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The legend
of Isaac Brock
Isaac Brock: The man, the facts
Editor's note: The following text was supplied by Robert Malcomson, a
leading expert and author on the War of 1812. This article was intended
to set the record straight on Brock's career. It was published in the
Journal of the War of 1812, 7 (2003). Look for an article by Malcomson
on Brock to be published in a spring 2004 issue of The Beaver, Canada's
national history magazine.
For a look at Malcomson's work, check out the books page here on
General Brock.com. His latest work, A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of
Queenston Heights, 1812 was picked up as a pre-Christmas selection by
the Doubleday Book Club.
By Robert Malcomson
As with Oliver Hazard Perry and Andrew
Jackson, the name of Isaac Brock is among the
most recognizable from the War of 1812 period.
This is owing mainly to the man himself, who
was larger than life. His name and career were
memorialized by the erection of monuments on
Queenston Heights that were unprecedented
on this continent and by a long list of
biographies of all types.1 Still, a thorough,
academic study of Brock’s life has yet to be
written and this may account for the fact that
misconceptions about him abound. A recently
published book on the war, for instance, included the erroneous
statement that Brock was “an experienced officer who fought in India
and in numerous engagements throughout the empire.”2 Elsewhere,
authors are still referring to “Sir Isaac Brock” being in command of Upper
Canada when he did not, in fact, live long enough to enjoy being
addressed with that title which was awarded because of his victory at
Detroit and only announced in Canada months after he died.3
This article is intended to set the record straight, as much as that is
possible in the space available. Brock’s life, from birth to the onset of
war, his competence and personality are the topics here. His successful
defense of Upper Canada, his victory at Detroit and death at Queenston
Heights Oct. 13, 1812, have been thoroughly described in other recent
sources, so they will not be mentioned in detail.4 Nor will any attention
be paid to the myths that have grown up around Brock.
Isaac Brock was born in the same year that heard the infant bawls of
Napoleon and Wellington. The family of John Brock and Elizabeth De Lisle
lived in the parish of St. Peter-Port on Guernsey Island in the English
Channel. Theirs was a comfortable, but not wealthy, lifestyle and before
John Brock died at age 47 in 1777, he and his wife brought 14 children
into the world. Of that number eight brothers and two sisters survived
to maturity, Isaac Brock, born on Oct. 6, 1769, being the eighth son. Like
his brothers and their forebears, Isaac grew to be a strong and
uncommonly tall youth who was said to have been gentle of spirit but
possessed of considerable skill in boxing and swimming. Isaac received
his early education on Guernsey and at the age of 10 left home to
complete his schooling at Southampton and later at Rotterdam.
John Brock had been a midshipmen in his younger days and four of Isaac’
s brothers served as officers in regular or militia corps, so it was no
wonder that Isaac pursued a military career as well. An ensigncy in the
8th Foot, his older brother John’s regiment, was purchased for him in
1785 and he joined the regiment in England, returning to Guernsey five
years later as a newly promoted lieutenant. By raising an independent
company, Brock earned an advancement to captain and then transferred
into the 49th Foot which he joined in Barbadoes in 1791. It was during
his early years as a captain that Brock is said to have gained great
popularity by standing up to an unpopular, fellow officer who bullied
others into duels. Required to defend his honour against the duelist,
Brock refused to take advantage of the distance that his long legs would
give him by measuring out the customary 12 paces and offered instead
to exchange shots across the span of a handkerchief. His opponent
refused this arrangement and soon after left the regiment, where Brock’
s popularity and reputation had been firmly established.
Brock purchased a majority in the 49th in 1795 and then a lieutenant
colonelcy in 1797, soon after becoming the senior lieutenant colonel of
the regiment, the junior position being held by Roger Hale Sheaffe,
whose military fortunes would also lead him to Queenston.
It was not until he was 30, with 15 years in the service, that Brock
actually saw action on the battlefield. This occurred during Sir Ralph
Abercromby’s expedition against Holland, an ally of France, in the
summer and autumn of 1799. On Oct. 2 the 49th Foot was part of the
10,000-man force that attacked the town of Egmont-aan-Zee on the
shore of the North Sea 20 miles northwest of Amsterdam. During the
close fighting on the sand dunes skirting the town, Brock and Sheaffe
led separate elements of the regiment which John-Savery Brock, Isaac’s
16-year old brother, had recently joined as a volunteer. The 49th
suffered 30 killed, 50 wounded and 30 missing, a high casualty count for
a regiment that numbered fewer than 400 in the field. Brock was himself
nearly killed that day when a spent musket ball hit him in the throat,
throwing him off his horse. Stunned and bruised, but saved a mortal
wound by his neck cloth which absorbed the shock, Brock soon
recovered himself and rejoined the fray; his brother attracted much
attention from onlookers that day by fearlessly taking the most exposed
positions from which to rally the troops and urge them forward.
