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

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[Footnote 105: In height about six feet two inches. Since the first
sheets were printed, we have heard from a school-fellow of his, James
Carey, Esq., that young Brock was the best boxer and swimmer in the
school, and that he used to swim from the main land of Guernsey to
Castle Cornet and back, a distance each way of nearly half a mile. This
feat is the more difficult, from the strong tides which run between the
passage.]

[Footnote 106: "On arriving before Fort Detroit, a characteristic trait
of his courage took place, when, within range of the guns of that fort,
and in front of his heroic and devoted band of militiamen and regulars,
his attention was drawn by Colonel Nichol to the dangerous nature of the
expedition, and to the wish of his gallant comrades in arms that he
would not go to the front, and endanger a life they could not spare--to
these suggestions he replied: 'I will never desire the humblest
individual to go where I cannot lead.'"--_Toronto Herald_, June 15,
1843.]

[Footnote 107: For council of condolence, see Appendix A, Section 1, No.
6.]

[Footnote 108: The officers of the 49th, after his death, instructed the
regimental agent in London to procure them a likeness of Sir Isaac
Brock, that it might be placed in their mess-room, and allotted a
handsome sum for this purpose. The agent applied to the family for a
copy, but unfortunately they possessed no good likeness of the general.]

[Footnote 109: The salary attached to the civil government of Upper
Canada was increased, we believe, shortly before his death to L3,000 a
year.]

[Footnote 110: By an official return, it appears that this monument cost
L1,575 sterling. For inscription, &c, see Appendix A, Section 1, No. 7.]

[Footnote 111: See Appendix A, Section 1, No. 8.]

[Footnote 112: For the address, see Appendix A, Section 1, No. 9.]

[Footnote 113: This column cost nearly L3,000.]

[Footnote 114: For the details of the re-interment, see Appendix A,
Section 1, No. 10.]

[Footnote 115: It was a Tuscan column on a rustic pedestal, with a
pedestal for a statue; the diameter of the base of the column was
seventeen feet six inches, and the abacus of the capital was surrounded
with an iron railing. The centre shaft, containing the spiral wooden
staircase, was ten feet in diameter.]

[Footnote 116: We speak in the past tense, because the column, as will
be seen in the sequel, was so much injured in 1840 as to require its
reconstruction.]

[Footnote 117: Howison's Sketches of Upper Canada. London, 1821.]

CHAPTER XV.

Sir Isaac Brock was succeeded in his civil and military commands in
Upper Canada by Major-General Sheaffe, who was created a baronet for the
dearly bought victory of Queenstown. After the battle, he paroled
General Wadsworth and some of the principal American officers, the
remainder proceeding to Quebec. Among the prisoners, 23 were found to be
deserters from English regiments, and British born subjects; and they
were sent to England for trial as traitors. This caused a retaliation
upon British prisoners in the United States, and an equal number were
put by the American government into close confinement as hostages for
the security of the traitors.

On the 18th of October, General Smyth assumed the command at Niagara,
and applied to the British general for an armistice; and notwithstanding
the well-known prejudicial effect of the former one proposed by Sir
George Prevost, it was agreed to by Major-General Sheaffe![118] This
unaccountable proceeding, as might easily have been foreseen, proved of
material detriment to the British on Lake Erie, as the Americans availed
themselves of so favorable an occasion to forward their naval stores
unmolested from Black Rock to Presqu'ile by water, which they could not
otherwise have effected, but with immense trouble and expense by land,
and equipped at leisure the fleet which afterwards wrested from us the
command of that lake. When the enemy was prepared for a third invasion
of Upper Canada, General Smyth did not fail to give the thirty hours
notice required for the cessation of the armistice, which terminated on
the 20th of November.

