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.