The Hero of Upper Canada
General Isaac Brock, the Hero of Upper Canada, was the kind of man men
delight to honour--honest, capable, ambitious, faithful, kind. Nothing
less than a tremendous gorge, such as separates Queenston from Lewiston
Heights, could keep the people of one nation from knowing and loving
this hero of another; since Brock's day this gorge has been spanned by
beautiful bridges, and it is full time now, as the centennial of the
second war with England approaches, that the appreciation of the
characters of the worthy, patriotic heroes of that olden day o'erleap
the chasm of bitter rivalry and hostility and become common and genuine
to the northward and the southward of the Niagara.
Isaac Brock was the eighth son of John Brock, Esq., born on the sixth
day of October, 1769, in the parish of St. Peter-Port, Guernsey--the
famous birth-year of Wellington and Napoleon. Tall, robust, and mentally
conspicuous as a lad, Isaac followed his elder brother into the British
Army, purchasing the ensigncy in the 8th, or King's Regiment, in 1785.
His promotion was the result of merit in addition to possessing the
means to purchase higher office; in 1790 we find him a lieutenant in the
49th Regiment, advancing to his majority in 1795 and two years later
becoming senior lieutenant-colonel. Supplanting now an officer accused
of peculation who had brought the whole regiment into public notice,
Brock exerted an influence that seemed to transform the regiment, making
it "from one of the worst," said the Duke of York himself, "one of the
best regiments in the service."
[Illustration: Major-General Brock.]
The opportunity of active service soon came, as the 49th was thrown into
Holland, Brock being wounded at Egmont-op-Zee, or Bergen. His simple
statement concerning being struck in the breast by a spent bullet is
interesting: "I got knocked down soon after the enemy began to retreat,"
he remarks, "but never quitted the field, and returned to my duty in
less than half an hour."[30] Here Brock fought under Sir John Moore and
Sir Ralph Abercrombie; in 1801 he was second in command of the land
forces at Copenhagen and saw Lord Nelson on the _Elephant_ write his
famous letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark. During the next year the
49th was sent to Canada and was quartered at Fort George near Newark,
the present Niagara-on-the-Lake. The character of Brock's management of
the troops under him is well illustrated in the case of a strange mutiny
that came near to breaking out at this time at Fort George due to the
useless annoyance, or alleged actual severity, which so exasperated the
men that an almost inconceivable plot to kill the officers was
discovered. After the crime the soldiers were to cross the river into
the United States and escape. One of the confederates was sent by the
commanding officer to Brock at York with a letter describing the
horrifying discovery. The incensed commander compelled the soldier at
the point of a musket to disclose the chief conspirators. Hastening to
Fort George the ringleaders were apprehended at the dinner table and
hurried off to Quebec, where they were summarily shot. As a result Brock
himself was ordered to make Fort George his headquarters, whereupon all
trouble seems to have ceased.
In 1805 Brock received his colonelcy and with it leave of absence. While
at home he made a report to the commander-in-chief which throws an
interesting light on affairs at that period, favouring the formation of
a veteran battalion for service in Upper Canada. He wrote:
The artifices employed to wean the soldier from his duty,
conspire to render almost ineffectual every effort of the
officers to maintain the usual degree of order and discipline.
The lures to desertion continually thrown out by the Americans,
and the facility with which it can be accomplished, exacting a
more than ordinary precaution on the part of the officers,
insensibly produces mistrust between them and the men, highly
prejudicial to the service.
Experience has taught me that no regular regiment, however high
its claim to discipline, can occupy the frontier posts of Lower
and Upper Canada without suffering materially in its numbers. It
might have been otherwise some years ago; but now that the
country, particularly the opposite shore, is chiefly inhabited
by the vilest characters, who have an interest in debauching the
soldier from his duty; since roads are opened into the interior
of the States, which facilitate desertion, it is impossible to
avoid the contagion. A total change must be effected in the
minds and views of those who may hereafter be sent on this duty,
before the evil can be surmounted.[31]
Such was the warlike tenor of despatches now at hand from Canada that
Brock, eager to be at the post of duty at a critical time, hastened from
London in June, 1806, cutting short his leave of absence. Throughout
that year and its successor he was actively engaged in studying his
province with regard to military demands that might suddenly be made
upon it; it is noteworthy that the commander feared that in case of an
outbreak between England and America a considerable part of the
inhabitants of Upper Canada (Loyalists) would prove friendly to the
young Republic. Discussing a new militia law he wrote as follows to the
Council:
In thus complying with the dictates of his duty, Colonel Brock
was not prepared to hear that the population of the province,
instead of affording him ready and effectual support, might
probably add to the number of his enemies; and he feels much
disappointment in being informed by the first authority, that
the only law in any degree calculated to answer the end proposed
was likely, if attempted to be enforced, to meet with such
general opposition as to require the aid of the military to give
it even a momentary impulse.
If such were the apprehensions of the commanding officer in Canada
little wonder General Hull, in later days, counted on the co-operation
of many of the inhabitants of the trans-Niagara country. In September,
1807, Brock, who was acting-governor in Canada pending the arrival of
Sir James Craig, was fortifying Quebec in anticipation of an immediate
outbreak of the impending war. In this connection a little incident
displays his character. He had caused to be erected at Quebec a very
powerful battery, and of it he wrote his brothers:
I erected . . . a famous battery, which the public voice named
after me; but Sir James, thinking very properly that anything so
very pre-eminent should be distinguished by the most exalted
appellation, has called it the King's Battery, the greatest
compliment, I conceive, that he could pay to my judgment.
The true modesty of the really great man shines out in these charming
words.
As the war cloud seemed to dissipate toward the close of 1808, General
Brock seems to have set his eyes toward Europe in the hope of
opportunity of active service; on November 19th he writes quite
despondently:
My object is to get home as soon as I can obtain permission; but
unless our affairs with America be amicably adjusted, of which I
see no probability, I scarcely can expect to be permitted to
move. I rejoice Savery [Brock] has begun to exert himself to get
me appointed to a more active situation. I must see service, or
I may as well, and indeed much better, quit the army at once,
for no one advantage can I reasonably look to hereafter if I
remain buried in this inactive, remote corner, without the least
mention being made of me.
