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The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock by Ferdinand Brock Tupper

F >> Ferdinand Brock Tupper >> The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock




This event is particularly unfortunate, and may reduce us to
incalculable distress. The enemy is making every exertion to
gain a naval superiority on both lakes, which if they
accomplish I do not see how we can retain the country. More
vessels are fitting out for war on the other side of Squaw
Island, which I should have attempted to destroy but for your
excellency's repeated instructions to forbear. Now such a
force is collected for their protection as will render every
operation against them very hazardous. The manner our guns
were served yesterday, points out the necessity of an
increase, if possible, of artillerymen to our present small
number of regulars. The militia evinced a good spirit, but
fired without much effect. The enemy, however, must have lost
some men; and it is only wonderful, that in a contest of a
whole day no life was lost on our side. The fire of the enemy
was incessant, but badly directed, till the close of the day,
when it began to improve. Lieutenant Rolette, who commanded
the Detroit, had, and I believe deservedly, the character of a
brave, attentive officer. His vessel must, however, have been
surprised--an easy operation where she lay at anchor; and I
have reason to suspect that this consideration was not
sufficiently attended to by the officers commanding on board
and on shore.

We have not only sustained a heavy loss in the vessel, but
likewise in the cargo, which consisted of four 12-pounders, a
large quantity of shot, and about 200 muskets, all of which
were intended for Kingston and Prescott.

The only consolation remaining is, that she escaped the enemy,
whose conduct, after his first essay, did not entitle him to
so rich a prize. The enemy has brought some boats over land
from Schlosher to the Niagara river, and made an attempt last
night to carry off the guard over the store at Queenston. I
shall refrain as long as possible, under your excellency's
positive injunctions, from every hostile act, although
sensible that each day's delay gives him an advantage.


_Sir Isaac Brock to Colonel Proctor, at Detroit_.

The unfortunate disaster which has befallen the Detroit and
Caledonia will reduce us to great distress. They were boarded
whilst at anchor at Fort Erie and carried off: you will learn
the particulars from others. A quantity of flour and a little
pork were ready to be shipped for Amherstburg; but as I send
you the flank companies of the Newfoundland, no part of the
provisions can go this trip in the Lady Prevost. It will be
necessary to direct her to return with all possible speed,
bringing the Mary under her convoy. You will husband your
pork, for I am sorry to say there is but little in the
country.

An active interesting scene is going to commence with you. I
am perfectly at ease as to the result, provided we can manage
the Indians and keep them attached to your cause, which in
fact is theirs.

The fate of the province is in your hands. Judging by every
appearance, we are not to remain long idle in this quarter.
Were it not for the positive injunctions of the commander of
the forces, I should have acted with greater decision. This
forbearance may be productive of ultimate good, but I doubt
its policy--but perhaps we have not the means of judging
correctly. You will of course adopt a very different line of
conduct. The enemy must be kept in a state of constant
ferment. If the Indians act as they did under Tecumseh, who
probably might be induced to return to Amherstburg, that army
will very soon dwindle to nothing. Your artillery must be more
numerous and effective than any the enemy can bring, and your
store of ammunition will enable you to harass him continually,
without leaving much to chance.

I trust you will have destroyed every barrack and public
building, and removed the pickets and other defences around
the fort at Detroit.

You will have the goodness to state the expedients you possess
to enable us to replace, as far as possible, the heavy loss we
have sustained in the Detroit. Should I hear of reinforcements
coming up, you may rely upon receiving your due proportion.
Nothing new at Montreal on the 25th ult. Lord Wellington has
totally defeated Marmont, near Salamanca. I consider the game
nearly up in Spain. May every possible success attend you.

[The preceding letter is transcribed from a rough copy in the general's
handwriting, and, not being dated, may not have been transmitted, as it
was written only a day or two before his death.]


_Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost._

October 12, 1812.

The vast number of troops which have been this day added to
the strong force previously collected on the opposite side,
convinces me, with other indications, that an attack is not
far distant. I have in consequence directed every exertion to
be made to complete the militia to 2,000 men, but fear that I
shall not be able to effect my object with willing,
well-disposed characters. Were it not for the numbers of
Americans in our ranks, we might defy all their efforts
against this part of the province.