The one day of battle in Abercromby’s expedition was the extent of Brock’
s experience under fire on land before he came to Canada, although he
was also fortunate to be a witness to one of the great naval battles of
the age. This occurred when the 49th embarked in Admiral Sir Hyde
Parker’s fleet in 1801 for an expedition against Denmark where Brock
was expecting to lead part of the assault against the forts at
Copenhagen. With the light company, the regimental band, and
accompanied again by John-Savery, Brock berthed in HMS Ganges, one
of the 74-gun ships of the line that composed Parker’s fleet which also
included HMS Elephant, 74, bearing the flag of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson,
the next officer in rank to Parker. Captain Thomas Fremantle, a highly
valued colleague of Nelson’s, commanded the Ganges and this
connection provided Brock with numerous opportunities to participate in
the formal and informal planning sessions that took place in the great
cabins and on the quarterdecks of the fleet. Without doubt, Brock
witnessed Nelson’s frustration with Parker’s hesitance to engage the
enemy and listened as Nelson exhibited his belief that “the boldest
measures are the safest” as he tried to promote aggressive tactics
against the Danes.5
Nelson got his chance on April 2 when he led a division of the fleet into
the King’s Deep Channel where the Danish fleet lay moored under the
guns of Copenhagen. The Ganges sailed directly ahead of Nelson’s
flagship in the centre of the 23 ship division; everyone in the 49th was
expecting to be put ashore as part of the attack. The Royal Navy’s
success that day made the landing unnecessary, but Brock stood on the
Ganges’s quarterdeck when Fremantle exchanged broadsides with the
Danish Sælland, 74, and quickly reduced it to pulp. Along with everyone
else, the colonel watched Nelson turn a blind eye to Admiral Parker’s
signal to discontinue to action and maintain his position, winning the
day; Brock later accompanied Fremantle when he went to congratulate
Nelson in the Elephant.
The year 1802 saw the 49th Foot ordered to Quebec. Brock sailed in the
transport Tartar , one of four vessels that carried the 705 officers and
men of the regiment, plus 164 of their wives and children across the
ocean to the shores of Canada at the end of the summer.6 Over the
next 10 years Brock gained experienced in every aspect of army and civil
society in the provinces, commanding at various posts in Lower and
Upper Canada, even acting as commander-in-chief of the troops in the
Canadas between September 1806 and October 1807 while he waited
for Lieutenant General Sir James Craig to arrive and take his post as
governor-in-chief and senior military officer. There were no opportunities
during this period for Brock, who advanced to colonel in 1805, brigadier
general in 1807 and major general in 1811, to develop his skill in
directing troops amid the fog of battle, but his conduct during that period
prepared him to face the challenges that war with the Americans would
bring.
The Brock correspondence, as compiled by his nephew Ferdinand Brock
Tupper in the 1840s, reveals much about the general’s nature and the
qualities that earned him a reputation as an industrious officer, an able
administrator and exemplary gentleman. At the very basis of his success
as a military commander was the fact that Brock understood the psyche
of the soldier, private and officer alike. As a commander at Quebec or the
remote garrison of Fort George, he took pains to look after their clothing,
food and accommodations, asserting at one time that due to his efforts
“the soldiers in this country live in a perfect state of luxury unknown any
where else.”7 He believed in the importance of drill and thorough
training but allowed the men the freedom to till and harvest their own
gardens and to shoot game in their leisure time, providing they paid for
the ammunition. He appreciated the difficulties created when a regiment
was split up and detached to distant garrisons where conditions were
Spartan, advising in one situation that “the 41st regiment, having a
considerable number of old soldiers, is better calculated for that service
[at frontier posts in Upper Canada] than either the 49th or 100th
regiments.”8 Of the latter corps, the general once remarked that “being
nearly all Irish, [they] are of all others the most volatile and easily led
astray.”9
When called upon to discipline the troops, Brock was liable to talk to a
man privately to get at the truth, but he was also just as likely to
confront a potential trouble maker face to face at his post in public as he
did in 1803 when a mutiny seemed imminent at Fort George. He wrote to
his brothers in September 1808, “Valour the British troops always
possessed, but unless they evince discipline, their fame will be blasted
for a century to come.”10 His concern for discipline and order extended
beyond the parade square, as he had an eye for detail and scoured
accounts and reports to monitor and correct the internal workings of the
various army departments; when necessary, he could berate a
subordinate for conduct that might be “so very unsatisfactory” as to
have “an appearance of inattention.”11 Brock did not reserve such plain
criticism for subordinates alone, as he was prone to express his
viewpoint to men of standing just as candidly. In 1807, for instance. he
clashed with Thomas Dunn, president of Lower Canada legislature over
several issues, suggesting at one point in a plainly facetious tone that
“the correspondence which has already taken place between us . . .
[must have] escaped your memory.”12
Brock recognized the limitations of his formal education; “I never had the
advantage of a master to guide and encourage me,” he admitted. From
an early age he was said to be a serious scholar, the library he acquired
through his career revealing his preference for military topics and
literature with such titles as Expedition to Holland, The Walcheron
Expedition and Elegant Extracts. Although he did not have opportunities
in Canada to apply the lessons on warfare he learned from his reading,
Brock manifested his understanding of military science through the
improvements he undertook in the citadel at Quebec, reinforcing its walls
and constructing batteries. As well, while on leave in England in 1806,
he presented to the Duke of York, head of the British Army at its
headquarters at Horseguards in London, a plan for a regiment of
veterans to be stationed at the wilderness posts of the upper province.
