Eayrs Hugh Sterling
Sir Isaac Brock
CHAPTER VIII
His Hands Are Tied
Brock’s spectacular capture of Fort Detroit brought all Canada to his feet. Foremost in admiration was Sir George Prevost. Had Brock failed, Sir George no doubt, would have been as brusque in condemnation as, now that Brock had conquered, he was fulsome in praise. He had done his best to hamper Brock, and indeed at the last minute had sent a staff officer commanding him not to undertake the proposed Detroit expedition, but the messenger, happily alike for Canada and Brock, had failed to arrive in time. Provincial authorities and friends rained their congratulations, while Lord Bathurst, the British Secretary for War and the Colonies, commended him for his “firmness, skill, and bravery.” Bathurst’s case was similar to Prevost’s, for he had adjured the governor-general by repeated messages not to assume the offensive lest the Americans become unduly aggravated and thus possibly have some genuine cause of complaint. Nothing could better show the smallmindedness of the class of officialdom to which Bathurst and Prevost belonged than their willingness, now that victory was achieved, to share in the credit therefore. Bathurst wrote to Brock that “the Prince Regent had honored him for his services by making him an extra Knight of the Bath.” Unhappily, the man whom the Prince thus delighted to honor and who, one likes to think, would have honored the order by accepting it, died before he received word.
Brock’s victory did something to offset the misfortunes which had piled upon the British in Europe. Just before the news of the capture of Fort Detroit was received in London, Britain had been beaten in a naval duel. The American ship Constitution had thrashed the British battleship Guerriere. The shame which Britain felt on this account was deepened by the knowledge that she had been beaten on her own element by what was once a colony of hers. News of Brock’s victory, therefore, was opportune, and the British government was able to point out to the people that, if America had won a victory on the sea, she had more than lost it by the surrender of Detroit.
October 6th was Brock’s birthday, the day on which the news of the victory at Detroit reached London. Brock’s brother William and his wife happened to be walking in a London park, and Mrs. Brock asked the reason of the flag-waving and the firing. “Do you not know,” said William, “that it is Isaac’s birthday? It is in honor of him.” What William said in jest turned out to be the very truth.
If Brock’s victory had a happy effect on the people of Britain the opposite was the case in the United States. The Jeffersons, the Clays, and the Hulls of the United States had led the people to believe that their northerly neighbor could very easily be conquered. It was a sad blow to American self-esteem when it became known that Detroit and Michigan had fallen to a country which they had been taught to regard as an enemy hardly worth considering. Gloom and discouragement were everywhere evident, and President Madison ordered the churches throughout the country to hold services of prayer that success might come to American arms.
Between Black Rock and Fort Niagara part of the American army was camped. It did nothing to hearten them for the task that lay before them to see the men whom Brock had taken prisoners at Detroit, and who had come by boat to Fort Erie, march along the Niagara River to Fort George. From there the prisoners were sent down the St. Lawrence to Montreal, and in some cases, to Quebec. Some Canadian cities, therefore, had an opportunity of seeing that when Brock bared his arm it was not for nothing. They might indeed feel hopeful under such a leader. On the other hand, the American army, badly disciplined, ill in health, and surprisingly inexperienced were gloomy and morose.
Brock, having left the arrangements for the future government of Detroit in the hands of Colonel Procter, left for Fort Erie. Hardly had his schooner passed Amherstburg when it was hailed by the Lady Prevost coming up the lake. The commander gave Brock the news that an armistice had been concluded between Sir George Prevost and the American commander-in-chief, General Dearborn, and until President Madison had ratified or discountenanced this armistice, all actual warfare must cease.
Brock was dumbfounded. Instead of being allowed to finish the task he had got so well under way, that of clearing the borders of American troops, he found his hands tied.
General Brock’s plans were all laid. Procter, whom Brock had left at Detroit, was marching against Fort Wayne in the Miami country with some regulars and some Indians, and there was little doubt of his success. As the fort contained supplies, its capture would seriously hamper American operations. Its defenders were few and were in deadly fear of a horde of Indians who, intoxicated with their success at Detroit, desired only further chance to display their prowess. Brock knew that they would show the garrison at Fort Wayne no quarter, and it was as much to save the lives of the men of this garrison as to secure the fort that he had despatched Procter. Now, of course, he had to countermand his instructions. His plans for raiding Sackett’s Harbor were likewise spoiled, though the capture of that port would have given the British complete power over Lake Ontario.