It is exceedingly noticeable that Brock now seems to pin all his hope to
being recalled in order that he might win his laurels in the
tremendously spectacular campaigns against Napoleon in Spain. From his
letters we learn that the French-Canadians looked for the Corsican's
ultimate triumph and his final possession of Canada itself, and adds
that under like circumstances Englishmen would be even more restless
under French rule than the French-Canadians were under English; "Every
victory which Napoleon has gained," he observes, "for the last nine
years has made the disposition here to resist more manifest."
In the middle of July Brock writes his sister-in-law, Mrs. William
Brock, that the die is cast and that he is ordered to Upper Canada. If
it is character, rather than mere performance that, in the last
analysis, gives every man his historic position in the annals of the
world, the truth is nowhere better shown than here in the case of this
splendid Canadian hero. Could his Governor have spared him Brock would
have, ere this, been at home or en route to Spain and fame; but the
conditions demanded a strong, diplomatic officer at Fort George, and
there was nothing for it but that Brock must go; and there followed
war--and bloody Queenston Heights. "Since I cannot get to Europe," are
his gloomy words, "I care little where I am placed."
By September 13th he is writing his brothers from Fort George, but still
hinting of his hopes to get leave to return to England eventually. What
an out-of-the-way place for fame to seek and find a man--a man repining
that he cannot go in search of her! Yet he writes: "I should stand
evidently in my own light if I did not court fortune elsewhere." The
attitude of Sir James Craig in the matter of his transfer to the
European service was candidly stated by a letter from Colonel Baynes as
follows:
In reply to an observation of mine, that you regretted the
inactive prospect before you, and looked with envy on those
employed in Spain and Portugal, he said: "I make no doubt of it,
but I can in no shape aid his plans in that respect; I would
not, however, be the means of preventing them, and although from
his local knowledge I should regret losing him in this country,
yet I would not oppose it if he could obtain an appointment to
the staff on service; but in that case I would ask for another
general officer being sent in his place immediately to Upper
Canada." I tell you this, my dear general, without reserve, and
give you, as far as I can recollect, Sir James's words. If he
liked you less, he might, perhaps, be more readily induced to
let you go; as matters stand, I do not think he will, although I
am convinced that he will feel very sincere regret in refusing
you on a subject upon which you appear to be so anxious.
In his correspondence we now and then get a glimpse of the General's
tastes and inclinations; that he was not a frugal entertainer we have
considerable proof,[32] likewise evidence of his temperate tastes. In
his lonely life by the Niagara he had recourse to such books as were to
be found.
But books are scarce [he writes], and I hate borrowing. I like
to read a book quickly, and afterwards revert to such passages
as have made the deepest impression, and which appear to me most
important to remember--a practice I cannot conveniently pursue
unless the book be mine. Should you find that I am likely to
remain here, I wish you to send me some choice authors in
history, particularly ancient, with maps, and the best
translations of ancient works. I read in my youth Pope's
Translation of Homer, but till lately never discovered its
exquisite beauties. As I grow old, I acquire a taste for study.
I firmly believe that the same propensity was always inherent in
me, but, strange to tell, although many were paid extravagantly,
I never had the advantage of a master to guide and encourage me.
But it is now too late to repine. I rejoice that my nephews are
more fortunate.
Colonel Vesey, writing to Brock, states that he regrets not having a
daughter of marriageable age. "You should be married," runs the letter,
"particularly as fate seems to detain you so long in Canada--but pray do
not marry there." In another letter, dated Portsmouth, June 10, 1811,
the same correspondent refers to Brock's appointment as Major-General.
Oddly enough General Vesey says, referring to his friend's probable
future: "It may perhaps be your fate to go to the Mediterranean, but the
Peninsula is the most direct road to the honour of the Bath, and as you
are an ambitious man, that is the station you should prefer. . . ." Only
sixteen months from the day this letter was written Brock was gazetted
Knight of the Bath--the lonely, patient, splendid man winning the great
honour in the very land he was longing so sincerely to leave. On October
17th a communication from Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens gives General Brock
permission to return to England, but it was too late; both honour and
necessity demanded his presence in Canada as the exciting days of 1812
drew on apace.
[Illustration: A Plan of Fort Niagara after English Occupation, by
Montresor.]
At the outbreak of hostilities in this year the United States embraced
an immense territory, extending from the St. Lawrence to Mexico,
excepting Florida--which remained in the possession of Spain until
1819--and from the Atlantic indefinitely westward to the Spanish
possessions on the Pacific coast, afterwards acquired by the United
States. The total population of the United States was upwards of eight
million souls, of whom a million and a half were negro slaves in the
South. Large wastes of wild land lay between the Canadian settlements
and the thickly populated sections of New England, New York, and Ohio.
It was only with great difficulty and expense that men, munitions of
war, and provisions could be brought to the frontier during the contest.
The principal causes of the war are quite intelligible to the historical
student. Great Britain was engaged in a great conflict at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, not only for her own national security but
also for the integrity of Europe, then threatened by the insatiable
ambition of Bonaparte. It was on the sea that her strength mainly lay.
To ensure her maritime supremacy England reserved the right of searching
neutral, especially American, vessels. This so-called right meant that
wherever an English warship met American merchantmen or war-vessels, the
latter were required to stop, order their men on deck, and permit as
many sailors to be seized and forced into the English service as were
unable to prove their nationality. It was maintained that only deserters
from the English navy were wanted; but in the period from 1796 to 1802,
nearly two thousand American seamen were pressed into the English naval
service on the plea that they were deserters. Likewise England became
jealous of American trade. French, Spanish, and even English traders
raised the American flag in order to get the advantages of neutrals.