The Duke received Brock’s ideas well, and in 1807 the 10th Royal
Battalion of Veterans, formed prior to the general’s submission, was
sent to Canada.13
Brock enjoyed the comradery of his brother officers and the pleasures of
high society, especially when he was at Quebec. He described some of
the fun to the wife of William Brock in July 1810: “We have been
uncommonly gay the last fortnight: two frigates at anchor and the arrival
of Governor Gore from the Upper Province, have given a zest to society.
Races, country and water parties, have occupied our time in a continued
round of festivities. Such stimulus is highly necessary to keep our spirits
afloat.”14 Although he gloomily stated a preference for keeping his
“intercourse to a very limited circle” while stationed at Niagara in 1811,
Brock understood his social responsibilities as the commander at that
backwoods post and managed to host soirees that delighted the locals;
a colleague at Quebec informed him that he had heard “an account of a
splendid ball given by you to the beau monde of Niagara and its vicinity.”
15
The long held belief that Brock was engaged to be married prior to the
battle Queenston is virtually unfounded. That he was interested in
finding a wife seems apparent, however, from his compliments about the
wives of his peers such as “the well bred and very agreeable” Mrs. Gore
and “the charming little creature” that Colonel John Murray married.16 In
1810 Brock twice expressed to the wife of his brother William that he
was much attracted to a Mrs. Manners, the wife of a captain in the 49th,
presumably deceased, and he asked his sister-in-law to pay a social visit
to the woman at her home in England (“she is all goodness,” he wrote),
but nothing more seems to have come from the infatuation.17 A friend
suggested to the general “You should be married, particularly as fate
seems to desire to detain you so long in Canada - but pray do not marry
there.”18
More than a year after his death, Brock’s close associate and aide-de-
camp, Captain John Glegg of the 49th Foot, wrote to William Brock to
state that he knew the general’s “sentiments of the most private
subjects, and can take it upon me to say he has left no natural child for
your care.”19 Glegg then revealed that a 10-year old boy, the son of a
Captain Ellis of the 49th who had drowned enroute to England, had
been under Brock’s care for several years; Glegg had subsequently
arranged for the boy’s education and support.
Isaac Brock experienced disappointment and celebration in 1811. To
begin with, Governor-in-Chief Craig had ordered him to take command of
the forces in the upper province after Major General Francis de
Rottenburg arrived at Quebec late the previous summer. Brock did not
enjoy being away from the relative excitement of Quebec society and
realized any opportunity for promotion that he might have gained
through close ties with Craig was blown. He referred to the Niagara
station as “the uninteresting and insipid life I am doomed to lead in this
retirement,” an attitude his correspondents supported; one wrote, “I
quite feel for you, my good friend, when I think of the stupid and
uninteresting time you must have passed in Upper Canada.”20 Brock
applied to Craig for a leave of absence in the autumn of 1810 so that he
could go to England and attempt to secure employment on the
continent, but Craig refused the request. Late in the year Brock took ill
and contemplated a trip to bathe in the waters at Ballstown near
Albany, but his dislike for Americans (“I do not admire the manners of
the American people,” he wrote) and the lack of accommodations in that
quarter changed his mind.21 Instead, he determined that “A sound
jolting and change of air will produce wonders, and make me look once
more upon a beefsteak with appetite. At present I live very
abstemiously, and scarcely ever touch wine.”22
His health regained, Brock went about his various duties and was
pleased to be promoted to the rank of major general in June. In the
autumn he was again recognized for his accomplishments when
Lieutenant Governor Gore left the province on leave to England and the
new governor in chief, Sir George Prevost, appointed the general to act
as the president of Upper Canada’s legislature. About the same time,
however, Brock was suddenly thrown aback when news reached
Canada that the bank in which William Brock had been a senior official
was in default. William had loaned his younger brother £3,000 during his
career to purchase commissions and had charged them against the
company’s books, much to Isaac’s surprise and dismay. The results were
that the general was a debtor and that his brothers were all cast into
financial distress, which caused a riff between William and Irving who
lost a fortune. Appealing to his brothers to make peace, Isaac pledged
his salary as acting president in Upper Canada, worth about £1,000 per
year, to pay off his debt, which meant, of course, that he had to remain
in Canada instead of going home to seek glory in the fight against
Bonaparte. Brock had written directly to Horse Guards for a leave from
Canada, but when permission arrived early in 1812, he turned it down.
By that time the Americans were making active war preparations and he
explained to Prevost “Being now placed in a high ostensible situation,
and the state of public affairs with the American government indicating a
strong presumption of an approaching rupture between the two
countries, I beg leave to be allowed to remain in my present command.”
