Читать книгу Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 31–35 - Rosemary Sadlier - Страница 24

James Secord, who had earlier held the rank of captain in the First Lincoln County Militia, had resigned, as much over a business issue as over a disagreement he’d had with a senior officer. But now, with war threatening, he rejoined his old regiment as a sergeant in Captain Isaac Swayze’s unit of Provincial Artillery Drivers — the Car Brigade that used farm horses to move the field guns during battle.

Because Britain’s regular troops were busy fighting Napoleon in Europe — in that long war that except for a few short periods lasted from 1792 to 1815 — the number of British soldiers in Upper Canada was small. Every able-bodied man in the province between the ages of sixteen and sixty was being recruited, and this ragtag militia was being whipped into shape by Isaac Brock, commander of the British forces in Upper Canada.

Isaac Brock had been born into a well-to-do family in 1769 on the island of Guernsey, one of England’s Channel Islands. When he was fifteen he joined the British army as a junior officer. In 1795 he joined the 49th Regiment of Foot, and in 1797 Lieutenant Colonel Brock became its commander.

In 1802, Brock and his regiment were sent to Canada to strengthen British defences there. It was thought that the Americans might choose to attack Canada while British troops were busy fighting in Europe.

During the three-year-long stay of the 49th at York, Brock familiarized himself with the territory he might be called upon to defend — a vast frontier that stretched from Cornwall to Michilimackinac. It was obvious to the young commander that the defence of Upper Canada was going to have to depend on its inhabitants, most of whom were farmers.

Brock was also concerned about the loyalty of the people of Upper Canada, many of whom he said believed that “the province must inevitably succumb.” Many Canadians had friends and family still living on the other side of the border and might welcome annexation to the United States.

In 1805, Brock became a colonel and was temporarily put in charge of all the forces in the Canadas until a new commander-in-chief arrived in 1807. Later that year he was promoted to brigadier general, and in the summer of 1810 he took command of the troops in Upper Canada.

Brock was also given the job of political administrator of Upper Canada when Lieutenant-Governor Francis Gore took a leave of absence in England, where he would stay until the war was over.

Isaac Brock, who was well-loved and respected by his men, had now reached the rank of major general. A tall, blond, imposing figure, he had other interests besides the military. The expert horseman was also a sociable person who enjoyed dinner parties and dancing. He loved to read the epic stories of Greek heroes and could speak fluent French.

As the tension between Britain and the United States increased, Brock kept asking for more troops and supplies from Commander-in-Chief George Prevost in Quebec. He also tried to convince the legislature of Upper Canada that they must prepare for war.

Faced with leaders who felt any military effort was doomed to failure, with Prevost who really didn’t want to upset the Americans, and with a force of only 1,500 regulars spread out from Kingston to Fort Amherstburg on the Detroit River, Brock turned for help from Britain’s allies, the Indians.

After being driven from their homelands northwest of New England, the Indians had declared the Americans their sworn enemies. In spite of Native resistance, thousands of American settlers began moving into the area south of Lake Erie and north of the Ohio River. Brock sympathized with the plight of the Native people and believed that all of the area known as Michigan Territory should belong to them.

Although Prevost disagreed with it, Brock’s strategy was to strike first at the Americans in the west. He sent a letter to Robert Dickson, a Scotsman who ran a trading post at Lake Traverse and who had lived amongst the Sioux Nation. Dickson had married a Sioux woman and had learned the language and customs of the Native people, gaining their trust. In his letter, Brock asked for their support in the area of Michilimackinac where there was a fort held by the Americans. Whoever held the fort controlled the straits between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan and, ultimately, the fur trade. Naturally, Brock wanted it back in British hands.

Although Prevost had given his reluctant consent to the defence of Upper Canada, he had ordered Brock to wait until the Americans made the first move.

On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain, and Brock sent orders to Captain Charles Roberts, who commanded St. Joseph’s Island near Michilimackinac, to attack the fort. Dickson had 130 Native warriors at the ready, waiting for orders from Captain Roberts.

