For several weeks General Van Rensselaer had felt the pressure of public impatience, manifested by letters and the press. It had been engendered by the extreme tardiness displayed in the collection of troops on the frontier for the invasion of Canada, about which much had been said and written menacingly, boastfully, and deprecatory. That impatience had begun to be seriously manifested by his troops early in October. 1 Homesickness, domestic claims, idleness in the camp, and bodily sufferings and growing inclemency of the season, combined to affect the temper of the men most injuriously. Their calls to be led to battle became daily more and more urgent and imperious, until the volcanic fires of mutiny completely undermined the camp, and threatened a total overthrow of the general’s authority. He perceived the necessity of striking the enemy at once at some point, or allow his army to dissolve, and all the toils and expenses of the campaign to be lost. He formed his plans, and, as we have observed, endeavored to counsel with the field officers under his command, but failed. General Alexander Smyth, his second in command, had lately arrived. He was a proud Virginian, an officer of the regular army (inspector general), and an aspirant for the chief command on the frontier. Unlike the true soldier and patriot, he could not bend to the necessity of obedience to a militia general, especially one of Northern birth and a leading Federalist, who, for the time, was made his superior in rank and position. His temper was exhibited in his letter to Van Rensselaer [September 29, 1812.], announcing his arrival on the frontier. 2 It was supercilious, dictatorial, and impertinent, and gave ample assurance that he would not cordially co-operate with the chief in command. So undutiful was his conduct that many were of opinion that coercive measures should be used to bring him to a sense of duty. 3 When politely requested by Van Rensselaer to name a day for a council of officers, he neglected to do so. Day after day passed, and Smyth made no definite reply, when the commanding general resolved to act upon his own responsibility, and "gratify his own inclinations and that of his army" by commencing offensive operations at once. On the 10th of October he prepared to attack the British at Queenston, opposite Lewiston, before dawn the next morning. 4

The British force on the western bank of the Niagara River, regular militia and Indians, numbered about fifteen hundred. Their Indian allies, under John Brant, were about two hundred and fifty strong. Small garrisons held Fort Erie, at the foot of Lake Erie, and two or three batteries, on rising ground, opposite Black Rock. The erection of Fort Erie had then just been commenced, but for want of funds had been left unfinished. Major Armand commanded there. A small detachment of the 41st Regiment, under Captain Bullock, and the flank companies of the 2d Regiment of the Lincoln Militia, under Captains Hamilton and Roe, was at Chippewa, where there was a dilapidated old block-house called Fort Welland. The flank companies of the 49th Regiment, under Captains Dennis and Williams, and a considerable body of militia, were at Queenston, and, with the exception of detached parties of militia along the whole line of the river to watch the movements of the Americans, the remainder were at Fort George, the head-quarters of Major General Brock, under General Sheaffe. At every mile between Fort George and Queenston, batteries were thrown up. On Queenston Heights, south of the village, and half way up the mountain, was a redan battery, mounting some 18-pounders and two howitzers; and on Vrooman’ s Point, 5 about a mile below, was another battery, on which was mounted a twenty-four-pound carronade en barbette. This gun commanded both Lewiston and Queenston Landing.

Van Rensselaer had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the condition of the enemy. His officers, while on official visits to the various posts, had been vigilant and observing, 6 and he was so well satisfied that a favorable time for an invasion of Canada had arrived that he made arrangements on the 10th of October to assail Queenston at three o’clock the next morning. 7 During that evening thirteen large boats, capable of bearing three hundred and forty full-armed and equipped men, were brought down on wagons from Gill’s Creek, two miles above the Falls, and placed in the river at Lewiston Landing, under cover of intense darkness. The flying artillery under Lieutenant Colonel Fenwick, and a detachment of regulars under his command, were ordered up from Fort Niagara, and General Smyth was directed to send down detachments from his brigade at Buffalo to support the movement, Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer was appointed to the command of the invading force, 8 an arrangement which seems to have given umbrage to some of the officers of the regular army on the frontier.

