The "Quebec Gazette" contained the notice of his death which will be found below;* and the sentiments of the British Go

Gen. Brock's charac-
Public opinion of
ter and value.

Again, General Brock had not then arrived, evidence to render any further comment superand it was his arrival that led to the brilliant fluous, especially as our notes will show the charge in which an inferior force compelled a sentiments of the Province on the occasion of superior force to retire UP HILL; one of the his death. most brilliant and daring feats on record, and in which the militia distinguished themselves to the full as much as the regulars, fighting side by side, and animated with a burning desire to revenge the loss of a commander whose inter-vernment on the melancholy occasion, were course with them had inspired at once respect thus expressed in a despatch from Earl and affection. There is very little doubt that Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to the death of the British General cost the life Sir George Prevost: of many an invader on that day, which would otherwise have been spared.

Personal appear ance of Gen. Brock.

"His Royal Highness the Prince Regent is fully aware of the severe loss which His Majesty's service has experienced in the death of

As we are unacquainted with the preserva-Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. This would tion of any portrait, public or private, of Gen. Brock in this country, it may not be uninteresting to give here a slight sketch. In person he was tall and stout, even inclining to corpulency; of fair and florid complexion, with a large forehead and full face, though the features were not prominent. His eyes were rather small, of a greyish blue, with a slight cast in one of them. His mouth was small, with fine teeth, and when his countenance was lighted by a smile the expression was particularly pleasing. In manner he was exceedingly affable and gentlemanlike, of a cheerful and social habit partial to dancing, and, though never married, he was extremely partial to female society.

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 dismay 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 fell, too prodigal of that life of which his eminent services had taught us to understand the value."

Of the soundness of his judgment and bravery we have already adduced sufficient

The wounded and prisoners I ordered to be collected. and sent to the guard-house. About this time, which was about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, Lieut.-Col. Christie arrived, and took the command. He ordered me across the river to get my wounds dressed. I remained a short time. Our flanking parties had been driven in by the Indians, but Gen. Wadsworth and other officers arriving, we had a short skirmish with them, and they retreated, and I crossed the river. The officers engaged in storming the battery were Captains Wool and Ogilvie; Lieutenants Kearney, Hugouin, Carr, and Simmons, of the 43d regiment; Lieutenant Ganesvoort and Randolph, of the light artillery; and Major Lush, of the militia.

I recommend to your particular notice Lieuts. Randolph, Carr, and Kearney, for their brave conduct exhibited during the whole of the action. I have the honor to be,

Your most obedient humble Servant, JOHN E WOOL, Capt. 13th regt. inft. Colonel Van Ranselaer.

The

*The news of the death of this excellent officer 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. 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 to 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 own 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 persor; and it is yet to be ascertained whether the desire to avenge his death can compensate the many embarrassments it will

occasion..

CHAPTER VIII.

CONTENTS.

untimely fate was deplored throughout, not Opinions of the Press respecting General Brock's only these Provinces, but the Mother Country character and value, continued.-Armistice also. Yet we feel tempted to add one or two concluded the day after the battle.-Treatment more tributes to his memory. The first is of the prisoners.-Disposal of the prisoners.- from a Montreal paper of the day;* the second Attempts of the Press to keep up the "war spirit" by misrepresentation.-Refusal of the Militia to cross the Niagara River, another proof that the war was not as popular as represented. -Resignation of General Van Ranselaer, and appointment of General Smyth.-Destruction

from Howison's "Sketches of Upper Canada."+ The most conclusive proof, however, of the general estimation in which Sir Isaac Brock was held, is, perhaps, to be found in General Van Ranselaer's letter of condolence to Gen. Sheaffe, on the occasion of his funeral, in which of the fortifications at Black Rock, and of the furs taken in the Caledonia.-Capture of CanaGen. Van Ranselaer expresses his desire to pay dian voyageurs.-General Smyth's proclamaa just tribute of respect to the gallant dead,” tions.—Invasion of Canada by General Smyth. and informs Gen. Sheaffe, that "I shall order -Effects of this failure at invasion.-Position a salute for the funeral of General Brock to of affairs on the Detroit and Lower Canadian be fired here, and at Fort Niagara this afterfrontiers.-Causes of General Dearborn's in- noon.

action.