The Americans at Fort Michilimackinac had not yet heard about the declaration of war, and when Roberts attacked on July 17 they were taken by surprise and surrendered at once, with no loss of life.

This early victory for the British, Canadian, and Native forces resulted in many more volunteers coming forward to join the militia and, in the eyes of the Native people, Brock was regarded as a victorious warrior. With the capture of Fort Michilimackinac, the British were able to hold the Midwest for the rest of the war. After the peace treaty was signed late in 1814, Fort Michilimackinac would be returned to the United States.

When Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee war chief, heard how Brock had defeated the Americans in the first battle of the war, he led hundreds of his warriors north to be of assistance.

On July 25, American forces led by Brigadier General William Hull crossed the river from Fort Detroit to invade Canada, occupying Sandwich (now Windsor) above Fort Amherstburg.

Brock was at York in a meeting of the legislature when he heard about Hull’s invasion of Canada. Expecting that the Americans’ next move would be to try to take Fort Amherstburg at the northwest end of Lake Erie, he sent Colonel Henry Proctor to take command.

As soon as possible, Brock left York with his troops and headed for Amherstburg himself, travelling the length of Lake Erie, into the teeth of the wind and rain that swept across the water. When Hull heard that Brock was coming he retreated to the safety of the stockade at Fort Detroit, at the gateway to Michigan Territory.

Across the river at Fort Amherstburg, Brock and Tecumseh met to develop their plan of attack. When all was ready, Brock advanced on Detroit and demanded General Hull surrender the fort. He let Hull know that if he didn’t surrender, Brock couldn’t be responsible for the behaviour of his Native troops. The idea of Native warriors running amok in Detroit frightened General Hull.

While Brock waited for Hull’s reply to his demand for surrender, he marched a handful of his regulars, the militia who were also dressed in discarded British uniforms, and Tecumseh’s braves back and forth, crossing and re-crossing the same trails where they were visible to the troops holding Fort Detroit across the river. This bit of theatre made it appear as if Brock had twice the number of professional troops and a much larger Native force at his disposal.

Earlier in the week, under cover of darkness, Brock’s men had set up a battery in a grove of trees opposite the fort. When Hull’s reply came that he would not surrender, in the night the trees that hid the battery were cut down. The next day, August 16, 1812, Brock’s men crossed the Detroit River and began the march toward the fort. One source states that the first shot in the War of 1812 was fired from the battery on the Canadian side, slamming into Fort Detroit.

Hull’s guns returned the fire, and for a while shots flew back and forth across the river. Only after an 18-pound British shell shattered the officers’ mess, killing four men, did Hull surrender.

By taking Fort Detroit, and with it most of the Michigan Territory, the militia and the government of Upper Canada felt more confident of success. The victorious British forces took hundreds of prisoners as well as a cache of much-needed weapons and supplies.

The American prisoners of war were sent in groups to Quebec, some going by warship from York to Kingston, some in small boats along the shore of Lake Ontario and across the Carrying Place portage to the Bay of Quinte. Most of them were kept prisoner in old ships docked at Quebec that were no longer seaworthy, until they could be exchanged.

William Hull was court martialled for cowardice. He said in his defence that he truly believed he had saved Detroit from a massacre at the hands of the Natives. He was subsequently pardoned, but never recovered from his disgrace.

The news that war had been declared had taken some time to spread. Communication moved slowly in those days over the vast distances it had to travel. Once the grim news reached them, many people living along the border moved farther into the interior. With the men gone, those women who decided to stay in their homes, Laura Ingersoll Secord among them, hid their valuables and made sure they had enough provisions to feed their families until the conflict was over. One American newspaper reported that in the towns of Newark and Queenston there were no inhabitants left, except for a few civilians and the soldiers.

Canadians rallied around the hero, Isaac Brock. Lieutenant John Norton, the half-Scottish, half-Cherokee adopted nephew of Chief Joseph Brant, and his Grand River Indians had previously been neutral, but now they threw their support behind the British.