23
One last point to consider in regard to Isaac Brock is his appearance,
another aspect of his life that remains clouded. Although illustrations of
him abound, there is no firm evidence that any of the portraits provide
an accurate depiction of the man. Glegg confirmed for Brock’s brothers
that he had never known the general to sit for a portrait during his time
in Canada and it may be that the best surviving likenesses of him are a
miniature of a be-wigged ensign in the 8th Foot and or a pastel portrait
done by William Berczy. Neither convey the common impression that
Brock was a tall and heavy set man. Measurements of extant uniforms,
believed to have been his, show that he stood over six feet, two inches
tall, with a waistline measuring 47 inches and a hat size equaling 24
inches around the hat band. Two anecdotes from officers captured by
Brock at Detroit in August 1812 offer this information. One wrote that
Brock’s “personal appearance was commanding; he must have been six
feet three or four inches in height; very massive and large boned,
though not fleshy, and apparently of immense muscular power.”24 The
second view, somewhat less complimentary, described the general as “a
heavily built man, about six feet three inches in height, broad shoulders,
large hips and lame, walking with a cane. One of his eyes, the left one I
think, was closed and he was withal the ugliest officer I ever saw.”25
Whether “commanding” or “ugly,” Isaac Brock stood out among his
peers. He demonstrated his ability as a commander by deploying the
slim defenses of Upper Canada to best effect and by bringing an
intimidating force into position at Detroit. He cast such an imposing
shadow of charisma and competence that, in the minds of most of those
who outlived him, he was considered “the only man worthy of being at
the head of affairs.”26
Robert Malcomson lives in St. Catharines, Ontario. He is the author of Lords
of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario, 1812-1814 and Warships of
the Great Lakes: 1754-1834. His most recent publication is A Very Brilliant
Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 13 October 1812, (Toronto:
Robin Brass Studio, 2003).
Endnotes
1 These titles are a sampling of the dozens of books and articles written
about Brock’s life:
Carnochan, Jane. “Sir Isaac Brock” Niagara Historical Society No. 15
(1913), 1-22. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Volumes V-IX. (Toronto:
University of Toronto, 1976-1988), 5:109. Eayrs, Hugh S, Sir Isaac Brock.
(Toronto: MacMillan, 1918). Edgar, Lady, General Brock. (London: Oxford
University Press, 1928). Goodspeed, D. J., The Good Soldier: The Story of
Isaac Brock. (Toronto: Macmillan, 1964). Nursey, Walter R., The Story of
Isaac Brock, Hero, Defender and Savior of Upper Canada, 1812. (
Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1923). Whitfield, Carol, “The Battle of
Queenston Heights,” Occasional Papers in Archeology and History, No.
11, (Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1974).
2 Fitz-Enz, David, The Final Invasion: Plattsburgh, the War of 1812's
Most Decisive Battle. (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001), 18.
3 “Maj. Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, president and administrator of Upper
Canada,” Gough, Barry, Fighting Sail on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay:
The War of 1812 and Its Aftermath. (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell,
2002), 20. “General Prevost’s immediate subordinate in Upper Canada
was Major General Sir Isaac Brock,” Skaggs, David Curtis and Altoff,
Gerard T., A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812-13.
(Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 12.
4 Hitsman, J. Mackay, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History.
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965; reprint - Toronto: Robin
Brass Studio, 1999). Turner, Wesley, British Generals in the War of 1812:
High Command in the Canadas. (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University
Press, 1999), 58-83. Malcomson, Robert, A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle
of Queenston Heights, 13 October 1812. (Toronto: Robin Brass Studio,
2003).
5 Nelson to Parker, late March 1801, cited in Pope, Dudley, The Great
Gamble: Nelson at Copenhagen. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972),
283. See also Bennett, Geoffrey, Nelson the Commander, (London:
Batsford Ltd., 1972),181-208. Savery Brock’s zeal for action is portrayed
in Tupper, Life of Brock, 18-23. Savery was, for several years, a
paymaster with the 49th Foot, and had other brief experiences in the
military, but did not undertake a full time career in that quarter.
6 27 commissioned officers, 35 sergeants, 19 drummers,623 rank and
file, as well as 95 women and 69 children, showed on the returns
prepared after the transports Tartar, Peggy, Richard and Norfolk docked
at Quebec; returns enclosed with Hunter to Browrigg, 24 August and 13
September 1802, OA, Miscellaneous Collection, 1797-1802, MU 2100,
1802, #2.
7 Brock to Baynes, 17 March 1807, Tupper, Ferdinand Brock, The Life and
Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B. 2nd ed. (London:
Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1847), 47. [ Hereafter: Tupper, Life of Brock.]
This book continues to be the most thorough version of Brock’s life and,
to simplify the references here, has been used as the chief source of
Brock correspondence.
8 Brock to Baynes, 1 July 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 59.
9 Brock to Baynes, 17 March 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 47
10 Brock to his brothers, 5 September 1808, Tupper, Life of Brock, 72.
11 Brock to Mackenzie, 29 June 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 57. Brock
criticized Mackenzie report on accounts in the Provincial Marine. Incident
with individual malcontents, mutineers and deserters are described in
Tupper, Life of Brock, 24-33.
12 Brock to Dunn, 4 June 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 54. See also Brock
to Dunn, 5 January 1807, Tupper Life of Brock, 44.