Thus it appeared that English commerce would fall into the hands of her
rivals. It cannot be denied that illicit trade and outrages were really
committed and brought back to American doors. The Lion roared. English
vessels were stationed just outside the ports of more or less importance
to the United States. British cruisers virtually blocked the Atlantic
coast from Maine to Georgia. Then happened the _Chesapeake_ affair. On
June 27, 1803, the British war-vessel _Leopard_ signalled the
_Chesapeake_ to stop as she was leaving Norfolk Harbour. An officer was
sent on board, but Commodore Barron refused to muster his men. The
_Leopard_ thereupon opened fire, took the _Chesapeake_ by surprise,
three men being killed and eighteen wounded. One Englishman was found
when the search was completed; nevertheless, three American sailors (one
being a negro) were taken away. This affair excited the American people
almost beyond precedent. Indignation meetings were held all over. War
soon became the cry. President Jefferson sent an agent to England to
demand reparation for the attack on the _Chesapeake_, but England paid
no attention to the President's representations.
The Embargo Act of President Jefferson and similar measures solved none
of the difficulties they were intended to solve. The South suffered much
hardship, tobacco and wheat shrinking to one-half their former value.
Then came the _Little Belt_ affair, when, in May, 1811, the United
States frigate _President_ encountered the British sloop _Little Belt_,
and, after a hot chase of several hours practically annihilated her.
Never was news more welcome to American ears, and the _Chesapeake_
affair had been revenged. But the incident did not help to improve the
situation. Lastly it was generally believed that England instigated the
Indian attacks which led to the battle of Tippecanoe, where the
Americans, under General William Henry Harrison, gained a complete
victory, to which our readers' attention will be directed later.
All these causes would, perhaps, have been ineffective but for the
revolution in the following year which took place in the American
Republican party--the controlling party since 1801. Henry Clay of
Kentucky, and John S. Calhoun of South Carolina, advocated war; others
followed and President Madison joined them. They hoped to compel Europe
to respect the American flag; they had confidence in the young Republic;
they dreamed, perhaps, of an alliance with France, of an annexation of
Canada. After long and stormy debates war was declared June 18th, the
invasion of Canada had already begun!
The War of 1812 officially commenced on June 18th. Great Britain,
indeed, had extended a reconciliatory hand but it was too late. The army
of the United States numbered at that time 6744 regulars. Congress had
authorised its increase to 25,000, and provided, at least by law, for a
second volunteer army of 50,000 men. The militia of several States was
likewise called on to co-operate with the regulars and the volunteers.
But the result was very unsatisfactory. The regular army during the war
never reached 10,000; the volunteers appeared only in small numbers, and
the militia offered to serve only for short terms and preferably in
their own States. The Treasury, with its "sinews of war" was in a
precarious condition. The Union had to resort to loans to which the
capitalists did not respond with alacrity. On the other hand the British
troops in Canada numbered barely seven thousand men; their line of
defence was one thousand miles long. England was contending in Europe
with her great enemy, Napoleon. The English Navy was, however, the
undisputed mistress of all the seas; the British North Atlantic Squadron
counted three battleships, twenty cruisers, and fifty smaller ships.
The mind of the man who had been unwittingly awaiting the impossible in
the Upper Province for so many gloomy months is well displayed now in a
letter written to headquarters at the first intimation of the
declaration of war which reached him through round-about sources:
Fort George, July 3, 1812.
I have been anxiously expecting for some days to receive the
honour of your excellency's commands in regard to the measures
the most proper to be pursued on the present emergency.
The accounts received, first through a mercantile channel, and
soon after repeated from various quarters, of war having been
declared by the United States against Great Britain, would have
justified, in my opinion, offensive operations. But the
reflection that at Detroit and Michilimakinack the weak state of
the garrisons would prevent the commanders from accomplishing
any essential service, connected in any degree with their future
security, and that my means of annoyance on this communication
were limited to the reduction of Fort Niagara, which could
easily be battered at any future period, I relinquished my
original intention, and attended only to defensive measures. My
first object has been the calling out of the flank companies of
militia, which has produced a force on this line of about eight
hundred men. They turned out very cheerfully, but already show a
spirit of impatience. The king's stores are now at so low an
ebb, that they scarcely furnish any article of use or comfort.
Blankets, hammocks, and kettles, are all to be purchased; and
the troops, when watching the banks of the river, stand in the
utmost need of tents. Mr. Couche has adopted the most
efficacious means to pay the militia in paper currency. I cannot
positively state the number of militia that will be embodied,
but they cannot exceed throughout the province four thousand
men.
The Americans are very active on the opposite side, in the
erection of redoubts; we are not idle on our part, but
unfortunately having supplied Amherstburg with the guns which
that post required from Fort George, depending upon getting
others from Kingston to supply their place, we find ourselves at
this moment rather short of that essential arm. I have, however,
every reason to think that they are embarked on board the _Earl
Moira_, which vessel, according to Major M'Pherson's report, was
to have sailed on the 28th ultimo. The Americans have, I
believe, about 1200 regulars and militia between Fort Niagara
and Black Rock, and I consider myself at this moment perfectly
safe against any attempt they can make. About one hundred
Indians from the Grand River have attended to my summons; the
remainder promise to come also, but I have too much reason to
conclude that the Americans have been too successful in their
endeavours to sow dissension and disaffection among them. It is
a great object to get this fickle race interspersed among the
troops. I should be unwilling, in the event of a retreat, to
have three or four hundred of them hanging on my flank. I shall
probably have to sacrifice some money to gain them over, and the
appointment of a few officers with salaries will be absolutely
necessary.
The Americans make a daily parade of their force, and easily
impose on the people on this side in regard to their numbers. I
do not think they exceed 1200, but they are represented as
infinitely more numerous.
For the last fortnight every precaution has been taken to guard
against the least communication, and to this day we are ignorant
whether the President has sanctioned the war resolutions of the
two houses of Congress; that is, whether war be actually
declared.
I have not been honoured with a line from Mr. Foster,[33] nor
with all my endeavours have I been able to retain information of
any consequence. The _Prince Regent_ made her first voyage this
morning, and I purpose sending her to Kingston this evening, to
bring such articles as are absolutely necessary, which we know
have arrived from Quebec. I trust she will out-sail the _Oneida_
brig.