Then came the news that Governor General Prevost had negotiated a one-month ceasefire with the Americans. Brock, who had hoped to keep the momentum going, was bitterly disappointed. He judged that, as soon as the ceasefire ended, the next attack by the American forces would come at the province’s most vulnerable point, along the Niagara River. Although the British troops would be outnumbered, Brock figured they would have the advantage because the Americans had first to get across the river with its treacherous cross-currents.

As Brock suspected they would, the Americans used the period of the ceasefire to rally thousands of troops, and now they were heading for the border at the Niagara River.

The British had built a redan — a V-shaped, two-sided military structure — halfway up the Heights above the village of Queenston to house an 18-pound cannon. The big gun was powerful enough to reach Lewiston, on the American side of the river.

In the early morning hours of October 13, while Isaac Brock was at his headquarters at Fort George in Niagara trying to get some much-needed sleep, the Americans crossed the river to attack Queenston. The sound of the big gun at Vrooman’s Point, one mile downriver from Queenston, sent Brock leaping from his bed. Had the assault begun?

He ran for his horse, Alfred, shouting orders that were to be relayed to his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell, and to Major John B. Glegg: “I’m off to Queenston. Tell them to follow at all speed.”

Fifty of his own 49th Regiment, led by James Dennis, were firing down on the Americans trying to board boats at Lewiston and come across the river. Some American troops had already landed before they’d been spotted by the sentries at Queenston. Hit by gunshot from the Canadian side, a number of American soldiers toppled, dead, into the water. A couple of their boats were caught in the eddies, capsized, and were carried away by the strong current.

Things had not gone smoothly for the Americans. It was not mandatory that the New York State Militia fight outside the country, and many had refused to cross the river. Although they had been expecting at least thirty boats to ferry them across to Queenston, at the point where the river was at its narrowest, only twelve small boats had been made available.

But still the troops kept coming, while more waited on the shore for the boats to return for them to make the crossing. They landed at the Queenston wharf and hunkered under the steep bank at the edge of the river, led by twenty-eight-year-old Captain John Wool. Wool was filling in for his commander, Colonel Solomon van Rensselaer, who had been wounded on landing. One source says Van Rensselaer was wounded five times that day, but survived. The Americans managed to move up the bank, heading for Queenston Heights on the south side of the village.

Meanwhile, Brock raced along the road to Queenston, telling each of the militia units he’d earlier called up in order to patrol the river to follow him. He reined in his big grey horse at Brown’s Point just long enough to give the same command to the company of York militia that was guarding the cannon there. “Push on, York Volunteers!” was his rallying cry.

One of the men manning the 24-pound gun at Vrooman’s Point called out as Brock passed, “The Americans are crossing the river in force, sir.”

Brock believed Queenston Heights was the key to holding Upper Canada. If it fell, so too would the rest of the province.

When he reached Queenston, Brock ordered some of the men manning the battery on the Heights to come down to assist the troops in the village in a effort to stem the flow of American soldiers. When he rode up to the battery himself, intending to get a view of the situation down at the river, bullets rained down around him. To his horror he discovered that the Americans were already on the Heights, above the redan. Led by Captain Wool, they had found an old fisherman’s trail that the British had considered to be impassable.

Brock ordered the big gun at the redan spiked to render it useless to the enemy, and he and his men hurried back down to the village where he could rally his troops.

By 9:00 a.m. the British were ready to advance. Never one to send his men where he would not go himself, Brock led his own 49th Regiment and the Lincoln County Militia in a charge up the hill, keeping to the right of the battery, determined to recapture the cannon. He received a shot in his wrist early on the ascent, but ignored it and continued in the lead, brandishing his sword.

Suddenly, an American rifleman stepped out from behind a tree, took aim, and shot Brock in the chest. Major General Isaac Brock made an easy target — a tall British officer, wearing a cockaded hat and scarlet jacket with gold epaulettes. He died almost instantly.

With their commander down, Brock’s men began to fall back until his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell, urged them on. By this time, some of the York Militia who Brock had summoned from Brown’s Point had arrived, and along with the 49th Foot led by Captain John Williams made a second attack, charging up the hill, thirsty now to avenge their charismatic commander.

