It must have looked a hard obstacle to conquer. It has been described as being constructed in the form of a parallelogram. At each corner was a strong bastion and all round stretched a moat, twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. There were palisades of hardwood, ten feet in height, inclining from the base of the rampart at an angle of forty degrees, and sharpened at the top. The ramparts were twenty-two feet high, and breaches for cannon occurred at regular intervals. There was a portcullis, well provided for small-arm firing, and a drawbridge. And perhaps the most important thing from the defenders’ point of view was that the fort commanded quite open country, so that the attacking army would find it very difficult to remain undiscovered for long. The fortress, Brock told himself, was going to be hard to take, but it was worth a determined struggle, not only for the intrinsic gain but also for what a victory signified. The fort held a great deal of ammunition, as well as more than thirty guns. Brock personally led his army in the attack. Colonel Nichol, the gallant Scottish-Canadian merchant whom Brock had made quartermaster-general of militia, protested against this. He reined up by the side of the commander who was riding up and down in front of his army, heartening them for the attack, and said: “General, I cannot forbear entreating you not to expose yourself. If we lose you, we lose all.” But Brock, who had always believed in the inspiration of personal example, turned to his officer and said: “Master Nichol, I duly appreciate the advice you give, but I feel that in addition to their sense of loyalty and duty, many here follow me from personal regard, and I will never ask them to go where I do not lead them.” Brock believed in co-operation, and while he advanced down the long, narrow road the battery at Sandwich, commanded by Captain Hall, and the guns on the deck of the _Queen Charlotte_ poured heavy fire into the fort. This had its effect, for just at the time Brock’s column was nearing its destination a shot from Captain Hall’s guns found its billet in one of the rooms at the fort, wounding and killing several officers and men. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Bullock was leading the advance guard for Brock. He had three six pounders and two three pounders. It was a case of David and Goliath over again, for this sort of weapon was hardly fitted to the great task in front of Brock. He was leading his men down the country road, in the very face of a battery of two twenty-four pounders, two twelve-pounders, and two six-pounders.