The arrival of General Hull at Detroit and his "invasion" of Canada
followed hard on the declaration of war; as a preliminary step previous
to invasion he issued the Proclamation for which he was afterward so
roundly scored. The proclamation was really an invitation to all
disaffected persons in the Upper Provinces to join Hull's army. That it
had no more success than it did, was due, it may be believed, to the
personal magnetism of the able man in control of affairs--to the trust
that the people had as a whole in General Brock. To counteract Hull's
proclamation Brock replied in one of his own, and it contains several
statements of interest as displaying the character of its author:
The unprovoked declaration of war by the United States of
America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
and its dependencies, has been followed by the actual invasion
of this province, in a remote frontier of the western district,
by a detachment of the armed force of the United States.
The officer commanding that detachment has thought proper to
invite his majesty's subjects, not merely to a quiet and
unresisting submission, but insults them with a call to seek
voluntarily the protection of his government.
Without condescending to repeat the illiberal epithets bestowed
in this appeal of the American commander to the people of Upper
Canada, on the administration of his majesty, every inhabitant
of the province is desired to seek the confutation of such
indecent slander in the review of his own particular
circumstances. Where is the Canadian subject who can truly
affirm to himself that he has been injured by the government, in
his person, his property, or his liberty? Where is to be found,
in any part of the world, a growth so rapid in prosperity and
wealth, as this colony exhibits? Settled not thirty years, by a
band of veterans, exiled from their former possessions on
account of their loyalty, not a descendant of these brave people
is to be found, who, under the fostering liberality of their
sovereign, has not acquired a property and means of enjoyment
superior to what were possessed by their ancestors.
[Illustration: "Navy Hall Opposite Niagara."
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.]
The unequalled prosperity would not have been attained by the
utmost liberality of the government, or the persevering industry
of the people, had not the maritime power of the mother-country
secured to its colonists a safe access to every market, where
the produce of their labour was in request.
The unavoidable and immediate consequences of a separation from
Great Britain must be the loss of this inestimable advantage;
and what is offered you in exchange? To become a territory of
the United States, and share with them that exclusion from the
ocean which the policy of their government enforces; you are not
even flattered with a participation of their boasted
independence; and it is but too obvious that, once estranged
from the powerful protection of the United Kingdom, you must be
re-annexed to the dominion of France, from which the provinces
of Canada were wrested by the arms of Great Britain, at a vast
expense of blood and treasure, from no other motive than to
relieve her ungrateful children from the oppression of a cruel
neighbour. This restitution of Canada to the empire of France,
was the stipulated reward for the aid afforded to the revolted
colonies, now the United States; the debt is still due, and
there can be no doubt but the pledge has been renewed as a
consideration for commercial advantages, or rather for an
expected relaxation in the tyranny of France over the commercial
world. Are you prepared, inhabitants of Canada, to become
willing subjects, or rather slaves, to the despot who rules the
nations of continental Europe with a rod of iron? If not, arise
in a body, exert your energies, co-operate cordially with the
King's regular forces to repel the invader, and do not give
cause to your children, when groaning under the oppression of a
foreign master, to reproach you with having so easily parted
with the richest inheritance of this earth--a participation in
the name, character, and freedom of Britons!
The same spirit of justice, which will make every reasonable
allowance for the unsuccessful efforts of zeal and loyalty, will
not fail to punish the defalcation of principle. Every Canadian
freeholder is, by deliberate choice, bound by the most solemn
oaths to defend the monarchy, as well as his own property; to
shrink from that engagement is a treason not to be forgiven. Let
no man suppose that if, in this unexpected struggle, his
majesty's arms should be compelled to yield to an overwhelming
force, the province will be eventually abandoned; the endeared
relations of its first settlers, the intrinsic value of its
commerce, and the pretensions of its powerful rival to possess
the Canadas, are pledges that no peace will be established
between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, of
which the restoration of these provinces does not make the most
prominent condition.
Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the commander of
the enemy's forces to refuse quarter, should an Indian appear in
the ranks. The brave bands of aborigines which inhabit this
colony were, like his Majesty's other subjects, punished for
their zeal and fidelity, by the loss of their possessions in the
late colonies, and requited by his Majesty with lands of
superior value in this province. The faith of the British
government has never yet been violated--the Indians feel that
the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity protected
from the base arts so frequently devised to over-reach their
simplicity. By what new principle are they to be prohibited from
defending their property? If their warfare, from being different
to that of the white people, be more terrific to the enemy, let
him retrace his steps--they seek him not--and cannot expect to
find women and children in an invading army. But they are men,
and have equal rights with all other men to defend themselves
and their property when invaded, more especially when they find
in the enemy's camp a ferocious and mortal foe; using the same
warfare which the American commander affects to reprobate.
This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing quarter,
for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother sufferer,
in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain
assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations of
war in this part of the King's dominions, but in every quarter
of the globe; for the national character of Britain is not less
distinguished for humanity than strict retributive justice,
which will consider the execution of this inhuman threat as
deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending
power must make expiation.
Few men ever had the task that General Brock now essayed thrown upon
their shoulders. With some fifteen hundred men he had to occupy the
forts St. Joseph, Amherstburg (Malden), Chippewa, Erie, and George,
together with York (Toronto) and Kingston; maintain British supremacy,
if possible, on three great lakes; preserve the long communication and
defend a frontier eight hundred and more miles in length. And it is to
be remembered that even in time of peace there had been no little
trouble in keeping the British regulars from deserting to the American
side of the Niagara--probably to take advantage of the splendid
agricultural and commercial opportunities in the West just then being
thrown open to the pioneer hosts and to which Easterners were flocking
"in shoals," as one observer put it. His position was the more peculiar
because of the nature of the larger portion of the inhabitants of the
upper province, the loyalists. Having fled from the United States in the
hours of the Revolution, fancy now the thoughts of these honest people
as they faced the prospect of their land of refuge being invaded by an
army from the land below the lakes! Seldom did a people have more cause
for apprehension; seldom did the inhabitants of an invaded land look
less for commiseration on the part of the invaders. The result was that
a very few fled back again to the land of their birth; but the vast
majority resolved to trust the issue to Providence--and these looked to
General Brock to preserve the land.