Tragically, Macdonell’s horse was shot out from under him, and the young officer was shot in the back as he fell. The British and Canadians retreated down the hill, bearing their dead and wounded. They carried Brock’s body to a stone house in Queenston, thought to be across from the Secords’ and took Macdonell to Durham’s farmhouse. He died the next day.

Portrait of Major General Sir Isaac Brock. Artist George Theodore Berthon.

It was only ten in the morning, but the Americans were convinced they’d won the battle. Up on the Heights, Captain Wool ordered his men to establish their position by building a fortification. Hundreds more American soldiers poured across the river, despite the heavy cannon fire from Vrooman’s Point.

The British and Canadian troops had withdrawn to Durham’s farm to await reinforcements from Fort George and from Chippawa, three miles above the falls. Brock had left word that Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, the commander of Fort George, was to follow as soon as Brock had been able to determine where the enemy planned to make their full attack.

The counterattack began in the afternoon. Native warriors led by Lieutenant John Norton scaled the Heights from the southwest, taking the Americans — who were busy building their fortifications — by surprise.

Norton had been appointed chief by the Grand River Natives, and Isaac Brock had named him their commander. It had been Norton who cleverly devised the plan to ascend Queenston Heights at some distance along the road from Queenston, and to come at the Americans from behind. A brilliant tactician, he was respected by both Natives and whites for his superior education and his knowledge of the customs of both cultures.

Taunting the terrified Americans with their savage war whoops, the Natives skirmished with them, keeping them off-balance until the main force arrived under Major General Sheaffe.

Sheaffe, too, had planned a surprise attack. He’d reached Vrooman’s about 11:00 a.m., but from there had taken a roundabout route through St. Davids and the farmland behind Queenston. Along with the troops that had arrived from Chippawa, he came up onto the Heights two miles west of the Americans.

The British had a force of nine hundred men, and with the militia, a company of black soldiers — the “Coloured Corps” from Niagara — and Norton’s one hundred Natives, they advanced across the top of the Heights, pressing the Americans back toward the river. There was no place for them to go. Wool had been injured, and his successor, Colonel Winfield Scott, tried in vain to keep his men together.

Although a few Americans escaped down the hill to the village, others scrambled down the steep bank to the river, hoping to be picked up by one of their boats; still others panicked and went over the cliffs to their deaths.

Colonel Winfield Scott surrendered, and by 3:30 p.m. the Battle of Queenston Heights was over. Three hundred American soldiers and officers were captured. The next day, six hundred more were taken prisoner — men left stranded when their boats went home without them.

With Brock’s victories at Michilimackinac and Detroit, and the American defeat at the Battle of Queenston Heights, the morale of the defenders of Canada grew immeasurably.

The death of Isaac Brock was a high price to pay for victory. The man who had been such an inspiration to his troops died before learning that he had been knighted for his victory at Detroit.

The body of Major General Sir Isaac Brock lay in state at Government House in Niagara. Both he and Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell were buried with full military honours at Fort George on October 17, 1812, in a newly built bastion in the northeast corner of the fort. Macdonell, in rallying the men after Brock had fallen and leading the second attack on Queenston Heights in an attempt to recapture the redan, was also recognized as a hero.

The young Scottish-born Macdonell had been a lawyer at York and a politician. In 1811 he had assumed duty as the attorney general of Upper Canada. Brock had appointed him as provincial aide-de-camp in April 1812, with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the York Militia.

For the long funeral procession from Government House to the fort the road was lined with soldiers of every stripe, the militia, Native warriors, and thousands of civilians, who solemnly watched as the twin caissons carrying the caskets of Brock and Macdonell passed by. General Brock’s trusted horse, Alfred, was also part of the procession, led along the road by four grooms, to the slow beat of the drums.

As Brock’s body was laid to rest, the British gunners at Fort George fired a twenty-one-gun salute. The American guns across the river at Fort Niagara fired a matching salute, a mark of respect for the fallen hero.