13 Brock’s plan, early 1806, Tupper, Life of Brock, 33. Titles of the books
are taken from the list of items in Brock’s estate, OA, Miscellaneous
Collection, 1563-1820, MU 2143, #1.
14 Brock to Mrs. William Brock, 10 July 1810, Tupper, Life of Brock, 79.
15 Kempt to Brock, 17 January 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 89.
16 Brock to Irving Brock, 19 February 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 92. It
has often been stated that Brock was engaged to Sophia Shaw, the
daughter of the influential York resident Aeneas Shaw, and that he
stopped to pay his respects to her on 13 October 1812 during his early
morning ride to view the fighting at Queenston. No primary source has
been found to substantiate either claim.
17 Brock to Mrs. William Brock, 8 June and 10 July 1810, Tupper, Life of
Brock, 76, 79.
18 Vesey to Brock, 9 May 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 100.
19 Glegg to William Brock, 30 December 1813, Kosche, Ludwig, “Relics of
Brock: An Investigation.” Archivaria, 9 (1979), 79.
20 Brock to Irving Brock, 10 January 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 87.
Vesey to Brock, 9 May 1811, ibid., 101.
21 Brock to Irving Brock, 19 February 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 92.
Baynes to Brock, 11 October 1810, ibid., 85. Brock to Irving Brock, 10
January 1811, ibid., 87.
22 Brock to Irving Brock, 10 January 1811, ibid., 87. 23 Brock to Prevost,
12 February 1812, Tupper, Life of Brock, 151. Brock to Savery Brock, 7
October 1811, ibid., 111. Brock to Irving Brock, 30 October 1811, ibid.,
112. William Brock to Brock, 31 October 1811, ibid., 114. Torrens to
Brock, 17 October 1811, ibid., 116.
24 Attributed to Stanley Hatch and cited in Kosche, Ludwig,
“Contemporary Portraits of Isaac Brock: An Analysis,” Archivaria, 20
(1985), 23. The Brock portraits are discussed in this article, while a
forensic examination of his uniforms is topic of Kosche, “Relics of Brock:
An Investigation.”
25 Attributed to George Sanderson and cited in Kosche, “Contemporary
Portraits of Isaac Brock: An Analysis,” 23.
26 Lieutenant Archibald McLean to unknown, 15 October 1812, Quebec
Mercury, 27 October 1812.
of Isaac Brock
Isaac Brock: The man, the facts
Editor's note: The following text was supplied by Robert Malcomson, a
leading expert and author on the War of 1812. This article was intended
to set the record straight on Brock's career. It was published in the
Journal of the War of 1812, 7 (2003). Look for an article by Malcomson
on Brock to be published in a spring 2004 issue of The Beaver, Canada's
national history magazine.
For a look at Malcomson's work, check out the books page here on
General Brock.com. His latest work, A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of
Queenston Heights, 1812 was picked up as a pre-Christmas selection by
the Doubleday Book Club.
By Robert Malcomson
As with Oliver Hazard Perry and Andrew
Jackson, the name of Isaac Brock is among the
most recognizable from the War of 1812 period.
This is owing mainly to the man himself, who
was larger than life. His name and career were
memorialized by the erection of monuments on
Queenston Heights that were unprecedented
on this continent and by a long list of
biographies of all types.1 Still, a thorough,
academic study of Brock’s life has yet to be
written and this may account for the fact that
misconceptions about him abound. A recently
published book on the war, for instance, included the erroneous
statement that Brock was “an experienced officer who fought in India
and in numerous engagements throughout the empire.”2 Elsewhere,
authors are still referring to “Sir Isaac Brock” being in command of Upper
Canada when he did not, in fact, live long enough to enjoy being
addressed with that title which was awarded because of his victory at
Detroit and only announced in Canada months after he died.3
This article is intended to set the record straight, as much as that is
possible in the space available. Brock’s life, from birth to the onset of
war, his competence and personality are the topics here. His successful
defense of Upper Canada, his victory at Detroit and death at Queenston
Heights Oct. 13, 1812, have been thoroughly described in other recent
sources, so they will not be mentioned in detail.4 Nor will any attention
be paid to the myths that have grown up around Brock.
Isaac Brock was born in the same year that heard the infant bawls of
Napoleon and Wellington. The family of John Brock and Elizabeth De Lisle
lived in the parish of St. Peter-Port on Guernsey Island in the English
Channel. Theirs was a comfortable, but not wealthy, lifestyle and before
John Brock died at age 47 in 1777, he and his wife brought 14 children
into the world. Of that number eight brothers and two sisters survived
to maturity, Isaac Brock, born on Oct. 6, 1769, being the eighth son. Like
his brothers and their forebears, Isaac grew to be a strong and
uncommonly tall youth who was said to have been gentle of spirit but
possessed of considerable skill in boxing and swimming. Isaac received
his early education on Guernsey and at the age of 10 left home to
complete his schooling at Southampton and later at Rotterdam.