The situation was unique and gave the man at the helm a singular
opportunity to prove himself and win the deathless devotion of a whole
people. Little wonder that the man who proved himself equal to this
critical hour will forever be known as "The Hero of Upper Canada."
Brigadier-General Hull had advanced into Upper Canada from Detroit
early in July, but it was not until the capture of Hull's despatches by
Colonel Proctor in the affair near Brownsville when Van Horne's party
was ambushed that Brock planned to execute the daring advance which
ended in the astonishing capture of Detroit and Hull's entire army. On
the 6th of August Brock departed from York, with five hundred additional
volunteers, largely sons of loyalists, who were very true to their
adopted country in this crisis--or, perhaps we should say, loyal to this
brave leader in whom were suddenly found the qualities required by the
extraordinary occasion. Being compelled to leave a part of the little
force he was leading westward along the Niagara River, General Brock
reached Amherstburg (Malden) in five days and nights with some three
hundred followers. It is plain on this showing that whatever the result
of the bold enterprise there was now no hesitation in carrying it out.
Tecumseh's salute in his honour was suppressed as quickly as possible,
such was the scarcity of powder! There is something pathetically
interesting in two despatches issued by Brock on two successive
days,--August 14th and 15th. One was an appeal to his troops to prevent
desertion among the country folk who felt it imperative to get in their
crops; the other was an ultimatum to Hull summoning him to surrender.
The incongruity of the two epistles is almost amusing, especially when
it is remembered that the British had very little powder and a force
smaller than that opposed to it beyond the Detroit River. And yet the
bombastic order reads:
The force at my disposal authorises me to require of you the
immediate surrender of Fort Detroit. It is far from my
inclination to join in a war of extermination; but you must be
aware that the numerous body of Indians who have attached
themselves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment the
contest commences. You will find me disposed to enter into such
conditions as will satisfy the most scrupulous sense of honour.
Lieut.-Colonel M'Donell and Major Glegg are fully authorised to
conclude any arrangement that may lead to prevent the
unnecessary effusion of blood.
An answer of bold and frank tenor from Hull was received by the
desperate Brock, who immediately chose his course; there was nothing for
it but to retreat or attack the enemies' position; he could not sit
still; he was in George Rogers Clark's shoes at Kaskaskia a generation
before when Hamilton had captured Vincennes--he must capture Hull or be
captured by Hull. It was true to the kind of man he was that Brock
should spurn the advice of his officers to retreat and should determine,
despite their objections, to put his threat into execution. On Sunday,
the 16th of August, Brock's determined men were crossing the Strait. His
force included less than four hundred regulars and about that many
militia supported by some six hundred Indians. The American troops
numbered upwards of two thousand. As is well known Brock received
notification as his force was moving upon the fort that General Hull was
ready to treat with him. The resolute deportment of the desperate Brock
had won for him and his King a bloodless conquest that will go down in
history as one of the most heroic on the part of one commander and most
despicable on the part of the other to be found in the annals of
warfare. Congressmen who had been boasting in debate that it was
unnecessary to even send troops into the Canadas since officers alone,
by appearing there, could rally armies of disaffected persons about
them, now read that one determined man, acting against the advice of his
officers had appeared at the gates of Detroit with half an army and
taken its keys as readily as though they were voted to him by the city
fathers and brought to him on a silver salver. "We have the Canadas,"
rang the silvery voice of Henry Clay in Congress, "as much under our
command as Great Britain has the ocean; and the way to conquer her on
the ocean is to drive her from the land." No one could have more
completely misjudged an enemy or his own country as did the great
Kentuckian in this instance.
It is interesting in the extreme to survey the man who had won a signal
triumph as he now marches back to York and Fort George where he had
spent so many useless, fruitless years, as it seemed to him--yearning in
season and out of season for the opportunity to get away to the
Peninsula, or somewhere where fame might be achieved. Brock's success is
a great lesson to all ambitious men. Doing the humble drudgery of the
duty that lay next his hand, despite the regret and even pain occasioned
by lack of opportunity, this man suddenly came into a fame world-wide
and the honour of the Bath that he thought could come to him only in
sunny Spain. On the 10th of the following October General Brock's
brother William was asked by his wife why the park and tower guns were
saluting. "For Isaac, of course," he answered, playfully; "don't you
know that this is Isaac's birthday?" A little later he learned that the
news of the surrender of Detroit had just been received, and that his
playful answer was very near the truth after all!
[Illustration: Queenston and Brock's Monument.
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake.]
It is fruitless to imagine what might have been the trend of events in
Canada but for the daring decision made by Brock to move upon Detroit;
his courage in running in the teeth of the wind and trusting to
Providence to fetch the quay by hook or crook, is the very quality of
the human heart that mankind most delights to honour; it is remarkable
that the imbecility of Hull could have so completely blinded our
American eyes to this display of splendid daring of Brock's, which ranks
with Clark's bold march through the drowned lands of the Wabash, or
Wayne's attack on Stony Point. The capture of Hull and Detroit
unquestionably saved Upper Canada to England; for though American arms
were successful to some degree beyond the line, as we shall see, the
successes did not count toward conquest and annexation as would have
been the case, perhaps, had they come at the outbreak of the war. All
Canada felt the heartening effect of Brock's inexplicable victory;
thousands who had feared instant and ruthless invasion now felt strong
to repel any and all invaders; and the effect extended to the Indian
allies and across the ocean to the home-country, as well. Had Clay's
theory been true and the war had to be settled by land battles, Detroit
would have delayed the end for many years; but America was soon to show
a power on the sea as surprising as the stupidity of some of her
commanders on shore and play England at her own sea-dog game with her
own weapons and gain the victory.
The General's letter to his brothers is interesting as exhibiting the
man's private views on his great success:
I have received [he writes] so many letters from people whose
opinion I value, expressive of their admiration of the exploit,
that I begin to attach to it more importance than I was at first
inclined. Should the affair be viewed in England in the light it
is here, I cannot fail of meeting reward, and escaping the
horror of being placed high on a shelf, never to be taken down.
