Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/36

 18 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK.

way, the result was not equal to his expectations, Retreating on their main body, the whole opened a heavy fire of musketry ; and conspicuous from his dress, his height, and the enthusiasm with which he animated his little band, the British commander was soon singled out by their riflemen, whose celebrity for unerring aim was never more cruelly justified. While within pistol shot of the American lines, about an hour after his arrival, the fatal bullet entered his right breast, and passed through his left side. He li T ed only long enough to utter this dying exhortation ; "My fall must not be noticed, or impede my brave companions from advancing to victory I" and then to express a wish that some token of remembrance, which could not be distinctly understood, should be transmitted to his sister. On the same day, a week previously, he had completed his forty-third year. The lifeless corpse was immediately conveyed into a house at Queenston, where it remained until the afternoon unperceived by the enemy. His provincial aid-de-camp, Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell, of the militia, a fine promising young man, and the attorney-general of Upper Canada, was mortally wounded nearly at the same instant as his chief, and died the next day at the early age of twenty-four. Although one ball had passed through his body, and he was wounded in four places, yet he survived twenty hours, and, during a period of excruciating agony, his words and thoughts were constantly occupied with lamentations for his deceased commander and friend.

The flank companies having suffered considerably, and both their captains being severely wounded, the disputed ground was lost soon after the fall of the general. The Americans remained in quiet possession

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