"After the surrender of Detroit," said the inhabitants of Niagara in
their spirited letter to Sir George Prevost, already quoted (page 279),
"the enemy were suffered unmolested to concentrate a large force on the
Niagara, at Sackett's Harbour on Lake Ontario, and at Ogdensburg on the
St. Lawrence; they were not interrupted in bringing forward to these
places a large quantity of field and heavy artillery, with the requisite
supplies of ammunition, and in equipping a flotilla, to dispute with us
the superiority of the lakes. When their preparations were
complete--when our regular and militia forces were nearly exhausted with
incessant watching and fatigue, occasioned by the movements of the
enemy, which kept them constantly on the alert by uncertainty as to the
point of attack--they at length, on the 13th of October, attacked our
line at Queenstown. The behaviour of both regulars and militia on that
memorable occasion is well known to your excellency, and added another
wreath to the laurels they had gained at Detroit: the glories of that
day were, however, obscured by the death of our beloved and now lamented
chief, whose exertions had prepared the means of achieving this great
victory. This was another triumph for the militia; they had fairly
measured their strength with the enemy, and derived additional
confidence from the glorious result. Here was another opportunity that
slipped away without being improved: Fort Niagara was abandoned by the
enemy, and might have been with the greatest ease destroyed, and its
guns brought away by a trifling force. It is neither necessary, nor do
we feel inclined to enter into the causes why it was not done; we have,
however, the strongest reason to believe that, had General Brock
survived, it would have been attempted. In addition to this (as we
consider it) capital error, Major Mullaney, and other natural born
subjects of his majesty, actually taken in arms as commissioned officers
in the service of the United States, were released and allowed to return
on parole to that country; and a partial armistice was agreed to, liable
to be broken off at thirty hours notice, which could be productive of no
real advantage to us, nor give any repose to our harassed and suffering
militia, though it enabled the enemy to recruit his strength and
organize at will the means of attacking us anew. He was observed busily
and actively employed, throughout a great part of the month of November,
collecting boats on the Fort Erie end of the line; and when his
preparations were complete, he gave notice of the termination of the
armistice on the 20th."

"When General Wilkinson complains," observes the British historian
James, "that the executive has not rendered 'common justice to the
principal actors in this gallant scene,'--not exhibited it to the
country 'in its true light, and shewn what deeds Americans are still
capable of performing,'[119]--who among us can retain his gravity? 'It
is true,' says the general, 'complete success did not ultimately crown
this enterprise; but two great ends were obtained for the country: it
re-established the character of the American arms;'--it did
indeed!--'and deprived the enemy, by the death of General Brock, of the
best officer that has headed their troops in Canada throughout the
war;'--truth undeniable!--'and, with his loss, put an end to their then
brilliant career;'--yet the capture of General Wadsworth took place in
less than five hours afterwards.

"The instant we know what the Americans expected to gain, a tolerable
idea may be formed of what they actually lost by the attack upon
Queenstown. General Van Rensselaer, in a letter to Major-General
Dearborn, written five days previously, says thus: 'Should we succeed,
we shall effect a great discomfiture of the enemy, by breaking their
line of communication, driving their shipping from the mouth of this
river, leaving them no rallying point in this part of the country,
appalling the minds of the Canadians, and opening a wide and safe
communication for our supplies; we shall save our own land,--wipe away
part of the score of our past disgrace,--get excellent barracks and
winter quarters, and at least be prepared for an early campaign another
year.'

"It is often said, that we throw away by the pen what we gain by the
sword. Had General Brock been less prodigal of his valuable life, and
survived the Queenstown battle, he would have made the 13th of October a
still more 'memorable' day, by crossing the river and carrying Fort
Niagara, which, at that precise time, was nearly stripped of its
garrison. Instead of doing this, and thus putting an end to the campaign
upon the Niagara frontier, Major-General Sheaffe, General Brock's
successor, allowed himself to be persuaded to sign an armistice."

In November, the Americans were already in command of Lake Ontario,[120]
and their fleet, after chasing the Royal George into Kingston, captured
on the 12th the transport sloop Elizabeth, on board of which was Mr.
Brock, paymaster of the 49th. He was paroled by Commodore Chauncey, who,
to his credit be it said, immediately restored "the plate and effects
belonging to his late illustrious relative," which he was conveying from
Fort George to Kingston. The box of letters and other papers from which
this little work has been principally compiled, was, we believe, among
these effects; and we gladly seize this opportunity to express the
obligation of Sir Isaac Brock's family to the commodore for his
generosity on this occasion.