Some say that nothing could be more desperate than the measure;
but I answer, that the state of the province admitted of nothing
but desperate remedies. I got possession of the letters my
antagonist addressed to the secretary of war, and also of the
sentiments which hundreds of his army uttered to their friends.
Confidence in the General was gone, and evident despondency
prevailed throughout. I have succeeded beyond expectation. I
crossed the river, contrary to the opinion of Colonel Proctor,
. . . etc.[34]; it is, therefore, no wonder that envy should
attribute to good fortune what, in justice to my own
discernment, I must say, proceeded from a cool calculation of
the _pours_ and _contres_.
General Brock, along with most other British leaders who operated along
the American frontier, has been accused of using the savages to fight in
savage ways the battles of white men against fellow whites. Rossiter
Johnson, in his _War of 1812_, to cite one of the careful students who
has thus referred to Brock, in speaking of the minute-guns fired on the
American shore during Brock's funeral, says:
There was perhaps no harm in this little bit of sentiment,
though if the Americans remembered that two months before, in
demanding the surrender of Detroit, General Brock had threatened
to let loose a horde of savages upon the garrison and town, if
he were compelled to capture it by force, they must have seen
that their minute-guns were supremely illogical, not to say
silly.[35]
One who has any reason to know how much basis Washington had for his
sweeping remark that most of the trouble the United States had with the
western Indians was due to the demeanour of British officers to them,
could only with difficulty become prejudiced in favour of any British
officers who had actual dealings with the Canadian Indians and actually
led them in person to battle. And yet the present writer has found
sufficient ground in Brock's correspondence for holding that Brock was
above reproach personally on this score--that he was a gentleman here as
elsewhere, a true nobleman. We cannot here enter into a lengthy
discussion of such a difficult problem. A letter extant, written by
Brock to General Prevost, shows his attitude in this delicate matter
during those desperate days when Harrison was fighting the wily
Tecumseh:
My first care, on my arrival in this province, was to direct the
officers of the Indian department at Amherstburg to exert their
whole influence with the Indians to prevent the attack which I
understood a few tribes meditated against the American frontier.
But their efforts proved fruitless, as such was the infatuation
of the Indians, that they refused to listen to advice.
It will always be an open question how much control the responsible men,
either American or British, had over their red-skinned "brothers"
compared with their half-renegade, forest-running underlings who
dispensed the powder, blankets, and fire-water and directed affairs much
as they pleased.
Before the outbreak of the war Brock wrote to his superiors concerning
his province as follows:
The first point to which I am anxious to call your excellency's
attention is the district of Amherstburg. I consider it the most
important, and, if supplied with the means of commencing active
operations, must deter any offensive attempt on this province,
from Niagara westward. The American government will be compelled
to secure their western frontier from the inroads of the
Indians, and this cannot be effected without a very considerable
force. But before we can expect an active co-operation on the
part of the Indians, the reduction of Detroit and
Michilimakinack must convince that people, who conceive
themselves to have been sacrificed, in 1794, to our policy,[36]
that we are earnestly engaged in the war. The Indians, I am made
to understand, are eager for an opportunity to avenge the
numerous injuries of which they complain. A few tribes, at the
instigation of a Shawnese, of no particular note, have already,
although explicitly told not to look for assistance from us,
commenced the contest. The stand which they continue to make
upon the Wabash, against about two thousand Americans, including
militia and regulars, is a strong proof of the large force which
a general combination of the Indians will render necessary to
protect so widely extended a frontier.
Again, Brock was in a very different position from the British
commanders during the Revolution; his province was being invaded and the
Indians who had settled under the auspices of the British Government in
that province were threatened with destruction as seriously as the
loyalists or the native Englishmen transplanted from the mother-country.
Surely, no one would expect Indians whose homes lay in the upper
province to remain neutral when that province was invaded. Indeed, in
February, 1812, we find Brock complaining to his superior of the lax
attention that was paid by the Government to the Indians settled in the
province he had been sent to govern.
Divisions are thus uninterruptedly sowed among our Indian
friends [he wrote, meaning, of course, sowed by Americans], and
the minds of many altogether estranged from our interests. Such
must inevitably be the consequence of our present inert and
neutral proceedings in regard to them. It ill becomes me to
determine how long true policy requires that the restrictions
imposed upon the Indian department ought to continue; but this I
will venture to assert, that each day the officers are
restrained from interfering in the concerns of the Indians, each
time they advise peace and withhold the accustomed supply of
ammunition, their influence will diminish, till at length they
lose it altogether.
Nothing shows better the activity of the American officers in seeking to
line the Indians up on the side of the fighting Republic than Brock's
letters to his superiors. We have already seen that Brock had, as late
as July 3d, little hope of keeping the Indians of the Grand River true
to him because of the American influence exerted over them by active
agents. And we have seen, in his counter-proclamation answering that
issued by General Hull, that Brock places the employment of the Indians
on the ground of territorial rights: "By what new principle," he asks,
"are they to be prohibited from defending their property?"
The ominous words used by General Brock in his summons to Hull to
surrender have, it must be admitted, all the ring of a threat; but, for
one, I do not take them to be that primarily, but rather the honest,
frank words of a gentleman. In case of the sacking of Detroit Brock
could not have controlled those redskins of his, and he knew it. In like
circumstances what general had been able to control the Indians attached
to him? In the single instance of Sir William Johnson at the fall of
Fort Niagara, we find an illustration of approximate control, yet
nothing in the world but the power of that great man would have answered
under the circumstances. I would believe that Brock knew he could not
control his Iroquois allies,[37] whether in victory or in defeat, and
made a plain statement to Hull to that effect. That he told the truth I
think no one can doubt after examining the situation; whether he would
have told the truth if the truth had not carried a threat may be
questioned. The truth usually answers a gentleman's purposes, and Brock
was that to the marrow of his bones.