John Brock had been a midshipmen in his younger days and four of Isaac’
s brothers served as officers in regular or militia corps, so it was no
wonder that Isaac pursued a military career as well. An ensigncy in the
8th Foot, his older brother John’s regiment, was purchased for him in
1785 and he joined the regiment in England, returning to Guernsey five
years later as a newly promoted lieutenant. By raising an independent
company, Brock earned an advancement to captain and then transferred
into the 49th Foot which he joined in Barbadoes in 1791. It was during
his early years as a captain that Brock is said to have gained great
popularity by standing up to an unpopular, fellow officer who bullied
others into duels. Required to defend his honour against the duelist,
Brock refused to take advantage of the distance that his long legs would
give him by measuring out the customary 12 paces and offered instead
to exchange shots across the span of a handkerchief. His opponent
refused this arrangement and soon after left the regiment, where Brock’
s popularity and reputation had been firmly established.
Brock purchased a majority in the 49th in 1795 and then a lieutenant
colonelcy in 1797, soon after becoming the senior lieutenant colonel of
the regiment, the junior position being held by Roger Hale Sheaffe,
whose military fortunes would also lead him to Queenston.
It was not until he was 30, with 15 years in the service, that Brock
actually saw action on the battlefield. This occurred during Sir Ralph
Abercromby’s expedition against Holland, an ally of France, in the
summer and autumn of 1799. On Oct. 2 the 49th Foot was part of the
10,000-man force that attacked the town of Egmont-aan-Zee on the
shore of the North Sea 20 miles northwest of Amsterdam. During the
close fighting on the sand dunes skirting the town, Brock and Sheaffe
led separate elements of the regiment which John-Savery Brock, Isaac’s
16-year old brother, had recently joined as a volunteer. The 49th
suffered 30 killed, 50 wounded and 30 missing, a high casualty count for
a regiment that numbered fewer than 400 in the field. Brock was himself
nearly killed that day when a spent musket ball hit him in the throat,
throwing him off his horse. Stunned and bruised, but saved a mortal
wound by his neck cloth which absorbed the shock, Brock soon
recovered himself and rejoined the fray; his brother attracted much
attention from onlookers that day by fearlessly taking the most exposed
positions from which to rally the troops and urge them forward.
The one day of battle in Abercromby’s expedition was the extent of Brock’
s experience under fire on land before he came to Canada, although he
was also fortunate to be a witness to one of the great naval battles of
the age. This occurred when the 49th embarked in Admiral Sir Hyde
Parker’s fleet in 1801 for an expedition against Denmark where Brock
was expecting to lead part of the assault against the forts at
Copenhagen. With the light company, the regimental band, and
accompanied again by John-Savery, Brock berthed in HMS Ganges, one
of the 74-gun ships of the line that composed Parker’s fleet which also
included HMS Elephant, 74, bearing the flag of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson,
the next officer in rank to Parker. Captain Thomas Fremantle, a highly
valued colleague of Nelson’s, commanded the Ganges and this
connection provided Brock with numerous opportunities to participate in
the formal and informal planning sessions that took place in the great
cabins and on the quarterdecks of the fleet. Without doubt, Brock
witnessed Nelson’s frustration with Parker’s hesitance to engage the
enemy and listened as Nelson exhibited his belief that “the boldest
measures are the safest” as he tried to promote aggressive tactics
against the Danes.5
Nelson got his chance on April 2 when he led a division of the fleet into
the King’s Deep Channel where the Danish fleet lay moored under the
guns of Copenhagen. The Ganges sailed directly ahead of Nelson’s
flagship in the centre of the 23 ship division; everyone in the 49th was
expecting to be put ashore as part of the attack. The Royal Navy’s
success that day made the landing unnecessary, but Brock stood on the
Ganges’s quarterdeck when Fremantle exchanged broadsides with the
Danish Sælland, 74, and quickly reduced it to pulp. Along with everyone
else, the colonel watched Nelson turn a blind eye to Admiral Parker’s
signal to discontinue to action and maintain his position, winning the
day; Brock later accompanied Fremantle when he went to congratulate
Nelson in the Elephant.
The year 1802 saw the 49th Foot ordered to Quebec. Brock sailed in the
transport Tartar , one of four vessels that carried the 705 officers and
men of the regiment, plus 164 of their wives and children across the
ocean to the shores of Canada at the end of the summer.6 Over the
next 10 years Brock gained experienced in every aspect of army and civil
society in the provinces, commanding at various posts in Lower and
Upper Canada, even acting as commander-in-chief of the troops in the
Canadas between September 1806 and October 1807 while he waited
for Lieutenant General Sir James Craig to arrive and take his post as
governor-in-chief and senior military officer. There were no opportunities
during this period for Brock, who advanced to colonel in 1805, brigadier
general in 1807 and major general in 1811, to develop his skill in
directing troops amid the fog of battle, but his conduct during that period
prepared him to face the challenges that war with the Americans would
bring.
