Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/158

 136 SIR ISAAC BROCK.

of militia, stationed on the brow of the hill, were firing down upofi the invaders.

" Of five or six boats that attempted to land a body of American regulars under Major Mullany, one was destroyed by a shot from the hill battery, commanded by Lieutenant Crowther, of the 41st regiment ; two others were captured ; and the remainder, foiled in their object, returned to the American side. Daylight appeared ; and, at the same instant, General Brock arrived at the hill battery from Fort George. Observing the strong reinforcements that were crossing over, the general instantly ordered Captain Williams to descend the hill, and support Captain Dennis. No sooner were Captain Williams and his men seen to depart, than the Americans formed the resolution of gaining the heights. Accordingly, sixty American regulars, headed by Captain Wool, and accompanied by Major Lush, a volunteer, also by a captain, six lieutenants, and an ensign of the 13th regiment, ascended a fisherman's path up the rocks, which had been reported to General Brock as impassable, and therefore was not guarded. The Americans were thus enabled, unseen by our troops, to arrive at a brow, about thirty yards in the rear of the hill battery. Reinforcements kept rapidly arriving by the concealed path ; and the whole formed on the brow, with their front towards the village of Queenstown.

"The moment General Brock discovered the unexpected advance of the American troops, he, with the twelve men stationed at the battery, retired ; and Captain Wool, advancing from the rear with his more than ten-fold force, ' took it without much resistance.' Captain Williams, and his detachment of regulars and militia, were now recalled ; and General Brock, putting himself at the head of this force, amounting, in all, to about ninety men, advanced to meet a detachment of one hundred and fifty picked American regu- lars, which Captain Wool had sent forward to attack him. The American captain says that, in consequence of the general's ' supe- rior force,' his men retreated ; adding, ' I sent a reinforcement, notwithstanding which, the enemy drove us to the edge of the bank.' While animating his little band of regulars and militia to a charge up the heights, General Brock received a mortal wound in the breast, and immediately fell.

"At this moment the two flank companies of the York militia, with Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell, the general's provincial aid-de-camp, at their head, arrived from Brown's Point, three miles distant. By this time, also, Captain Wool had sent additional reinforcements to

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