The river at Lewiston, at the foot of the lower rapids, is always a sheet of violent eddies, the middle current running about four miles an hour. To prevent confusion and disaster, experienced boatmen were procured, and the command of the flotilla was intrusted to Lieutenant Sims, who was considered "the man of the greatest skill for the service." 9 Before midnight every thing was in readiness. Clouds had been gathering in immense masses all the evening, and at one in the morning a furious northeast storm of wind and rain was sweeping over the country. But the zeal of the troops was not cooled by the drenching rain. At the appointed hour they were all at the place of debarkation, with Van Rensselaer at their head. Lieutenant Sims entered the foremost boat, and soon disappeared in the gloom. The others could not follow, for he had taken nearly all the oars with him! They waited for him to discover and correct his mistake, but in vain. He went far above the intended crossing-place, moored his boat to the shore, and fled as fast as the legs of a traitor or coward could carry him. The soldiers endured the fierce blasts and the falling flood until almost daylight, when they were marched to their respective cantonments, and the enterprise was for a moment abandoned. The storm continued unabated twenty-eight hours, and during that time all the soldiers remained in their deluged camps.

At an early hour in the evening of the 12th [October, 1812.] Chrystie marched with three hundred men from Fort Niagara by an interior road, and reached Lewiston before midnight. Lieutenant Colonels Stranahan, Mead, and Bloom, with three regiments, marched at about the same time from Niagara Falls, 10 and also reached Lewiston in good season. Meanwhile Lieutenant Colonel Scott had arrived at Schlosser, two miles above the Falls, at the head of his regiment, where he was informed that an expedition against the enemy of some kind was in motion at Lewiston. 11 Young, ardent, and eager for adventure and glory, he immediately mounted his horse, and dashed toward head-quarters as speedily as the horrid condition of the road would allow. He presented himself to the commanding general, and earnestly solicited the privilege of taking a part in the invasion with his command. "The arrangements for the expedition are all completed, sir," said General Van Rensselaer. "Colonel Van Rensselaer is in chief command. Lieutenant Colonels Chrystie and Fenwick have waived their rank for the occasion, and you may join the expedition as a volunteer, if you will do the same." Van Rensselaer wisely determined not to have a divided command. Scott was unwilling to yield his rank; but he pressed his suit so warmly that it was agreed that he should bring on his regiment, take position on the heights of Lewiston with his cannon, and co-operate in the attack as circumstances might warrant. Scott hastened back to Schlosser, put his regiment in motion, and by a forced march through the deep mud reached Lewiston at four o’clock in the morning [October 13, 1812.]. Again he importuned for permission to participate directly in the enterprise, but in vain. His rank would be equal, on the field, to that of Colonel Van Rensselaer, who had originated and planned the whole affair, 12 and who the commanding general resolved should have the honor of winning the laurels to be obtained by leadership.

The night of the 12th was intensely dark, yet every thing was in readiness for the invasion at a little after three o’clock in the morning [October 13.]. Mr. Cook, a citizen of Lewiston, had assumed the direction of the boats, and provided men to man them; Mr. Lovett, Van Rensselaer’s secretary, had been placed in charge of an eighteen-pound gun in battery on Lewiston Heights, with instructions to cover the landing of the Americans on the Canada shore; and the six hundred men, under Van Rensselaer and Chrystie, were standing in a cold storm of wind and rain at the place of embarkation. It had been arranged for them to cross over and storm and take possession of Queenston Heights, when the remainder of the troops were to follow in a body and drive the British from the town. But there were only thirteen boats, and these were not sufficient to carry more than about one half of the troops intended for the capture of the Heights. 13 The regulars having reached the boats first, the companies of Wool, Malcolm, and Armstrong were immediately embarked, with forty picked men from Captain Leonard’s company of artillery at Fort Niagara, under Lieutenants Gansevoort and Rathbone, and about sixty militia. When all were ready, Van Rensselaer gave the word to advance, and leaped into the boat containing the artillerists. Major Morrison was ordered to follow with the remainder of the troops on the return of the boats.

The struggle with the eddies was brief. Within ten minutes after leaving Lewiston Landing the boats struck the Canada shore "at the identical spot aimed at," just above a huge rock now seen lying in the edge of the water under the Lewiston suspension bridge. There the militia were landed; the regulars debarked a little below the rock. 14 Three of the thirteen boats had lost their way; the remaining ten now returned to the American shore.