[The above letter is also from a copy written hurriedly by Sir Isaac
Brock only a few hours before his death, and it may not have been
forwarded.]

* * * * *

A day or two prior to the battle of Queenstown, Major-General Brock
wrote copious instructions for the guidance of the officers commanding
at the different posts on the Niagara river, in the event of their being
attacked, and he explained the probable points which he thought the
enemy would select for accomplishing his descent. He evidently
entertained a high opinion of the discipline and prowess of the British
soldier, as in these instructions he observed: "If we weigh well the
character of our enemy, we shall find him more disposed to brave the
impediments of nature, when they afford him a probability of
accomplishing his end by surprise, in preference to the certainty of
encountering British troops ready formed for his reception." The
original draft of these instructions in the general's writing, contains
scarcely an erasure or correction.

On the 4th of October, an American spy was sent to the British side, and
returned with information that Major-General Brock had proceeded to
Detroit with all the force that could be spared from the Niagara
frontier. Encouraged by these false news, which perhaps the American
general circulated to induce his troops to cross over, every preparation
was made for a descent upon Queenstown. On the morning of the 11th, the
enemy assembled a force at Lewistown, opposite to Queenstown, with the
view of making an immediate attack on the latter, but, through some
mismanagement in conducting the boats to the place of embarkation, the
attack was delayed. Early on the morning of the 13th, the enemy's troops
were again concentrated and embarked in thirteen boats at Lewistown,
under cover of a commanding battery of two 18 and two 6-pounders, which,
with two field pieces, completely commanded every part of the opposite
shore, from which musketry could be effectual in opposing a landing. The
only British batteries from which the enemy could be annoyed in the
passage were one, mounting an 18-pounder, upon Queenstown Heights, and
another, mounting a 24-pound carronade, situate a little below the
village. Three of the boats put back, while the remaining ten, with 225
regulars, besides officers, struck the shore a little above the village
of Queenstown, and immediately returned for more troops. The British
force in Queenstown consisted of the two flank companies of the 49th
regiment and the York volunteer militia, amounting in all to about 300
rank and file. Of these about 60, taken from the 49th grenadiers, and
Captain Hatt's company of militia, under Captain Dennis,[96] of the
49th, advanced at four o'clock, a.m., with a 3-pounder against the first
division of the enemy, under Colonel Van Rensselaer, who had formed his
men near the river, and was awaiting the arrival of the next boats. The
Americans were driven with some loss behind a steep bank, close to the
water's edge, where they were reinforced by a fresh supply of troops,
and whence they returned the fire of the British. In the mean time the
remainder of the 49th grenadiers and of the militia company joined
Captain Dennis; while the 49th light company, under Captain Williams,
with Captain Chisholm's company of militia, stationed on the brow of the
hill, fired down upon the invaders.