A personal incident in Brock’s voyage to Fort Erie showed how mentally distraught he was at this time. His schooner, the Chippewa, ran into a fog. The commander lost his bearings and, when the mist lifted, found himself very near to the American shore. No doubt news of the armistice had not reached as far down the shore as this, and had the Americans known of the proximity of the victorious British general, they certainly would have made an effort to capture the schooner. Brock, who was vexed and heart-broken, instantly suspected treachery and cried to the captain of the Chippewa: “You scoundrel! you have betrayed me. Let but one shot be fired from that shore and,” pointing aloft, “I will run you up on the instant to that yard-arm.”
There does not seem room for doubt that the captain was quite innocent, and loyal to Brock. Luckily the Queen Charlotte, which had preceded the Chippewa by several days, heard a shot which was fired from the latter and bore down on the vessel which held the commanding general. Ultimately she towed the Chippewa to safety.
When Brock arrived at York the joy of the people knew no bounds. They presented him with an address in which they tried to tell him how grateful to and proud of him they were. Brock, always generous, took little credit to himself for the victory, but ascribed it to the confidence he had in the loyalty, zeal, and valor of the Canadian volunteers. His exact words are worth quoting: “I cannot but feel highly gratified by this expression of your esteem for myself; but in justice to the brave men at whose head I marched against the enemy, I must beg leave to direct your attention to them as the proper objects of your gratitude. It was a confidence founded on their loyalty, zeal, and valor, that determined me to adopt the plan of operations which led to so fortunate a termination. Allow me to congratulate you, gentlemen, at having sent out from yourselves a large portion of that gallant band, and that at such a period a spirit had manifested itself on which you may confidently repose your hopes of future security. It will be a most pleasing duty for me to report to our Sovereign conduct so truly meritorious.”
Brock went on to Kingston and employed the time spent on the schooner, which bore him thither, in writing to his brothers. In the letter which appears to have been addressed to his brother William, he says: “They say that the value of the articles will amount to thirty or forty thousand pounds; in that case my portion will be something considerable. If it enabled me to contribute to your comfort and happiness, I shall esteem it my highest reward. When I returned Heaven thanks for my amazing success, I thought of you all; you appeared to me happy – your late sorrows forgotten; and I felt as if you acknowledged that the many benefits which for a series of years I received from you were not unworthily bestowed. Let me know, my dearest brothers, that you are again united. The want of union was nearly losing this province without even a struggle, and be assured it operates in the same degree in regard to families.”
It is well for us that we are able to catch a glimpse of the humanity of this man of action. Neither political success nor failure, neither military advantage nor setback, could exclude from his great heart the thought of the loved ones at home. He joyed in his successes, because they would bring pleasure and possibly more practical gratification to those he loved and who loved him. It was a heavy grief to him that his brothers were estranged. Though he was never to know it they buried their difference. By a strange chance this happened upon the very day of Brock’s glorious death at Queenston. His influence, great in many things, was greater in nothing than in this, the amity and affectionate regard which his brothers came to have for each other.
At Kingston, Brock learned that the armistice arranged by Sir George Prevost and General Dearborn had been refused by President Madison. September 8th saw the renewal of hostilities between the two countries. No doubt Sir George had entered into the armistice thinking he acted for the best. He appears to have been moved by his knowledge that the New England and several other States were opposed to the war and also by the fact that the orders in council, which had been the cause of the trouble between the United States and Britain had been repealed. And he may have believed that in attempting to avoid a conflict in America he was relieving Britain of a minor task which was hampering her in her contest with Napoleon. But to the student and reader of later years the armistice was an utterly foolish move.
When Brock learned that the armistice had come to an end, he proposed to Prevost that he immediately attack Sackett’s Harbor from Kingston. Again the governor-general said him nay, and Brock, disheartened and annoyed, returned to Fort George there to deal, as best he could, with the threatened invasion at Niagara.
Naturally enough the United States forces had made great use of the time granted by the armistice. In very sight of the British supplies of food had been brought up to the American army at Lewiston. Heavy guns had been placed at strategic points on the American shore. Large detachments of troops were sent to the Niagara frontier. Ships which had been held at Ogdensburg, covered by the British guns at Prescott, had been rushed to Sackett’s Harbor. Had there been no armistice, General Brock could have cleared the Fort Niagara district of enemy troops, but now he had, by reason of the delay, to face four times as large an army.