The enemy were on the alert. The movements of the Americans had been discovered by the sentinels, and Captain Dennis, of the Forty-ninth Regiment of British Regulars, stationed at Queenston, with sixty grenadiers of that corps, Captain Hatt’s company of York volunteer militia, 15 a small body of Indians, and a three-pound field-piece, took position on the sloping shore, a little north of the site of the suspension bridge, to resist the debarkation. Their presence was first made known by a broad flash, then a volley of musketry that mortally wounded Lieutenant Rathbone, by the side of Colonel Van Rensselaer, before landing, and random shots from the field-piece along the line of the ferry at the moment when the boats touched the shore. These were answered by Lovett’s battery on Lewiston Heights, when the enemy turned and fled up the hill toward Queenston, pursued by the regulars of the Thirteenth, under Captain Wool, the senior officer present, in the absence of Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, who was in one of the missing boats. 16 On the margin of the plateau on which Queenston stands Wool ceased pursuit, drew his men up in battle order, and was about to send to Colonel Van Rensselaer for directions, when that officer’s aid, Judge Advocate Lush, came hurrying up with orders to prepare to storm the Heights. "We are ready," promptly responded the gallant Wool. Lush hastened back to the chief commander on the shore, and in a few minutes returned with orders for Wool to advance. He was moving rapidly over the plateau toward the foot of the Heights, when the order for storming was countermanded, and the troops were brought to a halt near the present entrance to the village from the bridge. Captain Dennis, meanwhile, had been strengthened by the arrival on the Heights of the Light Infantry under Captain Williams, and a company of the York militia under Captain Chisholm; and just as Wool’s command had taken their resting position in battle order, Dennis and his full force, already mentioned, fell heavily on the right flank of the Americans, At the same time, Williams and Chisholm opened a severe fire in their front from the brow of the Heights. Without waiting for farther orders, Wool wheeled his column to the right and confronted the force of the enemy on the plain, where with deadly aim his men poured a very severe fire into their ranks. Van Rensselaer and the militia had taken a position on the left of the Thirteenth in the mean time. The engagement was severe but short, and the enemy were compelled to fall back to Queenston. Both parties suffered much – the Americans most severely. Of the ten officers of the Thirteenth who were present, two were killed and five were seriously wounded. The former were Lieutenant Valleau 17 and Ensign Morris; 18 the latter were Captains Wool, Malcolm, and Armstrong, and Ensign Lent. 19 The militia suffered very little; but Colonel Van Rensselaer was so badly wounded in several places that he was compelled to relinquish the command. A bullet passed through both of Wool’s thighs, and both Malcolm 20 and Armstrong 21 were wounded in the left thigh. A considerable number of the Americans were made prisoners.

Elated with the order, young Wool almost forgot his bleeding wounds. He was light and lithe in person, full of ambition and enthusiasm, and beloved by his companions in arms, 22 All followed him cheerfully. Ordering Captain Ogilvie, with his fresh troops to take the right of the column, he sprang forward and commenced the perilous ascent, guided by Lieutenants Gansevoort and Randolph, who were well acquainted with the way. The picked artillerists led the column; and in many places the precipice was so steep that the troops were compelled to pull themselves up by means of bushes. They were concealed from the enemy by the shelter of the rocks and shrubbery; and near the top of the acclivity they struck a fisherman’s path, which the enemy supposed to be impassable, and had neglected to guard it.

While Wool and his little band were scaling the Heights, the British were making movements under great uncertainty. The vigilant Sir Isaac Brock at Fort George, about seven miles distant, had heard the cannonading before dawn. He aroused his aid-de-camp, Major Glegg, and called for Alfred, his favorite horse, presented to him by Sir James Craig. He had been in expectation of an invasion at some point for several days, and only the night before he had given each of his staff special instructions, 23 But so confident was he that the attack would be made from Fort Niagara, that he considered the demonstration above as only a feint to conceal that movement; yet, as a vigilant soldier, he instantly resolved to obtain personal knowledge of the situation of affairs. Mounting Alfred, he pushed toward Queenston at full speed, followed by his aids, Major Glegg and Colonel M‘Donell. The journey of seven miles was made in little more than half an hour. Arriving at Queenston, Sir Isaac and his companions rode up the Heights at full gallop, exposed to a severe enfilading fire of artillery from the American shore. On reaching the redan battery, half way up the Heights, 24 they dismounted, took a general view of affairs, and pronounced them favorable. Suddenly the crack of musketry in their rear startled them. Wool and his followers had successfully scaled the Heights, and were close upon them. Brock and his aids had not time to remount. Leading their horses at full gallop, they fled down the slope to the village, followed by the twelve men who manned the battery. A few minutes afterward the Stars and Stripes – the symbol of the Union – the insignia of the Republic – were waving over the captured redan, and greeting the rays of the early morning sun, then struggling in fitful gleams through the breaking clouds. This was the third time within three months that the standard of the United States had been victoriously displayed on the soil of Canada. 25 Wool’s triumph for the moment was complete.