The Brock correspondence, as compiled by his nephew Ferdinand Brock
Tupper in the 1840s, reveals much about the general’s nature and the
qualities that earned him a reputation as an industrious officer, an able
administrator and exemplary gentleman. At the very basis of his success
as a military commander was the fact that Brock understood the psyche
of the soldier, private and officer alike. As a commander at Quebec or the
remote garrison of Fort George, he took pains to look after their clothing,
food and accommodations, asserting at one time that due to his efforts
“the soldiers in this country live in a perfect state of luxury unknown any
where else.”7 He believed in the importance of drill and thorough
training but allowed the men the freedom to till and harvest their own
gardens and to shoot game in their leisure time, providing they paid for
the ammunition. He appreciated the difficulties created when a regiment
was split up and detached to distant garrisons where conditions were
Spartan, advising in one situation that “the 41st regiment, having a
considerable number of old soldiers, is better calculated for that service
[at frontier posts in Upper Canada] than either the 49th or 100th
regiments.”8 Of the latter corps, the general once remarked that “being
nearly all Irish, [they] are of all others the most volatile and easily led
astray.”9
When called upon to discipline the troops, Brock was liable to talk to a
man privately to get at the truth, but he was also just as likely to
confront a potential trouble maker face to face at his post in public as he
did in 1803 when a mutiny seemed imminent at Fort George. He wrote to
his brothers in September 1808, “Valour the British troops always
possessed, but unless they evince discipline, their fame will be blasted
for a century to come.”10 His concern for discipline and order extended
beyond the parade square, as he had an eye for detail and scoured
accounts and reports to monitor and correct the internal workings of the
various army departments; when necessary, he could berate a
subordinate for conduct that might be “so very unsatisfactory” as to
have “an appearance of inattention.”11 Brock did not reserve such plain
criticism for subordinates alone, as he was prone to express his
viewpoint to men of standing just as candidly. In 1807, for instance. he
clashed with Thomas Dunn, president of Lower Canada legislature over
several issues, suggesting at one point in a plainly facetious tone that
“the correspondence which has already taken place between us . . .
[must have] escaped your memory.”12
Brock recognized the limitations of his formal education; “I never had the
advantage of a master to guide and encourage me,” he admitted. From
an early age he was said to be a serious scholar, the library he acquired
through his career revealing his preference for military topics and
literature with such titles as Expedition to Holland, The Walcheron
Expedition and Elegant Extracts. Although he did not have opportunities
in Canada to apply the lessons on warfare he learned from his reading,
Brock manifested his understanding of military science through the
improvements he undertook in the citadel at Quebec, reinforcing its walls
and constructing batteries. As well, while on leave in England in 1806,
he presented to the Duke of York, head of the British Army at its
headquarters at Horseguards in London, a plan for a regiment of
veterans to be stationed at the wilderness posts of the upper province.
The Duke received Brock’s ideas well, and in 1807 the 10th Royal
Battalion of Veterans, formed prior to the general’s submission, was
sent to Canada.13
Brock enjoyed the comradery of his brother officers and the pleasures of
high society, especially when he was at Quebec. He described some of
the fun to the wife of William Brock in July 1810: “We have been
uncommonly gay the last fortnight: two frigates at anchor and the arrival
of Governor Gore from the Upper Province, have given a zest to society.
Races, country and water parties, have occupied our time in a continued
round of festivities. Such stimulus is highly necessary to keep our spirits
afloat.”14 Although he gloomily stated a preference for keeping his
“intercourse to a very limited circle” while stationed at Niagara in 1811,
Brock understood his social responsibilities as the commander at that
backwoods post and managed to host soirees that delighted the locals;
a colleague at Quebec informed him that he had heard “an account of a
splendid ball given by you to the beau monde of Niagara and its vicinity.”
15
The long held belief that Brock was engaged to be married prior to the
battle Queenston is virtually unfounded. That he was interested in
finding a wife seems apparent, however, from his compliments about the
wives of his peers such as “the well bred and very agreeable” Mrs. Gore
and “the charming little creature” that Colonel John Murray married.16 In
1810 Brock twice expressed to the wife of his brother William that he
was much attracted to a Mrs. Manners, the wife of a captain in the 49th,
presumably deceased, and he asked his sister-in-law to pay a social visit
to the woman at her home in England (“she is all goodness,” he wrote),
but nothing more seems to have come from the infatuation.17 A friend
suggested to the general “You should be married, particularly as fate
seems to desire to detain you so long in Canada - but pray do not marry
there.”18
More than a year after his death, Brock’s close associate and aide-de-
camp, Captain John Glegg of the 49th Foot, wrote to William Brock to
state that he knew the general’s “sentiments of the most private
subjects, and can take it upon me to say he has left no natural child for
your care.”19 Glegg then revealed that a 10-year old boy, the son of a
Captain Ellis of the 49th who had drowned enroute to England, had
been under Brock’s care for several years; Glegg had subsequently
arranged for the boy’s education and support.