Sir Isaac Brock for some days had suspected this invasion, and the
evening preceding it he called his staff together, and gave to each the
necessary instructions. Agreeably to his usual custom, he rose before
daylight, and hearing the cannonade, awoke Major Glegg and called for
his horse, Alfred, which Sir James Craig had presented to him. He then
gallopped eagerly from Fort George to the scene of action, and, with his
two aides-de-camp, passed up the hill at full gallop in front of the
light company, under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry from the
American shore. On reaching the 18-pounder battery at the top of the
hill, they dismounted and took a view of passing events, which at that
moment appeared highly favorable. But in a few minutes a firing was
heard, which proceeded from a strong detachment of American regulars
under Captain Wool, who had succeeded in gaining the brow of the heights
in rear of the battery, by a fisherman's path up the rocks, which, being
reported as impassable, was not guarded. Sir Isaac Brock and his
aide-de-camps had not even time to remount, but were obliged to retire
precipitately with the twelve men stationed in the battery, which was
quickly occupied by the enemy. Captain Wool having sent forward about
150 regulars, Captain Williams' detachment, of about 100 men, advanced
to meet them, personally directed by the general, who, observing the
enemy to waver, ordered a charge, which was promptly executed; but as
the Americans gave way, the result was not equal to his expectations.
Captain Wool admits that he reinforced his regulars, "notwithstanding
which the whole were driven to the edge of the bank."[97] Here some of
the American officers were on the point of hoisting a white flag, with
an intention to surrender, when Captain Wool tore it off, and reanimated
his dispirited troops. They now opened a heavy fire of musketry; and
conspicuous from his dress, his height, and the enthusiasm with which he
animated his little band, the British commander was soon singled out,
and he fell about an hour after his arrival, the fatal bullet entering
his right breast and passing through his left side. He had that instant
said: "Push on the York volunteers;" and he lived only long enough to
request that his fall might not be noticed or prevent the advance of his
brave troops, adding a wish, which could not be distinctly understood,
that some token of remembrance should be transmitted to his sister. He
died unmarried, and on the same day a week previously, he had completed
his forty-third year. The lifeless corpse was immediately conveyed into
a house at Queenstown, where it remained until the afternoon unperceived
by the enemy. His provincial aide-de-camp, Lieut.-Colonel M'Donell, of
the militia, and the attorney-general of Upper Canada--a fine promising
young man--was mortally wounded soon after his chief, and died the next
day, at the early age of twenty-five years. Although one bullet had
passed through his body, and he was wounded in four places, yet he
survived twenty hours; and during a period of excruciating agony, his
thoughts and words were constantly occupied with lamentations for his
deceased commander and friend. He fell while gallantly charging up the
hill with 190 men, chiefly of the York volunteers, by which charge the
enemy was compelled to spike the 18-pounder in the battery there.

The flank companies of the 49th having suffered severely, and both their
captains being wounded, the disputed ground was lost soon after the
death of the general, and the troops retreated in front of Vromont's
battery, where they awaited the expected reinforcements. The Americans
remained in quiet possession of the heights of Queenstown for some
hours, during which they were but partially reinforced, as their
militia, who a day or two before were so anxious to invade
Canada--having heard from the wounded men sent back what they must
expect if they came in contact with the 49th, "the green tigers," as
they called them from their green facings--could not now be induced,
either by threat or entreaty, to cross the river. Indeed, the flank
companies of the 49th, in the excitement arising from the loss of their
late beloved colonel, are said to have fought with such animosity
throughout the day, as to have fully supported this new title. In the
meanwhile, Major-General Sheaffe arrived from Fort George[98] with
nearly 400 of the 41st regiment, under Captain Derenzy and about 300
militia; and--after being joined by the remnant of the 49th flank
companies and the Indians, and leaving two field pieces with 30 men in
front of Queenstown, to prevent its occupation by the Americans--he
proceeded by a circuitous route to gain the rear of the heights upon
which the enemy was posted. Here he was reinforced by the arrival of the
41st grenadiers and some militia from Chippewa, the whole of the British
and Indian force thus assembled rather exceeding 1,000 men, of whom
about 600 were regulars. In numbers the Americans were about
equal--courage they had, but they wanted the confidence and discipline
of British soldiers.

The attack commenced in the afternoon, and after a little firing, the
British, setting up a shout which was accompanied by the war-whoop of
the Indians, advanced at the double quick or running pace, when the
Americans, perceiving the hopelessness of resistance, fled down the hill
after a feeble contest. The slaughter was unhappily protracted, because
the Indians could not at first be restrained. The Americans, who
attempted to escape into the woods, were quickly driven back by the
Indians; and many, cut off in their return to the main body, and
terrified at the sight of these exasperated warriors, flung themselves
wildly over the cliffs, and endeavoured to cling to the bushes which
grew upon them; but some, losing their hold, were dashed frightfully on
the rocks beneath; while others, who reached the river, perished in
their attempts to swim across it. Such, alas! are the dreadful horrors
too often arising from human warfare! A flag of truce soon came from the
American commander, with the offer of an unconditional surrender, and
Brigadier Wadsworth, with upwards of 900 officers and men, were made
prisoners. The death of the British general is said to have cost the
invaders many a life on that day, which otherwise had been spared. Their
loss was 90 killed and about 100 wounded, while that of the British and
Indians was 16 killed and 69 wounded. The victory, though easily won,
was complete; but it was felt by the conquerors as a poor compensation
for the loss of the British chieftain, thus prematurely cut off in the
pride of manhood and in the noon-tide of his career; while the sorrow
manifested throughout both provinces proved that those who rejoiced in
the failure of this second invasion, would gladly have foregone the
triumph, if by such means they could have regained him who rendered the
heights of Queenstown memorable by his fall.

