XIX. THE ATTACK ON DETROIT 105
XX. BROCK'S VICTORY 109
XXI. CHAGRIN IN THE UNITED STATES 112
XXII. PREVOST'S ARMISTICE 117
XXIII. "HERO, DEFENDER, SAVIOUR" 121
XXIV. BROCK'S LAST COUNCIL 128
XXV. THE MIDNIGHT GALLOP 135
XXVI. THE ATTACK ON THE REDAN 140
XXVII. VAN RENSSELAER'S CAMP 144
XXVIII. A FOREIGN FLAG FLIES ON THE REDAN 147
XXIX. THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 152
XXX. THE DEATH OF ISAAC BROCK 156
SUPPLEMENT--
AFTER BROCK'S DEATH 161
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1812 165
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 167
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814 171
WHAT OF CANADA? 173
APPENDIX 175
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK _Frontispiece_
"VIEW OF ST. PETER'S PORT, GUERNSEY, 18 x 6" 11
NAVY HALL, REMNANT OF THE OLD "RED BARRACKS," NIAGARA, 1797 27
PORTRAIT OF COLONEL JAMES FITZGIBBON 32
VIEW OF QUEENSTON ROAD, ABOUT 1824 40
RUINS OF OLD POWDER MAGAZINE, FORT GEORGE 52
BROCK'S COCKED HAT 64
BUTLER'S BARRACKS (OFFICERS' QUARTERS), NIAGARA COMMON 75
OUR HERO MEETS TECUMSEH. "THIS IS A MAN!" 96
LIEUT.-COLONEL JOHN MACDONELL 109
VIEW OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS AND BROCK'S MONUMENT 117
"PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK, 18 X 6" 121
POWDER MAGAZINE, FORT GEORGE, NIAGARA 128
BROCK'S MIDNIGHT GALLOP 135
BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS. From an old Print 140
DEATH OF ISAAC BROCK 156
BROCK'S COAT, WORN AT QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 159
BATTLE OF QUEENSTON. From an old Sketch 161
PLAN OF BATTLE OF QUEENSTON 163
TAKING OF NIAGARA, MAY 27TH, 1813. From an old Print 170
CENOTAPH, QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 172
BROCK'S MONUMENT 174
NOTE.--For full description of above illustrations, see
Appendix, page 175.
THE STORY OF ISAAC BROCK
[Illustration: "VIEW OF ST. PETER'S PORT, GUERNSEY, 18 x 6"]
CHAPTER I.
OUR HERO'S HOME--GUERNSEY.
Off the coast of Brittany, where the Bay of Biscay fights the white
horses of the North Sea, the Island of Guernsey rides at anchor. Its
black and yellow, red and purple coast-line, summer and winter, is awash
with surf, burying the protecting reefs in a smother of foam. Between
these drowned ridges of despair, which warn the toilers of the sea of an
intention to engulf them, tongues of ocean pierce the grim chasms of the
cliffs.
Between this and the sister island of Alderney the teeth of the Casquets
cradle the skeleton of many a stout ship, while above the level of the
sea the amethyst peaks of Sark rise like phantom bergs. In the sunlight
the rainbow-coloured slopes of Le Gouffre jut upwards a jumble of glory.
Exposed to the full fury of an Atlantic gale, these islands are
well-nigh obliterated in drench. From where the red gables cluster on
the heights of Fort George, which overhang the harbour, to the thickets
of Jerbourg, valley and plain, at the time we write of, were a gorgeous
carpet of anemones, daffodils, primroses and poppies.
These are tumultuous latitudes. Sudden hurricanes, with the
concentrated force of the German Ocean behind them, soon scourge the sea
into a whirlpool and extinguish every landmark in a pall of gray. For
centuries tumult and action have been other names for the Channel
Islands. It is no wonder that the inhabitants partake of the nature of
their surroundings. Contact with the elements produces a love for
combat. As this little book is largely a record of strife, and of one of
Guernsey's greatest fighting sons, it may be well to recall the efforts
that preceded the birth of our hero and influenced his career, and
through which Guernsey retained its liberties.
For centuries Guernsey had been whipped into strife. From the raid upon
her independence by David Bruce, the exiled King of Scotland, early in
1300, on through the centuries up to the seventeenth, piping times of
peace were few and far between. The resources of the island led to
frequent invasions from France, but while fighting and resistance did
not impair the loyalty of the islanders, it nourished a love of freedom,
and of hostility to any enemy who had the effrontery to assail it. As a
rule the sojourn of these invaders was brief. When sore pressed in a
pitched battle on the plateau above St. Peter's Port, the inhabitants
would retreat behind the buttresses of Castle Cornet, when, as in the
invasion by Charles V. of France, the fortress proving impregnable, the
besiegers would collect their belongings and sail away.
In the fourteenth century Henry VI. of England, in consideration of a
red rose as annual rental, conveyed the entire group to the Duke of
Warwick. But strange privileges were from time to time extended to these
audacious people. Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the islands a world's
sanctuary, and threw open the ports as free harbours of refuge in time
of war. She authorized protection to "a distance on the ocean as far as
the eye of man could reach." This act of grace was cancelled by George
the Third, who regarded it as a premium on piracy. In Cromwell's time
Admiral Blake had been instructed to raise the siege of Castle Cornet.
He brought its commander to his senses, but only after nine years of
assault, and not before 30,000 cannon-balls had been hurled into the
town.
Late in the fourteenth century, when the English were driven out of
France, not a few of those deported, who had the fighting propensity
well developed, made haste for the Channel Islands, where rare chances
offered to handle an arquebus for the King. Among those who sought
refuge in Guernsey there landed, not far from the Lion's Rock at Cobo,
an English knight, Sir Hugh Brock, lately the keeper of the Castle of
Derval in Brittany, a man "stout of figure and valiant of heart." This
harbour of refuge was St. Peter's Port.
"Within a long recess there lies a bay,
An island shades it from the rolling sea,
And forms a port."
The islet that broke the Atlantic rollers was Castle Cornet. Sir Hugh
Brock, or Badger in the ancient Saxon time--an apt name for a tenacious
fighter--shook hands with fate. He espied the rocky cape of St.
Jerbourg, and ofttimes from its summit he would shape bold plans for the
future, the maturing of which meant much to those of his race destined
to follow.
The commercial growth of the Channel Islands has been divided into five
periods, those of fishing, knitting (the age of the garments known as
"jerseys" and "guernseys"), privateering, smuggling, and agriculture and
commerce. To the third period belong these records. The prosperity of
the islands was greatest from the middle of the seventeenth century up
to the overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo and the close of Canada's
successful fight against invasion in 1815. During this period the
building of ships for the North Atlantic and Newfoundland trade opened
new highways for commerce, but the greatest factor in this development
was the "reputable business" of privateering, which must not be
confounded either with buccaneering or yard-arm piracy. It was only
permitted under regular letters of marque, was ranked as an honorable
occupation, and those bold spirits, the wild "beggars of the sea"--who
preferred the cutlass and a roving commission in high latitudes to
ploughing up the cowslips in the Guernsey valleys, or knitting striped
shirts at home--were recognized as good fighting men and acceptable
enemies.
Trade in the islands, consequent upon the smuggling that followed and
the building of many ships, produced much wealth, creating a class of
newly rich and with it some "social disruption."
Notable in the "exclusive set," not only on account of his athletic
figure and handsome face, but for his winning manners and ability to
dance, though but a boy, was Isaac Brock. Isaac--a distant descendant of
bold Sir Hugh--was the eighth son of John Brock, formerly a midshipman
in the Royal Navy, a man of much talent and, like his son, of great
activity. Brock, the father, did not enjoy the fruit of his industry
long, for in 1777, in his 49th year, he died in Brittany, leaving a
family of fourteen children. Of ten sons, Isaac, destined to become "the
hero and defender of Upper Canada," was then a flaxen-haired boy of
eight.
Anno Domini 1769 will remain a memorable one in the history of the
empire. Napoleon, the conqueror of Europe, and Wellington, the conqueror
of Napoleon, were both sons of 1769. This same year Elizabeth de Lisle,
wife of John Brock, of St. Peter's Port, bore him his eighth son, the
Isaac referred to, also ordained to become "a man of destiny." Isaac's
future domain was that greater, though then but little known, dominion
beyond the seas, Canada--a territory of imperial extent, whose resources
at that time came within the range of few men's understanding. Isaac
Brock, as has been shown, came of good fighting stock, was of clean
repute and connected with most of the families of high degree on the
Island. The de Beauvoirs, Saumarez, de Lisles, Le Marchants, Careys,
Tuppers and many others distinguished in arms or diplomacy, were his
kith and kin. His mind saturated with the stories of the deeds of his
ancestors, and possessed of a spirit of adventure developed by constant
contact with soldiers and sailors, it was but natural that he became
cast in a fighting mould and that "to be a soldier" was the height of
his ambition.
Perhaps Isaac Brock's chief charm, which he retained in a marked degree
in after life--apart from his wonderful thews and sinews, his stature
and athletic skill--was his extreme modesty and gentleness. The fine old
maxim of the child being "father to the man" in his case held good.
CHAPTER II.
SCHOOL AND PASTIMES.
Guernsey abounded in the natural attractions that are dear to the youth
of robust body and adventurous nature. Isaac, though he excelled in
field sports and was the admiration of his school-fellows, was
sufficiently strong within himself to find profit in his own society. In
the thickets that overlooked Houmet Bay he found solace apart from his
companions. There he would recall the stories told him of the prowess of
his ancestor, William de Beauvoir, that man of great courage, a Jurat of
the royal court. Even here he did not always escape intruders. Outside
the harbour of St. Peter's Port, separated by an arm of the sea, rose
the Ortach Rock, between the Casquets and "Aurigny's Isle," a haunted
spot, once the abode of a sorcerer named Jochmus. To secure quiet he
would frequently visit this isolated place, in spite of the resident
devil, the devil-fish, or the devil-strip of treacherous water which ran
between.
He was not ten when, to the amazement of his friends in imitation of
Leander but without the same inducements, he swam the half mile to the
reefs of Castle Cornet and back again, through a boiling sea and
rip-tides that ran like mill-races. This performance he repeated again
and again. For milder amusement he would tramp to the water-lane that
stole through the Moulin Huet, a bower of red roses and perfume, or walk
by moonlight to the mystic cromlechs, where the early pagans and the
warlocks and witches of later days flitted round the ruined altars.
Though Isaac was self-contained and resolute he had a restless spirit.
Fearless, without a touch of the braggart, his courage was of the
valiant order, the quality that accompanies a lofty soul in a strong
body. For his constant courtesy and habit of making sacrifices for his
friends, he was in danger of being canonized by his school-fellows.
About this time, shortly after his father's death, it was suggested he
should leave the Queen Elizabeth School on the Island and study at
Southampton. Here he tried his best, boy though he was, to live up to
the standard of what he had been told were his obligations as a
gentleman, acquiring, too, a little book-learning and much every-day
knowledge.
Isaac's holidays, always spent in his beloved Guernsey, increased the
thirst for adventure. The spirit of conquest, the controlling influence
of his after life, grew upon him. Something accomplished, something
done, was the daily rule. To scale an impossible cliff with the wings of
circling sea-fowl beating in his face, to land a big conger eel without
receiving a shock, to rescue a partridge from a falcon, to shoot a
rabbit at fifty paces, to break a wild pony, or even to scan a
complicated line in his syntax--these were achievements, small perhaps,
but typical of his desire. His young soul was stirred; the blood coursed
in his veins as the sap courses in the trees of the forest in spring;
his mind, susceptible to the influences of nature, was strengthened and
purified by these pursuits.
In the shelter of silent trossach, on wind-swept height, or on wildest,
ever-restless sea, he would, as the mood seized him, take his solitary
outings. These jaunts, he told his mother, gave him time to reflect and
resolve. It was not strange that he selected a profession that presented
the opportunities he craved.
* * * * *
England with folded arms was at peace. The Treaty of Versailles had
terminated the disastrous war with America. The independence of the
"Thirteen States" had been recognized. The world was drawing a long
breath, filling its fighting lungs, awaiting the death struggle with
Napoleon for the supremacy of Europe. Yet the spirit of war lingered in
the air. It even drifted on the breeze across the Channel to Guernsey,
and filtered through the trees that crowned the Lion's Rock at Cobo. It
invaded the valleys of the Petit Bot and stirred the bulrushes in the
marshes of Havelet. The pulse of our hero throbbed with the subtle
infection. Not with the brute lust for other men's blood, but with the
instinct of the true patriot to shed, if need be, his own blood to
maintain the right. He would follow the example of his ancestors and
fight and die, if duty called him, in defence of king and country.
The sweet arrogance of youth uplifted him. Earth, air and water
conspired to encourage him. To satisfy this unspoken craving for action
he would, from his outlook on the Jerbourg crags--where bold Sir Hugh
had sat for just such purpose years before--watch the Weymouth luggers
making bad weather of it beyond the Casquets; or challenge in his own
boat the rip-tides between Sark and Brechou, and the combers that romped
between St. Sampson and the Isle of Herm.
There was no limit to this boy's hardihood and daring. The more furious
the gale the more congenial the task. Returning from these frequent
baptisms of salt water, his Saxon fairness and Norman freshness aglow
with spray, he would loiter on the beach to talk to the kelp gatherers
raking amid the breakers, and to watch the mackerel boats, reefed down,
flying to the harbour for shelter. The crayfish in the pools would tempt
him, he would try his hand at sand-eeling, or watch the surf men feed a
devil-fish to the crabs. Then up the gray benches of the furrowed
cliffs, starred with silver lichens and stone-crop, to where ploughmen
were leaving glistening furrows in the big parsnip fields. Then on
through the tangle of sweet-briar, honeysuckle and wild roses, where
birds nested in the perfumed foliage, until, the summit reached,
surrounded by purple heather and golden gorse, he would look on the sea
below, with Sark, like a "basking whale, burning in the sunset." Then he
would hurry to tell his mother of the day's exploits, retiring to dream
of strange lands and turbulent scenes, in which the roll of drums and
roar of cannon seemed never absent.
With his youthful mind possessed with the exploits of the King's
soldiers in Europe and America, and influenced by his brother John's
example--then captain in the 8th Regiment of the line--Isaac pleaded
successfully to enter the army. To better prepare for this all-important
step, and to become proficient in French, a necessary accomplishment, it
was arranged, though he was only fifteen, to place him with a
Protestant clergyman in Rotterdam for one year, to complete his
education.
His vacations now were few; his visits to the Island flying ones. But
the old life still fascinated him. His physique developed as the weeks
flew by, and he became more and more a striking personality. This was
doubly true, for while he remained the champion swimmer, he was also the
best boxer of his class, besides excelling in every other manly sport.
In tugs-of-war and "uprooting the gorse" he had no equals, but a sense
of his educational deficiencies kept him at his books.
He had only passed his sixteenth birthday when, one wild March morning
in 1785, he was handed an important-looking document. It was a parchment
with the King's seal attached, his commission of ensign in the 8th
Regiment. Isaac at once joined the regimental depot in England. It was
evident that his lack of learning would prove a barrier to promotion. He
found that much of the leisure hitherto devoted to athletic sports must
be given to study. Behind "sported oak," while dust accumulated on
boxing-glove and foil--neither the banter of his brother officers nor
his love for athletics inducing him to break the resolution--he bent to
his work with a fixity of purpose that augured well for his future.
In every man's life there are milestones. Isaac Brock's life may fairly
be divided into five periods. When he crossed the threshold of his
Guernsey home and donned the uniform of the King he passed his _first_
milestone.
CHAPTER III.
FROM ENSIGN TO COLONEL.
In every young man's career comes a time of probation. During this
critical period that youth is wise who enters into a truce with his
feelings. This is the period when influences for good or bad assert
themselves--the parting of the ways. The sign-posts are painted in
capitals.
When Brock buttoned his scarlet tunic and strapped his sword on his hip,
as fine a specimen of a clean-bodied, clean-minded youth as ever trod
the turnpike of life, he knew that he was at the cross-roads. The trail
before him was well blazed, but straight or crooked, rough or smooth,
valley or height, it mattered little so long as he kept nourished the
bright light of purpose that burned steadily within him.
Five years of uneventful service, chiefly in England, passed by, and our
hero was celebrating his coming of age. His only inheritance was health,
hope and courage. While neither monk nor hermit, he had so far been as
steadfast as the Pole Star in respect to his resolutions. He had allowed
nothing to induce him to break the rules engraved on brass that he had
himself imposed. His mind had broadened, his spirits ran high, his
conscience told him that he was graduating in the world's university
with honour. His love for athletics still continued. He had the thews of
a gladiator, and in his Guernsey stockings stood six feet two inches.
Add to this an honest countenance, with much gentleness of manner and
great determination, and you have a faithful picture of Isaac Brock.
Upon obtaining his lieutenancy he returned to Guernsey, raised an
independent company, and exchanged into the 49th, the Royal Berkshires,
then stationed in Barbadoes. He now found himself looking at life under
new conditions. While the beauties of Barbadoes enchanted him, his
duties as a soldier were disappointing. They were limited to drill,
dress parade, guard mounting, the erection of new fortifications, and
patrolling the coast for vessels carrying prohibited cargoes.
Under the terms of a treaty made at Paris in 1773, United States produce
for British West Indian ports could only be carried by British subjects
in British ships. Britain's men-of-war were also authorized to seize any
vessel laden with produce for or from any French colony. Brock was a
soldier, not a policeman, and coast-guard duties palled upon him. His
great diversion was in calculating the probabilities of invasion by the
French. In expectation of this, the refortifying of the island was in
progress. The memory of Admiral d'Estaing's visit with his fleet from
Toulon, and the capture of St. Vincent, sent a chill through the island.
The great victory by the British Admiral Rodney, when he whipped a
superior French fleet to a standstill, was yet to come. Bastions and
earthworks grew during the night like mushrooms. While Brock chafed
under restraint, he knew how to improve the opportunity.
Fishing, shooting sea-fowl, and exploring the interior on horseback,
were Brock's chief pastimes. He became a fearless horseman. Mount
Hillaby rose 1,200 feet above the Caribbean Sea. The very crest of its
almost impossible pinnacle Brock is said to have ascended on horseback.
Between Bridgetown, in Barbadoes, and Kingston, Jamaica, he divided his
time, and though monotonous, his life in the Windward Islands was not
wholly void of adventure.
Shortly after joining his regiment at Bridgetown our hero had his first
affair of honour, an opportunity to display his courage under most
trying conditions. A certain captain in the 49th was a confirmed
duellist, with a reputation of being a dead shot at short range. Resting
upon his evil record, this braggart had succeeded in terrorizing the
garrison, and it was soon Brock's turn to be selected for insult. But
Isaac could not be bullied or intimidated. He promptly challenged and
was as promptly accepted.
The fateful morning arrived. In a lonely spot, palm-sheltered, and
within sight of the sea breaking upon the coral reefs, principals and
seconds met. There was no question in Brock's mind as to his duty--the
duello at that time was the recognized court of appeal. If its purpose
as originally designed had at times been infamously abused, it was still
the one and only arbiter through which insults had to be purged and from
which, for the "officer and gentleman," there was no escape.
Now Isaac, who was several inches taller and much bulkier than the
scoundrel who had insulted him, declined to become a shining mark at the
regulation twelve paces. He demanded from his fire-eating antagonist
that the duel proceed on equal terms. Whipping out his kerchief, cool as
a cucumber, his blue eyes steady and resolute, he insisted that _they
both fire across it_. The fairness of the proposal staggered the bully.
The chances were not sufficiently one-sided. If this plan was acted upon
he might himself be killed. He refused to comply. The code of honour and
garrison approval sustained Brock in his contention, and the refusal of
the professional killer to fight under even chances was registered in
the mess-room as the act of a coward, and he left the regiment by
compulsion.
In Jamaica the continued strain of inactivity under which our hero
fretted told upon him, and he was struck down with fever, his cousin,
Henry Brock, lieutenant in the 13th Foot, dying in Kingston of the same
pestilence. At this time Isaac had as servant a soldier named Dobson,
one of those faithful souls who, true as steel, once installed in their
master's affection, remain loyal to the end. To the untiring attentions
of this man Brock owed his life. Deep and mutual respect followed, and
the two became inseparable. Where Brock went, there was Dobson, sharing
his fortune and all the hard knocks of his military campaigns, a
fellowship ending only with Dobson's death, shortly before his "beloved
master" gave up his life on Queenston Heights.
Tropical malaria is hard to shake off. Release from duty was imperative,
and as England was now calling for recruits, the War Office summoned
Brock, an alluring sample of a soldier, to whom was assigned the task of
licking the fighting country bumpkin--the raw material--into shape. This
he did, first in England, then in Guernsey and Jersey. A vision of our
hero, glorious in his uniform, was in itself sufficient to ensnare the
senses of any country yokel. It was a militant age.
When quartered in Guernsey, and from the same heights of Jerbourg where
but a few years before he was wont to sweep the ocean for belated
fishing smacks, Brock saw his kinsman, Sir James Saumarez, and the white
canvas of a small squadron, heave in sight from Plymouth Roads. The
British sailor had been ordered to ascertain the strength of the French
fleet. Saumarez' ships were far slower than those of the enemy, so,
feigning the greatest desire to fight, he lured his opponent by a clever
ruse. First he closed with him, and then, when his own capture seemed
inevitable, hauled his wind, slipped through a maze of reefs by an
intricate passage--long familiar to our hero--and found safety off La
Vazon, where the Frenchmen dare not follow.
In June, 1795, Brock purchased his majority, but retained his command of
the recruits. From toes to finger-tips Isaac was a soldier, bent on
mastering every detail of the profession of his choice. A year after the
return of the 49th to England, on the completion of his 28th year, he
became by purchase senior lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. High
honour and rapid promotion, considering that for five out of seven
years' service he had remained an ensign. He had learned to recognize
opportunity, the earthly captain of a man's fate.
"For every day I stand outside your door,
And bid you wake and rise to fight and win."
But Brock's position was no sinecure. The regiment was in a badly
demoralized condition. The laxity of the late commanding officer had
created a deplorable state of things. To restore the lost _morale_ of
the corps was his first duty. The thoroughness of his reforms can be
best understood by quoting the words of the Duke of York, who declared
that "out of one of the worst regiments in the service Colonel Brock had
made the 49th one of the best."
From the Commander-in-Chief of a nation's army to a colonel--not yet
thirty--of a marching regiment, this was an exceptional tribute.
Isaac's persistent endeavours were rapidly bringing their own reward.
[Illustration: NAVY HALL, REMNANT OF THE OLD "RED BARRACKS,"
NIAGARA, 1797]
CHAPTER IV.
EGMONT-OP-ZEE AND COPENHAGEN.
Meanwhile the war cloud in Europe was growing apace. Holland had been
forced into an alliance with France. War, no longer a spectre, but a
grim monster, stalked the Continent. Everywhere the hostile arts of
Bonaparte were rousing the nations. The breezes that had stirred the
marshes of Havelet and awakened in Brock a sense of impending danger,
now a furious gale, swept the empires. The roll of drums and roar of
cannon that Isaac had listened to in his boyhood dreams were now
challenging in deadly earnest. The great _reveille_ that was awakening
the world was followed by the British buglers calling to arms the
soldiers of the King.
Notwithstanding the aversion of the English prime minister, Pitt, to
commence hostilities, war was unavoidable. One of the twelve battalions
of infantry selected for the front was the 49th. When the orders were
read for the regiment to join the expedition to Holland, wild excitement
prevailed in barracks. Active service had come at last. The parting of
Brock with his family was softened by maternal pride in his appearance.
The tunic of the 49th was scarlet, with short swallow-tails. The rolling
lapels were faced with green, the coat being laced with white, with a
high collar. The shako, which was originally surmounted by white
feathers with black tips, a distinction for services in the American
war of 1776, at Bunker's Hill and Brandywine, was, at Brock's special
request, replaced by a black plume. The officers wore their hair turned
up behind and fastened with a black "flash." The spectacle of Master
Isaac thus arrayed, in all the glory of epaulets and sabretache and the
gold braid of a full colonel, reconciled the inhabitants of St. Peter's
Port to his departure.
By the end of August the first division of the British army, of which
the 49th was a unit, was aboard the transports in the Zuyder Zee, off
the coast of Holland, and early one morning, under the command of Sir
Ralph Abercrombie, with blare of trumpets and standards flying, they
effected a landing under the guns of the ships of the line, of which,
with frigates and sloops, there were well-nigh sixty. Brock had often
listened to the roar of shot and shell in target practice and sham
fight, but of a cannonade of artillery, where every shrieking
cannon-ball was probably a winged messenger of death, this was his first
experience. He now learned that in the music of the empty shell of
experiment and the wicked screech of the missiles of war there was an
unpleasant difference. He did not wince, but sternly drew himself
together, thought of home, begged God's mercy, and awaited the command
to advance with an impatience that was physical pain.
By four in the afternoon the Hilder Peninsula and its batteries had been
taken, but with a loss to the British of a thousand men. Brock could
scarcely believe that the enemy had retreated. This, however, was merely
a taste of war. The second division having arrived, the whole force of
nearly 20,000 men, under the Duke of York, started to make history. In
the last days of a stormy September 16,000 Russian allies reached the
scene. The fourth brigade, which included the 49th, was under the
command of General Moore--Sir John Moore, of Corunna fame. For several
weeks the waiting troops were encamped in the sand-hills without canvas
and exposed to biting storms. The capture of the city of Horn without
resistance hardly prepared our hero and his men for the stout opposition
at the battle of Egmont-op-Zee that followed.
Brock's brother, Savery, a paymaster to the brigade, though by virtue of
his calling exempt from field service, insisted on joining the fighting
line, acting as aide to Sir Ralph Abercrombie.
Every record, every line written or in print concerning Brock, from
first to last, all prove that the keynote of his success, the ruling
impulse of his life, was promptness and action. So, at Egmont, no sooner
did the bugle sound the advance than he was off with his men like a
sprinter at the crack of the pistol. Others might follow; he would lead.
They were part of the advance guard of a column of 10,000 men. The enemy
was in front in superior numbers, but their weakness lay in underrating
the courage of the British. They had been taught to consider English
soldiers the most undisciplined rabble in the world!
This was a factor unknown and unheeded by Brock. All that he knew was
that an obstacle barred the way.
* * * * *
"Steady, the 49th!"
* * * * *
The loud, clear notes of the leader rang above rasping of scabbards and
suggestive clank of steel. The men straightened. A suppressed
exclamation ran along the line and died to a whisper. Whispers faded
into silence. A fraction of a second, perhaps, and then, high above the
stillness, when British and French alike were silently appealing to the
God of battles, over steaming dyke and yellow sand-dunes rose once more
in trumpet tones the well-known voice, "Charge, men, and use your
bayonets with resolution!" No rules were followed as to the order of
going--the ground, to use Brock's words, was too rough, "like a sea in a
heavy storm"--but the dogs of war were let loose. The quarry was at bay.
Another instant and the air was split with yells, the clash of naked
steel and screams of agony. Then cheer upon cheer, as the British swept
irresistibly on, and the enemy, declining to face the glittering
bayonets and unable to resist the impact of the English, wavered, broke
and retreated.
The shedding of men's blood by man is never an edifying spectacle. The
motive that prompts the attack or repels it, the blind obedience that
entails the sacrifice, the retribution that follows, are more or less
understandable. What of the compensation? There may be times when a pure
principle is at stake and must be upheld despite all hazards, but there
are times when there is no principle at stake whatever. These
considerations, however, have no place in the soldier's manual. They are
questions for the court, not the camp, and cannot be argued on the
battlefield. The soldier is not invited to reason why, though many an
unanswerable question by a dying hero has been whispered in the
trenches.
There was much carnage at Egmont-op-Zee, and many a 49th grenadier "lost
the number of his mess." Isaac directly after the fight wrote to his
brothers that "Nothing could exceed the gallantry of his men in the
charge." To his own wound he referred in his usual breezy and impersonal
way. "I got knocked down," he said, "soon after the enemy began to
retreat, but never quitted the field, and returned to my duty in less
than half an hour."
We must appeal to his brother Savery for the actual facts. "Isaac was
wounded," said Savery, in reply to a request for particulars, "and his
life was in all probability preserved by the stout cotton handkerchief
which, as the air was very cold, he wore over a thick black silk cravat,
both of which were perforated by a bullet, and which prevented it
entering his neck. The violence of the blow, however, was so great as to
stun and dismount him, and his holsters were also shot through."
That the action had been a hot one can be best judged by the official
returns. Out of 391 rank and file of the 49th in the field, there were
110 casualties--30 killed, 50 wounded and 30 missing. Savery Brock
shared the honours with his brother. Oblivious to a hurricane of
bullets, he rode from sand-hill to sand-hill, encouraging the men until
his truancy was noticed and he was halted by Isaac. "By the Lord Harry,
Master Savery," shouted the colonel, loud as he could pitch his powerful
voice, as the big paymaster strode by, his horse having been shot under
him, "did I not order you, unless you remained with the General, to stay
with your iron chest? Go back, sir, immediately." To which Savery
answered, playfully, "Mind your regiment, Master Isaac. You surely would
not have me quit the field now." Of this intrepid brother Isaac wrote,
"Nothing could surpass Savery's activity and gallantry." Another of the
wounded at Egmont was Lord Aylmer, afterwards Governor-General of
British North America. The loss of the enemy was estimated at 4,000. Two
weeks later the British troops--while suffering intensely from severe
weather--met with a reverse in the field, to which, through a
misunderstanding of orders, their Russian allies contributed. The Duke
of York was ordered to evacuate the country. The campaign had resulted
in much experience and high honour for Brock. Quick to perceive and
learn, his powers of observation on the field had enriched his mind with
lessons in the tactics of war never to be forgotten.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF COLONEL JAMES FITZGIBBON]
In the ranks of the 49th was a young Irishman of superior talents. Brock
was not slow to discover his abilities, and "with a discrimination that
honoured both," he later appointed this combative private
sergeant-major. Still later he procured him an ensigncy in the 49th,
finally appointing him adjutant, promotion that the ability and
gallantry of James FitzGibbon, a Canadian veteran of 1812, and the "hero
of Beaver Dams" (Adjutant-General of Canada, 1837, and Military Knight
of Windsor, 1851), amply justified.
If Brock was quick to appreciate merit, he was no less so in detecting
defects. The Russian soldiers came in for scathing criticism. The type
at Egmont impressed him most unfavourably. The clumsy Russian
foot-soldier was his special aversion. The accuracy of his criticism has
been confirmed by military writers, but this book is not for the purpose
of weighing the quality of Russian valour in Holland. Six thousand of
these Russian allies, the lateness of the season preventing their return
home, were later quartered for six months in Guernsey.
While our hero was a severe military critic, he was never an unjust one,
neither did he spare his own men. Though not a martinet, which was
foreign to every fibre of his nature, he was a stickler for rigid
discipline. When the expedition was recalled, he was first quartered in
Norwich, and then at the old familiar barracks of St. Helier, in Jersey.
On his return to the latter place, in 1800, after leave of absence, he
found that the junior lieutenant-colonel of the 49th--Colonel
Sheaffe--had incurred the reasonable dislike of the men. The regiment
was drawn up on the sands for morning parade, standing at ease. In
company with this unpopular officer Brock appeared upon the scene. He
was greeted with three hearty cheers. The personal honour, however, was
lost sight of in the act of disobedience. Rebuking the men severely for
"their most unmilitary conduct," they were marched to quarters and
confined to barracks for a week. He would not, he explained, allow
public exaltation of himself at the expense of another.
The next year found our hero in the Baltic Sea, aboard the _Ganges_,
detailed for active duty as second in command of the land forces that
under Lord Nelson were ordered to the attack on Copenhagen. It was
intended that Brock, with the 49th, should lead in storming the
Trekroner (Three Crown) battery, in conjunction with five hundred
seamen; but the heroic defence by the Danes rendered the attempt
impracticable, and Brock remained on the _Ganges_, an unwilling
spectator of bloodshed in which he took no part. Towards the close of
the engagement--the heaviest pounding match in history--he was on the
_Elephant_, Nelson's flagship, and saw the hero of Trafalgar write his
celebrated letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark.
As at Egmont, the irrepressible conduct of Savery Brock on the _Ganges_
gave our hero much concern. Savery, as a former midshipman, was of
course a gunner. While training a quarter-deck gun on the Trekroner
battery his hat was blown from his head and he was knocked down by the
rush of wind from a grapeshot. Seeing this, Brock exclaimed, "Ah, poor
Savery! He is indeed dead." But, to use his own words, it was only "the
hot air from the projectile that had 'floored' him." Previous to this he
had driven Isaac almost demented by stating his intention of joining the
storming party and sharing his brother's danger. "Is it not enough that
one brother should be killed or drowned?" said Isaac. But Savery
persisted until, at Isaac's request, the commander of the _Ganges_ kept
the paymaster quiet by stratagem. "Master Savery," said he, "you simply
_must_ remain with us. I appoint you captain of the gun. It will amuse
you."
The loss of the Danes at Copenhagen was placed at 6,000, including
prisoners. The British killed and wounded numbered 943, more than fell
at the Battle of the Nile. Part of this loss is charged to a criminal
misconception of military etiquette. To a line officer who asked where
his men should be stationed, the captain of the battleship replied, that
as soldiers were no good with big guns, and as the forts were out of
musket range, he should "send them between decks." This, said the
infantryman, "would be eternal disgrace." In deference to this brutal
conception of military ethics, the men were drawn up on the gangway and,
standing at attention, were allowed to be mowed down by Danish
grapeshot. The 49th, on its return to England from Copenhagen,
thoroughly initiated in the cruel cult of war, was ordered to
Colchester.
Isaac Brock, with the bay-leaves of distinction on his brow, and his
heart touched but not dismayed at the ferocity of war, had passed the
_second_ milestone of his life.
CHAPTER V.
BROCK IN CANADA.
Isaac Brock received with regret his orders to proceed with the 49th to
Canada. Europe was still in the clutches of war. Great opportunities
awaited the soldier of fortune in the struggle waging in the Peninsula.
The prospect for military advancement in Canada was not encouraging.
America was at peace. Canada was but slowly developing. While her
exports of lumber and fish attracted the attention of the British
merchant, her great resources were unknown except to the fur trader and
the few United States speculators whose cupidity kept pace with their
knowledge. Though the known sympathy of the United States for France was
regarded as a possible excuse for hostility towards England, as yet this
sympathy had found no official utterance, hence the outlook from a
soldier's standpoint was far from desirable. Brock's life in the West
Indies had created a distaste for garrison duty. While a past master in
the details of barrack life, his career under arms had created an
aversion for the grind of drill and parade.
Life in the high latitudes of Canada would present a clean-cut contrast
to tropical Barbadoes, but it was out of harmony with his ambition, and,
judging by his spirits, he might have been embarking for penal servitude
at Botany Bay rather than for the land which was to bring him lasting
fame. Even the attentions of the devoted Dobson, who had just filled
his pipe, did not serve to arouse him. Brock's depression was
short-lived. His optimism and faith banished gloomy thoughts. The ship
had hardly dropped the last headland of the Irish coast when the winds
bred in Labrador awoke the Viking strain in him and filled his soul with
hope. The swinging seas of this northern ocean revived thoughts of the
long-ago exploits of Sebastian Cabot, the discoverer of Newfoundland,
and of his own sea-dog ancestors, those rough-riders of the sea who had
defied the banks of Sable Island and returned to St. Peter's Port with
their rich cargoes of contraband, looking innocent as kittens, while the
ship was bursting with fur, fin and feather. So, pipe in mouth, with the
frigate close-hauled, watching her bows splintering the sea into a
million jewels, he left care behind, and thenceforward his busy brain
was forming plans that would soften his exile in that land of chilling
promise he was approaching.
He had been told to expect magnificent scenery, but was quite unprepared
for the picture that the Gulf of St. Lawrence unfolded. The Straits of
Belle Isle, the Magdalen Islands, the brazen bosom of the Bay of Chaleur
that had allured Jacques Cartier 265 years before, the might of the
noble river and the glorious vista of the citadel and frowning heights
of Quebec, where Wolfe and Montcalm fell--the ancient Stadacona framed
in the sunset--amazed him. A presage of coming conflict crowded his
brain.
* * * * *
"Manfully tell me the truth."
* * * * *
Carr, an educated soldier of the 49th, was hesitating. Desertions had
been frequent at Quebec, and discipline _must_ be restored. Stepping up,
with hand clenched, the officer continued, "Don't lie! Tell the truth
like a man. You know I have ever treated you kindly." The confession of
intended desertion followed. "Go, then," said Colonel Brock,--"go and
tell your deluded comrades everything that has passed here, and also
that I will still treat every man of you with kindness, and then you may
desert me if you please."
During the three years of his command at Montreal, York, Fort George and
Quebec, though mutiny was epidemic in both Europe and America, Brock had
lost but one man by desertion. He had won the loyalty of the rank and
file. FitzGibbon said of him that "he created by his judicious praise
the never-failing interest of the men in the ranks." His accurate
knowledge of human nature served him in the graver experiences of life
which followed. His stay in Quebec was short. A study of the ancient
citadel and its incomplete fortifications occupied his time. In the
summer of 1803 he was stationed at York, a hamlet carved out of the
backwoods, sustaining a handful of people, but famous as the
gathering-place of many wise men. He found that desertions in Upper
Canada had become too frequent. The temptations offered by a long line
of frontier easy of access, and the desperate discipline in the army,
had led to much brutality in the way of punishments.
Such were the conditions in Upper Canada when Brock reached York.
Shortly after his arrival six men, influenced by an artificer, stole a
military batteau and started across the lake to Niagara. By midnight
Brock, with his trusty sergeant-major and the ever-watchful Dobson, in
another batteau with twelve men, passed out of the western gap in hot
pursuit of the defaulters. Though the night was calm the trip was
perilous. Before them stretched a waste of water, but our hero was in
his element. He was living over again his daring visits to the Casquets
through the furious seas that raced between St. Sampson and the Isle of
Herm.
The crew was divided into "watches," six taking an hour's "breather"
while the other six rowed, hour and hour about, alternately rowing and
resting. When the wind served they hoisted their big square sail, our
hero at the tiller. On this occasion there was little wind, and "Master
Isaac," for example's sake, and "to keep my biceps and fore-arm in good
condition"--as he told the sergeant-major--took his regular spells at
the oar. On arriving at Fort George, Colonel Hunter, Governor and
Commandant, rebuked him for rashly venturing across the lake in an open
boat, "a risk," he said, "never before undertaken."[1] The expedition,
however, was successful, for the deserters were surprised on the
American shore and made prisoners.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Lake Ontario was crossed from Toronto to the wharf at the mouth of
the Niagara River in an ordinary double-scull, lap-strake
pleasure-skiff, by the writer and another Argonaut--Herbert
Bartlett--one unruly morning in the summer of 1872. Though a risky row,
and not previously attempted, it was not regarded as a remarkable feat
by the performers.
[Illustration: VIEW OF QUEENSTON ROAD, ABOUT 1824]
CHAPTER VI.
BRIDLE-ROAD, BATTEAU AND CANOE.
The means for transit through Canada at this time was most primitive,
and not the least of the questions which occupied Brock's thoughts was
the important one of transportation. The lack of facilities for moving
large bodies of men and supplies, in event of war, was as apparent as
was the lack of vessels of force on lake and river.
Between Quebec and Montreal, a distance of sixty leagues, the overland
journey was divided into twenty-four stages, requiring four relays of
horse-caleches in summer and horse-carioles in winter. The time occupied
was three days, and the rate for travellers twenty-five cents a league.
This rough road--which entailed numerous ferries in summer at the Ottawa
and at Lake St. Francis, except for a break of fifty miles--led by
Cornwall and Prescott to Kingston, along which route United Empire
Loyalists twenty years before had established themselves.
A few years prior to Brock's arrival, Governor Simcoe, with the men of
the Queen's Rangers, had cut a roadway through the dense forest between
Prescott and Burlington, at the head of Lake Ontario. From Ancaster, the
then western limit of the U.E. Loyalists' settlement, this road
traversed the picturesque region that surrounded the Mohawk village on
the Grand River, where Joseph Brant, the famous warrior, was encamped
with his Six Nation Indians. From this point it penetrated the rolling
lands of the western peninsula, to the La Trenche (the Thames River),
from whence Lake St. Clair and the Detroit outlet to the great lakes was
reached by water. Another military road, also built by Simcoe, followed
the old Indian trail through thirty-three miles of forest from York to
Lake Simcoe. This shorter route to Lake Superior enabled the North-West
Fur Company--established by Frobisher and McTavish, of Montreal, in
1776--to avoid canoeing up the Ottawa and its tortuous tributaries. The
batteaux were brought up the St. Lawrence, breaking bulk at certain
"carrying places," then under sail up Lake Ontario to York. From here
the cargoes were hauled by horses over Yonge's military road to Lake
Simcoe, thence by river and stormy Lake Huron to Fort Michilimackinac,
Great Turtle Island--the Mackinaw of to-day--at the head of Lake
Michigan. By this route fifty dollars was saved on every ton of freight
from Ottawa to the middle north. At Mackinaw the goods were reshipped by
bark canoe to the still remoter regions in the further West, where
Spanish pedlars on the southern tributaries of the lower Mississippi
traded with the Akamsea Indians in British goods distributed from
Mackinaw.
The records of these trips through a wilderness of forest and stream,
with their exhilarating hardships, had a singular fascination for Isaac
Brock. It was not long before he had won, with his conquering ways and
robust manhood, the allegiance of the big-hearted fur-traders in
Montreal. Their wild legends of the great fur country rang in his ears,
and his receptive mind was soon stored with the exploits of Radisson and
Groseillers, Joliette, Marquette, and other famous pathfinders, with
whose exploits a century and a half before, aided by his fluency in
French, he became wonderfully familiar.
He found the evolution of the Canadian highway a subject of absorbing
interest. From his Caughnawaga guides he learned how the tracks made by
lynx and beaver, rabbit and wolverine, wolf and red deer--invariably the
safest and firmest ways--were in turn naturally followed by Indian
voyageur and fur-trader, until the blazed trail became the bridle-road
for the pack-horse of the pioneer. This, as the white settler drifted
in, became the winter-road; then, as civilization stifled the call of
the wild, there uprose from swamp and muskeg the crude corduroy,
expanding by degrees into the half-graded highway, until the turnpike
and toll-bar, with its despotic keeper, exacted its tribute from
progress. This was the prelude to a still more amazing transformation,
for the day soon came, though not in our hero's time, when the drumming
of the partridge was silenced by the choo-choo of the locomotive as it
shrieked through forest and beaver-meadow on its way to vaster tracks,
further and further west, disclosing and leaving in its trail an empire
of undreamed-of fertility. Then the redman, disturbed in his solitudes,
was confronted with civilization, and had to accept the terms of
conquest or seek another sanctuary in the greater wilderness beyond.
The navigation of the lakes and rivers at this time was limited to three
types of vessel, the "snow," a three-master with a try-sail abaft the
mainmast, the schooner, the batteau and the birch canoe, and, in closely
land-locked waters, the horse ferry. The Durham boat, a batteau on a
larger scale with false keel, had yet to be introduced. The bark canoe,
which for certain purposes has never been improved upon--not even
excepting the cedar-built canoe--varied in size from nine to thirty
feet, or, in the language of the voyageur, from one and a half to five
fathoms. These canoes had capacity for a crew of from one to thirty men,
or a cargo of seventy "pieces" of ninety pounds each, equal to three
tons, exclusive of provisions for nine paddlers. In these arks of
safety, manned by Indians or _metis_ (half-breeds), the fur-trader would
leave Lachine, on the St. Lawrence, ascend the Ottawa, descend the
French, cross Lake Huron--the Lake Orleans of Nicollet and Hennepin--and
find no rest from drench or riffle until he reached Mackinaw, or more
distant Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), on the Skunk River, at the head of
Lake Michigan, 1,450 miles by water from Quebec.
The batteaux--great, open, flat-bottomed boats, forty feet long and
eight feet beam, pointed at stem and stern--were not unlike the York
boats used in Lord Wolseley's Red River expedition in 1870, and would
carry five tons of cargo. Rigged with a movable mast stepped almost
amid-ships, and a big lug-sail, these greyhounds of the lakes were, for
passengers in our hero's time, often the only means of water transport
between Quebec and Little York. As important factors in the transport of
soldiers and munitions in the war of 1812, they deserve description.
While sailing well when before the wind, they yet, with their defective
rig and keelless bottoms, carrying no weather helm, made little headway
with the wind close abeam. On one occasion Isaac Brock left Lachine with
a brigade of five batteaux, so that all hands could unite in making the
portages. At the Cascades, the Milles Roches and the Cedars,
three-quarters of the cargo had to be portaged by the packmen. At times
these lightened boats were poled or tracked through the broken water,
towed by the men, from such foothold as the rocky banks afforded, by
means of a long lariat tied to the boat's bow, with loops over each
trackman's shoulder, one man steering with a long sweep. When this
treadmill work was impossible, owing to too steep banks, and where no
batteau locks existed, the crew hauled the boats across the portage on a
skidway of small rolling logs, and, so journeying, Prescott was reached.
Here, the wind being favourable, lug-sails were hoisted and Brock's
strange fleet started for Kingston, reaching it after twelve days' toil
from Lachine, then coasting further along Lake Ontario to Little York
(Toronto). When wind failed, the long oars were used, the men rising
from the thwarts to pull, standing. Thus, alternately sitting and
rising, pulling in unison, the light-hearted voyageurs would break into
one of their wild French chants, quaint with catching refrain, in which
our hero soon learned to join.
At Prescott Brock sometimes took the Government schooner, paying two
guineas for a trip, which might last a week, or caught one of the small
"two-stickers" that carried freight between Kingston and Queenston. If
much pressed for time, the batteau would be exchanged for a caleche--the
stage-coach was as yet only a dream--and he would resign himself to a
rude jolting over the colonization road through the forest that flanked
the rugged northern shore of Lake Ontario.
These trips were a never-failing source of surprise and profit. The
skill of the canoemen, the strength and endurance of the packmen,
excited his admiration. What wonderful raw material! Given drill and
discipline, what might not be achieved on the frontier with such
craftsmen! The muscles, all whipcord, of these rugged Canadians, part
_coureur de bois_, part scout, amazed him. One thing was not so evident
as he could have wished. Their love seemed to be more for race and
language, home and wilderness, than for King and country. Perhaps, as he
said, if the safety of their homes were threatened, they would develop
patriotism of the highest type.
But, after all, as to kings, "Who," they naively asked him, "was their
king? Surely they must be under two flags and two kings. Napoleon or
George? _Que voulez vous?_"
As their hearts seemed to be as stout as their limbs, they would, he
reflected, be unconquerable, these careless children of waste places.
While Brock thus communed, he watched. There was little to choose
between them--Narcisse, Baptiste, Louis, Jacques, Pierre--all strong as
buffalo, all agile as catamounts.
They would lift the "pieces" from the dripping canoe and land them on
the slippery rock. A minute later and Narcisse perhaps would appear, a
bit bent, to keep balanced a bag of flour, a chest of tea, a caddy of
tobacco and sundry packages of sugar or shot that made up the load
resting on his shoulders where body and nape of neck joined. This load
was supported and held together by a broad moose-hide band--a
tump-line--strapped across his forehead, his upraised hands grasping the
narrowing moose-hide stretched on either side of his lowered head,
between ear and shoulder. Brock would watch these packmen as, thus
handicapped with a load weighing from two to five hundred pounds, they
set out across the rough portage, singing, and at a dog trot, following
each other in quick succession. There was rivalry, of course, duly
encouraged by Brock with a promise of tobacco to the first man in, but
it was all good-natured competition, the last man chanting his laughing
canzonet as loudly as the first.
Our hero, with his grand physique and cleverness, was not long in
mastering the tricks of the carriers. He soon learned to build up a load
and adjust a tump-line, after which practice made the carrying of a pack
almost twice his own weight a not extraordinary performance.
These trips afforded Brock an opportunity to study Indian character. He
learned much from the packman and voyageur that was destined to be of
great value to him in his career on the western frontier, among the
outposts of civilization.
Little escaped his notice. His faculties were sharpened by contact with
these children of the wilds, whose only class-room was the forest, their
only teacher, nature. As the crushed blade or broken twig were of
deepest import to the Indian scout, so no incident of his life was now
too trivial for Brock to dismiss as of no importance.
CHAPTER VII.
MUTINY AND DESERTION.
Brock could hardly reconcile the degree of punishment inflicted upon the
soldiers, the poorly paid defenders of the Empire, with their casual
offences. While he rebelled against the brutalities of some officers, he
was powerless to prevent them. The sentencing powers conferred by
court-martial were at that time beyond belief. A captain and two
subalterns could order 999 lashes with a "cat" steeped in brine. It is
on record that on one occasion a soldier was sentenced to 1,500 lashes
for "marauding." And there were other modes of torture. This was close
upon the heels of a period when even the slightest breaches of the civil
law were punished out of all proportion to the offence. While insisting
on the strictest discipline, Brock always tempered justice with mercy.
Few men better realized the value of a pleasant word or had in such
degree the rare tact that permitted familiarity without killing respect.
A terrible incident occurred in the summer of 1803 which tested all
Brock's fortitude and conception of duty. A conspiracy to mutiny was
discovered at Fort George on the Niagara River. The methods of the
commanding officer had exasperated the men until they planned mutiny on
a large scale. This included the murder of Colonel Sheaffe and the
incarceration of the other officers. A threatening remark by a soldier
of the 49th was overheard. He was arrested and put in irons. A
confession by another soldier implicated a well-known sergeant, and a
message was sent to York begging Brock's immediate presence.
Our hero landed from the schooner alone. It was dinner hour. The
barrack-square, as Brock crossed it to the guard-house, was deserted. In
charge of the guard he found two of the suspected ringleaders. The guard
presented arms. "Sergeant," said the colonel of towering frame and
commanding aspect, "come here. Lay down your pike." The order was
promptly complied with. "Take off your sword and sash and lay them down
also." This was done. "Corporal O'Brien," said the colonel, addressing
the sergeant's brother-conspirator, "bring a pair of handcuffs, put them
on this sergeant, lock him up in a cell, and bring me the key." This,
too, was done. "Now, corporal, you come here; lay down your arms, take
off your accoutrements, and lay them down also." He was obeyed. Turning
to the right man of the guard, "Come here, you grenadier. Bring a pair
of handcuffs and put them on this corporal, lock him up in another cell,
and bring me the key." When this was done, turning to the astounded
drummer, our hero said, "Drummer, beat to arms."
The garrison was aroused. First to rush out was Lieutenant Williams,
sword in hand. "Williams!" said the Colonel, "go instantly and secure
Rock"--a former sergeant, recently reduced. "If he hesitates to obey,
even for one second, cut him down." Up the stairs flew Williams, calling
to Rock to come down. "Yes, sir," answered Rock, "when I take my arms."
"You must come without them," said Williams. "Oh, I must have my arms,
sir," and as Rock stretched out his hand to seize his musket in the
arm-rack, Williams shouted, "If you lay one finger on your musket I
will cut you down," at the same time drawing his sabre. "Now, go down
before me." Rock obeyed, was placed in irons, and within half an hour
Clark, O'Brien, and nine other mutineers were embarked for York on the
schooner.
What a picture rises before us. The mid-day sun, the glittering
barrack-square, the scarlet and white tunics and polished side-arms of
the frightened soldiers, with Brock, the embodiment of power and stern
justice, towering above the shrinking culprits. Expiation of the offence
had yet to follow. The appetite of the law had to be appeased. The trial
took place at Quebec. Four mutineers and three deserters were condemned
to death, and in the presence of the entire garrison were executed. The
details of this are best unwritten. Through a shocking blunder, the
firing party discharged their carbines when fifty yards distant, instead
of advancing to within eight yards of the victims. The harrowing scene
rent Brock's heart. That the men who had fought so bravely under him at
Egmont and laughed at the carnage at Copenhagen should end their lives
in this manner was inexpressibly sad. After reading the account of the
execution of their comrades to the men on parade at Fort George, Brock
added, "Since I have had the honour to wear the British uniform I have
never felt grief like this." The prisoners publicly declared that had
they continued under our hero's command they would have escaped their
doom, "being the victims of unruly passions inflamed by vexatious
authority."
When Brock assumed command every possible privilege was extended to the
troops at Fort George. For every request, however trivial, he knew there
was some reason. His mind was big enough to trade in trifles.
In view of these desertions, the prospect of hostilities between Canada
and the United States became a momentous one. By close study of events
in France and America and intercourse with prominent United States
citizens, Brock detected the signs that precede trouble.
But the grave question of desertion and the war-cloud on the horizon
could not occupy our hero's attention to the exclusion of other demands
upon his time. Canada's growing importance was attracting many
travellers from over-seas. Notable among these was Thomas Moore, the
brilliant Irish poet, who was our hero's guest at Fort George for two
weeks in the summer of 1803. Every attraction that the peninsula
presented was taxed for his entertainment. Of these diversions the one
which probably left the most lasting impression on the versatile son of
Erin was a gathering of the Tuscarora warriors, under Chief Brant, at
the Indian encampment on the Grand River.
"Here," wrote Moore, in one of his celebrated epistles, "the Mohawks
received us in all their ancient costumes. The young men ran races for
our amusement, and gave an exhibition game of ball, while the old men
and the women sat in groups under the surrounding forest trees. The
scene altogether was as beautiful as it was new to me. To Colonel Brock,
in command of the fort, I am particularly indebted for his many
kindnesses during the fortnight I remained with him."
It was while Moore was paddling down the St. Lawrence with his
Caughnawaga voyageurs, after leaving Niagara--where he saw the fountains
of the great deep broken up--that he composed his celebrated boat-song:
"Faintly as tolls the evening chime,
Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time.
Soon as the woods on shore look dim,
We'll sing at St. Ann's our parting hymn.
Row, brothers, row! the stream runs fast,
The rapids are near, and the daylight's past!"
In the fall of 1805 our hero was gazetted full colonel, and returned to
England on leave. While he had lost none of the buoyancy of his youth,
he was daily realizing the fullness of his responsibilities.
For the better defence of Canada, he submitted to the Duke of York, the
Commander-in-Chief, a suggestion for the forming of a veteran battalion.
He quoted the case of the U.E. Loyalists, who after the Revolutionary
war, had been granted small tracts in Upper Canada; contrasting their
perfect conduct with the practices of some of the settlers ten years
later, whose loyalty, from his own observation, would not stand the
test. Our hero, who was warmly thanked by the Duke for his zeal, was now
regarded as a person to be reckoned with. His abilities and charm of
manner had won him a reputation at the Horse Guards.
He returned to Guernsey to receive the congratulations of those brothers
"who loved him so dearly," but had not time to tell the graphic story of
his sojourn in Canada or revisit the haunts of his boyhood, for news
arrived from the United States of so warlike a character that he
returned before his leave expired. He overtook at Cork the _Lady
Saumarez_, a well-manned Guernsey privateer, armed with letters of
marque, and bound for Quebec. Leaving London on the 26th of June, 1806,
he set sail for Canada, never to return to those to whom he had so
endeared himself by his splendid qualities.
[Illustration: RUINS OF OLD POWDER MAGAZINE, FORT GEORGE]
CHAPTER VIII.
FRANCE, THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
Shortly after his return to Quebec, Isaac Brock succeeded to the command
of the troops in both Upper and Lower Canada, with the pay and allowance
of a brigadier.
Though no overt act had been committed against Canada by the United
States, relations were strained, and he found much to occupy his time.
His humanity stirred, he set about erecting hospitals, reorganized the
commissariat department, and engaged in an unpleasant dispute with
President Dunn, the civil administrator of Lower Canada, regarding the
fortifications of the Citadel. To-day deep in plans for mobilizing the
militia and the formation of a Scotch volunteer corps of Glengarry
settlers; to-morrow devising the best way of utilizing an Indian force
in the event of war. In June, 1807, the affair between the British
gunboat _Leopard_ and the American frigate _Chesapeake_ occurred. The
former boarded the latter in search of deserters, and on being
challenged, gave the _Chesapeake_ a broadside. While the _Leopard_ was
clearly in the wrong, the United States Government rejected every offer
of reparation made by Britain. Then came retaliation. French
vessels--though France was at war with Britain--were actually allowed by
the United States, a neutral power, full freedom of its harbours. The
ships of Britain, a power at peace with the United States of America,
were refused the same privilege.
For a proper understanding of the position we must unroll a page of
history. Napoleon, though he crushed the Prussians at Jena, could not
efface the memory of his own humiliation at Trafalgar. His ears tingled.
He was waiting to deliver a blow that would equalize the destruction of
his fleet by Nelson. Though Britain remained mistress of the seas,
surely, thought the "little corporal," a way could be found to humble
her. If her sources of food supply, for instance, could be cut off, "the
wings of her war-ships would be clipped."
