A hundred years ago there was no barn there which a thrifty Government later allowed to be built within its lines. But a hundred years ago this morning, on Tuesday, October 13, it was a fort and Brock's headquarters. For weeks there had been persistent rainstorms. In the dull grey foggy chill of the morning, about four o'clock, there came an alarm that the enemy were crossing the river at Queenston. In a few minutes, Brock dashed out of the fort unattended and galloped headlong up the river road. Macdonell, his young and faithful aide-de-camp, soon followed. At Brown's Point, two miles from Queenston, was a battery manned by the militia of York, among them such men as John Beverley Robinson and Archibald Maclean, both afterwards chief justices. As Brock passed he waved his hand to them; and very likely it was then he said, "Push on, brave York Volunteers." And as they advanced to support their leaders there was plenty of evidence that the invaders had made a landing. Troops of the enemy were met under guard—miserable, wounded wretches.

The mouth of the Niagara Gorge is barely two hundred yards wide; and this had been selected as the place at which to cross. Fifteen hundred United States regulars and nearly three thousand militia, it was hoped, could be ferried across in seven trips. At Queenston to oppose them there were merely two companies of the Forty-ninth (Brock's regiment) under Captain Dennis, and three companies of militia. In all, in and about Queenston there were less than two hundred men.

In less than fifteen minutes ten boats had landed three hundred men, exactly as they had planned. When discovered by a sentinel, they were forming up under the command of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer.

At once from Brown's Point, from Vrooman's Point, from the gun halfway up Queenston Heights there belched forth an incessant fire. The Lewiston batteries opened on the village and soon reduced several of the houses to ruins.

Meanwhile, Captain Dennis, with forty-six men, sought out the invaders at the foot of the cliff. Though they soon took to the cover of the trees and brush in disorder, many were killed, and Colonel Van Rensselaer himself received no less than six wounds.

After dawn, however, they observed how few men were working the one-gun battery halfway up Queenston Heights. They ascended by a narrow fisherman's path, under the command of Lieutenant Wool, and gained the Heights unopposed.

It was "at this instant Brock rode into the village, splashed with mud from head to foot. . . . A striking scene presented itself to his gaze. Battalion after battalion of troops in rear of the American batteries in readiness to embark; other detachments entering their boats, some already on the river; their guns throwing round and grape shot into the village, where Dennis still contrived to maintain a foothold" (Cruikshank).

Brock rode up the slope toward the redan halfway up the Heights. From the hillside above him burst a shout and down rushed an overwhelming body of the invaders. With barely time to spike the gun with a ramrod, the three officers and the dozen artillerymen withdrew and left the enemy in possession.

Fresh troops were now landing to assist the invaders; and Brock was fully convinced that the lost position must be recovered at once. He sent Captain Williams with about seventy men by a round-about way to attack Wool's left. Seeing Wool's force driven in, Brock mustered a hundred and ninety men, including the militia flank companies. Waving his sword, he led his men up the steep ascent toward the battery they had lost. As he moved toward the right of the mountain, a bullet struck his sword wrist. Within fifty yards of him, 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 commanding 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 Queenston 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. Their left rested on the river verge of the cliff. A volley or two—and the Canadians found themselves embarrassed with prisoners. Within a few days, 958, including stragglers, had surrendered as prisoners of war. Among these were General Wadsworth, who had been in command, and Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott, later to become commander-in-chief of the United States army and conqueror of Mexico.

PRELIMINARY STEPS

The desire to commemorate the centenary of Brock's death-day—October 13th, 1912—took form at a meeting of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, held at Toronto on April 11th, 1912, when, on the motion of Mr. John Stewart Carstairs, B.A., a committee, consisting of Colonel Ryerson, Lieut.-Colonel W. Hamilton Merritt, Mr. J. S. Carstairs, and Mr. C. E. MacDonald, barrister, was appointed to draft a suitable programme for the celebration of "Brock's Day."

This committee submitted the following report at a meeting of the Association held on September 17th, 1912, Colonel Ryerson presiding: