General Brock

by Lady Matilda Ridout Edgar

The York volunteers

The detachment of York Volunteers at Brown's Point, two miles below, had heard the firing, and made ready to join their comrades in helping to drive the invaders back. Dawn was now glimmering in the east, but the semi-darkness was illumined by the discharge of musketry and the flash of artillery. In spite of the constant fire, some boats succeeded in effecting a landing.

Captain Cameron, in command of the York company at Brown's Point, was at first undecided whether to advance or to remain at the post assigned him to defend. It had been thought that the enemy would make various attacks at different points on the line, and this might be a feint, while the real landing would take place elsewhere. However, he decided to go to the aid of the troops above, and had scarcely set off on his march in that direction when General Brock galloped past alone. He waved his hand as he flew by, bidding the little troop press on.[[2]] Little need to tell them to follow. Their confidence in their general was unbounded. They were ready to follow him through danger and death. In a few minutes the general reached and passed Vrooman's Point, and was soon followed by his two aides, Major Glegg and Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell.

The reception given to the invaders had been a warm one. To quote from Lieutenant Robinson: "Grape and musket shot poured upon them at close quarters as they approached the shore. A single discharge of grape from a brass 6-pounder, directed by Captain Dennis of the 49th, destroyed fifteen in a boat. Three of the bateaux landed below Mr. Hamilton's garden in Queenston and were met by a party of militia and a few regulars, who slaughtered almost the whole of them, taking the rest prisoners. Several other boats were so shattered and disabled that the men in them threw down their arms and came on shore, merely to deliver themselves up as prisoners of war. As we advanced with our company, we met troops of Americans on their way to Fort George under guard, and the road was lined with miserable wretches suffering under wounds of all descriptions, and crawling to our houses for protection and comfort. The spectacle struck us, who were unused to such scenes, with horror, but we hurried to the mountain, impressed with the idea that the enemy's attempt was already frustrated, and the business of the day nearly completed."

The Redan battery

Thus far, everything had gone well for the defense, and the general, on his approach to Queenston, was greeted with the news that the greater number of the boats had been destroyed or taken. Another brigade of four boats was just then setting off from Lewiston, and the 49th Light Company, which had been stationed at the redan battery on the mountain, was ordered down to assist in preventing them landing. General Brock had ridden forward to inspect this battery, where the 18-pounder had been left in charge of eight artillerymen. He had just dismounted to enter the enclosure when shots from above warned him that the enemy had gained the crest of the hill. As was learned afterwards, Captain Wool, of the United States army, on whom devolved the command of the boats when Colonel Van Rensselaer was wounded, had very skilfully conducted his men up the river, and on shore, until they came to a fisherman's path leading up the south side of the mountain, a path so steep and narrow that it had been left unguarded. They had succeeded in reaching the height unobserved, where they remained concealed by the crags and trees. It was now about seven in the morning.

In the dangerous and exposed position in which General Brock found himself, there was nothing to be done but to order the gun to be spiked and to evacuate the battery with all the speed possible. There was no time for him even to mount his horse. He led it down the hill and entered the village to reform his troops and gather them for an assault on the enemy above. There were but two hundred men available for the work, two companies of the 49th, about a hundred men, and the same number of militia. It was a hazardous and daring enterprise to attempt to regain the heights with so small a force, but regardless of danger, as was his wont, General Brock, on foot, led his men to the charge up the hill. In vain was the attempt. The enemy above were so advantageously placed, and kept up such a tremendous fire, that the small number ascending were driven back. Again the general rallied them, and proceeded by the right of the mountain, meaning to attack them in flank. His tall form and prominent position as leader made him too easy a mark. Scarcely had he ascended a few paces when the fatal bullet struck him in the breast, and he fell, "too prodigal of that life so needed by all."

Of the last words of a hero there are always conflicting stories. Some say Isaac Brock called on his men to press forward, some say he murmured his sister's name; but who can doubt but that his faithful heart, in that supreme moment, was back with his loved ones, and it was not the heights of Queenston he was climbing but the steep cliffs of Guernsey, and it was not the roar of the cannon or the rush of the river that filled his dying ear, but the sound of the waves as they surged in the caverns of his island home.

They bore him from the place where he fell to a house at the foot of the hill, where his comrades covered his lifeless form, and then went back to the work he had left them to do. The handful of troops had retreated to the village, where they were joined by the two companies of York Volunteers from Brown's and Vrooman's Points. About half-past nine Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, aide-de-camp, formed them again for an advance up the hill to dislodge the enemy.

A hot fight