To this end Napoleon issued an arrogant proclamation, which was of
far-reaching effect. It authorized the destruction of all British goods
and all colonial produce shipped to any European port by a British
vessel. It allowed the seizure by France of all ships, of whatever
nation, which had even _called_ at a British port. To this the United
States raised no objection, though it was in violation of the world's
law in respect to nations which were at peace with each other. The
United States' President evidently believed that British resentment at
Napoleon's decree would sooner or later provide the United States with
an excuse for a disagreement with Britain. He was not mistaken. Britain
at once announced that she in her turn would prohibit the ships of other
nations visiting French ports until they had first called at a British
port. But two wrongs do not make a right. England also, being short of
seamen by desertion, insisted that she had the right to search for
British seamen on American vessels.
This was a questionable proceeding, and not always carried out in the
most amiable manner, as the _Chesapeake_ incident proves, and
occasionally led to seizing American seamen, native-born citizens of the
United States, in mistake for British-born deserters.
Meanwhile Brock found "the military and the people of Quebec divided by
opposing elements of dissatisfaction." His call for one thousand men for
two months to complete the defences of the Citadel was met by the
Provincial Government with what was practically a refusal. He persisted
in his purpose, and despite drawbacks which would have deterred a less
dominant nature, he erected a battery, mounting eight thirty-six pound
guns, raised upon a cavalier bastion, in the centre of the Citadel, so
as to command the opposite heights of Point Levis.
Alive to the probability of invasion, and to the defenceless state of
the Canadian frontier and the extreme apathy of the Quebec Government,
Colonel Brock warned the War Office. He stated that, as the means at his
disposal were quite inadequate to oppose an enemy in the field, with a
provincial frontier of 500 miles, he would perforce confine himself to
the defence of the city of Quebec. The Lower Canadians, willing to
undergo training, had formed themselves into corps of cavalry, artillery
and infantry, at no expense to the Government, but the Government gave
them no encouragement.
This was the state of affairs in Quebec when Lieutenant-General Sir
James Craig arrived to take office as Governor-General of the British
Provinces in North America as well as Commander of the Forces. Brock
soon became the _confidant_ of the new administrator, who was not slow
to observe the exceptional capacity of our hero. The day came all too
quickly for the Governor when occasion arose for the presence of a
strong man to take command in Montreal, and with great reluctance he had
to call upon Isaac Brock to assume the office.
CHAPTER IX.
FUR-TRADERS AND HABITANTS.
Montreal--the Mount Royal of Jacques Cartier--was then in the heyday of
its pioneer glory. It was the seat of government of the North-West
Company, which exercised feudal sway over an empire of wilderness, lake
and prairie, and whose title to monopoly was challenged only by the
powerful Hudson's Bay Company. Since 1670 this older syndicate of
adventurers had held the destinies of the great lone land in the farther
North-West, its fruitful plains and pathless forests, in the hollow of
its hand. Later, when the two companies amalgamated, their joint
operations extended from Alaska to Rupert's Land, from Oregon to the
Sandwich Islands, from Vancouver to Labrador, an empire embracing an
area of 4,500,000 square miles.
At Montreal Brock lived with these merchant princes on terms of close
intimacy. He was sensible enough, as a man of the world, to enjoy the
creature comforts of life. The blazing log-fire, with its glow and
crackle, in contrast to the blizzard that raged outside; the dim-lighted
splendour of spacious dining-hall, with hewn rafters and savage trophies
of the explorers; the polished oak floor and carved ceiling, hung with
rare fur and gaudy feathers, appealed to him.
The rubber of whist over, came the fragrant _perfecto_--these traders
ransacked the world for their tobacco--and Brock, under the influence of
the soothing weed, would charm these wild vagrants into unlocking some
of the strange secrets of the wilderness. From these usually silent but
sometimes garrulous merchants he acquired during the long winter nights
a fund of facts that greatly influenced his future actions.
Being superseded at Montreal by General Drummond, he did not relish a
return to Quebec. Separation from the 49th meant actual pain, but, as he
said, "Soldiers must accustom themselves to frequent movements, and as
they have no choice, it often happens they are placed in situations
little agreeing with their wishes." His regrets were lessened by his
promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. But he prayed for active
service, still trying to secure a staff appointment in Portugal, and
awaited the result of his brother Savery's efforts, hoping he might yet
be ordered to join "the best disciplined army that ever left England."
"Your Excellency," he said to the Governor-General, "I _must_ see active
service, or had much better quit the army, for I can look for no
advantage if I remain buried in inaction in this remote corner of the
earth, without the least mention ever likely being made of me."
Unsuspected by our hero, fate in his case was only "marking time."
Day after day Brock saw British ships weigh anchor at Quebec with
Canadian timber for the building of English vessels of war. The
importance of these Canadian provinces to Great Britain awoke in him
dreams of a federation of all the colonies. Cargoes of timber, that
would require more than 400 vessels to transport, were then lying on the
beaches of the St. Lawrence. "Bonaparte," he wrote, "coveted these vast
colonial areas, and desired to repossess them."
Brock's mind was busy trying to solve these problems. "A small French
force of 5,000 men," he told the Governor, "could most assuredly conquer
the Province of Quebec. In the event of French invasion, would the
volatile Lower Canadian people, in spite of all their privileges, remain
loyal?" A certain class of _habitant_ argued that Napoleon, who was sure
to conquer Europe, would of course seize the Canadas, encouraged by the
United States. "Would Englishmen," asked Brock, "if positions were
reversed, be any more impatient to escape from possible British rule
than were French Canadians from the possible rule of France?"
"Blood, my good FitzGibbon," he declared to his _protégé_, "is thicker
than water. You cannot expect to get men to change their nature, or the
traditions of their race, through an act of parliament at twenty-four
hours' notice. Old thoughts and habits die hard."
Though Brock's perceptive faculties were well developed, his forecasts,
built upon the evidences of opposition among certain Lower Canadians,
happily proved only in part correct. Later, when his plan of campaign
was menaced by still greater disaffection in Upper Canada, he found he
had not reckoned on the influence of his own example, which, added to
his power of purpose, "disconcerted the disloyal." In proof of this fact
Detroit and Queenston Heights were splendid examples.
It was this spirit of unrest among the people of Quebec that moved Sir
James Craig to keep Brock within easy reach until the growing discord in
Upper Canada called for the presence of a man of tact and resolution,
one to whom all things seemed possible--and Brock knew no such word as
"impossible." On one occasion the "faithful sergeant-major" had ventured
to declare that a certain order was "impossible." "'Impossible!'"
repeated Brock, "nothing should be 'impossible' to a soldier. The word
'impossible' must not be found in a soldier's vocabulary."
CHAPTER X.
THE MASSACRE AT MACKINAW.
It was while stationed in Montreal that our hero met Alexander Henry,
ex-fur-trader and adventurer and _coureur de bois_--then a merchant and
King's auctioneer--a notable personage and leader in many a wild exploit
in the far West, an old though virile man after Isaac's own heart.
From Henry he learned much of the Indian wars in the West, and the
strategic value of various points on the frontier, possession of which
in the event of war he foresaw would be worth a king's ransom. Not least
were details respecting Michilimackinac, the Mackinaw already referred
to. Nearly half a century before, Henry, a native of New Jersey, of
English parents--his ambition fired by tales of the fabulous fortunes to
be made in the fur trade--obtained from the commandant at Montreal a
permit to proceed west as a trader. He outfitted at Albany, and the
following summer set out for Mackinaw.
Meanwhile the Indian allies, under control of the great Pontiac, were
fighting immigration and civilization. Between Fort Pitt--Pittsburgh--
and the Fox River, in Wisconsin, the home of the Sacs and Foxes, they
had captured nine out of thirteen military posts, and were secretly
planning the downfall of Fort Mackinaw. This was regarded as an
impregnable post and vulnerable only through strategy--in Indian
parlance another name for duplicity. Fort Mackinaw, as Brock well knew,
was the most important trading _entrepôt_ west of Montreal. It served a
territory extending from the Missouri in the west to the far
Kissaskatchewan in the north.
On Henry's arrival his friendship was sought by an Indian chief,
Wawatam. Between these two men a remarkable attachment developed. They
became brothers by mutual adoption. At this time the fort was garrisoned
by ninety British regulars. One day, outside the walls on the
surrounding plateau, several hundred savages were encamped, ostensibly
for purposes of trade, some of them killing time by playing the Indian
game of ball--the _baggatiway_ of the red-man, _la jeu de la crosse_ of
the voyageur. Henry, acting upon a veiled warning by Wawatam, suggested
to the officer in command extra precaution.
"I told him," said he, while Brock drank in every word, "that Indian
treachery was proverbial." Now this recital was of the deepest interest
to our hero, for Mackinaw, then in the possession of the United States,
held the key to the Michigan frontier and control of the upper lakes.
While the huge log fire that roared in the chimney cast light and shadow
on polished wall and the oak beams of the big dining-hall, Brock puffed
away at his huge _partiga_, weighing every word that fell from the
bearded lips of the trader.
"Major Errington," continued Henry, "while thanking me, laughed at my
forebodings. Then Wawatam urged me, as his adopted brother, to depart
for Sault Ste. Marie. But I delayed and once more sought Errington, who
still ridiculed my fears. While I was yet expostulating with him we
heard the louder shouts of the Indians. They had rushed through the fort
gateway into the enclosure within the palisades in pursuit of a lost
ball. This was but a ruse to gain admittance, for in a moment the
laughter and shouts changed to wild yells and warwhoops. The guard was
overpowered in a flash, and in the attack that followed almost the
entire garrison was tomahawked and scalped."
"Ah!" said Brock, "so British lethargy and self-complaisance succumbed
to Indian duplicity."
Then his thoughts turned to Niagara. He saw the open portals of Fort
George, and Tuscarora youths playing the Indian game of ball in the
meadows of the Mohawk village.
"Those who escaped massacre at Mackinaw," said Henry, refilling his
stone pipe and resuming his story, "were preserved for a worse fate.
Pontiac's allies--and you, Colonel, know something of these matters from
the tales told you by the officers of the North-West Company--entered on
a carnival of blood. From a garret, where a Pawnee Indian woman had
secreted me, I saw the captured soldiers tomahawked and scalped, and
some butchered like so many cattle, just as required for the cannibal
feast that followed."
"Tortured?" interrogated Brock.
"Tortured!" repeated Henry. "Why, the diabolical devices that those men
resorted to to inflict acute physical agony were inconceivable--
unutterable, Colonel." He paused.... "After all, no worse, perhaps, than
the tortures that have been inflicted by civilized fanatics in Europe."
There was silence for a moment. Both men were buried deep in thought,
the one living in the past, the other striving to forecast the future.
"Through the intercession of Wennway, another friendly Indian,"
continued Henry, "my life was spared. Preparations were made for my
secret departure. As I shoved my canoe into the water, _en voyage_ for
Wagoshene, the prayers of Wawatam rang in my ears as, standing on the
yellow beach with outstretched arms, he invoked the _Gitche Manitou_,
the Great Spirit, to conduct me in safety to the wigwams of my people."
"Surely, Master Henry," commented Isaac Brock, "with all the latent
qualities for good that seem to underlie the outward ferocity of some
redmen, firmness and kindness are alone needed to convert them into
faithful friends."
"An Indian, or Indians collectively," said Henry, pausing before he
answered,--"I speak from personal experience only--are faithful so long
as you keep absolute good faith with them. In this particular they are
no different from white people; but never deceive them, even in trifles,
and never subject them to ridicule. Then, if you treat them with
consideration, you can reasonably depend upon their individual loyalty.
They expect a lot of attention. Yes! an Indian is naturally grateful,
probably far more so than the ordinary white man, and seldom forgets a
kindness. Should you come into closer contact with the redman, Colonel,
as I have a presentiment you will before long, never forget that an
Indian, by right of his mode of life, is deeply suspicious and painfully
sensitive. He has a keen sense of humour, however, and is quick to
discern and laugh at the weak points of others, which, until you
understand his language, you will be slow to suspect. On the other hand,
he won't stand being laughed at himself or placed in a foolish position.
For that matter, who can? Occasionally you will meet a savage with
strangely high principles. Among the redskins there is a proportion of
good and bad, as there is in all races, but less crime, under normal
conditions, than there is among the whites. So, summing up his vices and
virtues, the North American Indian, allowing for heredity and
surroundings, differs little from ourselves."
"They are brave," interrupted Brock.
"Oh, yes," said Henry, "splendidly reckless of life. The courage of the
fatalist I should say. You see, they are so constantly on the war-path
that fighting is a compulsory pastime."
"Still," said Brock, "with what daring they fight for their homes."
"True, Colonel," retorted Henry, "but when it comes to fighting for
home, a hummingbird will defend its nest. Their peculiar traits are
largely the result of a nomadic life and tribal strife, hence, their
duplicity. Superstition influences them greatly, as it does all savage
races. In one respect they are at least superior to some of our own
people--I refer to their treatment of their children. Their
lovingkindness is pathetic. Contact with civilization, as you may
discover, develops at first all their bad qualities, for they are apt
imitators, so when the pagan Indian meets a trader without a
conscience--and there are some, you know--why, he is not slow to adopt
the bad Christian's methods."
[Illustration: BROCK'S COCKED HAT]
CHAPTER XI.
LITTLE YORK, NIAGARA, AMHERSTBURG.
In common with most great men, Brock found distraction in trifles. For
weeks prior to leaving Quebec all kinds of gayety prevailed. A visit
from Governor Gore of Upper Canada, and the arrival of the fleet from
Guernsey and two frigates from Portsmouth, gave a fillip to society.
Races, water-parties and country picnics were the order of the day. Our
hero's contribution consisted of a banquet and grand ball. He had his
own troubles, however, that even the versatile Dobson could not
overcome, and he roundly scolded his brother Irving for not sending him
a new cocked hat.[2]
"That cocked hat," he said, "has not been received; a most distressing
circumstance, as from the enormity of my head I find the utmost
difficulty in getting a substitute."
His departure for York weighed upon him. In Quebec he had the most
"delightful garden imaginable, with abundance of melons and other good
things"--these, together with his new bastions and forts, he had to
desert. Being somewhat of a philosopher, he said that since fate decreed
the best portion of his life was to be wasted in inaction, and as
President Jefferson, though he wanted war, was afraid to declare it, he
supposed he should have to be pleased with the prospect of moving
upwards.
Brock had been but a few weeks at Fort George--a "most lonesome place,"
as compared with Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, or even Little York, from
which latter place he was cut off by forty miles of lake, or more than a
hundred miles of dense forest and bridgeless streams--when he decided
upon a flying trip to Detroit, where, during the French _régime_, the
adventurous Cadillac had landed in 1701. He would inspect the western
limit of the frontier now under his care and obtain at first hand a
knowledge of the peninsula. "For," as he remarked to Glegg, his aide,
"if I can read the signs aright, the two nations are rushing headlong
into a military conflict."
Two routes were open to him, one overland, the other land and water. He
chose the latter. A vast quantity of freight now reached Queenston from
Kingston. Vessels of over fifty tons sailed up the river, bearing
merchandise for the North-West Company. Salt pork from Ireland and flour
from London, Britain being the real base of supply--the remote
North-West looking to Niagara for food and clothing--the return cargoes
being furs and grain. To portage these goods around Niagara Falls kept
fifty or more farmers' waggons busy every day during the summer. A team
of horses or oxen could haul twenty "pieces," of one hundred weight
each, for a load. The entire length of the portage from Lake Ontario to
Lake Erie was practically a street, full of all the bustle and activity
that a scattered country population of 12,000 conferred upon it. Two
churches, twenty stores, a printing house, six taverns and a scholastic
academy supplied the varied wants of Niagara's 500 citizens who
overfilled its one hundred dwellings.
From Lake Ontario, Newark, as it had been called, presented an inviting
appearance. The brick-and-stone court-house and jail and brightly
painted Indian council-house and cottages rose in strong contrast
against the green forest. On the river bank was Navy Hall, a log retreat
for seamen, and on Mississaga (Black Snake) Point a stone lighthouse
flashed its red signal of hope to belated mariners. Nearer the lake
shore, in isolated dignity across a mile of common, stood Fort George, a
dilapidated structure with wooden palisades and bastions. Half-acre lots
in the village were given gratis by the Government to anyone who would
build, and eight acres outside for inclosures, besides a large
"commonty" for the use of the people. A quite pretentious wharf lined
the river, and from this, on any summer afternoon, a string of soldiers
and idle citizens might be seen--among whom was Dobson--casting hook and
troll for bass, trout, pickerel and herring, with which the river
swarmed. On one occasion Brock helped to haul up a seine net in which
were counted 1,008 whitefish of an average weight of two pounds, 6,000
being netted in one day.
Side-wheel ferries, driven by horse-power, plied between the river's
mouth and the Queenston landing. The paddle-wheels of these were open
double-spoke affairs, without any circular rim. A stage-coach also ran
between Queenston and Fort Erie, the first in Upper Canada. For one
dollar the passenger could travel twenty-five miles.
At Fort Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, Brock embarked in
mid-August in a government schooner. He wished to familiarize himself
with the upper water-ways. He made the long trip from Quebec to York,
and thence to Niagara, Amherstburg, Detroit, Sandwich and return
overland to Fort George, within two months--record time. Dobson
accompanied his master. Brock was silent as to his impressions, but
admitted he was convinced that the water route for a military expedition
was the only practical one, and that Mackinaw, held by the United
States, was the portal and key to the western frontier in case of
invasion. He crossed overland through the "bad woods" and open plains to
the Point of Pines, where batteaux and canoes awaited him. From thence
he proceeded along the north shore of Lake Erie until abreast of the
Miami, a confluent of the Ohio River, on the south shore, then turned
northward up the Detroit River, twenty-five miles farther, reaching
Amherstburg--called Malden by the Americans--250 miles from Fort Erie.
Here, after consulting with Colonel St. George, he inspected the battery
at Sandwich, and with little ceremony visited Detroit--the old military
post of Pontchartrain--on the opposite side of the river, later
notorious as an emporium for "rum, tomahawks and gunpowder." From
Amherstburg, a small village with an uncompleted fort and shipyard, he
sent messengers to the remote post of St. Joseph, an island, fifty-five
miles from Mackinaw, below Sault Ste. Marie, and started homewards
overland.
In returning, he skirted the great tributary marshes, alive with
water-fowl of every description, whose gabble and flapping wings could
be heard at a long distance. He camped in the vast hardwood forests that
covered the western point of the peninsula that extends west from Lake
Ontario to the river connecting Lake Huron with Lake Erie. He shot big
bustards and wild turkeys in the bush, where wolves and deer were as
thick as rabbits in a warren, and tramped the uplands, teeming with
quail and prairie chicken. Continuing by Delaware and the Government
road at Oxford on the Thames, and by the "Long Woods" over the Burford
Plains to Brant's Ford, he reached the Grand River, and then by Ancaster
and the head of the lake to Burlington, when he followed the Lake
Ontario southern shore road to Niagara.
Many of the settlers whom he met were from the Eastern States. These
were the original Loyalists or their descendants, patriots to the core.
Other more recent arrivals--perhaps two-thirds of the whole--came from
Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, attracted by the fertility of the
soil and freedom from taxation, or to escape militia service. These
latter he quickly realized were not the class to rely upon in event of
war, but he gave no public sign of distrust. It was from the pick of the
first-mentioned stalwarts that Brock formed his loyal Canadian militia,
his gallant supporters in the war of 1812, who made a reputation at
Detroit and Queenston that will never die.
He was more than ever sensible of the resources of the country. This
glimpse of the west enamoured him. To his "beloved brothers"--our hero
always thus addressed them--he described it as a "delightful country,
far exceeding anything I have seen on this continent." The extent of
the Great Lakes amazed him, as did their fish. From these deep cisterns
he had seen the Indian fishermen take whitefish, the _ahtikameg_
(deer-of-the-water), twenty pounds in weight; maskinonge--
_matchi-kenonje_, the great pike--more than twice that size, and
sturgeon that weighed two hundred pounds and over, and in such
quantities that he hesitated to tell his experiences on his return.
Henry's stories of five hundred whitefish taken with a scoop net at the
rapids of Sault Ste. Marie in two hours were no longer questioned. The
size of the red-fleshed land-locked trout (the quail-of-the-water), of
pickerel and bass, astounded him. His travels had broadened his views.
The chatter of his Iroquois and Algonquin friends was now easier of
interpretation. The riddles of the wilderness were more easily read. He
now realized how possible it was, in this continent of unsurveyed
immensity, to journey for weeks, after leaving the white man's domain
hundreds of miles behind, and then reach only the rim of another kingdom
of even far greater fertility. He also realized that beyond these
laughing lands lay a rugged world of desolation, bounded in turn by the
rasping ice-floes of the Arctic.
If Brock's mind had expanded, so had his body. He was, as he expressed
it, as "hard as nails." The close of 1811 found "Master Isaac" a grand
specimen of manhood. Inclined to be a little portly, he was still
athletic. His face, though a trifle stern, had grown more attractive,
because of the benevolent look now stamped upon it. He was still fair
and florid, with a broad forehead, and eyes though somewhat small, yet
full and of a grayish blue, a charming smile and splendid white teeth.
Always the same kindly gentleman and always a soldier. His life at Fort
George had been one of great loneliness. He read much and rapidly, and
would memorize passages from the books that had left the deepest
impression. History, civil and military, especially ancient authors, was
his choice, and maps his weakness. Over these, with his devoted aides,
he would pore late into the night, until he knew the country almost as
well as his friend the Surveyor-General. For variety he feasted upon the
robust beauties of Pope's "Homer," ever regretting he never had a master
"to guide and encourage him in his tastes."
With Lieutenant-Governor Gore, formerly a soldier in Guernsey, our hero
was on intimate terms. When the grind of duty let him, he would travel
"the worst road in the country--fit only for an Indian mail-carrier--in
order to mix in the society of York." He periodically returned these
hospitalities by a grand ball at Niagara--always the event of the
season. Brock, while fond of women's society, preferred brain to beauty.
Had his old Guernsey friends been present on these occasions they would
not have recognized in the soldier, resplendent in a general's uniform,
now dancing a mazurka, the handsome stripling who only a few years since
had waltzed his way into the hearts of all the women of St. Peter's
Port.
The unrest of the Indians at Amherstburg troubled him. He had seen over
eight hundred in camp there, receiving rations for a month while waiting
presents of blankets, powder and shot from King George. They asked
British support if they took the warpath against the Americans--the
Long-knives--_Gitchi-mokohmahn_, their sworn enemies. Tecumseh, a
Shawanese chief, had demanded from the United States the restoration of
violated rights. This demand had not been complied with. The position
was critical. Great tact was required to retain the friendship of the
Indians, while not complying with their request.
In Lower Canada there was still discord among the French Canadians. The
Governor, Sir James Craig, in a dying condition, relinquished office. In
answer to Brock's application for leave, still hoping for a staff
appointment in Portugal, the Governor-General implored him to remain.
"I must," he told him, "leave the country in the best state of security
I can; your presence is needed here. I am sending you as a mark of my
sincere regard my favourite horse, Alfred." This was a high-bred animal,
and our hero's charger in the war that followed.
It was not, however, until war was regarded as unavoidable, and not
until after he was promoted to be a major-general and appointed
President and Administrator of Upper Canada, as successor to Governor
Gore, that Isaac Brock became reconciled to life in Canada, and with set
purpose assumed the duties of his high calling.
* * * * *
Our hero had passed his _third_ milestone.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] Miss Carnochan, as the Curator of the Niagara Historical Society the
custodian of many relics of the war of 1812, has in her keeping this
identical cocked hat. It arrived "shortly after Brock's death, and was
given by his nephew to Mr. George Ball, near whose residence the 49th
was stationed. The hat measures twenty-four inches inside, and was used
at the funeral obsequies of 1824 and 1853, when many old soldiers
requested, and were permitted, to try it on." The usage that the cocked
hat then received has not improved its appearance.
CHAPTER XII.
MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK, GOVERNOR OF UPPER CANADA.
The appointment of Brock--with his exceptional military attainments--to
the chief command in Upper Canada, at the point of greatest danger, was
a rare piece of good fortune for the colony. Of the American military
leaders, Generals Howe, Dearborn and Wadsworth were all examples of a
common standard; even Sir George Prevost, the new Governor-General of
Canada and Commander-in-Chief, was tuned in a minor key.
Isaac Brock was the man of the hour. His star was in the ascendant.
Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, was anxious to meet the
soldier whose despatches had stirred the War Office. The Duke of York
was ready to give him a brigade under Wellington, while the Governor of
Jamaica, the Duke of Manchester, then touring Canada, begged Brock, whom
he looked upon as a "universal provider," to equip him with canoes and
guides for a western pilgrimage. If Brock's promotion brought him
distinction it also brought him work--Executive Councils,
court-martials, reorganization of militia, reconstruction of the ruined
forts on the Niagara frontier, the building of gunboats, the making of
roads. Never idle. To-day he was inspecting a camp of the 49th at Three
Rivers, near Montreal; next week at Fort Erie. Ever busy, ever buoyant.
Whether perusing documents, scouring the muddy roads at Queenston,
surveying the boundaries of the dreaded Black Swamp, or visiting the
points between Fort George and Vrooman's battery on his slashing gray
charger, he had a smile and cheery word for everyone. As for Dobson, his
profound awe at his master's progress was only equalled by his devotion,
that increased with the illness that threatened his life; while the
faithful sergeant-major, now Captain FitzGibbon, in command of a company
of the 49th, was reflecting great credit on his patron. But no matter
what the tax on his time, Isaac never neglected the "beloved brothers."
In New York there had been financial failures. Brock predicted a
dreadful crash, and had so written to his brother Irving, who with
William had a bank in London. He hoped they "had withheld their
confidence in public stocks." Providence ruled otherwise. While Isaac in
the solitude of his quarters was writing this warning, the banking house
in London, whose vessels in the Baltic Sea had been seized by
Bonaparte's privateers, closed its doors. The news reached him on his
birthday. He learned that a private advance made to him by William for
the purchase of his commissions had been entered in the bank's books by
mistake. He was a debtor to the extent of £3,000.
Brock rose to the occasion. He proved himself not only a soldier but,
best of all, a just man with the highest sense of personal honour. His
distress was all for his brothers. He would sell his commission, turn
over his income as governor and surrender everything, if by doing so he
could save the fortunes of his family. Anything that not only the law
but the right might demand. This failure impaired the former good
fellowship between William and Irving Brock. Isaac wrote Irving,
beseeching him to repair the breach. "Hang the world," said he; "it is
not worth a thought. Be generous, and find silent comfort in being so.
Oh, my dear brother, forget the past and let us all unite in soothing
the grief of one of the best hearts that heaven ever formed, whose wish
was to place us all in affluence. Could tears restore him he would be
happy."
But Isaac was not permitted to know that reconciliation followed his
prayers. While William and Irving were shaking hands, but before they
had even heard of the capture of Detroit, Isaac, unknown to them, was at
that moment lying cold in death within the cavalier bastion at Fort
George.
Little York was now Brock's headquarters. He built dockyards to shelter
His Majesty's navy, which consisted of two small vessels! He planned new
Parliament Buildings and an arsenal, prepared township maps showing
roads and trails, fords and bridges, all of which latter were in a
shocking condition. At York the timber and brushwood was so dense that
travel between the garrison and town was actually by water. His mind
made up that war with the United States was inevitable, he was
confronted with crucial questions demanding instant solution. Chief of
these was the defence of the frontier, 1,300 miles in length, which
entailed repairs of the boundary forts, the raising of a reliable
militia, the increase of the regular troops, the building of more
gunboats, and the solving of the Indian problem.
[Illustration: BUTLER'S BARRACKS (OFFICERS' QUARTERS), NIAGARA COMMON]
CHAPTER XIII.
THE WAR CLOUD.
A President of the United States had breezily declared that the conquest
of Canada would be "a mere matter of marching." The final expulsion of
England from the American continent he regarded as a matter of course.
Cabinet ministers at Washington and rabid politicians looked upon the
forcible annexation of Canada as a foregone conclusion.
One Massachusetts general officer, a professional fire-eater, said he
"would capture Canada by contract, raise a company of soldiers and take
it in six weeks." Henry Clay, another statesman, "verily believed that
the militia of Kentucky alone were competent to place Upper Canada at
the feet of the Americans." Calhoun, also a "war-hawk," had said that
"in four weeks from the time of the declaration of war the whole of
Upper and part of Lower Canada would be in possession of the United
States." All of this was only the spread-eagle bombast of amateur
filibusters, as events proved, but good cause for Brock, who had been
appointed janitor of Canada and been given the keys of the country, to
ponder deeply.