Opinions of the Press, respecting Gen. Brock's

This generous conduct of Gen. Van Ranselaer THE two notices, we have already given, might evinced feelings worthy of a soldier and a almost be considered suf-man. ficient evidence of the eminence to which Gen. Brock had raised himself by his civil and military talents, and of the correspondently deep grief with which his

character and value,

Continued.

*The private letters from Upper Canada, in giving the account of the late victory at Queenston, 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.

The President, Mr. Madison, when alluding to the battle of Queenston in his message to Congress, observed, "Our loss has been considerable, and is deeply to be lamented. That of the enemy, less ascertained, will be the

He was more popular, and more beloved by the inhabitants of Upper Canada, than any man they ever had among them, and with reason; for he possessed, in an eminent degree, those virtues which add lustre to bravery, and those talents that shine alike in the cabinet and in the field. His manners and dispositions were so conciliating as to gain the affection of all whom he commanded, while his innate nobleness and dignity of mind secured him a respect almost amounting to veneration. He is now styled the Hero of Upper Canada, and, had he lived, there is no doubt but the war would have terminated very differently from what it did. The Canadian farmers are not overburthened with sensibility, yet I have seen several of them shed tears when an eulogium was pronounced upon the immortal and generousminded deliverer of their country.

General Brock was killed close to the road that *Lewiston.

more felt, as it includes amongst the killed the of its garrison. Instead of doing this, and of

commanding general, who was also the Governor of the Province."

General Brock was interred on the 16th October, with his A.D.C., Col. McDonnell, at Fort George. Major Glegg says on the subject,—" Conceiving that an interment, in every respect military, would be the most appropriate, I made choice of a cavalier bastion which he had lately suggested, and which had just been finished under his daily superintend

ence."

On the morning after the battle, an armisticet Armistice concluded was concluded by Genethe day after the battle. rals Van Ranselaer and Sheaffe. James, in reference to this proceeding, remarks, "It is often said that we throw away with the pen, what we gain by the sword. Had General Brock survived the Queenston battle, he would have made the 18th October a still more memorable day by crossing the river and carrying Fort Niagara, which at that precise time was nearly stripped

leads through Queenston village; this spot may be called classic ground, for a view of it must awaken in the minds of all those who duly appreciate the greatness of his character, and are acquainted with the nature of his resources and exertions, feelings as warm and enthusiastic as the contemplation of monuments consecrated by antiquity

can ever do.

putting an end to the campaign upon the Niagara frontier, General Sheaffe allowed himself to be persuaded to sign an armistice, the very thing General Van Ranselaer wanted. The latter, of course, assured his panic-struck militia, that the British General had sent to implore one of him; (rather a hasty conclusion this of James,) and that he, General Van Ranselaer, had consented, merely to gain time to make some necessary arrangements. Such of the militia as had not already scampered off, now agreed to suspend their journey homeward, and try another experiment at invasion.”

When James penned the above, he did not take into consideration, that the number of American prisoners, then in General Sheaffe's charge, far exceeded the united strength of his whole army, when the Indian force was withdrawn; and, besides, that with his very limited means of defence, he had a frontier of

forty miles to protect. He seems also to have lost sight of the fact that General Van Ran.

