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LIFE AND TIMES OF
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.
i a ixiintinii \>y J. W. L. F»rsti r
LIFE AND TIMES
OF
MAJOR-GENERAL
SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.
UT '—•
v/N BY
D.*1' SPREAD, Q.C.,
AUTHOR OF "LIFE AND TIMES OF GOVERNOR SIMCOE," "THE LIVES OF THE JUDGES," ETC.
w
Toronto
WILLIAM BRIGGS, WESLEY BUILDINGS
MONTREAL: C. W. COATES HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS MDCCCXCIV
F
5O73
67 &
Cap. 3
Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four, by DAVID BKEAKBNRIDGR READ, Toronto, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa.
DEDICATION.
To THE LEGISLATURE OF ONTARIO:
Gentlemen, —
I dedicate this book, " THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.," to your representa- tive body.
Your predecessors of the year 1815, recognizing that Major- General Brock had devoted his most valuable life to the service of his country, caused to be erected on Queenston Heights, where he fell, a noble monument as "a tribute to his memory."
This was the only occasion in which the Province of Upper Canada so honored any of her public men.
I owe it to my country to dedicate this work to the Legis- lature of a Province which has known so well how t'o estimate the worth of one so beloved as was Major-General Brock.
D. B. READ.
DECEMBER, 1894.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface ............. 9
CHAPTER I.
Ancestry and Birthplace — Joins 8th (King's) Regiment — Exchanges to the 49th — A bully cowed — Becomes Lieutenant- Colonel of the 49th — Campaigning in Holland — James FitzGibbon — With Nelson at Copen- hagen— The 49th ordered to Canada . . . . . . .11
CHAPTER II.
Brock at York — Mutiny in the 49th — Assumes command at Fort George — A Veteran Battalion proposed — Unfriendly attitude of the United States — Message to Congress — Brock visits England — Returns to Canada 17
CHAPTER III.
Brock in command at Quebec — Anticipates war with United States — Precautionary measures of defence — Corps of Highland Fencibles pro- posed— Colonel John Macdonell — Rev. Alexander Macdonell — Loyalty of the French habitant* questioned 27
CHAPTER IV.
Affair of the Leopard and the Chesapeake — President Jefferson's hostile pro- clamation— Treaty between Prussia and France — German ports closed — The "Berlin Decree" — English "Orders-in-Council" — French trade crippled — The "Milan Decree" — American sympathy with Napoleon — United States troops drilling — Napoleon issues another Decree — Brock chafes under Imperial restraint 36
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Sir James Craig appointed Governor — Brock made Brigadier-General — American spies— Craig's distrust of the French -Canadians — Address to Parliament — A militant speech — Brock's views on French loyalty . 44
CHAPTER VI.
Affairs in Europe — The Pope's manifesto — Spain declares war against France — Massachusetts protests against embargo — The embargo re- moved— Rejoicing in New York — England's desire for peace . . ~»3
CHAPTER VII.
Brock removed to Upper Canada — Lower Canadians incensed at Sir James Craig — Member of Executive Council imprisoned — Partial harmony restored — Sir James Craig retires — Brock at Fort George — England's attitude toward the Indians 61
CHAPTER VIII.
Brock made Major-General — Wishes to join Army in Spain — Fresh rumors of war — Misleading Presidential message — Affair of the Little Belt — Jefferson bent on war — Glengarry Light Infantry Corps raised — Brock Administrator of Upper Canada — Sir George Prevost Governor-General — Prevost conciliates the French-Canadians ...... 72
CHAPTER IX.
War inevitable — Brock's plans for defence — Efforts to avert Indian war — Opens Legislature at York — Patriotic address — Legislative Acts — Brock's spirit infuses general confidence — Michilimackinac— Americans intriguing with the Indians — Newfoundland Fencibles — Flank com- panies organized — Warlike demonstrations on the frontier — Brock's sagacity 85
CHAPTER X.
Mackinaw— President Madison's declamatory message to Congress— War declared by the United States — American deserter seized on Canadian soil — The Prince Regent's message — Accepts the issue in confidence . 98
CHAPTER XL
Attempt on the West India fleet — Congress makes huge preparations for war — Boastful speeches of American orators — Brock's vigilance — British forces — Fort George — Flank companies called out — General Hull crosses the Detroit river — Amherstburgh— Hull's boastful pro- clamation— Capture of Mackinaw .114
CONTENTS. . vii
CHAPTER XII.
PAGE
Canada roused — Brock's counter-proclamation — Disaffection in the Western District — Skirmish at the Aux Canard — American defeat at Browns- town — Further skirmishing — Tecumseh — British reverse at the River Raisin — Major-General Sheaffe appointed on the staff — Hull's inac- tivity— Brock opens Legislature at York — Disaffection in the Assem- bly—Brock's stirring speech — Patriotic Address of the Legislative Assembly 129
CHAPTER XIII.
Hull's inglorious retreat — Brock calls on the Militia — Prompt response — Sets out for Detroit— George Ryerson — Flank companies of Norfolk Militia formed — Embarkation at Long Point — Expedition reaches Amherstburgh — Letter of Attorney-General Macdonell — Brock meets Tecumseh — Council with Indian chiefs- — Brock summons Hull to sur- render— Capture of Detroit ......... 147
CHAPTER XIV.
Indian allies of the British — Governor Simcoe and Brant — Tecumseh — Other noted Indian warriors — St. Glair's defeat at Miami — Treaty of Greenville — Tecumseh's speech to the Osages — Council at Vincennes — Battle of Tippecanoe — Fort Meigs — Proctor evacuates Fort Maiden — British defeat at Moraviantown — Death of Tecumseh .... 166
CHAPTER XV.
torock congratulated on capture of Detroit — The hero of the hour — Banner presented to the 3rd York Militia — Brock visits Kingston — Connec- ticut declaims against the war — Convention at Albany — An unwise armistice — Brock's hands tied — Americans improve the opportunity . 187
CHAPTER XVI.
The Niagara frontier — Capture of the Detroit and the Caledonia — Brock narrowly escapes capture — Americans preparing to cross the Niagara — General VanRensselaer — Battle of Queenston Heights — Death of Brock — Macdonell mortally wounded — Crushing defeat of the Ameri- cans— A dearly-bought victory — John Beverley Robinson — Brock interred at Fort George — The Prince Regent's despatch . . . 203
CHAPTER XVII.— (CONCLUDING EVENTS OF THE WAR).
General Smyth's Invasion — A would-be hero — An inglorious retreat — Canadians assume the offensive — Attack on Ogdensburgh — Capture of York — Bombardment of Fort George —Colonel Harvey — Stoney Creek — Beaver Dam — Chrysler's Farm — Burning of Newark — Stern Retalia- tion— Lundy's Lane — Affair at Cook's Mills — Close of the war . . 235
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.— (CONCLUSION).
I>AOR
Monument erected to Brock — Brock's remains removed to the Monument — The Monument blown up— Indignation meeting — Stirring address — Another Monument erected — Lessons from the life of Brock . . 250
Books, etc., consulted in the preparation of thi* work .... 267
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of Major-General Brock . . . Frontispiece
Portrait of Tecumseh 153
View of Queenston 212
Brock Memorial Coin 252
First Brock Monument 254
Second Monument and Cenotaph 261
PREFACE
IN writing "THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.," I have been influenced by a desire to place before the Canadian public, in a compact form, the life of a Soldier who, by common consent of the people, was given- the title of " The Hero of Upper Canada." That he well deserved this title will appear from a perusal of these pages.
When Canada, in 1812, was invaded by her nearest neigh- bors of the United States, it was Brock to whom was com- mitted the responsible duty of defending the Upper Province from the unprovoked attack made upon the colony by men of the same lineage and speaking the same language.
How well Brock performed the duty cast upon him is mani- fest from the successful result of the conflict.
It was his genius which laid out the plan for opposing the large forces employed in the hopeless task of conquering Canada. Brock bravely fell leading his troops in the first campaign, but his spirit hovered over and inspired the men fighting for their hearths and homes to the end of the war.
How happy a country and how happy a people to have had in time of greatest peril a commander so noble as Brock,, and defenders so courageous as these men in the front of battle !
That the memory of the General commanding, and the- memory of those who aided him in his arduous labors in the field, may ever be preserved, is the constant wish of all Canadians, among whom is included
THE AUTHOR.
LIFE AND TIMES OF
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.
CHAPTEE I.
BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE.
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK was of the very reputable family of Brock of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. There was, indeed, a Sir Hugh Brock, an English knight, who, in the reign of Edward III., was keeper of a castle in Brittany, then an English duchy, but which was overrun by the French about the middle of the fourteenth century, the English driven out, and the French made masters of the principality.
As Guernsey is on the coast of France, and in the direct course between Brittany and England, it has been surmised that one of Sir Hugh Brock's family, on his passage across the Channel, visited Guernsey and settled there.
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock was the eighth son of John Brock, Esquire, who was the second son of William Brock, a native of Guernsey, who died in the year 1776. The Major- General's mother was Elizabeth DeLisle, daughter of the Lieutenant-Bailiff of the island.
12 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
The laws and customs of the Channel Islands, Guernsey among the number, partake very much of the old French feudal system. A Lieutenant there is the same as a Lieutenant- Governor in Upper Canada, so that, as the sequel will show, Brock filled in Canada relatively the same place that his maternal grandfather held in Guernsey, that of Lieutenant- Governor of the dependency.
Isaac Brock was born in Guernsey, on the 6th October, 1769, the year of the birth of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a robust youth, and grew up to be a man tall and commanding. When he attained to manhood he was six feet two inches in height. When eleven years of age he was sent to school at Southamp- ton, and completed his education with a Protestant clergyman at Rotterdam, where he likewise received a French education. He had only completed his fifteenth year when he obtained, by purchase, a commission as ensign in the 8th, or King's Regi- ment. In 1790, he was presented with a lieutenancy, and was then quartered in Guernsey and Jersey. At the close of the year 1790, he obtained an independent company by raising the requisite number of men to complete it, and was put on half pay. In 1791, he exchanged into the 49th, which regiment he joined at Barbadoes, and served there and in Jamaica until 1793, when he was compelled to return to England on sick leave. As an instance of his courage and true manliness, it is recorded of him that when he joined the 49th that regiment had the misfortune to have in it a captain who was a con- firmed duellist, and who claimed to be a dead-shot at twelve paces, and had made himself a terror to his brother officers. As soon as Brock became one of the officers of the regiment, he determined to show this gentleman that he was neither
BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. 13
to be bullied nor made afraid. The captain in question lost no time in sending Brock a challenge for some fancied affront, which the latter promptly and cheerfully accepted. On the ground, Brock, a very tall man, observed that to fight a much smaller man at twelve paces would not be an equal match. Consequently, producing a handkerchief, he insisted they should have their duel across the handkerchief. This the boasting captain and bully refused to do. Brock was then declared victorious. His vanquished antagonist was in consequence soon after compelled to leave the regiment, much to the satis- faction of his brother officers, who, by the determined conduct of young Brock, were relieved of the society of a braggart and * a nuisance.
When Brock had returned from Jamaica, he was employed in the recruiting service in England, and afterwards had charge of recruits in Jersey. On the 24th June, 1795, he purchased his majority and remained in the command of the recruits until the return of his regiment to England the following year.
Brock had just completed his twenty-eighth year when, on the 25th October, 1797, he purchased his lieutenant-colonelcy, and soon after became senior Lieutenant-Colonel of the 49th Regiment, which was destined to gain so much renown in Canada in the war of 1812. When Brock became lieutenant- colonel, he found the regiment in a very unsatisfactory condi- tion, owing to the mismanagement of his predecessor. The men were almost in a state of mutiny. Brock soon restored its former state of discipline, and the Duke of York acknowledged that from one of the worst he had made it one of the best regi- ments in the service.
The first military exploit in which Brock was engaged was in the year 1798, in the expedition which the British Govern-
14 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
nient inaugurated in that year against Holland. This expedi- tion was under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and was formed into two divisions, the first led by Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and the second by the Duke of York. The two divisions combined comprised thirty battalions of infantry of six hundred men each, five hundred cavalry and a strong train of artillery. The fourth brigade of this army consisted of the Royals, 25th, 49th, 79th and 92nd Regiments, and was under the command of General Moore, the Sir John Moore so well known in military history, who subsequently lost his life while fighting for his country at Corunna in Spain. Most of the regiments just named have served in Canada; the 49th especially, as the most distinguished in the war which the American Government made on Canada in 1812, will ever hold a place in the hearts of the people of this part of Her Majesty's dominion, not only for its own brave record, but because it was commanded in Canada by Major-General Sir Isaac Brock.
In the advance before Egmont-op-Zee, Brock had six com- panies of the 49th under his orders, while Colonel SheafFe, whose name as General Sheaffe also figures in the history of the war of 1812, had command of the remaining four companies.
Brock, in a letter to his brother, Lieut.-Colonel John Brock, of the 81st Regiment, then at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 26th of November, 1799, thus wrote of the advance on Egmont-op-Zee : " Nothing could exceed the gallantry of the 25th, 49th, 79th and 92nd. For my own part I had every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of both officers and men, and no commanding officer could be more handsomely supported than I was on that day, ever glorious to the 49th."
During this campaign Brock distinguished himself in com-
BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. 15
mand of his regiment. In the battle of Egmont-op-Zee, or Bergen, which was fought on the 12th October, 1799, several of his brother officers were killed, but he escaped, being only slightly wounded, his life being saved probably by his wearing- a thick black silk cravat, covered over by a stout cotton hand- kerchief, both of which were perforated by a bullet. The violence of the blow was, however, so great as to stun and dismount him.
In this battle the enemy lost seven pieces of cannon and upwards of four thousand men. Major-General Moore, in whose brigade was the 49th, although severely wounded in the thigh, continued in action for nearly two hours, until a second wound in the face obliged him to quit the field. In his despatch relative to this battle, the Duke of York observed " that under Divine Providence this signal victory obtained over the enemy is to be attributed to the animating and persevering exertions of the British soldiers, and which on no occasion were ever more eminently displayed."
One of the soldiers engaged in the battle of Egmont-op-Zee was James FitzGibbon, known in Canada as Colonel James-, FitzGibbon. James FitzGibbon volunteered into the 49th Regiment, commanded by Sir Isaac Brock, on the 9th June, 1799. He was taken prisoner at Egmont-op-Zee and carried into France. In January, 1800, he was exchanged and taken to England, and subsequently was present at the action before Copenhagen in April,, 1801. He came to Canada with the 49th Regiment in 1802, having attained the rank of lieutenant, and distinguished himself in many engagements throughout the war of 1812 — notably on the 23rd June, 1813, when, with fifty select men of the gallant 49th, he succeeded in capturing a
16 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
detachment of five hundred men of the American army at Beaver Dam, on the Niagara frontier.*
Early in 1801, the 49th was embarked in the fleet destined for the Baltic under Sir Hugh Parker, and Brock, still Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment, was second in command of the land forces at the memorable attack on Copenhagen by Lord Nelson on the 2nd April. He was appointed to lead the 49th in storming the principal of the Trockroner batteries, in con- junction with five hundred seamen under Captain Freemantle, •of the Ganges (seventy-four guns). Colonel Brock, during that hard-fought battle, remained on board the Ganges, and at its close he accompanied Captain Freemantle, when he saw Lord Nelson write his celebrated letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark.
Up to the period of the termination of the Holland expedi- tion Brock had not seen Canada ; it was yet a terra incognita to him. In the British service it is the soldier's duty to go to whatever part of the world he is sent by his superiors. In the spring of 1802, the 49th Regiment was ordered to Canada, And Colonel Brock followed. The regiment, after its arrival in Upper Canada, so far as can be ascertained, had its head- quarters at York, the capital of the Province.
* The affair of Beaver Dam occurred in the year after the death of Brock, And for that reason has no place in this history. The story has been well told in dramatic poetry by Mrs. Curzon in her admirable work, " Laura Secord," and .by Miss Mary Agnes Fit/Gibbon, with historical accuracy, in her book, " A Veteran of 1812."
CHAPTEE II.
BROCK AT YORK — MUTINY IN 49TH REGIMENT — POET MOORE VISITS BROCK — BERLIN DECREE — -PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS — WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES.
FROM an incident which occurred in the 49th Regiment in 1803, less than eighteen months after its arrival in the Prov- ince, we know that Brock was at York in the summer or autumn of that year, and that a detachment of the regiment was stationed at Fort George, opposite the American Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara River.
The incident referred to is that of a mutiny or plot which at that time occurred in the 49th, the object of which was to murder all the officers present in the garrison (Fort George),
id that the soldiers engaged in the plot should desert to the United States. This mutiny, or threatened mutiny, was brought about in consequence of the exceptional severity on the part of the junior lieutenant-colonel of the Regiment in command of the detachment at Fort George. This junior lieutenant-colonel had, by a system of annoyances, so ex- asperated the private soldiers, and indeed some of the most
18 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
trusted of the non-commissioned officers of the regiment, that the men would not submit to it any longer. The conspiracy was a very dangerous one, not only to the men engaged in it, but to the whole detachment, and, had it not been for the prompt action of Colonel Brock, might have been productive of the most serious consequences.
The commanding officer of the fort, from what he observed,
o
became suspicious that a mutiny, or something of the kind, was likely to occur in the garrison. He hastily wrote a letter to the colonel, then at York, informing him of his suspicions. This letter was carried to Brock by one of the men of the detach- ment. No sooner had he read it than he resolved on instant action. Taking with him his devoted sergeant-major, Fitz- Gibbon, he set out for Fort George, crossing the lake in the Government schooner that had brought the intelligence of the threatened mutiny. Arriving at the fort, Brock was saluted by the guard, among whom were a sergeant and corporal con- cerned in the conspiracy. The former he commanded to in- stantly lay down his arms, and was obeyed. He then ordered the corporal to procure handcuffs, and place the sergeant in a cell. This was soon done. Next, a grenadier of the guard was commanded to handcuff the corporal, after which the other ringleaders, twelve in all, were put in irons, and embarked for Quebec, so as to prevent any attempt at their rescue. On being tried by a court-martial, four were condemned to suffer death, and, with three deserters, were shot at Quebec in the presence of the garrison early in March, 1804. We are in- debted to Ferdinand Brock Tupper, nephew of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, for the relation of this incident. The writer goes into the details of the execution more than it is necessary to do here, and then proceeds : " The unfortunate sufferers
POET MOORE VISITS BROCK. 19
declared publicly that, had they continued under the command of Colonel Brock, they would have escaped their melancholy end, and that the colonel felt no little anguish that they who had so recently and so bravely fought under him in Holland and at Copenhagen were thus doomed to end their lives, the victims of unruly passion inflamed by vexatious authority."
After this unfortunate affair, Colonel Brock received an order from headquarters to assume the command at Fort George, when all complaints immediately ceased. He had not been long in command at the fort when he received a visit from the Irish national poet, Thomas Moore, whose lines on Niagara in stanzas addressed to the Lady Charlotte Rawdon, from the banks of the St. Lawrence, written shortly after the poet left Fort George, are too suggestive to be omitted. I give them as a contribution of the gifted poet to Canadian literature : —
' ' Oft when hoar and silvery flakes Melt along the ruffled lakes ; When the grey moose sheds his horns, When the track, at evening, warns Weary hunters of the way To the wigwam's cheering ray, Then, aloft through freezing air, With the snowbird soft and fair As the fleece that Heaven flings O'er his little pearly wings, Light above the rocks I play, Where Niagara's starry spray, Frozen on the cliff, appears Like a giant's starting tears. There, amid the island sedge, Just upon the cataract's edge, Where the foot of living man Never trod since time began,
20 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Lone I sit, at close of day ; While, beneath the golden ray, Icy columns gleam below, Feathered round with falling snow, And an arch of glory springs Brilliant as the chain of rings Round the neck of virgins hung, Virgins who have wandered young O'er the waters of the West To the land where spirits rest."
These lines remind us that the same Irish bard gave to Canada the Canadian " Boat-Song " beginning,
" Faintly as tolls the evening chime."
It may not be out of place to mention here that Moore's visit to Canada was not a forced visit. Through the influence of Lord Moira he had been appointed to an office in Bermuda, which he found so uncongenial that, after three months' performance of its duties, he committed the charge to a deputy, and left the island for an extensive journey through the United States and Canada. It was this tour that enabled the poet to visit the great falls of the Niagara and other places of historical interest in the Province.
In the fall of 1805, Brock was made full Colonel of the Regiment, on which promotion taking place he returned to England on leave, where he had an opportunity of laying before His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief the outlines of a plan for the formation of a veteran battalion to serve in the Canadas.
This plan was so far-seeing, and altogether so creditable to Brock as colonel of a single regiment, that I will not make any apology for laying it before the reader.
A VETERAN BATTALION PROPOSED. 21
In support of the plan he wrote : " The advantages which may attend the establishment of a corps (veteran battalion) such as is here recommended, will be, perhaps, more clearly understood by first adverting to some of the causes that pro- duce the inconvenience to which the troops occupying the frontier posts of that country are continually exposed.
" A regiment quartered in Upper Canada is generally divided into eight different parts, several hundred miles asunder, and in this situation it remains at least three years. Great as is the evil incidental to a state of separation, even where the mind is in no danger of being debauched, what may not be apprehended in a country where both the divided state of the regiment and the artifices employed to wean the soldier from his duty, conspire to render almost ineffectual every effort of the officers to maintain the usual degree of order and discipline. The lures to desertion continually thrown out by the Americans, and the facility with which it can be accomplished, exacting more than ordinary precaution on the part of the officers, insen- sibly produce mistrust between them and the men, highly prejudicial to the service.
" Experience has taught me that no regular regiment, how- ever high its claims to discipline, can occupy the frontier posts of Lower and Upper Canada without suffering materially in its numbers. It might have been otherwise some years ago, but now that the country, particularly the opposite shore, is liefly inhabited by the vilest characters, who have an interest
debauching the soldier from his duty ; since roads are opened into the interior of the States, which facilitate desertion, it is impossible to avoid the contagion. A total change must be effected in the minds and views of those who may hereafter be on this duty before the evil can be surmounted."
22 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
This communication of Brock elicited from the Commander- in-Chief a letter which conveyed to him the " thanks of the Duke of York for the communication of his very sensible observations respecting the distribution of troops in Canada, which His Royal Highness will not fail to take into consider- ation at a seasonable opportunity."
In the fall of the same year (1805) that Brock was made full colonel, and returned to England for a season, Admiral Lord Nelson and his gallant tars gained for England the great and overwhelming victory of Trafalgar, by which the naval power of France and Spain was so crippled and weakened that England ever after became sovereign mistress of the ocean.
Early in that year, Napoleon Bonaparte, then become Emperor of the French, meditated an invasion of England, and, as one historian tells us, assembled for that purpose one of the " most splendid armies which had been collected since the days of the Roman legions. It amounted to one hundred and four- teen thousand men, four hundred and thirty-two pieces of cannon, and fourteen thousand, six hundred and fifty-four horses. Ample transports were provided to convey this immense army to the shores of England. This great design was defeated by the vigilance of the British fleets which defended the coasts — those ' wooden walls ' which have so often preserved England from dreaded danger."
Notwithstanding that England had protected her coasts from the assaults of the French fleet, she would be continually subject to repeated attacks on the part of Bonaparte, unless his naval strength should be reduced and humbled before the power of England. Hence it was, that when Nelson met with the French fleet in Trafalgar Bay, the gallant men of England fought and won for their nation an ever-memorable sea-fight.
THE BERLIN DECREE. 23
The success of the British in this battle had not a little to do with subsequent events, which culminated in a war between England and America, familiarly known in Canada as the "War of 1812."
The very fact that Britain had shown herself mistress of the seas urged on Napoleon to make himself master of the land. If he could but become complete master of continental Europe, he would have such a force at his command as would enable him to destroy the commerce of England, as he had hoped to do when he threatened to invade England, but was defeated in his enterprise.
Shortly after the battle of Trafalgar, Napoleon marshalled his forces on the plains of Germany, and the Austrians were put on the defensive. On the 1st December, 1805, was fought the celebrated battle of Austerlitz, the most glorious of all Napoleon's victories.
The victory gained by Napoleon at Austerlitz was the sub- jugation of Austria. The cry of " On to Berlin" was not less forcible but more effective then than it has been since, and the humiliation of Prussia succeeded that of Austria.
Napoleon, entrenched in Berlin, was enabled to issue his restrictive trade decree, which, under the name of the " Berlin Decree," has generally been given the credit of that commercial war which made the high seas the theatre of conflict of belligerents and a maelstrom for the destruction of the commerce of neutral powers.
The relations of the United States with England, during the whole time of Napoleon's scheme of empire, were only nega- tively friendly. In all matters of trade and commerce the United States proved themselves more favorable to France than to England. England had command of the seas, and she
24 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
meant to keep it. She could only do this by having her sea- men well in hand, at all times ready for combat. This com- pelled her to insist on her ancient exercised right, to enter the ships of neutral nations harboring her marines under color of service, and demand their surrender, and, if necessary, capture them as deserters.
The United States ships had many such deserters from English ships in their service, who they claimed became American subjects and were freed of their allegiance to their native country so soon as they crossed the decks of an American ship. The United States, moreover, professed to be a neutral power, but she departed from her neutrality by becoming carriers for France in a variety of ways.
This gave rise to much disagreement among the nations.
The first presidential term of President Jefferson terminated on the 3rd March, 1805, and he was in his second term, which commenced on March 4, 1805, while Brock was still on leave, visiting Guernsey, his native place.
Jefferson, at the opening of Congress, sent a message to that body, in which he undertook to review the situation from the American point of view, or rather we should say, the point of view of that portion of the American populace which he, as the head of an elective and republican government, represented.
The President in his address to Congress said : " The foreign relations of the country, hitherto not seriously disturbed, except by the piratical states of Barbary, began again to be threatened by the chief maritime powers of Europe.
" The impressment of American seamen by British cruisers, not at all checked by the remonstrances of the American Government, was a growing source of irritation and complaint. Nor was this the sole subject of remonstrances with Great
PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. 25
Britain. She plainly showed a disposition to narrow the limits of the commerce of ' neutrals, by denying to them the right of carrying on a trade with belligerents, which she did not inter- dict with her own subjects.
" Under what was called, in the British Courts of Admiralty, the ' Rule of 1756,' it was maintained that, as by the per- manent colonial system of France, no foreign trade with her colonies could be carried on, she could not give this right to neutrals during the war, as that permission would have the effect of enabling her to elude the maritime superiority of Great Britain, and that the neutral, in undertaking to carry on a trade with a belligerent, which that belligerent could not carry on fur itself, departed from its neutrality and conse- quently forfeited the privilege of a neutral."
These sentiments, so expressed by President Jefferson, clearly show that he and his party in the United States were not kindly disposed towards England. The United States Govern- ment well knew that England in her contest with France, while endeavoring to curb the ever-growing power of Napoleon was fighting a battle for Europe with the most aggressive man of the age. It was thought by England and English- men that the United States ought to bear with her, even if she did resort to extreme measures to thwart the views and defeat the plans of the Emperor of France.
Again we have to refer to a message of President Jefferson, in corroboration of the view expressed that he was by no means friendly, if not indeed hostile, to England.
The ninth Congress of the United States met on the 2nd December, 1805, when the President addressed the Legislative Chamber of the Union, declaring among other things " that the foreign relations of the United States had been materially
26 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
changed since the preceding session, that their coasts had been infested with private armed vessels, which had perpetrated acts beyond their commission. They had captured at the entrance of our harbors vessels of friendly nations and even of our own. They had occasionally committed acts of piracy. He had found it necessary to equip a force to cruise in our own seas and to arrest such offenders. Similar annoyances had been experienced from public armed ships. New prin- ciples had been interpolated in the law of nations, by which a belligerent takes to it a commerce with its enemy which it denies to neutrals. It was due to ourselves to provide an effective opposition to a doctrine which is as infamous as unwarranted."
When this message reached England, and Brock, still there, had an opportunity of perusing it (especially the last paragraph, in which the President spoke of an effective opposition), he determined to shorten his leave and return at once to Canada, feeling convinced that active hostilities between England and the United States must soon begin. Such was his anxiety to be at his post that he did not wait for a regular packet, but hurried to a port in Ireland, where he found a Guernsey vessel armed with a letter of marque for Quebec.
He left Britain on the 26th June, 1806, for the future scene of his labors and military fame, and in due course arrived at headquarters in Canada, much to the delight of the many friends he had left when in the previous year he returned to visit his home in Guernsey. That home, which was endeared to him by many associations, was destined never again to have within its portals the " Hero of Upper Canada."
CHAPTER III.
THE 49iH REGIMENT AT QUEBEC — PROPOSAL FROM COLONEL MACDONELL FOR RAISING A CORPS OF HIGHLAND FENCIBLES — HEADQUARTERS, FORT GEORGE — GLENGARRY FENCIBLES — BISHOP MACDONELL.
UPON Brock's return to Canada, he found Mr. Dunn, the senior member of the Executive Council of the Province of Lower Canada, Administrator of the Province, created in the interim until the arrival from England of a regularly appointed lieutenant-governor.
It was time now for Brock to seriously consider the means of defence of the colony in the event of the ruling party in the United States precipitating a war with England. His first duty on his arrival at Quebec was to make it known that, owing to the departure for England of Colonel Bowes, who had been in command of His Majesty's forces in the Province he had, as next senior officer, succeeded to the command. This he did in a letter to Colonel J. W. Gordon, dated at Quebec, Septem- ber 28th, 1806. In this letter he had pleasure in reporting the good order and discipline of the 49th Regiment quartered in
28 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the garrison, and, as he expressed it, "much to the credit of Lieut-Colonel Sheaffe."
I Brock was ever ready to accede to officers of rank any credit due to them for performance of duty, while at the same time taking notice of deficiencies and visiting offenders with his displeasure. |
Early in 1807, it gave him great pleasure to receive from Colonel John Macdonell (Aberchalder), proposals for raising a corps of Highland Fencibles in the county of Glengarry, Upper Canada, to be a permanent force for the defence of the Pro- vince. Colonel John Macdonell was Lieutenant of the county of Glengarry, and Colonel commanding the Glengarry Militia Regiment as early as 1803. He was one of the two members of parliament for Glengarry in 1792, and was Speaker of the first House of Assembly of Upper Canada. Colonel John Macdonell deserves to be remembered by all Canadians, as it was he who was lieutenant-colonel of the first volunteer regi- ment raised in Upper Canada in 1796. This regiment was called the " Royal Canadian Volunteer Regiment of Foot," and had its headquarters at Fort George, with detachments at Fort Chippewa, Fort Erie, Amherstburg, Kingston and St. Joseph's Island. It was on service continually, until disbanded with all other Fencible regiments, following the Peace of Amiens, 1802. This John Macdonell was uncle of the Honorable John Macdonell, appointed Attorney-General of Upper Canada on the 28th September, 1811, who fell with his face to the enemy fighting for his country at the battle of Queenston Heights in 1812. We will reserve further reference to the latter at present and proceed with our narrative. On the 28th Jan- uary, 1807, Colonel John Macdonell addressed the following letter to Colonel Brock :
A CORPS OF HIGHLAND FENCIBLES PROPOSED. 29
" GLENGARRY, January 28th, 1 807.
" SIR, — I have the honor to enclose you the proposals for raising a corps of Highland Fencibles in this county, which were submitted for your perusal. The alterations you made are adopted with very few exceptions. Should they meet with your approbation, you will be pleased to forward them to the War Office.
" The permanent pay asked for the field officers and the chaplain may be considered unusual, but in this instance it is necessary and expedient for carrying the proposals into effect. The field officers must undergo a vast deal of trouble, and their time will be as much occupied as if their corps were constantly embodied.
"The country is almost entirely inhabited by Highlanders and their descendants, naturally brave and loyal as subjects, and firmly attached to the British Constitution and Government, yet from their situation and circumstances, being in general possessed of some landed property, and the high run of wages in the country, they are reluctant to quit these advantages to Ibecome soldiers. The chaplain, having served in that capa- city in the late Glengarry Fencibles in Great Britain, Ireland and Guernsey, has claim to the favor of Government. He con- ducted a number of these people to this country, and having rendered himself useful in many respects to the people at large, has gained so far their confidence that his services in urging and forwarding this matter will be very essential. The adop- tion and successful issue of the present plan will greatly facili- tate any future project of raising troops for a more general and extended nature of service.
"I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
"J. MACDONELL,
"Lieutenant of the County of Glengarry.
" GENERAL BROCK."
30 LIFE AXD TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Brock forwarded Colonel Macdonell's proposal to the War Office, with the following letter to the Right Honorable William Wyndharn, Secretary of War.
" QUEBEC, February 12th, 1807.
" I have the honor to transmit for your consideration a pro- posal from Lieut-Colonel John Macdonell, late of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, for raising a corps among the Scottish settlers in the county of Glengarry, Upper Canada.
" When it is considered that both the Canadas furnish only two hundred militia who are trained in arms, the advantages to be derived from such an establishment must appear very evident. The militia force in this country is very small, and were it possible to collect it in time to oppose any serious attempt upon Quebec, the only tenable post, the number would of itself be insufficient to ensure a vigorous defence.
" This corps being stationed on the confines of the Lower Province, would be always and essentially useful in checking any seditious disposition, which the wavering sentiments of a large population in the Montreal districts might at any time manifest. In the event of invasion or other emergency, this force could be easily and expeditiously transported by water to Quebec. The extent of country which these settlers occupy, would make the permanent establishment of the staff and one surgeon in each company very advisable. I shall not presume to say how far the claims of the field officers to the same indul- gence are reasonable and expedient. In regard to the Rev. Alexander Macdonell, I beg leave to observe that the men being all Catholics, it may be deemed a prudent measure to appoint him chaplain. His zeal and attachment to Government were strongly evinced while filling the office of chaplain to the Glengarry Fencibles during the rebellion in Quebec, and were graciously acknowledged by His Royal Highness the Com- mander-in-Chief. His influence over the men is deservedly great, and I have every reason to believe that the corps, by his
BISHOP MACDONELL. 31
exertions, would be soon completed and hereafter become a nursery from which the army might draw a number of hardy recruits.
" I have, etc.. etc.,
"ISAAC BROCK."
The Rev. Alexander Macdonell named in this correspondence deserves more than a passing notice. He was in every way a remarkable man ; a Scotch Catholic and a Highlander, he was a most devoted and loyal Briton. The British Glengarry Regi- ment referred to by Brock in his letter was a north Britain Catholic corps, the first that was raised since the Reformation. The Rev. Alexander Macdonell had much to do in organizing* this regiment in 1794, for which he was gazetted chaplain. This regiment having been embodied in June, 1795, soon after- wards embarked for Guernsey, and remained there until the summer of 1798, when, the rebellion having broken out in Ire- land, it was ordered to that country. Landing at Ballenack, they marched thence to Waterford, and from Waterford to New Ross the same day. At Ballenack a circumstance occurred, which at once showed the honesty, and what would by some be called the simplicity, of the Highlanders.
The soldiers, who received billet money on their entrance into the town, returned it on their being ordered to march the same evening to New Ross for the purpose of reinforcing General Johnson, who was surrounded and in a manner besieged by the rebels. The next day General Johnson attacked and dislodged the rebels from Laggan Hill, and drove them, after a very faint resistance, as far as Vinegar Hill.
The Catholic chapels in many parts of Ireland had been turned into stables for the yeomanry and cavalry, but the chaplain, when he came, caused them to be cleaned out and
w.
32 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BKOCK.
restored to their proper use. He also invited the terrified inhabitants and clergy to resume their accustomed worship, and labored not in vain to restore tranquility and peace to the people, persuading them that if they behaved quietly and peacefully, the Government would protect Catholics as well as Protestants, and impressing upon their minds that the Govern- ment having entrusted arms to the hands of the Glengarry Highlanders was a proof that it was not inimical to them on account of their religion. These exhortations, together with the restoration of divine service in the chapels, the strict discipline •enforced by the colonel of the regiment (Colonel Macdonell). and the repression of the licentiousness of the yeomanry, served in a great measure to restore confidence to the people, to allay feelings of dissatisfaction, and to extinguish the embers of rebellion wherever the Glengarry Regiment served.
The Glengarry Fencibles were afterwards employed in the mountains and other parts of Connemara, where some of the most desperate rebels had taken refuge, and where the embers of rebellion had continued longest unextinguished. The chap- lain was their constant attendant down to the year 1802. This worthy clergyman, who afterwards, as the " good Bishop Macdonnell," was so well known and so highly esteemed in Canada, and who rendered such essential service to Brock in the war of 1812, well deserves a page in our history. We will probably hear more of him before the conclusion of this narrative.
Brock, as we have seen, in communicating to the War Office the proposal to raise a Glengarry corps, gave the scheme the benefit of his support. He seemed to have need of such a corps, for the double purpose of resisting invasion and as 41 essentially useful in checking any seditious disposition which
FIRM STAND TAKEN BY BROCK. 33
the wavering sentiments of a large population in the Montreal district might at any time manifest."
We gather from this paragraph in his letter that he was not altogether satisfied of the fixed allegiance of the French habitants in the Province of Lower Canada, especially in the vicinity of Montreal. It is to be gathered from Brock's corre- spondence with the authorities during this year, that his doubt of the allegiance of the habitants was not so much directed in the line of American invasion, as in that of an alliance between America and France, of which the latter might take advantage in an endeavor to recover her old colony of Canada. In a letter of his to Colonel J. W. Gordon, dated September 5th, 1807, he said : " The Canadians (habitants) have unquestionably shown a great"~willingness upon this occasion to be trained, and I make not the least doubt would oppose with vigor any invasion of the Americans ; but how far the same sentiments would actuate them were a French force to join, I will not undertake to say. At any rate, I feel that every consideration of prudence and policy ought to determine me to keep in •Quebec a sufficient force to secure its safety."
Brock had considerable difficulty in inducing the Civil Government of the Province of Lower Canada at this time to co-operate with him in the measures he thought necessary to be taken for the defence of the Province and its mainstay, the ancient fortress of Quebec. He was anxious to have the militia of the Province embodied, to lend him support in case of emer- gency. Up to the 23rd of July, 1807, he had not been able to effect this purpose. The proceedings of the Council of Quebec were manifestly not to his taste, or he would hardly on that day, as he did, write a memorandum in which he said : "" Colonel Brock has perused with attention the proceedings of
34 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
His Honor the President in Council, communicated to him by Mr. Ryland, and begs leave to observe that in addressing His Honor on the 17th inst., it was far from his intention to assume a political character. His sole object was to state the assistance required by the military to remedy a glaring defect in the fortifications of Quebec, should His Honor conceive that preparatory measures were necessary to be adopted in conse- quence of the event which recently occurred between His Majesty's ship Leopard and the American frigate Chesapeake, but more particularly the subsequent aggressive proceedings in the proclamation of the American Government.
"In thus complying with the dictates of his duty, Colonel Brock was not prepared to hear that the population of the Province, instead of affording him ready and actual support, might probably add to the number of his enemies."
The firm stand taken by Brock seems to have had the desired effect, as in the following September (1807), he was able to say, " that His Honor the President of the Council had made an order that one-fifth of the militia, which amounts to about ten thousand men, should hold itself in readiness to march on the shortest notice."
Having in this chapter recounted events which occurred in Canada subsequent to the return of Brock to the Province in 1806, we will in the next chapter endeavor to give some account of what was transpiring in England, France and the United States during the same period, all tending in the direc- tion of war.
CHAPTER IV.
ENGLAND AND THE LIBERTY OF EUROPE — TREATY BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND FRANCE — GERMAN PORTS CLOSED — NAPOLEON BONAPARTE — ENG- LISH ORDERS-iN-CouNCiL— AMERICANS DRILLING — BROCK ADVISES PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES.
IN the memorandum referred to in the previous chapter, which Brock directed to the President and Council of the Province of Lower Canada, expressing his surprise at not receiving from the Provincial Government the support to which he thought himself entitled, he referred to "preparatory measures neces- sary to be adopted in consequence of the event which recently occurred between His Majesty's ship Leopard and the Ameri- can frigate Chesapeake, but more particularly the subsequent aggressive proceedings in the proclamation of the American Government."
The facts connected with this matter were that the British Admiral on the American coast had exceeded his instructions in ordering that the British ship Leopard should encounter the American frigate Chesapeake and seize and take any sailors on the frigate found to be deserters from the British naval force.
36 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
These orders the commander of the Leopard proceeded to carry out, and on the 22nd June, 1807, attacked the Chesapeake as she was sailing out of a United States port, disabled her, and captured four men claimed to be deserters. In the conflict several of the crew were killed.
The President of the United States, quite willing to encourage the hostile spirit evinced in certain quarters of the country, on the 27th October. 1807, issued a proclamation in which he expressed himself fully on his views of neutrality and the rights of neutral states, and then was pleased to deliver himself on the situation in a manner calculated to provoke a war that England had not the least disposition to enter upon — a war with the Republic.
Mr. Jefferson, after referring to " the many injuries and depredations committed on our commerce and navigation," went on to say : " On the 22nd June last, by a formal order from a British admiral, the frigate Chesapeake, leaving her port for a distant cruise, was attacked by one of those British vessels, lying in our harbors under the indulgence of hospitality, was disabled, had several of her crew killed and four taken away. On this outrage no comments are necessary. Its character has been pronounced by the indignant voice of our citizens with an emphasis and unanimity never exceeded. To former violations of maritime rights another is now added of very extensive effect. The Government of the British nation has issued an order interdicting all trade between ports not in amity with them, and, being now at war with every other nation on the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, our vessels are required to sacrifice their cargoes at the first port they touch, or to return home without the benefit of going to any other market. Under this new law of the ocean, our trade on the Mediter-
ENGLAND AND THE LIBERTY OF EUROPE. 37
ranean has been swept away by seizures and condemnations, and that in other seas is threatened with the same fate."
The President in this proclamation omitted to say that the war, in which England was engaged with so many states on the Mediterranean and Atlantic, was a war waged with Napoleon Bonaparte and his minions, or powers which had been com- pelled to submit to his tyranny and had become his vassals. England was fighting for the liberty of the world ; the United States was in sympathy with France, the long-time enemy of England. The President also forgot to say that the King's Government had expressed regret at the affair of the Leopard and Chesapeake, and that the admiral who had issued the order for boarding the Chesapeake had been relieved of his command. The President must have known when he fulminated his pro- clamation that in the previous year Prussia, at the instigation of France, or in obedience to the wishes of Napoleon, had issued a proclamation declaring that a treaty had been concluded between His Prussian Majesty and the Emperor of France and King of Italy, by which it had been stipulated that the ports of the German Ocean (the North Sea), and the rivers which empty themselves into it, should be shut against British shipping and trade, in the same manner as when Hanover was occupied by French troops, and that the Prussian troops had orders to refuse entrance to all British ships which might attempt to enter such ports and rivers, and to order them back ; also, that measures would be taken to prevent English goods from being landed and transported.
If Napoleon had been able he would have excluded England from the trade of Europe, and the United States was giving him aid and comfort in this unholy enterprise. We come now to the period when the French Emperor, from his Imperial
38 LIFE AND TIMES OK GENERAL BROCK.
Camp at Berlin, struck what he thought would be a final blow at the commerce of England. The blow, however, proved to be a boomerang, on its recoil wounding its author more than the power against which it was directed.
The Berlin Decree of Napoleon, dated 21st November, 1806, had a most important bearing on the war between England and America, inasmuch as it necessarily drew from England Orders- in-Council of a retaliatory nature which were seized upon by the Republic as affording a pretext, or one of the pretexts, for a declaration of war against England. The Berlin Decree declared : —
1. That the British Islands were in a state of blockade.
2. That all correspondence with them was prohibited ; con- sequently, that no letters or packets written in England or to an Englishman, written in the English language, should be de- spatched from the Post Offices, but should be seized.