Brock had not overestimated the effect and influence of his bloodless
victory upon the English, but, by strange caprice of Fate, was not
permitted to live to receive the high honours bestowed upon him. On the
thirteenth of the following October, in the battle of Queenston Heights,
elsewhere described, while reforming the broken British ranks for a
second time, a bullet in the breast cut short a life that promised very
high attainment. As was his custom the General had arisen before
daybreak on this fatal day and had left Fort George at the first sound
of the battle on the heights. His conspicuous presence, bright uniform,
and animated deportment in attempting to reform the broken lines, made
him a plain target for Wool's heroic men, who had climbed up a pathway
steeper than any Wolfe's troops ever saw at Quebec. "Push on the York
volunteers," were the words of the brave man's last order; but as he lay
in the arms of his aides he begged that his injury might not be noticed
by the troops or disconcert their advance; and with one half-understood
wish concerning a token of love to be given to his sister, Isaac Brock
fell dead.
It is not given to many notable men to fall in the very midst of
spectacular success; it can easily be believed that General Brock, being
the man we know him to have been, would have made the best use of his
triumph, and that it would have been but a stepping-stone to enlarged
opportunities where each duty in its turn would have received the same
decent, earnest attention that the man gave to his work throughout those
half-unhappy days when he felt marooned in the wilds of a dreary ocean,
where no one could prove his merit, calibre, or knowledge. And so, after
all is said for this fine man, I, for one, like best to go back to those
days of impatient longing for opportunity amid the dull grind of routine
at Fort George, and see the real spirit of Brock who, in all truth,
deserves the honourable title of "Hero of Upper Canada"; and when you
have caught the spirit displayed by him in those dispiriting days,
realise his careful faithfulness in the humdrum life he was asked to
live, while his schoolmates of war were winning great glory on the
epoch-making European battlefields, join to it that sudden burst of
splendid grit and heroism that provoked the Detroit attack despite the
advice of the staff officers, and you have a combination that thrills
the heart of friend and enemy--of all who love patient doing of duty and
real displays of undiluted heroism.
Some of the best tributes to Brock, were, as should have been the case,
those paid by persons who knew of his place in the hearts of the people
of his adopted land of service:
The news of the death of this excellent officer [observed the
Quebec _Gazette_] has been received here as a public calamity.
The attendant circumstances of victory scarcely checked the
painful sensation. His long residence in this province, and
particularly in this place, had made him in habits and good
offices almost a citizen; and his frankness, conciliatory
disposition, and elevated demeanour, an estimable one. The
expressions of regret as general as he was known, and not
uttered by friends and acquaintances only, but by every
gradation of class, not only by grown persons, but young
children, are the test of his worth. Such, too, is the only
eulogium worthy of the good and brave, and the citizens of
Quebec have, with solemn emotions, pronounced it on his memory.
But at this anxious moment other feelings are excited by his
loss. General Brock had acquired the confidence of the
inhabitants within his government. He had secured their
attachment permanently by his own merits. They were one people
animated by one disposition, and this he had gradually wound up
to the crisis in which they were placed. Strange as it may seem,
it is to be feared that he had become too important to them. The
heroic militia of Upper Canada, more particularly, had knit
themselves to his person; and it is yet to be ascertained
whether the desire to avenge his death can compensate the many
embarrassments it will occasion. It is indeed true that the
spirit, and even the abilities, of a distinguished man often
carry their influence beyond the grave; and the present event
furnishes its own example, for it is certain notwithstanding
General Brock was cut off early in the action, that he had
already given an impulse to his little army, which contributed
to accomplish the victory when he was no more. Let us trust that
the recollection of him will become a new bond of union, and
that, as he sacrificed himself for a community of patriots, they
will find a new motive to exertion in the obligation to secure
his ashes from the pestilential dominion of the enemy.
A Montreal newspaper of the day also contained the following
observations:
The private letters from Upper Canada, in giving the account of
the late victory at Queenstown, are partly taken up with
lamentations upon the never-to-be-forgotten General Brock, which
do honour to the character and talents of the man they deplore.
The enemy have nothing to hope from the loss they have
inflicted; they have created a hatred which panteth for revenge.
Although General Brock may be said to have fallen in the midst
of his career, yet his previous services in Upper Canada will be
lasting and highly beneficial. When he assumed the government of
the province, he found a divided, disaffected, and, of course, a
weak people. He has left them united and strong, and the
universal sorrow of the province attends his fall. The father,
to his children, will make known the mournful story. The
veteran, who fought by his side in the heat and burthen of the
day of our deliverance, will venerate his name.
And the sentiments of the British Government, on the melancholy
occasion, were thus expressed in a despatch from Earl Bathurst, the
secretary of state for the colonies, to Sir George Prevost, dated
December 8, 1812:
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent is fully aware of the
severe loss which his Majesty's service has experienced in the
death of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. This would have been
sufficient to have clouded a victory of much greater importance.
His Majesty has lost in him not only an able and meritorious
officer, but one who, in the exercise of his functions of
provisional lieutenant-governor of the province, displayed
qualities admirably adapted to awe the disloyal, to reconcile
the wavering, and to animate the great mass of the inhabitants
against successive attempts of the enemy to invade the province,
in the last of which he unhappily fell, too prodigal of that
life of which his eminent services had taught us to understand
the value.
The body of the fallen hero lay in state at the government house until
the 16th of October, when, with that of Colonel McDonell, it was buried
with due honours in a cavalier bastion of Fort George, at the spot now
marked by the tablet indicating the first burial-place. On the 13th of
October, 1824, the remains were moved to the summit of the heights,
whereon a beautiful monument had been erected by the Provincial
Legislature, 135 feet in height, bearing this "splendid tribute to the
unfading remembrance of a grateful people":
UPPER CANADA
HAS DEDICATED THIS MONUMENT
TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.
PROVISIONAL LIEUT.-GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER OF THE FORCES
IN THIS PROVINCE
WHOSE REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED IN THE VAULT BENEATH
OPPOSING THE INVADING ENEMY
HE FELL IN ACTION NEAR THESE HEIGHTS
ON THE 13TH OCTOBER, 1812
IN THE 43D YEAR OF HIS AGE
REVERED AND LAMENTED
BY THE PEOPLE WHOM HE GOVERNED
AND DEPLORED BY THE SOVEREIGN
TO WHOSE SERVICE HIS LIFE HAD BEEN DEVOTED.