Let us take stock of the situation. On the shores of the Niagara River, there were enough United States troops to have conquered Upper Canada. There were over six thousand men between Black Rock and Fort Niagara, while Brock had only fifteen hundred men, and these distributed at several points between Fort Erie and Fort George. Thus he had about a quarter the number of men of the enemy and while their forces were concentrated his were scattered over a line forty miles long. Again the odds looked against him. Volunteers in Upper Canada, however, had rallied to his standard, and he was able to arm them by the very arms he had captured at Detroit. And once again it should be emphasized that the Canadian forces had much better morale than that of the Americans. They felt that they had indeed “their quarrel just.” Moreover, they were fighting in defence of their homes and families. And they had unbounded confidence in their commander.
It came to Brock’s ears about October 1st that the United States commanders planned their invasion somewhere along the British forty mile line. It later appeared that Queenston was the point decided upon. The plan of attack seems to have been to capture Queenston, and there to collect a large army with which, next year, an attempt would be made to reach Montreal. Luckily for Brock and Canada too many cooks spoil the broth. There was dissension in the American higher command as to the precise point at which the attack should be made.
The British suffered a loss on October 9th. The Americans under Lieutenant Elliott captured two British vessels, the Caledonia and the Detroit. This victory gave a fillip to the now jaded spirits of the United States troops, and General Van Rensselaer, now that his men had cheered up, decided to invade Canada. This seems to have been in disagreement with the views of the other American commander, General Smyth. Van Rensselaer sent a spy into the British camp. The spy returned with the information that Brock had set out, with a large force, for Detroit. The spy, however, did his work but poorly. Brock had left Fort George, but he had gone only to the other end of the line, Fort Erie.
It still remains somewhat of a mystery why Van Rensselaer, who had a large army, did not steal along the shore of Lake Ontario, cross the Niagara at the mouth and try to catch the tail of Brock’s army. Instead of this, on October 10th, he prepared his boats and got his troops ready to cross the Niagara River where it whirls and swirls at the base of Queenston. The British, on the Canadian side, were quite unprepared for the attack. Very early in the morning of October 11th the first boat of American soldiers put out. In this boat was Lieutenant Sims. History does not tell us what happened to Sims. He may have landed on the Canadian side, but it is more likely that he was caught in the current and tried to return to the American shore. Whatever became of him, he had with him the oars for the remaining boats, thus preventing his comrades following him across the river. To attempt his rescue was impossible. They waited till dawn, but were finally driven, sodden by the rain and terror-stricken by the storm, to their camp.
Next day a Major Evans, of the British forces, presented a flag of truce to Van Rensselaer, which truce was for the purpose of exchange of prisoners. While this was under way, Evans’s sharp eye noticed that preparations were being made for what could not be other than an attack on Queenston. He returned to Queenston and warned Captain Dennis, commanding the men there, that large boats were concealed on the other side ready, he thought, for an attack. Brock, at Fort George, must also be given news at once, thought Evans, and he hastened away to acquaint the commander with what was afoot.
Evans was right. The fate of the October 11th expedition did not deter Van Rensselaer from another attempt. This was to be made before dawn next day.
CHAPTER IX
Queenston Heights
It has been pointed out that the forces under Brock were widely scattered. His main body was at Fort George, seven miles from Queenston. At Brown’s Point, three miles away, there was a battery, and a single gun was mounted at Vrooman’s Point, a mile distant. In the village of Queenston Captain Dennis commanded the grenadier company of the 49th Regiment; Captain Chisholm was stationed there with a company of the second York; Captain Hall’s company of the 5th Lincoln Militia brought the whole force at Queenston to about three hundred men. At a vantage point on the height itself was stationed Captain Williams with a light company of the 49th, supporting the crew of a redan battery of one eighteen-pounder gun.
Van Rensselaer was confident of victory. He deputed the attack to his cousin, Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, an officer of the regular army, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Christie, who between them commanded six hundred men, half militia and half regular. The first of these men embarked at three o’clock in the morning, when the landscape was dark and dismal and rain was falling, in a boat from the Lewiston landing. Their oars were muffled, but the sentries upon the heights on the other side detected their approach. They fired into the boat, and the noise brought Captain Dennis and his men at a run. More firing ensued. Colonel Van Rensselaer, who was in the leading boat, was badly wounded. The invasion was checked for the moment, and such Americans as had effected a landing were compelled to hide in the brush overhanging the bank. Lieutenant-Colonel Christie’s boats were less fortunate. A current carried them down stream, and they had to return to Lewiston, to set out again. Under Colonel Fenwick a force of regulars followed the advance party, but their boat was swept below Queenston and beached there. The defenders on the height had it at their mercy and fired, wounding Fenwick and eventually compelling the surrender of the whole boatful. Another boat which landed at Vrooman’s Point met the same fate.