3. That every individual, a subject of Great Britain, of what- ever rank or condition, who should be found in countries occu- pied -by French troops, or those of the allies of France, should be made a prisoner of war.
4. That every warehouse, all merchandise or property what- soever, belonging to an Englishman, should be good prize.
5. That no vessel coming directly from England or her colonies, or having been there since the publication of the Decree, should be admitted into any port.
The Berlin Decree was very embarrassing to England for a time. Her trade was much crippled; in truth, almost destroyed. The Orders-in-Council of Great Britain, to counteract the French Emperor's Berlin Decree, were issued in the months of January and November, 1807. By these orders all trade to France or her dependencies was strictly prohibited ; all vessels,
THE ENGLISH ORDERS-IN-COUNCIL.
39
of whatever nation, which ventured to engage in this trade, were declared liable to seizure, and France and her dependencies were to be reduced to that state of blockade with which she had threatened the British Islands. The Orders-in-Council admitted of but one single exception to this general blockade of the French Empire. The French Decrees had declared all vessels liable to seizure which had touched at a British port ; the Orders-in-Council, to counteract this provision, declared on the other hand that only such ships as were in that situation should be permitted to sail for France. As one writer, in his comments on the British Orders-in-Council, expresses it : " Thus did the utter extinction of the foreign trade of France result as a natural consequence of the very measures of her own govern- ment— measures which no despotism, how ignorant soever, would have ventured to adopt had it not trusted to a power which effectually silenced all popular opinion."
The Berlin Decree of Napoleon was followed by another, dated at Milan, by both of which the Americans and all other neutrals were prevented from maintaining their usual inter- course with England. If America had remonstrated against this decree with firmness, she would have avoided subsequent entanglements. She did not so resist, and so in a manner committed herself with France. Bonaparte always maintained that those who did not resist an injury offered them by either of the belligerents were no longer to be considered as neutrals ; that by their acquiescence they made themselves parties to the cause of the enemy, and were to be treated in the same way as if they had actually declared war against the nation to whose interest they stood opposed.
America, by acquiescing in the invasion of neutral rights by France in the Berlin and Milan Decrees, made herself a party
40 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
in the quarrel which France had with England. Had England meditated hostility towards America, had she been anxious to avail herself of a pretext for a quarrel, here was the oppor- tunity. England did not desire to have a war with America, and so for a time submitted to what, under other circumstances, she would have resisted.
The proclamation of the President of the United States, to which we have referred, was couched in language which, taken with other circumstances, induced the belief in the mind of Colonel .Brock that an open rupture between the two countries, England and the United States, might at any time occur. Consequently, he advised that precautionary measures should be taken to meet any emergency. From information received by Brock, the Americans were drilling, forming their militia and even threatening to invade Canada. He was not satisfied that he had a sufficient force at his command to oppose an invading army. At the same time that he was hastening the completion of works to strengthen the fortifications of Quebec, he was urging the President of the Council of the Province, who was, for the time being, Administrator of the Province of Lower Canada, to call out the militia, which the Administrator was reluctant to do. In September, 1807, he reported to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, Commander-in-Chief, that it had been thought expedient that His Excellency Lieut. - Governor Gore should assume command in the Province of Upper Canada, and expressed his regret that from the limited regular force under his orders " he could not, with propriety, detach troops in support of the spirited exertions which would be immediately made to place that province in a respectable state of defence."
While Brock was busying himself about the necessary step*
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE'S DECREES. 41
to be taken to meet any hostile force that might menace Canada — French or American, or the two combined — Bonaparte was busy making commercial decrees, in the hope thereby to destroy the commercial supremacy of England. With this end in view, he, on the llth January, 1808, at the Tuilleries, made this decree :
" Napoleon, etc., etc., etc., upon the report of our Minister of Finances, seeing our decrees of the 23rd November and llth December, 1807, with the concurrence of our Council of State, we have decreed and do decree as follows : When a vessel shall enter into a French port, or in that of a country occupied by our armies, any man of the crew, or a passenger, who shall declare to the Principal of the Custom House that the said ship comes from England or her colonies, or countries occupied by English troops, or that it has been occupied as an English vessel, shall receive a third part of the produce of the net sale of the ship and cargo, if it is known that his declaration is exact."
Napoleon was not at all pleased that his Berlin Decree of 1807 had been met, and in a great measure nullified, by those English Orders- in-Council; hence his decree just referred to, issued from the Tuilleries in January, 1808. The Americans were still persistent in their complaints against England by reason of the Orders-in-Council, while they neglected to enter a vigorous protest against the French Decrees. The view taken by England was that, in view of the immense power wielded by Napoleon and the herculean efforts being made by England to check that power, she had a right to expect at least tolera- tion from the Republic. On the 5th February, 1808, Mr. Percival, the Prime Minister of England, in a debate in the House of Commons on the subject of the Orders-in-Council, said : " With regard to the effect which the Orders-in-Council
42 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
might have on our relations with America, loss to America was loss to Great Britain. The prosperity of America was the pros- perity of Great Britain, and he was as anxious as any man to preserve peace with America, consistently with the rights and interest of this country. As he hoped that peace might be preserved, so he believed that it would be preserved, for it was impossible that any candid and enlightened American should consider the Orders-in-Council as a cause of war. It was impossible that the Americans could look at the Orders-in- Council without perceiving in them many instances of caution not to injure Americans." These words show the solicitude of England to preserve peace with America. Still the drilling of men and all the outward show of preparation for war was going on in the United States. Brock, in July, 1808, in a letter to his brothers, written at Montreal, said : " What will be the result of our present unsettled relations with the neigh- boring Republic, it is very difficult to say. . . . Jefferson and his party, however strong the inclination, dare not declare war, and therefore they endeavor to attain their object by every provocation. A few weeks since the garrison of Niagara tired upon seven merchant boats passing the fort, and actually captured them. Considering the circumstances attending this hostile act, it is but too evident it was intended to provoke retaliation ; these boats tired upon and taken within musket- shot of our own fort, their balls falling on our shore, was expected to rouse the indignation of the most phlegmatic. Fortunately the commandant was not in the way, or otherwise it is difficult to say what would have happened. A representa- tion of this affair has been made at Washington, and for an act certainly opposed to existing treaties we have been referred for justice to the ordinary courts of law. If our
BROCK ADVISES PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES.
43
subjects cannot command immunity from capture under the guns of our own forts, it were better to demolish them at once rather than witness and suffer such indignity."
This letter, written in the confidence of private intercourse, shows clearly what the state of Brock's mind was in regard to the condition of affairs in America. He chafed under the restraint placed upon him by the British Government. He would not have ventured to express himself to the Commander- in-Chief as he expressed himself in the last paragraph culled from his letter to his brothers. It would have had too much the appearance of dictating a policy. Nevertheless, we see he was very sensitive on the subject of American aggression and the restraint placed on the military authorities 'in Canada by the Home Government. It is not well to be precipitate, but there are occasions when forbearance ceases to be a virtue. Evidently Brock thought it so when he saw Canadian subjects -shot down under the guns of a British fort, the military authorities in the Province not having been authorized to resent the insult, in a military way, but only with representations to Washington. England, however, was at this time all for peace on the American continent, her army being altogether employed in fighting for freedom on the Continent of Europe.
CHAPTEK V.
SIR JAMES CRAIG — FRENCH CANADIANS — BROCK APPOINTED BRIGADIER- GENERAL — AMERICAN SPIES— FRENCH CONCESSIONS— BROCK'S VIEWS OF FRENCH LOYALTY — CRAIG'S ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT.
MR. DUNN'S term of office as Administrator of the Province of Lower Canada came to an end in October, 1807, and at the same time a new commander of the military forces in Canada appears upon the scene. On October 16th, 1807, Colonel Brock received a letter from Sir James Craig, on board His Majesty's ship Ontario, informing him of his (Sir James Craig's) appoint- ment to the chief government of the British provinces in America, as well as to the command of His Majesty's forces in those parts, and that he had arrived in the river before Quebec to take upon him the charge to which he had been appointed.
Brock was pleased to be relieved of the position of com- mander of all the forces in the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, which he had held temporarily in the interest of the public service for upwards of a year.
The reader has been able to perceive how vigilantly he per-
BROCK APPOINTED BRIGADIER^GENERAL. 45
formed his duties, leaving nothing undone and nothing to be desired.
He saw dark clouds looming up in the distance, at times ready to break, to the disturbance of all the surrounding atmos- phere, civil and political.
His headquarters being in the Province of Lower Canada enabled him to see with clear perception the disposition of the French population in that province, which he evidently thought was not to be relied upon to -rush with alacrity into the conflict likely to be entered into by Great Britain and the United States.
It is not to be supposed that Brock doubted the loyalty of the French-Canadians in opposition to the United States alone, but, as before suggested, what he most feared was an alliance between France and the American Republic, which would be used as a means to withdraw the habitants from the British to the French-American side.
The glory of Napoleon had so brilliant a lustre that there were many of the French population dazzled by it, and wished to share with him in his glory as descendants of those who had fought in the previous wars of the French in Canada against the British and the old British colonies.
Early in 1809 Brock was appointed Brigadier. In a letter to his brothers, dated at Montreal, July 20th, 1808, he was enabled to say : "My appointment to be brigadier I first announced by the March mail. Those who feel an interest in my prosperity will rejoice in my good fortune, as this distinguished mark of favor affords undeniable proof that my conduct, during the period of my command, was approved ; a great gratification, considering the many difficulties I had to encounter."
Brock appears at this time to have thought that General
!
46 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Ferguson, recently appointed major-general, might not be able to visit Canada, in which event he stood a good chance of suc- ceeding him both in the rank of major-general and in the com- mand of Quebec, where it had been intended he should be stationed.
Brock while in Quebec was familiar with all that was going on around him ; he paid special attention to the defence of the fortress, not knowing at what time he might be called upon to defend this ancient citadel, nor from what quarter the blow might issue. There had been rumors afloat, even before the arrival of Sir James Craig, that the French -Canadians only wanted the mere appearance of the American flag among them to rise in a body and join the American Confederation.
These stories were no doubt purposely circulated, not only by emissaries from the United States, but by others of the party who were hostile to the French- Canadians in the war of races then existing more or less throughout the province, and which was much intensified on the arrival of Sir James Craig as governor.
We have seen that in September, 1807, during the adminis- tration of Mr. Dunn, he had called out one-fifth of the militia, and that they had responded to his call.
The American spies and emissaries who infested the province, having only one purpose in view, namely, to induce ttie habi- tants to join the Americans in case of open hostilities, were quite willing to have it believed that the militia, though called out and drilling, would in time join the Americans in open war.
Vain hope ! The French-Canadians did not and would not join with the Americans to help them conquer a province in which they had been treated with the greatest generosity by the British Government, even to the point of offending the
SIR JAMES CRAIG. 47
British settlers, merchants and others, who stoutly maintained that the French had obtained more concessions than was con- sistent with British rule.
When Sir James Craig arrived in the province he found him- self surrounded with advisers who, without being inimical to the French-Canadians (who formed a large majority of the pro- vincial population), were nevertheless much under the influence of the British residents of Quebec. It was not a happy state of affairs: the Legislative Council being all, or nearly all, British, while the Legislative Assembly was almost wholly French. The principles of responsible government did not yet prevail ; so in the heat of political strife it was extremely hard for the Governor to steer clear of both parties — if he avoided Scylla, he was likely to be wrecked on Charybdis.
Shortly after his arrival — indeed, in the month following — the Governor, in a general order which he then issued, expressed satisfaction at the zeal manifested by the militia for the defence of the country. He added further, however, that he had seen with uneasiness acts of great insubordination in one of the parishes of the province (Assomption). He exhorted everyone to be on his guard against treasonable artifices and the discourses of enemies prowling everywhere to seduce the people, and enjoined the militiamen to watch attentively the presence of aliens who came among them.
This order came like a bombshell into the midst of the people. They could not but understand from it that the Governor was apprehensive of immediate war, and was watch- ing closely the chessboard with a view to future events.
In considering the condition of things under Sir James Craig's administration, we have to give attention to the double office held by him — that of Civil Governor and Commander of
4S LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
all His Majesty's forces in America. In his civil capacity he had to deal with a people who had a very great affection for French laws and customs. Moreover, the majority being French-Canadians, they claimed that the people should govern; while the Governor claimed that he, as the King's representa- tive, with the aid of a Council entirely British, should carry on the affairs of state. The result of all this was that, during the whole of his administration, the Governor, and the people through their representatives were engaged in a continual political warfare. This had the effect of embittering the Gov- ernor's mind towards the French population. The French his- torian Garneau says of him : "He never doubted that the Oallo-Canadians, their leaders especially, were hostile to British suzerainty, that they merely dissembled their loyalty, and that they were to be distrusted."
In this extreme statement Garneau has indulged somewhat in hyperbole, or else the Governor's words in his public addresses belied his thoughts. On more than one occasion he commended the loyalty and zeal of the militia, as at the conclusion of the following patriotic address.
In opening Parliament on January 29th, 1808, he said : " It would have been highly gratifying to me if upon this occasion I could be the bearer of any well-grounded communication of the restoration of that peace which, as the surest foundation of the welfare and happiness of his people, is the constant object of His Majesty's endeavors ; but while an implacable enemy is exerting every resource of his power, hitherto unexampled in the world, and which is controlled by no principle of justice or humanity in attempting our ruin ; while that enemy, under the irritation of a disappointed ambition, 'which, boundless in its extent, aims at no less than the subju-
CRAIG'S ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT. 49
gation of the world, regards with a malignant inveteracy, which he does not attempt to conceal, the only nation now in Europe which, by the wisdom of its government, the resources of its wealth, and the energy, virtue and public spirit of its people, has been able to resist him, it must be with cautious diffidence, and reliance only on the blessings of Divine Provi- dence, that we can look forward to the wished-for cessation of the inconveniences of war."
The Governor then expressed a hope that the wisdom embodied in the Cabinets at London and Washington would find measures to avoid the calamities likely to be attendant on a war between two nations of kindred origin, usages and language.
Garneau says the Governor then added : " That means for meeting adverse eventualities were not to be avoided, and that the loyalty and zeal of the militia met his warmest approbation."
The Governor may have held the views thus expressed as to the loyalty and zeal of the Gallo-Canadians at the opening of the session of 1808, but, unhappily, he seems to have altered his opinions before the end of the session of Parliament com- mencing on the 10th April, 1809. On the loth May, 1809, the Governor went down in state from the Castle (Quebec) to the Legislative Council, where, having summoned into his presence the House of Assembly, he informed them that it was his intention to dissolve that Parliament. Before doing so, he delivered himself of a speech, in which he said : " When I met you at the commencement of the present session, I had no reason to doubt your moderation or your prudence, and I therefore willingly relied upon both. Under the guidance of these principles, I expected from you a manly sacrifice of all personal
.
50 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
animosities and individual dissatisfaction, a watchful solicitude for the concerns of your country, and a steady perseverance in the executing of your public duty with zeal and despatch. I looked for earnest endeavor to promote the general harmony of the Province, and a careful abstinence from whatsoever might have a tendency to disturb it, for due and therefore indispen- sable attention to the other branches of the Legislature, and for prompt and cheerful co-operation and assistance in what- ever might conduce to the happiness and welfare of the colony. All this I had a right to expect, because such was your con- stitutional duty ; because such a conduct would have been a lasting testimony, as it was the only one sought for by His Majesty's Government, of that loyalty and affection which you have so warmly professed, and which I believed you to possess, and because it was particularly called for by the critical juncture of the times, and especially by the precarious situation in which we then stood with respect to the Ameri- can states. I am sorry to add that I have been disappointed in all these expectations, and in every hope in which I relied. . . ."
This address certainly breathes the spirit of a military commander rather than that of a civil governor. The Governor was no doubt irritated by the opposition he and his acts had met with at the hands of the House of Assembly.
It is neither convenient nor desirable to go into the details of these unhappy differences.
So far as this work is concerned, the addresses of Sir James Craig are only of importance as indicating his opinion of the probable result of the menaces of the United States and their bearing on the people amongst whom he was placed.
Brock was all this time in Quebec, and must have been well
FRENCH-CANADIAN LOYALTY. 51
acquainted with the Governor's views, which views he largely shared, at least so far as they concerned war or peace, and the reliance to be placed upon the people amongst whom he was exercising military command.
On the 31st December, 1809, he wrote to his brother William from Quebec a letter, in which he said among other things : " You will long since have been convinced that the American Government is determined to involve the two countries in a war ; they have already given us legitimate cause, but, if wise, we will studiously avoid doing that for which they show so great an anxiety. . . . Whatever steps England may take, I think she cannot, in prudence, avoid sending a strong military force to these provinces, as they are now become of infinite import- ance to her. . . . Bonaparte, it is known, has expressed a strong desire to be in possession of the colonies formerly belonging to France, and, now that they are become so valuable to England, his anxiety to wrest them from us will naturally increase. A small French force, four or five thousand men, with plenty of muskets, would most assuredly conquer this Province. The Canadians (French-Canadians) would join them almost to a man, at least the exceptions would be so few as to be of little avail. It may appear surprising that men, petted as they have been, and indulged in everything they could desire, should wish for a change. But so it is. ... How essentially different are the feelings of the people (French people) from when I first knew them. The idea prevails generally among them that Napoleon must succeed, and ulti- mately get possession of these provinces. The bold and violent are becoming every day more audacious, and the timid, with that impression, think it better and more prudent to withdraw altogether from the society of the English rather than run the
-52 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
chance of being accused hereafter of partiality to them. The •consequence is that little or no intercourse exists between the two races. More troops will be required in this country, were it only to keep down this growing turbulent spirit. . . . Every victory which Napoleon has gained for the last nine years has made the disposition here to resist more manifest."
There can be no doubt that the apparent, if not real, disaffec- tion of the French people largely contributed to strengthen the Americans in the belief that, if they were to declare war against Great Britain, His Majesty's Canadian subjects would be but too willing to range themselves under the broad folds of the American standard.
The French-Canadians afterwards showed that neither the caresses of the Americans nor their money availed to seduce them from their allegiance to the British crown.
CHAPTER VI.
COMMITTEE OF MASSACHUSETTS CONDEMN AMERICAN EMBARGO — PRESI- DENT MADISON'S PROCLAMATION — PEACE PRESERVED BUT FOR NAPOLEON — No EMBARGO — No FRENCH PARTY.
IN the last chapter I endeavored to trace the current of events- in the Province of Lower Canada. I now turn to the state of affairs on both continents, European and American, with a view of examining the forces at work more or less indicating a prob- able, or, at least, possible war between England and the United States. Napoleon Bonaparte was really at the bottom of all the trouble on both continents. He was a spoliator of king- doms and the disturber of the peace of all nations. His- greatest enemy was England, and he lost no opportunity to make her feel the strokes of his iron hand. It might have- been thought that he would have spared the Pope of Romer who had in his old age, in the most rigorous season of the year, traversed the Alps and proceeded to Paris, not without exciting the jealousy and distrust of other great powers, in order to consecrate and crown His Imperial and Royal Majesty.
On the 19th May, 1808, the Pope received notification that
54 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Napoleon had despoiled him of the Duchies of Urbino, Ancona, Macerata and Camerino. The Emperor issued a decree declaring that he had seized those Duchies because of the Pope's refusal to make war against England.
The Pope accordingly, on the same day, issued a manifesto from the Quirinal Palace at Rome, in which he denounced the atrocity committed by Napoleon in no measured terms. Among other things, he said : " The astonishment of the Holy Father was still further augmented when he saw it assigned, as a legitimate cause of this spoliation, that he had constantly refused to make war upon England and to confederate with the Kings of Naples and Italy."
In another place, he said : " It has been sought to justify the spoliation upon another pretext, by assigning, as the second motive which produced it, that the interests of the two king- doms, and of the two armies of Italy and Naples, demanded that their communication should not be interrupted by a hostile power.
" If by this power is meant to be understood England, the history of almost two centuries will show the falsity of this specious pretence. The Catholic Princes of Spain and of the House of Austria, from the Emperor Charles V. to Charles II. of Spain, possessed the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan, which forms at present the principal part of the King- dom of Naples, and they never perceived that their interest was compromised ; they never experienced this pretended obstacle to the communication of their armies. They were frequently at war with Great Britain, and still oftener with France, but they were never apprehensive of an intermediate debarkation upon the territory of the Holy See ; still less did they pretend to force the pontiffs of that period to unite and
SPAIN DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE.
00
confederate with them, or to despoil them of their possessions should they have refused."
Not a month elapsed after the issue of the proclamation of the Pope before Napoleon found himself embroiled with another •Catholic power, and this because that power would not shut her ports against England, nor be a party to the interference with English trade. On the 6th June, 1808, Spain declared war against the Emperor of France, the public notification being contained in a document which not only illustrates in a marked degree the methods of Napoleon, but also the chivalry of this continental power. Here is the declaration :
" Ferdinand the Seventh, King of Spain and the Indies, and in his name the Supreme Junta of both.
" France, under the government of the Emperor Napoleon the First, has violated toward Spain the most sacred compacts ; has arrested her monarchs, obliged them to a forced and mani- festly void abdication and renunciation ; has behaved with the same violence towards the Spanish nobles whom he keeps in his power ; has declared that he will elect a King of Spain, the most horrible attempt that is recorded in history ; has sent his troops into Spain, seized her fortresses and her capital, and scattered his troops throughout the country ; has committed against Spain all sorts of assassinations, robberies and unheard- of cruelties; and this he has done with the most enormous ingratitude to the services which the Spanish nation has ren- dered France, to the friendship it has shown her, thus treating it with the most dreadful perfidy, fraud and treachery, such as was never committed against any nation or monarch by the most barbarous or ambitious king or people.
"He has, in fine, declared that he will trample down our monarchy, our fundamental laws, and bring about the ruin of our Holy Catholic religion. The only remedy, therefore, for
56 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
such grievous ills, which are so manifest to all Europe, is in war, which we declare against him.
" In the name, therefore, of our King Ferdinand the Seventh, and of all the Spanish nation, we declare war by land and sea against Napoleon the First and against France. We are determined to throw off her domination and tyranny, and com- mand all Spaniards to act hostilely against her, to do her all possible damage according to the laws of war, to place an embargo upon all French ships in our ports, and all property and effects, in whatever part of Spain they may be, whether belonging to the government or to the individuals of thai nation.
" In the same manner we command that no embarrassment or molestation be done to the English nation, nor its govern- ment, nor its ships, property or effects, nor any individual of that nation. We declare that there shall be open and free communication with England ; that we have contracted and will keep an armistice with her, and that we hope to conclude a durable and lasting peace.
"Moreover, we protest we will not lay down our arms till the Emperor Napoleon the First has restored to Spain our King Ferdinand the Seventh and the rest of the royal family ; has respected the sacred rights of the nation, which he has violatedr and her liberty, integrity and independence.
" With the same understanding and accordance of the Spanish nation, we command that the present solemn declaration be printed, posted and circulated among all the people and pro- vinces of Spain and America, that it may be known in Europe, Africa and Asia.
" Given in the Royal Palace of Alcazar, at Seville, this 6th June, 1808. By order of the Supreme Junta of Govern- ment,
"MANUEL MARIA AGUILAR, Secretary. "JuAN BAPTISTA PARDO, Secretary"
PRESIDENT MADISON'S PROCLAMATION. 57
Spain was not the only country where England's influence was beginning to be felt ; even a part of the United States was beginning to feel the impolicy of their own Executive in regard to trade matters, and to protest against the action of the government in laying an embargo on American trade to the manifest injury of American citizens. On the 15th of Novem- ber, 1808, the Committee of the House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts made a report, in which they stated " That the Committee perceive, with the most serious regret, that the distresses occasioned by the several laws imposing an embargo have borne with extreme and increasing pressure upon the people, and every day's experience justifies a belief that a continuance of these laws must soon become intolerable. As measures of coercion, they are now acknowledged to be altogether impotent. They afford satisfaction to France, and are regarded as ineffectual demonstrations of a hostile disposi- tion by Great Britain. Upon our own country their effects are becoming daily and palpably more injurious."
Referring to the President's proclamation of July, 1807, interdicting all ships of war from the United States, the Com- mittee said : " Upon this delicate and important subject, the Committee are far from asserting that the attack on the frigate Chesapeake did not justify the original issuing of this proclama- tion and enforcing it, so long as the injury might be presumed to have the sanction of the British Government. But as this violation of the neutral rights was promptly and explicitly dis- avowed by the sovereign of the aggressor before the remon- strances or measures of our government could be known ; as the right to search our national ships was expressly disclaimed, and a special envoy deputed for the professed object of making our government a full, satisfactory and public reparation on
58 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the simple condition of a previous revocation of this proclama- tion, your Committee are constrained to declare their opinion that such a revocation, under such circumstances, would not have involved any dishonorable concession or an abandonment of any just right of pretensions, but would have been a fair, reasonable and magnanimous pledge of the sincerity of the wishes of the American Government to restore the accustomed relations of peace and amity between the two countries."
Unhappily neither Massachusetts nor a committee of its representatives were at this time the governing power of the United States, or war would have been avoided. The Com- mittee resolved: " That although this Legislature would support the general government in the prosecution of a just and neces- sary war, yet they cannot perceive the necessity intimated in the message of the President to Congress of continuing the embargo or resorting to war."
Such a feeling grew up against the embargo that President Madison, on the 19th April, 1809, issued a proclamation, in which he announced that the British Orders-in-Council, by the action of the British Government, will have been withdrawn on the 10th day of June then next ; and that after that day the trade of the United States with Great Britain, suspended by the Act of Congress entitled " An Act to interdict the commer- cial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and France, and their dependencies, and for other purposes," and an act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States, and the several acts supplementary thereto, might be renewed.
It now looked as if peace might yet be preserved between Great Britain and the United States, and probably this would
PROSPECTS OF PEACE. 59
have been had it not been for the ever-constant endeavor of Napoleon to embroil the two countries, if possible.
There was great rejoicing in New York over the restoration •of intercourse between the two countries. On April 21st 1809, the following notice appeared in the city of New York papers :
" Notice. — The Federal Republicans' Committee, of the State •of New York, recommend to all ship-owners and masters of vessels to display their colors on Monday next, in honor of the triumph of Federal policy in the restoration of intercourse between the United States and Great Britain. The persons hav- ing charge of the bells in the different churches are requested to cause them to be rung from twelve to one o'clock on the same day. And it is ordered that a committee wait on the commandant of artillery and request that he will cause a Federal salute to be fired at sunrise and sunset on the same glorious occasion.
" Committee room, Saturday evening, April 23rd."
The call for a general meeting was couched in the following language :
General Meeting.
" Triumph of Federal policy ! No embargo ! No French party ! A return of peace, prosperity and commerce !
" All friends of their country, all who are disciples of Wash- ington and disposed to support the Federal ticket at the ensu- ing election, are requested to meet this day, at twelve o'clock, at the circus, to consider the present state of our national affairs, and to support that system of Federal politics which has at last compelled the administration to abandon a fruitless and self-destructive embargo, and take a first step toward a settlement of our affairs with Great Britain by accepting terms •offered sixteen months ago, thus putting our differences with
60 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
that nation in a train of being fairly and honorably adjusted,, instead of French threats and confiscations abroad and French influence at home."
In pursuance of this notice, a meeting was held in New York on the 23rd April, 1809, attended by upwards of 4,000 people. One newspaper, in giving a report of this meeting, said : " It was most enthusiastic ; so large and so splendid an assemblage was never before witnessed in this country. The day was ushered in by a grand Federal salute, with further salutes at noon and sunset ; the shipping in the harbor decorated with their flags at mast-head during the day. The city in the even- ing was splendidly and fancifully illuminated."
It will be observed that the notice calling the meeting referred, in a marked manner, to " French threats and confisca- tions abroad and French influence at home."
At the next meeting of Congress, held in May, 1809, the President, in his Presidential Message to Congress, said that the British Government had transmitted to their legation at Washington provisional instructions not only to offer satisfac- tion for the attack on the frigate Chesapeake and to make known the determination of His Britannic Majesty to send an envoy extraordinary with powers to conclude a treaty with Great Britain, but, moreover, to signify his willingness, in the meantime, to withdraw his Orders-in-Council, in the persuasion that the intercourse with Great Britain would be renewed on the part of the United States.
Notwithstanding this seemingly pacific message, and the- matter of it, it will be found later on that this same President Madison made the Orders-in-Council, and the right of search which England claimed to exercise, the grounds of the declara- tion of war by the United States against Great Britain.
CHAPTEE VII.
BROCK'S REMOVAL TO UPPER CANADA — LOWER CANADA ASSEMBLY IN- CENSED AT SIR JAMES CRAIG — THE GOVERNOR RESIGNS — BROCK'S TRIBUTE TO SIR JAMES CRAIG — ENGLAND'S POLICY REGARDING THE INDIANS.
WHILE the Governments of Britain and the United States were negotiating for peace, Brock was mewed up in Quebec, performing the duties of the hour subject to such abstractions as usually attend life in a garrison town. In the midst of the most French of the French population in Lower Canada, he was enabled to gauge the dispositions of the people by whom he was surrounded. In a letter to his sister-in-law, Mrs. W. Brock, dated June 10th, 1810, he says : " The spirit of insub- ordination lately manifested by the French- Canadian popula- tion of this colony naturally called for precautionary measures, and our worthy chief is induced, in consequence, to retain in this country those on whom he can best confide. I am highly flattered in being reckoned among the number, whatever inward disappointment I may feel. Some unpleasant events have likewise happened in the upper country which have
62 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
occasioned my receiving intimation to proceed thither, whether as a permanent station, or merely as a temporary visit, Sir James Craig has not determined."
This letter indicates that Brock, as a military officer, did not see in the habitants, at that time at least, that spirit of affection for the British which would have made them to be altogether depended upon in case of the eventualities which might ere long occur. Whether or not he imbibed this idea from personal observation or from his chief, Sir James Craig, does not appear. A just discrimination of affairs as they stood at that time strengthened Brock in the opinion that the French population of Lower Canada had some visionary idea that, with the help of the Americans, they might in some way regain the suzerainty old France, the ancient possessors of the country. In a letter to his brother, Irving, dated Quebec, July 9th, 1810, Brock writes : " Everything remains here in a state of perfect quietness, fit is but too evident that the Canadians generally are becoming daily more anxious to get rid of the English. This they cannot effect unless a French force come to their aid, and I do not think that Bonaparte would risk the loss of a fleet and army for the chance of getting possession of the country. What infatuation ! No people had ever more cause to rejoice at their fate ; but they are not singular, as all man- kind seems prone to change, however disadvantageous or productive of confusion.^^/
In July, 1810, Sir James Craig intimated to Brock that he found it necessary to send him to a post in Upper Canada.
Brock remained in Quebec till the arrival of Baron de Rottenburgh to replace him at that fortress, and then removed to Upper Canada.
In September, 1810, we find him at Fort George, Niagara,
LOWER CANADA INCENSED. 63
with Vincent, Glegg and Williams, officers of the 49th Regiment, there attending a general court-martial, and sharing with him barrack -life. Glegg was afterwards his aide-de-camp on active service.
In October, 1810, Brock would have been glad to have shifted his quarters from Canada to take service under the King in carrying on his war with France in Spain and Portugal. Colonel Baynes, the adjutant-general, was however obliged, acting under instructions of Sir James Craig, the Commander-in-Chief, to inform him that he did not think the state of the public service would give warrant for relieving him from duty in Upper Canada.
Brock had not been long removed to Upper Canada before his chief, Sir James Craig, by his public utterances, gave grave offence to the French population of Lower Canada.
Many of the residents of that Province had lived in France, and a good many Americans who had managed to become resi- dents of the Province were looked upon as spies, bent on under- mining the loyalty of the French inhabitants. Sir James Craig, devoted in his duty to his Sovereign, determined to put in force a temporary Act, which had been passed by the Legis- lature of the Province, for establishing regulations respecting aliens or subjects of His Majesty who had resided in France.
On opening Parliament on the 12th December, 1810, Sir James, in his address, among other things, said :
" I desire to call your attention to the temporary Act for the better preservation of His Majesty's Government, as by law established in this Province, and to that for establishing regulations respecting aliens or certain subjects of His Majesty who have resided in France.
" No change has taken place in the state of the public affairs.
64 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
that can warrant a departure from those precautions and that vigilance which have hitherto induced all branches of the
o
Legislature to consider these acts as necessary. . . . The preservation of His Majesty's Government is the safety of the Province, and its security is the only safeguard to the public tranquility. Under these circumstances, I cannot therefore but recommend them, together with the Act making tem- porary provisions for the regulation of trade between this Province and the United States, to your first and immediate consideration."
The House of Assembly took this address as directly reflect- ing on their loyalty. They were apprehensive that under this law many of their compatriots might be arrested and cast into prison.
They had good reason to be alarmed, as immediately after delivering his speech the Governor sent a message to the House, by a member of the Executive Council, intimating that Mr. Bedard, one of their number, was detained in the common jail for the District of Quebec, under a warrant of three members of His Majesty's Executive Council, by virtue of the Act referred to, on a charge of high treason.
The Legislature were appalled at this proceeding, and took occasion in their answer to demur to His Excellency's senti- ments conveyed in the document. They said : " We reflect with pain on the efforts which are made to represent in false colors, and in a measure wide of the truth, the opinions and sentiments of the different classes of His Majesty's subjects in Canada. Following your Excellency's example, let everyone fulfil his duty to our august Sovereign by an unremitting attention to the interests and happiness of his subjects in this •colony, and he will feel that a strict adherence to the laws and
SIR JAMES CRAIG'S REPLY. 65
principles of the constitution, and a firm support of the equal rights and principles of every branch of the Legislature, are the means of securing to His Majesty's subjects the full and entire enjoyment of their liberty, religious opinions and property, which cannot be more perfectly confirmed to them than by the free constitution which it has pleased His Most Gracious Majesty and his Parliament to grant to this Province."
There was a great deal of irony in this answer, when it is taken into account that the Legislative Council was composed of British members, who thought the yoke of French laws intolerable, while the Assembly could point out that those laws had been secured to them by an Act of the Imperial Parliament.
The historian Christie, in referring to the Assembly's answer to the Governor's address, says : " Words can scarcely imply a more direct disapproval of the recent measures of the Gover- nor, who felt the force of their reflections."
The Governor, in his reply to the Assembly, undertook to reassure the people's representatives, but at the same time in sarcastic language, which Christie says " nettled the House, but they were too well acquainted with the Governor's firmness to proceed to extremes. The Governor carried his point ; the act was continued, but Bedard, after some months' imprisonment, without trial, was released on the Governor's warrant. It may be said of Sir James Craig that he was a man very positive in his opinions, and very prompt and decisive in his measures. He could not brook the opposition he was subjected to by a House of Assembly with which he was, for the most of the time, in antagonism. He had from his youth been in the service of his country in a military capacity. With the majority of the people in Lower Canada he was not altogether in sympathy.
There was too much of the French manners and customs for his 5
G6 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
taste. One of the questions which had agitated the Assembly- was as to the propriety of judges being members of that body. The majority of the Assembly took the ground that judges were ineligible. The Governor held the view that they were eligible until an Act of the Provincial Parliament was passed to exclude them. He had, in fact, dissolved the preceding Assembly on that issue. In the new Parliament, which met at Quebec on the 12th December, 1810, a bill to disqualify judges from taking a seat in the House of Assembly was introduced, and, having met the concurrence of both houses, received the royal sanction. The disposal of this question, and to the satisfaction of all parties, tended to harmonize existing differences between the Governor and the Assembly. The Governor's health had become much impaired during the session. He begged the Im- perial Government to accept his resignation, which could not be denied to him by the Home Authorities under the circumstances. He, however, was able to prorogue Parliament, which he did on the 21st March, 1811, in a speech in which he expressed satis- faction at the passing of the Act for disqualifying the judges from holding a seat in the Assembly, and declared that he not only thought the measure right in itself, but that he considered the passing of the Act as a complete renunciation of the erroneous principle the acting upon which had put him under the neces- sity of dissolving the last Parliament. The Governor, at the same time, took occasion to exhort the members to reflect upon the good that might arise from their efforts to inculcate those true principles of regularity and submission to the laws that could alone give stability to that degree of happiness which was attainable in the present state of society.
The closing words of the Governor's address, delivered at a time when he considered his life to hang upon a thread, were,.
SIR JAMES CRAIG LEAVES FOR ENGLAND. 67
for that reason, the more impressive. He said : " And now, gentlemen, I have only further to recommend that as, in an early part of the session, you yourselves took occasion to observe on the difficulty of the task, you will proportionately exert your best endeavors to do away with all mistrust and animosity from among yourselves; while these are suffered to remain, all exertion for the public good must be palsied. No bar can exist to a cordial union. Religious differences present none ; intoler- ance is not the disposition of the present times, and living under one Government, enjoying equally its protection and its fostering care, in the mutual intercourse of kindness and benevolence, all others will be found to be ideal. I am in earnest in this advice, gentlemen. It is probably the last legacy of a sincere well- wisher, who, if he lives to reach the presence of his Sovereign, would indeed present himself with the proud certainty of obtaining his approbation if he could conclude his report of his administration with saying : ' I found, sire, the portion of the subjects that you committed to my charge divided among themselves, viewing each other with mistrust and jealousy, and animated, as they supposed, by separate interests. I left them, sire, cordially united in the bonds of reciprocal esteem and con- fidence, and rivalling each other only in affectionate attachment to your Majesty's Government, and in generous exertions for the public good." "
This speech of Sir James was his last public act of an official character before leaving the Province. On the 19th June, 1811 , he embarked on board one of His Majesty's ships for England, leaving Mr. Dunn in charge of the Government of the colony, and Lieut.- General Drummond in command of the forces in Canada, consisting of 445 artillery, 3,783 regular troops, and 1,226 fencibles; in all, 5,454 men.
68 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
When Baron cle Rottenburgh, Brock's senior brigadier, arrived in the Province of Lower Canada, Brock left Quebec for Upper Canada, and with the exception of a few months in 1811, during which he visited the Lower Province, he continued in command of the troops in Upper Canada till his death, Lieut. - Governor Gore at first administering the Civil Government.
In January, 1810, Brock was in quarters at Fort George. On January llth of the year he informs his brother Irving by letter that the new arrangements had deprived him of the comfort of a companion. He wrote: "Expecting to obtain leave to visit Eng- land, I thought it of little consequence, but now that such an indulgence is denied me, I feel sadly the want of a lively com- municative associate. I hardly ever stir out, and unless I have company at home my evenings are passed solus" I take this to mean that he had been captivated by one of Canada's fair daughters, whom he had hoped to have married and taken to England. The fates decreed otherwise. Brock never married ; the lady to whom it was said he was engaged survived him many years, never having entered into wedlock. In this same letter of January 10th, Brock wrote to his brother : " The Presi- dent's address is sufficiently hostile, and if I thought he would be supported to the extent of his wishes I should consider war to be inevitable. Congress will hesitate before going the length he proposes."
Before the month of January was ended Brock had the satis- faction of receiving from Colonel Sir James Kempt (Quarter- master-General) a letter which could not but leave the impres- sion on his mind that he would soon be promoted to the rank of Major-General. Colonel Kempt informed him that the last brevet was made so extensive with the view of doing away with the appointment of brigadier, so that no general officer under
ENGLAND'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE INDIANS. 69
the rank of Major-General would be in future employed ; that he ( Brock) need have no fear of being unemployed in any rank while he had a wish to serve ; and that before Sir James Kempt came to Canada he had several opportunities of his name being mentioned at headquarters in such a way as to impress him with a thorough conviction that none stood higher in their
o ^
estimation.
In a letter of Brock to his brother, dated Niagara, February 19th, 1811, he refers to Sir James Craig as follows : "Sir James has been very ill, and it is supposed that he cannot long sur- vive the fierce and frequent attacks of his disorder (dropsy X His death, whenever it comes, will be bewailed by all whe possess the feelings of Englishmen in this country. It has often been asserted by Americans that before the war the English had formed an alliance with the Indians of the west, offensive and defensive, to take sides with them in case of war being declared. It is well known, however, that the Indians were engaged in active hostilities with the United States long before this war commenced. In fact, it was the desire, as well as the policy, of the British, not to have war between the United States and the Indians. In the autumn of 1810 the Indians in the west of the United States in council had determined to go to war with the Americans, the casus belli being, the persistence of the Americans in opposing the claims of the Indians to that part of the territory of the United States west of the Ohio River."
The true position of England in regard to the Indians will appear from the following letter written by the Governor- General and Commander-in-Chief to Brock on the 4th of February, 1811. The Governor's letter, which was confidential, contained instructions which said : " Although the conduct of our intercourse with the Indians is by His Majesty's com-
70 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BHOCK.
maml vested in the civil service of the Province of Canada, and consequently the interference of military officers, otherwise than by being present at such councils as may be held, as they are directed to be, would be improper, I nevertheless desire that you will instruct the officers in command at the different posts, particularly at Amherstburgh, to report confidentially to you what may pass at those councils, as well as any other transac- tions in which the Indians are concerned, and which may come to their knowledge ; these reports you will forward to me occasionally, as you may think them of importance." Brock, in transmitting these instructions to Major Taylor, 100th Regiment, on the 4th March, 1811, said to him : "The conduct which the military are expected to pursue in their intercourse with the Indian Department is so explicitly stated in these instructions that I need not say a word more on the subject. But I think it highly necessary to put you in possession of the policy which Sir James Craig is very anxious may be observed in the present uncertain state of our political affairs. The Governor's policy as communicated to rne is : 'I am decidedly of opinion that upon every principle of policy our interest should lead us to use all our endeavors to prevent a rupture between the Indians and the subjects of the United States. Upon these considerations, I think it would be expedient to instruct the officers of the Indian Department to use all their influence to dissuade the Indians from their projected plan of hostility, giving them clearly to understand that they must not expect any assistance from us. The officers, however, must be extremely cautious in pointing out to them that it is for their good only that this advice is given to them, and not from any dereliction of that regard with which we always view their interests; it will per-
INDIAN POLICY GENERALLY. 71
haps require some management to avoid exciting their jealousy or resentment ; the doing so must be strongly recommended.' "
I will conclude this chapter in reference to this subject with Brock's personal instructions to Major Taylor, contained in a letter dated March 4th : " Should you perceive the smallest in- dication to depart from the line so strictly marked by His Excellency for the government of the Indian officers, you will, without creating suspicion of an intention of controlling their measures, offer friendly advice, and even have recourse to written protests to deter them from persevering in any act that may have a tendency to irritate and expose the two nations to endless controversy."
The order of the Commander-in-Chief demonstrates that the military authorities, acting under instructions from the Home Government, were assiduous in their endeavors to prevent a war between the Indians and the United States Government, and, above all, the officers were to be painstaking in preventing the Indians embroiling the British Government in the difficulties existing between the Republic and the Indian nations.
CHAPTEK VIII.
BROCK MADE MAJOR-GENERAL—WISHES TO JOIN ARMY IN SPAIN — IN- FLAMMATORY SPEECH OF PRESIDENT MADISON — GLENGARRY LIGHT INFANTRY CORPS RAISED — SIR GEORGE PRKVOST GOVERNOR OF LOWER CANADA.
