It was "at this instant Brock rode into the village, splashed with mud
from head to foot. . . . A striking scene presented itself to his gaze.
Battalion after battalion of troops in rear of the American batteries in
readiness to embark; other detachments entering their boats, some
already on the river; their guns throwing round and grape shot into the
village, where Dennis still contrived to maintain a foothold"
(Cruikshank).
Brock rode up the slope toward the redan halfway up the Heights. From
the hillside above him burst a shout and down rushed an overwhelming
body of the invaders. With barely time to spike the gun with a ramrod,
the three officers and the dozen artillerymen withdrew and left the
enemy in possession.
Fresh troops were now landing to assist the invaders; and Brock was
fully convinced that the lost position must be recovered at once. He
sent Captain Williams with about seventy men by a round-about way to
attack Wool's left. Seeing Wool's force driven in, Brock mustered a
hundred and ninety men, including the militia flank companies. Waving
his sword, he led his men up the steep ascent toward the battery they
had lost. As he moved toward the right of the mountain, a bullet struck
his sword wrist. Within fifty yards of him, an Ohio rifleman stepped
out from a thicket, took deliberate aim and fired. Shot through the left
breast, he fell. "My fall," he murmured, "must not be noticed, nor
impede my brave companions from advancing to victory." Mindful of duty,
mindful of others, thus died Sir Isaac Brock, the hero of Upper Canada.
Three days before, a grateful sovereign had created him a Knight of the
Order of the Bath. Subsequent generations of Canadians placed over his
remains the noble shaft, that from its commanding position is the most
notable landmark of the historic battleground he made famous. But he
lives in the hearts of the people whose country he saved, whose fathers
he inspired to resist the invader. He had found them a panic-stricken
people, he left them vigorous, united, aggressive.
The remaining incidents of that day at Queenston Heights are well known.
Two hours later, Macdonell, Brock's military secretary and aide, tried
to regain the one-gun battery. A fierce fight ensued: Macdonell, Dennis
and Williams were all wounded; and the next day the bright young
Scotsman, attorney-general at the age of twenty-seven, passed away. In
life he was united with Brock, and in death he was not separated. The
bodies of the two heroes rest together under the Queenston Monument,
where the river has been singing their requiem for a hundred years.
The third stage of the battle was reached at two o'clock in the
afternoon. Then Major-General Roger Hale Sheaffe advanced from Fort
George along the river road. Turning to the right down the little
Queenston Creek, he led his forces across the Dr. Hamilton property. On
the left he flung out his Indians under Norton and Brant, and they moved
forward and made trouble.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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