Brock immediately dispatched a courier to General Sheaffe at Fort George with orders to push forward re-enforcements, and, at the same time, open fire upon Fort Niagara. He then took command of Captain Williams’s detachment of one hundred men, and hastened up the slope toward the battery, behind which Captain Wool had placed his little band, with their faces toward Queenston, to await an attack. Dennis soon joined Brock with his detachment, when a movement was made to turn the American flank. The vigilant Wool perceived it, and immediately sent out fifty men to keep the flanking party in check, and to take possession of the "Mountain," or crown of the Heights, where the monument now stands, But they were too few for the purpose, and even when re-enforced they were too weak to stem the steady advance of the veteran enemy. The whole detachment fell back with some confusion. The enemy, inspirited by this movement, pressed forward, and pushed the Americans to the verge of the precipice, which overlooks the deep chasm of the swift-flowing river more than two hundred feet below. Wool’s little band was in a most perilous position. Death by ball, bayonet, or flood seemed inevitable, and Captain Ogilvie raised a white handkerchief on the point of a bayonet in token of surrender. The incensed Wool sprang forward, snatched away that token of submission, addressed a few spirited words to his officers and soldiers, begging them to fight on so long as the ammunition should last, and then resort to the bayonet. Waving his sword, he led his inspirited comrades to a renewal of the conflict with so much impetuosity that the enemy broke and fled down the Heights in dismay, and took shelter in and behind a large stone building near the edge of the river. Sir Isaac was amazed and mortified; and to his favorite grenadiers he shouted, "This is the first time I have seen the Forty-ninth turn their backs!" His voice and the stinging rebuke of his words checked them. At the same time Lieutenant Colonel M‘Donell brought up two flank companies of York Volunteers, under Captains Cameron and Howard, which had just arrived from Brown’s Point, three miles below. The fugitives had rallied, and Sir Isaac turned to lead them up the Heights. His tall figure was a conspicuous object for the American sharp-shooters. First a bullet struck his wrist, wounding it slightly. A moment afterward, as he shouted "Push on the York Volunteers," another bullet entered his breast, passed out through his side, and left a death-wound. He fell from his horse at the foot of the slope, and lived long enough to request those around him to conceal his death from the troops, and to send some token of his remembrance to his sister in England. But his death could not be concealed more than a few minutes. When it became known, the bitter words "Revenge the general!" burst from the lips of the Forty-ninth. M‘Donell assumed the command, and, at the head of them and the York Militia, one hundred and ninety strong, he charged up the hill to dispute with Wool the mastery of the Heights. The struggle was desperate, and the Americans, doubtful of the issue, spiked the cannon in the redan. Both parties were led gallantly and fought bravely. But when M‘Donell fell mortally wounded, 26 and Dennis and Williams were both severely injured, and were compelled to leave the field, the British fell back in some confusion to Vrooman’s Point, a mile below, leaving the young American commander and his little band of two hundred and forty men masters of Queenston Heights, after three distinct and bloody battles, fought within the space of about five hours. Taking all things into consideration – the passage of the river, the nature of the ground, the rawness of the troops (for most of the regulars were raw recruits), the absence of cannon, and the youth and wounds of the American commander, the events of that morning were, "indeed, a display of intrepidity," as Wilkinson afterward wrote, "rarely exhibited, in which the conduct and the execution were equally conspicuous. . . . Under all the circumstances, and on the scale of the operations, the impartial soldier and competent judge will name this brilliant affair a chef-d’œuvre of the war." 27