THE time (June 4th, 1811) had now arrived when Brigadier Brock received higher promotion as a Major-General on the staff of North America. At this time the Duke of York was at the head of the English army, very much to the satisfaction of the English people. Sir David Dundas, his predecessor, had arrived at that period of life when, for the good of the service,, it was very desirable that a younger man should till his place. The Duke of York was very popular with the army, and for that matter with the people also ; so naturally in the course of events he became Commander-in-Chief of all the British forces. Shortly after Brock's promotion, Captain Glegg, whose name has been previously mentioned, was appointed military aide-de- camp to the Major-General.
On October 7th, 1811, Major-General Brock was informed by Colonel Baynes, Adjutant-General, that Sir James Craig had!
BROCK WISHES TO JOIN ARMY IN SPAIN. 73
had a successful passage across the Atlantic, that he had been complimented by the authorities for his administration of affairs in the Province of Lower Canada, and that his conduct, " both civil and military, had met with the most unqualified approbation." This was very pleasing to the Major-General, conscious as he was of the high principles which animated the breast of Sir James, and that in his differences with the Legis- lature and French inhabitants of the Province he never lost sight of the soldier and the gentleman, the distinguishing characteristics of a British officer.
Brock would now have returned to England with the purpose in view of being placed on active service with the army fight- ing in Spain. His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief would have been willing to favor Brock's project, but the state of affairs between England and the United States was becoming so complicated and warlike that he did not favor the Major- General's 'quitting Canada at that time. If Brock had been relieved of duty just then, it is highly probable that Major- General Sheaffe — a name familiar to Canadians in the war of 1812 — would have been employed on the staff in place of Brock. Such was the intelligence Brock had from the Horse Guards.
On the 5th November, 1811, Mr. Madison, the President, met Congress. In his inaugural speech, he complained that the British Orders-in-Council had not been repealed, but that on the contrary they were more vigorously enforced. He said that the ground taken by Great Britain for not repealing the orders was that if Napoleon had rescinded his Berlin and Milan decree* the British Government had not been notified of the fact, if fact it were. The President in his address made other allusions to the conduct of England in regard to trade and commerce — spoke about British ships of war hovering on the American
74 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
coasts, and referred to the encounter between one of the British ships of war and the American frigate commanded by Captain Rodgers as rendered unavoidable on the part of the latter by a fire commenced without cause by the former, whose com- mander was therefore alone chargeable with blood unfortunately shed in maintaining the honor of the American flag. Altogether the speech was an inflammatory one, calculated to excite the military ardor of the Americans. In a letter of Colonel Baynes, the Adjutant-General, to Major-General Brock, dated at Quebec, 21st November, 1811, referring to this speech, he wrote : " What do you think of the President's speech ? In any government more consistent, it would mean war. I think he has committed himself more openly and more unjustifiably in relation of the affair of the Little Belt, by accusing that poor little sloop of a wanton act of aggression by attacking a huge American frigate, when Commander Rodgers himself admits that he was for nearly eight hours the chasing vessel."
Coffin, in his " Chronicles of the War of 1812," says of the affair of the Little Belt referred to : "On the 16th May, 1811, the British ship of war, Little Belt, of eighteen guns, com- manded by Captain Bingham, was pursued off' Fort Charles by the American 44-gun frigate President. America was at peace with the whole world. Commander Rodgers had nothing to fear, and had nothing to ask, of a foreign ship of any nation of such inferior force. On American principle, he had no right to overhaul or search. He did overhaul and hailed, and declared that he was answered by a shot, which led to a determined fight of three-quarters of an hour between the ponderous American and his pigmy antagonist. The Little Belt was shot to pieces. Commander Rodgers, on learning the name of his adversary, politely regretted the mistake, and offered
A MISLEADING PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE. 75
help. Bingham demurred to the mistake, and declined assist- ance. He could help himself, and so he did, and brought his small ship in a sinking state into Halifax, with eleven men killed and twenty-two wounded." This officer averred, with much reason, that his orders prohibited and common sense for- bade the collision he was said to have provoked. The state- ments on both sides were conflicting ; we are left to draw a reasonable inference from the facts. Rodgers was tried by court-martial and acquitted amid much national exultation. The American Government disavowed hostile instructions, and the British Government acquiesced in the amende, and made no remark. Concurrently with the Little Belt affair, the Indians of the west were in arms against the Americans ; but General Harrison, sent out with a force to defend the western frontiers, defeated them on the bank of the Wabash (Indiana). The anti- British party in the United States attempted to make it appear that the British were urging on the Indians ; this was all a fiction, as the British officers in Canada were specially warned by their superiors to avoid all such cause of conflict with the Americans.
Returning to the President's message, besides the so mislead- ing paragraph therein in regard to the Little Belt, there were other passages in the message to Congress which could bear no other construction than that the President had made up his rnind to have a war with England if Congress would approve. Referring to the state of affairs between the two countries, he said: "Congress will feel the duty of putting the United States into an armour and attitude demanded by the crisis and corres- ponding with the national spirit and expectations." He then went on to recommend Congress to make adequate provision for filling the ranks and prolonging the enlistment of regular
76 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
troops for an auxiliary force to be engaged for a more limited time, for the acceptance of volunteer corps, and then added: " The manufacture of cannon and small arms has proceeded with due success."
There can be no doubt Adjutant-General Baynes was right in saying the message meant war, and was not capable of any other interpretation. The letter of the latter officer con- veyed information to Brock which was most acceptable at this juncture, namely, that Governor Gore had revived the for- mation of the Glengarry Fencibles. It will be remembered (as stated in a previous chapter) that Brock, in 1807, forwarded to the War Office for consideration a proposal from Lieut.-Colonel John Macdonell, late of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, for raising a corps among the Scotch settlers in the county of Glengarry, Upper Canada ; that Brock favored the proposal and recommended the Rev. Alexander Macdonell, the patriotic and popular priest of Glengarry, to be chaplain of the regiment. Colonel Macdonell's suggestion was not then carried into effect,, but Governor Gore now saw that it was extremely desirable to- have such a regiment for the defence of the Province. The Rev. Alexander Macdonell, then Vicar-General, but afterwards Bishop Macdonell, and a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, when there was every appearance of war between Britain and the United States, at once buckled on his armour and prepared for the emergency. It was a favorite saying of this truly patriotic man, that "every man of his name (Macdonell) should be either a priest or a soldier." Had he not been a priest he undoubtedly would have been a great soldier. He had all the needed qualities. His namesake, John A. Macdonell, of Greenfield, a collateral descendant of Attorney- General Macdonell, who fell at Queenston Heights, writing
GLENGARRY LIGHT INFANTRY CORPS RAISED. 77
of the Vicar-General says: "He stood six feet four, and was stout in proportion; he had undaunted courage, calm, cool judgment, resolute will, and temper almost imperturbable ; he had the endurance of his race, fatigue and privation were as no- Jbhing to him ; he was a man of great natural ability, great parts and a great personality, which impressed all brought in contact with him ; he inspired confidence, admiration and respect ; but, above all, he was a born leader of men."
I remember the Rev. Priest as Bishop and a member of the Legislative Council, and agree with Mr. John Macdonell in all he has written about this good man. But to proceed, the Vicar-General had previously raised a regiment in Scotland. He now raised another for his Sovereign in Upper Canada. The county of Glengarry was almost entirely inhabited by Highlanders and their descendants, naturally brave and loyal as subjects, and firmly attached to the British Constitution and Government. The Rev. Vicar-General had conducted a number of the men of his old regiment to Canada as settlers, and enjoyed their entire confidence. In raising the regiment, he nominated for his colleague Captain George Macdonell. The Commander-in-Chief was pleased to commission this officer, who had held a commission in the King's regiment, to co-operate with the Vicar-General. In a very short time these gallant men had the Glengarry Light Infantry, numbering four hun- dred rank and file, in the field, ready for any service required of them.
The Glengarry Light Infantry thus raised was placed on the regular establishment of the British army and served in the most conspicuous and creditable manner throughout the War of 1812, taking part in no less than fourteen general engage- ments. They were present, amongst others, at the taking of
78
LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Ogdensburg, Fort Covington and Oswego, at the attack on Sackett's Harbor and at [the battle of York. They lost three companies, with their officers, at the landing of the Americans at Fort George, and were also at the battles of Stoney Creek and Lundy's Lane. The officers of the battalion were as fol- lows:
Colond — EDWARD BAYNES. lAeut.-Colond — FRANCIS BATTERSBY. Major — GEORGE MACDONELL.
Captains
Andrew Liddell.
John Jenkins,
R. M. Cochrane,
D. Macpherson,
Lieutenants :
A. McMillan, James Stewart, Anthony Leslie, H. T. Hughes,
Ensigns.
Robert Macdonell, Thomas Fitzgerald, Foster Weeks, W. Roxborough.
Walter Kerr, Amos Shaw, William Kemble, James B. Macaulay.
James Mackay, Byland Smith, Joseph Frobisher, Alexander Macdonell.
Roderick Matheson,
Angus Macdonell,
James Robins,
William Maclean, Paymaster — Anthony Leslie. Adjutant — John Mackay. Quartermaster — John Watson. Agents — Greenwood, Cox & Company.
In January, 1812, Captain Macdonell and the Vicar-General were in York consulting Brock about what could be done towards getting recruits in that part of the Province of Upper Canada. Brock was at that time Administrator of the Province in the absence of Governor Gore. Captain Macdonell made
SIR GEORGE PREVOST.
Brock acquainted with the fact that the Commander of the Forces, Sir George Prevost, had applied to the Prince Regent for permission to offer some of the waste lands of the crown as an- inducement to the Scotch emigrants to enlist. Brock stated the circumstances to the Executive Council of the Province, and was then enabled to write to Colonel Bayne'S, the Adjutant- General, to assure His Excellency the Comrnander-in-Chief that should the aspect of affairs call for prompt measures, and that a direct promise of land could accelerate recruiting, Gov- ernment would readily pledge itself to grant one, or even two,, hundred acres to such as would enlist on the terms proposed by His Excellency. Brock acknowledged that this would be devi- ating largety from the King's instructions, " but in these event- ful and critical times the Council conceives that an expression from His Excellency of the necessity of the measure will be sufficient to warrant a departure from the usual rules. Should His Excellency think it expedient to act immediately, and authorize a direct offer of land, I have no doubt that a number of young men might be collected between Kingston and Am- herstburg, in which case His Excellency may sanction the raising of two additional companies under my (Brock's) super- intendence."
While Brock was taking all necessary precautionary steps to- put the Upper Province in proper condition of defence in case of an attack by the Americans, Sir George Prevost, now Gover- nor-General and Commander of the Forces, was no less vigilant in attending to the interests of Lower Canada. When Sir George Prevost succeeded Sir James Craig in the autumn of 1811, he found affairs in the Province, both civil and military, in a very unsatisfactory state. The French-Canadians were sullen and discontented. They had experienced from Sir James Craig.
SO LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
•and his Government what they called rough treatment. He never really took them into his confidence ; threw doubts upon their loyalty, imprisoned certain members of the Legislature for alleged treasonable practices, and dismissed them from the militia. The British party in Quebec were never satisfied with the Act of 1774, which gave to the French-Canadians their old laws and customs, such as they were before the Conquest. Sir James had thrown himself entirely into the hands of the British party, thus making himself obnoxious to the French. He was more inclined to govern according to the principles and laws which he considered ought to prevail in a colony gained by con- quest than on the lines laid down for his guidance by the Act of the Imperial Parliament, obtained at a time when England was -at war with her revolted colonies in America. When Sir George Prevost became Governor it was necessary for him, with war looming in the near distance, to conciliate His Majesty's French- Canadian subjects. As Garneau, in his history, says : " He manifested perfect confidence in the loyalty of the Canadians (French-Canadians) ; he strove to prove upon all occasions that the accusations of treasonableness brought against them had made no impression on the British mind or his own. He nominated the man whom his predecessor had imprisoned as a promoter of sedition (M. Bedard) to a judgeship at Three Rivers ; he gave a colonelcy of militia to M. Bourdages, an adversary no less ardent of the Craig administration." With the few regular soldiers in the Province, Sir George Prevost felt the absolute necessity of reconciling the French-Canadians to the Govern- ment from which they were so much estranged. The French- Canadians were all the time loyal to the empire. Their quarrel was not with the Home Government, but with the mode of administering the affairs of the colony under Sir George
AN EMBARRASSING RESOLUTION. 81
Prerost's predecessor. The dominant party in Lower Canada had now got a Governor who, in these perilous times, was, for diplomatic reasons, being moulded to their will.
The Governor was playing his part for a purpose ; the French- Canadians had everything to gain, and nothing to lose by giving every support to the Governor for favors bestowed and to be bestowed by him. Not satisfied with a full recognition of all their rights, which the French-Canadians claimed, they would if they could have humiliated him as well. They apparently, in answer to the address of the Governor delivered to them on the opening of Parliament, 21st February, 1812, passed a resolution, "That it was a justice due to the good character of His Majesty's Canadian subjects that some measure should be adopted by the House to acquaint His Majesty of the events that took place in the Province under the adminis- tration of Sir James Craig, its late Governor, and the causes which gave rise to the same, in order that His Majesty, in his paternal goodness, might take such steps as would prevent a recurrence of a similar administration which tended to mis- represent the good and faithful people of the Province, and to deprive them of the confidence and affection of His Majesty, and from feeling the good effects of his government in the ample manner that the law provided."
When we look back and see that Sir James Craig received the thanks of the authorities in England for his administration of the government of Lower Canada, and when we consider how distasteful it must have been for Sir George Prevost to have been called upon to carry out such a resolution, it may be pronounced a fortunate thing that, owing to the interven- tion of more urgent circumstances, the resolution was never carried into effect. The embarrassment created by the existing
82 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
difficulties between England and the United States afforded a convenient opportunity for the French-Canadians to exact con- cessions from the mother country, and they did not hesitate to avail themselves of the occasion.
The French historian Garneau writes : " The interests, even the necessities of Great Britain at that time, required that she should lend a favorable ear to the just requests of the Canadians, for her foot-holding in America was ever becoming more and more precarious, through the constant strengthening of the United States by increased population, riches and political con- sideration." What were the just requests of the French - Canadians ? Were they contained in the memorial of Bishop Plessis, handed by him to the Governor, which is of especial historic value as expressing the sentiments of the hierarchy ? The memorial read : "Before the Conquest the Canadian bishops governed their dioceses in the same way as the bishops of France ruled theirs, namely, in accordance with the canons of the Church and in conformity to royal ordinances. They had a cathedral chapter, composed of five dignitaries and twelve canons : an ecclesiastical corps this, over which they exercised full episcopal jurisdiction, as well as over the parish clergy and the communities of the religieuses. They presided in synod, erected parishes, nominated priests to parochial charges and revoked those nominations at discretion ; made visitations of churches, monasteries and other consecrated localities ; they issued ordinances regarding discipline and correct morals, which clergy and laity were bound to regard ; they examined and audited the accounts of the moneys expended in building, repairing and keeping up churches, etc. ; they also regulated the levying and outlay of the moneys provided for such pur- poses ; they had absolute control of the whole ecclesiastical
LOYALTY OF FRENCH-CANADIANS. 83
and religious establishments of the colony, and nothing could be done in regard to the secular clergy, or to the material con- dition or resources of the parish churches or monasteries with- out their order or by their approbation. Their supervision extended to the schools," etc.
M. Plessis, in continuation, observed that the bishops (ever since the cession of the colony to Britain by France) had con- stantly made, and himself still made, professions of the most scrupulous loyalty, and had sought on every occasion to incul- cate submission to the Government on the minds of both clergy and laity. The bishop then went on to make what may be con- sidered the most important declaration in the memorial as to the extent of jurisdiction claimed by the Gallican Catholic Church : " As it was well known that the Canadian bishops never aimed at exercising any other than spiritual authority over the Catholics within their diocese, this rightful jurisdic- tion had never been contested by contemporary civil authori- ties, nor their episcopal titles disputed, till within a few years."
What effect this memorial may have had it is impossible to say. This, however, may be said, that the French- Canadians showed by their subsequent acts that they were loyal to the crown of Britain, and did their part towards preserving the Province in the war which soon afterwards broke out. The great difficulty the French-Canadians then, as now, had to contend with, was that of being loyal to the crown and the Church at the same time. There would be less difficulty in the matter if, as Bishop Plessis said : " The Canadian bishops never aimed at exercising any other than spiritual authority over the Catholics within their diocese." The British party in Quebec were jealous of the interference of the Church in state matters.
84 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
American emissaries were glad to foment discord in the Pro- vince of Lower Canada ; they thought they had entirely under- mined the loyalty of the French-Canadian habitant ; it was that thought which went a long way in inducing the American Government to go to war with Great Britain. The platform orators in the United States were shouting " war " all over the territories of the Republic, at the same time assuring the too confiding people of the United States that when hostilities should commence the Canadians would welcome American invaders as deliverers from the hateful tyranny and oppression of the British. Vain hope ! hollow words ! The result proved that the Canadians of either nationality, French as well as British, were determined to defend their soil against the attacks of enemies from any quarter.
CHAPTEE IX.
WAR LOOMING UP — BROCK RELIES ON THE LOYALTY OF THE CANADIANS — OPENS UPPER CANADA PARLIAMENT — ADDRESS TO LEGISLATURE — BROCK'S VIGILANCE — WATCHES EVERY MOVEMENT OF AMERICANS.
WHEN Brock came to the conclusion that war was inevitable, he at once arranged his plans to ensure, if possible, the safety of the Upper Province. This was no light task with the means at his disposal. There were but few regular troops in the Province. What, then, was he to do ? He must rely upon the loyalty of the people of the Province itself for its defence — upon the loyalty of the United Empire Loyalists whom Governor Simcoe had placed along the frontier of the province ; a band of veterans who, in the Revolution, had stood by King and Constitution in defiance of the allurements of friends and the menaces of enemies.
In a letter which Brock wrote to Sir George Prevost, the Commander-in-Chief, dated York, December 2nd, 1811, he sub- mitted to His Excellency a plan which he conceived to be the proper one for the defence of the Province. He deplored the defenceless state of the frontier forts ; so inadequate, indeed, to
86 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
their defence was the military force that a general opinion prevailed that, in the event of hostilities, no opposition was intended. But the then late increase of ammunition, etc., together with the reinforcement of a strong regiment and the appointment of a military person to administer the government, had tended to give confidence to the people. He assured His Excellency that during his visit to Niagara last week he had received the most satisfactory professions of a determination on the part of the principal inhabitants to exert every means in their power in the defence of their property and the support of the Government. Brock was himself at this time at the head of the Government as administrator of the Province, both in civil and military affairs. He first gave his attention to Am- herstburgh, which he considered should be supplied with the means of commencing active operations, and thus jpossibly deter any effective attempt on the Province from Niagara westward. The American Government would be fully employed in defending their western frontier from the inroads of the Indians. The co-operation of the latter on the British side was desirable, but that could hardly be expected, as they conceived themselves to have been sacrificed in 1794, when at Miami they failed to receive from the British the assistance they thought themselves entitled to in their war with the Americans. Brock, to restore confidence, expressed the opinion to the Commander-in-Chief that Forts Detroit and Mackinaw should be reduced ; then the Indians would believe that the war was in real earnest. Reference is made in this letter to "a few tribes, at the instigation of a Shawanese of no particular note, having already, although explicitly told not to look for assistance from us (the British), commenced the contest."
DEPENDENCE UPON THE NAVAL FORCE. 87
Mr. Tupper has, in his " Life of Brock," appended a foot-note to this statement of Major-General Brock, that the Shawanese chief referred to by Brock was, doubtless, Tecumseh or his brother. Brock did not know Tecumseh then as he knew him afterwards, as the eloquent and valiant chief he proved himself to be. We learn from this letter that the Americans then had, on the bank of the Wabash or its neighborhood, two thousand militia and regulars. These two thousand Americans could easily fall on the not-too-well fortified fort at Amherstburgh, unless kept in check by the Indians. The militia in the vicinity of Amherstburgh did not much exceed seven hundred rank and file, but Brock contemplated augmenting the garrison with about a fifth of a regiment (two hundred rank and file) from Forts George and York.
For the defence of the coast from Amherstburgh to Fort Erie, Brock was obliged to depend upon the naval force, which at this time on Lake Erie consisted of a ship and a small schooner of bad construction, old and in want of many repairs ; while the Americans, on their side, had a ship and a tine brig capable of carrying twelve gun«, both in perfect order. He submitted to the Commander-in-Chief whether "a sufficient number of gunboats, for both lakes, with a light draft, ought not to be added to our means of offence and defence." ^^
Brock was of the opinion that the Americans, with a view to / the conquest of Canada, would, in all probability, choose the frontier between Niagara and Fort Erie for their main attack ; that all other attacks would be subordinate, made merely to divert the attention of the British. He recommended that a strong regular force should be afforded the Province, to animate the loyal and encourage the wavering.
He spoke of the situation of Kingston being important from
88 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
a military point of view, and drew His Excellency's attention to that quarter. The militia, from the Bay of Quinte down to Glengarry, he considered the most respectable of any in the Province ; among the officers several were on half pay and still retained a sound military spirit. He referred to Mr. Cartwright, the senior militia colonel at Kingston, as possessing the influ- ence to which his firm character and superior abilities so deservedly entitled him.
Brock, in his letter of 2nd December, 1811, asked of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief " such advice and counsel as his experience might suggest." Sir George Prevost was not able to answer this letter till December the 24th, when he wrote Brock from Quebec : " Your views in regard to the line of conduct to be observed toward the militia forces are, in my estimation, wise, and on such conceptions I have hitherto acted."
Major-General Brock, on the 3rd December, 1811, informed Sir George Prevost, by letter, written at York, that his first care on his arrival in the Province had been to direct the officers of the Indian Department of Amherstburgh to exert their whole influence with the Indians to prevent an attack which he understood a few tribes meditated against the American frontier, but that their efforts proved fruitless, as such was the infatua- tion of the Indians that they refused to listen to advice, and that they were then so deeply engaged that he despaired of being able to withdraw them from the contest in time to avert their extinction. Towards the end of January, 1812, Brock was informed by Sir George Prevost that he had received in- telligence from His Royal Highness, the Commander-in-Chief, in England, authorizing Brock's return to England for the pur- pose of being employed on the Continent, but that he (Sir
BROCK'S ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE. 89
George Prevost) hoped he would not avail himself of the leave, as he valued his services highly.
On the 4th February, 1812, Major-General Brock, accompanied by a numerous suite, opened the session of the Legislature at York with the following speech :
" Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council and Gentle- men of the House of Assembly : —
" i should derive the utmost satisfaction, the first time of my addressing you, were it permitted me to direct your attention solely to such objects as tended to promote the peace and pros- perity of this Province.
" The glorious contest in which the British Empire is engaged, and the vast sacrifice which Great Britain nobly offers to secure the independence of other nations, might be expected to stifle every feeling of envy and jealousy, and at the same time to excite the interest and command the admiration of a free people ; but, regardless of such generous impressions, the American Government evinces a disposition calculated to impede and divide her efforts.
" England is not only interdicted from entering the harbors of the United States, while they afford a shelter to the crews of her inveterate enemy, but she is likewise required to resign those maritime rights which she has so long exercised and enjoyed. Insulting threats are offered, and hostile preparations actually commenced ; and though not without hope that cool reflection and the dictates of justice may yet avert the calami- ties of war, I cannot, under every view of the relative situ- ation of the Province, be too urgent in recommending to your early attention the adoption of such measures as will best secure the internal peace of the country and defeat every hostile aggression.
" Principally composed of the sons of a loyal and brave band of veterans, the militia, I am confident, stand in need of nothing but the necessary legislative provisions to direct their en-
90 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
deavor in the acquirement of military instruction to form a most efficient force.
" The growing prosperity of these provinces, it is manifest, begins to awaken a spirit of envy and ambition. The acknow- ledged importance of this colony to the parent state will secure the continuance of her powerful protection. Her fostering care has been the first cause, under Providence, of the uninterrupted happiness you have so long enjoyed. Your industry has beer liberally rewarded, and you have, in consequence, risen to opulence.
" These interesting truths are not uttered to animate your patriotism, but to dispel any apprehension which you may have imbibed of the possibility of England forsaking you ; for you must be sensible that if once bereft of her support, if once deprived of the advantages which her commerce and the supply of her most essential wants give you, this colony, from its geographical position, must inevitably sink into comparative poverty and insignificance.
" But Heaven will look favorably on the manly exertions which the loyal and virtuous inhabitants of this happy land are prepared to make to avert such a dire calamity.
" Our gracious Prince, who so gloriously upholds the dignity of the Empire, already appreciates your merit, and it will be your first care to establish, by the course of your actions, the just claim of the country to the protection of His Royal High- ness.
" I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of announcing to you from this place the munificent intention of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who has been graciously pleased to signify that a grant of £100 per annum will be proposed in the annual estimates for every future missionary of the Gospel, sent from England, who may have faithfully discharged, for the term of ten years, the duties of his station in this Province.
" Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, I have no doubt but that with me you are convinced of the necessity of a regular system of military instruction to the militia of this Province.
CONFIDENCE IN BROCK. 91
On this salutary precaution, in the event of a war, our future safety will greatly depend, and I doubt not but that you will cheerfully lend your aid to enable me to defray the expense of carrying into effect a measure so conducive to our security and defence. . . .
" Honorable gentlemen of the Legislative Council and gentle- men of the House of Assembly, I have, without reserve, com- municated to you what has occurred to me on the existing circumstances of this Province. We wish and hope for peace, but it is nevertheless our duty to be prepared for war.
" The task imposed on you on the present occasion is arduous. This task, however, I hope and trust, laying aside every con- sideration but that of the public good, you will perform with that firmness, discretion and promptitude which a regard to yourselves, your families, your country and your King call for at your hands. As for myself, it shall be my utmost endeavor to co-operate with you in promoting such measures as may best contribute to the security and to the prosperity of this Province."
The Legislature, in answer to the address of Sir Isaac Brock, congratulated him on his appointment to administer the affairs of the Province, promised to give him all the aid in their power, and expressed entire confidence that he would give all the support in his power to the Province in this her time of peril. His Excellency was able to make reply to the address of the Legislature, "Impressed with the assurance of your support, I feel a most perfect reliance that the exertions of this Province will be found equal to meet every emergency of this important crisis."
Sir Isaac knew the men with whom he had to deal. They were men, or the sons of men, who had gone through all the rough usage of the revolution of the colonies ; they were men who now stood on British soil determined to defend it to the last extremity. As soon as the Legislature got to work, they
92 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
set about legislating for the defence of the Province. The first Act passed by this Legislature was "An Act to prevent desertion from His Majesty's regular forces by granting a bounty for apprehending deserters in the Province." This Act became necessary because of the too successful attempts made by the Americans to draw soldiers from their allegiance, and induce them to cross the lines to the United States, employing all the devices they knew so well how to use to induce the regular soldiers to exchange what they were made to believe was a hard service for the comfortable homes of American citizens. Another Act passed this session was "An Act to extend the provisions of an Act passed in the forty-eighth year of His Majesty's reign, entituled 'An Act to explain, amend and reduce to one Act of Parliament the several laws now in being for the raising and training of the militia of the Province.' "
During the same session the Legislature passed another Act ' entitled " An Act for granting to His Majesty a sum of money for the use of the militia of this Province."
The voice of the Legislature, as evinced by their answer to Sir Isaac's speech on opening the House, re-acted on the country. The assurance of His Excellency that England would certainly co-operate in the defence of the Province infused new confidence. Governor Gore, the predecessor of Brock in the civil administration of the government, had given offence to a good many of the inhabitants. Dr. Scadding, in his " Toronto of Old," gives us to understand that this governor was "plainly of the type of the English country squire of a former day ; that he had a ' cavalier style ' distasteful to many ; that he was scarcely like a Cromwell, but rather like a Louis XIV.," etc.
Brock's speech at the opening of the House had the effect
BROCK'S VIGILANCE: 93
r — ^\
of consolidating the strength of the members of the Legisla- ture, as well as of the inhabitants of the Province. On Feb- ruary 12th, 1812, referring to his speech in a letter to the Adjutant-General, Colonel Baynes, Brock said : " The most powerful opponents of Governor Gore's administration take the lead on the present occasion. I, of course, don't think it expedient to damp the ardor displayed by these once doubtful characters. Some opposed Mr. Gore evidently from personal motives, but never forfeited the right of being numbered among the most loyal."
In this letter to Colonel Baynes, he urges, in case of hostilities, the importance of securing possession of Michilimackinac and Detroit. He points out the impossibility of getting troops up the St. Clair River for that enterprise, and recommends that the North- West Company send fifty or sixty men up the Ottawa to the island of St. Joseph, further recommending that forty or fifty of the 49th Light Company and a small detachment of artillery should be sent from Montreal with the North- West Company's canoes. " Should hostilities commence," he writes, "the North- West would not object to join their strength in the reduction of Michilimackinac; and should peace succeed the present wrangling, the 49th detachment could be easily removed to Amherstburgh."
At a later date, in February, 1812, Brock, in writing to Sir George Prevost, ventured to express the opinion that should France and England continue the contest much longer it would be absolutely impossible for the United States to avoid making their election, and the unfriendly disposition which the United States had for some years past evinced towards England left little doubt in his mind as to their choice. He said, " Every day hostilities are retarded, the greater the difficulties we shall
94 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
have to encounter." He further pointed out that the Americans were at that very time busily employed in raising six com- panies of Rangers for the express purpose of overawing the Indians, and were, besides, collecting a regular force at the Vincennes, probably with a view of reinforcing Detroit. He reported the arrival of a large force at Fort Wayne, intended for the garrison of Vincennes ; and that the Americans were openly, and with the utmost activity, intriguing with the Indians to gain their support. Thus was Brock assiduous in his endeavors to take all possible means to secure the defence of the Upper Province. Sir George Prevost seconded his efforts and approved of his plans.
On the 19th March, 1812, the Adjutant-General informed Brock that Sir George had it in view to send him a strong detachment of the Newfoundland regiment (the Newfoundland Fencibles, which performed such eminent service in the war of 1812), selecting their seamen and marine artificers who would be most useful in the proposed work to be carried on at York. We here see that Brock had in view the fortification of York, and are given a satisfactory explanation as to how it came that the Newfoundland Fencibles were sent to the Upper Province.
In April, 1812, Brock was busy forming the flank companies of regiments which he was authorized by Parliament, at its last session, to raise. On the 8th April he wrote to Lieut.- Colonel Nichol, commanding the 2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia, requesting him to adopt immediate means for forming and completing, from among such men as voluntarily offered to serve, two companies, not to exceed one captain, two subalterns, two sergeants, one drummer, and thirty-five rank and file. rThere was abundant reason for Brock's thinking that not-
MILITARY PRECAUTIONS. 95
"
withstanding the unwillingness of the British Ministry to
believe that the United States would go to war, yet that war was sure to come. Early in April the Administration had secretly determined that war should be declared against Great Britain. On the 4th April the President sent a confidential message to Congress, recommending, under existing circum- stances and prospects, an embargo upon all shipping for sixty days. Congress extended the term to ninety days. The peace party in the United States denounced this act of the Adminis- tration and Congress as a treasonable action, designed to plunge the nation into a war for which they were unprepared. The Administration, intent on hostilities, had prepared this measure with great care, the object of which was to remove from the ocean as many of their merchant ships as possible, and thus place them out of the reach of British ships of war when the proclamation of hostilities should be made known. This em- bargo exhibited in a remarkable manner the blind rage of a dominant party bent on inflicting vengeance on an enemy even at the certain risk of far greater damage to themselves. An American writer of the day estimated that the loss to the nation by this measure was upwards of $18,000,000.
On the 22nd April, 1812, Brock wrote Sir George Prevost, from York, that on the American side of the Niagara River armed men in colored clothes were continually patrolling along the shore ; apprised Sir George of the steps he had taken to be prepared for the enemy, and, referring to the flank companies, said : " These companies, I expect, will be composed of the best /
— -^J
description of inhabitants, who, in most cases, will have to go a great distance to attend parade. . . . According to my present arrangements, the number embodied will not exceed
96 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
700, and when the companies are completed^ throughout the Province they must be calculated at 1,800." \
On April 30th, 1812, Sir George Prevost, conscious that the Americans were anxious that something might happen on the part of the men collected on the banks of the Niagara River to produce a quarrel with the British troops, which might lead to retaliation on both sides and precipitate hostilities, directed Brock to use every effort in his power to prevent any collision from taking place between the opposing forces.
In May, 1812, the Adjutant-General informed Brock that he had reported the Glengarry Light Infantry more than complete in the establishment of 400 rank and file, and had received Sir George Prevost's command to recruit for a higher establishment.
On May loth, 1812, Major-General Brock wrote Sir George Prevost a letter, in which he remarked that he had thought for a long time that nothing but the public voice restrained the United States Government from commencing direct hostilities, and it was reasonable to expect that they would seek every opportunity to influence the minds of the people of England in order to bring them the more readily into their measures, and that he felt it to be his duty to guard against every event that could give just cause of complaint, but he was apprehensive that the proximity of the two countries would in all probability produce collisions, which, however accidentally brought about, would be represented as so many acts of aggression. Brock had at this time made a visit to the Grand River, where the Six Nation Indians were settled. He was much pleased with his reception and the good disposition that prevailed among the Indians and the people generally in that district.
On the 21st May, Colonel Baynes, writing at Quebec, com- municated to Brock a despatch, or extract of a despatch, from
WAR INEVITABLE.
97
Mr. Foster, the British Minister at Washington, in which it was stated that the American Government affected to have taken every step incumbent on the Executive as preparatory to war, and now left the ultimate decision to Congress ; that there was a great party in the House of Representatives for war, com- posed principally of the Western and Southern States — mem- bers who had little to lose and possibly something to gain — while the northern and eastern representatives were vehement against war.
It was fortunate that at this time there was in Canada a commanding General of the foresight and sagacity of Brock. He was not to be deceived by the signs of the times, whatever may have been the views entertained as to the probabilities of war by the British Ministry and the superior military authority in Canada, Sir George Prevost. There was a large party in the United States who did not believe that their Government would proceed to extremities ; but there were others, and the majority, who thought that the time was opportune, by means of a war with England, to snatch from her grasp her colony of Canada, which was supposed to be ripe for revolt, and would therefore prove an easy conquest. Fatal delusion ! Events then, as always, proved that a nation or a colony fighting in defence of its own hearthstones is not to be subdued by gasconade, though it be backed up by overwhelming force.
CHAPTEE X.
MACKINAW : ITS SITUATION AND IMPORTANCE — AMERICAN DECLARATION OF WAR — SUSPENSION OF ORDERS-IN-COUNCIL — MANIFESTO OF THE PRINCE REGENT.
BROCK was not wrong in supposing that war could not long be delayed. The question always with him was, who was to strike the first blow ? Even as late as May 27th, Sir George Prevost, the Commander-in-Chief, did not consider actual hostilities as near, as on that day he recommended to Major- General Brock the most rigid economy in carrying on the public service and in avoiding all expense not absolutely necessary. He would hardly have made these recommenda- tions had he known that before the expiry of four days from that time President Madison would send a message to Congress urging that body to openly declare war against Great Britain. The British Government might have been taken wholly unawares, and by apathy have lost one of the most, if not the most, valuable of the colonies, had not Brock, from the first moment of being placed at the head of the Provincial Govern- ment, been convinced that war was inevitable. Fortunately
IMPORTANCE OF MACKINAW. 99
for the Province, he had made himself master of her wants and requirements should she become engaged in war with her aggressive neighbors. We have before pointed out his insistence that Michilimackinac, which he considered a fort of great strategic importance, should, in the event of hostilities, be at once captured and garrisoned with British troops and • Canadian militia. With this purpose in view, the instant //
— - — ^-*J(
navigation opened in the spring he sent a supply of ordnance and other stores to Fort St. Joseph, a British post established for the protection of the fur trade on the Island of St. Joseph, situated at the debouchure of Lake Superior into the waters of Lake Huron, and about forty miles north of Michili- mackinac, or Mackinaw, as it is called for brevity. The Island of Mackinaw is situated at the northern extremity of Lake Huron, in the gorge of the Straits of Mackinaw, and blocks the entrance to Lake Michigan. In 1812 it was regarded as a post of great importance. It was in the heart of the Indian country, and a place of popular resort for the Indians, who came to barter their furs and peltries for fire-arms, powder and other supplies used by them in the chase. The possession of this fort meant the command of the whole western country above Detroit. Coffin, writing in 1864, says : " It is strongly fortitied, and makes of Lake Michigan a mare clausum, where, beyond the reach of treaty stipulations or of hostile interruptions, armaments may be planned and matured safely against the frontier of Canada." It was because of its situa- tion and importance that Brock felt, from the first, that it was essential to the success of the British arms that this fortress should be under his control. We shall see further on that Brock's wishes as to the taking of Mackinaw were fully carried out.
100 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
In former chapters we have seen that Great Britain, in passing Orders-in-Council to protect her trade, was acting in self-defence as against Napoleon's Decrees of Berlin and Milan, and to prevent the United States, under the guise of neutrals, acting as carriers for France.
At this very time, when Great Britain was engaged in a death-struggle for supremacy, and to ensure freedom to continental nations suffering under the despotism of Napoleon, President Madison, on June 1st, 1812, sent a message to Congress as misleading as it was offensive and unjust. In that message he sought to prove that the United States was the aggrieved, and Great Britain the aggressive, party.
This message is somewhat lengthy, but it is too important to be passed over when dealing with the subject of peace or war and the reasons given by an independent nation for breaking off the friendly relations which ought to subsist between two countries so nearly allied as England and the United States.
The President's message was as follows :
"Without going back beyond the renewal in 1803 of the war in which Great Britain is engaged, and omitting unrepaired wrongs of inferior magnitude, the conduct of her Government presents a series of acts hostile to the United States as an independent and neutral nation. British cruisers have been in the continued practice of violating the American flag on the great highway of nations, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under it, not in the exercise of a belligerent right, founded on the law of nations, against an enemy, but of a municipal prerogative over British subjects. British juris- diction is thus extended to neutral vessels, in a situation where no laws can operate but the law of nations and the laws of the country to which the vessels belong ; and a self-redress is assumed which, if British subjects were wrongfully detained
MADISON'S MISLEADING MESSAGE. 101
and alone concerned, is that substitution of force for a resort to the responsible Sovereign which falls within the definition of war. Could the seizure of British subjects be regarded as within a belligerent right, the acknowledged laws of war, which forbid an article of captured property to be adjudged without a regular investigation before a competent tribunal, would imperiously demand the fairest trial, where the sacred rights of persons were at issue. In place of such trial, these rights are subjected to the will of every petty commander.
" The practice, hence, is so far from affecting British subjects alone that, under the pretext of searching for these, thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of public laws and of their national flag, have been torn from their country and from everything dear to them, have been dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation, and exposed, under the severi- ties of their discipline and deadly climes, to risk their lives in the battles of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy instru- ments of taking away those of their own brethren.
" Against this crying enormity, which Great Britain would be so prompt to avenge, if committed against herself, the United States have in vain exhausted remonstrances and expostulations.
" And that no proof might be wanting of their conciliatory disposition, and no pretext left for a continuance of the practice, the British Government was formally assured of the readiness of the United States to enter into arrangements, such as could not be rejected, if the recovery of British subjects were the real and sole object. The communication passed without effect.
" British cruisers have also been in the practice of violating the rights and the peace of our coasts. They hover over and harass our entering and departing commerce. To the most insulting pretensions they have added the most lawless proceed- ings in our very harbors, and have wantonly spilt American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial jurisdiction. The principles and rules enforced by that nation, when a neutral nation, against armed vessels of belligerents hovering near her coasts and disturbing her commerce, are well known.
102 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
When called on, nevertheless, by the United States, to punish the greater offences committed by her own vessels, her Govern- ment has bestowed on their commanders additional marks of honor and confidence.
" Under pretended blockades, without the presence of an adequate force, and sometimes without the practicability of applying one, our commerce has been plundered in evjery sea ; the great staples of our country have been cut off from their legitimate markets, and a destructive blow aimed at our agricultural and maritime interests. In aggravation of these predatory measures, they have been considered as in force from the dates of their notification, a retrospective effect being thus added, as has been done in other important cases, to the unlawful- ness of the course pursued. And to render the outrage the more signal, these mock blockades have been reiterated and enforced in the face of official communications from the British Govern- ment, declaring, as the true definition of a legal blockade, ' that particular ports must be actually invested, and previous warn- ings given to vessels bound to them, not to enter.' Not content with these occasional expedients for laying waste our neutral trade, the Cabinet of Great Britain resorted, at length, to the sweeping system of blockades, under the name of Orders-in- Council, which has been moulded and managed as might best suit its political views, its commercial jealousies or the avidity of British cruisers.
" To our remonstrances against the complicated and transcen- dent injustice of this innovation, the first reply was, that the orders were reluctantly adopted by Great Britain as a neces- sary retaliation on the decrees of her enemy proclaiming a general blockade of the British Isles, at a time when the naval force of that enemy dared not to issue from his own ports. She was reminded, without effect, that her own prior blockades, unsupported by an adequate naval force, actually applied and continued, were a bar to this plea; that executed edicts against millions of our property could not be retaliation on edicts confessedly impossible to be executed, and that retaliation to
MADISON'S MISLEADING MESSAGE. 103
be just should fall on the party setting the guilty example, not on an innocent party, which was not even chargeable with an acquiescence in it.
" When deprived of this flimsy veil for a prohibition of our trade with her enemy, by the repeal of his prohibition of our trade with Great Britain, her Cabinet, instead of a correspond- ing repeal, or a practical discontinuance of its orders, formally avowed a determination to persist in them against the United States, until the markets of her enemy should be laid open to British products, thus asserting an obligation in a neutral power to require one belligerent to encourage by its internal regulations the trade of another belligerent, contradicting her own practice towards all nations, in peace as well as in war, and betraying the insincerity of those professions which incul- cated a belief that, having resorted to her orders with regret, she was anxious to find an occasion for putting an end to them.
" Abandoning still more all respect for the neutral rights of the United States, and for its own consistency, the British Government now demands, as pre-requisites to a repeal of its orders, as they relate to the United States, that a formality should be observed in the repeal of the French Decrees, nowise necessary to their determination nor exemplified by British usage; and that the French repeal, besides including that por- tion of the decrees which operates within a territorial jurisdic- tion, as well as that which operates on the high seas against the commerce of the United States, should not be a single special repeal in relation to the United States, but should be extended to whatever other neutral nations, unconnected with them, may be affected by those decrees.
" And, as an additional insult, they are called on for a formal disavowal of conditions and pretensions advanced by the French Government, for which the United States are so far from having made themselves responsible, that, in official ex- planations which have been published to the world, and in a correspondence of the American Minister at London, with the
104 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
British Ambassador for Foreign Affairs, such a responsibility was explicitly and emphatically disclaimed.
" It has become, indeed, sufficiently certain that the commerce of the United States is to be sacrificed ; not as interfering with the belligerent rights of Great Britain, not as supplying the wants of their enemies, which she herself supplies, but as interfering with the monopoly which she covets for her own commerce and navigation. She carries on a war against the lawful commerce of a friend that she may the better carry on a commerce with an enemy; a commerce polluted by the forgeries and perjuries which are, for the most part, the only passports by which it can succeed.
