CANADA: MUTINY IN THE 49TH
BROCK collected his men and returned to England. At Copenhagen it will
be remembered that he had part of the regiment with him on the _Ganges_,
but others had been on different vessels. In August of 1801 he reviewed
the 49th at Colchester, to which place they were ordered. They were now
experienced, in some sort, in battle and had shown themselves to be
brave soldiers. Brock could look with pride on the men he had trained.
In the spring of the next year the 49th Regiment was ordered to Canada.
Probably Brock received his orders regretfully. It meant leaving Europe
when in England war was daily imminent, and Brock, as a man of action,
loved action. So did his men. America, at this time, was peaceable
enough, and even had Canada been attractive in other ways, the commander
and men of the 49th would rather have stayed where there was a prospect
of fighting. Moreover, Canada was deemed, at that time, a land of hard
weather and few attractions. It was little known and supposed to be even
less livable. The journey over the Atlantic was feared by some, far more
than the fire of the enemy in battle. The 49th had no very pleasant
memories of garrison duty, and this was all there was to look forward
to.
We can imagine a not very cheerful regiment crossing the uncertain and
treacherous ocean under conditions much less agreeable than exist
to-day.
One wonders what must have been Brock’s thoughts when he first saw the
St. Lawrence. He was seaborn, and the salt and the breeze were his
inheritance. He must have been greatly impressed as the ship sailed up
the stately river, its shores heavily wooded and all the wonder of its
rolling might stretched out in front of him. He came in time to Quebec,
and no doubt as his eyes rested on those defences which had withstood
siege after siege, his thoughts often turned to Wolfe and Montcalm and
how, within this area on which he now gazed, they had made history. He
was by now a man of grave and serious character and, as many another in
lowlier state has done since, he may have asked himself what this vast
unknown country held for him. It was to hold much, and he for it.
We may try and think, for a moment, what the Canada of those early years
looked like to this new-comer from the Mother country. There were not
more than three hundred thousand people in this country of ours whose
people now number over eight million. More than half were in Lower
Canada. Brock was a military man and he early noticed how badly
protected were the supposedly fortified posts. York, the capital of
Upper Canada, had no defences. Montreal, the greatest city then as now,
had little to repel attack. Kingston had fairly good fortifications, and
Quebec was in a position stubbornly to resist an enemy. These things
Brock came soon to see.
Perhaps even more portentous to Brock was the state of mind of the
average soldier in Canada. These men had come from Britain where the
garrison life was pleasant and full of incident and where the cities
offered excitement and amusement. Canada was a great contrast. It was
sparsely populated. There were no cities, as these British soldiers
understood the term, and the sameness of the life aroused unrest and
discontent. The United States offered an easy refuge for deserters.
There was to be had across the border the daily eventfulness and
excitement which soldiers wanted. Desertions were frequent, and becoming
more so, and Brock saw the danger for his men of the 49th. He did all he
could to make their lot, under not very accommodating circumstances, a
happy one, but the spirit of the regiment was not the cheerful one it
had been a year or so before.
Brock had not been long in Canada before trouble began in the regiment.
He had an idea that one of his men, Carr by name, was waiting his chance
to desert. He questioned him closely, but the man was sullen. “Tell me
the truth like a man,” said Brock. “You know I have always treated you
kindly.” The man broke down at the words and tone of his commander and
confessed that he and others were planning to desert to the United
States. Here we see that Brock was a man who knew human nature. He
decided to cure by kindness, and he ordered Carr to tell his companions
of what had happened. “Tell them that, notwithstanding what you have
told me, I shall still treat you all kindly,” he said. “Let them desert
me if they please.” Wise Isaac Brock! He knew the value of placing a man
on his honor.
After a short stay at Quebec, Brock and his men began their journey to
York, the small but important town that was later to become the great
city of Toronto. The 49th journeyed by water, for there were no trains.
A schooner took the men up to Montreal, where, after resting, they took
boats up the St. Lawrence. Picture what it meant to brave the wildness
and storm of our great river, to these voyagers a waterway quite
unknown, in small and open boats. They had a new experience in portaging
their boats where the rapids were too strong for them. They plied their
oars through the exquisite loveliness of the Thousand Islands, and
Brock, remembering the fairyland of Guernsey, must have marvelled at
this country which, in one place, had a thousand islands, some of them
almost as big as Sark. Eventually the 49th arrived at Kingston, the
second stage. They made the rest of the journey over Lake Ontario in
another swiftly sailing schooner.
By the time the whole trip was completed Brock had been afforded much
food for thought. He saw a country whose resources were barely touched.
Where we now have thriving communities, he saw settlements where the
people might be counted by handfuls. In the long journey up the St.
Lawrence the abundance of fish and game and the vast sources of wealth
contained in the land alone must have amazed him. He came from a country
across which the stage coach could travel in two or three days. But his
journey across but a section of Canada took him weeks. In England the
lakes were not a twentieth of the size of the one upon which York stood.
The meadows and lanes of England were a far cry from the densely
timbered stretches of Canada. The contrast between his country and ours
is sharp enough to-day. It must have been infinitely more so when Brock
made his first Canadian journey.