While Scott was absent for a short time, superintending the unspiking of the cannon in the redan, a troop of Indians suddenly appeared on the left, led by Captain Norton, a half-breed, but under the general command of Chief John Brant, a young, lithe, and graceful son of the great Mohawk warrior and British ally of that name in the Revolution. Brant made his first appearance in the field on this occasion. He was dressed, painted, and plumed in Indian style from head to foot. His lieutenant and most valued companion was a dark, powerfully-built chief known as Captain Jacobs. Another was Norton, the half-breed just mentioned. They and their followers were the allies of the British, and came mostly from the settlements of the Six Nations, on the Grand River, in Canada. 28

It was between one and two o’clock in the afternoon when this cloud of dusky warriors swept along the brow of the mountain in portentous fury, with gleaming tomahawks and other savage weapons, and fell upon the American pickets, driving them in upon the main line of the militia in great confusion. The fearful war-whoop struck terror to many a white man’s heart, and the militia were about to fly ignobly, when Scott appeared, his tall form – head and shoulders above all others – attracting every eye, and his trumpet-voice commanding the attention of every ear. He instantly brought order out of confusion. He suddenly changed the front of his line; and his troops, catching inspiration from his voice and acts, raised a shout and fell with such fury upon the Indians that they fled in dismay to the woods after a sharp, short engagement. But they were soon rallied by the dauntless Brant, 29 and continued to annoy the Americans until Scott, at the head of a considerable portion of his army, made a general assault upon them, and drove them from the Heights. At the same time, General Sheaffe was seen cautiously approaching with re-enforcements from Fort George, his troops making the road near Vrooman’s all aglow with scarlet. Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie had just arrived upon the battle-field for the first time. He had crossed and recrossed the river, but did not appear upon the Heights until in the afternoon, 30 when he took command of the Thirteenth Regiment, and ordered Captain Wool, who had endured toil and suffering for more than twelve hours, to the American shore to have his wounds dressed.

At Vrooman’s, General Sheaffe, who had succeeded Brock in command, joined the fragments of the different corps who had been driven from the Heights when Brock was killed, with heavy re-enforcements. He moved cautiously. Near Vrooman’s he left two pieces of artillery to command the town, filed to the right, and crossed the country to the little village of St. David’s, three miles westward of Queenston, and by that circuitous route, after marching and countermarching as if reconnoitring the American lines, he gained the rear of that portion of the Heights on which they were posted, and formed in Elijah Phelps’s fields on the Chippewa road, 31 There he was joined by the 41st Grenadiers and some militia and Indians from Chippewa, when the whole British army confronting that of the Americans was more than one thousand strong, exclusive of their dusky allies. 32 The Americans, according to the most careful estimate, did not exceed six hundred in number.

Wadsworth communicated Van Rensselaer’s letter to the field officers. They perceived no chance for re-enforcements, no means for a retreat, and no hope of succor from any human source except their own valor and vigorous arms. They resolved to meet the oncoming overwhelming force like brave soldiers. Scott sprang upon a log, his tall form towering conspicuous above all, 33 and addressed the little army in a few stirring words as the British came thundering on. "The enemy’s balls," he said, begin to thin our ranks. His numbers are overwhelming. In a moment the shock must come, and there is no retreat. We are in the beginning of a national war. Hull’s surrender is to be redeemed. Let us, then, die arms in hand. The country demands the sacrifice. The example will not be lost. The blood of the slain will make heroes of the living. Those who follow will avenge our fall and their country’s wrongs. Who dare to stand?" "All! all!" was the generous response; and in that spirit they received the first heavy blow of the enemy on their right wing. 34