The defenders’ guns, while they warned the Canadians also warned those American soldiers still at Lewiston of the opposition to the invading force. The gunners at Lewiston opened fire on Queenston Heights, in an endeavor to cover the landing of the attacking troops, while the Canadian batteries kept on with their grim work of firing volleys into the boats in midstream. Meanwhile Brock at Fort George was uneasy. He had sat up most of the night of October 12th making his plans and writing despatches. He seems to have expected an engagement almost immediately, for he wrote a letter to his brother about it in which he said: “If I should be beaten the province is inevitably gone.” He had hardly gone to sleep on the night of October 12th when the sentry, who had heard the firing at Queenston, aroused him. So it had come! He wasted no time, but was soon galloping, unattended, under darkling skies and pouring rain, to Queenston.
Captain Cameron was at Brown’s Point with a body of men, watching the battle anxiously. A messenger came to him and urged that immediate word be sent to General Brock. Lieutenant Jarvis put spurs to his horse and galloped away, intent on getting to Fort George in the shortest possible time. He had not gone very far before, through the darkness and mist, he discerned the general. Brock was riding hard, anxiety on his face, index to the fear he felt for Canada. He did not even stop but, motioning to Jarvis to turn his horse and follow, kept on in his grim journey. Jarvis caught up to the general, and, as they were galloping, he gave Brock his portentous news. Dawn was just breaking when Brock told Jarvis to hasten to Fort George with instructions to Major-General Sheaffe to bring his whole reserves to Queenston. He also ordered Jarvis to tell the Indians at Fort George to occupy the wood on the right when Sheaffe’s troops came on. Brock wasted no time in getting to Brown’s Point. On the way he passed a company of the York Volunteers and instructed Captain Cameron, commanding them, to follow him immediately. He sped on past Vrooman’s Point, hastily acquainting Captain Heward with what had happened, and was very soon at Queenston. He climbed the Heights to the point where the redan battery was stationed, so that from there he could command a view of the stream.
In the village of Queenston Captains Chisholm, Dennis, and Hall were making a brave fight of it against superior forces. Brock, seeing their predicament, detached Captain Williams and his men and sent them to help. This left him unprotected, except for eight artillerymen. Day had dawned and turning his head, Brock saw above him, on the summit of the heights, a detachment of about sixty American soldiers. The odds were too great, and the general, with his artillerymen and the crew of the eighteen-pounder gun, returned to the village, leaving the gun behind. The British had made one mistake. They had left a path leading up the bank of the river to the heights unguarded. They had deemed it too difficult for an attacking force to climb, but this underestimation of the courage of the enemy cost them dearly. Captain Wool, a United States regular army officer, reached the summit, and it was he and his sixty men that Brock saw.
Meanwhile, the battery and the infantry in Queenston village were keeping the invaders at bay with great difficulty. The eighteen-pounder had been left behind, and Brock, who as we have seen, knew the inspiration of personal example, decided himself to win the gun back. With two companies of the 49th and a hundred militiamen he set out for the Heights, crying: “Follow me boys.” At the base of the hill he rested his men. A little later he dismounted, climbed over a low stone wall, and, his sword flashing, charged up the hill in front of his men.
Captain Wool had been reinforced and now had four hundred men under his command. One of these men stepped in front of the rest and shot down General Brock. The bullet struck him in the right breast near the heart. The wound was fatal, and the death of their commander, more perhaps than the continuous fire poured upon them from the heights, forced the British to retire. The underestimation of the enemy had indeed been costly.
Some discrepancy exists as to what were Brock’s last words. According to Lieutenant Jarvis, who was immediately at his side when he fell, with the question: “Are you hurt, Sir?” Brock did not reply, but, pressing his hand to his chest, “slowly sank down.” This is the most probable version, as it is likely that he was wounded too severely to say anything at all. Others have it, however, that, just before he died Brock cried: “Push on, brave York Volunteers!” This story probably has its origin in the early shout to Captain Cameron, to bring up his men. Captain Glegg, who acquainted William Brock the next day with the news of the General’s death, said that, as he fell Brock whispered: “My fall must not be noticed or impede my brave companions from advancing to victory.” It is not likely, however, that a plain man like Brock would have struck an attitude so dramatic. The story of Lieutenant Jarvis seems most nearly to fit the case. Whatever he said or did not say, this man of action died as he had lived, bravely and as a man.