It was not long after the pardoning of Carr that Brock had again to face
a similar trouble. Part of his men had gone on to Fort George, while the
others remained with him at York. Brock’s kind treatment of Carr had had
a salutary effect upon most of the regiment, but there were still a few
malcontents. The next summer six of these, at the instigation of a
corporal in another regiment stationed near, deserted, and in a military
batteau—a big flat-bottomed boat, forty feet in length—which they had
stolen, started for Niagara. Brock, the man of action, thought quickly.
He took his servant, Dobson, and manning two boats, started in pursuit.
It was midnight and Lake Ontario was to Brock an unknown quantity, but
the boy who had played with the English Channel in all its moods was
unafraid. After a hard row the pursuers reached Fort George in the
morning, and search parties were organized. The deserters were secured
and made prisoners at Fort George. Brock was as stern this time as he
had been kind before, and his prompt action and personal pursuit put an
end to desertions when he himself was commanding the regiment. It is
said that the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant-General Hunter, who was
then at York, was very much annoyed with Brock for risking his life by
going in person to seek the deserters and read him a severe lecture on
his conduct.
Brock spent a good deal of time familiarizing himself with the Canadas,
or Lower Canada and Upper Canada as they then were. He made many
journeys to Montreal and Kingston by stage and by boat. From Quebec to
Montreal was sixty leagues, and horses must be changed twenty-four times
on the journey which took three days. Brock did a good deal of sailing
too, for he had to get from York to Kingston and Montreal. Canoe and
horse-ferry were often employed. The former was certainly new to Brock,
and even more novel were the Indians who often manned it. Packman and
_voyageur_ excited Brock’s eager interest, and from them he learned much
that was to be valuable in years to come. He got to know the
French-Canadian intimately too; saw him in his native habitat and spent
time in studying him as he did the folk of Ontario. Nothing escaped his
quick eye and quicker mentality. He believed in acquainting himself with
the people with whom he had to deal, and his detailed knowledge of them
placed him in a position accurately to estimate the help they could give
him if ever Canada should be attacked. He could not be unmindful of the
way in which thousands of American settlers were coming into his adopted
country. The people across the border recognized the wonderful resources
of Canada, and as land was cheap they flocked over to possess it. Even
in these early days Brock must have seen signs of the very real menace
which ultimately was to come from the United States.
Meanwhile there was a serious disturbance at Fort George.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sheaffe was commanding that part of the 49th
which was stationed there, and we have seen that he was too harsh a
disciplinarian ever to command a contented as well as an efficient body
of men. For the slightest offence he punished his men very heavily.
These were the days of heavy punishment alike in civilian and military
misdemeanours. Where the soldier to-day would merit a rebuke, in
Brock’s day he was supposed to deserve and got a flogging. Sentences
like 999 lashes from the “Cat”, which was often steeped in brine to
heighten the pain, were frequently carried out, and that for such small
sins as quitting barracks without permission or being deficient in
a detail of parade dress. The cells, too, were constantly occupied.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sheaffe seems to have delighted in inflicting these
punishments. His methods were a direct contrast to those of his senior,
Brock. Small wonder, then, that his men were resentful, and finally
so hot in their anger that their plans included wholesale mutiny, the
murder of Sheaffe, and the imprisonment of the rest of the officers.
The ringleader was a certain Sergeant Clarke.
When Clarke had his plans all ready an accidental word was dropped by a
soldier in the 49th. A hurried meeting of the officers discussed the
situation, and word was quickly sent to Brock, it is said without the
knowledge of Sheaffe. The soldier who bore the message had a bad
reputation in the regiment, and Brock at once jumped to the conclusion
that the man himself was implicated in the plot. Under stern questioning
and threats of severe punishment the soldier broke down and told the
whole story, together with the names of the ringleaders. Accompanied by
Sergeant-Major FitzGibbon, Brock set sail that very hour and landed at
Fort George long before he was expected by the waiting officers. The
guard at the east gate of the fort was headed by Sergeant Clarke
himself, and Brock ordered him to lay down his pike and take off sword
and sash. When this was done, O’Brien, next in command, was ordered to
handcuff the sergeant, and a third soldier, in turn, to manacle O’Brien.
Almost before the officers who had asked his assistance knew that he had
arrived, Brock had the twelve leaders of the plot in irons, and, they,
with the seven deserters already mentioned, were sent to York under
guard.
We have read the story of Carr’s intended mutiny, and we have seen that
Brock could be kind and indeed cure by kindness. He knew when to punish
and when to stay his hand. In the case of Clarke he saw that an example
must be made, so that his authority over his men might be seen by them
to be a thing not lightly to be set aside. This time he showed no mercy.
The affair was now one for the commander-in-chief of the forces,
Lieutenant-General Hunter. The men were sent to Quebec, and there tried.
Four of the conspirators and three of the deserters were sentenced to
death, and on March 2nd, 1804, the sentence was carried out, greatly to
Brock’s grief. He was big-hearted and clear-headed enough to know that
Lieutenant-Colonel Sheaffe had been to a large extent responsible in
arousing the evil passions which had resulted in the conspiracy, and
while he recognized that the punishment was just he could not help but
think that the delinquents were more foolish than criminal. When at
York, he got news of the execution, he addressed a full parade of his
men. He thought of the fate of the men who had been with him in Holland,
and he was grave and bitterly sorry when he said: “Since I have had the
honor to wear the British uniform, I have never felt grief like this. It
pains me to the heart to think that any members of my regiment should
have engaged in a conspiracy which has led to their being shot like so
many dogs.”