On the 27th April, 1813, York was captured by Major-General Dearborn,
with 1,800 American troops, embarked in fourteen sail of armed vessels,
that post being occupied by 700 regulars and militia, with from 40 to 50
Indians, the whole under the immediate command of Sir Roger Sheaffe. In
resisting the enemy, the grenadier company of the 8th (the king's)
regiment greatly distinguished themselves, losing their captain, M'Neal,
and being nearly annihilated. By an explosion of the powder magazine, to
which a train had been laid, 260 of the Americans were killed or
wounded, including Brigadier Pike among the former; and they were thrown
into such confusion, that an immediate and resolute attack would
probably have sent them back to their ships.[121] The British general
"drew off his regulars and left the rest to capitulate within the town,
wherein considerable public stores were lost;"[122] and the Americans,
having secured their booty, re-embarked and sailed on the 2d of May for
Niagara. The inhabitants of York do not appear to have been satisfied
with the conduct of Major-General Sheaffe in this affair; and, although
it was not ascertained whether his removal was the result of the
displeasure of the Commander-in-chief, he was replaced early in July by
Major-General de Rottenburg, and on his arrival in the Lower Province he
assumed the command of the troops in the district of Montreal. A few
months after, the Baron de Rottenburg was in his turn succeeded by
Lieut.-General Gordon Drummond, who commanded in Upper Canada to the end
of the war.

We have alluded (page 278) to the discomfiture of Sir George Prevost
before Sackett's Harbour, that naval arsenal whose destruction
Major-General Brock was so unfortunately prevented from undertaking. The
governor-general having proceeded in May from Montreal to Kingston with
Sir James Yeo, who had just arrived from England to command the British
naval forces on the lakes--the squadron on Lake Ontario now consisting
of two ships, a brig, and two schooners--the public was on the tiptoe of
expectation for some decisive dash on the enemy's flotilla on that lake.
An attack upon Sackett's Harbour, in the absence of their fleet at
Niagara, was resolved upon, so as to destroy "the forts, the arsenals,
and the dock-yard, where the Americans had a frigate almost ready for
launching, and several other vessels; but when this wavering and
spiritless general reconnoitred the place, he would not venture an
attack, and returned across the water towards Kingston. Then he changed
his mind and went back to Sackett's Harbour; and (but not without more
wavering and loss of time) our troops, about 750 strong, were landed.
The Americans were presently driven at the bayonet's point into some
loop-holed barracks and forts; and so panic-stricken were they that they
immediately set fire to their new frigate, their naval barracks and
arsenal, and destroyed a gun-brig and all the stores which had so
recently been captured at York. While the arsenal was in flames, while
the Americans were flying through the village, and when the complete
success of the assailants was certain, Sir George Prevost sent a
precipitate order for retreat, merely because a momentary resistance was
offered by a party of Americans who had taken refuge in the
log-barracks! The British troops reluctantly obeyed their general's
order and returned to their boats, men and officers being acutely
sensible to his folly, and wondering by what means so incompetent a
commander had been placed over them. If Sir George Prevost had studied
the history of the war of the American revolution, it could only have
been with an eye to copy all the indecisions and blunders of the
formalising, badly instructed English generals of that period. But the
Howes, Clintons, and Burgoynes, were at least always ready to fight. As
soon as the Americans could believe that the English were really
abandoning their enterprize at the moment that it was all but completed,
they rushed back to stop the conflagration: they were too late to save
the stores which had been brought from York, the navy barracks, or the
brig, but the frigate on the stocks, being built of green wood, would
not easily burn, and was found but little injured. If the destruction at
Sackett's Harbour had been completed, we should have deprived the
Americans of every prospect of obtaining the ascendancy on the
lake."[123] And, as if to crown this miserable failure, the details were
narrated by the adjutant-general, in a dispatch to Sir George Prevost,
as if Colonel Baynes had commanded in chief, and the governor-general
had been present as a mere spectator![124]