Sheaffe opened the battle at about four o’clock by directing Lieutenant M‘Intyre, with the Light Company of the 41st on the left of his column, supported by a body of militia, Indians, and negroes under Captain Runchey, to fall upon the American right. They fired a single volley with considerable execution, and then charged with a tremendous tumult, the white men shouting and the Indians ringing out the fearful war-whoop and hideous yells. The Americans were overpowered by the onslaught and gave way, for their whole available force did not much exceed three hundred men. Perceiving this, Sheaffe ordered his entire line to charge, while the two field-pieces were brought to bear upon the American ranks. The effect was powerful. The Americans yielded and fled in utter confusion toward the river, down the slope by the redan, and along the road leading from Queenston to the Falls. The latter were cut off by the Indians, and forced through the woods toward the precipices along the bank of the river. Others, who had reached the water’s edge, were also cut off from farther retreat by a lack of boats. Meanwhile the American commander had sent several messengers with flags, bearing offers to capitulate. The Indians shot them all, and continued a murderous onslaught upon the terrified fugitives. Some of them were killed in the woods, some were driven over the precipices and perished on the rocks or in the rushing river below, while others escaped by letting themselves down from bush to bush, and swimming the flood. At length Lieutenant Colonel Scott, in the midst of the greatest peril, reached the British commanding general, and offered to surrender the whole force. 35 The Indians were called from their bloody work, terms of capitulation were soon agreed to, and all the Americans on the British side became prisoners of war. These, to the utter astonishment of their own commanders, amounted to about nine hundred, when not more than six hundred, regulars and militia, were known to have been on the Canada shore at any time during the day, and not more than half that number were engaged in the fight on the Heights. The mystery was soon explained. Several hundred militia had crossed over during the morning. Two hundred of them, under Major Mullany, who crossed early in the day, were forced by the current of the river under the range of Vrooman’s battery, and were captured. Two hundred and ninety-three, who were in the battle, were surrendered; and the remainder, having seen the wounded crossing the river, the painted Indians, and the "green tigers," as they called the 49th, whose coats were faced with green, skulked below the banks, and had no more to do with the battle than spectators in a balloon might have claimed. But they were a part of the invading army, were found on British soil, and were properly prisoners of war. The British soldiers, after the battle, plucked them from their hiding-places, and made them a part of the triumphal procession with which General Sheaffe returned to Fort George. 36

The entire loss of the Americans during that eventful day, according to the most careful estimates, was ninety killed, about one hundred wounded, and between eight and nine hundred made prisoners, causing an entire loss, in rank and file, of about eleven hundred men. The British loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners (the latter taken in the morning), was about one hundred and thirty. The number of Indians engaged and their loss is not positively known. 37 Captain Norton was wounded, but not severely. All parties engaged in the fight on that day behaved with exemplary courage, and deserved, as they received, the encomiums of their respective generals, and the thanks of their respective governments. 38

Brigadier General Wadsworth was in command when the army was surrendered. He delivered his sword to General Sheaffe in person. The ceremony of formal surrender occurred at near sunset, when the prisoners, officers, and men were marched to the village of Newark (now Niagara), at the mouth of the Niagara River. There the officers were quartered in a small tavern, and placed under guard. While waiting for an escort to conduct them to the head-quarters of General Sheaffe, a little girl entered the parlor and said that somebody in the hail wanted to see the "tall officer." Scott, who was unarmed, immediately went out, when he was confronted by the two Indians who had made such a violent assault upon him while bearing a flag of truce. Young Brant immediately stepped up to Scott and inquired how many balls had passed through his clothing, as they had both fired at him incessantly, and had been astonished continually at not seeing him fall. Jacobs, at the same time, seized Scott rudely, and attempted to whirl him around, exclaiming, "Me shoot so often, me sure to have hit somewhere!" The indignant officer thrust the savage from him, exclaiming, "Hands off you villain! You fired like a squaw!" Both assailants immediately loosened their knives and tomahawks from their girdles, and were about to spring upon Scott, while Jacobs exclaimed, "We kill you now!" when the assailed rushed to the end of the hall, where the swords of the captured officers stood, seized the first one, drew the blade from its steel scabbard as quick as lightning, and was about to bring the heavy weapon with deadly force upon the Indians, when a British officer entered, seized Jacobs by the arms, and shouted for the guard. 39 Jacobs turned fiercely upon the officer, exclaiming, "I kill you," when Scott, with the heavy sabre raised, called out, "If you strike I’ll kill you both," For a moment the eyes of the group gleamed with fury upon their antagonist, and a scene was presented equal to any thing in the songs of the Troubadours or the sagas of the Norsemen. The gust of passion was momentary, and then the Indians put up their weapons and slowly retired, muttering imprecations on all white men and all the laws of war. 40 "Beyond doubt," says his biographer, 41 "it was no part of the young chief’s design to inflict injury upon the captive American commander. His whole character forbids the idea, for he was as generous and benevolent in his feelings as he was brave." It is believed that their visit to Scott was one of curiosity only, for, having tried so repeatedly to hit him with their bullets, they were anxious to know how nearly they had accomplished their object. But it can not be denied that the exasperation of the Indians against Scott, because of their losses on the Heights, was very great – so great that while he remained at Niagara he could not move from his lodgings in safety, even to visit the head-quarters of General Sheaffe, 42 without a guard.