Canada's entire population was nearly 320,000--about the same as that of
Toronto to-day--that of the United States was 8,000,000! To defend her
broken frontier Canada had only 1,450 British soldiers and a militia--at
that moment--chiefly on paper. If the Indians in the West were to be
impressed with British supremacy--for they were making a stand against
2,000 American soldiers on the banks of the Wabash, in Ohio, where
eighteen years before they had been beaten by General Wayne at
Miami--then Amherstburg must be greatly strengthened and the Americans
deterred from attack. How was Brock to obtain troops, and how were they
to be equipped? The stores at Fort York were empty, provisions costly,
and no specie to be had. All the frontier posts needed heavier
batteries. On Lake Erie the fleet consisted of the _Queen Charlotte_ and
the small schooner _Hunter_. As to the militia, he had been advised that
it would not be prudent to arm more than 4,000 of the 11,000 in all
Canada prepared to bear arms.
To Brock's citation of thirty pressing wants Sir George Prevost wrote
him, "You must not be led into any measure bearing the character of
_offence_, even should war be declared." Prevost had a fluid backbone,
while Brock's was of finely tempered steel.
While affairs were in this precarious state His Excellency the
Lieutenant-Governor, Major-General Brock, opened the Legislature at
York. With what pride the news was received by the good people at St.
Peter's Port can be imagined. To think that this great man, gorgeous in
a purple Windsor uniform and slender court sword, with gleaming silk
hose and hair aglitter with silver powder, was none other than "Master
Isaac," whom the humblest Guernsey fisherman claimed as comrade, seemed
past belief! To think that this important gentleman, with frilled
waistcoat and cuffs of delicate lace--actually the King's Deputy--before
whom, as "Your Excellency," Indian and paleface, gentle and simple,
bowed low, was the small boy who used to play "uprooting the gorse"
with the Guernsey fisher-lads--was beyond comprehension. Probably the
one least affected by these honours was our hero himself. While it
gratified his honest pride, it did not in the least cloud his vision.
His speech from the throne proves this.
"It is a glorious contest in which the Empire is engaged," he said, "to
secure the independence of Europe, but what can we think of the American
Government, which is trying to impede her effort.... The ships of
England," he continued, "had been refused shelter in United States
harbours, while refuge had been extended to the ships of our inveterate
enemies." He reminded the colonists that "insulting threats had been
offered to the flag and hostile preparations made." He praised the
militia, and, while wishing for peace, declared that "Canada must
prepare for war, relying on England's support in her hour of peril." He
asked the Legislature to assent to three things of vital importance--the
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the passage of a law to regulate
the privileges of aliens, and an Act providing for rewards to be paid to
the captors of deserters.
It was a house divided against itself, and it turned a deaf ear to
Brock's appeal. "To the great influence of _American settlers_ over the
members of the Lower House," he attributed this defeat. A court-martial
revealed the fact that one of the best known militia regiments was
composed almost entirely of native Americans! The United Empire
Loyalists thronged to his banner.
Undaunted by the cheap prudence of Prevost, a hostile Legislature, and
the difficulties that beset him, Brock took off his coat, rolled up his
sleeves, and all but single-handed--"off his own bat," as Dobson
explained it to an admiring crowd in the barrack-room--wrought like the
hero that he was for the salvation of his country. He became a machine,
a machine working at high pressure eighteen hours out of twenty-four. He
had developed into a very demon for work.
With an empty treasury and no hope of reinforcements--every soldier
England could spare was fighting in Spain--he raised flank companies of
militia to be attached to the regular regiments. The Glengarry
sharpshooters, four hundred strong, were enlisted in three weeks. A new
schooner was placed on the stocks. He formed a car-brigade of the young
volunteer farmers of York and removed incompetent officers.
Fort George, constructed of earthen ramparts, with honeycombed cedar
palisades which a lighted candle could set fire to, with no tower or
block-house, and mounting only nine-pound guns, he knew was incapable of
resistance. It invited destruction from any battery that might be
erected at Youngstown on the American side, while confronting it was
Fort Niagara, built of stone, mounting over twenty heavy guns,
containing a furnace for heating shot, and formidable with bastions,
palisades, pickets and dry ditch. The tension at Niagara was trying. Two
officers of the 41st were expelled for killing dull care by dissipation.
A Canadian merchant schooner was boarded in mid-lake by an American
brig, taken to Sackett's Harbour and stripped. The Americans were
pouring rations and munitions of war into Detroit. If Brock's hands were
shackled, he knew the art of sitting tight. He made another flying trip
to Amherstburg, taking one hundred men of the 41st, in the face of
Prevost's standing orders to "exercise the strictest economy."
Handicapped on every side, doing his best and preparing for the worst,
he wrote Prevost that his "situation was critical," but he "hoped to
avert dire calamity."
The river bank between Fort George and Queenston for seven miles was
patrolled night and day. A watch was placed on Mississaga lighthouse
from daylight to dusk, and beacon masts, supporting iron baskets filled
with birchbark and pitch, were erected on the heights to announce, in
event of hostilities, the call to arms.
At this time one of Brock's most intimate friends--his chosen
adviser--was Mr. Justice William Dummer Powell, later Chief Justice of
Upper Canada, and former Speaker of the House. At the judge's house and
at Tordarroch, the log mansion of General Æneas Shaw--another intimate,
and Adjutant-General of Militia--Brock was wont to repair for a few
hours' rest from official cares. It was at Tordarroch (Oak Hall), on the
outskirts of York, that the great Duke of Kent had been a guest. When at
Fort George our hero usually lived with Colonel Murray, of the 100th,
and "charming Mrs. Murray," as he was fond of calling her, in their
"pretty cottage," and if not there he was a constant visitor at the
house of Captain John Powell, a son of the judge and son-in-law of
General Shaw, between whose daughter, Sophia Shaw, and Isaac Brock there
had developed a deep attachment. Here he whiled away spare moments with
whist and cribbage, "diversions," he said, "that sharpened a man's
wits." He would shoot wild pigeons and spruce partridges in the adjacent
bush, or take long gallops, frequently alone, over the plains beyond the
Heights of Queenston, ever on the lookout for new bridle-paths and
point-to-point trails.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DECLARES WAR.
It came at last! On June 18th, 1812, after weeks of preparation, placing
an embargo on shipping, putting 100,000 militia on a war footing on the
pretence of hostilities among the Indians, calling out the volunteers
and raising a special public fund, Congress under President Madison
declared war against Great Britain.
This did not end Brock's suspense. Not until five weeks later did he
receive official notice from Prevost. Despite opposition from many
states, which declared their detestation of an alliance with Bonaparte,
after a stormy debate behind closed doors at Washington, Congress voted
for war against England, with Canada as the point of attack. The United
States placed itself on record as approving of "forcible invasion of a
neighbouring peaceful country and its rights, and of taking property on
which it had no shadow of claim."
The offensive "right of search" of American ships by British warships
for deserters was, of course, given as the excuse for war. The United
States Government contended that a nation's flag protected the cargoes
of the vessels of that nation. To search for contraband or for deserters
on such ships, President Madison declared, was a violation of
international law. In direct violation of the United States' own
interpretation of this decree, her war-frigate _President_ blew the
British gunboat _Little Belt_, half her own size, almost out of the
water because of the refusal of her commander to allow such search.
It is interesting to remember that while the United States contended
that Britain had no right to search the ships of other nations, she
actually allowed her own officials, in the case of an American sailor
who had become a citizen of France and an officer in the French navy, to
search the foreign vessel upon which he served and arrest him as a
deserter. A more flagrant violation of the principles she professed is
difficult to imagine. She insisted that this officer was still a citizen
of the United States, for he could not become a citizen of another
country without the consent of the government of his native country. So,
when it suited her purpose, and in direct defiance of her own
proclamation, she did not hesitate to accept England's contention and
adopt the "obnoxious doctrine"--thus practising the identical principle
against which she had declared war. Truly glaring inconsistency.
While these were the chief of the alleged reasons for war, the whole
world knew that the real cause was the jealousy and hatred felt for
England by a certain class of United States citizens who "were bound to
pick a quarrel with John Bull, excuse or no excuse." That there were
many and irritating faults on the part of England cannot be denied. In
the light of subsequent events it is not difficult to realize that both
governments were in the wrong. The wisdom born of bitter experience and
the sincere friendship of the two nations to-day, sensibly founded on
mutual respect, happily renders a repetition of such regrettable scenes
outside the pale of possibility.
Strange to say, England had revoked the objectionable Order-in-Council
authorizing right of search of American ships for deserters by British
men-of-war the very day _before_ war was declared by the United States.
There was no ocean cable in those days. Had there been, this story might
never have been written. The removal, however, of this one reason for
_war_ was not--when letters duly arrived from England announcing the
fact--accepted by the United States as a reason for an immediate
declaration of _peace_. This proves that the reasons advanced by the
United States for going to war were from first to last not genuine, but
mere excuses. Canada was as Naboth's vineyard, and Ahab, in the person
of the United States, coveted it. England hesitated to draw the sword on
a people "speaking a common tongue, with institutions based upon her
own," but she could not always be expected to "turn the other cheek to
the smiter."
The United States called out an army of 15,000 men for purposes of
attack on the Niagara frontier, and commanded General Wadsworth--of
course, on paper--"to feed and cherish them." How well he executed this
command remains to be seen.
What of Canada? Her yeomen forsook ploughshare and broadaxe, seized
sword and musket, and rallied to the standard of Brock. In Upper Canada
there was an active force of 950 regulars and marines and 550 militia.
This little army had to defend the seven forts of Kingston, York,
George, Erie, Chippewa, Amherstburg, and St. Joseph, not one of which
was a fortress of strength, to patrol the lakes and protect a most
vulnerable frontier. It was the opinion of leading military authorities
that Canada could never be held against such an enemy.
Brock was at York when the news reached him. He at once sent part of the
41st to Niagara by lake, crossing himself with his brigade-major,
Evans, and Macdonell and Glegg, his aides, and, as usual, in a batteau,
with eleven men. At Fort George he bade adieu to some American officers,
guests of the mess, and sent them across the river. He was eager to
storm Fort Niagara, whose capture might have changed the entire
situation, but alas! what of his instructions?
He called out more militia, though he had only a few tents and many of
the men were drilling without shoes. One hundred Tuscaroras under Chief
Brant answered his summons. He divided his augmented Niagara force into
four divisions--at Fort Erie 400 men, at Fort Chippewa 300, at Queenston
300, at Fort George 500. Of these, 900 were militia.
The rattle of the matchlock was as familiar as cockcrow. Every man
became in fact, if not in deed, a volunteer. If the musket was not
strapped to the tail of the plough, it leaned against the
snake-fence--loaded. The goose-step, the manual and platoon took the
place of the quadrille. Every clearing became a drill-hall, every log
cabin an armoury. Many of the militia were crack shots, with all the
scouting instincts of the forest ranger. In the barrack-square, in
scarlet, white and green, the regulars drilled and went through wondrous
evolutions with clock-work precision--fighting machinery with the
tenacity of the bull-dog, though lacking the craft of the woods that had
taught the volunteer the value of shelter and the wisdom of dwelling on
his aim.
Apart, stolid and silent, but interested spectators, lounged the dusky
redmen, forever sucking at their _pwoighun-ahsin_ (stone pipes) and
making tobacco from the inner bark of red-willow wands, watching and
wondering. The foot soldiers carried fire-locks, flints and cartridge
boxes. These smooth-bore flint-locks had an effective range of less than
100 yards, and could be discharged only once a minute. Very different to
the modern magazine rifle, which can discharge twenty-five shots in a
minute and kill at 4,200 yards, while within 2,000 yards it is accurate
and deadly. The mounted men were armed with sabres and ponderous
pistols.
Our hero addressed the militia. The enemy, he told them, intended to lay
waste the country. "Let them be taught," he said, "that Canadians would
never bow their necks to a foreign yoke." As the custodian of their
rights, he was trying to preserve all they held dear. He looked to them
to repel the invaders.
Brock was placed in a most peculiar position, for while the passive
Prevost was still instructing him--nearly three weeks _after_ the
declaration of war--"to take no offensive measures, as none would be
taken by the United States Government," General Hull, with a force of
2,500 tried soldiers, was on his way from Ohio through the Michigan
forests to occupy Detroit and invade Canada. Hull reached Detroit, and
four days later, with his entire command, crossed the river and occupied
Sandwich. But the trip was attended with serious mishap to his army, for
Lieutenant Roulette, of the British sloop _Hunter_--a brother of the
famous fur-trader--in a small batteau, with only six men, captured the
United States packet _Cayuga_, with a detachment of five officers and
thirty-three soldiers, as she was coming up the river. The _Cayuga's_
treasure consisted not only of valuable stores and baggage, but Hull's
official correspondence with the United States Secretary of War. The
contents of this decided Brock, though he had no idea Hull's army was so
strong, to attempt the reduction of Fort Detroit without a moment's
delay.
The very hour he knew that war was declared he had notified the officer
at St. Joseph. Our hero, whose root idea of a soldier's craft was
"secrecy in conception and vigour in execution," had no taste for
Prevost's mad doctrine that the aggressed had to await the convenience
of the aggressor. Brock had been taught to regard tolerance in war as an
"evil of the first magnitude," and so had already instructed the
commander at St. Joseph that if war was proclaimed he was to attack
Mackinaw at once, but if attacked, "defend your post to the last."
Prevost at the same time had ordered this officer "in case of necessity
to effect his own retreat," never dreaming he would dare attack
Mackinaw. What a contrast the despatches of these two men present! The
one full of confidence, fight and resistance, the other shrinking from
action and suggesting retreat. Brock's despatch was of later date and
more palatable to the fighter at St. Joseph. He started at once for
Mackinaw, fifty-five miles distant, with 45 of the 10th Royal veterans,
180 Canadians, many of whom were traders and voyageurs, and convoyed by
the brig _Caledonia_, owned by the North-West Fur Company.
He landed before daybreak. By noon of that day the Union Jack was
floating above the basalt cliffs of the Gibraltar of the north, and also
over two of the enemy's vessels laden with furs. It is not on record
that Captain Roberts was recommended by General Sir George Prevost for
promotion! The Indians at Amherstburg were now ready to support the
British. Foremost among these was the great Shawanese warrior, Tecumseh.
General Hull, having meantime billeted himself in Colonel Baby's big
brick house at Sandwich, issued a proclamation to the "inhabitants of
Canada." As a sample of egotism, bluff and bombast it stands unrivalled.
He told the inhabitants of Canada that he was in possession of their
country, that an ocean and wilderness isolated them from England, whose
tyranny he knew they felt. His grand army was ready to release them from
oppression. They must choose between liberty and security, as offered by
the United States, and war and annihilation, the penalty of refusal. He
also threatened instant destruction to any Canadian found fighting by
the side of an Indian, though General Dearborn, in command of the United
States forces at Niagara, had been authorized by the United States
Secretary of War "to organize the warriors of the Seneca Indians" _for
active service against Canada_.
The United States Secretary of War wrote to Hull, saying his action
respecting Canadian Indians "met with the approval of the Government."
Evidently ashamed, upon reflection, of Hull's threat, that same
Government later instructed its commissioners at the Treaty of Ghent,
when peace was restored, "to disown and disavow" their former Indian
policy.
Hull's extraordinary production, which proved a boomerang, was really
the work of Colonel Lewis Cass, his Chief of Staff; but while Hull and
Cass were "unloading their rhetoric at Sandwich," our hero was "loading
his guns at Mackinaw."
CHAPTER XV.
BROCK ACCEPTS HULL'S CHALLENGE.
With the country's call for a saviour had arisen the man so sorely
needed. Vigilant, sagacious and brave, but with most inadequate forces,
Brock, faced by a crisis, hurried to repel the invasion by Hull. If
Canada was to be saved, Detroit, as well as Mackinaw, must be reduced.
The confidence also of the savages must be retained. The smallness of
his army demanded the neutrality of the redmen, if not their active aid.
The plan of his campaign was laid before his Executive Council and the
members of his staff. As they parted at the door of the General's
quarters at midnight, preceding the day on which their gallant leader
issued his counter reply to Hull, his final words were: "To hold
Amherstburg, gentlemen, is of vital importance. It is the western base
from which we must resist attack and advance upon Detroit. It must be
held in force."
Brock's written answer to Hull's flamboyant address--edited by his wise
adviser, Judge Powell--was eloquent and dignified. Hull's invitation to
Canadians to seek protection from Britain under the flag of the United
States was, he said, "an insult." He cited the advantages of British
connection, and warned the colonists that secession meant the
restitution of Canada to the Empire of France. This was the price to be
paid by America for the aid given by France to the revolting States
during the War of Independence. He reminded them of the constancy of
their fathers. "Are you prepared to become slaves to this despot
Napoleon, who rules Europe with a rod of iron? If not, arise, repel the
invader and give your children no cause to reproach you with sacrificing
the richest inheritance of earth, participation in the name, character
and freedom of Britons."
He told them not to be dismayed by the enemy's threat to "refuse them
quarter should an Indian appear in their ranks." "Why," he continued,
"should the brave bands of Indians which now inhabit this colony be
prevented from defending their new homes?" These poor people, he
reminded them, had actually been punished for their former fidelity to
the United States, by the Government of that country taking from them
their old homes in Ohio. The King of England had granted them a refuge
and given them superior lands in Canada. Why were they to be denied the
right to defend their hearths "from invasion by ferocious foes," who,
while utilizing Indians themselves, had condemned the practice in
others? The threat to refuse quarter to these defenders of invaded
rights would, he said, bring about inevitable reprisal, for "the
national character of Britain was not less distinguished for humanity
than retributive justice."
The obstacles surrounding Brock would have driven an ordinary man to
distraction. It is not possible to recite a fraction of them. The Grand
River Indians, having received a specious letter from Hull, refused to
join the relief expedition for Moraviantown, on the Thames, on which
some of Hull's freebooters were marching. Some of the militia declined
to leave their homes, suspicious, they said, of Indian treachery. Some,
with blood relations in the States, refused point blank to take up arms.
Others were busy harvesting, while not a few came out openly as traitors
and joined the ranks of Hull. Brock had no reinforcements of regular
troops, and small chance of getting any, and, what was far worse, he
received little moral support even from the Legislature, and none from
other sources from which he had a right to expect it. He called an extra
session of the House to enact laws to meet the crisis, to invest him
with greater authority and to vote money for defence. He closed his
Speech from the Throne with a declaration delivered in sonorous, ringing
tones that echoed throughout the chamber:
"We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest. By unanimity and
vigour we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended by
free men, devoted to the cause of their King and constitution, can never
be conquered."
Though Brock's speech "inspired the faithful and foiled the designs of
some of the faithless," his demands were conceded in part only, and he
left for Fort George with heart filled with misgivings. In answer to his
request, Prevost declined to define the extent of the authority with
which he had himself vested him. Extreme measures, he told him, must be
taken at his own risk. Our hero was one of those limited few who had
sounded the depths of the truth that it was easier to do one's duty than
to know it. His shrewdness and self-reliance came to the rescue. Seeing
that the Niagara River would be selected as the point for invasion, he
made it his _defensive_ frontier, while the Detroit River was the
_offensive_ front of his campaign. These views he outlined to his staff
on the night following the prorogation of the House.
Judge Powell, after a long session of Council, the last to depart, was
rising to leave. "Then, sir," said Colonel Macdonell, General Brock's
new provincial aide, the young and brilliant Attorney-General of Upper
Canada--engaged to Mary Powell, the daughter of the judge--"you really
believe we can bombard Detroit successfully? The fort has, I understand,
parapets twenty feet high, with four bastions, surrounded by palisades,
a ditch and a glacis, and is capable of withstanding a long siege;
besides which it has 2,500 fighting men to defend it."
"My good Macdonell," responded our hero, interest and deep regard
imprinted on his face, "we fortunately know from Hull's own letters that
he has as little confidence in his army as they have confidence in him.
I fancy he is merely whistling to keep up his courage. A bold front on
our part, with a judicious display of our small force, will give him
cause to reflect. Then, provided we enthuse the Indians--and if Mackinaw
is fallen, this should not be difficult--Detroit is ours!"
"How about Amherstburg and Sandwich, General?" interjected Justice
Powell. "Their safety is essential to your plan."
"As to Amherstburg," said Brock, "it is the pivot point, sir, and must
be retained as our base. At Sandwich we already have earthworks
completed. If destroyed by Hull they must be rebuilt, for the batteries
there must cover our crossing and cannonade the fort while we advance
upon it. I have already sent, as you know, a few additional men to
Procter--every man I can steal from here. He should be able to hold his
own at Amherstburg for a bit longer. The conditions, I admit, are far
from satisfactory under the present command, but Chambers is on his way
with forty of the 41st, one hundred militia with Merritt, and some of
Brant's braves, to put backbone into the garrison."
"General," said Justice Powell, the rays from a waning moon flooding the
hall-way as the outer door was opened by Brock for the exit of his
councillors, "having implicit confidence in your judgment and military
ability, I believe you will overthrow Hull. Assuming that you capture
old Fort Lernoult and seize Detroit, what then?"
"What then, sir?" said Brock--emphasizing his parting words with a
gesture of his hand--"why, Detroit taken, I shall return here, batter
Fort Niagara--providing Prevost consents--and then by a sudden movement
I could sweep the frontier from Buffalo to Fort Niagara and complete the
salvation of Canada by the occupation of Sackett's Harbor. Good-night,
gentlemen. _En avant_, Detroit!"
CHAPTER XVI.
"EN AVANT, DETROIT!"
Under an August moon Lake Erie shone as a shield of silver. Brock, with
a fleet of small craft, batteaux and boats of every kind given him by
the settlers, had pulled out from Long Point with 40 regulars and 260
militia for the relief of Amherstburg, two hundred miles distant.
The news of the fall of Mackinaw and the official declaration of war had
only reached him as Parliament rose. He had proclaimed martial law
before leaving York. He had also heard details of the attack by Hull's
raiders on the Moravian settlement, sixty miles up the Thames. He knew
of the repulse of 300 United States troops in three attempts to cross
the Canard River bridge for an attack on Amherstburg, and of their being
driven into the open plains, with loss, by Procter's men.
It was in one of these attacks that the first scalp in the war of 1812
was taken--not by one of Brock's terrible Indians, whose expected
excesses had been referred to by Hull, but by a captain of Hull's spies.
This officer--one hates to describe him as a white man--wrote his wife,
he "had the pleasure of tearing a scalp from the head of a British
redskin," and related at length the brutal details of his methods. They
were those of a wild beast. "The first stroke of the tomahawk," Hull had
stated in his proclamation, "the first attempt with the scalping-knife,
will be the signal of a scene of desolation." Yet the first scalp taken
in the Detroit campaign was by one of his own officers!
Brock knew that the valorous Hull, dismayed at the advance of the
British, had recrossed the river with all but 250 of his men and was
hard at work on the defences of Fort Shelby, behind which he had
retired. Brock also knew of the affair at Brownstown, where the Indian
chief Tecumseh, with twenty-five warriors, had separated himself from
Major Muir's detachment, sent to intercept a transport on its way from
Ohio to Detroit with supplies for Hull. He had been told of the
stratagem by which the great Shawanese warrior had ambushed the 200
American soldiers, near the Raisin River, who had marched from Detroit
to escort this convoy and the mails. Seven American officers were killed
at the Raisin, twelve of all ranks wounded, and seventy reported missing
after the fight. In addition to the provision train, Tecumseh captured
what was of much greater importance, another batch of Hull's despondent
despatches. It was here that swift justice overtook the scalping Captain
McCullough, of Hull's spies, who himself met with the fate of his former
victim--the fate he deserved.
Brock also received despatches describing the daring attack by
Lieutenant Roulette, of the provincial marine, who in a small boat with
a handful of men had boarded and seized in the Detroit River a brigade
of eleven batteaux! These, loaded with food, were on their way from
Black Rock, and now carried fifty-six wounded American soldiers and two
English prisoners. This bold feat of "cutting out" took place under the
eyes of an armed escort of 250 American soldiers marching along the
river bank.
Messengers from Procter had also informed Brock of the fight at
Maguagua, fourteen miles below Detroit. It was here that Muir, with 200
regulars and militia and less than 200 Indians, instead of waiting to be
attacked, recklessly assailed a force of 600 Americans who were halted
on the edge of the oak forest, supported by two six-pounder guns.
Fighting without hope against such odds, the British were outflanked,
Muir himself wounded, and an officer killed--the second British soldier
to fall in the war of 1812. The American loss was eighteen killed and
sixty-three wounded. Though the difference in arms and men was greatly
in favour of the Americans, the British were enabled to retreat to the
river, where they regained their boats. The American force, suffering
from greater casualties, did not attempt to follow them.
Apart from the inferior strength of the British, the chief cause of
their reverse at Maguagua was the blunder of some men of the 41st, who
fired upon a body of Tecumseh's Indians. In rushing from the woods the
redmen were mistaken for the enemy, and falling into a similar error
themselves, they returned with interest the fire of the British
soldiers. The disorder that followed created a panic. While Tecumseh
with his own Indians fought bravely, the seventy Lake Indians under
Caldwell suffered from "chill" and fled at the first shot. The most
encouraging of these facts, when told to the expedition, aroused in
Brock's followers a wild desire to meet Hull's army in battle.
Our hero's trip from Long Point was full of peril and hardship. The lake
shore in places was extremely rugged. Precipitous cliffs of red clay and
sun-baked sand rose two hundred feet from the boulder-strewn coast.
Scarcely a creek offered shelter. The weather was unusually stormy. A
heavy surf boomed on the shore. Flocks of water-fowl were driven before
the wind. The men were drenched by torrents of rain. Though thirty miles
in twenty-four hours was considered the maximum distance for rowing a
batteau, nothing could retard this strange armada or dampen the
confidence of the men in their resolute leader, who in an open boat led
the way. In this boat, which was "headquarters," were Brock and his two
aides. A lighted flambeau at the bow acted as a beacon during the night.
After five days of great vigilance and galley-slave work, the toilers
reached Amherstburg. Without the help of these hardy and resourceful men
of the Canadian militia this trip could not have been accomplished.
The conduct of these bold frontiersmen aroused Brock's admiration. His
own example had again acted as an inspiration. Shortly after leaving
Port Talbot, his batteau, pounding in the sea, ran upon a reef that
extended far from shore, and despite oars and pike-poles, remained fast.
In the height of the confusion "Master Isaac" sprang overboard, and a
moment later voyageur and raw recruit, waist deep in water, following
the example of the hero of Castle Cornet, lifted the batteau over the
dangerous ledge.
When at midnight the boats passed up the Strait--through which the
ambitious La Salle and Father Hennepin had passed in 1679--and grated on
the gravel beach at Amherstburg, Brock was greeted with a volley of
musketry by the Indians. This was contrary to his rigid rubric of war.
Such waste of powder must not be tolerated. He turned to the Indian
superintendent, "Do pray, Colonel Elliott," said he, "explain my reasons
for objecting to the firing and tell the Chiefs I will talk with them
to-morrow."
[Illustration: OUR HERO MEETS TECUMSEH. "THIS IS A MAN!"]
CHAPTER XVII.
OUR HERO MEETS TECUMSEH.
A few minutes only had elapsed when Elliott returned. The sentry's
challenge caused Brock to look up from the table, littered with plans
and despatches. Another figure darkened the doorway.
"This, sir," said Elliott, "is Tecumseh, the Shawanese chief of whom you
have heard, and who desires to be presented to you."
The General, who had removed the stains of travel and was in uniform,
rose to his full height, bowed, extended his hand and explained in manly
fashion the reason for asking that the firing be stopped. The contrast
presented by the two men was striking. The old world and the new, face
to face--a scene for the brush of an impressionist. Brock, tall, fair,
big-limbed, a blue-eyed giant, imposing in scarlet coat and blue-white
riding trousers, tasselled Hessian boots, and cocked-hat in hand. On his
benevolent face was an irresistible smile.
The Indian, though of middle height, was of most perfect proportions, an
athlete in bronze, lithe and supple as a panther. His oval face, set in
a frame of glistening black hair, shone like a half-polished copper
relief. Overlooking the nose, straight as one of his own arrows, and
from which some tinkling silver coins were suspended, a pair of
hawk-like eyes, hazel-black and unflinching--in which the secrets of the
world seemed slumbering--gleamed upon Brock. His dress, a hunting
jacket of tanned deer-skin and close-fitting leggings. Fringed mocassins
of the same material, richly embroidered in silk and porcupine quills
dyed in divers colours, encased his feet. The light from the open log
fire flickered fitfully, half revealing the antlered heads of moose and
caribou and other trophies of the chase that, hanging from the rafters,
looked down upon the group, adding weirdness to the picture.