" Anxious to make every experiment, short of the last resort of injured nations, the United States have withheld from Great Britain, under successive modifications, the benefits of a free intercourse with their market, the loss of which could not but outweigh the profits accruing from her restrictions of our com- merce with other nations. And to entitle these experiments to the more favorable consideration, they were so framed as to enable her to place her adversary under the exclusive operation of them. To these appeals her Government has been equally inflexible, as if willing to make sacrifices of every sort rather than yield to the claims of justice or renounce the errors of a false pride. Nay, so far were the attempts carried to overcome the attachment of the British Cabinet to its unjust edicts, that it received every encouragement within the competency of the Executive Branch of our Government, to expect that a repeal of them would be followed by a war between the United States, unless the French edicts should also be repealed. Even this communication, although silencing forever the plea of a dis- position in the United States to acquiesce in those edicts, originally the sole plea of them, received no attention.
" If no other proof existed of a predetermination of the British Government against a repeal of its orders, it might be found in the correspondence of the Minister plenipotentiary of the United States, at London, and the British Secretary for Foreign
MADISON'S MISLEADING MESSAGE. 105
Affairs, in 1810, on the question whether the blockade of May, 1806, was considered as in force or as not in force. It had been ascertained that the French Government, which urged this blockade as the ground of its Berlin Decree, was willing, in the event of its removal, to repeal that decree ; which, being followed by alternate repeals of the other offensive edicts, might abolish the whole system on both sides. This inviting opportunity for accomplishing an object so important to the United States, and professed so often to be the desire of both the belligerents, was made known to the British Government. As that Government admits that an actual application of an adequate force is neces- sary to the existence of a legal blockade, and it was notorious that if such a force had ever been applied, its long discontinu- ance had annulled the blockade in question, there could be no sufficient objection on the part of Great Britain to a formal revocation of it, and no imaginable objection to a declaration of the fact that the blockade did not exist. The declaration would have been consistent with her avowed principles of blockade, and would have enabled the United States to demand from France the pledged repeal of her decrees ; either with suc- cess, in which case the way would have been open for a general repeal of the belligerent edicts, or without success, in which case the United States would have been justified in turning their measures exclusively against France. The British Govern- ment would, however, neither rescind the blockade nor declare its non-existence, nor permit its non-existence to be in- ferred and affirmed by the American plenipotentiary. On the contrary, by representing the blockade to be compre- hended in the Orders-in-Oouncil, the United States were compelled so to regard it in their subsequent proceedings. There was a period when a favorable change in the policy of the British Cabinet was justly considered as established. The Minister plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty here pro- posed an adjustment of the differences more immediately endangering the harmony of the two countries. The proposi- tion was accepted with a promptitude and cordiality corre-
106 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
spending with the invariable professions of this Government. A foundation appeared to be laid for a sincere and lasting reconciliation. The prospect, however, quickly vanished. The whole proceeding was disapproved by the British Government, without any explanation which could, at that time, repress the belief that the disavowal proceeded from a spirit of hostility to the commercial rights and prosperity of the United States. And it has since come into proof that, at the very moment when the public minister was holding the language of friendship, and inspired confidence in the sincerity of the negotiation with which he was charged, a secret agent of his Government was employed in intrigues having for their object a subversion of our Government and a dismemberment of our happy union.
" In reviewing the conduct of Great Britain towards the United States, our attention is necessarily drawn to the warfare just renewed by the savages on one of our extensive frontiers ; a warfare which is known to spare neither age nor sex, and to be distinguished by features peculiarly shocking to humanity. It is difficult to account for the activity and combinations which have for some time been developing themselves among the tribes in constant intercourse with the British traders and garrisons, without connecting their hostility with that influ- ence, and without recollecting the authenticated examples of such interpositions heretofore furnished by the officers and agents of that Government.
<: Such is the spectacle of injuries and indignities which have been heaped on our country, and such the crisis which its un- exampled forbearance and conciliatory efforts have not been able to avert. It might at least have been expected that an en- lightened nation, if less urged by moral obligations, or incited by friendly dispositions on the part of the United States, would have found in its true interest alone a sufficient motive to respect their rights and their tranquility on the high seas ; that an enlarged policy would have favored that free and general circulation of commerce in which the British nation is at all times interested, and which, in time of war, is the best
MADISON S MISLEADING MESSAGE.
107
alleviation of its calamities to herself, as well as the other belligerents ; and more especially that the British Cabinet would not, for the sake of a precarious and surreptitious inter- course with hostile markets, have persevered in a course of measures which necessarily put at hazard the invaluable market of a great and growing country disposed to cultivate the mutual advantages of an active commerce.
" Other counsels have prevailed. Our moderation and con- ciliation have had no other effect than to encourage perseverance and to enlarge pretensions. We behold our seafaring citizens still the daily victims of lawless violence committed on the great and common highway of nations, even within sight of the country which owes their protection. We behold our vessels freighted with the products of our soil and industry, or return- ing with the honest proceeds of them, arrested from their law- ful destinations, confiscated by prize courts, no longer the organs of public law, but the instruments of arbitrary edicts, and their unfortunate crews dispersed and lost, or forced or inveigled, in British ports, into British fleets, whilst arguments are employed in support of these aggressions which have no foundation but in a principle supporting equally a claim to regulate our external commerce in all cases whatsoever.
" We behold, in fine, on the side of Great Britain, a state of war against the United States, and on the side of the United States a state of peace towards Great Britain.
" Whether the United States shall continue passive under these progressive usurpations, and these accumulating wrongs ; or, opposing force to force, in defence of their national rights, shall commit a just cause into the hands of the Almighty Dis- poser of events, avoiding all connections which might entangle it in the contests or views of other powers, and preserving a constant readiness to concur in an honorable re-establishment of peace and friendship, is a solemn question which the consti- tution wisely confides to the legislative department of the Government. In recommending it to their early deliberations, I am happy in the assurance that the decision will be worthy
108 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the enlightened and patriotic councils of a virtuous, a free, and a powerful nation. Having presented this view of the relations of the United States with Great Britain, and of the solemn alternative growing out of them, I proceed to remark that the communications last made to Congress, on the subject of our relations with France, will have shown that since the revocation of her decrees, as they violated the neutral rights of the United States, her Government has authorized illegal captures by its privateers and public ships, and that other outrages have been practised on our vessels and our citizens. It will have been seen also that no indemnity had been provided or satisfactorily pledged for the extensive spoliations committed under the violent and retrospective order of the French Government against the property of our citizens seized within the jurisdiction of France.
" I abstain at this time from recommending to the considera- tion of Congress definitive measures with respect to that nation, in the expectation that the result of unclosed discussions be- tween our Minister plenipotentiary at Paris and the French Government will speedily enable Congress to decide with greater advantage on the course due to the rights, the interests, and the honor of our country."
The President's address partakes more of the character of a declamatory speech than a State paper of the head of a Govern- ment. But the President was fully aware that a large minority of Congress and of the people were not favorable to a war, hence he felt it necessary to make his message an indictment which would so stir the hearts of the American people as to procure men and means for carrying on aggressive hostilities.
Congress did not think it right to stay its hand until the President's address had reached England and opportunity been afforded the British Government to answer the charges made by the President as the excuse for the step he was taking, but
AMERICAN DECLARATION OF WAH. 109
precipitately, on the 18th of June, 1812, made a formal declara- tion of war against Great Britain. The ostensible grounds fox war were the Orders-in-Council and the exercise of the right oE search. As to the Orders-in-Council, the Prince Regent had, in April,1812, made proclamation, published in the London Gazette, that the repeal of the Orders-in-Council should take place so soon as a formal revocation of the French decrees was announced. Before war was declared, Lord Castlereagh, the Prime Minister of England, made a statement in the House of Commons that a communication had been made by the American Charge des Affairs to Lord Castlereagh of a copy of the alleged instrument of repeal by the French Government; and although this revo- cation was not such as to satisfy the conditions required by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent's declaration, yet as Great Britain was anxious to replace on its ancient basis the com- merce of neutral nations, the Orders-in-Council of 7th January, 1807, and of 26th April, 1809, were thereby suspended, as far as regarded American property, from the 1st of August follow- ing. By the time the declaration of war had reached New York (23rd June) the Orders-in-Council were absolutely re- pealed As to the " crying enormity " of impressing " thous- ands of American citizens," referred to by the President in his message, the following extract taken from a Boston work entitled, " The Massachusetts Manual, or Political and Historical Register," shows that in respect of numbers the President's message magnified hundreds or less into thousands, and was otherwise highly colored :
" During the debate on the Loan Bill in the United States House of Representatives, in March, 1814, Mr. Pickering, of Massachusetts, remarked : ' I wish, Mr. Chairman, to present one more view of this subject of impressments, the result of an
110 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
examination of the public documents, about a year ago, by one of my colleagues.
" 'By those documents, the grand total is the well-known
number 6,257
From which he deducted for the same name, and apparently the same person, twice, thrice, or
more times repeated 548
For an excess arising from some errors between
the returns of 1805 and 1808 757
1,305
Leaving 4,952
From which he deducted acknowledged British
subjects 516
Those who had no protecting documents 568
Those with insufficient documents 664
Those who had entered voluntarily 281
Those with fraudulent protections 195
Deserters 95
Those married in Great Britain 42
Neutral aliens and natives of West Indies 50
Prisoners of war 21
2,432
Leaving 2,520
From this number he deducted one-third, which appeared to him, from the documents, rather less than the full proportion of seamen impressed from British merchant vessels, in which, if not British subjects, the American flag could afford no pro- tection . 840
Leaving 1,680
From the last number he deducted those who had been discharged or had been ordered to be dis- charged 1,524
Leaving unaccounted for 156.' "
The American Government was in the habit of claiming, as American subjects, the naturalized as well as native citizens.
SEIZURE OF AN AMERICAN DESERTER. Ill
Deserters from British ships would take the oath of allegiance to the United States in order to shield them from the crime of treason. For a small consideration, the deserter would pur- chase every privilege of the naturalized citizen in pretended abrogation of the allegiance he owed to the country of his birth. More than that, the American Government did not hesitate, when it was found convenient, to exercise the same right the exercise of which they denied to Great Britain.
On June 1st, 1809, an American vessel, bound from Ogdens- burg, New York, to Oswego, anchored in a bay on the British side of the St. Lawrence, having on board Captain W. P. Bennet, of the 6th United States Infantry, and some of his men. While lying there, Captain Bennet, hearing that a deserter by the name of Underbill was in that settlement teaching school, despatched a sergeant and two men to appre- hend him. This they effected; tied his hands behind him, and, at the point of the bayonet, drove him some distance, till the prisoner making an attempt to escape, the party fired at and killed him. They then fled to their boat, and proceeded to the American side. Captain Bennet was tried by a court-martial for this offence and acquitted.
In 1813, one Elijah Clarke, who had emigrated from the United States to Canada and there taken the oath of allegiance to the British Government, returned to his native country, and was, on October 20th, 1813, tried and sentenced to be hung as a British spy. The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United States, ordered him to be discharged, on the principle " that said Clarke, being considered a citizen of the United States, was not liable to be tried by a court- martial." With these facts before us, it seems difficult to
112 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
understand why the United States declared war against Great Britain.
The Prince Regent, on January 9th, 1813, issued a manifesto in reply to Mr. Madison's, in which he fully and completely vindicated the British Government on all the charges made by the President as his reasons for declaring war. The document is too long to give in this place in its entirety ; the full text will be found in the first chapter of James' " History of the War of 1812."
This paper specifically answered every accusation, and then, after referring to the pacific measures which had been adopted by Great Britain to avoid war, proceeded :
" But the real origin of the present contest will be found in that spirit which has long unhappily actuated the councils of the United States — their marked partiality in palliating and assisting the aggressive tyranny of France ; their systematic endeavors to inflame the people against the defensive meas- ures of Great Britain ; their ungenerous conduct towards Spain, the intimate ally of Great Britain, and their unworthy desertion of the cause of other neutral nations. It is through the prevalence of such councils that America has been asso- ciated in policy with France and committed in war against Great Britain.
" And under what conduct, on the part of France, has the Government of the United States thus lent itself to the enemy ? The contemptuous violation of the commercial treaty of the year 1801 between France and the United States; the treacherous seizure of all American vessels and cargoes in every harbor, subject to the control of the French arms ; the tyrannical principles of the Berlin and Milan decrees, and the confisca- tions under them ; the subsequent confiscations under the Ram- bouillet decree, antedated or concealed to render it the more effectual ; the French commercial regulations, which render the
MANIFESTO OF THE PRINCE KEGENT. 113
traffic of the United States with France almost illusory ; the burning of their merchant ships at sea, long after the alleged repeal of the French decrees — all these acts of violence, on the part of France, produce from the Government of the United States only such complaints as end in acquiescence and submission, or are accompanied by suggestions for enabling France to give the semblance of a legal form to her usurpa- tions by converting them into municipal regulations.
" This disposition of the Government of the United States — this complete subserviency to the ruler of France — this hostile temper against Great Britain — are evident in almost every page of the official correspondence of the American with the French Government.
"Against this course of conduct, the real cause of the present war, the Prince Regent solemnly protests. Whilst contending against France in defence not only of the liberties of Great Britain, but of the world, His Royal Highness was entitled to look for a far different result. From their common origin, from their common interest, from their professed principles of free- dom and independence, the United States was the last power in which Great Britain could have expected to find a willing instrument and abettor of French tyranny.
"Disappointed in this, his just expectations, the Prince Regent will pursue the policy which the British Government has so long and invariably maintained in repelling injustice and in supporting the general rights of nations ; and, under the favor of Providence, relying on the justice of his cause, and the tried loyalty and firmness of the British nation, His Royal Highness confidently looks forward to a successful issue to the contest in which he has thus been compelled to engage."
CHAPTER XI.
SPEECHES OF AMERICAN STATESMEN — AMERICAN WESTERN ARMY — GENE- RAL HULL — EXTRA SESSION OF PARLIAMENT — BROCK'S ADDRESS — REPLY OF LEGISLATURE — ON TO MACKINAW !
BEFORE the declaration of war the United States Government had laid well its plans in the hope, by a surprise, to gain an advantage over Great Britain. In April, 1812, the States had placed an embargo upon all shipping, and thus enabled themselves to secure the sailors of all nations in port for their navy. The embargo would stop all means of communication with England, and thus what was transpiring on the American side of the Atlantic would be as a sealed book to the Britons. Further- more, the West India fleet would in May or June be on its homeward voyage, and if the Americans could capture that fleet they would secure a rich prize to strengthen the sinews of war. The United States naval officers must have been informed that war would be declared some time before it was an accomplished fact. On the very day on which war was declared (18th June), an American squadron of three frigates and two sloops gave chase to the West India fleet, then being
SPEECHES OF AMERICAN STATESMEN. 115
convoyed by a British frigate on the Atlantic. They were, however, left behind in the chase ; the frigate saved herself and every merchantman under her convoy.
The Americans had, from the beginning of the year, busied themselves in preparing for the war they saw coming in the near distance. Besides strengthening their fortifications and posts, an Act of Congress was passed on the llth January, 1812, for raising ten additional regiments of infantry to con- sist of 2,000 men each, two regiments of cavalry of 2,000 each, and one additional regiment of artillery to consist of 1,000 men, enlisted for five years. Early in February another Act passed Congress, authorizing the President of the United States to accept the military services of certain volunteer corps, not to exceed in number 50,000 men ; and in the month of April an Act was passed to call into service, for the purpose of mili- tary drill, 100,000 militia.
In addition, the United States, at the opening of the war, had a regular army of eleven regiments of five hundred men each. This augmentation of the American forces was to strike terror into the hearts of the Canadians, whom they wished to bless with the benefits of Republican government ! The United States Government had, indeed, made themselves believe that no other government than Republican was fit to be tolerated
on the Continent of America. A member of Congress, in the
i
discussion of peace or war, said : " We shall drive the British from our continent." Another member of Congress thus de- livered himself : " The Falls of Niagara could be resisted with as much success as the American people when they should be called into action." Henry Clay, who afterwards was driven to sign the treaty of peace, thus spoke : " It is absurd to suppose we shall not succeed in our enterprise against the enemy's pro-
116 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
vinces. We have the Canadas as much under our command as Great Britain has the ocean ; and the way to conquer her on the ocean is to drive her from the land. I am not for stopping at Quebec, or anywhere else, but I would take the whole con- tinent from them and ask them no favors. . . . We must take the continent from them. I wish never to see a peace till we do. God has given us the power and the means ; we are to blame if we do not use them."
The Americans had, it is true, a formidable army, but they little understood the spirit of the Canadian people against whom their land forces were to be hurled. Brock was in the watch-tower noting all their movements! The Americans had set their land forces in motion so early as the month of May. Brigadier-General Hull had, early in that month, been des- patched with a force to the North-west, and was invested with discretionary powers to invade Canada from Detroit immedi- ately on receiving intelligence of the declaration of war. This army, 2,500 strong, arrived at Detroit on the 5th July to be in readiness for the contemplated invasion. While the Americans were on the march for Detroit, Brock was surveying the situa- tion. He knew that the Province of Canada was in a com- paratively defenceless condition. His own individual command was confined to Upper Canada, which, in a military point of view, was in worse condition than Lower Canada. To man the fortresses of Quebec and Kingston, and to cover a frontier of 1,700 miles in length, the whole available force consisted of 4,450 regulars of all arms. In the Upper Province, with a frontier of 1,300 miles, there were but 1,450 soldiers. The militia consisted of about 2,500 men in the Lower Province and about 1,800 in Upper Canada. The regular soldiers in Upper Canada were :
LEGISLATURE SUMMONED. 117
41st Regiment - - - - - - - 900
10th Veterans - - - - . - - - 250
Newfoundland Regiment - - - - - 250
Royal Artillery 50
Total 1,450
To this may be added fifty provincial seamen performing service on the lakes.
This force had to occupy the forts of St. Joseph, Amherst- burgh, Chippewa, Fort Erie, Fort George, York and Kingston ; to maintain the superiority on the lakes ; to preserve the com- munication and escort convoys up the St. Lawrence, and to defend an assailable frontier of nearly 800 miles, reckoning from the confines of Lower Canada to Amherstburgb, and excluding the British coast from the Detroit to Fort St. Joseph. With this very inadequate force, it was the opinion of the highest authorities that the country could not be maintained. Major-General Brock was well aware that in carrying on the war along so extensive a frontier, uncovered by a single fort- ress of strength, and with such a handful of regular troops, he could only expect success in the aid and zealous co-operation of the Canadian people. Notice of the declaration of war by the United States reached the Major-General at York seven days after it had been declared, but then only through a private source. He did not receive an official notice of the declaration till some weeks after it had been made. As soon as the Major- General received intelligence by the private messenger sent from Albany that war had really been proclaimed, he assem- bled his Council and summoned an extra session of the Legisla- ture to meet him at York on the 27th July, and then hastened with his Brigade- Major, Evans, and his aide-de-camp, Captain Glegg, to Fort George, where he immediately established his
118 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
headquarters. The building of this fort was commenced in the year 1796, or about that time, to supply the place of old Fort George — commonly known as Fort Niagara — on the opposite side of the River Niagara, given up to the Americans under the Jay Treaty of 1796. The fort was not fully constructed till some years afterwards. From the records in the Archives at Ottawa, it appears that work was being done in the con- struction of the fort in the autumn of 1799.
On the 3rd January, 1803, Colonel Gother Mann wrote Major Greene, then in charge of Fort George, from Quebec, enclosing Captain Bruyere's report on the state of public build- ings and works at the several military posts in Upper Canada. Fort George is included in the number, referring to which, he reported the works in a tolerable state of repair, but that it would be absolutely necessary to attend to some particular points in order to secure what had already been performed; also, to complete such parts as have not been done agreeable to the original plan.
This report shows the armament of the fort at that time (1803), and there is no reason to doubt it being the same, or nearly the same, when Major-General Brock made the fort his headquarters in 1812. The report states the following to be the proportion of ordnance then at the fort :
3 18-pounder iron guns, mounted on gun carriages. 11 12-pounder iron guns, mounted on gun carriages.
7 9-pounder iron guns, mounted on gun carriages.
1 12-pounder iron carronade.
1 8-inch brass mortar, mounted.
1 2-pounder brass gun on field carriage.
6 6-pounder brass guns on field carriages.
1 4-pounder brass gun on field carriage.
4 3-pounder brass guns on field carriages.
FORT GEORGE. 119
5 18 -pounder iron carronades, spare.
4 12-pounder iron carronades.
1 iron swivel, spare.
4 4£-inch brass mortars, spare.
This report also gives us information as to the buildings. Captain Bruyere says : " The centre block-house is one hundred feet long, thirty feet wide, nine feet high in the upper floor ; contains four rooms for officers' quarters, at present occupied by one captain and one subaltern, and two rooms for soldiers' quarters will contain eighty men in a crowded state. The ground floor is ninety feet long, twenty-six feet wide, twelve feet high, used for stores ; but if another building was erected for stores, and this one converted into quarters for soldiers, it would then contain 200 with ease. The north block-house is forty -four feet long, twenty-four feet wide, nine feet high in the upper part ; contains one room for thirty-six men. The ground floor, one room for thirty-two men. The south block is a similar building in every respect. The octagon block-house is twenty-eight feet in diameter, used for ordnance stores. The officers' pavilion is an excellent building, one hundred and twenty feet long, twenty feet wide, twelve feet high, with two wings twenty feet square ; contains quarters for four captains and four subalterns. The hospital is a good building, seventy- two feet in length, twenty-six feet wide, and thirteen feet high ; contains two sick wards for sixty men, with a detached surgery. There are separate detached kitchens to all the officers' and soldiers' quarters. The guard-house is forty-eight feet long, twenty feet wide, twelve feet high. The powder magazine requires some trifling repairs to the brick work above the doors of the porch."
Gustavus Nicholls was the engineer officer in charge of Fort
120 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
George from the beginning of the year 1805 till the autumn of 1806, and it may be for a longer time. On 2nd January, 1805, he wrote Lieut.-Colonel Green, military secretary, York, send- ing an estimate of the repairs necessary to the powder magazine, the floor of which he represented as entirely decayed. On the 29th March, 1805, he again wrote to the military secretary that the fence around the house occupied by the officers, 1,664 feet, required repairing. The fence, he says, was put up about ten years ago, six feet above ground, and 1| feet in it. This fence " put up about ten years ago " takes us back to 1794, an earlier period than I have given as the time of commencement of the fort. Some idea of the size and capacity of the fort may be formed from the circumstance that the American official returns show that in 1813, when the Americans occupied the place, the garrison consisted of upwards of 6,600 men.
It has been suggested to me by Colonel Powell, Adjutant- General of the Dominion, and who has kindly lent assistance in procuring for me information from the Archives at Ottawa relative to this important post, that it seems probable that some part of Fort George, on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, was constructed before the evacuation of Fort Niagara under the Jay Treaty of 1796. I think, from the above, that Colonel Powell is right in his conclusion. Fort George is an historic spot, the place of the headquarters of the heroic General Brock in the only foreign war Upper Canada has been engaged in since she became a distinct province, and the first burial-place of General Brock's remains.
The invitation of the Canadian Institute, made to me in the summer of 1890, to read a paper at their meeting at Niagara in July of that year, afforded me an opportunity of going over the fort with Mr. Hamilton, the chairman of the Historical Section
BROCK'S EMBARRASSMENT. 121
of the Institute, and Mr. Houston, Parliamentary librarian. It was sad to observe the dilapidated condition of the old fort and its ruined works. The visitor now could hardly believe that it had ever been of such a character as official records prove it to have been at the end of the last century, the beginning of this, and during the war of 1812. At Fort George, Brock was very much embarrassed as to the course of action to be pursued by him on receipt of the intimation already referred to that war had been declared, and while yet wholly without official notice of the same fact. For some unaccountable reason, he did not receive official notice till the 29th July that the Act of the Congress declaring war had been officially ratified by the Pre- sident. Brock, ever prompt in all his actions, two days after he received private advices that war had been declared, instructed Captain Roberts, stationed at St. Joseph with a detachment of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, to make an immediate attack upon Michilimackinac, at the same time directing him to summon to his assistance the Indians within his influence, as well as the gentlemen and dependents of the British fur companies near his fort. On the day following, thinking it might be precipitate to attack the enemy without official notice of the declaration of war, he wrote to Captain Roberts suspending the order of the previous day ; but on the 28th June, being sufficiently informed of the declaration of war, he directed Captain Roberts to attack. Three days before Brock's last order to Captain Roberts to attack the fort, Sir George Prevost wrote Captain Roberts from Quebec to take every precaution to secure his fort against any attempt by the enemy, and in case of necessity to retreat. The state of Brock's mind is shown from a letter of his to Sir George Prevost, the Commander-in-Chief, written at Fort George on
r.
122 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the 3rd July, 1812." He said in his letter: "I have been anxiously expecting for some days to receive the honor of your Excellency's commands in regard to the measures the mo.st proper to be pursued in the present emergency.
"The accounts received, first through a mercantile channel, and soon after repeated from various sources, of war having been declared by the United States against Great Britain, could have justified, in my opinion, offensive operations. But reflect- ing that at Detroit and Michilimackinac the weak state of the garrisons would prevent the commanders from accomplishing any essential service in any degree with their future security, and that my means of annoyance on this communication were limited to the reduction of Fort Niagara, which could easily be battered at any future period, I relinquished my original inten- tion and attended only to defensive measures."
Brock, in this letter, informed the Commander-in-Chief that his first object had been the calling out of the flank companies of the militia, which, on the Niagara line of frontier, supplied a force of about 800 men. He further informed him that he had summoned 100 Indians from the Grand River, and that they had obeyed the summons ; that the remainder had pro- mised to come, but that he had every reason to think that the Americans had been too successful in their endeavors to sow dissension and disaffection among them.
On July 10th, Sir George Prevost wrote to Major-General Brock that in his opinion the number of troops under Brock's command would not justify offensive operations being under- taken, unless they were solely calculated to strengthen a defensive attitude. On July 12th, the Major-General wrote that, as it was absolutely necessary to place an officer to com- mand the eastern district, he had consented to Major-General
BROOK A MAN OF ACTION.
123
Shaw proceeding there in that capacity, that he had full con- fidence in his judgment, and that his conduct in the field was undoubted.
It has been mentioned in the previous chapter that on February 12th, 1812, long before war was actually declared, Brock had communicated to Sir George Prevost his full convic- tion that unless Detroit and Michilimackinac were both in possession of the British immediately at the commencement of hostilities, not only the district of Amherstburgh, but most probably the whole country as far as Kingston, must be evacuated.
Brock was not a man of words only, but essentially a man of action. His whole military life shows him to have been prompt, energetic, decisive ; when any work was to be done, he did it with a will. He was aware that the responsibility of preserving Upper Canada as a Province of the British Empire had been entrusted to him. He knew, moreover, that he had but a handful of troops to meet the overwhelming forces of the United States ; therefore, it became necessary at the out- set to seize upon strategic points.
His was no Fabian policy — it was to march onward to the goal, casting all small obstacles aside. If Nelson had not been conveniently blind of one eye at Copenhagen, the naval battle of the Danish capital might not have been fought and won. If Brock had not been a little deaf, he would have listened to what Sir George Prevost poured into his ear on July 10th, when he said: "Our numbers will not justify offensive opera- tions being undertaken, unless they are solely calculated to strengthen a defensive attitude." In his opinion Michilimacki- nac must fall or the country was lost.
The contradictory orders received by Captain Roberts on
124 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the subject of attacking Mackinaw gave him much concern. He was aware of the importance Brock attached to the gaining possession of that fort.
Brock had reinforced the post of St. Joseph in the spring, and Roberts had received instructions from General Brock, dated at Fort George, July 4th, which, notwithstanding the irregular and perplexing interference of Sir George Prevost, left him at liberty to act as circumstances might dictate.
As soon as Roberts received discretionary power to act, he set about in earnest to complete his preparations to strike a blow in the direction indicated.
The preparations could not be perfected for some days, and it was fortunate that some time had to be consumed before hazarding an attack, as during the delay the Americans showed their design to conquer Canada by a bold invasion of the Province.
On July 5th, the day after Brock wrote to Captain Roberts from Fort George, authorizing him to attack Mackinaw if the circumstances were favorable, Brigadier-General Hull, of the American army, arrived at Detroit with a force of about 2,000 men.
James, in his " History of the War of 1812," states that Hull arrived at Detroit on July 5th, with an army 2,500 strong, to be in readiness for the contemplated invasion of Canada.
On the 12th July, 1812, General Hull embarked his army on board transports and crossed the Detroit River, landing on the Canadian side of the river, and immediately after occu- pied the village of Sandwich. The people of Sandwich at this time were mostly French. It is said that in the habits and language of the people, in their horses, vehicles and domestic arrangements, together with the long lines of Lombardy pop-
BRIGADIER-GENERAL HULL'S PROCLAMATION. 125
lars, pear trees of unusual age and size, and umbrageous walnut trees, the traveller was strongly reminded of the banks of the Loire. A large number of the inhabitants in and around Sand- wich, on the approach of Hull, betook themselves to the British fort at Amherstburgh for protection, and, if necessary, to give their aid in repelling the invader.
The garrison at Amherstburgh — or, more properly, of Fort Maiden — at this time consisted of about 200 men of the first battalion of the 41st Regiment, under Captain Muir (Colonel Proctor being colonel of this regiment), a very weak detach- ment of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, and a subaltern's (Lieutenant Troughton's) command of artillery — not a very large force to be placed in competition with the formidable army of the invader.
Brigadier-General Hull, on the day following his landing on Canadian soil, issued a proclamation which, for insidiousness and audacity, has seldom been surpassed. Here it is :
" Brigadier-General Hull's Proclamation.
" Inhabitants of Canada ! After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the United States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the insults and indignities of Great Britain, have once more left them no alternative but manly resistance or unconditional submission.
" The army under my command has invaded your country, and the standard of Union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable, unoffending inhabitant it brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make them. I come to protect, not to injure you.
"Separated by an immense ocean and an extensive wilder- ness from Great Britain, you have no participation in her councils, no interest in her conduct. You have felt her tyranny, you have seen her injustice, but I do not ask you to avenge the
126 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
one or redress the other. The United States are sufficiently powerful to afford you every security consistent with their rights and your expectations. I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, and their neces- sary result, individual and general prosperity — that liberty which gave decision to our councils and energy to our struggle for independence, and which conducted us safely and trium- phantly through the stormy period of the revolution ; that liberty which has raised us to an elevated rank among the nations of the world, and which has afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever yet fell to the lot of any people.
" In the name of my country, and by the authority of my Government, I promise protection to your persons, property and rights. Remain at your homes, pursue your peaceful and customary avocations, raise not your hands against your breth- ren. Many of your fathers fought for the freedom and inde- pendence which we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of the same family with us, and heirs to the same heritage, the arrival of an army of friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. You will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression and restored to the dignified station of freemen. Had I any doubt of eventual success I might ask your assist- ance, but I do not. I come prepared for every contingency. I have a force which will look down all opposition, and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater. If, contrary to your own interests and the just expectation of ray country, you should take part in the approaching contest, you will be considered and treated as enemies, and the horrors and calami- ties of war will stalk before you. If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savages be let loose to murder our citizens and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with the scalping-knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the side of an Indian will be taken
CAPTURE OF MACKINAW. 127
prisoner; instant destruction will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice and humanity cannot prevent the employ- ment of a force which respects no rights and knows no wrong, it will be prevented by a severe and relentless system of retaliation.
" I doubt not your courage and firmness. I will not doubt your attachment to liberty. If you tender your services voluntarily, they will be accepted readily. The United States offer you peace, liberty and security. Your choice lies between these and war, slavery and destruction. Choose then, but choose wisely, and may He who knows the justice of our cause, and who holds in His hands the fate of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible with your rights and interests, your peace and prosperity.
" By the General,
" W. HULL, " A. F. HULL,
"Captain 13th Regiment U.S. Infantry and Aide-de-Camp.
" Headquarters, Sandwich, 12th July, 1812."
Five days had not gone by after Brigadier-General Hull had planted his foot on Canadian soil before his own country was invaded by Captain Roberts, at the head of thirty-three regulars and 160 Canadian voyageurs.
We have seen that Brock gave Captain Roberts full discretion to attack the post of Mackinaw whenever he should think it practicable to make a successful assault.
The time had now arrived when Roberts thought he could make the venture. In addition to the regulars and voyageurs, he had attached to his cause about four hundred Indians.
On the 10th July, he embarked with this force on a brig belonging to the North-West Company, and in canoes and
128 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
small boats, and set out from Fort St. Joseph to make the forty miles across to the island of Mackinaw, where he hoped to surprise the garrison in the strong fort on the rocky heights of this important military position. Captain Roberts was anxious for a surprise, because of the fact that the arms at his com- mand were old and out of date. He could muster only two old iron three-pounders, which had been used at his post of St. Joseph for firing salutes, some fowling-pieces and old muskets. With this force and this armament, however, he was able to accomplish the object of the expedition. Early in the dawn of the 17th July, the force landed at Mackinaw Island unseen and unmolested. Captain Roberts got his two old three-pounders into a menacing position, disposed of his force in such manner as to give an imposing appearance,' ordered his thirty-three regulars to the front, and bade the Indians and half-breeds yell the war-whoop.
At this summons, the American commander, who was taken entirely by surprise, surrendered his post, with about seventy- five regulars and a large quantity of military stores and valu- able furs. The capture of this fort was most important in many ways. It was a well-fortified position, and the key to the western country. Its capture secured the adhesion of the Indians; it disconcerted General Hull, and, without doubt, opened the door for the subsequent capture of Detroit. Nothing could have been more satisfactory to Brock than the seizing upon this stronghold. He had, in his mind's eye, early planned the capture of strategic positions. Here was one secured. As we proceed we will see that the further execution of his plans checked the enemy and saved the province.
CHAPTEE XII.
CANADA ROUSED — BROCK'S COUNTER-PROCLAMATION — DISAFFECTION IN THE WESTERN DISTRICT — TECUMSEH — SHARP SKIRMISHING — MAJOR- GENERAL SHEAFFE APPOINTED ON THE STAFF — MEETING OF THE LEGISLATURE.
INTELLIGENCE that General Hull and his army corps had invaded the Province did not reach Brock at headquarters until five days after the landing had been effected.
He at once despatched a message to the Commander-in-Chief, enclosing General Hull's proclamation, at the same time inform- ing Sir George Prevost that a general sentiment prevailed that with his present force he would not be able to resist the enemy ; adding, however, " I shall continue to overcome every difficulty."
The bombastic proclamation of General Hull only caused Brock to be more determined to show the Americans that, in defending a country, the weight of numbers should not triumph over right and justice. Canada herself had given no offence to her neighbors on the other side of the boundary. Why, then,
130 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BKOCK.
should her soil be invaded by an army who had no other object in view than conquest ?
The United Empire Loyalists had left the United States territory after the Revolution in order to enjoy peace and security in a land which, though but a wilderness, was subject to the hardy will and patient toil of the husbandman, and his axe and his ploughshare. Were these men to be hunted like slaves in a land to which they had fled for security ? It was true that in numerical strength they could not cope with the Americans, but they had stout hearts and strong hands, ever ready to defend themselves from any and every quarter of attack. It only required the genius of a man like General Brock to rouse the people to action, and the battle was won.
On the 22nd July, Brock caused to be published a counter proclamation to that strange combination of coaxing, cajoling and threatening issued by General Hull, in which he had sought to gain over the Canadians from their allegiance to the Crown they had made every sacrifice to serve. The pro- clamation of General Brock was couched in the following language :
" The unprovoked declaration of war by the United States of America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its dependencies has been followed by the actual invasion of this Province, in a remote frontier of the western district, by a detachment of the armed force of the United States.
" The officer commanding that detachment has thought proper to invite His Majesty's subjects, not merely to a quiet and unresisting submission, but insults them with a call to seek voluntarily the protection of his Government.
" Without condescending to repeat the illiberal epithets bestowed in this appeal of the American commander to the
BROCK'S COUNTER-PROCLAMATION. 131
people of Upper Canada, on the administration of His Majesty, every honest inhabitant of the Province is desired to seek the confutation of such indecent slander in the review of his own particular circumstances. Where is the Canadian subject who can truly affirm to himself that he has been injured by the Government in his person, his property or his liberty ? Where is to be found, in any part of the world, a growth so rapid in prosperity and wealth as this colony exhibits ? Settled not thirty years by a band of veterans exiled from their former possessions on account of their loyalty, not a descendant of these brave people is to be found who, under the fostering liberality of their Sovereign, has not acquired a property and means of enjoyment superior to what were possessed by their ancestors. This unequalled prosperity would not have been attained by the utmost liberality of the Government, or the persevering industry of the people, had not the maritime power of the mother country secured to its colonists a safe access to every market where the produce of their labor was in request. The unavoidable and immediate consequences of a separation from Great Britain must be the loss of this inestimable advantage ; and what is offered you in exchange ? To become a territory of the United States, and share with them that exclusion from the ocean which the policy of their Government' enforces ; you are not even flattered with a participation of their boasted independence, and it is but too obvious that, once estranged from the powerful protection of the United Kingdom, you must be re-annexed to the dominion of France, from which the provinces of Canada were wrested by the arms of Great Britain, at a vast expense of blood and treasure, from no other motive than to relieve her ungrateful children from the oppression of a cruel neighbor. This restitution of Canada to the empire of France was the stipulated reward for the aid afforded to the revolted colonies, now the United States. The debt is still due, and there can be no doubt that the pledge has been renewed as a consideration for commercial advantages, or rather for an expected relaxation of the tyranny of France
132 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
over the commercial world. Are you prepared, inhabitants of Canada, to becom" willing subjects — or rather slaves — to the despot who rules the nations of continental Europe with a rod of iron ? If not, arise in a body, exert your energies, co-operate cordially with the King's regular forces to repel the invader, and do not give cause to your children, when groaning under the oppression of a foreign master, to reproach you with having so easily parted with the richest inheritance of this earth — a participation in the name, character and freedom of Britons.
" The same spirit of justice, which will make every reason- able allowance for the unsuccessful efforts of zeal and loyalty, will not fail to punish the defalcation of principle. Every Canadian freeholder is, by deliberate choice, bound by the most solemn oaths to defend the monarchy as well as his own property. To shrink from that engagement is a treason not to be forgiven. Let no man suppose that if, in this unexpected struggle, His Majesty's arms should be compelled to yield to an overwhelming force, the Province will be eventually abandoned ; the endeared relation of its first settlers, the intrinsic value of its commerce, and the pretension of its powerful rival to repossess the Canadas, are pledges that no peace will be established between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, of which the restoration of these provinces does not make the most prominent condition. Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the commander of the enemy's forces to refuse quarter should an Indian appear in the ranks. The brave band of aborigines who inhabit this colony were, like His Majesty's other subjects, punished for their zeal and fidelity by the loss of their possessions in the late colonies, and rewarded by His Majesty with lands of superior value in this Province. The faith of the British Government has never yet been violated ; the Indians feel that the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity protected from the base arts so frequently devised to over-reach their simplicity. By what new principle are they to be prohibited from defending their property ? If their warfare, from being different to that of
APATHY OF THE WESTERN SETTLERS. 133
the white people, be more terrific to the enemy, let him retrace his steps. They seek him not, and he cannot expect to find women and children in an invading army. But they are men, and have equal rights with all other men to defend themselves and their property when invaded, more especially when they find in the enemy's camp a ferocious and mortal foe using the same warfare which the American commander affects to reprobate. The inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing quarter, for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother sufferer in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations of war in this part of the King's dominions, but in every quarter of the globe ; for the national character of Britain is not less distinguished for humanity than strict retributive justice, which will consider the execution of this inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending power must make expiation."
This dignified and manly address of Brock's had the desired effect. The people flocked to his standard with great alacrity, and in such numbers that the resources under his control were not sufficient to afford the necessary accommodation to all who were willing to volunteer to serve under him.
The response, unfortunately, was not so general in the west- ern part of the Province. The settlers in the district in which Sandwich is situated, bordering on the Detroit river, were for the most part French-Canadians, and Americans from the French settlement around Detroit, with no very pronounced affection for the British.
These settlers were in constant intercourse with their con- freres, the Americans, on the opposite side of the river. Many of them were relatives of the Detroit people, and it was not sur- prising that Hull, who appeared to them as a young Napoleon come to deliver them from what, in his proclamation, he termed
134 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the "injustice" and "tyranny" of the British, should for a time have drawn them away from their allegiance. As many as five hundred of these settlers gave in their adherence to the enemy, and, owing to the supineness of the inhabitants of the surrounding country, a party of General Hull's cavalry, amounting in all to about fifty men, led by a traitor named Watson, were able to penetrate eastward as far as Westminster, about 110 miles east of Sandwich.
Again, in the Norfolk district, lying between Westminster and York, there were many American settlers whose sym- pathies were largely with the United States in their effort to make conquest of Canada.
The American settlers had no scruple in exercising their influence not only among the neighboring settlers, whether of British or French extraction, but had even extended their influence to certain members of the Legislature. To this we will make further reference hereafter.
While there were certain disaffected persons in and about Sandwich, there were others, though of French extraction, who joined heartily with the British in the defence of the country against Hull and his invading force. Notably in this band of loyalists were the Babys, who could date back their loyalty to the days of Pontiac and his conspiracy. Even at the time when Pontiac was besieging Detroit and had his rendezvous on the Canadian side of the river, the Babys of that day were true to the British, doing many acts of service for their safeguard and protection.
While Hull and his force were occupying Sandwich, Amherst- burgh was occupied by a British force of 350 men, first under Lieut.-Col. St. George, and afterwards under Colonel Proctor, of the 41st Regiment. If Hull had been as prompt in action as
SKIRMISH AT THE CANARD. 135
he was valiant in words, he might, with the force under him,
o * *
have marched on Amherstburgh and captured Fort Maiden with little difficulty. Instead of doing so, he wasted his strength in making demonstrations, carrying on an excursive war by detached parties, and occasionally reconnoitring the British outposts in the neighborhood.
To meet this manoeuvring by the Americans, a company of the 41st Regiment, about sixty militia and a party of Indians, were posted near a bridge crossing the River Aux Canard, four miles from Amherstburgh. A party of Americans, con- sisting of about 300 men, under Colonel Cass, advanced on the 28th July to a place distant about a mile from the bridge. To induce the Americans to approach the position occupied by the British regulars and militia, 150 Indians were sent across the bridge. A company of the enemy's riflemen, concealed in a wood that skirted the plain, immediately fired upon the Indians, killing one and wounding two. After scalping the dead Indian the American force was seen no more. Not a musket was fired by the British Indians, nor were the regulars or militia in any way engaged. Colonel Cass and his detach- ment retreated to his camp at Sandwich, gaining for himself in honor of the victory the name of " Ta-ron-tee," the Indian name of Aux Canard.
While Hull was skirmishing around the Canard, the British learned that 150 Ohio volunteers were carrying provisions to Detroit for the supply of his army, and that Major Vanhorne was despatched with 200 men to meet and escort the reinforce- ment to its destination. The major had only been two days on the march when he was met near Brownstown, on August 4th, by a band of twenty-five Indians, under the brave Tecum- seh, in ambuscade. Tecumseh and his little band drove the
136 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Americans before them for seven miles, and took possession of the mail they were escorting. In this affair the Americans lost twenty men killed, including Captain McCulloch and three other captains. In the pocket of Captain McCulloch, or in the mail, it matters not which, was found a letter addressed to his wife, in which he stated that on the loth July he killed an Indian near the Canard bridge, and had the pleasure of tearing the scalp from the head of the savage with his teeth.