When General Sheaffe marched in triumph from Queenston to Newark, he took with him the body of the slain General Brock, which had been concealed in a house near where he fell. The march had a twofold aspect. It was a triumphal and a funeral procession. At Newark the body was placed in the government house, and there it lay in state, three days, when it was buried [October 16, 1812.] in a new cavalier bastion in Fort George, whose erection he had superintended with great interest. By the side of Brock’s remains were laid those of his provincial aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel M‘Donell. 43 The funeral ceremonies were arranged by his other aid, Captain Glegg; 44 and when they were over, the Americans at Fort Niagara and at Lewiston fired minute-guns, as a mark of respect due to a brave enemy, by command of Major General Van Rensselaer. An armistice for a few days had been agreed upon by Van Rensselaer and Sheaffe, which gave the two commanders an opportunity for the exchange of those humane courtesies which should never be lost sight of amid the tumults of war. 45

Let us turn back and consider for a moment what occurred on the American side in connection with the battle of Queenston. At Lewiston, Lovett, 46 as we have seen, was placed in charge of an eighteen-pounder in battery on the Heights, 47 where he performed good service in covering the party that crossed before daylight. It being dark, he stooped close to the gun to observe its aim, when it was discharged, and the concussion so injured his ears that he was much deaf ever afterward.

Soon after this Colonel Van Rensselaer was brought over from the Canada shore with five bleeding wounds. He had been sick with fever, and had left his bed to attend to preparations for the invasion. The disease and his wounds so prostrated him that for several days his life was in extreme peril. 48 It was not until five days after the battle that he could be moved from Lewiston. Then a cot was rigged with cross-bars and side-poles, on which he was carried, on the 18th [October, 1812.], to Schlosser by a detachment of Major Moseby’s militia riflemen. On the following day he was taken by the same party by land and water to Buffalo. 49 There he remained until the 9th of November, and was then conveyed to his home at Mount Hope, near Albany, accompanied, as he had been since his removal from Lewiston, by Mr. Lovett. They were met in the suburbs of Albany by a cavalcade of citizens, and Van Rensselaer was received with the honors of a victor. 50

While the stirring events at Queenston were in progress in the morning, there was a lively time at Forts George and Niagara. 51 So soon as Brock heard the state of affairs at Queenston, he sent down word to Brigade Major Evans, who had been left in charge of Fort George, to open a cannonade upon Fort Niagara. He did so, and received a sharp reply from the south block-house of the American fortress, which was in charge of Captain M‘Keon. That officer turned his guns upon the village of Newark also when charged with hot shot, and several buildings were set on fire. The cannonade continued some time, when Evans, aided by Colonel Claus and Captain Vigoreux, of the Royal Engineers, opened a severe bombardment upon Fort Niagara. Already the bursting of a twelve-pounder had deprived the Americans of their best weapon. This fact, and the exposed condition of the fort under the attack of shells, caused Captain Leonard, the commandant of the garrison, to abandon it. The troops had not proceeded far when they observed British boats, filled with armed men, leaving the Canada shore for Fort Niagara, evidently with the intention of securing a lodgment there. M‘Keon immediately returned with his little force, remained there unmolested over night, and was joined by the remainder of the garrison the next morning.