Brock briefly explained that he had come to fight the King's enemies,
enemies who so far had never seen his back, and who were Tecumseh's
enemies also. "Would Tecumseh maintain an honourable warfare?"
Perhaps no eulogy of Brock was ever penned that so well summed up his
qualities as did the terse, four-worded certificate of character uttered
by the Indian before replying to the British general's appeal. Tecumseh
looked "Master Isaac's" commanding physique up and over, over and
down--Brock's caution as to waste of powder doubtless weighing with
him--until eye met eye, and then, impulsively extending his thin brown
hand, turned to his followers, exclaiming in tones of highest
admiration:
"_This_ is a man!"
Assenting "Ughs" and "Ho-hos" followed in rapid succession, and in
response to Brock's invitation the headmen, painted and plumed and in
striped blankets, squatted on their stained reed mats and wild-beast
skins on the basswood log floor. Questioned as to the nature of the
country westward, Tecumseh took a roll of elm-bark and with the point of
his scalping-knife traced on its white inner surface the features of the
region--hills, forests, trails, rivers, muskegs and clearings. Rough,
perhaps, but as accurate, he said, as if drawn by a pale-face
_teebahkeè-wayninni_ (surveyor).
That night, after Tecumseh's return, Brock again held council with his
staff, proposing an attack on Detroit. Only one of his chief officers,
the staunch colonial quartermaster, Lieutenant-Colonel Nichol, agreed
with him. Colonel Henry Procter, from whom he had expected whole-hearted
support, strongly objected. History teaches us that the conception of a
daring plan is the offspring of great minds only. Procter was not of
this class, as his subsequent record shows. Some of our hero's critics
have described his resolve to attack Detroit as "audacious and
desperate." Isaac Brock was, of course, nothing if not contemptuously
daring. The greater the difficulty that faced him the more was he
determined to challenge the obstacle, that to a less confident man would
have been rejected as insurmountable. He had, however, resolved and
planned not only upon taking Detroit, but, if need be, the pursuit and
capture of Hull's entire army, compelling him to either stand and fight
or surrender. With habitual prescience he had weighed well the issues
and chosen the lesser alternative. His own defeat and possibly his
death, on the one hand, against the probable salvation of half a
continent on the other. What true soldier could hesitate?
While patiently hearing objections, he brushed the most of them aside as
mere flies on the wheel. Surely the way had been opened to him. The
seized despatches had revealed the discord among Hull's troops and shown
him that while the United States militia, the flower of Ohio and
Kentucky, was of good material, the United States soldiers were not. He
knew that the situation in Upper Canada called for extreme measures, and
that the time to strike was now or never, for his scouts had truly
reported that 350 United States mounted troops were pressing close upon
his rear. They were, in fact, only a mile or two distant. If his own
inferior force was outflanked, or his communication with the Canadian
interior cut, it spelled utter disaster. He was in a wilderness without
hope of reinforcements. As Colonel Cass, the United States commander,
later reported to the President, Brock was "between two fires and with
no hope of succour." Brock knew he must act at once or even retreat
might be impossible. With inborn acumen he saw at a glance the peril of
his own position, and with cool courage hastened to avert it. He
realized that upon the "destruction or discomfiture" of Hull's forces
"the safety of the province depended."
Brock listened closely to Procter's argument--by this time he knew, of
course, that Hull's own line of communication with his reserves had been
cut--then rising, when all who cared to speak had finished, he said:
"Gentlemen, I have definitely decided on crossing the river and
attacking Fort Detroit. Instead of further advice I must beg of you to
give me your hearty support. The general orders for to-morrow will be
issued at once."
This decision was typical of the man of action. "Prudent only where
recklessness was a fault, and hazardous only when hesitation meant
defeat."
CHAPTER XVIII.
AN INDIAN POW-WOW.
It was a picturesque council of white men and Indians that was held at
dawn in an open glade of the forest. The fragrant odours of the bush
mingled with the pungent smoke of the red willow-bark, puffed from a
hundred pipes. Conspicuous at this pow-wow was Tecumseh, who across his
close-fitting buckskin hunting jacket, which descended to his knees and
was trimmed with split leather fringe, wore a belt of wampum, made of
the purple enamel of mussel shells--cut into lengths like sections of a
small pipe-stem, perforated and strung on sinew. On his head he wore a
toque of eagle plumes.
"My object," said Brock, addressing the Indians, "is to assist you to
drive the 'Long-knives' [Americans] from the frontier, and repel
invasion of the King's country." Tecumseh, speaking for his tribesmen,
remarked, not without sarcasm, that "their great father, King George,
having awakened out of a long sleep, they were now ready to shed their
last drop of blood in that father's service."
"The pale faces," he continued, after an impressive pause--and the fire
of his eloquence and his gestures swayed his hearers like the reeds on
the river bank--"the Americans who want to fight the British are our
enemies.... They came to us hungry and they cut off the hands of our
brothers who gave them corn.... We gave them rivers of fish and they
poisoned our fountains.... We gave them forest-clad mountains and
valleys full of game, and in return what did they give our warriors and
our women? Rum and trinkets and--a grave!... The shades of our fathers
slaughtered on the banks of the Tippecanoe can find no rest.... Their
eyes can see no herds on the hills of light in the hunting grounds of
the dead!... Until our enemies are no more we must be as one man, under
one chief, whose name is--Death!... I have spoken."
Tecumseh, it should be known, bore a personal grudge against the
Americans, especially against the 4th Regiment, then in garrison at
Detroit, the "heroes of Tippecanoe." This was a terrible misnomer, for
under General Harrison, with 1,000 soldiers, less than a year before,
they had taken part in the slaughter of Tecumseh's half-armed band of
600 men and women on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, during that
chief's absence with many of his warriors, and had laid waste his
village. With a perhaps pardonable spirit of vindictiveness, such as is
shared by both redskin and white man, the human-being in him thirsted
for revenge.
Brock, perceiving Tecumseh's sagacity and influence over the savages,
invited the Shawanese and Wawanosh, Ojebekun and the other sachems, to a
private council. Here he unfolded his plans. Before doing this he made
it a condition that no barbarities were to be committed. "The
scalping-knife," said he, "must be discarded, and forbearance,
compassion and clemency shown to the vanquished." He told them he wanted
to restrict their military operations to the known rules of war, as far
as was possible under the singular conditions in which they fought, and
exacted a promise from the lofty-minded Tecumseh that his warriors
"should not taste pernicious liquor until they had humbled the
Big-knives." "If this resolution," remarked Brock, "is persevered in,
you must surely conquer."
Brock's rapid ascendency over the Indians was astonishing; they already
revered him as a common father.
That same afternoon our hero, moving up with his entire command to
Sandwich, occupied the mansion of Colonel Baby, the great fur-trader,
just evacuated by Hull. In the spacious hall hooks were nailed to the
rafters, from which were suspended great steel-yards, by which the
beaver packs were weighed. Scattered on the hewn floor in much profusion
were soldiers' accoutrements, service and pack-saddles, iron-bound
chests mixed up with bear-traps and paddles, rolls of birch-bark,
leather hunting shirts, and the greasy blankets of voyageur and redskin.
The room on the right became Brock's headquarters, and in this room he
penned his first demand upon General Hull.
"My force," so he wrote, "warrants my demanding the immediate surrender
of Fort Detroit." Anxious to prevent bloodshed, and knowing Hull's dread
of the Indians, he also played upon his fears. "The Indians," he added,
"might get beyond my control." This summons was carried by Colonel
Macdonell and Major Glegg, under a flag of truce, across the river.
The batteries at Sandwich consisted of one eighteen-pounder, two
twelve-pounders, and two 51/2-inch howitzers. Back of these artificial
breastworks extended both a wilderness and the garden of Canada. Beyond
the meadows, aflame with autumn wild-flowers, beyond the cultivated
clearings, rose a forest of walnut, oak, basswood, birch and poplar
trees, seared with age, of immense height and girth, festooned with wild
honeysuckle and other creepers. In the open were broad orchards bending
under their harvest of red and yellow fruit--apples and plums, peaches,
nectarines and cherries--and extensive vineyards. Huge sugar maples
challenged giant pear trees, whose gnarled trunks had resisted the
storms of a century. To the north the floor of the forest was interlaced
with trails, which, with the intention of deceiving Hull's spies as to
the strength of Brock's forces, had been crossed and recrossed, and
countermarched and doubled over, by the soldiers and Tecumseh's
half-naked braves.
The air was filled with the fragrance of orchard and forest. Facing our
hero, flowed the river, broad, swift and deep; tufted wolf-willow,
waving rushes and gray hazel fringing the banks. Across and beyond this
almost mile-wide ribbon of water, the imposing walls of Fort Detroit
confronted him. Approaching him at a rapid gait he at last espied his
two despatch bearers, their scarlet tunics vivid against the green
background. They reported that, after waiting upon Hull for two hours
without being granted an interview, they were handed the following
reply:
"General Hull is prepared to meet any force brought against him, and
accept any consequences."
Brock instructed his gunners to acknowledge the receipt of this
challenge with the thunder of their batteries, and from then, far into
the night, shells and round-shot shrieked their way across the river,
the answering missiles from Hull's seven twenty-four-pounders breaking
in a sheet of flame from the very dust created by the British
cannon-balls that exploded on the enemy's breastworks. Through the irony
of fate, the first shot fired under Brock's personal orders in the cause
of Canadian freedom killed a United States officer, an intimate friend
of the British artilleryman who had trained the gun. Such are the
arguments of war.
The cannonade proving ineffective, as judged by visible results, Brock
issued orders to cross the river at dawn, when he would make the attempt
to take the fort by storm--and soldier and militiaman bivouacked on
their arms.
* * * * *
Camp fires were extinguished, but the tireless fireflies danced in the
blackness of the wood. The river gurgled faintly in the wind-stirred
reeds. From out the gloom of the thicket came the weird _coco-coco_ of
the horned owl. From the starlit sky above fell the shrill cry of the
mosquito hawk, "_peepeegeeceese, peepeegeeceese_!" From an isolated bark
tepee came the subdued incantation of the Indian medicine-man, while
above the singing of the tree-tops and over all, clear and with
clock-like regularity, floated the challenge of the sentry and answering
picket:
"Who goes there?"
"A friend."
"All's well."
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ATTACK ON DETROIT.
Morning came all too slowly for Brock's impatient soldiers. At last the
_reveille_ warned the expectant camp. The sun rose, a red-hot shell out
of the faint August haze, huge and threatening. With its advent the
British batteries resumed their fire, aided by the guns on the _Queen
Charlotte_ and _Hunter_, which lay in the river, above the village known
to-day as Windsor, to cover the embarkation of the troops in batteaux
and canoes.
Brock's entire force consisted of only 330 regulars and 400 militia,
some of whom, acting on a happy thought, were disguised in discarded
uniforms of the 41st. This army was supported by five pieces of
artillery. All crossed the river in safety, landing at Spring Wells,
four miles below. The Indians, 600 strong, under Tecumseh, in addition
to the men of his own nation, consisted of many Sioux, Wyandottes and
Dacotahs. The majority of these crossed under cover of the night.
History records no instance of a determined force being stopped by a
river. The Detroit River presented an animated picture. Edging their way
through a maze of boats and batteaux, and in marked contrast to the
scarlet-coated soldiers and blue-shirted sailors, bark canoes on which
were drawn in flaring colours a variety of barbaric designs, flitted
here and there, their crews of half-naked savages fearsome in fresh
war-paint and gaudy feathers. Coo-ees, shrieks and shrill
war-whoops--"Ah-oh! Ah-oo!" like the dismal yells of a pack of
coyotes--rent the air, the discordant din ever and anon drowned by the
thunder of the guns from the Sandwich batteries.
Upon landing Brock mustered his men. The reports showed 750 of all
ranks, including the voyageurs left in charge of the river squadron. The
600 Indians deployed in the shelter of the woods, skirmishing to effect
a flank movement. The column, having formed, was moved forward in
sections, and at double distance, to lend a fictitious air of strength;
the light artillery, of three, six, and two three-pounders, being
immediately in rear of the advance guards, the whole preceded by
fluttering standards and rolling drums. Three generations ago! Yet you
can see it all to-day as plainly as Brock saw it, if you but close your
eyes and conjure up the past.
The enemy, over 2,000 strong, drawn up in line upon an overlooking rise,
had planted in the roadway, commanding the approach to the town, two
twenty-four pounders, each loaded with six dozen grapeshot, around which
the gunners stood with burning fuses, challenging our hero's advance.
Up and down, in front of the line, rode Isaac Brock on his gray charger,
his brilliant uniform--khaki was unknown in those days--flashing in the
morning sun, a shining mark. A command here, a kindly rebuke there, a
word of encouragement to all ranks; the eyes of Britain and Canada were
upon them; they might have to take the fort by storm,--even so, honour
and glory awaited them.... Forward then, for King and country!
The rat-a-tat-tat of the kettle-drums, the clear-cut whistle of the
fifes, the resonant roll of the big drums, the steady tramp, tramp of
armed men--and the human machine was in motion.
* * * * *
The long grim guns on Fort Detroit and Hull's field-pieces pointed their
black muzzles at the column. Up and down, in front of his men, rode
Isaac Brock.
* * * * *
Now this was more than some flesh and blood could stand. Spurring his
horse, acting Quartermaster-General Nichol reined up alongside his
beloved commander. "General," he said, saluting his leader, while the
soldiers' faces expressed dumb approval, "forgive me, but I cannot
forbear entreating you not to expose yourself. If we lose you, we lose
all. I pray you, allow the troops to advance, led by their own
officers."
"Master Nichol," said Brock, turning in his saddle and returning the
salute of the gallant Quartermaster, "I fully appreciate your kindly
advice, but I feel that, in addition to their sense of loyalty and duty,
there are many here following me from a feeling of personal regard, and
I will never ask them to go where I do not lead."
Before him spread the plain, broken here and there with _coulees_ and
clumps of bush. A partly fenced roadway, with some scattered houses on
the river bank, but no barbed-wire entanglements, impeded his movements.
The introduction of such pleasant devices was left for a higher
civilization!
* * * * *
The column was in motion. The steady onward tramp, tramp of this thin
red line, raw recruit and grizzly veteran shoulder to shoulder, struck
fear into the heart of the unfortunate Hull. The prospect, though his
troops outnumbered the British three to one, was clearly war to the
knife. Brock's meaning was apparent. Should he or should he not accept
the Englishman's challenge? He could extract no comfort out of that
solid scarlet front, bristling with naked steel, now fast approaching in
battle array with even, ominous tread.
* * * * *
The siege-proof walls of the fort lay behind him. His irresolute heart
grew faint, and in the flash of a flintlock in its pan, honour was
sacrificed and fame cast to the winds. A brave army of martyrs, over
2,000 strong, was rightabout faced, and drinking the cup of humiliation,
that only men of courage can drain to the bitter dregs, this army, eager
to lock bayonets with the British, was actually ordered to retreat into
the shelter of Fort Detroit!
[Illustration: LIEUT.-COLONEL JOHN MACDONELL]
CHAPTER XX.
BROCK'S VICTORY.
Reaching a ravine, Brock ordered up his artillery and prepared to
assault. A shell from the British battery at Sandwich roared over the
river and crashed through an embrasure of Fort Shelby, killing four
American officers. The Savoyard river was reached and the outlying
tan-yard crossed. Brock's troops, keyed up, with nerves tense under the
strain of suspense, and every moment expecting a raking discharge of
shot and shell from the enemy's big guns, heard with grim satisfaction
the General's orders to "prepare for assault."
The field-pieces were trained upon the fort, to cover the rush of the
besiegers. The gunners, with bated breath and burning fuses, awaited the
final command, when lo! an officer bearing a white flag emerged from the
fort, while a boat with another flag of truce was seen crossing the
river to the Sandwich battery. Macdonell and Glegg galloped out to meet
the messenger. They returned with a despatch from the American general,
Hull, to the British general, Brock. This was the message:
"The object of the flag which crossed the river was to propose a
cessation of hostilities for an hour, for the purpose of entering into
negotiations for the surrender of Detroit."
* * * * *
An hour later the British troops, with General Isaac Brock at their
head, marched through the smiling fields and orchards, passed over the
fort draw-bridge, and, surrounded by a host of fierce-looking and
indignant militia of Ohio and "the heroes of Tippecanoe," hauled down
the Stars and Stripes--which had waved undisturbed over Fort Lernoult
since its voluntary evacuation by the British in 1796--and, in default
of a British ensign, hoisted a Union Jack--which a sailor had worn as a
body-belt--over the surrendered fortress. British sentinels now guarded
the ramparts. The bells of old St. Anne's saluted the colors. The "Grand
Army of the West," by which pretentious title Hull had seen fit to
describe his invading force, melted like mist before the rising sun.
Several unattached Canadians, costumed as redmen, followed Brock inside
the fort, and, baring their white arms for Hull's especial edification,
declared they had so disguised themselves in order to show their
contempt for his cruel threat respecting instant death to "Indians found
fighting."
The terms of capitulation included not only one general officer and
2,500 men of all ranks--the would-be conquerors of Canada--2,500 stand
of arms, 33 pieces of cannon, the _Adams_ brig of war, and immense
quantities of stores and munitions, valued at £40,000--but Fort Shelby
and the town of Detroit and 59,700 square miles of United States
territory. Nor were these all, for the fort standard--to the wild
delight of Tecumseh's warriors--a highly-prized trophy, it being the
"colours" of the 4th United States regiment, the vaunted "heroes of
Tippecanoe," passed into the keeping of the British.
Canada was saved!
It was then that those officers who strongly opposed Brock's
determination to attack became suddenly wise after the event and eager
to share the honour. The temptation to improve the opportunity, to any
man less strong than our hero, would have been irresistible, but there
was no display of vainglory, no cheap boasting. The sword of the
conquered American general was accepted with manly deference and the
consideration due to his rank, and he was told, without solicitation on
his part, he could return to the United States on parole. Then Brock
hurriedly dictated a brief and modest despatch apprising Sir George
Prevost of the "capture of this very important post," and quite
realizing that he was merely an instrument in the hands of Providence,
and gratitude and the happiness of those he held most dear being
uppermost in his mind, the captor of Detroit wrote this characteristic
letter.
"Headquarters, Detroit,
"August 16, 1812.
"My dear Brothers and Friends,--Rejoice at my good fortune and join
me in prayers to heaven. I send you a copy of my hasty note to Sir
George. Let me know that you are all united and happy.
"ISAAC."
And so it came about that in this strange and noble fashion General
Brock--"Master Isaac of St. Peter's Port"--overcame the enemy in the
wilds of Michigan and passed his _fourth_ milestone.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAGRIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
The conduct of the Indians under Tecumseh at Detroit had been marked by
great heroism and strict adherence to their pledges. "The instant the
enemy submitted, his life became sacred." In recognition of Tecumseh's
work, and in the presence of the troops formed in the fort square, Brock
handed him his silver-mounted pistols, and taking off his sash, tied it
round the body of the chief.
A suspicion of a smile--the faint smile of elation of the well-trained
child accepting a prize--flitted across the Indian's finely chiselled
face as, proudly inclining his head, he silently took the crimson band.
Then unwinding his own parti-colored, closely-woven Red River belt,
"Would the great white _shemogonis_ (warrior)," he whispered, "accept
the simple sash of the Shawanese in return?"
To this there was a sequel. The next day, when he bade Brock farewell,
Tecumseh wore no sash. "Roundhead," he explained, "was an older, an
abler warrior than himself. While he was present he could not think of
wearing such a badge of distinction." He had given the sash to the
Wyandotte chieftain. Tecumseh proved himself a greater diplomat than
Hull.
The papers of surrender signed, Brock hastened to liberate Dean, a
soldier of the 41st, wounded and taken prisoner at the Canard river,
with another man, while gallantly defending the bridge against a large
body of the enemy. In a voice broken with emotion Brock told him that he
had "nobly upheld the traditions of the service and was an honour to his
profession." Then he singled out Lieutenant Roulette, of the sloop
_Hunter_, a French Canadian, who captured eighteen prizes during the war
and was the leading spirit in many gallant events. "I watched you during
the action," said the General. "You behaved like a lion. I will remember
you." In the orders of that afternoon Brock praised the conduct of his
troops. He laid stress upon the "discipline and determination that had
decided an enemy, infinitely more numerous in men and artillery, and
protected by a strong fortification, to propose capitulation."
The effect of the news in Upper Canada was electrical. Brock became the
idol of the people and was acclaimed "hero and saviour of Upper Canada."
His performance was a record one. In nineteen days he had met the
Legislature, settled important public business, transported a small army
300 miles, 200 of which was by open boat in stormy waters, compelled the
surrender of an enemy three times his strength, entrenched in a
protected fort, and seized 60,000 square miles of United States mainland
and islands.
To the American people the news came as a thunder-clap. President
Madison's chagrin was indescribable. After all the insulting remarks and
bombastic prophecies of himself and Clay, Calhoun, Eustis and others,
the humiliation was as gall and wormwood. Clay, the apostate, later on
swallowed his words and signed the treaty of peace. Eustis, the
Secretary of War, had boasted that he would "take the whole country and
ask no favours, for God has given us the power and the means." But God
saw fit to confound the despoiler. Hull was, of course, made a
scapegoat. Tried by court-martial, he was found guilty of cowardice and
neglect, and sentenced to death, but pardoned by the President. His son
died fighting at Lundy's Lane. The officers of Hull's command, who were
almost united in opposing surrender, as brave men felt their position
keenly. Never let us forget that no one race holds a monopoly in
courage, that no nation has exclusive control of the spirit of
patriotism. Fortunate it is indeed for most of us that the loftier
qualities of man can not be copyrighted by the individual. A share of
these has been bestowed in wise proportion upon all members of the human
family. To those who seek to emulate the character and deeds of the
world's famous men, certain essential qualities of mind may even be
acquired and developed by all, but to possess the "fullness of
perfection" cannot be the lot of every man.
Having finished "the business" that took him to Detroit, our hero did
not waste an hour. Leaving Procter in command, he started before morning
of the next day for Fort George, anxious to carry out his plans and
assume the offensive on the Niagara frontier.
He embarked in the _Chippewa_, a small trading schooner, with seventy of
the Ohio Rifles as prisoners, and took, as a guard, a rifle company
commanded by his young friend, Captain Robinson, subsequently Chief
Justice Robinson, "again winning golden opinions from the men by his
urbanity."
On Lake Erie he met the _Lady Prevost_, of fourteen guns, the commander
of which, after saluting the hero of Detroit with seventeen guns,
boarded the _Chippewa_, handing him despatches that notified him of an
_armistice_, which Sir George Prevost had actually concluded with the
American general, Dearborn, on August 9th! Brock's mortification was
profound. His cherished plan, to sweep the Niagara frontier and destroy
the United States naval arsenal at Sackett's Harbour, was again
frustrated.
A diversion occurred that morning which for a time drove the
unpardonable armistice from Brock's thoughts. A heavy mist hung over the
water. It hid the shore. Deceived by this, the skipper of the
_Chippewa_, who thought he was in Fort Erie harbour, discovered, as the
fog lifted, that they were on the American side and close to Buffalo.
The situation was perilous and dramatic. With the melting of the haze
the wind dropped. Brock saw on the Buffalo shore, within easy hail, a
concourse of inquisitive people trying to make out the nationality of
his ship. Believing the skipper, was in league with the enemy, Brock
turned upon him savagely.
"You scoundrel," said he, "you have betrayed me. Let but one shot be
fired and I will run you up at the yard-arm." Fortunately, the _Queen
Charlotte_, in Canadian water, was seen and signalled, and, the wind
rising, she convoyed the _Chippewa_ and her precious passenger into
safety.
The news of the armistice dumbfounded the General. Instead of battering
Fort Niagara and attacking Sackett's Harbour, he had to order Procter to
cancel the expedition for the relief of Fort Wayne, in the Wabash
country, and himself hurry on to Fort George. At Chippewa he was
received with wild welcome by the river residents and the populace from
the countryside. A deputation of prominent men met him at Queenston,
placed him in an open carriage, and with martial music he was escorted
in triumph to Fort George. After receiving at Niagara the
congratulations of the lady to whom he was engaged, Brock took schooner
for York and Kingston. At both of these places fervid demonstrations
were showered upon him. But "Master Isaac's" head could not be turned
either by success or adulation. The old spirit of self-effacement
asserted itself. "The gallant band of brave men," he said, "at whose
head I marched against the enemy, are the proper objects of your
gratitude. The services of the militia have been duly appreciated and
will never be forgotten."
Isaac's modesty again served to increase the homage and profound
devotion of the people.
Justice Powell voiced the views of the citizens of Upper Canada when he
declared Brock could "boast of the most brilliant success, with the most
inadequate means, which history records.... It was something fabulous
that a handful of troops, supported by a few raw militia, could invade
the country of an enemy of doubtful numbers, in his own fortress, and
make all prisoners without the loss of a man."
"If this sort of thing lasts," commented our hero to a friend, "I am
afraid I shall do some foolish thing, for if I know myself there is no
want of what is called courage in my nature, and I can only hope I shall
not be led into some scrape."
[Illustration: VIEW OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS AND BROCK'S MONUMENT]
CHAPTER XXII.
PREVOST'S ARMISTICE.
The armistice paralyzed Brock's movements. All the moral influence and
material advantage gained by the captures of Mackinaw and Detroit were
nullified by this incredible blunder, for which no reason, military or
civil, has ever been assigned. The loyal volunteers were released from
duty. Brock's Indian allies returned to their villages. Prevost's policy
of peace had become a mental malady. In spite of our hero's pleadings,
and though Prevost actually knew, before the fall of Detroit, that
President Madison would not extend the two weeks' armistice, the
Governor-General forbade Brock attacking either Sackett's Harbour, the
key to American supremacy on the lakes, or Fort Niagara.
"War," wrote Prevost, "has never yet been declared by England. Peace is
possible."
Brock, smarting under restraint and handcuffed by red tape, was
compelled to look on while the enemy brought up reinforcements, powder,
shot, provisions and other munitions of war, by water to Lewiston.
General Van Rensselaer, in command of the American forces at Lewiston,
wrote to the President stating that by "keeping up a bold front he had
succeeded in getting from General Sheaffe at Fort George the
uninterrupted use of the lakes and rivers." The strategic advantage to
the enemy of this cessation of hostilities and the privileges conceded
was enormous. Prevost realized his error too late. The following year,
conceiving it then to be his special mission to borrow our dead hero's
policy, he attacked Sackett's Harbour, but his "cautious calculation"
was, of course, rewarded by ignoble defeat, and ultimately, after the
Plattsburg fiasco, by a court-martial. In his civil administration of
Canada Sir George Prevost may have been a success; as a soldier he was a
sad failure.
Isaac was daily proving the truth of the precept, recognized by all men
sooner or later, that life's values lie not so much in its victories as
in its strife.
Though Brock awoke after Detroit to find himself famous, and a hero
whose prowess far exceeded that of his ancestor, the Jurat of the Royal
Court of Guernsey, over whose exploits he used to ponder seated on the
Lion's Rock at Cobo, he was still the same "Master Isaac," still the
"beloved brother." Separation from his kinsmen only served to draw him
closer.
Crossing Lake Ontario gave him the opportunity he longed for. He wrote
to his brothers collectively, telling them the sundry details of his
success, "which was beyond his expectation." He hoped the affair would
meet with recognition at the War Office. Though admitting it was a
desperate measure, he told them "it proceeded from a cool calculation of
the _pros_ and _cons_," and as Colonel Procter had opposed it, he was
not surprised that envy now induced that officer "to attribute to good
fortune what in reality was the result of my own knowledge and
discernment." But praise and honours, though sweet to our hero, who
after all was only mortal, were secondary to the fact that he would be
in a position to contribute something to the comfort and happiness of
his brothers. The value of the "treasure" captured at Detroit was placed
at £40,000. Brock's share of this was a substantial sum.
"When I returned heaven thanks," he wrote, "for my amazing success, I
thought of you all, your late sorrows forgotten, and I felt that the
many benefits which for a series of years I received from you were not
unworthily bestowed." But the hope that they were reunited was always
the dominant note. "Let me know, my dearest brothers," he pleaded, "that
you are all again united." Then, out of his own knowledge, wrought of
deep experience in the world's wide field, he proceeded: "The want of
union was nearly losing this province, without even a struggle; rest
assured, it operates in the same degree in regard to families."
Brock's despatches, with the story of the capture of Detroit and the
colours of the 4th Regiment, United States Army, the oriflamme of the
"heroes of Tippecanoe," reached London the morning of October 6th, the
anniversary of his birth. His brother William resided close to the city.