Brock’s death filled his men with a just rage, and before night the cry, “Revenge the General!” was heard from one end of the forty mile line to the other. His spirit breathed “an inextinguishable flame,” and the soldiers at Fort George drove the Americans out with little trouble. At Fort Erie, the men behind the guns, saddened and awed by the death of their beloved leader, redoubled their efforts on the Americans at Black Rock.
The force which Brock himself had been leading had to retreat, leaving behind the gun which had cost them their leader’s life. With them they bore his body to Queenston. When his men looked at his corpse they might say as Antony did of Caesar’s body, “Here is himself, marr’d,” and the sight of this “bleeding piece of earth” spurred them on in his name and for his sake.
His men tried again, after his death, to take that fateful gun. Vrooman’s Point and Brown’s Point furnished their quotas of York Volunteers to reinforce the troops from Queenston, as Brock had commanded, and about ten o’clock, under Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, Brock’s aide-de camp, another attack was made on the Americans on Queenston Heights. This too was unsuccessful. Again the troops had to retreat, while their leader was mortally wounded.
The Americans were sure that they had won a great victory. Messengers were despatched to Albany with the tidings of the death of Brock and Macdonell, and the city gave itself up to rejoicings. But the joy was premature.
It became apparent to Van Rensselaer, who with Lieutenant-Colonel Christie had seen, from the captured redan battery, a long line of Canadians marching to Queenston, that another battle was inevitable. These were the reinforcements moving to the front under the command of Major-General Sheaffe. Van Rensselaer crossed the river, but was met with a flat refusal from his men to cross the stream to the Canadian side. The New York militia, who by this time had seen their dead and wounded and had heard, justly enough, of the bravery of the “Green Tigers” – this was the name given to the men of the 49th because of the green in their uniforms – were terror-stricken. While Van Rensselaer was alternately persuading and threatening, a force of Indians, commanded by Brant and a young Scotsman, Chief Norton, who had been made an Indian Chief, had quietly left Fort George, climbed the Heights, and showed themselves on the left of the Americans. There were not enough of them to do very much real harm, but they appear to have stricken fear into the heart of the enemy by their wild cries and to have caught a number of them and punished them pretty severely.
Major-General Sheaffe commanded about seven hundred men. When he had looked over the situation, he decided that the best attack could be made from the rear. He therefore placed some artillery under Lieutenant Holcroft in a courtyard in the village of Queenston, to check any attempt the foe made to cross. Along the Chippewa road near the Niagara river troops were advancing to join Sheaffe. About one hundred and fifty Indians had moved eastwards from the little town of St. David’s and were lying in ambush in the woods on the enemy’s right front. Sheaffe himself advanced with forces now numbering about a thousand. The enemy were therefore in a position to be attacked from all sides.
The conflict began again at three o’clock, and the opening shot seems to have been fired by the troops in Queenston who trained their guns on the river. At the same time the men on the British left attacked the enemy’s front. They were guided by Indians, who knew every inch of the ground on the west of the hill. These guides led Sheaffe’s men through the heavy woods, so that they might attack on this flank. This would be quite unexpected by the enemy. The Niagara militia with two guns and a company from the 41st Regiment, were on the right. The York and Lincoln militia, backed up by the 49th, were in the middle. A company of negroes, refugees from the United States, gave material assistance to the British. The six hundred American soldiers on Queenston Heights were surprised. Instead of an attack from down-stream they had to face one from the left. They were caught like rats in a trap, but fought valiantly. They saw that escape was impossible, for the swift current flowed behind them and they had no boats to take them back to the American shore. Besides, they faced almost double the number of men. Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott of the regular army was their commander, and he was a brave man. His men fired on the advancing Canadians, but Scott knew he was outnumbered. To the accompaniment of the savage cries of the Indians, Sheaffe’s men came on in a determined bayonet charge. The Americans broke in disorder. They had many dead and dying already, and the rest turned tail and ran to the edge of the precipice. Half crazed, many threw themselves over. The rest made for the river bank, but there were no boats, and their only way of escape was by way of swimming. Few were able to breast the current, and many perished in the cruel stream. The Americans were badly beaten, and Scott, having made a brave fight, surrendered all his men then on the Canadian side to General Sheaffe. It is ten thousand pities that the gallant Brock was not there to see the result of the work of his hands.