selaer retired from the command on the 18th

British-born subjects soon felt convinced that with him their religion or their birth-place was no obstacle in their advancement. Even over the minds of the Indians Sir Isaac Brock gained, at and after the capture of Detroit, an ascendency altogether unexampled, and which he judiciously exercised for purposes conducive equally to the cause of Nature had been very bountiful to Sir Isaac humanity and to the interests of his country. He Brock in those personal gifts which appear to such engaged them to throw aside the scalping knife, peculiar advantage in the army, and at the first implanted in their breasts the virtues of clemency glance the soldier and the gentleman were seen. and forbearance, and taught them to feel pleasure In stature he was tall, his fine and benevolent and pride in the compassion extended to a vancountenance was a perfect index of his mind, and quished enemy. In return they revered him as his manners were courteous, frank, and engaging. their common father, and while under his comIt is well known Brave, liberal, and humane; devoted to his sov-mand were guilty of no excesses. ereign, and loving his country with romantic fond- that this untutored people, the children of the ness; in command so gentle and persuasive, yet forests, value personal much more highly than so firm, that he possessed the rare faculty of ac- mental qualities, but the union of both in their quiring both the respect and the attachment of all leader was happily calculated to impress their who served under him. When urged by some haughty and masculine minds with respect and friends, shortly before his death, to be more care- admiration; and the speech delivered by Tecumful of his person, he replied: "How can I expect seh, after the capture of Detroit, is illustrative of my men to go where I am afraid to lead them;" the sentiments with which he had inspired these and although, perhaps, his anxiety ever to shew a warlike tribes. "I have heard," observed that good example, by being foremost in danger, in-chief to him, "much of your fame, and am happy duced him to expose himself more than strict pru-again to shake by the hand a brave brother wardence or formality warranted, yet, if he erred on rior. The Americans endeavour to give us a this point, his error was that of a soldier. Elevated to the government of Upper Canada, he reclaimed many of the disaffected by mildness, and fixed the wavering by the argument of success; and having no national partialities to gratify, that rock on which so many provincial governors have split, he meted equal favor and justice to all. The armistice was to be in force only on the frontier

between Lakes Ontario and Erie.

mean opinion of British Generals, but we have been the witnesses of your valour. In crossing the river to attack the enemy, we observed you from a distance standing the whole time in an erect posture, and, when the boats reached the shore, you were among the first who jumped on land. Your bold and sudden movements frightened the enemy, and you compelled them to surrender to half their own force."

October. He (Gen. Van Ranselaer) seems on the Indians during their long and numerous frontier wars.

indeed to have resolved on this course even two days before, for in his letter of the 16th, to General Sheaffe, he writes,-"As this is probably the last communication I shall have the honour to make to you," &c. This does not look much like entertaining hopes of a third descent on Canada. Christie's remarks are more deserving of consideration. In speaking of the armistice he writes:-"This and the former armistice, without affording any present advantage, proved of material prejudice to the British on Lake Erie. The

Americans availed themselves of so favorable

an occasion to forward their naval stores, unmolested, from Black Rock to Presque Isle, 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." There is much force in these remarks, yet with a body of prisoners equalling in number his whole force, and with an enemy in front of double his strength, it is not to be wondered at, that General Sheaffe should have adopted prudent measures, so as to dispose, at least, of his prisoners.

Although it has been very generally acknowTreatment of the ledged that the prisoners prisoners. were treated with great kindness and consideration, yet a few misrepresentations have crept abroad on the subject. One writer (Author of Sketches of the War) says-" For want of will or power they put no restraint upon their Indian allies who were stripping and scalping not only the slain but the dying that remained on the field of battle," and in proof of his assertion he adduces the facts, that a Capt. Ogilvie recognised the corpse of an Ensign Morris, which had been stripped of its shirt, and a dead soldier whose scull had been cloven by a tomahawk; he forgets, however, or seems to consider it unnecessary, to enquire whether the ensign's shirt had not been stolen by one of his own men, or whether the soldier might not have received the fatal blow during the contest. We only bring these trifles forward to show how anxious to misrepresent some American writers have been, and how desirous to palliate the monstrous cruelties perpetrated by them

Disposal of the pris

oners.

Two days after the battle, the prisoners and wounded, both militia and regulars, were sent across the river, upon their parole, as were General Wadsworth, and (James says all Christie some) the principal officers, the noncommissioned officers and privates of the their exchange. Christie remarks on the regular army were sent to Montreal to await subject," Among the American prisoners, twenty-three men were found, who, having declared themselves British-born subjects, were sent to England for trial as traitors."

This gave occasion to retaliate upon British prisoners in America, and a like number of the latter were put into close confinement as hostages for the safety of the traitors by order of the American government.