The American militia officers and privates captured at Queenston were paroled and sent across the river, but those of the regular army were detained as prisoners of war for exchange. 52 These were sent to Quebec, and from there, in a cartel, 53 to Boston, except twenty-three, who were claimed as British subjects, and were sent to England to be tried for treason. 54 The energetic action of Lieutenant Colonel Scott then and afterward saved them from death, When the prisoners were about to sail from Quebec, a party of British officers came on board the cartel, mustered the captives, and commenced separating from the rest those who, by their accent, were found to be Irishmen. These they intended to send to England for trial as traitors in a frigate lying near, in accordance with the doctrine that a British subject can not expatriate himself. 55 Scott, who was below, hearing a tumult on deck, went up. He was soon informed of the cause, and at once entered a vehement protest against the proceedings. He commanded his soldiers to be absolutely silent, that their accent might not betray them. He was repeatedly ordered to go below, and as repeatedly refused. The soldiers obeyed him. Twenty-three had already been detected as Irishmen, but not another one became a victim. The twenty-three were taken on board the frigate in irons. Scott boldly assured them that if the British government dared to injure a hair of their heads, his own government would fully avenge the outrage. He at the same time as boldly defied the menacing officers, and comforted the manacled prisoners in every possible way. Scott was exchanged in January, 1813, and at once sent a full report of this affair to the Secretary of War. He hastened to Washington in person, and pressed the subject upon the attention of Congress. A bill was introduced to vest "the President of the United States with powers of retaliation." 56 It originated in the Senate, and would have passed both houses but for the conceded fact that such powers were already fully contained in the general constitutional powers of the President to conduct the war. Fortunately for the credit of common humanity, the President never had occasion to exercise that power to the extent of life-taking, for the British government wisely and prudently abstained from carrying out in practice, in the case of American prisoners, its cherished doctrine of perpetual allegiance. 57

General Van Rensselaer was disgusted with the jealousies of some of the regular officers and the conduct of the militia. He was also convinced that the profession of arms was not the sphere in which he would be most useful. On the 24th of October he resigned the command of the troops on the Niagara frontier to General Smyth, and soon afterward obtained from Governor Tompkins permission to leave the service. 58 Smyth’s pride was gratified, and it was soon displayed in a series of pompous proclamations, which created both merriment and disgust. He promised so largely and performed so little that he became the target for ridicule and satire by all parties. In his first proclamation, issued on the 10th of November, he displayed a lack of common courtesy and good taste by offensive reflections upon Generals Hull and Van Rensselaer. 59 "One army," he said, "has been disgracefully surrendered and lost. Another has been sacrificed by a precipitate attempt to pass it over at the strongest point of the enemy’s lines with most incompetent means. The cause of these miscarriages is apparent. The commanders were popular men, destitute alike of theory and experience in the art of war." "In a few days," he continued, "the troops under my command will plant the American standard in Canada. They are men accustomed to obedience, silence, and steadiness. They will conquer or they will die. Will you stand with your arms folded and look on this interesting struggle? . . . . . Must I turn from you, and ask men of the Six Nations to support the government of the United States? Shall I imitate the officers of the British king, and suffer our ungathered laurels to be tarnished by ruthless deeds? 60 Shame, where is thy blush? No. Where I command, the vanquished and the peaceful man, the child, the maid, and the matron, shall be secure from wrong. The present is the hour for renown. Have you not a wish for fame? Would you not choose in future times to be named as one of those who, imitating the heroes whom Montgomery led, have, in spite of the seasons, visited the tomb of the chief; and conquered the country where he lies?"

In another proclamation he said: "Companions in arms! the time is at hand when you will cross the stream of Niagara to conquer Canada, and to secure the peace of the American frontier. You will enter a country that is to be one of the United States. . . . . Whatever is booty by the usages of war shall be yours." He offered two hundred dollars apiece for horses for artillery that might be captured. He then boasted of the superiority of the American soldiers and weapons, and unnecessarily offended the Federalists, many of whom were in the ranks, by saying to the volunteers, "Disloyal and traitorous men have endeavored to dissuade you from doing your duty." In his address to "The Army of the Centre," as he called the little force under his command, he said: "Soldiers of every corps! it is in your power to retrieve the honor of your country, and to cover yourselves with glory. Every man who performs a gallant action shall have his name made known to the nation. Rewards and honors await the brave, infamy and contempt are reserved for cowards. Companions in arms! you come to vanquish a valiant foe. I know the choice you will make. Come on, my heroes! and when you attack the enemy’s batteries, let your rallying-word be, ‘The cannon lost at Detroit, or death!’ " 61