Page:Brock centenary 2nd ed. 1913.djvu/27

 INTRODUCTION

an Ohio rifleman stepped out from a thicket, took deliberate aim and fired. Shot through the left breast, he fell. " My fall," he murmured, " must not be noticed, nor impede my brave companions from advancing to victory." Mindful of duty, mindful of others, thus died Sir Isaac Brock, the hero of Upper Canada.

Three days before, a grateful sovereign had created him a Knight of the Order of the Bath. Subsequent generations of Canadians placed over his remains the noble shaft, that from its com- manding position is the most notable landmark of the historic battleground he made famous. But he lives in the hearts of the people whose country he saved, whose fathers he inspired to resist the invader. He had found them a panic-stricken people, he left them vigorous, united, aggressive.

The remaining incidents of that day at Queens- ton Heights are well known. Two hours later, Macdonell, Brock's military secretary and aide, tried to regain the one-gun battery. A fierce fight ensued: Macdonell, Dennis and Williams were all wounded; and the next day the bright young Scotsman, attorney-general at the age of twenty- seven, passed away. In life he was united with Brock, and in death he was not separated. The bodies of the two heroes rest together under the Queenston Monument, where the river has been singing their requiem for a hundred years.

The third stage of the battle was reached at two o'clock in the afternoon. Then Major-General Roger Hale Sheaffe advanced from Fort George along the river road. Turning to the right down the little Queenston Creek, he led his forces across the Dr. Hamilton property. On the left he flung out his Indians under Norton and Brant, and they moved forward and made trouble.

Ascending the escarpment west of the invading troops, Sheaffe came upon the terrified invaders, drawn up near the site of the present monument.

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