The River Canard is about four miles from Amherstburgh, and it was here that several engagements, not heavy in them- selves, but important in their results, took place between bodies of Hull's army of invasion and detachments of the 41st regulars and some Indians, posted at different points on that river, to prevent the Americans reaching Fort Maiden and Amherstburgh. The British always had an inferior force, but in every encounter the Americans were met and gallantly repulsed. In a general order of the Commander-in-Chief at Quebec on the 6th August, 1812, he said he "took great pleasure in announcing to the troops, that the enemy under Brigadier-General Hull had been repulsed in three attacks made on the 18th, 19th and 20th of last month (July), upon part of the garrison of Amherstburgh, on the River Canard, in the neighborhood of that place; in which attacks His Majesty's 41st Regiment have particularly distinguished themselves." He said further: "In justice to that corps (the 41st), His Excellency wishes particularly to call the attention of the troops to the heroism and self-devotion displayed by two privates, who, being left as sentinels when the party to which they belonged had retired, continued to maintain their station against the whole of the enemy's force, until they both fell, when one of them, whose arm was broken, again raising
TECUMSEH. 137
himself, opposed with his bayonet those advancing against him, until overwhelmed by numbers."
Major Richardson, who was attached to the 41st Regiment, in his Memoir, entitled, " War of 1812, Containing a Full and Detailed Narrative of the Right Division of the Canadian Army," gives the names of these two private soldiers of the 41st as Hancock and Dean, the former killed, the latter taken prisoner. There were no Victoria crosses in those days ; had there been, surely Dean would have received that distinction, which he so well deserved.
An American historian of the war of 1812 gives us to under- stand that, in the skirmish of the 19th, Tecumseh was present, which is exceedingly probable, as immediately after the sur- render of Mackinaw the Indians, in great numbers, elated with their success, flocked to Sandwich and Amherstburgh, to become firm allies of the British in the prosecution of the war.
The interesting personality and commanding ability of Tecumseh, together with the prominent part he played in this unhappy war as the staunch friend and ally of the British, have, I think, justified me in devoting a subsequent chapter to him and to the circumstances which led to the participation of the Indians in the war.
The Americans constantly blamed the British Government for acquiring the aid of their Indian allies, but it was only to be expected that the Indians would ally themselves with the British and Canadians in defence of their homes.
Mr. O'Connor, an American historian of the war, declared " that it was the invasion of New York by the British that gave rise to a measure of the American Government calling the Indians to its aid upon the Niagara, as it had before done upon the North- West frontier," upon which James, in his British
1
138 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
history of the war, says : " Thus tacitly admitting that General Hull's invasion of Upper Canada, for which he had been prepar- ing lon<j,*long previous to the declaration of war, justified our employment of the Indians." James goes on to remark that the American Government would have employed the Indians at the commencemsnt of the hostilities could it have held out to them any reasonable hopes of conquest, or plunder, sufficient to over- balance that "deadly animosity which they felt towards the Americans for reasons best known to the latter."
While General Hull, on the Canadian side of the River Detroit, was endeavoring to overawe the people, harass the King's troops, and, in the end, possess himself of Amherst- burgh, the British troops were able to make a diversion and " carry the war into Africa." The British Indians crossed the river, and blocked the communication which had been opened by the American army to the River Raisin, where the Ameri- cans had a depot of supplies. It was indispensable that com- munication should be kept open. Colonel Miller, with 600 men, accompanied by a detachment of artillery with six- pounders, was immediately sent upon that service. The British sent over the river seventy-five men of the 41st Regiment, sixty militia and 120 Indians, under Tecumseh, and a band of 70 other Indians, the whole under the command of Captain Muir of the 41st Regiment, to intercept the American party. The opposing forces met at Maguaga, about fourteen miles from Detroit, where a conflict occurred. The American force was so much larger than the British that the latter were in danger of being outflanked ; consequently they retreated for the dis- tance of half a mile, when they made a successful stand. In this affair the British lost three men killed, and Captain Muir, Lieut. Sutherland and ten men wounded. Colonel Miller was
MAJOR-GENERAL SHEAFFE APPOINTED ON STAFF. 139
frustrated in his design, and returned to Detroit the following night. The Indians still held the road from the Raisin to Detroit, and the garrison was cut off from supplies. The National Intelligencer, the Government paper of the day, boastingly declared that when the American militia returned to Detroit they bore triumphantly on the points of their bayonets between thirty and forty fresh scalps, which they had taken in the field.
While the skirmishing was going on by land, the British were vigilant and active on the water. On the 20th July, Major- General Brock was enabled to write to Sir George Prevost that the boats of the Hunter had captured, on board a schooner, interesting documents showing the disposition of the American army. At the same time, he informed the Commander-in-Chief that he had requested Colonel Proctor to proceed to Amherst- burgh, and that he had every inclination to go himself, but the meeting of the Legislature on the 27th July rendered it impossible.
The sending of Colonel Proctor to Amherstburgh was the occasion of Major-General Sheaffe being placed on the staff.
In a letter from Sir George Prevost, acknowledging Major- General Brock's communication of the 20th July, he wrote him :
" In consequence of your having desired Colonel Proctor to proceed to Amherstburgh, and of your presence being necessary at the seat of government to meet the Legislature of Upper Canada, I have taken upon myself to place Major-General Sheaffe on the staff, to enable me to send him to assist you in the arduous task you have to perform, in the able execution of which I have great confidence. He has been, accordingly, directed to proceed without delay to Upper Canada, there to place himself under your command."
140 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
In this letter, Sir George Prevost acknowledged receipt of the report of Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, showing the state of defence in which he had placed Fort Amherstburgh, together with the disposition of the troops allotted for its defence, of which he expressed approval, and hoped that the result of General Brock's attempt upon that fort would termin- ate honorably to the British arms. The possession of Maiden (Fort Amherstburgh), he said, " appears a favorite object with the Government of the United States. I sincerely hope you will disappoint them."
The military authorities in Canada could not but believe that, after General Hull had established his forces in Sandwich, he would immediately make a bold and determined attack on Fort Amherstburgh. Sir George Prevost, at headquarters at Quebec, did not know that Hull was frittering away his time and opportunity by skirmishing around the British garrison, instead of attacking the garrison itself.
Brock had civil as well as military duties to perform. He was Administrator of the Province, and it now became his duty to proceed from Fort George to York to open the Legislature, convened for the 27th July.
On that day he met the representatives of the people in Parliament assembled.
In opening the House, addressing the Assembly, he said :
"Gentlemen: When invaded by an enemy whose avowed object is the entire conquest of the Province, the voice of loyalty, as well as of interest, calls aloud to every person in the sphere in which he is placed to defend his country. Our rnilitia have heard the voice and have obeyed it. They have evinced by the promptitude and loyalty of their conduct that they are worthy of the King whom they serve, and of the constitution which
DISAFFECTION IN THE ASSEMBLY. 141
they enjoy ; and it affords me particular satisfaction that, while I address you as legislators, I speak to men who, in the day of danger, will be ready to assist not only with their counsel, but with their arms."
He concluded an animated address with the following words :
" We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest. By unanimity and despatch in our Councils, and by vigor in our operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended by free men, enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their King and constitution, cannot be conquered."
It will be observed that Brock, in his address to the Assem- bly, recommended "unanimity and despatch in our Councils." This indeed was necessary, as there was a party in the Legis- lature, or rather in the Assembly branch of it, prepared to sacrifice their duty of allegiance and join the Americans, unless restrained by the strong arm of authority. This party had shown a disposition not to co-operate with Brock. When he recommended the Legislature to pass an Act for the partial suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, this disloyal faction, pre- tending to be solicitous for the liberty of the subject, opposed the measure, and succeeded in getting it thrown out in the Assembly. This gave Brock much concern. He promptly placed himself in the hands of the loyal party, who nobly seconded him in the measures they thought necessary to be taken for the defence of the Province, and an Act was passed for the organization and training of the militia and the active support of the war.
On the 3rd of August General Brock, dissatisfied with the action of certain members of the House, conscious that the enemy were busy in their operations tending to the under-
142 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
mining of the allegiance of a large number of the people of the western country, and anxious to meet the invader Hull on his own ground, took counsel with his advisers as to the propriety of bringing the session to a close, and thus leave himself free to attend to his military duties. He submitted to his Council a minute, which stated :
" The House of Assembly, instead of prompt exertion to strengthen his hands for the government of the militia, pro- viding for security from internal treason by the partial suspen- sion of the Habeas Corpus Act, authorizing a partial exercise of martial law concurrently with the ordinary course of justice, and placing at his disposal the funds not actually applied of the past appropriation, had consumed eight days in carrying a single measure of party, the repeal of the School Bill, and passing an Act for the public disclosure of treasonable practices, before the magistrates should have power to commit without bail. That, under these circumstances, little could be expected from a prolonged session. The enemy had invaded and taken post in the Western District; was multiplying daily his pre- parations to invade in others ; that the militia, in a perfect state of insubordination, had withdrawn from the ranks in actual service ; had refused to march when legally commanded to reinforce a detachment of regular forces for the relief of Amherstburgh ; had insulted their officers ; and some, not immediately embodied, had manifested in many instances a treasonable spirit of mutiny and disaffection ; that the Indians on the Grand River, tampered with by disaffected whites, had withdrawn from their volunteer services, and declared for a neutrality, which was as equally inadmissible as with the King's other subjects. That in the Western and the London Districts several persons had negotiated with the enemy's com- mander, hailing his arrival and pledging their support. That the King's forces consisted of the 41st, 900 strong ; part of the Royal Newfoundland, 200; with a detachment of Royal
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROROGUED. 143
Artillery, and several vessels. That the extent of coast and distance of prominent posts rendered it necesssary to divide that force to support and countenance the militia.
" That the conduct of the Western militia had exposed the regulars at Amherstburgh, and he had taken a large detachment of the 41st, with militia from the Home and Niagara Districts. That the command at St. Joseph had taken Mackinac, and might descend to Amherstburgh and compel the invaders to retreat, with the aid of the detachment now on the march to Long Point ; but that no good result could be expected unless he had power to restrain the militia and general population from treasonable adherence to the enemy, or neutrality, by summary procedure, and asked whether it would be expedient to prorogue the House of Assembly and proclaim martial law."
The Executive Council, on this minute being presented to them, advised prorogation of the House, which took place on August oth, on which day the Assembly, inspired by the sense of loyalty which Brock had done so much to encourage, issued the following address to the people of Upper Canada:
" The House of Assembly beg leave, before they return home, to lift up their warning voice at this eventful crisis. The declaration of war issued against Great Britain by the United States, when first announced, appeared to be an act of such astonishing folly and desperation as to be altogether incredible, and not only excited the greatest surprise among the inhabit- ants of this Province, but among the great majority of our enemies themselves — that that Government, professing to be the friend of man, and the great supporter of his liberty and inde- pendence, should light up the torch of war against the only nation that stands between itself and destruction, exhibited a degree of infatuation or madness altogether incomprehensible. But the men at present ruling the States, infatuated, or, as their more enlightened countrymen say, ' bribed by the tyrant of France/ regardless of the best interests of their country, and
144 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the feelings and affections of a great majority of their own people, have commenced hostilities against our Mother Country whilst treating their vessels with hospitality ; and, instead of threatening their liberties, offering most equitable terms of accommodation.
" This war, on the part of the United States, includes an alliance with the French usurper, whose dreadful policy has destroyed all that is great and good, memorable and holy, on the continent of Europe. The Government of this bloody tyrant penetrates into everything; it crushes individuals as well as nations ; fetters thought as well as motives, and delights in destroying forever all that is fair and just in opinion and sentiment. It is evidently this tyrant who now directs the rulers of America, and they show themselves worthy disciples of such a master. . . .
" We turn with joy to you, many of whom have already risked your lives for the unity of the Empire. We are confident that the same spirit animates your breasts and those of your children, that you still retain the same love of your excellent King, the same veneration for a free and happy constitution, that you exhibited during the American war. . . . *When we picture to ourselves the sublime prospect the world would have exhibited this day had the population of the neighboring States preserved, like you, their filial love, we should not now behold the continent of Europe groaning under the yoke of a sanguinary tyrant, nor his satellites in America studiously imitating his example.
" It is, therefore, from former experience we look to you for the same patriotic principles — principles which enabled you to face death in its most dreadful attire — principles which exalt human nature, and which have been warmly cherished by the most virtuous and renowned of every age ; and surely when we are attacked by the same enemies who once, aided by the mis- taken lenity of the Mother Country and the misconduct of her commanders, were able to drive us from our native homes and possessions to this Province — a people whose lands are manured
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. 145
with the blood of our friends and kinsmen, who drove our wives and children from their homes into the woods, or threw them into dungeons, and who now envy us the habitations which, through the blessing of Providence, the beneficence of our parent state, and our own industry, we have gained from the wilderness, we are confident that you will display the same energy, and certainly with better hopes of success. Great Britain will not now consider such Americans as perverse children who may be reclaimed, but as her most malignant foes. Her commanders will not, as formerly, temporize and raise hosts of enemies by their misconduct and delays, but they will hasten to punish them with all the rigor of war.
" Already have we the joy to remark, that the spirit of loyalty has burst forth in all its ancient splendor. The militia in all parts of the Province have volunteered their services with acclamation, and displayed a degree of energy worthy of the British name. When men are called upon to defend everything they call precious — their wives and children, their friends and possessions — they ought to be inspired with the noblest resolu- tions, and they will not easily be frightened by menaces or conquered by force ; and beholding, as we do, the flame of patriotism burning from one end of the Canadas to another, we cannot but entertain the most pleasing anticipations.
" Our enemies have indeed said that they could subdue this country by proclamation ; but it is our part to prove to them that they are sadly mistaken, that the population is deter- minedly hostile to them, and that the few who might be otherwise inclined will find it their safety to be faithful.
" Innumerable attempts will be made by falsehood to detach you from your allegiance, for our enemies, in imitation of their European master, trust more to treachery than to force ; and they will, no doubt, make use of many of those lies which, unfortunately for the virtuous part of these States and the peace and happiness of the world, had too much success during the American rebellion. They will tell you that they are come to give you freedom. Yes, the base slaves of the most 10
146 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
contemptible faction that ever distracted the affairs of any nation, the minions of the very sycophants who lick the dust from the feet of Bonaparte, will tell you that they are come to communicate the blessing of liberty to this Province ; but you have only to look to your own situation to put such hypocrites to confusion.
" Trusting more to treachery than to open hostility, our enemies have already spread their emissaries through the country to seduce our fellow-subjects from their allegiance by promises as false as the principles on which they are founded. A law has been enacted for the speedy detection of such emissaries, and for their condign punishment on conviction.
"Remember that, when you go forth to the combat, you tight not for yourselves alone, but for the whole world. You are defeating the most formidable conspiracy against the civilization of man that was ever contrived, a conspiracy threatening greater barbarism and misery than followed the downfall of the Roman Empire ; that now you have an oppor- tunity of proving your attachment to the parent state, which contends for the relief of oppressed nations, the last pillar of true liberty and the last refuge of oppressed humanity.
" ALLAN MACLEAN, " Speaker, Commons House of Assembly.
" August 5th, 1812."
CHAPTEE XIII.
HULL FALLS BACK ON DETROIT — UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS — THE RYER- SONS — BROCK STARTS FOR DETROIT — His ARRIVAL AT AMHERST- BURGH — MEETS TECUMSEH — ADDRESS TO INDIAN COUNCIL — CAPTURE OF DETROIT.
THE session of the Legislature referred to in the last chapter was a very short one, lasting only nine days. Two Acts were passed providing for the defence of the Province, and the House was prorogued on the 5th August. From the time that Brigadier- General Hull invaded the Province till the day of prorogation of the Legislature, Brock had it in his mind to pro- ceed in person to the west at the earliest possible opportunity and measure swords with the Brigadier-General who a month before had landed in Canada, boastful of his strength and with threats of extermination. A rumor of Brock's determination having reached the ears of Brigadier-General Hull, he at once ordered a retreat. On the 7th and 8th August, the American army recrossed the river, with the exception of a garrison of 250 men left in charge of a small fortification thrown up on the British side, a little below Sandwich, and which they
148 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
evacuated and destroyed before the arrival of Major-General Brock.
On proroguing the Legislature, Brock had expressed a wish to be accompanied in the enterprise of driving Hull and his force from the Province by such of the militia as might voluntarily offer their services. Five hundred, principally the sons of veteran soldiers who had settled in the Province, cheerfully came forward for that purpose. Brock could only accept about half the number of volunteers who offered to serve.
On the 6th August, Brock left York for Burlington Bay, on his way to Detroit to meet the enemy, accompanied by the York Volunteers, under Hatt, Howard, Bostwick and Robin- son (afterwards Chief Justice Robinson), not then knowing that the grand army had decamped. Brock had depended on picking up the militia by the way, and appointed a rendezvous at Long Point, in the county of Norfolk. Not far from this place was the residence of Colonel Ryerson, of the Norfolk militia.
Among the band of the United Empire Loyalists who took part in the war of 1812, there is no name more deserving of remembrance than that of George Ryerson (some time after the war the Rev. George Ryerson), a distinguished preacher, first in the Methodist, and afterwards in the Catholic Apostolic Church. The reverend gentleman and soldier was of the loyal family of Ryersons, of New Jersey, who performed eminent service to the British cause during the struggle of the American colonies for independence. George was the son of Joseph Ryerson, and brother of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, Superintendent of Educa- tion of Upper Canada, in whose memory a monument is erected in the Normal School grounds, Toronto.
Joseph Ryerson, the father of George and Egerton Ryerson,
BROCK STARTS FOR DETROIT. 149
at the close of the revolutionary war, went to New Brunswick, and subsequently, in 1799, amidst much privation and trouble, made his way with his family to Upper Canada. He became Sheriff of the London District, and was for a time, during the war of 1812, commanding officer of the 1st Regiment of the Norfolk militia. He died in 1856, aged ninety-four years. His son George, taking example from his father, was eager to perform active service for his country.
In April, 1812, two flank companies, formed out of the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Norfolk militia, were mustered into service by the command of Major-General Brock. Lieut.-Colonel Nichol, of the 2nd Norfolk, was to recommend the two captains and to nominate the two subalterns himself. A similar order was conveyed to Colonel Joseph Ryerson, in respect to the 1st Norfolk, which he commanded. The captain of the first com- pany was John Bostwick, Sheriff of the London District ; First Lieutenant, George Ryerson, and the Second Lieutenant, George Rolph.
Major-General Brock placed great faith in the flank companies, which he had caused to be formed in different parts of the Province. They were to be a nucleus around which the neigh- boring militia could rally. When Brock determined to move from York towards Detroit, to oppose General Hull, his inten- tion was to collect the militia as he passed westward, and to march with the men to a point opposite Detroit. The General was thwarted in his project, owing to the conduct of some of the men of the Norfolk District, many of whom were Ameri- cans, who had sown seeds of disaffection in that quarter. Brock was compelled to alter his plan, and ordered the flank companies to proceed by water. He embarked at Long Point with a com- pany of some 300 militia and forty-one . regulars in bateaux
150 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
and boats of every description, collected among the neighboring farmers, who usually employed them for transporting their corn and grain.
The flank companies reached Amherstburgh shortly before midnight of the 13th August, thus having been five days and nights on the waters of Lake Erie, enduring much suffering and undergoing great privations. Major-General Brock commended the action of the men by saying that " in no instance had he seen troops who would have endured the fatigues of a long journey (200 miles), in boats, during extremely bad weather, with greater cheerfulness and constancy, and that it was but justice to the little band to add that their conduct throughout had excited his admiration."
The following letter from Attorney-General John Macdonell to Duncan Cameron, Esq., York, gives interesting particulars of the difficulties which this force had to overcome in order to reach Amherstburgh, preparatory to the attack on Detroit :
"PORT TALBOT, 10th August, 1812.
" MY DEAR SIR, — We left Dover on the 8th, between three and four o'clock p.m., and got to this place about six this morning, when the wind blew so strong upon the shore that we found it would be quite impracticable to weather the point about thirty miles ahead, and between which and this place there is no possibility of landing, so were forced to beach and haul our boats into a fine creek, where, from present appear- ances, it is probable they will remain till to-morrow morning, and how much longer I cannot say. It has rained almost con- stantly since we encamped last night, and, although the men have been completely drenched, they continue in excellent spirits and behave in the most orderly and obedient manner. Peter Robinson, with his riflemen, joined us about twelve o'clock to-day, and our fleet now consists of twelve sail of all kinds, in
LETTER FROM ATTORNEY-GKNERAL MACDONKLL. 151
one of which is a six-pounder (dismounted) with ammunition, etc. The want of boats obliged the General to send a detach- ment, consisting of about 100 men of the Oxford and Norfolk militia, in a small vessel which happened to be at Dover, which must have reached Amherstburgh this morning.
"Upon our arrival at Dover, it was said that a sufficient number of boats to embark the whole of the force assembled there had been got ready ; but upon examination we found that hardly one was in a state for service, and it was not till about four o'clock next day, with every exertion, that we got ten boats under way. Many of these are in so bad a state that we are constantly delayed and detained by them, and will no doubt prevent our arriving so soon as we otherwise would. Had there been boats enough, we probably would have had with us about 100 men more than we have. Our force at present, including the men sent in the vessel, will be upwards of 350, besides twenty Indians under Cadotte, who has fallen behind. There will be sixty men of the 41st sent from Fort Erie, which will, I trust, be found sufficient reinforcement to the garrison of Amherstburgh to enable us to effect the desired object. Not having heard a word from Amherstburgh since we left you, we must suppose things remain in the same state.
" I am sorry to say that poor Chambers was taken so ill just as we were about to embark, that Mr. Rolph ti ought it absolutely necessary to detain him. Robinson, howeve* says that Colonel Talbot and he were to leave Mr. Rolph's y sterday morning, so that we look out for him every moment. Such a dis- appointment to him would certainly be most distressing — I mean, being left behind. I hope he may arrive, not only on his account, but for the good of the service, which I think would most materially suffer from his absence. Everyone else perfectly well.
" I do not know how this is to find its way to you, but as you desired me to write to you from every place at which we should stop (which I think I promised to do), and having got myself dry, and having a little time to spare, I feel myself in
152 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
conscience bound to devote it to the performance of my promise ; and I wish with all my heart I could say anything that would give you any pleasure to hear. My next, however, may pos- sibly contain something more interesting.
" Chambers, I am glad to tell you, has arrived apparently perfectly recovered — not from his illness, but from his fear of being left behind, which, I believe, gave him more uneasiness than all his other complaints.
" Remember me to all those who you think would wish to hear of me, and say to them what you please for me ; and believe me always your sincere friend and faithful,
"J. MACDONELL.
" Duncan Cameron, Esq."
As soon as Major-General Brock reached Amherstburgh, he set about arranging his plans for an attack upon Fort Detroit. One of the first men he met was Tecumseh. This warrior chief and his band welcomed the white chief with a musket f usilade — the Indian way of welcoming guests. Brock lost no time in holding a conference with Tecumseh. The first and usual salutation of shaking hands being over, the two chiefs separ- ated with an understanding that a council would be held on the following morning, the 14th, which should be attended by all the Indians.
Captain Glegg, Brock's aide-de-camp, who was present at this interview, has left the following description of the great Shawanee :
" His appearance was very prepossessing ; his figure light and finely formed ; his age I imagine to be about five-and-thirty ; in height, five feet nine or ten inches ; his complexion light copper ; countenance oval, with bright hazel eyes, beaming cheerfulness, energy and decision. Three small silver crowns or coronets were suspended from the lower cartilage of his
TECUMSEH.
153
aquiline nose, and a large silver medallion of George III., which, I believe, his ancestor had received from Lord Dorchester, was attached to a mixed-colored wampum string, and hung round his neck. His dress consisted of a plain, neat, uniform — trimmed deer-skin jacket, with long trousers of the same material, the seams of both being covered with neatly cut fringe. He had on his feet leather moccasins, ornamented with work made from dyed quills of the porcupine."
From Ixusine's " Field-Book of the War of 1812." Copyright. 1868, by Harper A Brother*.
The portrait herewith given is the only one of the great chief that I have been able to secure. The head is reproduced from a pencil sketch made by one Pierre Le Dru, a young French trader, at Vincennes, in 1808. The uniform shown is that of a British officer, and is from a rough drawing made at Maiden, soon after the surrender of Detroit. There is a story extant that some of the British officers induced Tecumseh on a
154 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
gala day to don this uniform, hence his appearance in such dress, instead of his own deer-skin costume.
The council proposed met at the appointed time, and was opened by Major-General Brock, who informed the Indians that he was ordered by their great father to come to their assistance, and, with their aid, to drive the Americans from Detroit. His speech was highly applauded, and Tecumseh was called upon to reply. He commenced with expressions of joy, that their father, the King beyond the great salt lake, had at length awakened from his long sleep, and permitted his warriors to come to the assistance of his red children, who had never ceased to remain steady in their friendship, and were now all ready to shed their last drop of blood in their great father's service. After some speeches from other chiefs and replies thereto, the council broke up. Major-General Brock, having quickly dis- covered the superior sagacity and intrepidity of Tecumseh, and his influence over the Indians, not deeming it prudent to develop before so mixed an assemblage the views which were then uppermost in his thoughts, and intended to be quickly put into execution, directed the Indian Superintendent, Colonel Elliott, to inform Tecumseh that he wished to see him, accompanied by a few of the older chiefs, at Colonel Elliott's quarters. Then the General, through the medium of interpreters, communicated his views, and explained the manner in which he intended to carry into execution his operations against Fort Detroit.
It was part of the plan propounded by Brock that Tecumseh should cross the river with his band of 600 Indians ; that they should cross over on the night of the loth of August, lie in ambuscade, and be so placed as to take the enemy in flank and rear, should the Americans attempt to oppose the landing of Brock and the force he intended to employ to reduce Fort
BROCK SUMMONS HULL TO SURRENDER. 155
Detroit. On the morning of the 15th August, the enemy's effective force was estimated at nearly 2,500 men, while the British-Canadian force was only 1,394 men. The report of Brock's Quartermaster-General shows that the following com- posed his force :
British regulars, infantry and artillery 382
Indians, principally Chippewas, Hurons, and Pottawa-
tomies 650
Militia "in regular uniform," or, rather, in coats and
jackets, of all colors and shapes 362
Total 1394
On the 15th August, Major-General Brock, then at his head- quarters, Sandwich, addressed a note to Brigadier-General Hull, in which he said :
" The force at my disposal authorizes me to require of you the immediate surrender of Fort Detroit. It is far from my inclin- ation to join in a war of extermination, but you must be aware that the numerous body of Indians who have attached them- selves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment the contest commences. You will find me disposed to enter into such conditions as will satisfy the most scrupulous sense of honor. Lieut. -Colonel Macdonell and Major Glegg are fully authorized to conclude any arrangement that may lead to pre- vent the unnecessary effusion of blood."
Brigadier-General Hull, with that haughtiness and self-suffi- ciency of which he had abundant store, returned the following answer to Brock's message :
o
" HEADQUARTERS, DETROIT,
"August 15th, 1812.
" I have received your letter of this date. I have no other reply to make than to inform you that I am prepared to meet
156 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
any force which may be at your disposal, and any consequence which may result from any exertion of it you may think proper to make.
"W. HULL,
" Brigadier-General, commanding the N. W. Army of the U.S."
Brock had now but to oppose force to force.
Hull does not seem to have known how active the Canadians had been in preparing for battle, even before the arrival of Brock at Sandwich.
Lieutenant Ryerson, some years ago, communicated to Dr. Canniff what took place on the occasion of the capture of Detroit, and it is well to quote here an eye-witness and parti- cipator in the events. I am indebted to Dr. Canniff for this relation, published in his "Fragments of the War of 1812," (Belford's Magazine, 1877), which I give in substance as follows :
" No sooner had Hull crossed to Detroit than Lieutenant Ryerson's company was at once employed to construct a masked battery opposite Detroit, under the direction of Cap- tain Dixon of the Royal Engineers. At this point there stood on the banks of the river a number of large oak trees. Behind these they proceeded to erect the batteries ; but the work had to be done quietly, and no one was to be seen during the day passing near the place. The men would go quietly at night, dig until near morning, when they would as quietly go away into the woods beyond sight. By the time Brock arrived the batteries were completed and the guns in place. The night before the crossing of the British, the trees concealing the battery were cut down. The British crossed the Detroit River about two miles below the fort ; and the numerous boats, some of which drifted farther down, filled with soldiers, with their bayonets glistening in the morning sun, presented a most
CAPTURE OF DETROIT. 157
animated appearance. Having landed, they quickly formed into line, and took the way towards the fort, distant half a mile. They had expected the foe would oppose their landing, and were surprised to find no opposition whatever. About half a mile from the fort was a ravine, where were deserted villas. This concealed them, and they turned in among tall green corn, and passed unseen. Presently they were ordered to prepare and partake of their breakfast. Meanwhile the batteries on the Canadian side had opened fire, much to the astonishment of the Americans, and were sending shot and shell into the fort. After breakfast Brock's troops were ordered to fall in. The total force did not much exceed 700 men. They fully expected, as they took their places in the ranks, to be led into action, and to encounter a much larger force, but there was no hesitation. What, then, was their surprise to find, as they came in sight of the fort, that the way was unopposed and the gates wide open. It had not been made known that the pompous American General, who had so lately invited the Canadians to remain peacefully at home while he drove the red-coated oppressor out of the country, had ignominiously surrendered to a small body of Canadian militia, with a handful of regulars. The first intimation that Lieutenant Ryerson's company had of the state of affairs was, upon entering the gates, to notice the arms of the Americans stacked in a small enclosure. Then they became aware that the whole American army were prisoners of war. It was the trusty flank companies that Brock detailed to take possession of the prisoners and fort. These companies were not equipped like the regulars, and as the little squad passed in the on-gazing women of the disarmed soldiers hooted and railed at their appearance. For this the Canadians cared not, for their joy was full. In thus occupying the fort of Detroit, Lieutenant Ryerson heard not a single shot of small arms, and believes not one was fired. The only firing done was that of the battery before-mentioned. This battery, it was then stated among the men, was the final means of causing the surrender.
While General Hull was holding a council-of-war to decide
158 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
upon the answer to Major-General Brock's demand for surrender, and was hesitating, one of the shells from the battery entered the very room he occupied and killed several present. This so frightened him that a surrender was determined upon. Lieuten- ant Ryerson saw the dead bodies, and believes these were the only persons killed on this occasion. Shortly after entering he passed by the great Chief Tecumseh, who was sitting in his buckskin clothes with his brother, the Prophet, smoking his pipe, with his face perfectly calm, but with the greatest satis- faction beaming in his eye. His hated foe, who had chased him like a beast and had wronged his people, was at his feet ; but he carried out his promise to Brock not to allow his braves to maltreat the prisoners."
This relation of Lieutenant Ryerson's is so simple and yet so graphic that it well deserves a place in the history of the life of Brock.
This officer was but a type of many who with Brock fought the battles of their country. Brock trusted them, and they in turn were devoted to their General.
After the capture of Detroit, Lieutenant Ryerson was employed to carry despatches for the General to the eastward to apprise his friends of the fall of the stronghold of the Ameri- cans in the west. Ryerson did not remain inactive during the remainder of the war. He enlisted men for a lieutenancy in the incorporated militia, and served on the Niagara frontier during the summer of 1813 under Captain James Kirby, with James Hamilton (afterwards Sheriff of London) second lieuten- ant, and George Kirby ensign.
When the flank companies from all parts of the Province were embodied in one regiment in York, under Colonel (after- wards Sir) John Robinson, in 1813, to serve during the war, he became lieutenant under Captain A. Rapalge, with John
GENERAL BROCK'S REPORT. 159
Applegarth as ensign. In this regiment he served during the war. He was on guard on the right wing at the battle of Stoney Creek, was in the battle of Lundy's Lane and in that of Fort Erie, when invested by General Drummond, and in various other affairs on the Niagara frontier. He was wounded on the first occasion in an attack by the Americans when they were repelled. A ball, entering his mouth, slightly impinging the lower lip, made a shallow furrow upon the under surface of the tongue, shattered the lower jaw on the right side, and finally emerged from the angle of the jaw. He experienced the effects of this wound in an impediment in his speech for the remainder of his life.
But to return to Detroit. On the afternoon of the day of the surrender of that fort the following order was published :
" HEADQUARTERS, DETROIT,
16th August, 1812.
" Major-General Brock has every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the troops he had the honor to lead this morning against the enemy. The state of discipline which they so eminently displayed, and the determination they evinced to undertake the most hazardous enterprise, decided the enemy, infinitely more numerous in men and artillery, to propose a capitulation, the terms of which are herewith inserted for the information of the troops.
" The Major-General requests Colonel Proctor will accept his best thanks for the assistance he derived from his experience and intelligence.
" The steadiness and discipline of the 41st Regiment, and the readiness of the militia to follow so good an example, were highly conspicuous.
"The ability manifested by Captain Dixon of the Royal Engineers in the choice and construction of the batteries, and the high state of the Royal Artillery under Lieutenant
160 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Houghton, afforded the General much gratification, and reflects great credit on those officers.
"The willing assistance given by Captain Hall and the Marine Department during the whole course of the service has been very conspicuous, and the manner the batteries were served this morning evinced a degree of steadiness highly commendable.
" Lieutenant Dewar, Departmental Assistant Quartermaster- General, afforded strong proof of the local knowledge he had acquired of the country, of an unremitting attention to his duty ; and the care and regularity with which the troops were transported across the river must, in a like degree, be ascribed to his zeal for the service.
" To Lieut.-Colonel St. George, Majors Tallon and Chambers, who commanded brigades, every degree of praise is due for their unremitting attention to their respective commands. The detachment of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, under the command of Major Mockler, is deserving every praise for their steadiness in the field, as well as when embarked in the King's vessels."
General Brock lost no time in making his report to His Excellency Sir George Prevost of the taking of Detroit, and the events which had transpired about Detroit and Amherst- burgh, between the date of General Hull's invasion of the Province and the surrender of himself and army to the brave General commanding the Canadian forces. This report was penned on the 17th of August.
" HEADQUARTERS, DETROIT,
August 17th, 1812.
" SIR, — I have the honor of informing your Excellency that the enemy effected his passage across the Detroit river on the 12th ult., without opposition ; and that, after establishing himself at Sandwich, he had ravaged the country as far as
GENERAL BROCK'S REPORT. 161
Moraviantown. Some skirmishes occurred between the troops under Lieut-Colonel St. George and the enemy upon the River Canard, which uniformly terminated in his being repulsed with loss. I judged it proper to detach a force down the River Thames, capable of acting in conjunction with the garrison of Amherstburgh offensively, but Captain Chambers, whom I had appointed to direct this detachment, experienced difficulties which frustrated my intentions. The intelligence received from that quarter admitting of no delay, Colonel Proctor was directed to assume the command, and his force was soon after increased with sixty rank and file of the 41st Regiment.
" In the meantime, the most strenuous measures were adopted to counteract the machinations of the evil-disposed, and I soon experienced the gratification of receiving voluntary offers of service from that portion of the embodied militia the most easily collected. Tn the attainment of this important point, gentlemen of the first character and influence showed an exam- ple highly creditable to them ; and I cannot on this occasion avoid mentioning the essential assistance I derived from John Macdonell, Esq., His Majesty's Attorney-General, who from the beginning of the war has honored me with his services as my provincial aide-de-camp.
" A sufficiency of boats being collected at Long Point for the conveyance of 300 men, the embarkation took place on the 8th instant, and in five days we arrived in safety at Amherstburgh.
" I found that the judicious arrangement which had been adopted immediately upon the arrival of Colonel Proctor, had compelled the enemy to retreat, and take shelter under the guns of his fort ; that officer commenced operations by sending strong detachments across the river, with a view of cutting off the enemy's communication with his service. This produced two smart skirmishes on the 5th and 6th instant, in which the enemy's loss was considerable, whilst ours amounted to three killed and thirteen wounded ; amongst the latter I have par- ticularly to regret Captain Muir and Lieutenant Sutherland, of the 41st Regiment, the former an officer of great experience, 11
162 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
and both ardent in His Majesty's service. Batteries had like- wise been commenced opposite Fort Detroit, for one 18-pounder, two 12's, and two 5|-inch mortars ; all of which opened on the evening of the 15th (having previously summoned Brigadier- General Hull to surrender), and although opposed by a well directed fire from seven 24-pounders, such was their construc- tion, under the able direction of Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, that no injury was sustained from its effect.
" The force at my disposal being collected in the course of the loth in the neighborhood of Sandwich, the embarkation took place a little after daylight on the following morning, and under the able arrangement of Lieutenant Dewar, of the Quartermaster-General's Department, the whole was in a short time landed without the smallest confusion at Spring Wells, a good position three miles west of Detroit. The Indians, who had in the meantime effected their landing two miles below, moved forward and occupied the woods, about a mile and a half on our left.
" The force which I instantly directed to march against the enemy consisted of 30 Artillery, 250 41st Regiment, 50 Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 400 militia, and about 600 Indians, to which were attached three 6-pounders and two 3-pounders. Lieutenant Houghton, commanding the Royal Artillery, an active and intelligent officer, being required in the field, the direction of the battery was intrusted to Captain Hall and the Marine Department, and I cannot withhold my entire approba- tion of their conduct on this occasion.
" I crossed the river with the intention of waiting in a strong position the effect of our force upon the enemy's camp, and in hopes of compelling him to meet us in the field ; but receiving information upon landing that Colonel McArthur, an officer of high reputation, had left the garrison three days before with a detachment of 500 men, and hearing soon afterwards that his cavalry had been seen that morning three miles in our rear, I decided on an immediate attack. Accordingly the troops advanced to within one mile of the fort, and having learned
PROCLAMATION BY BROCK. 163
that the enemy had taken little or no precaution toward the land side, I resolved on an assault, whilst the Indians pene- trated his camp. Brigadier-General Hull, however, prevented this movement by proposing a cessation of hostilities, for the purpose of preparing terms of capitulation. Lieut.-Colonel John Macdonell and Captain Glegg were accordingly deputed by me on this mission, and returned within an hour with the conditions, which I have the honor herewith to submit. Cer- tain considerations afterwards induced me to consent to the two supplementary articles.
" The force thus surrendered to His Majesty's arms cannot be estimated at less than 2,500 men. In this estimate Colonel McArthur's detachment is included, as he surrendered, agree- ably to the terms of the capitulation, in the course of the evening, with the exception of 200 men, whom he left escorting a valuable convoy at some little distance in the rear, but there can be no doubt the officer commanding will consider himself equally bound by the capitulation.
" The enemy's aggregate force was divided into two troops of cavalry, one company of artillery engineers, the 4th United States Regiment, detachments of the 1st and 3rd United States Regiments Volunteers, the regiments of the Ohio Militia, one regiment of the Michigan Territory.
" Thirty- three pieces of brass and iron ordnance have already been secured.
"When this contest commenced many of the Indian natives were engaged in active warfare with the United States, not- withstanding the constant endeavors of this Government to dissuade them from it.
" Some of the principal chiefs happened to be at Amherst- burg trying to obtain a supply of arms and ammunition, which for years had been withheld, agreeably to the instructions received from Sir James Craig, and since repeated by your Excellency. From that moment they took a most active part, and appeared foremost on every occasion ; they were led yes- terday by Colonel Elliot and Captain McKee, and nothing
164 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
could exceed their order and steadiness. A few prisoners were taken by them during the advance, whom they treated with every humanity ; and it affords me much pleasure in assuring your Excellency that such was their forbearance and attention to what was required of them, that the enemy sustained no other loss in men than what was occasioned by the lire of our batteries.
"The high sense I entertain of the abilities and judgment of Lieut. -Colonel Myers induced me to appoint him to the important command at Niagara; it was with reluctance I deprived myself of his assistance, but I had no other expedient ; his duties as head of the Quartermaster-General's Department were performed to my satisfaction by Lieut-Colonel Nichol, Quartermaster- General of the Militia. Captain Glegg, my Aide-de-Camp, will have the honor of delivering this despatch to your Excellency ; he is charged with the colors taken at the capture of Detroit and those of the 4th United States Regiment.
" Captain Glegg is capable of giving your Excellency every information respecting the state of this Province, and I shall esteem myself highly indebted to your Excellency to afford him that protection to which his merit and length of service give him a powerful claim.
" I have the honor to be, etc.,
" ISAAC BROCK,
" Major-General.
" P.S. — I have the honor to enclose a copy of a proclamation which I have issued immediately on taking possession of this country.
" I should have mentioned in the body of my despatch the capture of the Adams; she is a fine vessel, and recently repaired, but without arms."
The Major-General was especially anxious that the volun- teers and embodied militia who took part with him in the
}
PROCLAMATION BY BROCK. 165
capture of Detroit should have due recognition and thanks for their services. After the capture he issued the following order :
"The Major-General cannot forego this opportunity of ex- pressing his admiration at the conduct of the several companies of militia, who so handsomely volunteered to undergo the fatigues of a journey of several hundred miles to go to the rescue of an invaded district ; and he requests Major Salmon, Captains Howard, Bostwick and Robinson, will assure the officers and men under their respective command, that their services have been duly appreciated and will never be forgotten- The Major-General is happy to acknowledge the able assistance he hasderived from the zeal and local information of Lieut. - Colonel Nichol, acting Quartermaster-General to the Militia.
" To his personal staff the Major-General feels himself under much obligation ; and he requests Lieut.-Colonel Macdonell, Majors Glegg and Givins, will be assured that their zealous exertions have made too deep an impression on his mind ever to be forgotten.
" The conduct of the Indians, under Colonel Elliot, Captain McKee, and other officers of that department, joined to that of the gallant and brave Chiefs of their respective tribes, has since the commencement of the war been marked with acts of true heroism, and in nothing can they testify more strongly their love to the King, their great father, than in following the dictates of honor and humanity, by which they have been hitherto actuated. Two fortifications have already been cap- tured from the enemy without a drop of blood being shed \ by the hands of the Indians ; the instant the enemy submitted pis life became saved.
" By order of
"MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK,
" J. B. Glegg, Captain, A.D.G."
CHAPTER XIV.
INDIAN ALLIES OF THE BRITISH — GOVERNOR SIMCOE ANI> BRANT — TECUM- SEH — "LITTLE TURTLE" AND "BLUE JACKET" — ST. GLAIR'S DEFKAT AT MIAMI — TREATY OF GREENVILLE — TECUMSEH'S SPEECH TO THE OSAGES — COUNCIL AT VINCENNES— BATTLE OF TIPPACANOE— FORT MEIGS — PROCTOR'S EVACUATION OF FORT MALDEN — PROCTOR'S DEFEAT AT MORAVIANTOWN— DEATH OF TECUMSEH.
I TAKE the liberty of digressing in some degree from my narra- tive to devote a chapter especially to the Indians, who gave such valuable aid to the British troops and the Canadian militia in the war of 1812, that a grave injustice would be done were they not remembered and their services recorded in connection with the history of the life and times of Major-Gene ral Sir Isaac Brock. Above all, it would be a neglect if their great chief, Tecumseh, were not accorded the meed of praise which he deserves.
It may be asked, Who were these Indian allies of the British, and how did it happen that they either voluntarily or by call took any part in the war? To rightly understand this matter "ve are obliged to explore the history of the dealings between
CHIEF BRANT AND GOVERNOR S1MCOE. 167
the Americans and the Indians, and also between the British and the red men, some years before the declaration of war by the United States.
Any fair-minded enquirer into these events must come to the conclusion that the United States had other objects in view than mere retaliation for fancied wrongs on the part of Great Britain in exercising right of search or the matter of trade relations ; more important objects were the acquisition of the whole territory west of the Ohio River, which the Indians claimed as their rightful possession, and, following on that, the conquest of Canada.
