Battle of Queenston Heights (1812): The Death of Isaac Brock

The Battle of Queenston Heights was fought on 13 October 1812 on the Niagara frontier of Upper Canada, in the early months of the War of 1812. An American army crossed the Niagara River and seized the heights above the village of Queenston, but a British counter-attack supported by Canadian militia and Haudenosaunee warriors forced the invaders to surrender. The British commander, Major General Isaac Brock, was killed early in the fighting and became one of Canada’s most celebrated heroes.

Background

When the United States declared war in June 1812, its leaders planned to invade Upper Canada, a thinly populated British colony with only a small garrison of regulars. The first attempt ended in disaster when General William Hull surrendered Detroit to Brock and the Shawnee leader Tecumseh on 16 August 1812.

The Americans then massed troops on the Niagara River, which separates New York from Upper Canada between Lakes Erie and Ontario. Command was given to Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer, a New York militia general and Federalist politician with little military experience. Relations with the regular army commander nearby, Brigadier General Alexander Smyth, were poor, and Smyth declined to cooperate.

The crossing

Before dawn on 13 October, American troops began crossing the fast-flowing river from Lewiston in a small number of boats. The first wave, led by the general’s cousin, Lieutenant Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, came under heavy fire as it landed below Queenston, and he was badly wounded.

A party led by Captain John E. Wool found a little-used fisherman’s path up the cliff face. They climbed to the top of the heights and took the British gun battery, known as the redan, from behind. The Americans now held the high ground overlooking the village.

Brock’s death

Brock had ridden from Fort George, about 11 kilometres away at the mouth of the river, on hearing the gunfire. Determined to retake the battery before more Americans arrived, he led a charge on foot up the slope with the small force at hand. He was shot in the chest and died almost at once.

A second attempt soon afterwards, led by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell of the York militia, also failed, and Macdonell was mortally wounded.

The British counter-attack

Brock’s second-in-command, Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, arrived from Fort George with reinforcements in the afternoon. Instead of attacking head-on, he led his force on a wide march inland to approach the heights from the west, out of range of American guns across the river.

Meanwhile, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) warriors from the Grand River, led by John Norton and John Brant, harassed the Americans on the heights for hours, pinning them down and spreading alarm. The British force also included regulars, Upper Canadian militia and a company of Black volunteers, the Coloured Corps, formed after a petition by the veteran Richard Pierpoint.

On the American side of the river, many New York militiamen refused to cross. They argued that the militia could not be required to serve outside the United States, and seeing the wounded brought back from the fighting did little to change their minds. The men on the heights, by then commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott, were cut off.

When Sheaffe attacked in the afternoon, the Americans were driven back to the edge of the cliff. Some tried to climb down or swim the river, and many were killed or drowned. Scott surrendered.

Casualties

Figures differ between sources. The British and their allies lost roughly 20 killed, including Brock and Macdonell, fewer than 100 wounded and a small number missing. American losses are usually estimated at about 100 or more killed and around 170 or more wounded, while roughly 900 to 950 were taken prisoner, among them Scott and Wool.

Consequences

The victory ended the second American invasion of Upper Canada in 1812 and strengthened the colony’s will to resist. Van Rensselaer resigned his command soon afterwards. Sheaffe was made a baronet for the victory, but he was never as popular as Brock.

Brock had been made a Knight of the Order of the Bath for the capture of Detroit, though news of the honour reached Canada only after his death. His reputation as the saviour of Upper Canada grew rapidly. Scott, released in a prisoner exchange, went on to become one of the most important generals in US history.

The Niagara frontier remained a battleground. In 1813 the Americans captured Fort George, and the war in the region continued until 1814, while elsewhere the Americans soon gained the upper hand on the lakes at the Battle of Lake Erie.

Legacy and myths

Brock and Macdonell were buried at Fort George and in 1824 reinterred on the heights beneath a monument. It was badly damaged by a bomb in 1840, and the present column, about 56 metres high, was completed in 1856. The battlefield is now a National Historic Site of Canada.

Myth: Brock’s last words were “Surgite!” (Push on!). The Latin phrase is carved on the monument, but there is no reliable evidence that he said it; witnesses suggest he died almost instantly. Accounts that he urged his men to “push on, brave York volunteers” are also later traditions.

Timeline

• 1812, 18 June: The United States declares war on Britain.
• 1812, 16 August: Brock captures Detroit.
• 1812, 13 October, before dawn: American troops cross the Niagara River.
• 1812, 13 October, morning: Wool’s men seize the redan battery; Brock is killed.
• 1812, 13 October, afternoon: Sheaffe’s counter-attack forces Scott to surrender.
• 1824: Brock and Macdonell are reburied beneath the first Brock’s Monument.
• 1856: The present Brock’s Monument is completed.

Why it matters

Queenston Heights showed the weaknesses of the early American war effort and the effectiveness of the combined British, Canadian and Haudenosaunee defence. Through the death of Brock, it gave Canadians an enduring symbol of resistance to invasion.