From these humiliating occurrences on Lake Ontario, we turn to the
captured post of Detroit, which, it will be remembered, was left by
Major-General Brock in charge of Colonel Proctor. No sooner had
intelligence of the surrender of Hull reached Washington, than the
renewal of the North-Western army for the recovery of the Michigan
territory became the anxious object of the American government. That
army, which eventually outnumbered the former one, was placed under the
command of Major-General Harrison, (who died a few years since while
president of the United States,) and in September was in full march for
the Miami rapids, the spot assigned as the general rendezvous. In
January, 1813, Colonel Proctor received information that a brigade of
that army, under Brigadier Winchester, was encamped at Frenchtown, on
the river Raisin, 40 miles south of Detroit. The British commander,
although he had orders not to act on the offensive, promptly determined
to attack this brigade before it was reinforced by the main body, a few
days march in the rear; and with his disposable force, consisting of 500
regulars, militia, and seamen, he made a resolute assault, at dawn on
the 22d, on the enemy's camp, which was completely successful. In this
affair the Americans lost between 3 and 400 men killed; and Brigadier
Winchester, 3 field officers, 9 captains, 20 subalterns, and upwards of
500 men, in prisoners. This gallant exploit secured Detroit from any
immediate danger, but the day after it was sadly tarnished by the
straggling Indians, who massacred such wounded prisoners as were unable
to walk, the guard left for their protection deserting their charge on a
false alarm of General Harrison's approach. This success, for which
Colonel Proctor was immediately promoted to the rank of Brigadier,
together with the spoil obtained at Frenchtown, brought down several
warlike tribes of Indians from the river Wabash, and even from the more
distant Mississippi, to join the British standard. Towards the end of
March, Proctor learnt that General Harrison intended to commence active
operations for the recovery of the Michigan territory, on the arrival of
considerable reinforcements which he was expecting. Resolved to try the
issue of another attack before the enemy, already much superior in
numbers, gained a fresh acquisition of strength, Proctor embarked at
Amherstburg with 520 regulars and 460 militia, and made for the mouth of
the Miami, which falls into Lake Erie. He ascended that river, about
1,200 Indians co-operating with him, and landed his troops, stores, and
ordnance, on the 28th of April, near Fort Meigs, mounting eighteen guns,
which he cannonaded from both banks of the Miami, On the 5th of May the
enemy's long-expected reinforcements, under Major-General Clay, came
suddenly down the river; they were 1,300 strong, but newly-raised
militia; and as the boats drew near, Harrison ordered Clay to storm the
British batteries on the opposite or north side of the river, while a
sortie was made from the fort for the purpose of capturing the three
British guns on the southern bank. For a short period the British
batteries on both sides were in the hands of the enemy, but they were
quickly regained by bayonet charges; and on the north bank Colonel
Dudley, after spiking the captured guns, having marched with 400 men to
attack the British camp, was drawn into an ambuscade by the Indians, and
himself and about half his men were slain. Of the Americans, about 550
men were made prisoners, and their killed and wounded were estimated at
nearly as many more. The far-famed Tecumseh buried his tomahawk in the
head of a Chippewa chief, whom he found actively engaged in massacring
some of the prisoners. But as the Indians retired, as is their wont
after success, to enjoy their plunder; and as many of the militia were
also returning to their homes, Proctor was compelled to raise the siege
of Fort Meigs. Having re-embarked his small force of regulars, chiefly
of the 41st, and the whole of his ordnance and stores, he proceeded to
Sandwich; while General Harrison abandoned all intention of advancing
against Detroit until the American squadron had gained the command of
Lake Erie.