A tumultuous clangour of bells and booming of guns from St. James' Park
and the Tower of London rent the air. When asked by his wife the reason
for the jubilation he jokingly replied, "Why, for Isaac, of course. You
surely have not forgotten this is his birthday." But William, on
reaching the city, learned to his amazement that his jesting words were
true. The salvoes of artillery and peals of bells were indeed in honour
of General Brock's victory in far-off Michigan.
Neither King nor Imperial Government was slow to recognize our hero's
achievements. The Prince Regent, who expressed his appreciation of
Brock's "able, judicious and decisive conduct," bestowed upon him an
_extra_ knighthood of the Order of the Bath, in consideration, so ran
the document, "of all the difficulties with which he was surrounded
during the invasion of the Province, and the singular judgment,
firmness, skill and courage with which he surmounted them so
effectually."
When the glittering insignia of his new rank reached Canada, Sir Isaac
Brock's eyes were closed in death. His inanimate body, from which one of
the noblest souls of the century had fled, lay rigid in its
winding-sheet at Fort George.
To Major Glegg, who bore the General's despatches from Canada, the
Prince Regent remarked that "General Brock had done more in an hour than
could have been done in six months by negotiation." The fulfilment of
Isaac's favourite maxim, "Say and do," was being demonstrated in a most
remarkable manner.
[Illustration: "PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK, 18 X 6"]
CHAPTER XXIII.
"HERO, DEFENDER, SAVIOUR."
General Sheaffe, the only field officer available, and junior colonel of
the 49th, of whom the reader has already heard, had been brought from
the East to take command at Niagara in Brock's absence. Like Prevost, he
was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1763, a son of the deputy
collector of that port. There the two had been school-fellows, and both
found it difficult to engage in vigorous diplomatic or military conflict
with the Americans. To Sheaffe's credit, it should be said that he
applied for another station.
It was Sheaffe, however, who acceded to General Dearborn's specious
demand that the _freedom of the lakes and rivers_ be extended to the
United States Government during the armistice. This was done while Brock
was in the West. Sheaffe it also was who, with hat in hand and strange
alacrity, later agreed, despite his first terrible blunder, to repeat
the offence. On the very afternoon that the British defeated the
Americans at Queenston, and when the moral effect of that victory,
followed up by vigorous attack, would have saved Canada from a
continuance of the war, and deplorable loss of life and trade, Sheaffe
actually agreed to another armistice. For this _second_ truce, like his
first, "no valid reason, military or civil, has ever been assigned." As
far as the British were concerned, neither of these two was necessary,
but, on the contrary, directly to their disadvantage. Isaac Brock,
alas! was not made in duplicate.
Our hero remained but a few hours in Kingston. He was needed in Niagara.
The enemy was burning to avenge Detroit. The sight of Hull's ragged
legions passing as prisoners of war along the Canadian bank of the
river, bound for Montreal, did not tend to soften the hearts of the
Americans. Stores and ordnance continued to pour into Lewiston. Brock
needed 1,000 additional regulars. He might as well have asked for the
moon. Early in September he stated that if he could maintain his
position six weeks longer "the campaign would end in a manner little
expected in the States." Scores of American marines and seamen were
marking time, waiting for the launching of the vessels which Captain
Chauncey had been given free license to build to ensure United States
supremacy of the lakes. Prevost's eyes were still bandaged. Brock warned
his grenadiers of the 49th to be ready for trouble. He foresaw that the
Niagara river would be crossed, but at what point was uncertain. Stray
musket-balls whistled across at night as thick as whip-poor-wills in
summer. This firing was "the unauthorized warfare between sentinels."
The peaceful citizens of Newark, returning from dance or
card-party--even the imminence of war did not wholly stifle their desire
for innocent revelry--found it embarrassing.
Though Van Rensselaer's force now numbered 6,300 men, he was still
afraid to attack Brock. Invited by the United States Government to take
up arms, 400 Seneca Indians "went upon the war-path," and performed
ghost-dances on the streets of Lewiston. Prevost, with no proper
conception of the doctrine of "what we have we hold," ordered Brock to
"evacuate Detroit and the territory of Michigan." To "the man behind the
gun," who had but just donated this 60,000 square miles of realty to the
Empire, such instructions were hardly to his taste. Armed with powers of
discretion, our hero declined. Meanwhile Isaac's heart was sore. The
situation was galling. If there was to be no more fighting, why should
he not get his release, join Wellington in Portugal, and renounce
Canada? Unrest and vigilance best describe the order of his days, while
waiting attack. The death of the ever-attentive Dobson, who had passed
away before Brock's departure for Detroit, and the absence of the
faithful sergeant-major--now Adjutant FitzGibbon--distressed him. In an
attempt by General Brown to capture some British batteaux at Tousaint
Island, on the St. Lawrence, the Americans had been repulsed by Brock's
gallant protégé.
Everything now pointed to an early attack by the enemy in force. General
Van Rensselaer, with an ascertained army of at least 6,300, of which
2,600 were militia, wrote that he "would cross the river in the rear of
Fort George, take it by storm, carry the Heights of Queenston, destroy
the British ships--the _Prince Regent_ and _Earl Moira_--at the mouth of
the river, leave Brock no rallying point, appal the minds of the
Canadians, and wipe away the past disgrace."
On one of his visits to Fort George he had remarked to Brock, who had
laughingly pointed out two beautiful brass howitzers taken from General
Wayne, "Oh, yes, they are old friends of mine; I must take them back."
They were not taken back in Brock's time. Even with his grand army of
6,300, his 400 Seneca braves, and his written admission that Niagara was
weakly garrisoned, it is certain Van Rensselaer would have still delayed
attack, unless he had been told by his spies that Brock had returned to
Detroit. Then, with valour oozing from his finger tips, he plucked up
courage to attack the lair in the lion's absence.
At this juncture an untoward event occurred, in the re-taking by the
Americans of the brig _Detroit_, formerly the United States brig
_Adams_--captured, as we know, by Roulette--and the trading brig
_Caledonia_. They were at anchor at the head of the Niagara River, off
Black Rock. The irregular regiments of Hull's command, under the terms
of surrender, were on board on their way to their Ohio homes, via Lake
Erie and Buffalo. The two vessels reached Fort Erie harbour safely, and
being rightly regarded by the British as immune from attack, were left
undefended, in charge of an officer and nine men only, most of whom were
voyageurs. In addition to the prisoners, the two brigs carried great
quantities of fur and 600 packs of deer skins. During darkness
Lieutenant Ellis, with three armed boats and 150 United States troops
and sailors, dropped alongside. Roulette and his nine men fought
desperately, one being killed and four wounded, but both vessels, of
course, fell into the enemy's hands. This attack was contrary to the
rules of war, and a violation of the sanctity of the flag which
"continued to float as long as there were American prisoners on board,
awaiting to be landed on United States soil."
Brock regarded this loss as a calamity. It was, he wrote to Prevost,
"likely to reduce him to great distress." His constant fears that the
enemy would secure control of both Lakes Erie and Ontario were well
founded. He begged Prevost to let him destroy the vessels Chauncey, the
American, was building on Squaw Island. Prevost, of course, besought him
to forbear. Isaac Brock, exasperated and with tied hands, was "doomed to
the bitterest of all griefs, to see clearly and yet be able to do
nothing." Yet while he worked in chains his preparedness was a source of
wonder to those behind the scenes.
Even no less a critic than John Lovett, General Van Rensselaer's
military secretary, was impressed with what he saw through his
field-glasses from Lewiston heights. "Every three or four miles, on
every eminence," he wrote a friend, "Brock has erected a snug battery,
the last saucy argument of kings, poking their white noses and round
black nostrils right upon your face, ready to spit fire and brimstone in
your very teeth, if you were to offer to turn squatter on John Bull's
land." Influenced by these signs of "business," the United States
officers were ordered to "dress as much like their men as possible, so
that at 150 yards they might not be recognized." This was probably due
to one of the last orders issued by our hero, who warned his men that,
when the enemy crossed the river, to withhold their musketry fire until
he was well within range, and then, "if he lands, attack him at the
point of the bayonet with determined resolution."
With clairvoyance that would have done credit to a mind-reader, Brock
knew that attack was imminent. To him the wind that blew across the
river October 12th was laden with omens of war. The air seemed charged
with the acrid smell of burnt powder. The muffled beat of drums, the
smothered boom of artillery, the subdued clash of steel meeting steel,
the stealthy tramp of armed men, seemed to encompass him.
* * * * *
Brock was at his headquarters. He gazed from the window. The storm
outside was hurling great splashes of rain against the narrow casement.
To and fro, over the carpeted floor, he paced that evening for an hour
or more, uninterrupted and alone. It was thus he marshalled facts and
weighed conclusions. Powerful brain and vigorous frame acted in concert.
He was enjoying the fulfilment of the promise of his youth. God had been
good. The world had been tolerant; his fellow-men--at least those who
knew the real Isaac--loyally appreciative. The knowledge of his honours
and fame stirred him to his soul. Not that he was any better, or abler,
he meditated, than other men, but that when "opportunity" offered he was
permitted to grasp it.
"For every day I stand outside your door,
And bid you wake and rise to fight and win."
The influence of the great truth as pronounced in the now familiar
couplet inspired him. He recognized the source whence he derived
whatever of success had followed his efforts, and prayed for greater
sagacity, more vigour of body and tenacity of purpose, a complete
surrender of self to the task before him; that if his life was to be
the price of duty, he might place it on the altar of his country without
one shred of compunction.
* * * * *
He rang the bell for Porter--his body-servant since Dobson's
death--directed him to see that the council room was lighted, that pens,
ink, paper and cigars were in place, as a meeting of his staff was
slated for nine, and sought his sanctum.
[Illustration: POWDER MAGAZINE, FORT GEORGE, NIAGARA]
CHAPTER XXIV.
BROCK'S LAST COUNCIL.
It was long past midnight on the morning of Tuesday, October 13th, 1812,
when Brock dismissed his advisory council of staff officers. An animated
discussion had taken place over the strength of the enemy and the spot
he might select to cross the river, for ruses had been resorted to by
Van Bensselaer to deceive the British.
"I dare not, gentlemen," said our hero, in opening the debate, "weaken
my flanks at Niagara and Erie, though I realize I am leaving Queenston
not properly protected. I have just learned that General Dearborn states
that while 'Tippecanoe' Harrison invades Canada, at Detroit, with 7,000
men--I do not think it necessary I should point out Detroit on the map,"
he added with a smile--"and while a United States squadron--not a
British one, mark you--sweeps Lake Ontario from Sackett's Harbour,
Dearborn himself will threaten Montreal from Lake Champlain. While the
east and the west are thus being annexed by the enemy, our friend Van
Rensselaer is to entertain us here.
"An ordinary boat, as we all know, can be rowed across the river at
Queenston in less than ten minutes. Our spies have reported that forty
batteaux, to carry forty men each, are in readiness at Tonawanda. Evans
and Macdonell, when they called on Van Rensselaer, saw at least a dozen
boats moored at Lewiston, some of which could carry eighty men. During
the deplorable armistice, as General Sheaffe is aware"--looking at that
officer--"Van Rensselaer brought up 400 boats and batteaux from
Ogdensburg and other points, all of his previously blockaded fleet, so
the enemy has no lack of transport. The most effective disposition of
our limited force is, I admit, somewhat of a problem. There is no use in
evading the fact that in point of numbers and ordnance we are too weak,
and as Sir George Prevost has written me not to expect any further aid,
Colonel Talbot must send us a few of his militia."
"Macdonell," he said, turning to his aide, "will you write at once,
to-night, to Colonel Talbot, at Port Talbot, stating that I am strongly
induced to believe I will soon be attacked, and tell him that I wish him
to send 200 men, the militia under his command, without delay, by water
to Fort Erie."
This was Brock's last official letter dictated in council.
"General Sheaffe," he said, addressing that officer, "you, perhaps, know
better than any of us the particulars of Van Rensselaer's appointment.
It seems that he is an amateur soldier, pitchforked into command against
his own will, a victim of New York State politics. While this is
probably so, we must not run away with the idea that his other officers
are no better, for, besides Generals Dearborn and Wadsworth--both
soldiers of national repute--his cousin, Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer,
his chief of staff, is a first-class soldier, a proved fighting man. The
latter is reported to be at the head of 750 well-trained militia, 300 of
whom are selected soldiers, and fifty are said to know every inch of the
river. Our spies report the enemy could ferry 1,500 regulars across in
seven trips.
"The safety of our redan on the Heights has given me some concern, but
Dennis, Williams and others report that the height is inaccessible from
the river side. If an attack in force is made at Queenston, we will have
to concentrate every available man there--at the risk of weakening our
flanks. Lewiston, as you have seen, is white with tents. At Fort Gray
the enemy has two twenty-four-pounders, waiting to silence our
eighteen-pounder in the redan. The Americans have several mortars and
six-pounders on the river bank below Lewiston, ready to ship to any
point by boats specially equipped, or to cover the landing of their
troops on our side of the river, and to drive us back if we attempt to
dispute their passage."
In district general orders prepared that night, the last official
document signed by General Sir Isaac Brock, he directed, "in view of the
imminence of hostilities, that no further communication be held with the
enemy by flag of truce, or otherwise, unless by his special permission."
"I cannot allow looting," he said. "Arms and other property taken from
the enemy are to be at all times reserved for the public service."
Brock's example might have been followed to advantage in later Canadian
campaigns. "I am calling," he continued, "a district court-martial for
nine o'clock to-morrow morning, October 13th, for the trial of three
prisoners, a captain and two subalterns of the 49th and 41st regiments."
That court-martial was not held.
On the day before, Major Evans and Colonel Macdonell had waited upon Van
Rensselaer, with a letter from Brock proposing "an exchange of
prisoners of war, to be returned immediately, on parole." The fact of no
reply having been received to this, Brock regarded as ominous.
"I firmly believe, gentlemen," he proceeded, and his confidence and
courage was infectious, "that I could at this moment, by a sudden dash,
sweep everything before me between Fort Niagara and Buffalo, but our
success would be transient. Disaffection and desertion is rife in the
American camp. Only the other day we saw six poor fellows perish in
mid-stream. To-day more deserters swam the river safely. Our own force,
estimating even 200 Indians under Chief Brant and Captain Norton, though
I expect less than 100 would be nearer the mark, cannot exceed 1,500 men
of all arms. These units I have collected from Sandwich to Kingston.
Many of our men, as no one knows better than Quartermaster Nichol, have
received no pay, are wearing broken shoes--some have no shoes at all--no
tents and little bedding. It is true that they bear the cold and wet
with an admirable and truly happy content that excites my admiration,
but it is no less a disgrace to the responsible authorities. Sir George
Prevost, as you know, has told me 'not to expect any further aid'--the
old parrot cry from headquarters, 'Not a man to spare.' Let me ask the
chief of the Mohawks, who is present, how many warriors he can muster?"
John Brant, or _Thayendanegea_, as he was known among the Six Nation
Indians, was the hereditary chief. At this time he was but a youth of
eighteen--a graceful, dauntless stripling, of surprising activity, and
well educated. At his side sat Captain Jacobs, a swarthy, stalwart
brave, famous for his immense strength, and Captain John Norton, an
Englishman, and chief by adoption only, who, in consideration of Brant's
youth, was acting as his deputy and spokesman. The latter said that
since his return from Moraviantown, and the hunting season having
commenced, many of his braves were absent, but he would pledge the
Mohawks would muster, when wanted, over one hundred tried men. Thanking
the chiefs for their assurances, Brock continued:
"The enemy has an army of over 6,000. The four twelve-pounders and two
hundred muskets captured with the _Detroit_ is a serious loss to us. If
the _Detroit_ is lost to us, however, she is of no further use to the
enemy. We are, I repeat, greatly outweighted and outnumbered by the
enemy, both in siege guns and artillery, and have no forge for heating
shot. I have, as a matter of form, written this day to Sir George
Prevost, restating my anxiety to increase our militia to 2,000 men, but
pointing out the difficulties I shall encounter, and the fear that I
shall not be able to effect my object with willing, well-disposed
characters. Of one thing, gentlemen, I am convinced, that were it not
for the number of Americans in our ranks we might defy all the efforts
of the enemy against this part of the Province.
"As to 'forbearance,' which I am constantly urged by Sir George Prevost
to adopt, you are entitled to my views. While forbearance may be
productive of some good, I gravely doubt the wisdom of such a policy;
but, let me add, I may not, perhaps, have the means of judging
correctly. We cannot, however, disguise the fact we are standing
alongside a loaded mine. Let us be prepared for the explosion. It may
come at any moment. Vigilance, readiness and promptness must be our
watchwords. Might I ask you to remember my family motto, 'He who guards
never sleeps.' Even to-morrow may bring surprises--such stormy weather
as we are having seems strangely suitable for covering an attack.
"I think, gentlemen, if we weigh well the character of our enemy, we
shall find him disposed to brave the impediments of nature--when they
afford him a probability of gaining his end by _surprise_, in preference
to the certainty of meeting British troops _ready formed for his
reception_. But do not, because we were successful at Detroit in
stampeding the United States troops, cherish the impression that General
Hull is a sample of American soldiery. If we _are_ taken by surprise the
attack will soon be known, for our range of beacons extends from the
Sugar Loaf to Queenston, from Lundy's Lane to Pelham Heights. Signal
guns, also, will announce any suspicious movement. One word in
conclusion. As soldiers you know your duty, and I think you now all
understand the position we are in--as far as I know it.
"General Sheaffe," he continued, turning to that officer, "I am much
concerned as to the fate of this town, Niagara, if its namesake fort on
the other side of the river should be tempted to forget the rules of war
and bombard the private buildings here with hot-shot. However, we will
do our best to give the invaders, when they do come, a warm reception.
There are two things, Major," looking towards Evans, his brigade-major
and intimate friend, "that our men must not omit to observe, namely, to
'trust God and keep their powder dry,' a most necessary precaution if
these storms continue."
* * * * *
It is worthy of note that while Brock was in conference with his staff,
expecting invasion any day, General Van Rensselaer, at Lewiston, was
writing the subjoined brief historical despatch to his
brigadier-general, Smythe:
"Sir,--To-night, October 12th, I shall attack the enemy's batteries
on the Heights of Queenston."
* * * * *
The weather was tempestuous. Rain clouds shrouded the Heights of
Queenston in a black pall. The wind romped and rioted in the foliage.
Brock's estimate of the character of the enemy was a masterly one. Van
Rensselaer was about to verify our hero's prediction.
[Illustration: BROCK'S MIDNIGHT GALLOP]
CHAPTER XXV.
THE MIDNIGHT GALLOP.
Well into the half-light of morning, long after the last of his staff,
Evans, Glegg and Macdonell, had departed, Brock sat alone at his
headquarters at Fort George, writing rapidly.
On the oak mantel, an antique clock chimed the passing of the historic
hours, with deep, musical strokes.
Was it presentiment--a clearer understanding that comes to men of active
brain and acute perception, during solitary vigil in the silence of
night, when, with heart and soul stripped, they stand on the threshold
of the great divide--that whispered to this "knight of the sword" his
doom? Was it this clearer comprehension that caused our hero to bow his
head as a faint message from an unseen messenger reached him? With a
sigh of resignation he arose from the unfinished manuscript and passed
on to his bedroom.
* * * * *
Boom! Boom! Boom!
* * * * *
A muffled, indistinct roar, a confusion of sounds, aroused the
half-conscious sleeper. Brock sprang from his couch, partly dressed.
The antique clock chimed one--two--three!
"Listen," he muttered to himself, "that was not a signal gun. Surely it
was the sound of sustained firing." As he unlocked the outer door,
opening on the barrack-square, the sky above faintly aglow with the
light of warning beacons, the low, steady roll of musketry and louder
roar of distant cannon convinced him that this was far more serious than
"the war between sentries."
"My good Porter," he said, speaking calmly to his excited servant, who,
himself awakened, came rushing to his master, "have Alfred saddled at
once while I complete dressing, and inform Major Glegg and Colonel
Macdonell that I am off up the river to Queenston."
In another minute Isaac Brock was in the saddle.
As he passed through the gates, thrown open by the sentry, a dragoon,
mire from head to foot from furious riding, handed him a despatch
announcing that the enemy had landed in force at Queenston. A second
later, in response to the pressure of his knees, his horse was carrying
our hero at a wild gallop across the common that separated his quarters
from the upper village.
Day was near to breaking. The earth steamed from the heavy rain. Passing
objects rose out of the dark mists, magnified and spectral.
At the residence of Captain John Powell, Brock reined up. The household
was astir, aroused by the ominous roar of artillery carried down by the
river from the gorge above. He stayed, without dismounting, long enough
to take a cup of coffee brought to him by General Shaw's daughter--a
"stirrup cup"--his last. Then, giving his charger the spur, he rode away
to death and distinction, tenderly waving a broken good-bye to the
sad-eyed woman at the porch. This was his betrothed, who faintly
fluttered her kerchief in weeping farewell to the gallant lover she
would never see again.
Brushing his eyes and urging his big grey to greater speed, "Master
Isaac," eager to reach the scene of trouble, struck across the village,
his horse's hoof-beats bringing many a citizen to the door to "God speed
him." Some came out to follow him, and many a good wife's face was
pressed to the window to watch "The General! God bless and spare him,"
as he headed his charger for the Queenston Road and Brown's Point. Among
the more zealous hastening after Brock were Judge Ralph Clench and a few
old half-pay officers of His Majesty's service, who hurried to Queenston
to range themselves in the ranks of the volunteers. Others joined as the
signal guns and the bells of the church of St. Mark's and the
court-house spread the alarm.
His road lay up hill. Seven miles back from the shore of Lake Ontario
stretched the height of land, extending west from the river to the head
of the lake--a gigantic natural dam, over 300 feet high and twenty miles
through; a retaining wall of rock, the greatest original fresh-water
_barrage_ in the world.
He paused a moment at Frields to order the militia company there to
follow. Close to Brown's Point he met another galloper, S.P. Jarvis, of
the York volunteers, who was riding so furiously that he could not check
his horse, but shouted as he flew by, "The Americans are crossing the
river in force, sir." Jarvis wheeled and overtook the General, who,
without reining up, slackened his speed sufficiently to tell the rider
not to spare his horse, but to hurry on to Fort George and order General
Sheaffe to bring up his entire reserve and let loose Brant's Indian
scouts. A mile or so farther on, Jarvis met Colonel Macdonell, in hot
pursuit of their beloved commander. The aide, in his haste, had left his
sword behind him, and borrowed a less modern sabre from Jarvis, who
continued his mad gallop towards Fort George, little thinking he had
seen the last of his gallant General and the dashing aide, meeting, a
few minutes later, Major Glegg, also riding post haste to overtake the
General.
Meanwhile our hero had halted for a moment at Brown's Point, only to
learn that Cameron's Toronto company of volunteers had already started,
on their own initiative, up the river. Riding hard, he overtook the
excited militiamen. Speaking a word to the officer in charge, he wheeled
his horse in the direction of the Heights, calling upon the detachment
in his well-known voice, and in a way that never failed to exact
obedience:
"Now, my men, follow me."
* * * * *
The east showed signs of approaching day, and Brock, only two miles from
Queenston, was treated to a spectacle that quickened his pulses. Shells
were bursting on the mountain side above the village. The shadows of the
dying night were streaked with the light from an incessant fire of
small-arms. Grapeshot and musket-balls were ploughing up inky river and
grim highland. At Vrooman's battery, on Scott's Point, guarded by
Heward's volunteer company from Little York, and some of Hatt's company
of the 5th Lincoln militia, a mile from Queenston, the twenty-four-pound
shells from the gun, mounted _en barbette_, which commanded at long
range both landings, were leaving behind them furrows of fire in the
black gorge. The big gun was pouring a continuous stream of destructive
metal upon the American boats that were attempting the passage of the
river within the limited zone of its fire.[3]
Fort Gray, above Lewiston, was fairly belching flames, to which the
isolated eighteen-pounder on the Queenston redan was roaring an angry
and defiant response. Brock's trained ear recognized the wicked barking
of the brass six-pounders, under Dennis of the 49th, mingling with the
occasional boom, of the twenty-four-pound carronade below the village.
The village of Queenston consisted of a small stone-barracks and twenty
or more scattered dwellings in the midst of gardens and orchards. To
Brock's right a road from the landing led to St. David's, from which, at
almost right angles, an irregular branch roadway wound up the Heights.
The adjacent table-land west of the village was dotted with farm-houses,
partly surrounded by snake-fences and an occasional stone wall.
Above Vrooman's he was joined by his two aides. Here he met a few men,
shockingly torn and bleeding, crawling to the houses for shelter, and
quite a number of prisoners, and was told that the enemy was routed. All
killed or taken prisoners! Very skeptical, but increasing his speed, our
hero rode into the village, and, though stained and splashed with mud
from stirrup to cockade, he was recognized, and welcomed by the men of
the 49th with a ringing cheer.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] This gun is credited with having fired 160 shots during the
engagement.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS. From an old Print]
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE ATTACK ON THE REDAN.
Checking his reeking horse for a moment, Brock acknowledged with a smile
the salute, saying to the men who had leaped to his side, "Take breath,
my good fellows; you will need all you have, and more, in a few
minutes," words which evoked much cheering. Then he breasted the rise at
a canter, exposed to a galling enfilading fire of artillery, and running
the gauntlet of the sniping of some invisible marksmen, reached the
redan, half-way to the summit. Here he dismounted, threw his charger's
reins to a gunner, and entered the enclosure.
* * * * *
From the loftier elevation of the Heights a still more striking scene
confronted him. He saw, in the yellow light, battalion after battalion
drawn up in rear of the Lewiston batteries, across the river, only two
hundred yards wide at this point, awaiting embarkation. Other soldiers
he saw crouching in the batteaux on the river, while an unknown number
had already crossed and were in possession of Queenston landing. Round
and grape shot from the American batteries were searching the banks and
scourging the village, while shells from mortars at short range came
singing across the river. He saw a boat with fifteen American soldiers
smashed in mid-stream by a six-pounder from Dennis's battery, and
watched the mangled bodies drift into the gloom.
* * * * *
Having surveyed the position rapidly, ignorant of the concealed
movements of the American troops, Brock at a first glance pronounced the
situation favorable.
The crest of the Heights was wooded densely. The leaves still clung to
the trees in all the spangled glory of autumn, and the thickets afforded
far too safe cover for the American sharpshooters. In answer to his
inquiry, Williams, in charge of the light company of the 49th, told him
that at least 350 United States regulars and 250 militia must already
have been ferried over. In the chilling gray of dawn, four boats, filled
with armed men, had been seen crossing the river, which here had a
four-mile current. The head of a column had also been seen above the
river bank at the Queenston landing. The soldiers from the three
batteaux, previously landed below Hamilton's garden, had already been
met by Dennis's men, who had killed several and captured others. Later,
more boats had come ashore, knocked out of commission by Vrooman's big
gun and the six-pounders. Their crews had surrendered. Some of these
Brock had met. Many more, however, had landed safely, hidden by the
shadows, and were doubtless then awaiting a chance to emerge from
ambush.
In answer to Brock's question as to whether there was a chance of the
Height being scaled direct from the river, Williams repeated what he had
already reported at the council meeting, that the scouts insisted that
the Heights could not be climbed from the landing. The cliffs, over
three hundred feet high, rose almost vertically from the water, and the
denseness of the shrubs, tangle and overhanging trees, anchored in the
clefts, rendered it impossible for any but exceptionally active and
resolute men, and then only as a forlorn hope, to reach the summit.
Projecting ledges of rock also blocked the way. A large body of men had
been seen before daybreak stealing across the foot-hills, but had evaded
pursuit. He believed they had fled to the Black Swamp, four miles
distant.
Seeing that Dennis needed every possible support at the landing, Brock
ordered Williams and his men to proceed to his assistance, and on the
latter's departure our hero and his aides were left alone with the eight
gunners.
* * * * *
The rain was gradually ceasing. Shafts of light from an unseen sun
tinged the edges of the smoke-coloured clouds with amber and rose. A few
spent musket-balls falling about the enclosure aroused Brock's
suspicions. He was watching, from behind the earthen parapet, the flight
of the shells discharged by the eighteen-pounder, and, seeing that they
burst too soon, turned to the gunner.
"Sergeant, you are misjudging your time and distance; we must not waste
powder and shot. Your shells are bursting too soon. Try a longer fuse."
The words were barely out of our hero's mouth when there was a rolling
crash of musketry, accompanied by wild shouts, and a shower of bullets
flew zipping over their heads. Shooting high is the invariable
shortcoming of excited marksmen. A moment later the heads of a large
force of American riflemen rose from the rocky ambuscade above and
behind them. The next instant the enemy was in full charge, evidently
bent on capturing both the General and the redan.