When Governor Simcoe, early in the year 1794, received in- structions from the Governor-General, Lord Dorchester, to enter territory within the boundaries of the United States, as settled between Great Britain and the new nation of the United States by the treaty of 1783, and to build a fort at the Miami Rapids, it was as much for the protection of the Indian possessions against the aggressions of the Americans of Pennsylvania and Virginia as for the safety of the post of Detroit, still retained by the British, as a means of compelling the United States Government to carry out in its integrity the treaty by which the colonies had secured their independence.
On the 10th October, 1794, a council was held at the mouth of the Detroit River, which was attended by Brant, the chief of the Wyandot Indians, and Governor Simcoe.
At that council the Wyandot chief, addressing Governor Simcoe, said :
" Father : We request you to give your sentiments candidly. We have been these many years in wars and troubles. You have from time to time promised us your assistance. When is your promise to be fulfilled?"
168 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Governor^Simcoe, answering the chiefs in council, said :
" Children : Your question is very difficult to be answered. I will relate an ancient history, perhaps, before anj^ of you were born. When I first came to this country I found it in possession of your fathers, the French ; we soon became enemies of each other. In time, the Great Spirit above gave the conquest in our favor. We lived in this state for many years after. At last the Americans began to act independently, which caused a rupture between us. The contest lasted for a while ; at last we made peace. From that period they have been encroaching on your lands. I looked on as a spectator — never would say a word. They have even named the rivers that empty into the Ohio. Children: I am still of the opinion that the Ohio is your right and title. I have given orders to the Commandant at Fort Miami to fire on the Americans whenever they make their appearance again." . . .
Again, on the 20th October, 1794, Governor Simcoe, in a despatch which he wrote to Mr. Hammond, the British Secretary of the Legation in the United States, for perusal of Mr. Ran- dolph, the American Secretary of State, in vindication of the erection of the fort at Miami Rapids, said :
" My having executed the order of His Majesty's Commander- in-Chief in North America, Lord Dorchester, in re-occupying a post upon the Miami River within the limits of those main- tained by the British forces at the peace in the year 1783, upon the principle of self-defence against the approaches of an army which menaced the King's possessions, is what I presume Mr. Secretary Randolph terms, ' Governor Simcoe's invasion.' "
The army referred to by Governor Simcoe, which even then was on the march menacing the King's possessions, was the army of General Wayne, the Commander of the American Army of the West, which, on the 7th July, 1794, defeated the
TECUMSEH. 160
Indians at Fort Recovery, on the Miami River, so called because it was the restoration of a fortress which General Wayne built on the site of the battle-ground of a previous engagement between the Americans and the Indians, where General St. Glair suffered a defeat.
It was at Fort Recovery that Tecumseh, the renowned Shaw- anee warrior, first distinguished himself, taking an active part with the Indians in that engagement.
Tecumseh was by birth a Shawanee, and was one of three brothers born at one birth in 1769, upon the banks of the Scioto River, near what is now Chillicothe. His father's name was Pukeesheno, which means " I light from flying." His mother's name was Meetheetashe, which signifies "A turtle laying her eggs in the sand."
The name Tecumseh in the Indian language signifies "A tiger crouching for his prey." His two brothers were Elsk- watawa, which signifies " A door opened," who was also called the Prophet ; and Kamvskaka, "A tiger that flies in the air."
Tecumseh's brother Elskwatawa, the Prophet, was a chief in statecraft second only to Pontiac, and a fit successor in his project of uniting all the Indian tribes of the West and North- West, American and Canadian, in a combined opposition to the Americans in their encroachments on Indian territory west of the Ohio. The Indians always maintained that they were not bound by the British and American treaty of 1783 ; that they were an independent nation, the rightful owners of the soil, and that no power, English or American, could deprive them of their rights.
They had shown their spirit of opposition in defence of their possessions when, in 1791, the American General Harmar, marching into their country with 1,500 men, failed in his
170 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL KROCK.
enterprise undertaken to subdue the Indians, and was com- pelled to inarch back again to Washington dispirited and discomfited.
On the failure of General Harmar to reduce the Indians to subjection, Major-General St. Glair, in the autumn of the same year (1791), was appointed commander of an expedition bent on the conquest which Harmar was not able to effect. This time St. Glair was at the head of a corps d'arme'e of 2,000 men. The principal Indian settlement and place of rendezvous for the tribes was at this time on the Miami River, where there were numerous Indian villages, surrounded by cornfields vast
•
in extent, smiling landscapes and happy homes. The Indians, who were never without runners to act in the place of mail- carriers and give intelligence of any contemplated movements of their enemies, were made fully aware of what St. Glair intended to do, and governed themselves accordingly.
The most noted chief of the Indian nation at this time was " Little Turtle." He has been described by some writers as the greatest warrior and most sagacious ruler ever known among the red men. He certainly was a most competent leader, but, in comparing him with others, the names of Pontiac and Brant (Thayendenaga*) must not be left out of the reckoning. There are those who will not concede that either of these two latter was ever surpassed by any other chief of the Indians. In ferocity, in treachery, in revengefulness, Pontiac surpassed them all. "Little Turtle" was celebrated for his faculty of organization, for his uncommon perception and his boldness in enterprise. Brant, while a great warrior and commander of men, was yet of a humane disposition, benevolent, kind, con-" siderate — virtues which are not usually the predominant char- acteristics of the Indian.
INDIANS MAKE A STAND AT FORT MIAMI. 171
" Little Turtle " was a Miami chief. He obtained informa- tion from the runners that General St. Clair, with his army of 2,000 men, had advanced into the Indian territory to within fifteen miles of the Miami villages, and was there encamped. The wonderful efforts which the Prophet had made to con- federate the Indians, and to join them together in one common phalanx to oppose American aggression, was now to bear fruit. They were got together by the chiefs, and when assembled at the Miami to meet the invader, formed possibly a larger force than that commanded by St. Clair.
Surrounding the fort at Miami were Hurons, Wyandots, Iroquois, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Delawares, Shaw- anese, with a host of other tribes from beyond the Mississippi, from the south and from the north, to engage in war with the whites, whom they regarded as trespassers on Indian lands.
" Little Turtle " was ably seconded by other chiefs who, if not so high in command, were not less valorous and sagacious warriors. " Blue Jacket," one of the most noted chiefs of the Shawanee tribe, was present and took a conspicuous position on the Indian side in the battle of the Miami, and it is said that Brant, the great Mohawk chief, was also among the number. In the engagement which followed on the incursion of the Americans, the whites met with a signal defeat, and were com- pelled to retreat on Fort Hamilton, some thirty miles distant, which they had built on their way to the Miami. The Indians did not lose more than fifty men. Their victory was not of long duration, for a few weeks later General Scott appeared on the ground with a regiment of mounted Kentucky men, drove the Indians from the camp which the whites had deserted, took from them their plunder, and killed 200 of their warriors.
172 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Whether the Prophet or Tecuinseh took part in this affair of the Miami is not certain, but it was chiefly owing to their efforts that the large number of different tribes were collected together to meet the common enemy.
I have mentioned that the Indians were defeated by the Americans on the 7th July, 1794, and that Tecumseh had first distinguished himself in the encounter which there took
o
place. Immediately on the defeat of the tribes at Fort Recovery, a despatch was sent to Brant, the recognized chief of the Canadian Indians, apprising him of the disaster. Brant lost no time in communicating with Governor Simcoe, advising him of the position of the Indians, and in his despatch told the Governor that General Wayne was only waiting for an augmentation of his force by 3,000 militia from Kentucky, when he intended to build a fort in the Indian country, another at the Glaize, a tributary stream of the Miami, and proceed from thence to attack Detroit.
Governor Wayne, who was given the name of "The Black Snake," did, in fact, take up his march in the direction of the Miami Rapids, where, under Governor Simcoe's orders, a Brit- ish fort had been constructed in April of this year (1794), and on the 8th August arrived within about thirty miles of the fort.
"Little Turtle," still in the supreme command of the Indians, lost no time in collecting his warriors, to the number of about 2,000, and determined to give the Americans battle under the shadow of the fort at the rapids. General Wayne advanced with his force, met the Indians at the fort and gained a signal victory, which brought about a cessation of the Indian war followed by the Indian Treaty of Greenville in the autumn of 1795.
TECUMSEH'S MISSION TO THE INDIANS. 173
General VanRennselaer, who commanded the Americans at the battle of Queenston Heights, took part in this engagement.
In writing the life of General Simcoe I found it necessary to enlarge somewhat on the circumstances attending the construc- tion of the fort at the Miami Rapids, and the battles between the Americans and the Indians, as it was the occasion of some spirited correspondence between Governor Simcoe and the American Secretary of State, and also between General Wayne and the British commander at the fort.
After the Treaty of Greenville there was comparative peace between the Americans and Indians for several years. This interval of peace was very disastrous to the latter, as in the absence of war the tribes addicted themselves to drink, so much so that they were nearly annihilated. This was a great grief to Elskwatawa and Tecumseh, as they clung to the hope that the Indians by co-operation would yet be able to drive back the whites, who were still encroaching on their domain. Elskwatawa, the Prophet, proclaimed himself commissioned by the Great Spirit to foretell and to hasten by his efforts the destruction of the invaders. He entered upon a crusade against the rum-drinkers, and urged the tribes to combine, to stand up against the white men, and drive them into the sea.
Tecumseh was sent on a mission to the Indians beyond the Mississippi, to enlist them in the cause he and Elskwatawa had at heart — the utter routing of the incursionists from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and other parts of the United States. In this mission he visited the tribes of the west and south, and. in moving terms, portrayed to them the injustice they were subjected to by the Americans. In one assemblage of the Osages he addressed them in language which eloquently .appealed to them, and all Indians, to lend him their assistance
174 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
in resisting the whites (Americans) in their war of conquest. His words have been translated, as follows :
" Brothers, we all belong to one family; we are all children of the same Great Spirit ; we walk in the same path, slake our thirst at the same spring ; and now affairs of the greatest con- cern lead us to smoke the pipe around the same council-fire.
" Brothers, we are friends ; we must assist each other to bear our burdens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We ourselves are threatened with a great evil ; nothing will pacify them but the destruction of all the red men.
" Brothers, when the white men first set foot on our grounds they were hungry ; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their fires. They were feeble ; they could ' do nothing for themselves. Our fathers commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them whatever the Great Spirit had given His red children. They gave them food when hungry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds that they might hunt and raise corn.
" Brothers, the white people are like poisonous serpents ; when chilled they are feeble and harmless, but, invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their benefactors to death.
" The white people came among us feeble, and now that we have made them strong they wish to kill us or drive us back as they would wolves or panthers.
" Brothers, the white men are not friends to the Indians ; at first they only asked for land sufficient for a wigwam, now nothing will satisfy them but the whole of our hunting-grounds, from the rising to the setting sun.
" Brothers, the white men want more than our hunting- grounds ; they wish to kill our old men, women and little ones.
" Brothers, many winters ago there was no land ; the sun did not rise and set; all was darkness. The Great Spirit made all things. He gave the white people a home beyond the great waters ; He supplied these grounds with game, and gave them
TECUMSEH'S ADDRESS TO THE OSAGES. 175
to His red children, and He gave them strength and courage to defend them.
" Brothers, my people wish for peace ; the red men all wish for peace; but where the white people are there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother.
" Brothers, the white men despise and cheat the Indians ; they abuse and insult them ; they do not think the red men sufficiently good to live.
" The red men have borne many great injuries ; they ought to suffer them no longer. My people will not ; they are determined on vengeance; they have taken up the tomahawk; they will make it fat with blood ; they will drink the blood of the white people.
" Brothers, my people are brave and numerous, but the white people are too strong for them alone. I wish you to take up the tomahawk with them ; if we all unite we will cause the rivers to stain the great waters with their blood.
" Brothers, if you do not unite with us they will first destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them ; they have destroyed many nations of red men because they were not united, because they were not friends to each other.
" Brothers, the white people send runners amongst us ; they wish to make us enemies that they may sweep over and desolate our hunting-grounds like devastating winds or rushing waters. " Brothers, our great father over the great waters is angry with the white people, our enemies. He will send his brave warriors against them ; he will send us rifles and whatever else we want ; he is our friend and we are his children.
" Brothers, who are the white people that we should fear them ? They cannot run fast, and are good marks to shoot at they are only men ; our fathers have killed many of them. We are not squaws, and we will stain the earth with their blood.
" Brothers, the Great Spirit is angry with our enemies ; He speaks in thunder, and the earth swallows up villages and drinks up the Mississippi. The great waters will cover their low lands ; their corn cannot grow ; and the Great Spirit will
176 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BKOCK.
sweep those who escape to the hills from the earth with His terrible breath.
" Brothers, we must be united ; we must smoke the same pipe ; we must fight each other's battles ; and, more than all, we must love the Great Spirit. He is for us ; He will destroy our enemies, and make all His red children happy."
General Harrison, then Indian Commissioner, came to know of the plotting of the Indians, reported the state of affairs to the United States Government, and demanded of the Prophet an explanation of the movement going on among the tribes. The Prophet was quite equal to the occasion. He denied that the Indians had intended to take up the hatchet, but still insisted that they were being hunted by the Americans in a way that might well justify retaliation. In the year 1808 the Prophet had become possessed of a large tract of country about the •confluence of the Tippecanoe River with the Wabash, in North- ern Indiana. Here he surrounded himself with about 1,000 warriors from among the Shawanese, Delawares, Wyandots. Pottawatomies, Ottawas, Kikkapoos and Chippewas. In the year 1809 General Harrison, under the direction of the United States Government, purchased of three of these tribes, the Delawares, Miamis and Pottawatomies, an extensive tract of land on both sides of the Wabash, extending up the river sixty miles above Vincennes. Tecumseh was away at this time, on his mission of confederation of the Indian tribes. When he returned the following year to Tippecanoe, his place of rendez- vous, he took strong exception to the conveyance of this large tract of territory by the chiefs of three tribes only of the Nations ; he even went so far as to threaten these chiefs with •death, strongly insisting that no cession of territory could be made without the consent of all the tribes. He contended that
COUNCIL AT VINCENNES. 177
the Indians were one nation, and that a conveyance by one or three tribes only could be of no avail, and declared that he, and the Indians of the other non-subscribing tribes, would not and could not recognize the validity of the land transaction with General Harrison. Upon this a council was called for the 12th August, 1810, at Vincennes, which was attended by General Harrison, Tecumseh and many warriors.
The speech which Tecumseh made to General Harrison at this council, in defence of the claims of the Indians, is so noble in tone, so independent in spirit, and so patriotic — predominant characteristics in this distinguished and faithful ally of the British — that I make no apology for giving it in full, as follows :
" It is true I am a Shawanee. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior. From them I only take my existence ; from my tribe I take nothing. I am the maker of my own fortune, and oh ! that I could make that of my red people and of my country as great as the conceptions of my mind when I think of the Spirit that rules the universe. I would not, then, come to Governor Harrison to ask him to tear the treaty and to obliterate the landmark ; but I would say to him, ' Sir, you have likely to return to your own country.' The being within, communing with past ages, tells me that once, nor until lately, there was no white man on this continent ; that it all belongs to red men, children of the same parents, placed on it by the Great Spirit that made them, to keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its productions and to fill it with the same race — once a happy race, since made miserable by the white people, who are never contented, but always encroaching. The way — -and the only way — to check and to stop this evil is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land as it was at first and should be yet, for it never was divided, but belongs to all, for the use of each ; that no part has a right to 12
178 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
sell, even to each other, much less to strangers, those who want all and will not do with less. The white people have no right to take the land from the Indians, because they had it tirst; it is theirs. They may sell, but all must join. Any sale not made by all is not valid. The late sale is bad. It was made by a part only. Part do not know how to sell. It requires all to make a bargain for all. All red men have equal rights to the unoccupied land. The right of occupancy is as good in one place as in another. There cannot be two occupants in the same place. The first excludes all others. It is not so in hunting or travelling, for there the same ground will serve many, as they may follow each other all day ; but the camp is stationary and that is occupancy. It belongs to the first who sits down on his blanket or skins, which he has thrown upon the ground, and till he leaves it no other has a right."
After reading this speech one might ask, Was this man a university graduate or a lawyer ? I doubt if any university man or lawyer could deliver a more well-constructed, logical and truly eloquent speech than this of Tecumseh's. It may well be conceived that General Harrison winced under the scathing remarks of the Indian orator and soldier.
General Harrison made a reply to Tecumseh, in which he claimed that the Shawanese themselves were intruders on the Miamis, the Indian tribe on the Wabash ; that the Government had properly purchased the land from the Miamis, who, he contended, had a right to sell ; and made many other assertions in justification of the purchase.
When he had concluded, Tecumseh exclaimed that " all he had said was false." This produced a sensation ; rifles, toma- hawks and war-clubs were resorted to by the different parties in the council-room. There came near being a desperate encounter then and there, but peaceful agents quieted the
BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 179
tumult and order was restored. Tecumseh retired from the council, but not from the neighborhood. He soon after met General Harrison and made some sort of apology for the dis- order at the council-room, but still insisted that the United States Government, by the purchase, had illegally obtained the conveyance of the tract of land on the Wabash. There was a council meeting the next day, in which Tecumseh called upon Governor Harrison to prevail upon the President to give back the land to the Indians. To this Harrison replied that there was no probability of the President doing so. When the Governor told him this, Tecumseh said : " Well, as the great chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up this land. It is true he is so far off he will not be injured by the war ; he may sit still in his town and drink his wine, whilst you and I will have to fight it out."
The gauntlet being thus thrown down, it was not long before General Harrison took it up. On the night of the 6th Novem- ber, 1811, the Indians and General Harrison's force met in deadly conflict at Tippecanoe. The Indians displayed great bravery, and the fight was long and bloody ; but, in the end, the forces of the United States prevailed and Tecumseh's fol- lowers suffered defeat. In the engagement sixty-two Ameri- cans were killed and 126 wounded.
The humane character of the great chief came out very well in this engagement. After Tecumseh had been told by General Harrison that the President would not relinquish the purchase of the tract of land on the Wabash, the General expressed a wish, if war should follow, that cruelty to prisoners should not be allowed on either side. Tecumseh assured him he would do all in his power to prevent it, and this promise he strictly
180 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
kept. The battle of Tippecanoe was fought on the principles of civilized warfare; although the Indians suffered defeat, no charge could be made that Tecumseh had not been faithful to his engagement.
I pass over the transactions of the Indians while Hull occu- pied Detroit, having sufficiently referred to these in the previous chapter. We come now to January, 1813, when, on the 22nd of that month, 1,000 of the American forces under General Winchester were routed at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, about twenty miles below Detroit, by 600 regulars of the Brit- ish force and 200 Indians, who crossed over the river from Fort Maiden (Amherstburgh) to accomplish this purpose. I cannot say if Tecumseh was personally in this engagement, but the Indians were (his warriors), and it is possible he was there. If atrocities were committed by the Indians in this affair it was no fault of the chiefs, as they did all they could to restrain them.
The next we hear of Tecumseh is that he took an active part in the capture of Fort Meigs on the 5th May, 1813. All through the winter of 1812-13, General Proctor, with his divi- sion of the 41st Regiment, at Amherstburgh, the militia of Essex and the Indians under Tecumseh, had been kept busily employed in devices for preventing or retarding the American forces on the other side of the river from crossing into Canada.
General Harrison was in occupation of Fort Meigs with an army of about 2,500 men. Proctor determined to attack him. Although he could not muster more than about 1,000 men, he resolved to make an attempt to take Fort Meigs, if it was possible to do so, and thus render more secure the position at Fort Maiden, at the mouth of the Detroit River.
The 2,000 men or thereabouts that Proctor had at his dis-
FORT MEIGS. 181
posal included 1,200 Indians. The balance of the force was mostly, if not altogether, composed of regulars of the 41st Regiment. With this command Proctor and Tecumseh crossed the river, and with the regulars and Indian warriors appeared before Fort Meigs. After a desperate struggle they suc- ceeded in driving out General Harrison and his force, which had been increased by 1,200 Kentucky men under General Clay. The Americans in this engagement lost 100 men in killed, wounded and prisoners, while the British had only fourteen killed and forty-five wounded.
Tecumseh in this engagement is said to have used his utmost endeavors to prevent the Indians taking revenge on the enemy by scalping and other methods.
An American historian, in a commendable spirit of fairness, writing of his humanity to prisoners, said : " Indeed, we have one example, which has never been called in question, and is worthy the great mind of this chief. When Colonel Dudley was cut off, and near 400 of his men, not far from Fort Meigs, by falling into an ambush, Tecumseh arrived at the scene of action when the Americans could resist no longer. He exerted himself to put a stop to the massacre of the soldiers which was then going on, and meeting with a Chippewa chief who would not desist by persuasion nor threats, he buried his tomahawk in his head."
At the time of the capture of Fort Meigs the British were, by virtue of conquest, the possessors of the Michigan territory, and the Americans were rightly ejected from this fort, which,
I however, they re-occupied soon after the British, satisfied with their successes, had retired upon their old quarters at Amherstburgh. No sooner had the Indians reached the Canadian shore than,
182 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
with unbridled license, they began to indulge in revelry and all those excesses so common to the red men after a victory. Nothing could restrain — neither the voice of Tecumseh nor the sword of Proctor could bring them to reason.
There was, indeed, a continuous debauch of the warriors during the whole summer. The provisions at the fort fell short, and by the time the month of September came round Proctor was literally " between the devil and the deep sea."
By this time the Americans had got their Lake Erie fleet out of Presque Isle harbor, at the south of the lake, and were virtu- ally masters of the western waters.
As I have to do with Brock and Tecumseh more than with a history of the war after the death of Brock, I need only state here that in the naval conflict on the lake between the seamen and vessels of the rival commanders, Perry of the Americans and Barclay of the British squadron, the Americans were entirely successful. It is possible that this naval fight might not have taken place were it not that it became absolutely necessary that the British fleet should attack the American, though of larger armament, in order to enable Fort Maiden to be re-provisioned from Long Point and elsewhere east of the mouth of the Detroit River. If this could not be brought about, Proctor and his army were lost. The defeat of the naval forces of the British and Canadians by Commodore Perry, and Proctor's inability to re-provision the garrison, made it neces- sary to evacuate the fort. The recital of these matters is essential in order to fully understand the next scene in the drama, which was an eventful one, resulting in the defeat of Proctor's army and the death of that truly noble red man, Tecumseh.
Mrs. Edgar, in her " Ten Years of Upper Canada," under the
PROCTOR'S RETREAT. 183
heading, " Naval Fight, Lake Erie, September, 1813," has given us a chapter on the engagement between the fleets of Perry and Barclay, which so well describes the whole battle that I cannot do better than refer the reader to her work for a full descrip- tion of the event. Tecumseh did not take part in the naval contest, but both his warriors and himself heard the guns from afar. The consequence of the defeat of the British by Perry, as we have said, compelled General Proctor to evacuate Fort Maiden. This he set about doing as soon as he realized the fact that his troops must starve if he remained. He resolved to retreat on Burlington Heights, the chief depot of the British at the head of Lake Ontario. Tecumseh was much concerned about this decision of Proctor, not knowing who were victors in the naval engagement on Lake Erie. General Proctor called a council of his officers at Amherstburgh in order to communicate to them his resolve to evacuate Fort Maiden and gain their concurrence. Tecumseh was invited to attend this council, held on the 18th September, 1813, and protested against Proctor's determination to retreat in the following language :
" Father ! listen to your children ; you see 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 all 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 our father will do so again at this time. The summer before last, when I came forward with my red children 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 he was now
184 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
ready to fight the Americans ; that he wanted our assistance, and that he would certainly get us our lands back which the Americans had taken from us. Listen ! You told us at that time to bring forward our families to this place. We did so, and you promised to take care of them, and that they should want for nothing while the men would go fight the enemy ; that we were not to trouble ourselves with the enemy's gar- risons ; that we knew nothing about them, and that our father would attend to that part of the business. You also told your red children that you would take good care of your garrison here, which made our hearts glad. Listen ! When we last went to the Rapids, it is true, we gave you little assistance. It is hard to fight people who live like ground-hogs. Our fleet is gone out ; we know they have fought ; we have heard the great guns, but know nothing what has happened to our father with one arm.* Our ships have gone one way, and we are much astonished to see our father tying up everything and prepar- ing to run 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 could never draw your foot off British ground ; but now, father, we see you are drawing back, and we are sorry to see our father doing so without seeing the enemy. We must compare our father's conduct to a fat animal that carries its tail upon its back ; but, when affrighted, drops it between its legs and runs off.
" Listen, father ! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land, neither are we sure 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,
* Captain Barclay, who, like Nelson, was a one-armed commander. Hia remaining hand was disabled in the engagement with Perry.
DEATH OF TECUMSEH. 185
the Americans certainly defeated us ; and when we retreated to our father's fort at that place, the gates were shut against us. We were afraid that it would now be the case, but, instead of that, 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 have an idea of going away, give them to us, and you may go, and welcome for us. Our lives are in the hand of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and, if it is His will, to leave our bones upon them."
Notwithstanding this impassioned protest, Proctor retreated with his force, and, by the 4th October, had reached Chatham, closely pursued by General Harrison and his army, much superior in numbers to the retreating forces of the British and their Indian allies. Proctor had promised to make a stand at McGregor's Creek, which flows into the Thames at Chatham. This, however, he failed to do, and on the 5th October was overtaken by General Harrison's army when about three miles from Moraviantown. Here Proctor had to make a stand whether he would or not. Tecumseh was allowed to choose the ground for battle, which he did with consummate skill and ability. All, however, was of no avail. The opposing forces met. Tecumseh was in the midst of the fight leading on his Indians with heroic courage. The contest was an unequal one, and the British were defeated. Tecumseh fell by the fire of the enemy. Like Brock, he fell with his face to the foe, a martyr, as some believe, to neglect and mismanagement on the part of General Proctor. The Indians took charge of the body of their leader and deposited his bones no one knows where. No stone marks his grave ; no monument his resting-place. A grateful country will yet, it is hoped, perpetuate his memory by a suitable monument, erected in the western country some-
186 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
where in the neighborhood of his fall at the battle of the Thames.
Mr. Charles Mair, in his dramatic poem " Tecumseh," has put into the mouth of an officer the following lines commemorative of this celebrated chief of the Indian race, who laid down his life for Canada in the war of 1812, with which his name will ever be associated along with that of Brock :
"All will mourn for him ! No need had he of schools or learned books.
His soul his mentor, his keen lion-looks Pierced to the heart of things. Nor needed he
Counsels of strength and goodness. To be free Required no teacher, no historic page,
No large examples sought from age to age. For such things were himself, and as his breath,
Instinctive, pleaders 'gainst the fears of death."
CHAPTER XY.
BROCK CONGRATULATED ON CAPTURE OF DETROIT — A BRILLIANT SUCCESS — BROCK RETURNS TO HEADQUARTERS — FORT GEORGE — SIR GEORGE PRE VOST — ARMISTICE .
THE capture of Detroit without the sacrifice of a drop of British blood was a source of congratulation to all officers, civil and military, and to the people of Canada generally.
The Chief Justice of Lower Canada wrote from Quebec offer- ing his felicitations on Brock's wonderful success.
On the 27th August, the Honorable William Dummer Powell, Judge of the Court of King's Bench, wrote to Major-General Brock a letter, in which he said :
" I cannot persuade myself to offer my hearty congratulations through the medium of a third person, and hope you will believe that no one sympathizes more cordially than myself in your feelings on the late happy event.
" I shall never again regret little disappointments, when I consider to what they may lead. Had your early representa- tions been attended to and produced their proper effect, you would probably not have to boast of the most brilliant success,
188 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
with the most inadequate means, which history records. There is something so fabulous in the report of a handful of troops, supported by a few militia, leaving their strong post to invade an enemy of double numbers in his own fortress, and making them all prisoners without the loss of a man, that although your report may be sanctioned by Sir George Prevost, it seems to me that the people of England will be incredulous until they see the exterminating boaster a prisoner in London. We find under cover by General Sheaffe, that the first report of the cannon taken was one-third short of the real number. I shall hardly sleep until I have the satisfaction of hearing particulars of the wonderful excursion, for it must not be called a campaign.
" The veni, vidi, vici is again the faithful report. Your good fortune in one instance is singular, for if your zeal had been thwarted by such adverse winds as frequently occur on the lake, the armistice might have intercepted your career. That it did not I heartily thank God, and pray that nothing may occur to damp the entire satisfaction of yourself and family in the glory so well earned. I am impatient to hear from Colonel Macdonell, but have no doubt that he justified your warmest expectations in every trial."
Sir George Prevost, Commander of the Forces, sent a despatch to Brock on the 30th August from his headquarters at Montreal, in which he conveyed to the Major-General his " most sincere congratulations on the success which has attended your meas- ures for the preservation of Amherstburgh. The surrender of Detroit, the capture of General Hull's army, with so large a proportion of ordnance, are circumstances of high importance to our country, and which have evinced your talents as an officer in command, and reflect honor upon you and upon Lieut- Colonel St. George and Colonel Proctor."
He likewise, on the 26th of August, forwarded a despatch
BROCK APPOINTED KNIGHT OF THE BATH. 189
from Montreal to Earl Bathurst, one of the Secretaries of State, and in reply received the following despatch from the Secretary :
"DOWNING STREET,
" October 10th, 1812.
" I have had the honor of receiving your despatch dated the 26th August, together with its enclosure from Major-General Brock, and I lost no time in laying intelligence so important and satisfactory before His Royal Highness the Prince Regent.
" I am commanded by His Royal Highness to desire you to take the earliest opportunity of conveying His Royal Highness' approbation of the zeal and spirit manifested by Colonel Proctor and the other officers, as well as of the intrepidity of the troops under the command of Major-General Brock.
" By the united exertions of this little army, the enterprise of the American army has been defeated, the territories of His Majesty in Upper Canada have been secured, and on the enemy's fort of Detroit, important to that security, the British standard has been happily placed.
" You will inform Major-General Brock that His Royal Highness, taking into consideration all the difficulties by which Major-General Brock was surrounded from the time of the invasion of the American army under the command of General Hull, and the singular judgment, skill and courage with which he was enabled to surmount them so effectually, has been pleased to appoint him an extra Knight of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath."
[This despatch, with its gratifying intelligence, was not des- tined to reach him for whom it was intended, for long ere it had reached Upper Canada the heroic soldier had fallen on the slopes of Queenston Heights, and had passed beyond the reach of earthly honors.]
These flattering testimonials to the talent and tact of Major-
190 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
General Sir Isaac Brock, however well deserved and compli- mentarily expressed, did not in the least disturb his equanimity or fill him with undue pride. The Major-General, as we have said in a former place, was, as the historian Coffin expresses it, " beloved by all who knew him, and respected by all who did not know him." He was no boaster, but in every sense of the word a man of action, a soldier who knew his duty and did it. He was the idol of the 49th Regiment when he commanded that corps. Their good deeds he commended and their bad ones he did not punish more than was necessary for a proper state of discipline, which was always maintained in the regiment while he was at its head. As with the regulars, so with the militia, he had their entire confidence. When they deserved his approbation be did not withhold honor to whom honor was due.
As soon after the surrender of Brigadier-General Hull as he was able, he returned to headquarters at Fort George, and then to York, the capital. As soon as he reached York the inhabitants presented him with an address, expressing their esteem for himself and gratification at the eminent service per- formed by him in the west. To this address he made the following happy reply :
" Gentlemen, — I cannot but feel highly gratified by this expression of your esteem for myself ; but in justice to the brave men at whose head I marched against the enemy, I must beg leave to direct your attention to them as the proper objects of your gratitude. It was a confidence founded on their loyalty, zeal and valor, that determined me to adopt the plan of operations which led to so fortunate a termination. Allow me to congratulate you, gentlemen, at having sent out from your- selves a large portion of that gallant band, and that at such a period a spirit had manifested itself on which you may con-
COLORS PRESENTED TO THE Y >RK MILITIA. 191
fidently repose your hopes of future security. It will be a most pleasing duty for me to report to our Sovereign conduct so truly meritorious."
The women of York, the capital of the Province, made a beautiful banner for presentation to the 3rd York militia, in honor of the part that regiment had taken in the enterprise.
This presentation, it had been intended, should be made immediately after the return of the regiment to the capital ; but Major-General Brock's duties in active service calling him elsewhere, prevented his being in York to honor the ceremony with his presence at the time originally fixed. The presenta- tion was consequently delayed in the hope that he could be present. This, however, was not to be, and the colors were not presented until after his fall at Queenston Heights. At length a day was appointed for the presentation to be made, the presence of Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Brock's successor in com- mand of the 49th Regiment, being secured. The ceremony was an imposing one. At one o'clock in the afternoon the regiment was drawn up in front of St. James' Church in open order, to receive and salute the General and his suite as they passed ; then a service was read and a sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Strachan, afterwards Bishop of Toronto. The colors and standard, which were supported by Lieutenants George Ridout and Samuel Jarvis, were consecrated by Dr. Strachan. The formal presentation was made by Miss Powell, daughter of Mr. Justice Powell, with a short address. The major of the regiment received the colors, which he consigned to the care of Ensigns Charles Denison and Edward Thompson, the junior officers of the regiment.
Addresses followed by Sir Roger Sheaffe and Major Allan,
192 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK
the latter being in command of the regiment in the absence of Colonel Chewett, who was not able to be present.*
Major-General Brock visited Kingston soon after his arrival at York. While at that city, which was on the 4th, oth and 6th September, he reviewed the militia and expressed his satis- faction at its evolutions and appearance. He also received a flattering address from the magistrates, officers of militia and other inhabitants ; in reply to which he told them, with much tact, that it was the confidence inspired by the admirable con- duct of the York and Lincoln regiments of militia which had induced him to undertake the expedition which terminated in the capture of Detroit, and that from the report of the officers of the garrison at Kingston he relied with the same confidence on the bravery and discipline of the militia of that district.
The capture of Detroit, while highly satisfactory to Cana- dians, was proportionately discouraging to the United States, causing many of their people to 'declaim in no measured language against the war and against the Administration which brought it on.
On the 25th August, 1812, the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, at special session, passed the following resolutions :
1. Resolved, — That the war with Great Britain, in which the present Administration has plunged the United States, was inexpedient, ill-timed and most dangerously impolitic, sacri- ficing at once countless blessings, and incurring all the hazards and losses of men and treasure necessarily resulting from a contest with a nation possessing so many means to annoy and distress us.
2. Resolved, — That as the war was improvidently commenced,
* This banner is now in the possession of the Hon. George W. Allan.
THE WAR DENOUNCED. 193
so has the conduct of it proved wasteful and disastrous ; the Administration being evidently chargeable with the multiplied disasters which have attended our arms, and consigned to captivity or death so many thousands of brave men without the attainment of a single object.
3. Resolved, — That we view with inexpressible concern the course of that destructive policy which leads to a connexion with the military despotism of France ; and if it should so happen, as our fears suggest, that a convention or confederacy with that power either exists or is intended, we do not hesitate to declare that such an event will be considered by us more dangerous than the war itself, and as tending, in its conse- quences, to a dissolution of the United States.
In New York a convention of delegates from several counties of the State was held at Albany on the 17th and 18th days of September, 1812, in which the war was denounced as unjustifi- able, unprincipled and unpatriotic, and as subservient to the cause of the French Emperor against England.
The following are extracts from the resolutions of this convention :
" Taking solely into consideration the time and circumstances of the declaration of the present war, the condition of the country and the state of the public mind, we are constrained to consider and feel it our duty to pronounce it a most rash, unwise and inexpedient measure, the adoption of which ought forever to deprive its authors of the esteem and confidence of an enlightened people ; because as the injuries we have received from France are at least equal in amount to those we have sustained from England, and have been attended with circum- stances of still greater insult and aggravation, if war were neces- sary to vindicate the honor of the country, consistency and impartiality required that both nations should have been included in the declaration ; . . . because, before the war 13
194 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
was declared, it was perfectly well ascertained that a vast majority of the people in the Middle and Northern States, by whom the burden and expense of the war must be borne exclu- sively, were strongly opposed to the measure. . . . Whereas the late revocation of the Orders-in-Council has removed the great and ostensible cause of the present war, and prepared the way for an immediate settlement of existing differences, inas- much as, by the concession of the present Secretary of State, satisfactory and honorable arrangements might easily be made by which abuses resulting from the impressment of our seamen might in future be effectually prevented. Therefore,
"Resolved, — That we shall be constrained to consider the determination on the part of our rulers to continue the present war, after official notice of revocation of the British Orders-in- Council, as affording conclusive evidence that the war has been undertaken from motives entirely distinct from those which have been hitherto avowed, and for the promotion of objects wholly unconnected with the interest and honor of America."
Going back to the letter of Mr. Justice Powell to Brock, of the 27th August, the " armistice " referred to in this letter was one proposed by Sir George Prevost to General Dearborn, the Commander-in-Chief of the American army, a few days before the capture of Detroit.
If either Brock or Hull had heard of that proposed tem- porary cessation of hostilities before the affair of Detroit, the easy conquest of that fortress might not have been effected. Brock had no knowledge of the proposal till some days after the surrender.
In a letter from Sir George Prevost to Major-General Brock, dated at Montreal, August 31st, 1812, the former gives his reason for proposing an armistice. " It was," he said, " in con- sequence of an earnest desire not to widen the breach existing between the two countries, the revocation of the Orders-in-
ARMISTICE. 195
Council having removed the plea used in Congress for a declara- tion of war against Great Britain."
Fatal mistake ! Blind confidence ! Brock had intended, after the surrender of Detroit, in following up the victory, to have seized upon Fort Niagara, which at that time would have been an easy conquest, and then to fall on Sackett's Harbor, and thus paralyze the Americans in any future attempt at invasion by land or water.
The armistice tied Brock's hands, and the Americans availed themselves of it to transport stores, ordnance and provisions, of each of which they were much in want, along Lake Ontario and the Niagara frontier ; to raise and equip another army in place of Hull's ; to fill their forts and garrisons with new levies, and generally to prepare themselves for any future conflict. When they had all these preparations completed, the President of the United States refused to confirm the armistice, and the war went on.
Sir George Prevost has been censured in certain quarters for having made a proposal for an armistice to the American com- mander. I think the censure unjust. The step was certainly an unwise one, as matters stood at the time, and, no doubt, appeared to Brock, and to the people of Canada generally, as suicidal ; but there can be no doubt that Sir George Prevost, in proposing an armistice, was acting under instructions from the British Government, who believed that, one of the principal causes of the war being at an end by the repeal of the Orders- in-Council, the American Government would have seen reason to put an end to the war. Major-General Brock received first intelligence of the proposed armistice when voyaging down Lake Erie for the Niagara frontier, after leaving Detroit. Colonel William Coffin, than whom there is no one more com-
196 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
petent to speak of the events of 1812, referring to Brock, Sir George Prevost and the armistice, thus writes in his admirable history of the war :
" Brock, after providing for the security of his conquest, and reassuring the sparse population of Michigan by a proclamation confirming to them their property and the enjoyment of their laws and religion, sailed on the 22nd August in the schooner Chippewa for the Niagara frontier.
" We may well imagine the patriotic thoughts and high aspirations which at this time thronged the active and vigorous mind of this thorough soldier. . . . He knew that he was surrounded. An unconscious lion in the toils, he had torn the meshes to atoms, and beheld with fearless eye .the fire and the steel in his rear and on his flank. He would neutralize num- bers by activity and vim. In one week he would have swept the whole American frontier from Buffalo to Fort Niagara ; he would have dispersed the reluctant and imperfect levies there formed, and have destroyed the then insufficient armaments- Such a blow struck at that time would have pacified that frontier, averted two years of desolation and misery, and have secured for nobler deeds his own invaluable life. Nor was this all. This blow was to have been followed up by a stroke at Sackett's Harbor, the standing menace to central Canada, just then wakening into armed life, and pregnant with so much annoyance and humiliation in after years. By the middle of September the enemy would have been safe. Rough lessons such as these might have inculcated reason, and the war itself would have collapsed. Such, or like unto these, were the patriotic plans'of Brock when, on the waters of Lake Erie, con- veyed by the British armed schooner the Lady Prevost, he encountered the demon of obstruction in the shape of an armistice. The British Orders-in-Council, the ostensible cause of the war, had been revoked by an Order-in-Council of the 23rd June, seven days after the war had been declared by Congress ; and so impressed was the British Government with
ARMISTICE. 197
a firm belief in American moderation, and in the peaceful efficacy of the remedy exhibited, that on receipt of the intelli- gence they merely directed that American ships and goods should be brought in and detained until further orders, and forbore from issuing letters of marque and reprisal, under expectation that the United States would, upon notification of the Order-in-Council of the 23rd June, forthwith recall the declaration of war. This hopeful credulity clogged their own movements and those of their subordinates, and nearly proved fatal to Canada. Prevost, pacific by nature and bound by the pacific instructions of the Imperial Government, on learning the repeal of the Orders-in-Council, presumed Mr. Madison to be as pacific as himself, and proposed to General Dearborn, chief on the northern frontier, an armistice which in terms and moderation was as useful to the enemy as it was unfavorable to us, and which all but neutralized the moral effects of the victories which had been achieved in the west. It admitted the removal of nine vessels from Ogdensburgh — removed from under the guns of Fort Wellington at Prescott to Sackett's Harbor — and gave Commodore Chauncey that ascendancy on Lake Ontario which enabled him subsequently to destroy York.
" Brock urgently renewed his instances. He was then at Kingston. He said : ' Attack Sackett's Harbor from hence ; with our present superiority it must fall. The troops will be recalled for its protection. While they march we sail, and before they can return the whole Niagara frontier will be ours.' "
I have stated in a former part of this chapter that Brock had not received notification of the proposed armistice, or he might have hesitated in crossing the river to Detroit in his advance on that fort. This may be so; still it is certain that nothing short of a positive order of the Commander-in- Chief would have prevented his going forward on his road to
198 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
victory. In a letter to his brothers, dated at headquarters, August 16th, 1812, he details his movements and his reason for proceeding to the attack on Detroit. He said : " Some say that nothing could be more desperate than the measure, but I answer that the state of the Province admitted of nothing but desperate remedies. I got the letters of my antagonist ad- dressed to the Secretary of War, and also of the sentiments which hundreds of his army uttered to their friends. Confi- dence in the General was gone, and evident despondency prevailed throughout. I have succeeded beyond expectation. I crossed the river contrary to the opinion of Colonel Proctor, .... it is therefore no wonder that envy should attribute to good fortune what, in justice to my own discernment, I must say, proceeded from a cool calculation of le pour et le contre."
Brock, as the architect of his own fortunes, had no need to fear the criticism or the envy of any man. Even Tecumseh, the Indian warrior and ally of Brock, could not but applaud his sagacity when in council with the Indians he determined to finish his enterprise of capturing Detroit. Tecumseh greatly admired Brock's perception and eulogized his courage. In one of his glowing orations, speaking of Brock's landing on the American side of the Detroit River, the first to expose himself to the enemy, Tecumseh spoke of him " as the warrior who, standing erect in the bow of his canoe, led the way to battle."
It will be observed, in reading Brock's letter to his brothers, that he crossed the river to attack Detroit in opposition to the advice of Colonel Proctor. Colonel Nichol, Quartermaster- General, on the contrary, was entirely in accord with General Brock in the matter of the propriety of the movement on Detroit, and after the war was over received a gold medal for the part he took in the capture.
" FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE." 199
Colonel Proctor, it will be remembered, was then in command of the 41st Regiment and of the garrison of Amherstburgh. It is a tradition that not only Proctor, but every other officer except Colonel Nichol and the brave Tecumseh, was opposed to Brock's crossing the river to attack Detroit when he did. " Fortune favors the brave." The taking of Detroit, with its large military force, was an exploit so well achieved and so well rewarded, that he could afford to disregard the criticisms of soldiers less bold than himself.