Major-General Proctor having determined to recommence his attacks
against the American North-Western army, whose head quarters were then
in the neighbourhood of Sandusky Bay, on Lake Erie, he landed on the 1st
of August near the Sandusky river, and soon after invested with 400
regulars and between 3 and 400 Indians, Fort Stephenson, about 20 miles
from its mouth. On the 2d, a fire was opened from two 6-pounders and
two 5-1/2-inch howitzers against the fort, which appears to have
possessed only one masked 6-pounder, and to have been garrisoned by
about 180 men, under Major Croghan, but as the fire produced no
impression, the place was ordered to be stormed. The assailants reached
the ditch which was raked by the masked gun, and sustained in
consequence so severe a loss, that they retreated precipitately, having
their leader, Brevet Lieut-Colonel Short, of the 41st, with 3 officers
and 52 men, killed or missing, besides 3 officers and 38 men wounded;
while the Americans had only 1 killed and 7 slightly wounded. The
Indians did not assist in the assault, withdrawing to a ravine out of
gun shot. Thus foiled, Proctor retired on the 3d, and after abandoning
"considerable baggage and a gun-boat laden with cannon ball," he
returned to Amherstburg. The attack is said to have been "ill digested,"
and the expedition to have ended with "some disgrace."

Towards the end of August, (1813,) the American squadron, under
Commodore Perry, became too powerful for the British, under Captain
Barclay, who now remained at Amherstburg to await the equipment of the
Detroit, recently launched. The British forces in the neighbourhood
falling short of various supplies, for which they depended chiefly upon
the fleet, Captain Barclay had no other alternative than to risk a
general engagement. With this purpose he sailed on the 9th of September,
with his small squadron wretchedly manned, and the next day encountered
the enemy. For some time the fate of the battle poised in favor of the
British, as the principal American ship, the Lawrence, struck her
colours; but a sudden breeze turned the scale against them, and the
whole of their squadron was compelled to surrender, after a desperate
engagement of upwards of three hours. Captain Barclay was dangerously
wounded; Captain Finnis, of the Queen Charlotte, killed; and every
commander and officer second in command was either killed or wounded.

Major-General Proctor's army was deprived, by this disastrous defeat, of
every prospect of obtaining its necessary supplies through Lake Erie,
and a speedy retreat towards the head of Lake Ontario became inevitable.
Stung with grief and indignation, Tecumseh at first refused to agree to
the measure, and in a council of war held at Amherstburg on the 18th of
September, he thus delivered his sentiments against it:

Father, listen to your children! You have them now all before
you.

The war before this, our British father gave the hatchet to
his red children, when our old chiefs were alive. They are now
dead. In that war our father was thrown on his back by the
Americans, and our father took them by the hand without our
knowledge; and we are afraid that our father will do so again
at this time.

The summer before last, when I came forward with my red
brethren, and was ready to take up the hatchet in favor of our
British father, we were told not to be in a hurry,--that he
had not yet determined to fight the Americans.

Listen! When war was declared, our father stood up and gave
us the tomahawk, and told us that he was then ready to strike
the Americans; that he wanted our assistance; and that he
would certainly get us hack our lands, which the Americans had
taken from us.

Listen! You told us, at that time, to bring forward our
families to this place, and we did so; and you promised to
take care of them, and that they should want for nothing,
while the men would go and fight the enemy; that we need not
trouble ourselves about the enemy's garrisons; that we knew
nothing about them, and that our father would attend to that
part of the contest. You also told your red children that you
would take good care of your garrison here, which made our
hearts glad.

Listen! When we were last at the Rapids, it is true we gave
you little assistance. It is hard to fight people who live
like ground hogs.

Father, listen! Our fleet has gone out; we know they have
fought; we have heard the great guns; but we know nothing of
what has happened to our father with that arm. Our ships have
gone one way, and we are much astonished to see our father
tying up every thing and preparing to run away the other,
without letting his red children know what his intentions are.
You always told us to remain here and take care of our lands;
it made our hearts glad to hear that was your wish. Our great
father, the king, is the head, and you represent him. You
always told us that you would never draw your foot off British
ground; but now, father, we see you are drawing back, and we
are sorry to observe our father doing so without seeing the
enemy. We must compare our father's conduct to a fat dog, that
carries its tail upon its back, but when affrighted, it drops
it between its legs and runs off.