Joy's bursting shout in whelming grief was drowned,
And Victory's self unwilling audience found;
On every brow the cloud of sadness hung,--
The sounds of triumph died on every tongue!

"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 acquaintance 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
encomiastic lamentations upon the never-to-be-forgotten General Brock,
which do honor 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."[99]

And the sentiments of the British government, on the melancholy
occasion, were thus expressed in a dispatch 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 Montreal Herald of April 29, 1815, blames Sir George Prevost for
having suppressed, in his general order, much of the preceding letter
from Lord Bathurst, and remarks: "We repeat that the said letter was not
published to the army or to the public, a part of which the latter ought
to have known, because the sentiments expressed by the prince are those
of the loyal people of Upper Canada, who would be glad to have seen them
soon after the official letter arrived in Canada." The following was
substituted for this letter in a general order of the late
commander-in-chief, dated the 10th March, 1813, said to have been
published to the army at the time of its date:

'His royal highness is fully aware of the severe loss which
his majesty's service has experienced in the death of
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock.'

"But we have been told that even the said general order was not known to
some regiments of the right division, until it appeared in the Quebec
Gazette of the 20th instant." And "considering the character of the
distinguished chief who fell on the British side at the Queenstown
battle,"[100] we certainly do not think that Lord Bathurst intended his
dispatch, relative to that officer's death, should have been thus
mutilated or suppressed in the Canadas.

The Canadian boat songs are well known for their plaintive and soothing
effect, and a very beautiful one was composed on the death of
Major-General Brock. The writer of this memoir, while sailing one
evening in the straits of Canso, in British North America--the beautiful
and picturesque scenery of which greatly increased the effect of the
words--remembers to have heard it sung by a Canadian boatman, and he
then thought that he had never listened to vocal sounds more truly
descriptive of melancholy and regret. Even the young in Canada invoked
the Muse in expression of their sympathy, and the following lines were
indited by Miss Ann Bruyeres, described as "an extraordinary child of
thirteen years old," the daughter of the general's friend,
Lieut.-Colonel. Bruyeres, of the Royal Engineers, (see page 213,) and
who died not long after him in consequence of disease contracted in the
field:

As Fame alighted on the mountain's[101] crest,
She loudly blew her trumpet's mighty blast;
Ere she repeated Victory's notes, she cast
A look around, and stopped: of power bereft,
Her bosom heaved, her breath she drew with pain,
Her favorite Brock lay slaughtered on the plain!
Glory threw on his grave a laurel wreath,
And Fame proclaims "a hero sleeps beneath."

As if to complete the double allusion to Fame in the preceding lines,
singularly enough the mournful intelligence of Sir Isaac Brock's death
was brought from Quebec to Guernsey by the ship FAME, belonging to that
island, on the 24th November, two days before it was known in London.

Sir Isaac Brock, after lying in state at the government house, where his
body was bedewed with the tears of many affectionate friends, was
interred on the 16th of October, with his provincial aide-de-camp, at
Fort George. His surviving aide-de-camp, Major Glegg, recollecting the
decided aversion of the general to every thing that bore the appearance
of ostentatious display, endeavoured to clothe the distressing ceremony
with all his "native simplicity." But at the same time there were
military honors that could not be avoided, and the following was the
order of the mournful procession,[102] "of which," wrote Major Glegg,
"I enclose a plan; but no pen can describe the real scenes of that
mournful day. A more solemn and affecting spectacle was perhaps never
witnessed. As every arrangement connected with that afflicting ceremony
fell to my lot, a second attack being hourly expected, and the minds of
all being fully occupied with the duties of their respective stations, I
anxiously endeavoured to perform this last tribute of affection in a
manner corresponding with the elevated virtues of my departed patron.
Conceiving that an interment in every respect military would be the most
appropriate to the character of our dear friend, I made choice of a
cavalier bastion in Fort George, which his aspiring genius had lately
suggested, and which had been just finished under his daily
superintendence."