[Illustration: Brock's Monument.]
The following description of this interesting pageant portrays the
genuine feeling of devotion felt for the "Hero of Upper Canada" that
filled the hearts of his countrymen:
There is something so grand and imposing in the spectacle of a
nation's homage to departed worth, which calls for the exercise
of so many interesting feelings, and which awakens so many
sublime contemplations, that we naturally seek to perpetuate the
memory of an event so pregnant with instruction, and so
honourable to our species. It is a subject that in other and in
older countries has frequently exercised the pens, and has
called forth all the descriptive powers of the ablest writers.
But here it is new; and for the first time, since we became a
separate province, have we seen a great public funeral
procession of all ranks of people, to the amount of several
thousands, bearing the remains of two lamented heroes to their
last dwelling on earth, in the vaults of a grand national
monument, overtopping the loftiest heights of the most
magnificent section of one of the most magnificent countries in
the world.
The 13th of October, being the anniversary of the battle of
Queenstown, and of the death of Brock, was judiciously chosen as
the most proper day for the removal of the remains of the
general, together with those of his gallant aide-de-camp,
Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donell, to the vaults prepared for their
reception on Queenstown Heights.
The weather was remarkably fine, and before ten o'clock a very
large concourse of people, from all parts of the country, had
assembled on the plains of Niagara, in front of Fort George, in
a bastion of which the bodies had been deposited for twelve
years.
One hearse covered with black cloth, and drawn by four black
horses, each with a leader, contained both the bodies. Soon
after ten, a lane was formed by the 1st and 4th regiments of
Lincoln militia, with their right on the gate of Fort George,
and their left extending along the road towards Queenstown, the
ranks being about forty paces distant from each other; within
this line was formed a guard of honour of the 76th Regiment, in
parade order, having its left on the fort. As the hearse moved
slowly from the fort, to the sound of solemn music, a detachment
of royal artillery began to fire the salute of nineteen guns,
and the guard of honour presented arms.
On moving forwards in ordinary time, the guard of honour broke
into a column of eight divisions, with the right in front, and
the procession took the following order:
A Staff Officer.
Subdivision of Grenadiers.
Band of Music.
Right Wing of 76th Regiment.
THE BODY.
Aide-de-Camp to the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock.
Chief Mourners.
Commissioners for the Monument.
Heads of Public Departments of the Civil Government.
Judges.
Members of the Executive Council.
His Excellency and Suite.
Left Wing of the 76th Regiment.
Indian Chiefs of the Five Nations.
Officers of Militia not on duty--Junior Ranks--First Forward.
Four deep.
Magistrates and Civilians.
With a long Cavalcade of Horsemen, and Carriages of every description.
On the 17th of April, 1840, a miscreant by the name of Lett laid a train
to a quantity of gunpowder secreted beneath the monument to General
Brock and fired it, partially wrecking both the base and the pillar. The
criminal had been compelled to flee the country during the rebellion
then just over, and, returning, took this outrageous method of
gratifying his malice. As we look upon the beautiful monument that
stands above Brock's remains to-day it is with a feeling almost of
pleasure that such a wretched deed was necessary to result in the fine
pillar that is one of the scenic beauties of the Niagara country to-day.
This fine shaft bears the following inscription:
The Legislature of Upper Canada has dedicated this Monument to
the very distinguished, eminent, civil, and military services of
the late Sir Isaac Brock, Knight of the Most Hon. Order of the
Bath, Provisional Lieutenant-Governor, and Major-General
commanding the Forces in this Province, whose remains are
deposited in the vault beneath. Having expelled the Northwestern
Army of the United States, achieved its capture, received the
surrender of Fort Detroit, and the territory of Michigan, under
circumstances which have rendered his name illustrious he
returned to the protection of this frontier; and advancing with
his small force to repel a second invasion of the enemy, then in
possession of these heights, he fell in action, on the 13th of
October, 1812, in the forty-third year of his age, honoured and
beloved by the people whom he governed and deplored by his
Sovereign, to whose service his life had been devoted.
[Footnote 30: _The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac
Brock, K.B._, by Ferdinand Brock Tupper, p. 16. This most interesting
volume has furnished very much of the material for this chapter. D. B.
Read's _Life and Times of General Brock_ is an excellent book for
popular use and will be found quoted herein.]
[Footnote 31: One cause of desertion seems to have been the ubiquitous
American girl. In a later letter Brock wrote:
"Not a desertion has been attempted by any of the 49th for the
last ten months, with the exception, indeed, of Hogan. He served
Glegg, who took him with him to the Falls of Niagara, where a
fair damsel persuaded him to this act of madness, for the fellow
cannot possibly gain his bread by labour, as he has half killed
himself with excessive drinking; and we know he cannot live upon
love alone."]
[Footnote 32: A letter from Colonel Kempt runs: "I have just received a
long letter . . . giving me an account of a splendid ball given by you
to the _beau monde_ of Niagara and its vicinity, and the manner in which
she speaks of your liberality and hospitality reminds me of the many
pleasant hours I have passed under your roof. We _have no such parties
now_, and the indisposition of Sir James having prevented the usual
public days at the castle, nothing more stupid than Quebec now is can be
imagined."]
[Footnote 33: British Ambassador to the United States.]
[Footnote 34: In the face of the fact here divulged concerning Proctor's
attitude toward Brock's determination to move upon Detroit it is
interesting to remember Brock's very high praise of Proctor in his
report of the capture. His words, so characteristic of the gentleman,
were: "I have been admirably supported by Colonel Proctor. . . ."]
[Footnote 35: P. 60.]
[Footnote 36: The reference here is to the failure of the British to
assist the Indian confederacy withstand General Wayne's invasion of the
Maumee Valley which ended in the victory of Fallen Timber.]
[Footnote 37: That Brock feared the Indians when acting in unison, that
is, when not "interspersed" among the troops, is perfectly plain from
his letter to General Prevost of July 3d.]