Brock saw that resistance would be madness. To save the gun and escape
capture must be the "double event." Seizing a ramrod, he ordered an
artilleryman to spike the gun, gave the command to retreat, telling the
men to "duck their heads," fearing another discharge, and, leading his
horse, followed by Macdonell and Glegg and the firing squad of eight
artillerymen, rushed down the slope.
* * * * *
For a clearer understanding of the situation--a better conception even
than our hero had when, to escape capture and save the lives of his men,
he was compelled to abandon the redan--we must visit Van Rensselaer's
camp at Lewiston.
CHAPTER XXVII.
VAN RENSSELAER'S CAMP.
After midnight, on the morning of the 11th, the American general, Van
Rensselaer, believing, as he wrote, "that Brock, with all his disposable
forces, had left for Detroit," launched from the Lewiston landing, under
cover of the pitch darkness, thirteen boats capable of carrying 340
armed men.
To Lieutenant Sims, "the man of the greatest skill in the American
service," was entrusted the command. Sims entered the leading boat, and
vanished in the gloom. Whether he had taken all the oars with him, as
reported, or whether the furious storm and the sight of the whirling
black waters had frozen the hearts of the troops, must remain a mystery.
The other boats did not follow.
Meanwhile, 350 additional regulars and thirty boats had arrived from
Four Mile Creek. Flying artillery came from Fort Niagara, with still
more regulars, and part of Smythe's brigade from Buffalo. Troops, as
Brock's spies had truly reported, now overflowed the United States army
headquarters--three more complete regiments from New York and another
from Fort Schlosser. Lewiston bristled with bayonets. The entire
expeditionary force was in command of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, a
militiaman, between whom and the officers commanding the regular troops
much jealousy and great friction existed. Both branches of the service
were determined to monopolize whatever credit might ensue. A storm,
more furious than ever, prevailed for twenty-eight hours. The men sulked
in their tents.
On the night of the 12th, the storm having abated, though the sky was
black as ink, added numbers having developed greater courage, Van
Rensselaer resolved on another attempt. He secretly notified
Brigade-Major Smythe, in command at Buffalo, that in accordance with the
letter reproduced in a previous chapter, he would storm the Heights of
Queenston that night. With experienced river men as pilots, with picked
crews, and protected by the big guns at Fort Gray, 600 men, with two
pieces of light artillery, in thirteen boats, in the grim darkness of
the morning of the 13th--a sinister coincidence--drew up in silence on
the wharf. They comprised the first detachment of 850 regulars and 300
militia, the advance attacking party--"the flower of Wadsworth's
army"--embarked to "carry the Heights of Queenston and appal the minds
of Canadians."
Let us trace the fulfilling of Van Rensselaer's boast.
The regulars crossed first, almost out of the line of fire of the
British batteries, and under cover of six of the enemy's field-guns that
completely commanded the Canadian shore. Some of the boats of this
flotilla effected, as we know, a landing above the rock, still visible
at the water's edge, under the suspension bridge. Here they disembarked
their fighting men--the 13th regulars and some artillery--and, under Van
Rensselaer, attempted to form. The empty boats recrossed the river to
ferry over more soldiers.
* * * * *
A sentry of the 49th--our hero's regiment--overheard voices and tramping
of feet. Scenting danger, he ran, without firing, to alarm the main
guard.
In a few minutes Dennis advanced upon the landing place with forty-six
men of his own company and a few militia, and discharged a murderous
volley, leaving Colonel Van Rensselaer, with eight officers and
forty-five men, killed or wounded. The enemy retreated to the water's
edge for shelter, confused and shivering. The Lewiston batteries at once
opened fire on the redan on Queenston Heights. The position of Dennis
being thus revealed to Dearborn's gunners, they immediately turned their
battery of six field-pieces upon his handful of men, and the position
proving untenable, he withdrew to the shelter of the village, on the lip
of the hill, still continuing to fire downwards on the invaders.
Vrooman's battery then opened fire, and Crowther brought his two
"grasshoppers"--small three-pounders--to sweep the road leading to the
river.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A FOREIGN FLAG FLIES ON THE REDAN.
It was the crackling of the grenadiers' muskets, the bellowing of
Vrooman's big gun, the cannonade of the twenty-four-pounders of the
Lewiston batteries, the roar of the eighteen-pounder in the British
redan, and the streak of crimson light from the long line of beacons
which rent the sky from Fort Erie to Pelham Heights, that had wakened
the citizens of Niagara and aroused Brock from his brief repose.
Captain Wool, of the 13th U.S. regulars--Van Rensselaer being wounded in
six places--hurried his men under the shelter of the overhanging rocks,
keeping up an intermittent fire, and waited for reinforcements. For
almost two hours this desultory firing continued. With the cessation of
the storm and arrival of broad daylight, six more boats attempted to
reach the Queenston landing. One boat was sunk by a discharge of grape
from Dennis's howitzer; another, with Colonel Fenwick, of the U.S.
artillery, was swept below the landing to a cove where, in the attack by
Cameron's volunteers that followed, Fenwick, terribly wounded, was, with
most of his men, taken prisoner. Another boat drifted under Vrooman's,
and was captured there, while others, more fortunate, landed two
additional companies of the 13th, forty artillerymen and some militia.
The shouts of the fighters and screams of the wounded were heard by the
hundreds of spectators who were parading the river bank at Lewiston, all
ready to witness "the humiliation of Canada."
General Van Rensselaer had commanded that the "Heights had to be taken."
Wool, a gallant soldier, only twenty-three, suffering from a bullet that
had passed through both his thighs--no superior officer coming to his
support--volunteered for the duty. He expressed his eagerness to make
the attempt. Gansfort, a brother officer of Wool's, had been shown by a
river guide a narrow, twisting trail, used at times by fishermen,
leading to the summit. This he pointed out to Wool as a possible pathway
to the Heights, where a force of determined men might gain the rear of
the British position. Wool, at the same time, had also been informed
that Williams, hitherto on the Heights, had been ordered to descend the
hill to assist Dennis--which was Brock's first command on reaching the
redan. Followed by Van Rensselaer's aide, who had orders "to shoot every
man who faltered," Wool at once commenced the ascent, leaving one
hundred of his men to protect the landing.
Picked artillerymen led the way. Concealed by rock and thicket, and
unobserved by the British--the trail being regarded as impassable--they
reached the hill-top, only thirty yards in rear of the solitary gun in
the redan. The noise of their movements was drowned by the crash of the
batteries, which reduced Hamilton's stone house to ruins and drove
Crowther and his small gun out of range. The shells from the enemy's
mortars rained upon the village, and his field-pieces subjected the
gardens and orchards of Queenston to a searching inquisition.
On reaching the summit, Wool, when the last straggler had arrived,
formed his men, without losing a minute, and emerging from ambush, fired
a badly-aimed volley at the astonished Brock and his eight gunners, and
with a wild shout rushed down upon the redan.
* * * * *
When the United States flag was raised over the gun, which Wool, to his
deep chagrin, found spiked, the troops at Lewiston realized that the
battery had been taken. Their courage returning, they rushed to the
boats below, hoping to participate in a victory which, while hitherto a
question in their minds, now seemed beyond all doubt.
Brock, on regaining the bottom of the slope, seeing that the main attack
was to be made at Queenston, sent Captain Derenzy with a despatch to
Sheaffe at Fort George.
"Instruct Major Evans," he wrote, "to turn every available gun on Fort
Niagara, silence its batteries, and drive out the enemy, for I require
every fighting man here; and if you have not already done so, forward
the battalion companies of the 41st and the flank companies of militia,
and join me without delay."
Mounting his horse, he galloped to the far end of the village. Here he
held a hurried consultation with the few officers present, and
despatched Macdonell to Vrooman's to bring up Heward's Little York
volunteers at the double. He then instructed Glegg to order Dennis, with
the light company of the 49th, less than fifty strong, and Chisholm's
company of the York militia, to join him, and also to recall Williams
and his detachment. When these arrived he took command.
"Captain Williams," said he, "how many men do you muster?"
"Seventy, sir, of all ranks," replied Williams; "forty-nine grenadiers
and Captain Chisholm's company of volunteers."
"We must make the attempt, then," said the General, "to turn the enemy's
left flank on the Heights, and this can only be done by a round-about
way." Then, as Dennis joined him, he said, with a shade of vexation on
his face, "It is a waste of time lamenting mistakes, but the overlooking
of that pathway was a serious thing. The re-taking of the redan must be
attempted at all hazards. It is the key, you see, to our position. If we
wait for all our reinforcements the task will only be greater, as it
will give the enemy time to establish himself in force, and when he
drills out the spiked gun, the odds against us will be greater still."
Then, after a pause, "We must try and regain that gun without a moment's
delay. It will be hot work, and means a sacrifice, but it is clearly our
duty. Macdonell cannot be long. How are your men?"
"Somewhat fagged, sir," replied Dennis, "and a bit hippish. We've had a
trying time, but they are ready to follow you."
* * * * *
It has been truly said of Isaac Brock that he never allowed a thought of
self-preservation or self-interest to affect for one instant his
conception of duty. He was blind at this moment to all personal
considerations. He made no effort to shelter himself behind any
plausible excuse that would have been gratefully seized by the timid or
calculating man, or to fence with his duty. His consistency was sublime.
"His last moments were in clear keeping with his life and his belief."
"He who thinks In strife
To earn a deathless fame,
Must _do_, nor ever care for life."
The little band of heroes fell into line, while their brother hero
addressed them.
"Men of the 49th," said Brock, "and my brave volunteers, I have heard of
your work this morning, and the trying circumstances under which you
have been fighting. Now, my lads, as you know, a large body of the enemy
has stolen a march on us. They have taken our gun, it is true, but they
will find it spiked! It is our duty to re-take it. Be prepared for
slippery footing. Use every bit of shelter, but when we make the final
rush give the enemy no time to think. Pour in a volley; fire low, and
when it comes to in-fighting, use the bayonet resolutely and you have
them beaten. I know I can depend upon you.... There is a foreign flag
flying over a British gun. It must not stay there.... Don't cheer now,
men, but save your breath and follow me."
* * * * *
There was a cheer, notwithstanding.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS.
While these fateful and stirring scenes were being enacted at Queenston,
a despatch rider arrived from Evans of Fort George. Without waiting for
further instructions, he had, after Brock's departure, with the first
glimpse of daylight, cannonaded Fort Niagara. This he did with typical
thoroughness. His fire was returned with interest. With a license in
direct opposition to the laws of battle, the enemy, under Captain
Leonard, turned his guns on the village of Newark, bombarding public
buildings and private residences with hot-shot, laying part of the town
in ashes. This infuriated Evans, and he renewed the siege with so much
vigour that he compelled the American garrison to evacuate. A shot from
one of his twelve-pounders burst within the centre of Fort Niagara and
decided Leonard to abandon his position in haste, after suffering many
casualties.
* * * * *
Under a nasty crackle of musketry, galling and accurate, which harried
the men, already chilled and strung up with suspense, the small
detachment following the courageous Brock from the lower village soon
reached the stone walls that surrounded a residence at the base of the
hill. Here our hero dismounted, handed his horse to an orderly, and
directed the men to find shelter. A moment later, taking advantage of a
lull in the firing, he vaulted over the wall, and waving his sword above
his head, shouted to the grenadiers a word of encouragement. They
answered with a cheer, still following him as he led the way up the
steep ascent towards the captured battery.
Wool, within the enclosure of the redan, was closely watching the steady
advance of the small body of resolute men breasting the Height.
The purpose of these men was unmistakable. As they drew closer, scarlet
uniform and polished bayonet blazed and flashed in the sunshine. Having
been heavily reinforced, he detached a party of 150 picked regulars, and
with these moved out to meet the small band of British led by Brock. A
brief exchange of shots took place, and the Americans fell back, firing.
Though the rain had ceased the trees were gemmed with drops that still
dripped. The ground was strewn with wet leaves, slippery, and affording
treacherous foothold. Progress was slow and laborious. As the hillside
grew steeper, a man here and there slid, lurched and fell. To maintain
any semblance of formation was impossible. The fire grew hotter. Ball
and buckshot and half-ounce bullets down-poured on them from above.
"Death crouched behind every rock and lurked in every hollow."
Had Brock's handful of loyalists been able to rush headlong, spurred by
lust of conflict, and lock bayonets with the enemy, another tale might
have been told. But the effect of the futile struggle for foothold on
the hillside, seamed with slippery depressions, in the teeth of a
blizzard of lead, soon showed. The bullet-swept ascent was a cruel test
for men already fagged and faint. As for our hero, though storm-beaten,
stained with mud, and hungry as a wolf, he was still the same
indomitable youth who had scaled the cut cliffs of Cobo in search of
seagulls' eggs. His vigour and disregard of danger were magnificent. His
example, splendid.
Brock may not have been judicially precautious. Had he waited for
reinforcements--there were none nearer than Fort George--his own life
might possibly have been preserved. As an alternative he could perhaps
have withdrawn and sought shelter in the village. But--apart from the
peril to his own prestige--who would care to estimate the ulterior
effect upon his men if such an example had been set them? These rough
Canadian irregulars consisted, as they do to-day, of the finest fighting
material in the world. The law of self-preservation had no place in the
litany of Isaac Brock. He was a daily dealer in self-sacrifice. Besides,
this was not the time or place to calculate involved issues. He was not
a cold-blooded politician, nor was he an opportunist; he was merely a
patriot and a soldier fighting for hearth and home, for flag and
country. It was not an issue that could be left to arbitration in the
hereafter, or threshed out by judge and jury. The situation called for
instant action. To _do_ his obvious duty rather than to _know_ it,
seemed to our hero the only honorable exit from the dilemma, even though
it resulted in his own undoing.
Not until the dead are mustered by the God of hosts--at the last
roll-call--will this noble soldier's conception of duty and his
sacrifice be truly appraised.
God and the right was carved deep in the heart of Isaac Brock. Though he
felt for his men, it was in a compassionate, not a weak way. War without
bloodshed was inconceivable. He had been trained in an age and in a
school that regarded blood-shedding in the protection of the right as
wholly justifiable, as it was inevitable. Is there any change in respect
to the application of this doctrine to-day? For himself he had no
compassion whatever. His faith in the cause compelled him to fight to a
finish. He was not of the potter's common clay of which fatalists are
made. How many of these faithful fellows, he wondered, as his alert mind
rapidly reviewed the present and recalled the past--Canadian and Celt,
Irish and Anglo-Saxon, Protestant and Catholic, whom "neither politics,
sect or creed could, in such a crisis, keep apart"--would leave their
bodies to bleach on that hill-side? How many of them were destined to
yield their lives for honour's sake, to die with their valour unrecorded
in the defence--in the case of numbers of them--not of their own, but of
their brother's rights?
* * * * *
The next second he was wondering what was doing at St. Peter's Port or
London. It would be noon there. Were the good brothers and sister
thinking of "Master Isaac" at that moment? Then, swifter than light, he
was at Niagara, and the bowed figure of a woman at a porch, with pale,
upturned face, who that morning had bade him a silent farewell, rose
before him--surely it was years ago--the woman to whom he was betrothed.
Then, in a flash, he turned to see some wavering figures around him,
some of his own men--not a few wounded--who faltered and shrank from the
screaming buckshot, and dropped to the rear.
The soldier awoke.
"This is the first time," he shouted, "I have ever seen the 49th turn
their backs! Surely the heroes of Egmont will never tarnish their
record!"
* * * * *
The rebuke stung. The panting ranks closed up.
[Illustration: DEATH OF ISAAC BROCK]
CHAPTER XXX.
THE DEATH OF ISAAC BROCK.
At this moment Colonel Macdonell, excited and eager to participate,
reached the foot of the mountain at the head of the supports for which
the General had despatched him. These consisted of about thirty of
Heward's flank company of militia and thirty of the 49th--almost
breathless and much exhausted, having run most of the way. Brock's small
force--those actually at his side--were Chisholm's and Cameron's
companies of the Toronto and York volunteers--a mere handful of perhaps
eighty all told. These, together with Macdonell's men, who were at the
foot of the hill on the right, now numbered less than 190 of all ranks.
For an instant there was a pause. Brock spoke hurriedly to his aide.
"If Williams and Macdonell can but outflank the Americans on the summit
and scale the mountain in rear of the redan on the right, nothing can
prevent our driving them out. Our place is here."
"But, General," interposed his aide, who worshipped his commanding
officer, "I pray you, let me lead, or at least do take proper
precautions. If you are wounded, think what may befall us."
"Master Glegg," hurriedly replied Brock, "I must remain at the head of
these men. Duty and desire compel me. Should I fall, there are others
not less competent."
A half smile, a touch of the arm, and the two men separated. A long
separation.
* * * * *
Deceived by the scarlet uniforms of the militia flank companies, Wool
believed that the attacking party was composed exclusively of regulars,
so steady was their advance. His own force now consisted of 500 men,
over 300 of whom were regulars. Notwithstanding his much greater
strength and vastly superior position, being protected by artificial
brush-shelters and logs, and the withering fire with which he met the
dogged progress of the British, his flanks, pressed by Williams and
Macdonell, began to shrink. The moment was a critical one for our hero.
The supreme effort must be made.
Glancing below, Brock, even at that instant, for a fleeting moment was
conscious of the beauty of the country spread beneath him. Almost as far
as eye could reach extended an immense, partly pastoral plain, studded
with villages, groves, winding streams, cultivated farms, orchards,
vineyards and meadows. In places a dense forest, decorated with autumn's
mellow tints, and furrowed by the black gorge of the Niagara, stretched
to the horizon. Across all, shadows of racing clouds gave emphasis to
the brilliant flood of sunshine. No fairer scene ever greeted the eye of
man. The entire landscape breathed peace. Above it, however, in detached
masses, hung lurid billows--the smoke of battle.... The serene vision
faded, and in its place, in brutal contrast, came cruel, imperious bugle
calls, the metallic rattle of fire-arms, the deep thunder of artillery,
the curdling cry of wounded men.
Isaac's senses were insulted by the carnage of war.
* * * * *
He now noticed that the supports, led by his plucky aide at the foot of
the hill, were flagging. He shouted back, "Push on, York Volunteers!"
Our hero's robust figure was a conspicuous object for the American
riflemen. While telling his men to take advantage of every bit of
shelter, he paid little attention to himself. His uniform, his position
at the head of his men, his loud words of command, stamped him a man of
mark, a soldier of distinction, a special target for Wool's
sharpshooters.
* * * * *
So far he had escaped the hail of shot by a miracle. Picking his
footsteps--it was treadmill work--he sprang forward, urging on his men
by word and gesture.
* * * * *
A deflected bullet struck the wrist of his sword arm. The wound was
slight. He again waved his sword, smiling his indifference and still
speaking words of encouragement.
* * * * *
They were getting at close quarters now. The redan was less than fifty
yards above.
He was calling to those nearest him to hold their fire a moment, to
prepare to rush the enemy and use their bayonets, when, from a thorn
thicket, an Ohio scout, Wilklow by name, one of Moseley's riflemen,
stepped forward, and, singling out his victim, deliberately aimed at the
General. Several of the 49th, noticing the man's movement, fired--but
too late. The rifleman's bullet entered our hero's right breast, tore
through his body on the left side, close to his heart, leaving a gaping
wound.
* * * * *
[Illustration: BROCK'S COAT, WORN AT QUEENSTON HEIGHTS]
Brock sank slowly to the ground, quite sensible of his grievous fate. A
grenadier, horribly mutilated, fell across him. To those who ran to aid
our hero, anxious to know the nature of his injury, he murmured a few
broken sentences and--turned to die.
He tried to frame messages to loved ones, and then, more audibly, as he
gallantly strove to raise his head to give emphasis to his last
faltering words--the same Isaac Brock, unmindful of self and still
mindful of duty--he said, "My fall must not be noticed, nor impede my
brave companions from advancing to victory."
And with a sigh--expired.
* * * * *
Thus died General Sir Isaac Brock, defender and saviour of Upper Canada.
Died the death he would have selected, the most splendid death of
all--that of the hero in the hour of victory, fighting for King and
country, for you and me, and with his face to the foe.
* * * * *
Our hero had passed his _last_ milestone.
* * * * *
For a brief space the body of Isaac Brock rested where it had fallen,
about one hundred yards west of the road that leads through Queenston,
and a little eastward of an aged thorn bush.
* * * * *
Above the dead soldier's head, clouds, sunshine and rustling foliage;
beneath it, fallen forest leaves, moist and fragrant. About the
motionless body swayed tussocks of tall grass and the trampled heads of
wild-flowers. The shouts of the regulars, the clamor of the militia, the
shrill war-cry of the Mohawks, and the organ notes of battle, were his
requiem. Then the corpse was hurriedly borne by a few grief-stricken men
of the 49th to a house in the village, occupied by Laura Secord--the
future heroine of Lundy's Lane--where, concealed by blankets--owing to
the presence of the enemy--it was allowed to remain for some hours,
unvisited.
* * * * *
Later in the day Major Glegg, Brock's faithful aide--the brave
Macdonell, in extreme agony, lay dying of his wounds--hastened to the
spot, and finding the body of his lamented friend undisturbed, conveyed
it to Niagara, "where it was bedewed by weeping friends whose hearts
were agonized with bitterest sorrow."
[Illustration: BATTLE OF QUEENSTON. From an old Sketch]
SUPPLEMENT
AFTER BROCK'S DEATH.
The "Story of Isaac Brock" would be incomplete without an epitome of the
events that terminated the Battle of Queenston Heights and resulted in
an overwhelming victory for the British.
General Brock was killed in action at about half-past seven on the
morning of October 13th, 1812. His body was removed from Government
House, Niagara, to a cavalier bastion at Fort George, for final
sepulture. This bastion was selected by Major Glegg, it being the one
which Brock's own genius had lately suggested--the one from which the
range of an observer's vision covered the principal points of
approach--and had just been finished under his daily superintendence.
After he fell, the handful of men who were with him, overcome by his
tragic end, overwhelmed by superior numbers and a hurricane of buckshot
and bullets, wavered, and though Dennis attempted to rally them, fell
back and retreated to the far end of Queenston village. Here, about two
hours later, Colonel Macdonell, Brock's aide, collected and reformed the
scattered units, and made another bold dash to rescale the heights and
retake the redan. A detailed account of the incidents that followed in
dramatic succession would fill a book.
With the cry of "Revenge the General!" from the men of the 49th,
Macdonell, on Brock's charger, led the forlorn attack, supported by
Dennis. At the same moment, Williams, with his detachment, emerged from
the thicket, shouting to his men, "Feel firmly to the right, my lads;
advance steadily, charge them home, and they cannot stand you." The two
detachments then combined, and Macdonell ordering a general advance,
they once more breasted the ascent.
The enemy, over four hundred strong, but without proper formation, fired
an independent volley at the British as they approached to within thirty
yards of the redoubt. This was responded to with vigour, and grenadiers
and volunteers, in response to brave Macdonell's repeated calls, charged
fiercely on Wool's men, now huddled in disorder around the
eighteen-pounder. Some of them started to run towards the river bank.
One American officer, Ogilvie, of the 13th regulars, thinking the
situation hopeless, raised his handkerchief on his sword-point in token
of surrender. Wool, a soldier of different calibre, tore it down, and a
company of United States infantry coming at that moment to his
assistance, he rallied his men.
The momentary advantage gained by Macdonell's small band of heroes was
lost, and in the exchange of shots that followed, Macdonell's
horse--Brock's charger--was killed under him while he--his uniform torn
with bullets--was thrown from the saddle as the animal plunged in its
death struggle--receiving several ghastly bullet wounds, from which he
died the following day, after enduring much agony. Williams, a moment
later, fell desperately wounded; Dennis, suffering from a severe head
wound, at first refused to quit the field, but Cameron having removed
the sorely-stricken Macdonell, and Williams having recovered
consciousness and escaped, the dispirited men fell back, retreated down
the mountain at Parrott's Tavern, retiring upon Vrooman's battery. Here
they awaited, unmolested, until two in the afternoon, the arrival of
reinforcements from Fort George. The fight, though short, had been
furious and deadly. Americans and British alike were glad to take
breath.
Meanwhile, unobserved, young Brant, with 120 Mohawk Indians, had scaled
the mountain, east of St. David's, outflanking the Americans, and hemmed
them in until Captains Derenzy, of the 41st, and Holcroft, of the
Artillery, arrived with the car-brigade from Fort George and trained two
field-guns and a howitzer upon the landing. Merritt, with a troop of
mounted infantry, at the same time reached the village by the Queenston
road. This movement, which was a ruse, deceived the enemy, who at once
redisposed his troops in readiness for an attack from this new quarter.
The American commander was ignorant of the fact that General
Sheaffe--with four companies of the 41st, 308 strong, the same number of
militia, and a company of negro troops from Niagara, refugee slaves from
the United States--was at that moment approaching his rear in the rear
of the Indians. The British advanced in crescent-shaped formation,
hidden by mountain and bush, and were shortly joined by a few more
regulars and by two flank companies of the 2nd regiment of militia from
Chippewa. Indeed, many persons of all ranks of life, even veterans
exempt by age, seized their muskets and joined the column to repel the
invaders, "unappalled" by Dearborn's threats of conquest or by the death
of their "beloved hero, Isaac Brock." By this movement the British
escaped the enfilading fire of the Lewiston batteries, the steep ascent
of the heights in the teeth of the enemy's field-works, and compelled
him to change front. The British of all ranks numbered less than one
thousand.
[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF QUEENSTON]
The United States troops, which had been heavily reinforced, consisted
at this time of about one thousand fighting men, on and about the
mountain. This number was slowly supplemented by fresh arrivals from
Lewiston, encouraged when they saw the American flag planted on the
redan. The wounded were sent across the river. Nearly all of the new
arrivals were regulars. Colonel Winfield Scott, of Mexican fame, a tried
soldier, six feet four in his stockings, was now in command, supported
by a second field-piece and many sharp-shooters. Van Rensselaer,
narrowly escaping capture, had retreated by boat to Lewiston, ostensibly
to bring over more troops. Finding the conditions unfavourable, he did
not do so, but sent over General Wadsworth, as a vicarious sacrifice, to
take command. The gun in the redan had been unspiked, and the summit
strongly entrenched, but as Scott's men betrayed strange lukewarmness,
orders were given "to shoot any man leaving his post."
Sheaffe's men having rested after their forced tramp, a few spherical
case-shot by Holcroft drove out the American riflemen. His gunners had
at last silenced the Lewiston batteries, and finding the river range,
sunk almost every boat that attempted to cross. The Indians were now
ordered to drive in the enemy's pickets slowly. Scouting the woods, they
routed his outposts.
About four p.m. Captain Bullock, with two flank companies of militia and
150 men of the 41st, advanced, and after firing a volley in the face of
a dense smoke, charged the enemy's right, which broke in great
confusion. A general advance was ordered, and, with wild warwhoops by
the Indians and white men, the heights were rushed, Wadsworth's
veterans were stampeded, the redan retaken at the point of the bayonet,
and Scott's command forced to the scarp of the cliff overhanging the
river.
The American soldiers, to quote United States historians, now "fled like
sheep," and scuttled off in all directions. Some raced headlong down the
main road, seeking shelter under the muzzles of Holcroft's guns; some
sought refuge in the houses; others raced to the landing only to find
the boats no longer there. Not a few, hot pressed by Brant's avenging
Mohawks, threw themselves over the precipice, preferring suicide to the
redman's tomahawk. Others plunged into the Niagara, essaying to swim its
irresistible eddies, only to be blown out of the green water by
Holcroft's grapeshot or sucked down by the river's silent whirlpools.
One boat, with fifty struggling refugees, sank with its entire crew. Two
others similarly laden were beached below the village, with only one
dozen out of one hundred souls still living. The river presented a
shocking scene. On the face of the water men, many maimed and wounded,
fought and struggled for survival. This pitiful spectacle was actually
taking place under the eyes of several thousands of American soldiers on
the Lewiston bank, who, almost impossible to believe, and to their
lasting disgrace, refused to join, or attempt even to succour, their
comrades--deaf to all entreaty--allowing them to perish. Every room and
shack at Queenston was an improvised hospital or morgue, filled with the
mangled bodies of the quick and dead.