Fort Major Campbell.
Sixty Men of the 41st Regiment, commanded by a Subaltern.
Sixty of the Militia, commanded by a Captain.
Two Six-Pounders--firing minute guns.
Remaining Corps and Detachments of the Garrison, with about 200
Indians, in reversed order, forming a street through which the
Procession passed, extending from the government house to the
garrison.
Band of the 41st Regiment.
Drums, covered with black cloth, and muffled.

Late General's Horse, fully caparisoned, led by four Grooms.
Servants of the General.
The General's Body Servant.
Surgeon Muirhead. Doctor Kerr.
Doctor Moore. Staff Surgeon Thom.
Reverend Mr. Addison.

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Resounding Guardian first book award victory for The Rest Is Noise
Articles published by guardian.co.uk Books

Site of the Week: The International Literary Quarterly

An intricate, kaleidoscopic, all-embracing history of 20th-century music from Mahler to La Monte Young is the winner of this year's Guardian first book award. Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise was the clear and undisputed winner of the £10,000 prize, which has been presented at a ceremony in central London tonight.

The chair of the judging panel, Guardian literary editor Claire Armitstead, said: "In some quarters this book has been seen as not having a popular appeal. Our prize – which, uniquely, relies on readers' groups in the early stages of judging – proves that, on the contrary, there is a huge appetite among readers for clear, serious but accessible books."

According to one judge: "Where Ross lifts his book above the 'expert' and impressive to the 'good read' category is in the way he wears his learning lightly, never clutches for false or contrived ways of explaining music, and never dumbs down in order to explain."

One of the members of the Waterstone's reading groups, who helped in the judging process, said: "Every time I felt overwhelmed by the technicalities, along came a sublime metaphor or simile that would light up the prose."

Ross, who is the music critic of the New Yorker, has distilled a lifetime's enthusiasm and learning into a rich narrative of musical history, setting the works of Mahler, Schoenberg, John Cage and the rest into their cultural and political contexts – but also giving a vivid sense of what the music he describes actually sounds and feels like.

Of all the artforms, modern and contemporary classical music is often seen as the most rebarbative. Ross brushes aside the mythology of 20th-century music's "inaccessibility" as he charts its meandering histories. Along the way, fascinating connections are made: hip-hop has more in common with Janacek than you might think; Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin were tennis partners; Gershwin, in turn, was an ardent fan of Alban Berg and kept an autographed photo of the composer of Lulu in his apartment. If there is an overarching idea to the book, it is perhaps contained in Berg's pronouncement to Gershwin: "Mr Gershwin, music is music."

Ross, 40, was born in Washington DC, and studied English and history at Harvard. An enthusiastic teenage musician and student broadcaster, he began writing music criticism after university and in 1996 was appointed music critic of the New Yorker. His blog – also called The Rest Is Noise – has been a trailblazer in harnessing the internet as a way of amplifying (often literally) his writing on music.

The New York Review of Books described The Rest Is Noise as "by far the liveliest and smartest popular introduction yet written to a century of diverse music". The Economist noted: "No other critic writing in English can so effectively explain why you like a piece, or beguile you to reconsider it, or prompt you to hurry online and buy a recording."

Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican and a former Observer music critic, said: "At a time when people are still talking about 20th-century music as if it were a problem, here is a lucid and entertaining book about what I regard as some of the greatest music ever written. It's a wonderful way to advance the cause of 20th-century music to an ordinary, intelligent general reader. It's the ideal mix of enthusiasm and information."

This year's judging panel comprised novelist Roddy Doyle; broadcaster and novelist Francine Stock; poet Daljit Nagra; the historian David Kynaston; novelist Kate Mosse and Guardian deputy editor, Katharine Viner. Stuart Broom of Waterstone's also joined the deliberations, speaking as the representative of the readers' groups.

The other books on the shortlist were Mohammed Hanif's A Case of Exploding Mangoes; Ross Raisin's God's Own Country; Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole (which was also shortlisted for the Man Booker prize) and Owen Matthews's Stalin's Children.

Previous winners of the prize have included Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters (2005) and Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000).

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