The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2Headley, Joel Tyler
History
The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2
Headley, Joel Tyler
United States -- History -- War of 1812
but skulked away in the confusion.
[Footnote 21: Mansfield's Life of Scott.]
The entire loss of the Americans in this unfortunate expedition,
killed and captured, was about one thousand men.
General Van Rensalaer, disgusted with the conduct of the militia, soon
after sent in his resignation.
Brock was buried the following day "under one of the bastions of Fort
George," and at the request of Scott, then a prisoner, minute guns
were fired from Fort Niagara during the funeral ceremonies. Above the
dull distant roar of the cataract, the minute guns of friends and foes
pealed over the dead, as with shrouded banners the slowly marching
column bore him to his last resting place. Cannon that but a few hours
before had been exploding in angry strife on each other, now joined
their peaceful echoes over his grave. Such an act was characteristic
of Scott, who fierce and fearless in battle, was chivalrous and kind
in all his feelings.
While a prisoner in an inn at Niagara, Scott was told that some one
wished to see the "tall American." He immediately passed through into
the entry, when to his astonishment he saw standing before him two
savage Indian chiefs, the same who had attempted to kill him when he
surrendered himself a prisoner of war. They wished to look on the man
at whom they had so often fired with a deliberate aim. In broken
English, and by gestures, they inquired where he was hit, for they
believed it impossible that out of fifteen or twenty shots not one had
taken effect. The elder chief, named Jacobs, a tall, powerful savage,
became furious at Scott's asserting that not a ball had touched him,
and seizing his shoulders rudely, turned him round to examine his
back. The young and fiery Colonel did not like to have such freedom
taken with his person by a savage, and hurling him fiercely aside,
exclaimed, "Off, villain, you fired like a squaw." "We kill you now,"
was the quick and startling reply, as knives and tomahawks gleamed in
their hands. Scott was not a man to beg or run, though either would
have been preferable to taking his chances against these armed
savages. Luckily for him, the swords of the American officers who had
been taken prisoners, were stacked under the staircase beside which he
was standing. Quick as thought he snatched up the largest, a long
sabre, and the next moment it glittered unsheathed above his head. One
leap backward, to get scope for play, and he stood towering even above
the gigantic chieftain, who glared in savage hate upon him. The
Indians were in the wider part of the hall, between the foot of the
stairs and the door, while Scott stood farther in where it was
narrower. The former, therefore, could not get in the rear, and were
compelled to face their enemy. They manoeuvred to close, but at every
turn that sabre flashed in their eyes. The moment they should come to
blows, one, they knew, was sure to die, and although it was equally
certain that Scott would fall under the knife of the survivor before
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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