Cruikshank says 120 wounded United States officers and men were taken,
of whom thirty died at hospital in Queenston and Niagara, while 140 more
were ferried across to Lewiston. Lossing, the American historian,
solemnly records the "fact" that "less than 600 American troops of all
ranks ever landed at Queenston," and that "of these only 300 were
overpowered"--some of the United States histories of the colonial wars
need drastic revision--yet 958 American soldiers were taken prisoners by
the British; "captured by a force," so officially wrote Colonel Van
Rensselaer, after the battle, "amounting to only about _one-third_ of
the united number of the American troops." Captain Gist, of the U.S.
army, placed their own killed at 400.
Among those who, when defeat was certain, fled to the water's edge,
after fighting valiantly, was Colonel Winfield Scott, General
Wadsworth, and other United States officers. Pursued by the Indians,
they lowered themselves from shrub to shrub. When escape was hopeless,
Scott tied the white cravat of his comrade, Totten, on his sword point,
and with another officer, Gibson, was hurrying to present this flag of
truce, when two Indians confronted them on the narrow trail. Jacobs,
Brant's powerful follower, wrenched Scott's sword away, hatchets were
drawn, and had not a British grenadier sergeant rushed forward, Winfield
Scott would have fared badly.
General Van Rensselaer's defeat was complete and disastrous. His chagrin
at his failure "to appal the minds of the Canadians" was so great that
ten days later he resigned his command.
The account between Canada and the United States at sundown on that day
stood as follows: Total American force engaged, 1,600. Killed and
wounded, or sent back across the river, during the fight, 500.
Prisoners, 73 officers, including two generals and five colonels,
together with 852 rank and file. Total loss, 1,425 men, besides the
colours of the New York regiment, one six-pounder, 815 carbines and
bayonets, and 5,950 rounds of ball and buckshot.
The total British force engaged was 1,000. Of these 800 were regulars
and militia, and 200 Indians. Killed, 14, including one major-general
and one aide. Wounded and missing, 96. Total American loss, 1,425. Total
British loss, 110. _The next day the British General, Sheaffe, Isaac
Brock's successor, signed another armistice. The second armistice within
a period of nine weeks!_
Such is the story of the Battle of Queenston Heights.
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1812.
After Van Rensselaer resigned his command in favour of Brigadier-General
Smyth, the effect of the British victory upon the United States troops
at Lewiston was beyond belief. While the British soldiers were, with
characteristic indifference, hard at work at Fort George cutting wood
and threshing straw, the American soldiers across the river, according
to their own historians, were deserting by the hundreds. Of General
Tannehill's brigade of 1,414 of all ranks, 1,147 deserted within a few
days. Twenty of these were officers.
Had the British been allowed to profit by this demoralization of the
enemy and followed up their brilliant successes, they could, as Brock
predicted, have swept the frontier from Chippewa to Sackett's Harbour,
and probably prevented a continuance of the two years' war. The
Sheaffe-Prevost inexcusable thirty days' truce was the very respite the
enemy had prayed for. More men and more munitions were hurriedly
despatched to all the United States frontier forts, and renewed courage
imparted to some of the commanders and their hesitating brigades. The
first to waken up after the expiration of this, to the Americans,
merciful truce, was General Dearborn, who, with 2,000 men, attacked
Odelltown, only to be driven back to Lake Champlain by de Salaberry.
This reverse was followed in the last days of November by an attack by
General Smyth, with 400 of his 4,300 men, upon a four-gun battery,
defended by sixty-five men, above Garden Island, on the Niagara River.
Elated with his success, he took for his rallying cry, "The cannon lost
at Detroit--or death!" and again crossed the river with thirty-two boats
and 900 men, and descended upon Fort Erie. Meanwhile, Colonel Bisshopp
had retaken the fort, with its American captors, and with a handful of
regulars and militia awaited "annihilation." As Smyth's flotilla
advanced, Bisshopp poured in a hot fire, sinking two boats. This
reception did not accord with Smyth's views of the ethics of war, and
forgetting all about the "lost guns," and disliking, upon reflection,
the idea of "death," he at once turned tail. At Buffalo he was publicly
pelted by the populace, and for his cowardice was dismissed the service
by the United States Senate without the formality of a trial.
Dearborn--strange to say--having for the time lost his taste for
fighting, went into winter quarters, and Canada, in universal mourning
for Brock, but still confident and undaunted, rested on her arms. The
year 1812 closed without further incident.
The period thus ended had been a momentous one. Brilliant reputations
had been made and lost. The blood of many patriots had flowed freely,
but, as regarded Canada, not in vain, for, in the words of the American
historian, Schouler, "the war had impressed upon the people of the
Republic the fact that Canada could not be carried by dash, nor pierced
by an army officered by political generals and the invincibles of
peace."
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813.
Though it would be quite natural to suppose that the story of Isaac
Brock would end with his death and the victory of Queenston Heights, it
is well to remember that the _influence of his triumphs only ceased with
the close of the war_ and the Treaty of Ghent, in December, 1814. Hence
a _résumé_ of the events that occurred during 1813 and 1814 is
necessary, if a just valuation of our hero's achievements is desired.
Between July, 1812 and November 5th, 1814, "twelve distinct invasions of
Canada by superior forces of the enemy were defeated." Out of fifty-six
military and naval engagements between the British and U.S. forces,
thirty-six were won by the British. Though the victories of 1812 were
the direct factors that brought about a change in the national destiny
of Canada, "Queenston Heights was not the culminating feat of arms." As
a result of brooding over these disasters that had befallen the "Grand
Army of the West," and the "national disgrace" of overwhelming defeat,
the people of the United States, as a whole, independent of politics,
"were now"--so write American chroniclers--"compelled to become
belligerents."
In consequence of this national thirst for revenge, Generals Harrison
and Winchester started to look for trouble in January, 1813, and--were
rewarded. Strongly stockaded at Frenchtown, on the Raisin River, with a
seasoned army, they invited attack. Colonel Procter, with 500 soldiers
and 800 Indians under Roundhead, accepted the challenge, and making a
furious attack upon Winchester before daybreak, took the General and 405
of his "Grand Army" prisoners. Brockville was then raided, and fifty-two
citizens kidnapped by the U.S. soldiers. During the next two years raids
of this nature were of frequent occurrence, first by one belligerent,
then by the other, and with varying success. Major Macdonald's capture
of Ogdensburg, when he took eleven guns and 500 U.S. soldiers, was the
next big win for Canada.
In April, to balance the account, General Pike descended upon York. The
capital of Upper Canada at that time had a population of only 1,000, and
was weakly garrisoned. While the enemy was advancing upon the small fort
to the west of the village, a powder magazine exploded, killing many on
both sides. General Sheaffe, thoroughly alarmed at the prospect,
destroyed his stores, and, after 300 of his force had been captured,
retreated with the remainder to Kingston--for which he was severely
censured--and York surrendered. Then Procter, inflated by his victory at
Frenchtown, and overrating his military skill, attacked Fort Meigs, on
the Maumee River, was badly repulsed, and hopelessly lost all prestige.
This defeat of the British was followed by Dearborn's assault upon Fort
George. With 7,000 men behind him, aided by the guns of Chauncey's fleet
at the river mouth, he captured the time-worn fortification, and the
Niagara frontier--despite the dogged resistance of General Vincent, who
had to retreat with the crippled remnant of his 1,400 men--was at last
in the possession of the enemy. This win was made more complete by
General Prevost's belated and, of course, futile attack upon Sackett's
Harbour. When assured success stared him in the face, his flaccid nature
suggested retreat, and what might have been a signal victory became a
disgraceful failure. The position of affairs at this time was admirably
summed up in a letter written by Quartermaster Nichol. "Alas! we are no
longer commanded by Isaac Brock.... Confidence seems to have vanished
from the land, and gloomy despondency in those who are at our head has
taken its place." Brock's courage, judgment, military skill and personal
magnetism were never so much needed.
To offset these reverses, the brilliant victory of the British ship
_Shannon_ over the American war vessel _Chesapeake_, in a naval duel
fought outside Boston harbour, somewhat restored British complacence.
This was the prelude to another victory on land. Vincent, after being
bombarded out of Fort George, slowly retreated with his broken command
towards Burlington, cleverly flirting with the enemy, and drawing him
farther and farther inland, finally reforming his wearied men near Stony
Creek, sixteen miles from the lake's head. Here the enemy, 3,000 strong,
went into camp. It was here that FitzGibbon--General Brock's old-time
sergeant-major and faithful _protégé_--now in command of a company of
the 49th, disguised as a settler, penetrated the enemy's camp, and was
convinced a night attack would be successful. While the advance guard of
the enemy was driving in the British decoy pickets, 800 of Vincent's
force, under Harvey, surprised and charged them in the darkness,
capturing two American generals, 120 prisoners, and four cannon, without
the loss of a man.
Sheaffe was now transferred to Montreal, and De Rottenberg assumed
military command in Upper Canada. Three weeks later an American, Colonel
Boerstler, was ordered to surprise a small party of British at Beaver
Dams (now Thorold). Lieutenant FitzGibbon, in command, was informed of
the proposed attack. An heroic woman--Laura Secord--the wife of a
wounded militiaman at Queenston, and to whose house Brock's body was
borne after he fell, learned of the pending surprise by overhearing a
conversation between some American officers. Her resolution was soon
formed. Despite the fact that twenty miles through gloomy forest, filled
with hostile Indians, lay between her home and the British camp, she
tramped the distance unattended, though not unmolested, and reached the
Stone House in time to warn the plucky grenadier. The wily Irishman at
once despatched a party of Caughnawaga Indians to divert the enemy's
attention. Advancing with a few soldiers, and finding Boerstler and his
force drawn up in an opening of the woods, uncertain what to do, he
boldly ordered that officer to surrender with his entire command of 540
soldiers, though he had but forty-seven men to enforce the conditions.
His demand was instantly complied with.
To equalize in part this game of international see-saw, Chauncey again
visited York with fourteen ships, mounting 114 guns, and plundered the
defenceless capital.
On Lake Erie, Perry, with nine ships and a total broadside of 936 pounds
of metal, defeated Barclay's six Canadian ships, with a total broadside
of 459 pounds. These facts must be taken into impartial consideration in
weighing the issue. In the west, Procter, still suffering from the shock
received at Fort Meigs, with 407 troops and 800 Indians, retreated up
the Thames valley, neglecting to burn his bridges in his retreat, with
General Harrison and an army of 3,500 men in hot pursuit. The American
general brought him to bay at Moraviantown, and in the frozen swamps the
dispirited British, having lost all confidence in their fleeing
commander, surrendered or escaped. It was here that the gallant and
high-minded Tecumseh met his death, under distressing circumstances. The
story was circulated that, mortified at Procter's proposed flight, the
Shawanese chief was only restrained from shooting that officer by the
interference of Colonel Elliott. For his conduct and the unexplained
disaster at Moraviantown, Procter was court-martialed, severely
condemned, and suspended from his command for six months.
[Illustration: TAKING OF NIAGARA, MAY 27TH, 1813. From an old Print]
The defeat of Procter was counterbalanced, however, by Colonel de
Salaberry's dramatic victory over General Hampton. With 350 French
Canadian Voltigeurs he hypnotized 3,500 United States troops at
Chateauguay. When the fight was hottest the gallant Frenchman ordered
his buglers to sound the advance, an alarming fanfare, accompanied by
discharges of musketry from various points of the surrounding forest,
and the enemy, thinking he was about to be attacked and flanked by
superior numbers, was seized with panic, stampeded, and never halted in
his retreat until he had placed twenty-five miles of country between him
and the "French devils." After this, occurred the historic battle of
Chrysler's Farm, on the St. Lawrence, when 2,000 U.S. regulars under
General Boyd, with six field-guns, were routed, with a loss of 102
killed and 237 wounded, by a force composed of 380 regulars, militia and
Indians, under Colonel Morrison, and driven back into American
territory.
In the second week of December, General McClure evacuated Fort George,
but before doing so burned 149 of the public buildings and private
houses in Newark and Queenston, by order of John Armstrong, U.S.
Secretary of War, compelling 400 women and children to seek shelter in
the woods, with the thermometer ranging around zero. Even Lossing, the
American historian, condemned this as "a wanton act, contrary to the
usages of war, and leaving a stain upon the American character." The
outrage brought its own punishment within the week. Colonel Murray, with
550 soldiers, captured the United States Fort Niagara, killing
sixty-five men and taking 344 prisoners, and before the close of the
year, with his heart on fire, the British general, Riall, crossed the
river with 500 Indians and sacked Lewiston, Youngstown, Tuscarora and
Manchester, only desisting from his excusable incendiarism when he had
burned Buffalo and laid Black Rock in ashes. January 1st, 1814, was
ushered in with the Cross of St. George floating over the battered
ramparts of the American Fort Niagara.
Thus ended the year of our Lord 1813, for ever memorable in North
American history as a twelve months of almost incessant warfare, famous
for its records of conspicuous courage, much military incompetence, and
great and lamentable carnage. A year, notwithstanding its sheaf of
blunders, that should be canonized by all true Canadians, for it was a
year that emphasized in an astounding manner the pluck and bull-dog
tenacity of the Canadian militiaman, disclosing his deep love for
country that resisted unto death the lawless attacks of a wanton
invader.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814.
In March, 1814, General Wilkinson again undertook the forlorn hope of
capturing Canada, leading 5,000 men against 350 British, under Hancock,
at Lacolle, on Lake Champlain. After five hours of red-hot fighting, he
was compelled to fall back on Plattsburg. A month later Admiral Sir
James Yeo and General Drummond, with 750 men, landed under the batteries
at Oswego, and in the teeth of a sustained fire of cannon and musketry,
"gathered in" that historic town and sixty prisoners.
To and fro, like a pendulum, swayed the scene of action--to-day east,
to-morrow west. Colonel Campbell and 500 American soldiers, with nothing
better to do, made a bonfire of Port Dover, the incident being
officially described by the U.S. War Department as "an error of
judgment." Then General Brown, backed by an army of 6,000 U.S. veterans,
swooped down like "a wolf on the fold" on Fort George, and annexed it
and the garrison of 170 men. The British general, Riall, still
possessing the fighting mania, and some 1,800 men, locked horns with
General Brown and 3,000 of his veterans, and the Battle of Chippewa
added another victory to the American record. The enemy then pillaged
St. David's, while Riall--both sides having suffered heavily--retreated
to the head of Lundy's Lane, a narrow roadway close to the Falls of
Niagara, and stood at bay.
Three weeks elapsed, when General Drummond, realizing Riall's danger,
hastened from York to his assistance, reaching Lundy's Lane with 800 men
at the moment that General Brown, with his reinforced army of over 4,000
men, was within 600 yards of the British outposts. A moment later the
contest was on, the bloodiest and probably the most brilliant battle of
the whole campaign. It was a bitterly contested fight for seven hours--a
death struggle for the survival of the fittest. During the first three
hours the British force numbered only 1,640, until reinforced by 1,200
additional combatants. All through the long hours of the black night the
battle waged furiously. Charge succeeded charge, followed by the screams
of the mutilated and the dead silence of the stricken. Over all boomed
the muffled thunders of Niagara. The big guns, almost mouth to mouth,
roared crimson destruction. Though bayonets were crossed, and the
fighting was hand to hand and desperate, and sand and grass grew ghastly
and slippery with the sheen of blood in the fitful moonlight, the
British, notwithstanding the advantage in weight and numbers of the
enemy, held their ground. When day was breaking, and the American
general found his casualties exceeded one thousand, he withdrew his
shattered army of invaders to Fort Erie. The British loss was 84 killed
and 557 wounded. Lundy's Lane has been likened to the storming of St.
Sebastian or the deathly duel at Quatre Bras. Both invaders and
defenders exhibited heroism--worthy, in the case of the enemy, of a
higher cause. General Drummond was wounded, and a son of General Hull,
of Detroit notoriety, was among the killed.
[Illustration: CENOTAPH, QUEENSTON HEIGHTS]
Though the battle of Lundy's Lane, fought on July 25th, was the last
great engagement in 1814, and practically ended the war, the campaign
was not destined to close without an exhibition of constitutional
timidity on the part of Prevost, the man with the liquid backbone. With
11,000 seasoned veterans who had campaigned under Wellington, he
advanced, September 14th, on Plattsburg, garrisoned by only 4,000
Americans, and when victory smiled in his face, he actually ordered the
retreat. Overcome with humiliation, his officers broke their swords,
declaring they "could never serve again," and sullenly retraced their
steps to the frontier. This was the crowning episode that destroyed
Prevost's reputation. Death rescued him from the disgrace of
court-martial.
How clear-cut and free from blemish, in contrast with that of many of
his contemporaries, stands out the brilliant record of Isaac Brock.
The Treaty of Ghent--while satisfactory to the people of Canada,
bringing as it did a cessation of hostilities, permanent peace, and
recognition of their rights--was received with mixed satisfaction by
both political parties in the United States, after the first flush of
excitement had passed away. "What," the citizens asked each other,
"have we gained by a war into which the country was dragged by President
Madison in defence of free-trade and sailors' rights, and in opposition
to paper blockades?"
In the articles of peace, these vexed questions (as related in Chapters
VIII. and XIV.)--questions which, as we have seen, were advanced by the
United States Government as the _real cause for war_, were _not even
mentioned_. Some worthy Americans, having suffered from the fighting
qualities of the Canadian loyalists, publicly stated that the
"declaration of peace had delivered them from great peril." In some of
the States "the universal joy was so great," writes Gay, in his Life of
Madison, "that Republicans and Democrats forgot their differences and
hates and wept and laughed by turns in each others' arms, and kissed
each other like women."
Another United States historian (Johnston) writes that "peace secured
not _one_ of the objects for which war had been declared, for, though
Britain put a stop to the irritating ... practice of searching American
vessels flying an American flag, she was not bound by the terms of the
treaty to do so." In the words of another recorder (Taylor), "Britain
ceased the practice of search, not on account of war, nor of the treaty,
but because the necessity of doing so had passed away--the European war
being over."
WHAT OF CANADA?
Canada, young as she was in the arts of peace and cruel practices of
war, while honouring the memory of her heroes who had fallen in the
splendid struggle against invasion, wasted no time in idle tears. The
very atmosphere of her high northern latitude, the breath of life that
rose from lake and forest, prairie and mountain, was fast developing a
race of men with bodies enduring as iron and minds as highly tempered as
steel. She drew another and a deeper breath, and, forecasting her
destiny, with shoulders squared and fixed resolve, made ready to create
an empire of industrial greatness which, under Providence, was to rank
second to none.
The influence of Brock's life, achievements and death upon the Canadian
people was more far-reaching than boy, or even man, would suppose. It
aroused in the people not only the questionable human desire to avenge
his death, but an unexpressed resolve to emulate his high manliness, his
fixity of purpose, and his well-ordered courage in defence of the right.
* * * * *
It remains for the youth of Canada to proudly cherish the memory of
Isaac Brock, and to never lose an opportunity to follow the example he
set for them by his splendid deeds.
[Illustration: BROCK'S MONUMENT]
APPENDIX.
EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
NO. 1. FRONTISPIECE.
_Major-General Sir Isaac Brock._
Reproduction of a copy of the original water-color and chalk drawing in
the possession of Sir Isaac Brock's great-niece, Miss Tupper, of Candee,
Guernsey. Copied for Miss Agnes FitzGibbon, of Toronto, by Alyn
Williams, President of the Miniature Painters' Association of Great
Britain, 1897, and not hitherto published. Adjudged by relatives to be
an exact facsimile of Williams' portrait. Miss FitzGibbon writes that
"the original painting is on similar paper to that on which
Major-General Brock's last general orders are written, the size
corresponding to the space between the watermarks. Dated 1811." Artist
unknown.
NO. 2. FACING PAGE 11.
"_St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, in 18×6._"
By an unknown artist. (An × was frequently used for a "0" at that time.)
The original drawing was found among a number of unframed prints in a
collection obtained by John Naegely, Esq., who presented it to the
Grange Club, Guernsey, in 1870. It now hangs over the mantelpiece in the
club reception room. The original is drawn in very fine pencil and
water-color--a style of art fashionable at that period. Photographed for
Miss Agnes FitzGibbon in 1902. Brock's father's house, where our hero
was born--now converted into a wholesale merchant's warehouse--stands at
the point where two lines, drawn from the spots indicated by a cross (+)
on the margin, would intersect. On the frame above the picture are the
words, "_Guernsey in 18×6_"; below, "_Presented to the Grange Club by
John Naegely, Esq., 9th March, 1870."_
NO. 3. FACING PAGE 27.
_Navy Hall, Remnant of the old "Red Barracks," Niagara, 1797._
Navy Hall consisted of four buildings erected about 1787. One was
altered in 1792 for Governor Simcoe. Another was fitted up for
Parliament when it met at Newark (Niagara), 1792-1797. The building here
shown was afterwards used for troops and called the "Red Barracks." From
a photograph in possession of Miss Carnochan, Niagara.
NO. 4. FACING PAGE 32.
_Colonel James FitzGibbon._
From a photograph in possession of Miss Agnes FitzGibbon, of Toronto,
his granddaughter. Taken by his nephew, Gerald FitzGibbon, 10 Merrion
Square, Dublin. Col. FitzGibbon was a _protégé_ of Brock's. First
private, then the "faithful sergeant-major," then ensign, then adjutant
of the 49th, the "hero of Beaver Dams" in the war of 1812,
Adjutant-General of Canada, 1837, and Military Knight of Windsor, 1851.
NO. 5. FACING PAGE 40.
_Queenston Road, about 1824._
Original water-color painting by Charles W. Jefferys, O.S.A., Toronto,
from a photograph in possession of Miss Carnochan, showing the ruins of
William Lyon Mackenzie's printing office, the _Colonial Advocate_, as it
appeared twelve years after the battle of Queenston Heights.
NO. 6. FACING PAGE 52.
_Ruins of old Powder Magazine, Fort George._
Photograph in possession of Miss Carnochan.
NO. 7. FACING PAGE 64.
_Brock's Cocked Hat._
Water-color sketch by Harry Carter, Toronto, from photograph in
possession of Miss Carnochan. (See foot-note on page 64.) Persons
interested in military matters will observe that the white ostrich
plumes, which show very slightly, are placed under the flaps, only the
white edges appearing. This new style of feather display was, it is
stated, in compliance with an order from the War Office, issued shortly
before Brock's death. Previously the plumes were worn more
conspicuously.
NO. 8. FACING PAGE 75.
_Butler's Barracks (Officers' Quarters), Niagara Common._
View of officers' quarters. From photograph loaned by Miss Carnochan.
NO. 9. FACING PAGE 96.
_Our Hero meets Tecumseh._ "_This is a man_!"
Original black and white drawing by Fergus Kyle, Toronto. See page 97.
NO. 10. FACING PAGE 109.
_Lieut.-Colonel John Macdonell._
Reproduced, by permission, from A.C. Casselman's "Richardson's War of
1812." From a silhouette in possession of John Alexander Macdonell,
K.C., Alexandria, Ontario. Colonel Macdonell, who was provincial
aide-de-camp to Brock, was member of Parliament for Glengarry and
Attorney-General of Upper Canada. Died, October 14th, 1812, from wounds
received at battle of Queenston Heights, aged 27.
NO. 11. FACING PAGE 117.
_Queenston Heights and Brock's Monument._
As it appeared about 1830, excepting that the present monument has been
substituted for the old one. Original water-color painting by C.M.
Manly, A.R.C.A., Toronto, from a photograph in possession of Miss
Carnochan.
NO. 12. FACING PAGE 121.
"_Major-General Brock, 18x6._"
From a vignette photograph loaned by Miss FitzGibbon, Toronto, and now
published for the first time in any Life of Brock. As doubt has been
expressed by some admirers of Brock as to the authenticity of this
portrait, Miss FitzGibbon's written endorsation is here quoted:
"The photograph is from an original miniature portrait of Major-General
(afterwards Sir) Isaac Brock, painted by J. Hudson, 18x6--1806--the date
of General Brock's last visit to England. The miniature is now in
possession of Miss S. Mickle, Toronto."
This full-face vignette is of exceptional interest, all other portraits
of Brock being in profile, and is likely to challenge preconceived
notions.
NO. 13. FACING PAGE 128.
_Powder Magazine, Fort George, Niagara._
This powder magazine was first built in 1796. Reproduced from a
photograph in possession of Miss Carnochan, Niagara.
NO. 14. FACING PAGE 135.
_Brock's Midnight Gallop._
Original water-color painting by Charles W. Jefferys, O.S.A., Toronto.
As a matter of fact, the hour of Brock's gallop from Fort George to
Queenston, as described in Chapter XXV., was not "midnight," but shortly
before daybreak. It is this time, "between the lights," with sky and
atmosphere aglow from the fire of the batteries, that the artist
cleverly depicts.
NO. 15. FACING PAGE 140.
_Battle of Queenston Heights._
Photographed in Guernsey, 1902, from a curious old print, from a sketch
by a brother officer of Brock's--presumably Dennis. (See Explanatory
Note to No. 18.) Loaned by Miss FitzGibbon. Original in possession of
Miss Helen Tupper, Guernsey.
NO. 16. FACING PAGE 156.
_Death of Isaac Brock._
Original water-color sketch by Charles W. Jefferys, O.S.A., Toronto.
Shows our hero falling after being hit by the fatal bullet fired by an
Ohio rifleman, while courageously heading the charge in the attempt to
recapture the redan.
NO. 17. FACING PAGE 159.
_Brock's Coat, worn at Queenston Heights._
From photograph, loaned by Miss FitzGibbon, of the coat worn by Brock at
Queenston Heights, showing the hole made by the entry of the fatal
bullet. Photographed, 1902, from the original in the possession of Miss
Tupper, of Guernsey.
NO. 18. FACING PAGE 161.
_Battle of Queenston._
Facsimile drawing by Harry Carter, Toronto, of an old sketch credited to
Major Dennis (page 161), which appears on an early map of Upper Canada,
published by O.G. Steele--presumably of Buffalo--in 1840. Underneath the
original print are the following words, reproduced _verbatim_:
"BATTLE OF QUEENSTON.
AFTER A SKETCH BY MAJOR DENNIS,
13TH OCT., 1813,
Which ended in a complete victory on the part of the British, having
captured 927 men, killed or wounded about 500, taken 1,400 stand of
arms, a six-pounder, and a stand of colors."
(See, also, Explanatory Note to No. 15.)
NO. 19. FACING PAGE 163.
_Plan of Battle of Queenston._
Reproduced from an historical pamphlet loaned by Mrs. Currie, of
Niagara, showing the plan of battleground, disposition of troops, and
topography of adjacent country.
NO. 20. FACING PAGE 170.
_Taking of Niagara, May 27th, 1813._
From a sketch which appeared in the Philadelphia _Portfolio_, 1817.
Interesting from the fact that it is the only picture known which shows
the churches of St. Mark's and St. Andrew's, Niagara (Newark), Canadian
side, and the lighthouse which, built in 1803, stood on the spot where
Fort Mississauga now stands.
NO. 21. FACING PAGE 172.
_Cenotaph, Queenston Heights._
Erected near the spot where Brock fell. It bears the following
inscription:
"NEAR THIS SPOT
MAJOR-GENERAL
SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.C.B.,
PROVISIONAL LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF
UPPER CANADA,
FELL ON 13TH OCTOBER, 1812,
WHILE ADVANCING TO REPEL THE
INVADING ENEMY."
NO. 22. FACING PAGE 174.
_Brock's Monument._
On October 13th, 1824, the remains of Brock and his gallant aide,
Macdonell, were removed from the bastion at Fort George and placed in a
vault beneath the monument which had been erected on Queenston Heights
by the Legislature to commemorate our hero's death. On Good Friday,
April 17th, 1840, this monument was shattered by an explosion of
gunpowder placed within the basement by a rebel of 1837 named Lett. In
1853 the cornerstone of a new monument, as shown at page 174, the cost
of which was borne by the people of Canada, was erected on the same
spot, and on October 13th, forty-one years after the British victory at
Queenston, and the anniversary of Brock's splendid death, the remains of
the two heroes were re-interred and deposited in two massive stone
sarcophagi in the vault of the new monument. On the two oval silver
plates on Brock's coffin was inscribed the following epitaph:
"HERE LIE THE EARTHLY REMAINS OF A BRAVE
AND VIRTUOUS HERO,
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK,
COMMANDER OF THE BRITISH FORCES,
AND PRESIDENT ADMINISTERING
THE GOVERNMENT OF UPPER CANADA,
WHO FELL WHEN GLORIOUSLY ENGAGING THE ENEMIES
OF HIS COUNTRY,
AT THE HEAD OF THE FLANK COMPANIES
OF THE 49TH REGIMENT,
IN THE TOWN OF QUEENSTON,
ON THE MORNING OF THE 13TH OCTOBER, 1812,
AGED 42 YEARS.
J.B. GLEGG, A.D.C."
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