It is by no means certain that Sir George Prevost, the Com- mander-in-Chief, would have opposed Brock's attack on Detroit if he had known that that enterprise was likely to be entered upon ; but then Sir George Prevost, no doubt acting under Imperial instructions, was for defensive war only. Besides, there was the armistice which he had proposed to General Dearborn, as previously related. Mr. Tupper, in a note in his " Life of Brock," acknowledges the authenticity of a statement made by the author of " The Letters of Veritas," published in book form in Montreal, July, 1815, which said "that a staff officer was sent express from Montreal to Upper Canada, to pre- vent General Brock from proceeding to the western district, but which most happily was prevented from taking effect by the extraordinary rapidity of the movements of that most zealous and gallant officer (Brock), who had arrived before the officer so sent could reach him."
We have now come to the 28th September, 1812, in our narrative. On that date Major-General Brock wrote Sir George Prevost from York, acknowledging receipt of Sir George's des- patch of the 14th September, in which he had expressed to Brock his conviction of the necessity of evacuating Detroit, at the same time giving him some discretion in the matter. This
200 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
was somewhat extraordinary, as Colonel Proctor, acting under the advice of Colonel Nichol, who enjoyed Brock's confidence, had, within a week after the fall of Detroit, assumed the tem- porary administration of the civil government of the State of Michigan. On August 25th, Colonel Nichol despatched a letter from Detroit to Major-General Brock, at Fort George, in which he said :
"I have just been informed by Colonel Proctor that he intends sending an express to-morrow to Fort George, which gives me an opportunity to forward a few printed copies of your proclamation, and to inform you that in order to carry it into effect it has been found absolutely necessary to organize the civil government. Under existing circumstances, I have advised Colonel Proctor to assume the administration until your pleasure is known, to which he has agreed, and the necessary arrangements consequent thereto have been adopted and pro- mulgated. In Judge Woodward, who has been appointed Secretary pro tern., he will find an able coadjutor, and as your object undoubtedly was to tranquilize the public mind and to give the inhabitants a proof of the moderation and benevolence of His Majesty's Government, as well as to ensure the due administration of the laws, I do not think a more judicious choice could have been made."
Major-General Brock, in his letter to Prevost of September 28th, already referred to, availing himself of the discretionary power given him in Sir George Prevost's despatch, declined to evacuate Fort Detroit, for which he gave full and sufficient reasons. He remarked that such a measure would most pro- bably be followed by the total extinction of the population on that side of the river, as the Indians, aware of the weakness and inability of the forces on the Canadian side of the river, would not think of entering into terms with the enemy. He
BROCK'S LETTER TO PREVOST. 201
further took occasion to state that the Indians, since the Miami affair in 1793, had been extremely suspicious of the conduct of the British ; but that the violent wrongs committed by the Americans on their territory had rendered it an act of policy with them to disguise their sentiments. Could they be per- suaded that a peace would take place, without admitting their claim to an extensive tract of country fraudulently usurped from them, and opposing a frontier to the present unbounded views of the Americans, he was satisfied in his own mind that they would immediately compromise with the enemy, and that he could not conceive a connection likely to lead to more awful consequences. The Major-General said further that if he and the forces at his command could maintain themselves at Niagara, and keep the communication to Montreal open, the Americans could only subdue the Indians by craft, which " we ought to be prepared to see exerted to the utmost." Sir George was further informed by the communication that the enmity of the Indians was then at its height, and would require much management and large bribes to effect a change in their policy ; but the moment they were apprehensive that there was a want of means to " prosecute the war with spirit, or that we were negotiating a peace, they would begin to study in what way they could most effectually deceive us." Major-General Brock went on to say : " Should negotiations for peace be opened, I cannot be too earnest with Your Excellency to represent to the King's Ministers the expediency of including the Indians as allies, and not leave them exposed to the unrelenting fury of their enemies.
" The enemy has evidently assumed defensive measures along the strait of Niagara. His force, I apprehend, is not equal to the attempt, with any probability of success, of an expedition
202 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
across the river. It is, however, currently reported that large reinforcements are on their march ; should they arrive, an attack cannot be long delayed."
Brock chafed at the restraint which had been placed upon him by Sir George Prevost. Nevertheless he did not, Achilles- like, retire to his tent and sulk. He had expected an invasion on the Niagara frontier in force, and now the temporary lull occasioned by the armistice was about to be followed by the clash of arms. Nothing daunted, the brave General proceeded to put his defences in order, awaiting the assault of the enemy, in the confidence that the valor of his troops would be equal to the task of driving back the invading forces. This the result proved, though the victory was attended by the sacrifice of his own invaluable life.
CHAPTEE XVI.
NIAGARA FRONTIER — BRITISH VESSELS CAPTURED — BROCK'S NARROW ESCAPE — AMERICANS PREPARING TO ATTACK QUEENSTON — BRITISH AND AMERICAN FORCES — GENERAL VANRENSSELAER — THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTON — BROCK AND MACDONELL KILLED — VICTORY FOR CANADIANS, BUT DEARLY BOUGHT.
BETWEEN September 8th (when the armistice ended) and October 8th, the Americans had assembled a strong force on their side of the Niagara River for another invasion of Canada. Between these dates Brock also had been busily proceeding with his defensive measures along the Canadian frontier, at all points where he thought an invasion possible, extending from Fort George to Fort Erie. He had stationed small detachments of troops — militia and regulars — at Fort Erie, Chippewa, Queenston, and at different points along the Niagara River between Queenston and his headquarters at Fort George. These detachments were at convenient distances from each other, so that, in the event of an attack by the enemy, the Canadian forces could, in a very short time, be massed at
204 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
any one point to oppose them. It was this generalship of Brock that, in the end, was the means of gaining victory for the British arms in the struggle with the Americans for the possession of the Niagara peninsula.
Before proceeding to detail events that took place on the Niagara frontier after the capture of Detroit, it is proper to relate two happenings that occurred while Brock was voyag- ing down Lake Erie on his way to Fort George. One of these occurrences, however small and insignificant in itself, gave great concern to Major-General Brock, and a correspond- ing degree of enthusiasm to the American troops waiting for the signal to invade the Province a second time, as they hoped, with certain success. The American Government and people, as may very well be imagined, were deeply mortified at the course events had taken at Detroit. They never dreamed that Brigadier-General Hull, with the large army under him, could possibly be foiled by the handful of British troops and militia at Amherstburgh. Bad news travels fast. As soon as the party in power at Washington learned that, instead of Canada being conquered, their Brigadier-General had surrendered one of their most important fortresses without striking a blow, and one of their own states (Michigan) had actually been annexed to Canada, their feeling of resentment knew no bounds. This disaster must be avenged at all hazards, before even a thought of peace could be considered. It did not matter much what kind of strategy should be resorted to if they could only attain their end. The first blow struck was the capture of two British brigs, the Detroit and the Caledonia, which, with a quota of American prisoners on board, were anchored under the protection of the guns of Fort Erie.
The brig Detroit was formerly a United States vessel called
THE "CALEDONIA" AND THE "DETROIT." 205
the Adams, which, with other property, was given up to the British by the American General on the surrender of Detroit. She was a vessel of about 200 tons, and mounted six six-pounders : the Caledonia was of about ninety tons and mounted two swivels. The Detroit had on board, besides a party of fifty Canadian militia and soldiers, thirty of the American prisoners, and had also in her hold a considerable quantity of small arms, taken at Detroit. The Caledonia, which was a brig of the North- West Trading Company, had her own crew of twelve men, to whose care was entrusted ten of the American prisoners. She had also on board a cargo of furs valued at about $150,000.
At the time these vessels arrived under the guns of Fort Erie, a lieutenant of the American navy was at Black Rock superintending the equipment of some schooners lately pur- chased by the American Government for service on the waters of Lake Erie.
The American lieutenant had just before this received a reinforcement of fifty seamen from New York. He procured the same number of infantry and artillery from General Smyth, then commanding the American forces in that quarter, and, embarking the whole in two large boats, was alongside the British brigs at about three hours before daylight on the morning succeeding their arrival. Joined by the prisoners the Americans numbered 140, the British sixty-eight. The commanders of the brigs had not entertained the thought that, with prisoners under their protection, they would be attacked by the enemy. In this they were deceived. The American lieutenant succeeded in getting the Caledonia close under the batteries at Black Rock, but was compelled by a well-directed shot or two from the Canadian shore to run the Detroit upon
206 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Squaw Island. Almost immediately afterwards a detachment of the 2nd United States Regiment of artillery, with four field-pieces, landed on the island, and a company of the 5th Regiment soon followed. It was in vain for a subaltern's detachment of the 49th Regiment, which had been sent from Fort Erie, to offer any resistance, although the British had contrived to set fire to the brig previous to the arrival of the American troops. The latter completed the destruction both of the vessel and of the greater part of her stores.
The historian James, referring to this incident, remarks : " But for the defensive measures to which Sir George Prevost had limited Major-General Brock, this active officer would have destroyed these very schooners for whose equipment as men- of-war Lieutenant Elliott (the naval officer referred to) and his men had been sent from New York, and by so doing have brought about consequences far more important than the safety of the two brigs."
The taking of these two brigs by the United States force under Lieutenant Elliott was, by the Americans, magnified altogether out of proportion to its real importance ; still, it was extremely annoying to Brock.
The second happening referred to more particularly con- cerned Brock himself, and was very near the means of his being a prisoner in the hands of the Americans. It was in this wise. Brock, anxious to assume the offensive on the Niagara frontier, had ordered down the lake at the same time with himself not only the York militia, but also those troops of the 41st who had preceded and accompanied him to Detroit. The Queen Charlotte, principally laden with the regulars of the captured army, had sailed on the very evening of the surrender, and General Brock the next day embarked in a very small
A PERILOUS PREDICAMENT. 207
trading schooner, on board of which were about seventy Ohio riflemen, guarded by a small party of militia rifles, which com- prised a portion of the volunteers from Toronto. During the passage none of the guard were on any account permitted to go below, either by day or by night, and not more than half-a- dozen Americans were allowed to be upon deck at the same time — the hatches being secured above the remainder. It was a duty of some fatigue, and requiring the exercise of the utmost vigilance on the part of the little guard. One morning, about daybreak, when by their reckoning they judged they were close to the harbor of Fort Erie, they found themselves suddenly becalmed, and in the midst of a fog which had settled during the night. As the sun rose the fog began to disperse, but the calm prevailed, and gradually, as the wreathing mists rolled up- wards, the guard discovered, to their dismay, that they were close upon the American shore near Buffalo. The danger was imminent, for a number of persons were already assembled, evidently at a loss to discover to what flag the vessel belonged, and wondering what had brought her into a position entirely out of the usual course of navigation. In this emergency the officer commanding the watch (Lieut. Jarvis, afterwards Super- intendent of Indian Affairs), hastened below to acquaint General Brock, who was lying on his bed, with the danger which threatened the vessel, which it was impossible, by reason of the calm, to get farther from the shore. General Brock immedi- ately sprang to his feet, and rushing upon the deck saw the situation of the vessel was precisely what has been described. He was extremely angry, and turning to the master of the schooner, said : "You scoundrel, you have betrayed me! Let but one shot be fired from the shore, and (pointing to it) I will run you up on the instant to that yard-arm ! " The master,
208 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
though innocent of all design, was greatly alarmed by the stern threat of the General ; and, as the only possible means of extricating the vessel from her perilous situation, ordered several of his crew into a small punt attached to the stern, the only boat belonging to her. In this they attempted to tow her, but made so little progress that one of the guards asked permission of the General to discharge his rifle, in order to attract the attention of the Queen Charlotte (then lying at anchor between Point Abino and Fort Erie) to a signal which had been previously hoisted. Apprehensive that the shot might not be heard by their friends, while it might be the means of informing the enemy of their true character, General Brock at first refused his sanction, but, as the man seemed confident that the report of his rifle might reach the other shore, he finally consented, and the shot was fired. Soon afterwards the answering signal was run up to the mast-head of the Queen Charlotte, and that vessel seeing the doubtful situation of the schooner, on board of which, however, they were not aware the General had embarked, immediately weighed her anchor and, standing over to the American shore under a slight breeze, which was then beginning to rise, hastened to cover the little bark with her battery. Taking her in tow, she brought her safely into the harbor of Erie, greatly to the joy of those who, aware of the invaluable freight with which the schooner was charged, had, on the weighing of the Queen Charlotte's anchor, entertained the utmost apprehension for the safety of the becalmed vessel, and watched with deep interest the vain attempts of her crew to bring her off.
The Americans were so elated with the small success in the affair of the Detroit and Caledonia, that they were now clamorous to cross the river and strike terror into the hearts
BRITISH AND AMERICAN FORCES. 209
of the Canadians. A second and almost immediate invasion was, therefore, resolved upon.
The officer selected on this occasion to take command of the American forces for the conquest of Canada was Major-General VanRensselaer. His was entirely a political and party appoint- ment. He was the possessor of broad acres on the Hudson, near Albany, and had little military experience ; but he was the head of the old and respected Dutch family of VanRens- selaers, of Albany, and had great influence in that quarter, so the Federalists thought it of consequence that his influence should be secured to their cause by his appointment to the command of the militia. His army, it might be supposed, was amply sufficient, and more than sufficient, to overcome the comparatively small force under the command of Brock.
The army commanded by Major-General VanRensselaer con- sisted, according to American official returns, of 5,200 men, exclusive of 300 field and light artillery and 800 of the 6th, 13th and 23rd regiments at Fort Niagara, making a total of 6,300 men. Of this force, 1,650 regulars, under the command of Brigadier-General Smyth, were at Black Rock; 386 militia at the latter place and Buffalo ; and 900 regulars, with 2,270 militia, at Lewiston, distant from Black Rock twenty-eight miles. So that, including the 1,100 at Fort Niagara, the Ameri- cans had, along thirty-six miles of their frontier, a force of 6,300 men, of whom nearly two-thirds were regular troops ; while the British, along their line from Fort George, where Major-General Sheaff'e commanded, to Fort Erie, could not muster 1,200 men, of whom nearly half were militia.
Major-General Brock had under his immediate orders part of the 41st and 49th regiments, a few companies of militia, and
from 200 to 300 Indians. His whole force did not certainly 14
210 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
exceed 2,000 men. Tupper, in his " Life of Brock," says he had in all about 1,500 men. The extreme limit was 2,000, dispersed at the different posts at and between Fort Erie and Fort George.
With unwearied diligence the British commander watched the motions of the enemy. Favored by daylight he might possibly baffle the Americans if they attempted to cross the river, but if they availed themselves of the obscurity of the night the task was hopeless.
It was his opinion that if they crossed anywhere it would be at or in the vicinity of Fort George. They might make an attempt higher up the river, somewhere between Fort George and Queenston, then swoop down on the fort, and if they did this, it would task all his energies to hold the position.
The American General's plan of attack was an exceedingly good one, and, had it been carried out in detail, might have proved disastrous to the British and Canadian arms.
A road had been cut by General VanRensselaer's orders from his camp at Lewiston six miles through the woods to a point on Four-Mile Creek (American side of Lake Ontario to the east of Fort Niagara), where sixty bateaux lay ready for service. From this creek it is four miles and a half by water to Fort George, the whole way under a high bank, which would conceal the boats until they turned Niagara point. The ground at Queenston and Lewiston is elevated high up above the waters of the beautiful Niagara, forming an immense platform, which overlooks every part of the plain below to its termi- nation at the shore of Lake Ontario. Consequently, every movement by Major-General Sheaffe at Fort George, and by the commanding officer at Fort Niagara, would be under Major- General VanRensselaer's eye.
PLAN OF ATTACK FRUSTRATED. 213
It was the General's intention that Brigadier-General Smyth and his 1,650 regulars should march by the road which had been cut through the woods to the mouth of the Four-Mile Creek, there to wait in readiness for embarking at a moment's notice. Queenston was then to be attacked by the troops under the immediate command of Major-General VanRensselaer ; and as the only force there stationed was known to be two companies of the 49th Regiment and a small detachment of militia, no doubt was entertained about the town being imme- diately carried, as well as a small battery posted on the heights. These operations, within hearing of Fort George, could not fail to draw forth the garrison to sustain the post of Queens- ton, and, if possible, to repel the invaders.
The instant the British column was observed to be in motion, Brigadier-General Smyth was to be signalled to embark at the Creek ; and so soon as the British reached Queenston he was to be ordered, by a courier, to attack Fort George, which, being deprived of its garrison, would, it was expected, make a vain resistance.
Happily this well-planned ruse de guerre proved abortive.
Brigadier- General Smyth, from some cause or other, failed to answer the call made for him at the Four-Mile Creek, and thus the whole plan of attack was defeated.
In the meanwhile, the capture of the two British brigs at Fort Erie had spread an irresistible ardor for conquest through- out the American army. The troops now declared they must have orders to act, or at all hazards they would go home.
About this time a false report was spread through the Ameri- can camp that Major-General Brock had suddenly proceeded to the west, with the greater part of his troops, to give battle to General Harrison, who, with a large army, was hovering around
214 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the borders of Michigan, bent on recapturing Detroit and reoc- cupying the large territory of which the British became pos- sessed by the surrender at Detroit. It was truly galling to the Americans that the British should occupy the State of Michigan, a part of the wide domain of the sovereign United States, while they themselves were not possessors of a foot of Canadian soil.
The story of Major-General Brock's having gone westward being credited, the troops were absolutely furious — now was the time for an easy conquest of Canada ! General VanRens- selaer himself concluded that the time had come to strike, and that by a more direct road than he had cut through the woods — a mere crossing of the river at Queenston.
Accordingly, at three o'clock on the morning of the llth October, 1812, his eager troops were gratified by an advance to the river side. Experienced boatmen had been provided, and a skilful officer, a lieutenant, sent in a boat ahead ; but for some unexplained reason, this officer turned his face away from the Canadian shore and fled, and the crossing had to be postponed.
During the night a tremendous north-east storm set in. The thunder rumbled, the lightning flashed with vivid glare, and the rain came down in torrents, which continued for twenty- eight hours and deluged the whole American camp.
Nothing daunted, the would-be conquerors suffered all, endured all, demanding of their General that, so soon as the storm abated, he should lead them on to Canada and to victory.
General VanRensselaerun, able to longer oppose their impo r- tunities, resolved to carry the British works at Queenston before daybreak on the morning of the 13th. Thirteen boats
THE CROSSING BEGUN. 215
were provided, and the embarkation was to take place in the following order :
Colonel VanRensselaer, the General's aide-de-camp, led the first column, with 300 militia, and Lieut-Colonel Christie the second, with 300 regulars; Lieut-Colonel Fenwick's flying artillery was to cross when the heights were carried, and Major Mullany to follow, with about 550 regular troops ; and the other troops to follow in order. It was intended that the embarkation of the regulars and militia should be simultaneous, as far as the boats would suffice to receive them ; but having to descend the bank by a narrow path, which had been cut out of it, the regular troops got possession of the boats before the militia, and the latter were ordered to follow at the second crossing of the boats. The British had a one-gun battery posted on Queenston Heights, and another, a twenty-four pound carronade, a little below the town. The point chosen for crossing the river was where the stream is scarcely a quarter of a mile wide, under the shadow of the frowning heights, and where in their passage across the river the American force would not be fully exposed to the fire of either of the British batteries, while the American batteries, of two eighteen and two six-pounder field -pieces, brought up by Lieut-Colonel Scott, commanded every point of the oppo- site shore from which musketry could be effectual in opposing a landing.
With these important advantages the troops embarked before daylight of the morning of the 13th October ; but a grape-shot striking the boat in which Lieut.-Colonel Christie was crossing, and wounding him in the hand, the pilot and boatmen became so alarmed that they suffered the boat to fall below the point of landing, and were obliged, in consequence, to put back. Two
216 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
other boats did the same ; the remaining ten, with 225 regulars, besides officers, including the commander of the expedition, Colonel VanRensselaer, struck the shore, and, after disembark- ing the men, returned for more troops.
The American force crossing at this time, covered by the two eighteen-pounders and the two field-pieces on their side, effected the passage with but little loss.
The British and Canadian force consisted of two companies of the 49th regiment of regulars and about 200 of the York militia, amounting in all to about 300 or 350 men, rank and file. Of these, about sixty men of the grenadier company of the 49th Regiment and Captain Hatt's company of militia, having in charge a three-pounder, advanced towards the river at four o'clock in the morning, with Captain Dennis, of the 49th, at their head. Near this point Colonel VanRensselaer had formed his men to await the arrival of the next boats. A well-directed and warmly-continued fire killed and wounded several American officers and men — including, among the wounded, Colonel VanRensselaer and three captains — and drove them behind a steep bank close to the water's edge.
In the meantime a fresh supply of troops had effected a land- ing, and remained with the others sheltered behind the bank, whence they returned the fire of the British, killing one man and wounding four.
The remaining troops of the grenadiers of the 49th and of the militia company had now joined Captain Dennis, and the 49th light infantry, under Captain Williams, with Captain Chisholm's company of militia, stationed on the brow of the hill, were firing down upon the invaders. Captain John C. Bell, of the Provincial Artillery, used his gun with telling effect on the enemy's boats, sinking several of them.
THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTON. 217
Of a flotilla of boats that attempted to convey across a body of American regulars, one was destroyed by a shot from the hill battery, commanded by Lieutenant Crowther of the 41st regiment ; two others were captured, and the remainder, foiled in their object, returned to the American side.
The enemy succeeded, however, in landing altogether about 1,300 men.
When the attack commenced, Brock was at Fort George. He had for some days suspected this intention on the part of the American commander, and the evening preceding it he called his staff together, and gave to each the necessary instruc- tions. 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 galloped eagerly from Fort George to the scene of action, and, with his two aides-de-camp, Glegg and Macdonell, 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 eighteen-pounder battery, at the top of the hill, they dismounted, and took a view of passing events, which at that moment appeared highly favorable.
It was now daylight. Brock, observing that the Americans were sending over the river strong reinforcements, instantly ordered Captain Williams to descend the hill and support Cap- tain Dennis. This movement being observed by the invaders, they immediately formed the resolution of gaining the heights. Accordingly, sixty American regulars, headed by Captain Wool, and accompanied by Major Lush, a volunteer, also by a captain, six lieutenants, and an ensign of the 13th Regiment, ascended a fisherman's path up the heights, which had been reported to Brock as impassable, and therefore was not guarded.
218 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
The Americans were thus enabled, unobserved, to arrive at the brow of the hill, about thirty yards in the rear of the battery there stationed. This inanoauvre of Wool's was highly creditable to him, and was well executed. Reinforcements kept constantly arriving by the concealed path, and the whole formed on the height with their front towards the village of Queenston.
The moment General Brock discovered this unexpected advance of the American troops, fearing lest he should be outflanked, he retired with the twelve men stationed at the battery, which was quickly occupied by the enemy.
Captain Williams and his detachment of regulars and militia were now recalled, and Major-General Brock, put ting himself at the head of this force, amounting in all to about ninety men, advanced to meet a detachment of 150 picked American regu- lars, which Captain Wool had sent forward to attack him.
Brock ordered his little band to the charge. They drove the enemy before them ; but Wool being reinforced, Brock was obliged to make a second charge.
In the struggle which ensued, Wool's men were driven to the edge of the high bank of the Niagara River. Here the Ameri- cans, with the storming foe before them, a precipice of 180 feet behind, and the roaring Niagara beneath, found themselves in an extremely perilous position. An attempt was made by some of the American officers to raise the white flag, with an intention to surrender, but Captain Wool tore it down and trampled it under foot. Reinforcements coming to their aid, the regulars opened a scathing tire of musketry. Brock, always in the front, roused beyond himself, conspicuous by his height, dress, gesture and undaunted bearing, was pointing to the hill, when he was struck by a ball in the right breast, which passed
THE DEATH OF BROCK. 219
through his left side. He reeled and fell. His attendant officers rushed to his side, but saw at once that their brave commander was mortally stricken. He lived only long enough after receiv- ing the fatal bullet 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 remem- brance should be transmitted to his sister.
Just a week before he had completed his forty-third year. Thus death overtook him in the prime of life, entered upon a career full of brightest promise, and which was already resplen- dent with glorious deeds. He fell as falls the hero, foremost in the tide of strife, but was denied the satisfaction of seeing the triumphant issue of a battle with which his name is inseparably connected in that glorious page of our country's history.
We have preserved to us the incidents connected with Brock's last assault upon the enemy by the relation of George Jarvis, late sometime Judge of the Eastern District, a volunteer with Brock on this occasion.
Mr. Jarvis' statement has been generally accepted as most reliable, and being that of an eye-witness, it is invaluable. Moreover, it has been confirmed by Captain Crooks, Colonel Clark, Colonel Kerby, and Captain John McMicking — all of whom were present in the battle of Queenston Heights. The account is as follows :
" On retiring to the north end of the village on the Niagara road, our (the British) little band was met by General Brock, attended by his aide-de-camp, Major Glegg, and Colonel Mac- donell. He was loudly cheered as he cried, ' Follow me, boys ! ' and led us at a pretty smart trot toward the mountain. Check- ing his horse to a walk, he said, ' Take breath, boys, we shall
220 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
want it in a few minutes.' Another cheer was the hearty response from regulars and militia. At that time the top of the mountain and a great portion of the side was thickly covered with trees, and was now occupied by American rifle- men. On arriving at the foot of the mountain, where the road diverges to St. David's, General Brock dismounted, and waving his sword, climbed over a high stone wall, followed by his troops. Placing himself at the head of the light company of the 49tb, he led the way up the mountain at double-quick time, in the very teeth of a sharp fire from the enemy's rifle- men, and ere long he was singled out by one of them, who, coming forward, took deliberate aim, and fired. Several of the men noticed the action and fired, but too late, and our gallant General fell on his left side, within a few feet of where I stood. Running up to him, I enquired, 'Are you much hurt, sir ? ' He placed his hand on his breast, but made no reply, and sank down. The 49th now raised a shout, ' Revenge the General ! ' and regulars and militia, led by Colonel Macdonell, pressed forward, anxious to avenge the death of their beloved leader, and literally drove a superior force up the mountain-side to a considerable distance beyond the summit. The flank companies of the York militia, under Captains Cameron and Howard, and Lieutenants Robinson, McLean, and Stanton, besides many others whose names I forget, eminently distinguished them- selves on this occasion.
" At this juncture the enemy was reinforced by fresh troops, and after a severe struggle, in which Colonel Macdonell and Captains Dennis and Williams, and most of the other officers, were either killed or wounded, we were overpowered by num- bers and forced to retreat, as the enemy had outflanked us, and had nearly succeeded in gaining our rear.
" Several of our men were thus cut off and made prisoners, myself among the number."
At the time Brock fell, the two flank companies (York
LIEUT. -COLONEL MACDONELL MORTALLY WOUNDED. 221
Volunteers) were posted at Brown's Point, about three miles below Queenston, between that place and Fort George.
These two flank companies of militia were under the com- mand of Lieut.-Colonel John Macdonell, the fallen Brock's aide-de-camp and Attorney-General of the Province. As soon as news reached him that his heroic chief had fallen he hurried up with his force of 190 men to the scene of action.
Macdonell, like the valiant general who had just given up his life for his country, was a brave and fearless man. He was. at this time only twenty-five years of age. Nowadays this would be considered an early age to be colonel in the militia and attorney -general of a province. It was not so in 1812. At that time the youth of the Province were in demand to fill all stations. Old men and young turned out at the beat of the drum to defend their country when invaded by a foreign foe. Macdonell was young and enthusiastic. He was a Scotchman of Glengarry. Whenever yet in war have Scotchmen failed to do their duty ? They have fought and bled on many fields for Britain's triple crown. By the time Lieut.-Colonel Macdonell reached the scene of action the enemy's forces on the heights and about the hillside battery had increased to 500 men — 320 regulars, supported by a few militia and volunteers — while Macdonell had only 190 men, of whom more than two-thirds were militia and volunteers.
Numbers did not appal the brave lieutenant-colonel and his equally brave militiamen. With this inferior force he rushed boldly up the hill, in defiance of the continued storm of musketry pouring down upon him and his men ; compelled the Americans to spike the eighteen-pounder gun in the hill battery, and would have driven Captain Wool and his men back up to the summit of the heights had not he and Captain Williams
222 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
of the 49th both been wounded almost at the same instant, the former mortally. Although one bullet had passed through his body, and he was wounded in four places, yet he survived twenty-four hours. During this period of excruciating agony, his thoughts were constantly occupied with lamentations for his deceased commander and friend.
When the men of the flank companies which were led by the brave Macdonell found their leader mortally, and Captain Williams seriously, wounded, they became disorganized, and gave way before the vastly superior numbers of the enemy. They were rallied in front of Vrooman's battery, at the rear of the village of Queenston, to wait reinforcements. Just here it may be mentioned that at this time the British and Cana- dians unwounded in the desperate fighting at Queenston and the heights did not exceed 200 men, while the Americans had upwards of 800 men fit for action.
While the men of the British force were resting in front of Vrooman's battery a number of boats crossed over from the American side of the Niagara, carrying more troops to maintain the position gained and held at such fearful cost.
The victory now seemed complete for the Americans. The British had lost their commander ; Lieut.-Colonel Macdonell, his aide-de-camp and trusted officer, was lying mortally wounded. The British troops had retreated, taking shelter behind the houses on the outskirts of Queenston. Brigadier- General VanRensselaer crossed over to the Canadian side of the river, reviewed his troops, and expressed the liveliest satis- faction at the situation. Little did he think then that in a few hours his forces would be driven from the soil of Canada, and the death of Brock be sternly avenged.
When the Brigadier-General recrossed to the American side,
GENERAL SHEAFFE'S ADVANCE. 223
he left General Wadsworth in command of the troops on the Canadian shore, thinking that there would be no more fighting. But the spirit of Brock hovered over the scene. Before leaving Fort George for Queenston in the morning of that day, he left instructions with General Sheaffe, who commanded at the fort, that his men should be got together on the first alarm. This service General Sheaffe performed to the letter. As soon as he got news of an attack being made by the Americans at Queens- ton, he, with about 300 regulars of the 41st and 49th Regiments, two companies of the Lincoln militia, and a handful of Indians, followed rapidly to the scene of conflict. He took the road from Newark or Niagara to St. David's, which enabled him to debouch on the heights, about two miles to the west of Queens- ton. He had heard on his way of the fall of Brock, and pushed on the more eagerly to avenge his death and retrieve the day. General Sheaffe and his men reached the heights shortly before noon. Here he was reinforced by Norton and John Brant, the celebrated Indian chiefs, with a body of their followers, and by about 200 volunteer militiamen from Chippewa, and the whole proceeded to the heights by a route which the Indians pointed out to the troops as the best track for ascending the mountain.
As soon as the British had reached a field adjoining the road leading to Niagara Falls, about sixty men of the 41st Regiment under Captain Bullock, and a party of militia, arrived from Chippewa. The whole British and Indian force thus assembled did not amount to 1,000 rank and file, of whom about 560 were regular troops. The artillery consisted of two three-pounders, placed under the orders of Lieutenant Crowther of the 41st Regiment.
By this movement of General Sheaffe the American army of
22 i LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
invasion was surprised and surrounded. Their backs were to the river, Queenston with its defenders was on their right, and Sheaffe in front and flank, his men eager for the fray. Even then all would not have been lost to them ; but unfortunately for them their wounded had been taken across to the American side, and when the militia there saw their bleeding comrades they became panic-stricken and refused to cross over to the support of their countrymen now in the toils. General Van- Rensselaer rode in all directions, urging his men by every consideration, as he said, to pass over — but all in vain. Captain Wool, who had bravely done his best, was sorely wounded. Scott succeeded him in the command.
The attack on the position which the Americans had held from the hour they had compelled the British to retreat to the front of Vrooman's battery, a period of about four hours, was commenced by the light infantry company of the 41st, under Lieutenant Mclntyre, about thirty-five militia and the same number of Indians, composing the left flank of the British line. After a single volley, Lieutenant Mclntyre's company resorted to the bayonet, and soon drove in the enemy's right. The main body of the British now advanced, firing their two three-pounders with destructive effect. The Ameri- cans for a short time withstood the brunt of battle manfully and bravely. The storm of bullets, the shouts of the soldiers, the shrieks of the wounded, and the yells of the Indians, soon, however, had their effect. The Americans fled with precipita- tion towards the point at which they had first landed. Then, in sheer despair, numbers of them threw themselves over the precipice. Many were crushed and mangled in the fall, or reached the river only to sink under its swift current. Others were able to swim across the river, and some escaped in the
SURRENDER OF THE ENEMY. 225
few boats that had not been damaged beyond repair, or whose crews could be persuaded to approach the Canadian shore. Those who remained felt that it was hopeless to expect to retrieve the disaster.
The American commander sent in a flag of truce, begging for quarter. Mr. Coffin, aide-de-camp to General Sheaffe, and Lieutenant Mclntyre, accompanied the bearer of the flag, and received the sword of Major-General Wadsworth, the American commanding officer. While Mr. Coffin was conducting the latter to Major-General Sheaffe, Lieutenant Mclntyre received, as prisoners of war, Lieut.-Colonel Scott (afterwards General Scott, who did such excellent service in the Mexican war,) and seventy-one officers, together with 858 non-commissioned officers and privates of the American army. These were exclusive of two boat-loads of troops that had been captured in the morning.
The British loss in the engagement amounted to sixteen killed and seventy wounded of the regulars and militia, and to five killed and nine wounded of the Indians. Owing to con- flicting accounts of historians of the war, it is impossible to give the exact number of the killed and wounded of the 1,600 Americans who crossed the river that fateful morning, as they fondly hoped, for the conquest of Canada. It is safe, however, to say that there were as many as 600 killed, wounded and missing, of whom American writers say about 100 were killed, and an equal number wounded.
The following report of Major-General Sheaffe, the successor of Brock in command at Queenston, and made immediately after the battle, will show to the reader the value placed on the militia by the commanding officer. So many different
accounts have been written of the battle of Queenston Heights, 15
226 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
that the only safe way of treating the subject is to go to the original report, which was as follows :
"FORT GEORGE, October 13th, 1812.
" SIR, — I have the honor of informing your Excellency that the enemy made an attack with considerable force this morning, before daylight, on the position of Queenston. On receiving intelligence of it, Major-General Brock immediately proceeded to that post, and I am excessively grieved in having to add that he fell whilst gallantly cheering his troops to- an exertion for maintaining it. With him the position was lost; but the enemy was not allowed to retain it long. Re- inforcements having been sent up from this post, composed of regular troops, militia and Indians, a movement was made to turn his left, while some artillery, under the able direction of Captain Holcroft, supported by a body of infantry, engaged his attention in front. This direction was aided, too, by the judicious position which Norton, and the Indians with him, had taken on the woody brow of the high ground above Queenston.
"A communication being thus opened with Chippewa, a- junction was formed of succors that had been ordered from that post. The enemy was then attacked, and, after a short but spirited conflict, was completely defeated. I had the satis- faction of receiving the sword of their commander, Brigadier- General Wadsworth, on the field of battle, and many officers, with 900 men, were made prisoners, and more may yet be expected. A stand of colors and one six-pounder were also taken. The action did not terminate until nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, and their loss in killed and wounded must have been considerable. Ours I believe to have been compara- tively small in numbers ; no officers were killed besides General Brock, one of the most gallant and zealous officers in His Majesty's service, whose loss cannot be too much deplored, and Lieut-Colonel Macdonell, Provincial Aide-de-Camp, whose
MAJOR-GENERAL SHEAFFE'S REPORT. 227
gallantry and merit render him worthy of his chief. Captains Dennis and Williams, commanding the flank companies of the 49th Regiment, who were stationed at Queenston, were wounded, bravely contending at the head of their men against superior numbers ; but I am glad to have it in my power to add that Captain Dennis was fortunately able to keep the field, though it was with pain and difficulty, and Captain Williams' wound is not likely to deprive me long of his services.
"I am particularly indebted to Captain Holcroft, of the Royal Artillery, for his judicious and skilful co-operation with the guns and howitzers under his immediate superintendence ; their well-directed fire contributed materially to the fortunate result of the day.
" Captain Derenzy, of the 41st Regiment, brought up the reinforcements of that corps from Fort George, and Captain Bullock led that of the same regiment from Chippewa; and under their commands those detachments acquitted themselves in such a manner as to sustain the reputation which the 41st Regiment had already acquired in the vicinity of Detroit.
" Major-General Brock, soon after his arrival at Queenston, had set down orders for battering the American fort at Niagara. Brigade-Major Evans, who was left in charge of Fort George, directed the operations against it with so much effect as to silence its fire, and to force the troops to abandon it, and by his prudent precautions he prevented mischief of a most serious nature which otherwise might have been effected, the enemy having used heated shot in firing at Fort George.
" In these services he was most effectually aided by Colonel Claus, who remained in the fort at my desire, and by Captain Vigoureaux, of the Royal Engineers. Brigade-Major Evans also mentions the conduct of Captains Powell and Cameron, of the Militia Artillery, in terms of commendation.
" Lieutenant Crowther, of the 41st Regiment, had charge of two three-pounders that had accompanied the movement of our little corps, and they were employed with good effect.
" Captain Glegg, of the 49th Regiment, aide-de-camp to our
228 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
lamented friend and General, afforded me most essential assist- ance ; and I found the services of Lieutenant Fowler, of the 41st Regiment, Assistant Deputy Quartermaster-General, very useful. I have derived much aid, too, from, the activity and intelligence of Lieutenant Kerr, of the Glengarry Fencibles, who I employed in communicating with the Indians and other flanking parties.
" I was unfortunately deprived of the aid of the experience and ability of Lieut.-Colonel Myers, Deputy Quartermaster- General, who had been sent up to Fort Erie a few days before on duty which detained him there.
" Lieut-Colonels Butler and Clark, of the militia, and Cap- tains Hatt, Durand, Rowe, Applegarth, James, Crooks, Cooper, Robert Hamilton, McEwen and Duncan Cameron ; and Lieu- tenants Robinson and Butler, commanding flank companies of the Lincoln and York Militia, led their men into action with great spirit. Major Merritt, commanding the Niagara dra- goons, accompanied me, and gave much assistance with part of his corps. Captain A. Hamilton, belonging to it, was disabled from riding, and attached himself to the guns under Captain Holcroft, who speaks highly of his activity and usefulness. I beg leave to add that Volunteers Shaw, Thompson and Jarvis, attached to the flank companies of the 49th Regiment, con- ducted themselves with great spirit; the first having been wounded, and the last having been taken prisoner. I beg leave to recommend these young men to your Excellency's notice.
"Norton is wounded, but not badly; he and the Indians particularly distinguished themselves, and I have very great satisfaction in assuring your Excellency that the spirit and good conduct of His Majesty's troops of the militia and of the other Provincial corps were eminently conspicuous on this occasion.
"I have not been able to ascertain as yet the number of our troops, or of those of the enemy, engaged ; ours did not, I believe, exceed the number of the prisoners we have taken ;
JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON. 229
and their advance, which effected a landing, probably amounted to thirteen or fourteen hundred men.
" I shall do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excel- lency further details when I shall have received the several reports of the occurrences which did not pass under my own observation, with the return of the casualties, and those of the killed and wounded, and of the ordnance taken. " I have the honor to be,
(Signed) "R. H. SHEAFFE,
" Major-General."
Coffin, writing of the morning attack, when Brock received his fatal wound, says : " The British had been greatly exasper- ated by the event of the morning. The men of Lincoln and the ' brave York volunteers,' with ' Brock ' on their lips and revenge in their hearts, had joined in the last desperate charge, and among the foremost — foremost ever found — was John Beverley Robinson, a U.E. Loyalist (a lawyer from Toronto, and not the worse soldier for that). His light, compact, agile figure, handsome face and eager eye, were long proudly remembered by those who had witnessed his conduct in the field, and who loved to dwell on these traits of chivalrous loyalty, energetic talent and sterling worth which, in after years, and in a happier sphere, elevated him to the position of Chief Justice of the Province, and to the rank of an English baronet."
Of what the Americans expected to gain by the attack on Queenston a tolerable idea may be formed from a letter written by Brigadier-General VanRensselaer to Major-General Dearborn five days previous to the attack. He then wrote : " 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 (Niagara), leaving them no
230 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
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."
Alas, for their expectations, the Americans did not then, nor at any other time during the war of 1812, secure winter quarters in Canada.
The historian James, referring to the battle of Queenston, says : " Had General Brock been less prodigal of his valuable life and survived the Queenston battle, he would have made the 13th October a still more memorable day by crossing the river and carrying Fort Niagara, which at that 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." Oh, these armistices !
Two days after the battle (15th October), all the militia who had been made prisoners, including all the wounded regulars, were sent across the river upon their parole, as were all the American officers. The non-commissioned officers and privates of the regulars were taken to Montreal to await their exchange.
No one mourned the death of Major-General Brock and his aide-de-camp Macdonell more than did Lieutenant Robinson. He had been a student with the Attorney-General, and was much attached to him.
When Brock fell by a mortal wound as described, his lifeless corpse was immediately conveyed into a house at Queenston, where it remained unperceived by the enemy. When the din
AMERICAN RESPECT TO BROCK. 231
of battle ceased it was conveyed to Government House, Newark, where it remained in state till the 16th October, bedewed with the tears of many affectionate friends.
On that day it was deposited with military honors in the north-west bastion of Fort George. The occasion was a very solemn one. The pall-bearers of the Major-General were : Mr. James Coffin, D.A.C.G.; Captain Williams, 49th Regiment ; Captain Vigoureaux, R.E.; Major Merritt, Light Horse Lincoln Militia ; Captain Derenzy, 41st Regiment ; Lieut.-Colonel Clarke, Lincoln Militia ; Captain Dennis, 49th Regiment ; Lieut.-Colonel Butler, Colonel Holcroft, R.A., Colonel Claus, Brigade-Major Evans, Captain Glegg, A.D.C.
The pall-bearers of Lieut.-Colonel Macdonell were : Captain A. Cameron, Lieutenant Jarvis, Lieutenant Robinson, Lieutenant Ridout, J. Edwards, Esq., Captain Crook, Mr. Dickson, Captain Cameron.
It does honor to the American name that the din of war <iid not blunt their better feelings. Immediately after the solemn ceremonies of burial were over, the American garrison at Fort Niagara, on the American side of the river, acting under the command of Major-General VanRensselaer, fired minute-guns " as a mark of respect to a brave enemy."
The following letter of Major Glegg to Mr. Justice Powell, announcing the death of Brock, gives us sad particulars of the closing hours of the gallant Macdonell :
"FORT GEORGE, " Wednesday Morning, October 14, 1812.
" MY DEAR SIR, — With heart-rending sorrow, I assume the painful duty of announcing to you the death of my most valuable and much-lamented friend, Major-General Brock. He fell yesterday morning at an early hour, when at the head
232 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
of a small body of regular troops, disputing every inch of ground with a very superior body of the enemy's troops in the town of Queenston. The ball entered his right breast and passed nearly through his left side. His sufferings, I am happy to add, were of short duration, and were terminated with a fervent exhortation that his fall should not impede his brave followers from advancing to victory. His body was immedi- ately carried into a house at Queenston, and though we were obliged by a great superiority of numbers to leave it for some hours, it was recovered during the day, when our victorious troops regained their place.