The attempts of the press to prevent Attempts of the press the supporters of the to keep up the "war spirit" by misrepresentation.

now unpopular war from becoming disgusted with the manifold reverses which had, so far, attended all the military operations undertaken, would be amusing, were not a feeling, akin to contempt, excited. The Official Organ, corresponding to our Annual Register, or the Military and Naval Chronicle, appears at this time to have been "Nile's Weekly Register," and a few short exracts will show not only how, with General Van Ranselaer's dispatch before them, they misrepresented every occurrence, but how ignorant they actually were of the true position of the affairs on the frontier. In No. 9 of Vol. 3, we find the following particulars, page 140:

"The landing appears to have been effected under a dreadful fire from the enemy. An instant appeal was made to the bayonet, and the British were soon dispossessed of all the advantages they had in the ground;" no notice is taken of the manner in which Wool, "the hero of the day," as he is styled, ascended the heights without exposing himself or the troops under his command to a single shot. A little farther on, “three hundred and twenty men charged the famous 49th British Regiment, six hundred strong, and put them completely to flight," and as a crowning glory to the brilliant

achievements of the day, the afternoon occurrences are thus disposed of: "our men though outflanked and almost surrounded, fought for an hour and a half more; when, worn down with eleven hours exertion, they retreated without the loss of a man, to the margin of the river, but to their extreme mortification, not a boat was there to receive them." Such gallantry deserved a better fate, for after waiting in "this painful situation for over a quarter of an hour, this GALLANT little band surrendered to five times their number." On page 141 we find that "the position opposite Queenston is Black Rock!" Enough, however, on this subject, although it might have been expected that a paper, almost bearing an official character, would have scarcely dared to give publicity to such ridiculous statements: statements which only serve to show how strenuous were the efforts made to prevent the refusal of the Militia to cross at Lewiston, appearing in its true light, viz. as a proof that the war was an unpopular

one.

Refusal of the Militia

We contend that the conduct of the greater part of the American to cross the Niagara Militia on this occasion River, another proof may be fairly adduced that the war was not as popular as represented. as an additional' proof that the war was far from being as popular as one party in Congress would fain have represented it. It is notorious that many of the Pennsylvania Militia refused to cross into Canada, while others returned, after having crossed the line, on constitutional pretexts. An attempt has been made to excuse this, and the argument has been brought forward that the English Militia are not transported over sea to Hanover, and that the French National Guards and the German Landwehr are troops appropriated to service within the country; but on the other hand it should be borne in mind that there are standing armies in these countries, and that there is none, or next to none, in America, and that this doctrine is tantamount to a virtual renouncing of all offensive operations in war, by that country where there is but a regular standing force equal to garrison duties, and destroys at once all military operations.

The truth is, and American writers may blink it or explain it as they please, that the

refusal to cross the border, on the plea of its being unconstitutional, was one of the factious dogmas of the war, preached by the disaffected of Massachusetts, who imagined, doubtless, that the doctrine might be very convenient in the event of war in that region.

The Kentuckians marched anywhere, they had no scruples; why? Because the war was popular with them, and they laughed at the idea that it was unconstitutional to cross a river or an ideal frontier, in the service of their country.

appointment of General
Sinyth.

Three or four days after the battle, General Resignation of Gene- Van Ranselaer, disgusted ral Van Ranselaer, and with the conduct of the Militia, and, as he expressed it, with "being compelled to witness the sacrifice of victory, so gallantly won, on the shrine of doubt," received permission from General Dearborn to retire, and the command of the central or Niagara army devolved on Brigadier General Smyth, an officer from whose patriotic and professional pretensions, the multitude had drawn many favorable conclusions. "Nor was," says General Armstrong, "the estimate made of his military character by the Government, more correct, as it took for granted, a temperament, bold, ardent and enterprising, and requiring only restriction to render it useful." In the orders given for the regulation of his conduct, he was accordingly forbidden most emphatically by the minister at war, "to make any new attempt at invasion with a force less than three thousand combatants, or with means of transportation (across the Niagara) insufficient to carry over simultaneously the whole of that number."

Ingersol, in his notices of the war, observes, "General Smyth closed the campaign of 1812, in that quarter, by a failure much ridiculed, and yet vindicated, at all events a miserable abortion, which, in November, instead of atoning for, much increased, our discredit of October." Before, however, entering on the subject of the invasion of Canada by General Smyth, we must not omit two events which, though not of importance, yet should not be entirely lost sight of, as one especially was made the subject of much boasting on the part of the Americans.