With the attention to detail for which Brock was remarkable, he ordered the purchase at Amherstburg of two thousand bushels of corn. It had to be purchased on the American side, and was absolutely necessary in case of war. He also ordered the purchase of horses for the car brigade, as this was a service, he said, which required infinite trouble and practice to bring to any degree of perfection. This car brigade was a volunteer artillery company of farmers' sons who had offered their services to Brock, together with their draught horses, free of expense. The company was completed in July, fully equipped, and placed under Captain Holcroft of the Royal Artillery. General Brock also ordered a minute survey of stores to be made at Amherstburg and other posts. One effect of the embargo had been to keep forty thousand barrels of flour, {197} the product of the southern shores of Lake Ontario, from the Montreal market. Most rigorous measures were being used by the United States officials to prevent the least infringement of the embargo on the Niagara River. Armed men in civilians' clothing were constantly patrolling the shore. An idle boy was said to have wantonly fired with ball from the Canadian side of the river at the guard opposite Queenston. The Americans were guilty of a similar outrage by firing at night into a room where a woman was sitting. So the winter and spring passed in constant anxiety and preparation. In May Brock wrote that nothing but the public voice was restraining the United States from commencing hostilities. He thought it probable they would seize some island in the channel. It was reported that six companies of Ohio militia were on their way to Detroit. Fort Niagara had been reinforced, and barracks were building at Black Rock, opposite Fort Erie. [Sidenote: The Indians] The Indians were now actively engaged against the Americans on the frontier, and Brock thought the neutral policy pursued towards them by the government of Canada was not wise. Each day that the officers of the department were restrained from interfering in their concerns, each time that they advised peace, and withheld the accustomed supply of ammunition, their influence diminished. He thought the British would lose the interest of the Indians if they remained inactive. "I have always {198} considered," he says, "that the reduction of Detroit would be a signal for a cordial coöperation on the part of the Indians, and if we be not in sufficient force to effect this object, no reliance ought to be placed on them."