"I am grieved to inform you that our gallant and much- esteemed friend Macdonell received a severe wound much about the same time ; and, having fortunately been carried to the rear of our army, he immediately received medical assistance. The wound, my dear sir, is very serious, a musket ball having; passed through his body near the navel ; but it is supposed not to have injured his bladder. He was removed last night to the Government House, where he received every aid and attention. I never quit his bed for more than a few minutes, and Mr. Macdonell (your late sheriff), who arrived here on the 12th from Kingston, is unremitting in his kindness. Cap- tain Durries Williams and several other officers were wounded much about the same time, but are doing well. Young Shaw and McLean received slight wounds. Our victory, though sadly clouded by the loss of our dear chief, has been most complete. All did their duty. General Wadsworth, a large body of officers, nearly 800 prisoners, the only piece of artillery which the enemy carried over, and one stand of colors, are now in our possession.
" The enemy's attack was confined to Queenston. Our batteries at this place and Fort Erie have done great execution in their defences and barracks.
" The jail here was burnt down yesterday, but whether from the enemy's fire or an act of some of the prisoners, has not been ascertained.
LORD BATHURST'S DESPATCH. 233
" Their cannonading, though continued for some hours upon this place, I ana happy to say, committed no injury except upon a few houses. Their fire was effectually silenced by our bat- teries, and the fort was abandoned.
" Our magazine was set on fire by red-hot shot, but was soon extinguished by the heroic presence of mind of our troops.
" The enemy commenced landing their troops a couple of hours before daylight yesterday morning, and after twelve hours' hard fighting were compelled to lay down their arms.
" Not having any ships of war here, General Sheaffe, I believe, intends sending off this day about 170 American regular troops to York in the Simcoe, , .
(This is written in a shaking hand) : " Half-past one o'clock. My poor friend Macdonell has just expired." . . . (Evidently inserted after the letter was finished.)
" I beg you will offer my affectionate regards to Mrs. Powell and the ladies, with my kind remembrance' to all other friends.
" I am, my dear sir, though truly unhappy,
" Your very sincere friend,
"T. B. GLEGG.
" P.S. — What dreadful intelligence is contained in this letter I My heart bleeds at the relation, and I well know it will be received with sad affliction by your family. I do, indeed, sympathize with you, my dear friend.
" To the Honorable Mr. Justice Powell."
The following extract from Lord Bathurst's despatch to Sir George Prevost, of the 8th December, 1812, relative to the regret felt at the death of Sir Isaac Brock, shows the esteem in which he was held by the Prince Regent and the nation he loved so well to serve :
" 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
234 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
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 animate the great mass of the inhabitants against successive attempts of the enemy to invade the Pro- vince, 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."
CHAPTEK XVII.
CONCLUDING EVENTS OF THE WAR.
GENERAL SMYTH'S INVASION — A WOULD-BE HERO — AN INGLORIOUS RETREAT— CANADIANS ASSUME THE OFFENSIVE — ATTACK ON OG- DENSBURGH — CAPTURE OF YORK — BOMBARDMENT OF FORT GEORGE — STONEY CREEK — CHRYSLER'S FARM — LUNDY'S LANE — CONCLU- SION OF THE WAR.
As I have entered somewhat fully into the events which brought on this unhappy conflict between Great Britain and the United States, I think it well, before making my closing references to the illustrious subject of this biography, to give a brief account of the course of events subsequent to his death.
It would have been well had the war been brought to a close with the entombment of Brock. The ruling powers of the United States, however, were not willing to make terms of peace until they had, in some measure, redeemed the loss of prestige occasioned by the discomfiture of their army at the battle of Queenston Heights.
General Smyth, of the regular army, who had taken some
236 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
part in the abortive attempt to make a conquest of Canada, had been jealous of VanRensselaer, and thought himself able, with the remnant of the latter's troops and new levies, to redeem the stain of the defeat. At his own request appointed to the supreme command of the Central Division of the army, he, on the 17th November, made an appeal to "The Men of New York 'J for aid in his enterprise. In audacity and self- laudation this appeal rivalled the famous manifesto of Hull at Detroit. It commenced with the utterance of a falsehood, pro- ceeded in discrediting his fellow-officers, and ended in cajoling the people. It will be sufficient if I give the first three para- graphs of Smyth's Appeal, the balance of the document being made up of platitudes intended to excite the warlike spirit of his countrymen :
" To the Men of New York.
" For many years have you seen your country oppressed with human wrongs; your Government, though above all others- devoted to peace, have been forced to draw the sword and rely for redress of injuries on the valor of the American people.
" That valor has been conspicuous, but the nation has been unfortunate in the selection of some of those who directed it. One army has been disgracefully surrendered and lost. Another has been sacrificed by a precipitate attempt to pass it over at the strongest point of the enemy's lines, with most incompetent means.
" The cause of these miscarriages is apparent. The com- manders were ' popular men,' destitute alike of theory and practice in the art of war."
On the same day he issued a proclamation to the army,, beginning :
" Companions in Arms !
" The time is at hand when you will cross the streams of
A WOULD-BE HERO. 237
Niagara to conquer Canada and to secure the peace of the American frontier.
" You will enter a country that is to be one of the United States. You will arrive among a people who are to become your fellow-citizens. It is not against them that we come to make war ; it is against that Government which holds them as vassals.
" Come on, my heroes ! And when you attack the enemy's batteries let your rallying-word be, ' The cannon lost at Detroit, or death ! ' "
Brave words these ! Now let us see the result.
General Smyth's plan was to take Canada by way of Fort Erie. His first demonstration was on the night of the 27th, or early in the morning of the 28th, of November. About two o'clock in the morning a party of Americans, numbering 450 men, under Major Boerstler and Captain King, crossed the river about two miles below Fort Erie, and succeeded in capturing a few prisoners, destroying some public and private dwellings, and spiking four guns.
This attack of the invading Americans, as we learn from the report of Major Evans to General Sheaffe, cost the British regulars and Canadian militia, all told, 1 sergeant, 16 rank and file, killed ; 1 captain, 3 lieutenants, 39 rank and file, wounded ; 3 drummers and 32 rank and file missing. The British and Canadians, as soon as it was possible to concentrate the small force which was stationed in detachments at Chippewa, Fort Erie and intervening outposts, soon reversed the temporary success of the Americans. The guns which had been displaced by the enemy were remounted by Captain Kirby, of the militia, and Bombardier Jackson, of the Royal Artillery, and soon were
2H3 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
brought to bear on the retreating boats of the enemy as they recrossed the river.
The whole British force at the disposal of the commandant at Chippewa (Colonel Bisshopp), at the time of this affair, did not exceed three hundred men ; while General Smyth's army was 2,360 strong, exclusive of General Tannehill's brigade from Pennsylvania, 650 strong.
Engaged in this affair, besides the detachments of the 49th and 41st regulars, were Captain Kirby's company of the militia artillery, Captain Hamilton's company of the 2nd Lincoln militia, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Clark, and a few of the 5th Lincoln regiment of militia under Major Hatt. Colonel Bisshopp, in his report of the engagement made to Major- General Sheaffe, said : " To Captain Kirby, Lieutenants Bryson and Hall, of the militia artillery, and Bombardier Jackson, of the Royal Artillery, the greatest credit is due ; as well as to Lieut.-Colonel Nichol, Quartermaster-General of Militia, and Lieutenant Bernard, Acting Staff- Adjutant. I have also derived the greatest assistance from Lieut.-Colonel Clark, commanding the militia ; Major Ormsby, commanding a detachment of the 49th regiment, and Major Hatt, of the 5th Lincoln militia, and all officers in command of corps and companies under my com- mand. The Norfolk militia, under Captain Bostwick, gave a strong proof of the valor which has uniformly distinguished the militia of this country when called into action. I must likewise mention the names of Captain Whelan, of the New- foundland regiment ; Captains Chambers and Saunders, of the 41st ; Captain Fitzgerald, 49th, and Captain Hamilton, of the 2nd Lincoln militia, who first apprised me of the enemy's movement."
It would seem almost incredible, if not reported in the
CANADIANS ASSUME THE OFFENSIVE. 239
histories of the times, that notwithstanding Smyth's being driven across the river on the 28th, he had on the next day the audacity, relying on his reserves, to demand of Colonel Bisshopp the surrender of Fort Erie, to " prevent the unneces- sary shedding of blood."
Colonel Bisshopp's sententious answer to this was, " Come and take it ! "
Finding that Colonel Bisshopp did not know the meaning of " Surrender," General Smyth, on the 1st of December, called a council of his officers, when it was decided that, instead of conquering Canada, it was advisable to disembark the troopa and send them into winter quarters.
Thus ended the third invasion of Canada.
The failure of General Smyth to conquer Canada brought down upon him the strong arm of the Executive. He was dismissed from the regular army, and deposed without trial. The American official organ (Nile's Register) of the 19th December, noticing the affair, said :
" Disaster upon disaster. The old scenes of imbecility, treach- ery and cowardice have been again displayed on our frontier. With grief and shame do we record that Smyth, who promised so much, who centred in himself the generous confidence of strangers, of his friends, and the Government; who was to convince the American people that all their generals were not base, cowardly and treacherous ; even Smyth must be added to the catalogue of infamy which began with the name of Hull. Our minds are depressed with shame, and our hands tremble with indignation, at this final prostration of all our dearest and fondest hopes."
It now came the turn of the Canadians to assume the offen- sive, and to repay the Americans for their invasion of Canada,
240 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
by a descent on their own territory. On the 22nd February, 1813, Colonel Macdonell, with a force of 480 regulars and militia, crossed the ice on the St. Lawrence, from Prescott, to attack the American fort at Ogdensburgh, on the opposite side of the river. The advance was received with a heavy fire from the American fort, but succeeded in driving the enemy's infantry into the woods.
Macdonell's force was composed of a detachment of the Royal Newfoundland and 8th King's regulars, and the High- landers of the Glengarry regiment of militia, with a few other select militiamen.
The result of this affair was that the Americans had four officers and seventy rank and file taken prisoners, and lost eleven pieces of cannon, all the ordnance, marine, commissariat and Quartermaster-General's stores, two armed schooners and two large gun-boats, which latter were burnt. The British loss was one sergeant, seven rank and tile killed ; two captains, five subalterns, four sergeants, and forty rank and file wounded.
In concluding his despatch to Sir George Prevost, relating the incidents connected with the attack, Colonel Macdonell said :
" I cannot close this statement without expressing my ad- miration of the gallantry and self-devotion of Captain Jenkins, who had lost one arm, and is in danger of losing the other. I must also report the intrepidity of Captain Lefevre, of the .Newfoundland Regiment, who had the immediate charge of the militia, under Colonel Fraser ; of Captain Eustace, and the other officers of the King's Regiment, and particularly of Lieu- tenant Ridge, of that corps, who very gallantly led on the advance ; and of Lieutenant Macaulay and Ensign Macdonell, of the Glengarry Regiment, as also Lieutenant Gangueben, of the Royal Engineers, and of Ensign McKay, of the Glengarry
CAPTURE OF YORK. 241
tight infantry, and of Ensign Kerr, of the militia, each of whom had charge of a field-piece ; and of Lieutenant Impey, of the militia, who has lost a leg. I was also supported by Colonel Eraser, and the other officers and men of the militia, who emulated the conspicuous bravery of all the troops of the line."
.Lieutenant Macaulay, who is mentioned in this despatch, was afterwards Chief Justice of Upper Canada.
The next encounter with the Americans was in April, 1813, when the American fleet of Lake Ontario, under the command of Commodore Chauncey, getting out of Sackett's Harbor, at the foot of the lake, sailed for York, the capital of the Province of Upper Canada. The Canadians at this time had no fleet worthy of the name to oppose them. Commodore Chauncey was entirely successful in his attack, capturing the fort and the capital itself. General SheafFe was at the time in command of the small garrison at York. This affair was clouded by an accident which was deplored equally by both the American and Canadian forces. As General Pike, of the American invading force, was approaching the fort from the west, the powder magazine just outside the barrack-yard exploded, killing about 250 of the Americans and nearly two hundred of the British of the garrison as well. General Pike perished in the explosion.
The Canadians must have met the enemy with great vigor, AS General Sheaffe, in his official report, says that the contest was maintained nearly eight hours. We learn from the same report that the troops engaged were two companies of the 8th (King's) Regiment, a company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, some militia, and about forty Indians under Major Oivins — in all, not more than five hundred men and officers — while the Americans numbered in all about five thousand men. 16
242 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
A whole company of the 8th Regiment, while desperately opposing the advance of the enemy, were cut down almost to a man, and their brave leader, Captain McNeale, mortally wounded.
Among the prisoners taken by the Americans were some whose names are familiar to the inhabitants of Toronto (the York of 1813). These names are: Lieut-Colonel Chewett, Major Allan, Captains John Wilson, John Britton, Peter Robinson, Reuben Richardson, John Arnold, James Fenwick, Duncan Cameron, David Thompson, John Robinson, Samuel Ridout, Thomas Hamilton, William Jarvis , Quartermaster- General Charles Baynes ; Lieutenants John H. Schultz, George Mustard, Robert Stanton, George Ridout, William Jarvis, Ed. McMahon, John Wilson, Eli Playter ; Ensigns Andrew Thomp- son, James Chewett, Charles Denison, George Robinson and D'Arcy Boulton.
The Americans were able to say, on retiring from York, that they had further reduced their antagonists' means of naval defence by the destruction of a new ship then on the stocks and nearly finished, and that they had taken another, the Duke of Gloucester, then lying in the harbor for repairs.
At the time that the Americans captured York there was in Fort George at Niagara, across the lake, under the command of General Vincent, a force of about 1,400 men, composed of eight companies of the 49th Regiment and detachments from the 8th or King's Regiment, the 41st Glengarrys and New- foundland corps, with three hundred militia and some artillery. On the evacuation of York, the American fleet proceeded to Sackett's Harbor, refitted, obtained reinforcements, and then proceeded up the lake to Fort Niagara. The land force at this fort was thus increased to about six thousand men under
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT GEORGE. 243
Generals Dearborn, Lewis, Boyd, Winder and Chandler. On the 26th May Commodore Chauncey bombarded Fort George. Under cover of a heavy fire from the fleet, a force of the enemy effected a landing. The brave little garrison held out as long as was possible against the fire both of the fleet and the land force, but, after three hours' fighting, were compelled to evacuate the place. General Vincent, in command of the British force at this time, spiked the guns, destroyed the magazine, and retired on Queenston Heights, by way of Queenston. If the American General, with the troops at his command, had immediately followed up Vincent in his retreat,, he would have had no difficulty in capturing the entire British force, which would have left him in the possession of the whole western country. This, however, he failed to do. General Vincent and his little band, with ammunition almost exhausted, set out for Burlington Heights, which they reached on the 28th May, where they at once prepared to meet the advance of the American army. Generals Winder and Chandler, with three thousand men under their command, in following up the British retreat, leisurely pursued, as they thought, their certain prey, and only reached Stoney Creek, seven miles from General Vincent's lines, on the 5th June, 1813.
It was fortunate for General Vincent that he had under him, and attached to his force, so experienced an officer as Colonel Harvey. This officer entered the army as ensign in the 80th in 1794- ; served through the campaign in Holland, 1794; at the Cape of Good Hope, 1796 ; in Egypt, 1800 ; in India, from 1803 to 1807 — on active service all the time. In conversation with Sir George Prevost, he had been asked his opinion as to the best method of defence for Canada. His answer was brief, but to the point : " First, by the accurate intelligence of the
244 LIFE AND TIMES OF GbNERAL BROCK.
designs and movements of tlie enemy, to be procured at any price ; and, secondly, by a series of bold, active, offensive operations, by which the enemy, however superior in numbers, would himself be thrown upon the defensive." The sequel will show how true to himself and his opinions Colonel Harvey proved.
General Vincent, who had the highest confidence in Colonel Harvey, entrusted him with the duty of checking the American advance. He at once took means to obtain accurate intelligence of the designs and movements of the enemy. Lieutenant James FitzGibbon, whose name has been mentioned in former pages as the "devoted sergeant-major" of the 49th, under General Brock, was commissioned by General Vincent to recon- noitre the enemy and ascertain their position. This he did by gaining access to the American camp in the disguise of a settler with a basket of butter on his arm.
So well did FitzGibbon perform the duty entrusted to him that Colonel Harvey determined upon a night attack with the bayonet. Detaching a force of seven hundred men from Vin- cent's force for this enterprise, about two o'clock on Sunday morning, the 6th of June, he made a descent on the American camp. The surprise was complete. The outlying pickets were dispatched by the cold steel of the bayonet ere the word of alarm passed their lips. The American camp was thrown into the wildest confusion. But a feeble resistance was made, and soon the enemy, panic-stricken, were in disordered flight, leav- ing the gallant Harvey and his men victors in one of the most brilliant engagements of the war. The battle of Stoney Creek is a memorable one in Canadian annals. It is pleasant to know that the leader of the noble seven hundred, Colonel Harvey, was afterwards rewarded with the governorship of New
BATTLE OF CHRYSLER'S FARM. 245
Brunswick, then of Newfoundland, and subsequently of Nova Scotia.
After Stoney Creek, FitzGibbon, at his own request, was given command of a company of volunteers from the ranks of the gallant 49th Regiment. With these men he so successfully interrupted the enemy's communication between forts George and Erie that Colonel Brerstler was sent with 600 men to capture him and put an end to the annoying obstruction. Laura Secord, who had made herself known to the Americans by her brave defence of her wounded husband at the battle of Queenston Heights, overhearing the American officers dis- cussing the plan, walked through the bush, a distance of twenty miles, to carry the tidings to FitzGibbon. The result was that Colonel Boerstler and his men were surprised and captured at Beaver Dam on June 24th. This had a paralyzing effect upon the offensive measures on the Niagara frontier during the remainder of the campaign. FitzGibbon lived for many years, and died a Military Knight of Windsor, in the year 1863. He was a noble soldier, and adorned the profession to which he belonged.
The next land battle of importance within the limits of Upper Canada was that of Chrysler's Farm, which was fought in November, 1813. General Wilkinson, Commander of the American Northern army, had decided to attempt the capture of Montreal. His plan was to convey his army in boats down the rapids, suddenly fall on Montreal, and it was his ! To this end, he and his army of 10,000 men, in 180 immense boats, descended the St. Lawrence, ran the first rapids below Prescott, and then suddenly veered in to the shore, about thirteen miles below that town, and landed on or near to Chrysler's Farm. A British force under Lieut.-Colonel Harvey, consisting of some
246 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
companies of the 49th and 84th regiments, and a few militia — in all about 1,500 men — had watched Wilkinson in his descent of the river, had marched from Kingston down the Canadian side of the river, and were able at Chrysler's Farm to intercept the American General, who had landed about 4,000 men from the boats. The battle which followed was a stubborn one. After two hours' hard fighting, against twofold odds, Harvey and his gallant little army had the satisfaction of gaining a decisive victory. The Americans precipitately fled to their boats, with a loss of three hundred killed and wounded. Thus, again, was Canada saved from an invading force.
At the close of the campaign, and before evacuating Fort George and retiring to their own lines into winter quarters, the Americans burned the town of Newark, turning the de- fenceless inhabitants into the street during the most inclement weather. In stern retaliation for this wanton act, Colonel Murray crossed the river on December 19th, captured Fort Niagara and Black Rock, and laid waste the American frontier by both fire and sword.
Fort Erie was in the possession of the Americans, while the British had re-occupied Fort George, and the campaign of 1814 was a series of obstinate skirmishes between the opposing forces, the Americans driving in the British pickets, only in turn to be driven back and the posts retaken by the British. The three principal engagements were those of Fort Erie, Chip- pewa and Lundy's Lane.
They were all hotly contested, but that of Lundy's Lane has the pre-eminence in this respect. It was fought on the 25th of July, 1814. The battle was brought about in this way : General Brown, of the American army, had been besieging Fort George with a large force. General Riall, in command at
BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE. 247
the fort, fearing that he might not be able to hold his position, contrived to march a part of his little army, with a few ammu- nition waggons and two six-pounder field-pieces, under night and unperceived, through the American lines around the fort to the rendezvous for reinforcements at the Twelve and Twenty- Mile Creeks. The British force outside the fort, thanks to the plans which Brock had made for the defence of the Province at the inception of the war, was scattered in small cantonments over twenty or thirty miles of country ; but as Thompson, in his history of the war, says : " Like a well-ordered and sys- tematic machine, every part was in a moment simultaneously in motion, to concentrate their united strength at a point where they would be likely to intercept the enemy."
The value of this plan was conspicuously proven at this juncture.
After the engagement at Chippewa, the American forces were marching down the road with the object of joining General Brown in front of Fort George. It was essential that they should be intercepted. General Drummond, then in command of all the British forces in Upper Canada, arrived at Fort George, from York, on the morning of the 25th. Ascertaining the condition of affairs, he immediately set out to join General Riall, who had collected all the available forces from the surrounding posts and had taken his position on the rising ground near Lundy's Lane.
The Americans advanced to the attack, and Riall was falling back before their immensely superior numbers, when General Drummond, who had marched from Niagara through the burn- ing heat of that July day, arrived just as the enemy had gained partial possession of the hill. Assuming the command, he dis- lodged them from their position. Then, hand to hand, muzzle
248 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
to muzzle, the battle raged fast and furious far on into the night. The brow of the hill where the guns were placed was the objective point of the attack, and here the struggle was fiercest ; now one side having the advantage, then the other. About nine o'clock a lull occurred in the firing. Then, rein- forcements arriving on both sides, the battle was renewed with increased vigor, the darkness relieved only by the flashes of musketry and the fire that leaped from the mouths of the cannon. About midnight the Americans gave up the hopeless contest, and the British remained in possession of the field they had so nobly fought to hold. This battle is said to be one of the most sanguinary, in proportion to the numbers engaged, that the history of modern warfare records. The entire British force engaged numbered less than 3,000, while the American is variously estimated at from four to five thousand. General Drurnmond reported that the enemy lost sixteen hundred men and several hundred were made prisoners of war ; while the British loss in killed, wounded, missing and prisoners was, by General Drummond's report, eight hundred and seventy-eight. Detachments of the 8th or King's regiment, companies of which had been so terribly cut up at the taking of York, in the pre- vious year, had the honor of a place in this engagement.
Although this battle was the culminating point of the warr the Americans made one more effort to outflank the British force and retrieve their defeat. General Izzard was sent with a large force in the direction of Cook's Mills, but Colonel Myers was detached by Colonel Drummond, and despatched at the head of the Glengarry Fencibles, under Colonel Battersby, the Incorporated Militia, the 82nd Regiment, and part of the 100th, with orders to " feel the Americans very closely." A sharp engagement in the woods between the light troops, in
CONCLUSION OF THE WAR. 249
which the Glengarry Regiment behaved with conspicuous gal- lantry, resulted in the retreat of the entire American force, and a few days later they evacuated Fort Erie. Thus ended the campaign of 1814.
The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24th, 1814, putting a termination to hostilities between the two countries.
And now a word to the reader. I have not assumed in this chapter to do more than give a mere sketch of the concluding events of the war. I have not entered into the naval engage- ments during its progress, nor travelled out of the limits of the Province, except for an occasional excursion into the United States. There have many histories of the war been written, chiefly from an American standpoint, or by American writers, the few British histories (of which Auchinleck's and Coffin's are the best) being largely compiled from American sources. Isolated epochs or incidents have received impartial treatment at the hands of more recent writers, but a complete history from original documents and archives has yet to be published. Many of the men who fought and whose names are to be found in the existing histories deserve all the praise that a patriotic people can give them. Their names have come down to us written in letters of gold, and we cannot over-estimate the deeds of those who strove so well for Canada, and brought the war to an honorable conclusion.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONCLUSION.
•
"Low bending o'er the rugged bier The soldier drops a mournful tear, For life departed, valor driven, Fresh from the field of death to heaven.
"But time shall fondly trace the name Of Brock upon the scrolls of Fame, And those bright laurels which should wave Upon the brow of one so brave, Shall flourish vernal o'er his grave."
MONUMENT TO BKOCK — BROCK'S BODY REMOVED FROM FORT GEORGE TO THE MONUMENT — MEETING AT QUEENSTON HEIGHTS — BROCK THE "HERO OF UPPER CANADA."
TRULY the works of men live after them. Every posthumous honor was paid to the memory of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, and he well merited the distinction. A public monu- ment, having been decreed by the Imperial Parliament, was raised in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. This monument, by
MONUMENT TO BROCK. 251
Westrnacott, is tabular in form, and is placed in the western ambulatory of the south transept. Placed on it are the sword and helmet of the deceased commander. The scene carved on the stone shows the stricken General reclining in the arms of a British soldier, whilst an Indian, looking sorrowfully down, pays a tribute of regret at the death of the noble hero. The inscription reads :
ERECTED, AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE,
«
TO THE MEMORY OF
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK,
WHO GLORIOUSLY FELL ON THE
13TH OCTOBER,
MDCCCXIL,
IN RESISTING AN ATTACK ON QUEENSTON, IN UPPER CANADA.
A Huron chief visiting England some years ago, and con- ducted through St. Paul's, was asked what impressed him most of all that he had seen in England. He replied, without hesi- tation, that it was the monument erected in St. Paul's to the memory of Major-General Brock.
This incident serves to show how much even the untutored Indian revered the memory of the noble Brock.
In consequence of an address from the Parliament of Upper Canada to the Prince Regent, a grant of 1 2,000 acres of land in that Province was bestowed on the four surviving brothers of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, who, in addition, were allowed a pension of £200 a year for life, by a vote of the Imperial Parliament.
252
LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
From Lossinc's " Field-Book of tbe War of 18H." Copyright, 1868, by Harper A Brothers
Brock was, at the conclusion of the war, by common consent of the people, given the title of " The Hero of Upper Canada." A memorial coin was issued from the Royal mint in 1816, which, though not a current coin of the realm, passed current
in Upper Canada long after the war of 1812 was ended. A representation of this- coin is given herewith, and likewise forms a vignette on the cover of this work. The Provincial Legisla- ture of Upper Canada, on
the 14th March, 1815, passed "An Act for the erection of a. Monument to the memory of the late President, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock."
The Act was in the form of an address to the Sovereign, and granted out of the rates and duties already levied and collected, and out of the rates and duties to be levied and collected, the sum of one thousand pounds, which should be disposed of by commissioners therein named for the constructing and erecting at Queenston, near where Brock fell, or such other spot a* might be agreed upon by the commissioners, a monument to- his memory.
The recital in this Act, giving in very pronounced terras the reasons for its enactment, shows in what esteem Major-General Brock was held by the whole people. It went on to say :
" Whereas at the declaration of war by the United States of America against Great Britain, the Government of this Province was administered with great uprightness and ability by the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock ; and whereas by the wisdom of his counsels, the energy of his character and the vigor with
BROCK'S BODY REMOVED FROM FORT GEORGE. 253
•which he carried all his plans into effect, the inhabitants of this Province, at a time when the country was almost destitute of regular troops, were inspired with the fullest confidence in him and in themselves, and were thereby induced most cordially to unite with and follow him in every operation which he under- took for their defence ; and whereas, after having achieved the most brilliant success and performed the most splendid actions, that truly illustrious commander, contending at the head of a small body of regular troops and militia against a very superior force of the enemy, devoted his most valuable life ; and whereas the inhabitants of this Province, reverencing his character, feel it a tribute due to his memory to express the same by a public and lasting testimonial," etc., etc.
The commissioners named in the Act for carrying out its object were Thomas Dickson, Esq., Thomas Clark, Esq., and Robert Nichol, Esq.
Subsequently, a further grant of six hundred pounds was made to complete the monument.
In pursuance of the Act of the Legislature, a lofty column was erected on Queenston Heights, to which the remains of the Major-General and of his gallant aide-de-camp Macdonell were removed from Fort George, in solemn procession, on the 13th October, 1824.
Colonel FitzGibbon, already referred to in this work as an officer of the 49th Regiment when Brock was in command, in transmitting a detail of the ceremonies of the day, thus pathetically expressed himself :
" Nothing, certainly, could exceed the interest manifested by the people of the Province upon this occasion ; and numbers from the neighboring State of New York, by their presence and conduct, proved how highly the Americans revere the memory of our lamented chief. Of the thousands present not
254 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
one had cause to feel so deeply as I, and I felt as if alone, although surrounded by the multitude. He had been more than a father to me in that regiment, which he ruled like a father, and I alone of his old friends in that regiment was present to embalm with a tear his last honored retreat. What J witnessed on this day would have fully confirmed me in the opinion, had confirmation been wanting, that the public feeling in this Province has been permanently improved and elevated by Sir Isaac Brock's conduct and actions while governing its inhabitants. These, together with his dying in their defence, have done more towards cementing our union with the Mother Country than any event or circumstance since the existence of the Province. Of this our leading men are aware, and are careful to seize every opportunity of preserving recollections so productive of good effects."
A little further on in the same account appear the following lines :
" The time occupied in moving from the fort to Queenston, a distance of nearly seven miles, was about three hours, includ- ing stoppages. Being arrived opposite the spot where the lamented hero received his mortal wound, the whole procession halted, and remained for a few minutes in solemn pause."
FitzGibbon was the first to arrive upon the ground, and evidently had the principal part to do in organizing and arranging the procession and order of march.
The height of the column, which com- manded a view of the surrounding country for about fifty miles, was, from the base to the summit, 135 feet, and from the level of the Niagara River, which runs near it, 485
From Lowing'. " Field-Book
Upon the monument, a representation
BROCK'S MONUMENT DESTROYED. 255
of which is given herewith, the following inscription was engraved :
UPPER CANADA
HAS DEDICATED THIS MONUMENT
TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.,
PROVISIONAL LTEUT.-GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF
THE FORCES IN THIS PROVINCE, WHOSE REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED UNDER THE VAULT BENEATH.
OPPOSING THE INVADING ENEMY, HE FELL IN ACTION NEAR THESE HEIGHTS
ON THE 13TH OCTOBER, 1812, IN THE 43RD YEAR OF His AGE,
REVERED AND LAMENTED BY THE PEOPLE WHOM HE GOVERNED,
AND DEPLORED BY THE SOVEREIGN TO WHOSE SERVICE His LIFE HAD BEEN DEVOTED.
This monument was, on Good Friday, the 17th April, 1840, as a wind-up to the rebellion of 1837, blown up, or partially blown up, with gunpowder, by an Irishman named Lett, who had fled from Canada to the United States because of his share in the rebellion. The explosion caused by the train of gun- powder set to the column caused so much damage as to render it altogether beyond repair.
Universal indignation followed this dastardly act. A public meeting was appointed to be held at Queenston Heights on
256 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
the 30th July, 1840, for the purpose of adopting resolutions for the erection of another monument, Sir Allan MacNab especially making the most strenuous exertions to promote this object.
As many as 8,000 persons, of whom the writer had the honor of being one, attended this meeting. There were per- sons present from all parts of the Province, many of whom were veteran officers of the Canada militia, who had fought and bled with the lamented chief whose memory they were assembled to honor, and whose monument they had come to re-establish over his remains. Nearly all the Canadian steamers on Lake Ontario were employed on this occasion.
The ports of Kingston, Hamilton and Toronto especially con- tributed large contingents to the meeting. Ten steamers arrived at the mouth of the Niagara River at 10 o'clock of the morning of the day of meeting. These steamers, all laden with passengers, then formed in line, and ascended the river abreast, that on which were the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Arthur, and his staff, leading the way. As I stood upon the Heights of Queenston watching the steamers making their way up the river, with Hags flying, the thousands aboard being escorted, as it were, by thousands more along the bank cheering the welcome guests, I felt I had never witnessed so stirring and beautiful a sight.
The public meeting was, shortly after the arrival of the company, held in the open air, near the foot of the monument, with Sir George Arthur in the chair.
Speeches were made by the most distinguished men in the Province. The old companions and fellow-soldiers of Brock were so impressed that tears were brought to many an eye.
Chief Justice Robinson, who had been with Brock at Detroit
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBINSON'S ADDRESS. 257
and Queenston, delivered an admirable address, in the course of which he said :
" If it were intended by those who committed this shameful outrage that the injury should be irreparable, the scene which is now before us, on these interesting heights, shows how little they understood the feeling of veneration for the memory of Brock which still dwells in the hearts of the people of Upper Canada. No man ever established a better claim to the affec- tions of a country ; and, in recalling the recollections of eight- and-twenty years, there is no difficulty in accounting for the feeling which has brought us together on this occasion. Among the many who are assembled here from all parts of this Prov- ince, I know there are some who saw, as I did, with grief, the body of the lamented General borne from the field on which he fell, and many who witnessed, with me, the melancholy scene of his interment in one of the bastions of Fort George. . . . . They can never forget the feelings displayed by the loyal militia of this Province, when they were consigning to the grave the noble hero who had so lately achieved a glorious triumph in the defence of their country ; they looked forward to a dark and perilous future, and they felt that the earth was closing upon him in whom more than in all other human means of defence, their confidence had been reposed. Nor can they forget the countenances, oppressed with grief, of those brave and faithful Indian warriors who admired and loved the gallant Brock; who had bravely shared with him the dangers of that period, and who had most honorably distinguished themselves in the field when he closed his short but brilliant career.
" It has, I know, sir, in the many years that have elapsed, been sometimes objected that General Brock's courage was greater than his prudence ; that his attack of Fort Detroit, though it succeeded, was most likely to have failed, and was, therefore, injudicious, and that a similar rashness and want of cool calculation were displayed in the manner of his death. 17
258 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
" Those who lived in Upper Canada while these events were passing, can form a truer judgment; they know that what may to some seem rashness, was in fact prudence ; unless, indeed, the defence of Canada was to be abandoned, in the almost desperate circumstances in which General Brock was placed. He had with him but a handful of men, who had never been used to military discipline; few, indeed, that had ever seen actual service in the field, and he knew it must be some months before any considerable reinforcements could be sent to him. He felt, therefore, that if he could not impress upon the enemy this truth, that wherever a Major-General of the British army, with but a few gallant soldiers of the line, and of the brave defenders of the soil, could be assembled against them, they must retire from the land which they had invaded, his cause was hopeless. If he had begun to compare numbers, and had reserved his small force in order to make a safer effort on a future day, then would thousands upon thousands of the people of the neighboring States have been found pouring into the western portions of this Province ; and when at last our Mother Country could send, as it was certain she would, her armies to our assistance, they would have had to expend their courage and their strength in taking one strong position after another that had been erected by the enemy within our own territory. " And at the moment when the noble soldier fell, it is true, he fell in discharging a duty which might have been committed to a subordinate hand ; true, he might have reserved himself for a more deliberate and stronger effort ; but he felt that hesitation might be ruin, that all depended upon his example of dauntless courage, of fearless self-devotion. Had it pleased Divine Providence to spare his invaluable life, who will say that his effort would have failed ? It is true his gallant course was arrested by a fatal wound — such is the fortune of war ; but the people of Canada did not feel that his precious life was therefore thrown away, deeply as they deplored his fall. In later periods of the contest, it sometimes happened that the example of General Brock was not very closely followed. It
MEETING AT QUEENSTON HEIGHTS. 259
was that cautious calculation which some supposed he wanted, which decided the day against us at Sackett's Harbor. It was the same cautious calculation which decided the day at Platts- burg, but no monuments have been erected to record the triumphs of those fields. It is not thus that trophies are won."
The Hon. Mr. Justice Macaulay, who had been under com- mand of Brock when Commandant of Quebec, spoke at this meeting with tender allusions to the fallen chief, and his heroic virtues. He said, in the course of his observations : " It might be asked, What peculiar personal qualities predominated, and gave him the talismanic influence and ascendancy over his fellowmen which he acquired and wielded for his country's good ? I answer, Are there any seamen among you ? " (" Yes ! yes ! " answered from the crowd.) " Then I say it was the Nelsonian spirit that animated his breast; it was the mind intuitively to conceive, and the soul promptly to dare things incredible to feeble hearts, with a skill and bearing which infused his chivalrous and enterprising spirit into all his followers, and impelled them energetically to realize whatever he boldly led the way to accomplish."
The meeting, before its close, resolved that the most suit- able monument to replace the shattered column would be an obelisk on the site of the mutilated structure. The committee offered a premium for a design, which, in February, 1843, was awarded to Mr. F. Young, architect to the University of King's College.
This is the monument which now crowns the Heights of Queenston, seen by so many hundreds of thousands of tourists and others who yearly visit Niagara Falls and pass up and down the beautiful river. In beauty and grandeur it is said to be second only to Nelson's Monument in Trafalgar Square,
260 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
London, among the myriad shafts now standing with which the world has commemorated its great men. An admirable view of this monument and the surrounding grounds, including the cenotaph marking the spot where Brock fell, is herewith given.
The style of the obelisk is the simplest and purest Egyptian ; the total height of the base, pedestal and obelisk is 120 feet. The obelisk measures at the lower base sixteen feet six inches square, diminishing to ten feet at the base of the upper, the proportions of the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle having been strictly adhered to. And here, at the foot of this monu- ment, I present this book as a votive offering to the illustrious commander who shaped her course in the times of my country's greatest peril.
More than three-quarters of a century has passed since this noble man lived and moved in the midst of the people of Canada. The breath of foreign war has not since disturbed our peace. There have been intestine commotions, but with no serious results. The ship of state still pursues its onward way, and Canada is a free country under the protection of the flag of England. As long as that flag waves over her she need not fear any foe. Let Canadians recall that paragraph of Sir Isaac Brock's address to the people of Canada, where he said : " Let no man suppose that if in this unexpected struggle His Majesty's arms should be compelled to yield to an overwhelm- ing force, the Province will be eventually abandoned ; the endeared relation of its first settlers, the intrinsic value of its com- merce, and the pretension of its powerful rival to re-possess the Canadas, are pledges that no peace will be established between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, of which the
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED. 263
restoration of these provinces does not make the most pro- minent condition."
There are lessons to be learned in the life of Brock, and great profit may be derived from them. Honesty of purpose, faithful discharge of duty, consideration for the welfare of others, encouragement of the young, support of the old, and pure patriotism were all combined in him, whose example stands out as a beacon to all generations of Canadians.
It will be well for the young to remember that the young men of Brock's day, and who gave him the greatest support in the war of 1812, were the first to come forward to defend their country at the sound of the bugle-call. The old men left their farms and their ploughshares to bear arms for their beloved country. The wives and the daughters supplied the place of husbands and fathers in the drudgery of agricultural life. The women during the war of 1812 could be seen sowing the land in the spring and reaping in the fall. They thought no sacri- fice too great to be made, so that their hearth-stones might be protected from the ruthless hands of the invader. There were many Laura Secords in those days, albeit but one has come down to us in historic name and poetic measure. All honor to the young and the old, the wives and the children, who knew how to do their duty, and did it. May not Canadian children of to-day follow in the steps of their fathers and grandfathers ?
Of late years it has been the custom of the school-boys to go through military drill, in regimental form, on the anniversary of the battle of Queenston Heights. A good custom this. The meeting together of the boys in this way incites in them a spirit of patriotism, a love of country, obedience, discipline and respect for authority — all essentials for the formation of the
grown-up man as a good citizen and loyal subject. There is 17*
264 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
nothing in it at which anyone should take offence, even though he be a subject of some other land. Every country has days in which the national pride is excited and sometimes exalted, in no country more so than in the United States, who made war on England and Canada in 1812. Canada is a country of peace — may it ever remain so — but that is no reason why her red- letter day should not be duly remembered and patriotically celebrated.
I have before me a pamphlet published in 1831 by a Cana- dian volunteer who, in 1812, was but fifteen years of age, and yet at this early age entered His Majesty's service and took up -arms in defence of his country. He relates in this pamphlet how, on the sound of the drum, he visited Colonel Pearson, whom he calls a brave and meritorious officer, for the purpose of offering his services to the Commandant at Fort Wellington, Prescott, in the county of Grenville ; how in the following year he marched from Brockville to Kingston, sixty miles, to serve under Sir George Prevost and Sir James Yeo, in the expedition against Sackett's Harbor. He says : " We were ordered to Fort Henry, and advanced as far as Point Frederick, when it was announced that Sir George Prevost was about to make an expedition somewhere across Lake Ontario. I repaired immediately to his quarters, told him I was a Canadian and a British subject, belonging near the precincts of the Province, had understood he was about to make an expedition, and should like to be admitted as a volunteer. The Commander-in-Chief immediately granted my request, and ordered me lodgings in a gentlemanly manner."
He then goes on to describe the sailing of the vessels of the •expedition out of Kingston Harbor, he being on the same vessel AS Sir George Prevost and Sir James Yeo — the arrival at
CONCLUSION. 265
Sackett's Harbor — the landing of the force — the brisk firing of the Americans, to prevent the landing of the troops — the burn- ing of the barracks, and the retirement of the vessels, with their cargoes of fighting men and boys. After this affair, which was not altogether a success, Sir George Prevost was subjected to much obloquy for the failure or partial failure of that expedition, and was said by some to have acted in a cowardly manner ; but our volunteer writes : " It has been stated that Sir George Prevost was cowardly, but this tale must be told to some other person than me to obtain the least degree of credit What his motives were for retreating at this time I am not prepared to say or define, but I was an eye- witness of his bravery and courage."
There is one paragraph of the volunteer's relation of his experience as a young recruit which deserves to be quoted, showing, as it does, his estimate of General Brock, written seventeen years after the conclusion of the war. Referring to some inconvenience that he and others of the militia had been put to by some subordinate officials at Kingston, he wrote : " Had it not been for such men as General Brock, the brave Pearson, and our officers of the Incorporated and Glengarry Regiments, our situation would have been deplorable. This Incorporated Regiment and the Glengarrys, raised in the Pro- vince, were the pride of these colonies, and long will a grateful Canadian cherish the remembrance of the brave officers and men composing these regiments, and long will the enemy remember and give credit to their prowess in their military annals."
Young men will see in this story that in 1812 some of their own age, with no opportunity of training such as exists in the present day, came forward in the hour of need to act with their elders in defence of their country.
266 LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL BROCK.
Canada to be great must remain a united country. Occupied as she is by different races, the Anglo-Saxon and the French- Canadian, she must bear and forbear, recognizing the fact that her self-preservation depends upon united effort for national defence. The French-Canadian element, if disturbing at times, is sound at the core. The thoughtful citizen will forgive them if at times they do show symptoms of French nationalism. Canada was at one time all French, and it is not surprising if at times a certain ebullition of feeling France-ward does come to the surface. In the war of 1812 the French-Canadians were at first restive, but after a time they became valiant defender* of their country, and did yeoman service at Chateauguay and on other fields.
There is no reason to suppose that a state of war will ever again exist between Great Britain and the United States ; on the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the ties of kinship between the two nations are so strong and firm that nothing but midsummer madness will disturb their happy relations. Canadians hope for continued peace, but if attacked, they would wield the sword again as in 1812-14. In the meantime their motto must be, as it has ever been, "Defence, not defiance."
Fellow-Canadians, a last word with you :
"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in, Bear 't that th' opposed may beware of thee."
BOOKS, ETC., CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS WORK.
Coffin's "Chronicles of the War of 1812." "The Loyalists of America and their Times," by Dr. Ryerson. James' " History of the War of 1812-14." "The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock,
K.B.," edited by his Nephew, Ferdinand Brock Tupper, Esq. Auchinleck's " History of the War of 1812-14." Garneau's " History of Canada." 'Christie's " History of Lower Canada." " Sketches of the War," by Dr. Cannitf, contributed to Belford's
Mayazinn.
Dr. Withrow's "History of Canada." David Thompson's " History of the War." Miss FitzGibbon's "A Veteran of 1812."
Mrs. Edgar's "Ten Years of Upper Canada in Peace and War." Mair's "Tecumseh."
"The Indian Races of America," by Charles Wolfe Brownell. Drake's "Book of the Indians." Richardson's " War of 1812." The Archives of Canada.
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