Father, listen! The Americans have not yet defeated us by
land; neither are we sure that they have done so by water: _we
therefore wish to remain here and fight our_ _enemy, should
they make their appearance_. If they defeat us, we will _then_
retreat with our father.

At the battle of the Rapids, last war, the Americans certainly
defeated us; and, when we retreated to our father's fort in
the neighbourhood, the gates were shut against us. We were
afraid that it would again be the case; but, instead of
closing the gates, we now see our British father preparing to
march out of his garrison.

Father! You have got the arms and ammunition which our great
father sent for his red children. If you intend to retreat,
give them to us, and you may go, and welcome for us. Our lives
are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to
defend our lands, and if it be His will, we wish to leave our
bones upon them.

General Harrison's troops were soon transported by the American squadron
to _Put-in-Bay_, and they occupied Amherstburg on the 23d of September,
Proctor having previously fallen back upon Sandwich, after setting fire
to the navy yard, barracks, and public stores at the former place. The
British general, seeing the enemy determined to follow up his first
success by an immediate attack upon Detroit, and being unable with his
very inferior numbers to dispute the occupancy of that post, evacuated
it and Sandwich on the 26th, also destroying the public property at both
posts; and commenced his retreat along the river Thames, with between
900 and 1,000 regulars, chiefly of the 41st regiment. In this reverse of
fortune, Tecumseh still adhered to the British standard with unswerving
fidelity, and with the Indians covered the retreat. On the 2d of
October, General Harrison marched in pursuit with rather above 3,000
men, escorted by three gun-boats and a number of bateaux. On the 4th, he
came up with the rear guard, and not only made some prisoners, but
succeeded in capturing a great part of the ammunition and stores. By
this second reverse, the British were left destitute of the means of
subsistence and protracted defence; and their commander being thus
compelled to stake the fate of his small army on a general engagement,
he took up an excellent position on the right bank of the Thames at the
Moravian town, an Indian village 80 miles from Sandwich, his entire
force now mustering barely 900 regulars and about 600 Indians. The
former were posted in single files in two lines, their left resting on
the river, their right on a narrow swamp, beyond which were the Indians,
reaching obliquely backwards to a second and much broader swamp, so that
neither flank of the allies could be easily turned. The enemy commenced
the attack with a regiment of mounted riflemen, the _elite_ of their
army, formed into two divisions of 500 men each, one of which charged
the regulars with great impetuosity, while the other advanced with a
company of foot against the Indians. The regulars, dissatisfied by
fancied or real neglect, and dispirited by long continued exposure and
privation, made but a very feeble resistance; their ranks were pierced
and broken, and being placed between two fires, they immediately
surrendered, with the trifling loss of 12 killed and 22 wounded, the
British general and a part of the troops seeking safety in flight. But
the Indians carried on the contest with the left of the American line
with great determination, and did not retreat until the day was
irretrievably lost and 33 of their numbers had been slain, including the
noble Tecumseh--a warrior not less celebrated for his courage than for
his humanity, his eloquence, and his influence over the different
tribes. The Americans returned to Sandwich immediately after the action.
Proctor is accused of leaving entire the bridges and roads in the rear
of his retreating army, and of encumbering it with an unnecessary
quantity of his own personal baggage; and certain it is that his defeat
led to the harshest recrimination between Sir George Prevost and
himself. The general order of the former on the subject was of
unparalleled severity, as he said: "On this disgraceful day upwards of
600 officers and soldiers were taken prisoners almost without a
struggle, of whom but very few appeared to have been rescued by an
honorable death from the ignominy of passing under the American yoke;
nor are there many whose wounds plead in mitigation of this reproach."
The fugitives made the best of their way to Ancaster, at the head of
Lake Ontario; and on the 17th of October they numbered there 240,
including the general and 17 officers. The consequence of these
disasters was the relinquishment, by the British, of the Michigan
territory, with the exception of Michilimakinack; the abandonment of the
posts in Upper Canada to the westward of the Grand River, or Ouse; and
the loss of the services of the whole of the north-western Indians, with
the exception of 2 or 300, who subsequently joined the centre division
of the army.[125]

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