Isaac Brock experienced disappointment and celebration in 1811. To
begin with, Governor-in-Chief Craig had ordered him to take command of
the forces in the upper province after Major General Francis de
Rottenburg arrived at Quebec late the previous summer. Brock did not
enjoy being away from the relative excitement of Quebec society and
realized any opportunity for promotion that he might have gained
through close ties with Craig was blown. He referred to the Niagara
station as “the uninteresting and insipid life I am doomed to lead in this
retirement,” an attitude his correspondents supported; one wrote, “I
quite feel for you, my good friend, when I think of the stupid and
uninteresting time you must have passed in Upper Canada.”20 Brock
applied to Craig for a leave of absence in the autumn of 1810 so that he
could go to England and attempt to secure employment on the
continent, but Craig refused the request. Late in the year Brock took ill
and contemplated a trip to bathe in the waters at Ballstown near
Albany, but his dislike for Americans (“I do not admire the manners of
the American people,” he wrote) and the lack of accommodations in that
quarter changed his mind.21 Instead, he determined that “A sound
jolting and change of air will produce wonders, and make me look once
more upon a beefsteak with appetite. At present I live very
abstemiously, and scarcely ever touch wine.”22
His health regained, Brock went about his various duties and was
pleased to be promoted to the rank of major general in June. In the
autumn he was again recognized for his accomplishments when
Lieutenant Governor Gore left the province on leave to England and the
new governor in chief, Sir George Prevost, appointed the general to act
as the president of Upper Canada’s legislature. About the same time,
however, Brock was suddenly thrown aback when news reached
Canada that the bank in which William Brock had been a senior official
was in default. William had loaned his younger brother £3,000 during his
career to purchase commissions and had charged them against the
company’s books, much to Isaac’s surprise and dismay. The results were
that the general was a debtor and that his brothers were all cast into
financial distress, which caused a riff between William and Irving who
lost a fortune. Appealing to his brothers to make peace, Isaac pledged
his salary as acting president in Upper Canada, worth about £1,000 per
year, to pay off his debt, which meant, of course, that he had to remain
in Canada instead of going home to seek glory in the fight against
Bonaparte. Brock had written directly to Horse Guards for a leave from
Canada, but when permission arrived early in 1812, he turned it down.
By that time the Americans were making active war preparations and he
explained to Prevost “Being now placed in a high ostensible situation,
and the state of public affairs with the American government indicating a
strong presumption of an approaching rupture between the two
countries, I beg leave to be allowed to remain in my present command.”
23
One last point to consider in regard to Isaac Brock is his appearance,
another aspect of his life that remains clouded. Although illustrations of
him abound, there is no firm evidence that any of the portraits provide
an accurate depiction of the man. Glegg confirmed for Brock’s brothers
that he had never known the general to sit for a portrait during his time
in Canada and it may be that the best surviving likenesses of him are a
miniature of a be-wigged ensign in the 8th Foot and or a pastel portrait
done by William Berczy. Neither convey the common impression that
Brock was a tall and heavy set man. Measurements of extant uniforms,
believed to have been his, show that he stood over six feet, two inches
tall, with a waistline measuring 47 inches and a hat size equaling 24
inches around the hat band. Two anecdotes from officers captured by
Brock at Detroit in August 1812 offer this information. One wrote that
Brock’s “personal appearance was commanding; he must have been six
feet three or four inches in height; very massive and large boned,
though not fleshy, and apparently of immense muscular power.”24 The
second view, somewhat less complimentary, described the general as “a
heavily built man, about six feet three inches in height, broad shoulders,
large hips and lame, walking with a cane. One of his eyes, the left one I
think, was closed and he was withal the ugliest officer I ever saw.”25
Whether “commanding” or “ugly,” Isaac Brock stood out among his
peers. He demonstrated his ability as a commander by deploying the
slim defenses of Upper Canada to best effect and by bringing an
intimidating force into position at Detroit. He cast such an imposing
shadow of charisma and competence that, in the minds of most of those
who outlived him, he was considered “the only man worthy of being at
the head of affairs.”26
Robert Malcomson lives in St. Catharines, Ontario. He is the author of Lords
of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario, 1812-1814 and Warships of
the Great Lakes: 1754-1834. His most recent publication is A Very Brilliant
Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 13 October 1812, (Toronto:
Robin Brass Studio, 2003).
Endnotes
1 These titles are a sampling of the dozens of books and articles written
about Brock’s life:
Carnochan, Jane. “Sir Isaac Brock” Niagara Historical Society No. 15
(1913), 1-22. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Volumes V-IX. (Toronto:
University of Toronto, 1976-1988), 5:109. Eayrs, Hugh S, Sir Isaac Brock.
(Toronto: MacMillan, 1918). Edgar, Lady, General Brock. (London: Oxford
University Press, 1928). Goodspeed, D. J., The Good Soldier: The Story of
Isaac Brock. (Toronto: Macmillan, 1964). Nursey, Walter R., The Story of
Isaac Brock, Hero, Defender and Savior of Upper Canada, 1812. (
Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1923). Whitfield, Carol, “The Battle of
Queenston Heights,” Occasional Papers in Archeology and History, No.
11, (Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1974).
2 Fitz-Enz, David, The Final Invasion: Plattsburgh, the War of 1812's
Most Decisive Battle. (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001), 18.
3 “Maj. Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, president and administrator of Upper
Canada,” Gough, Barry, Fighting Sail on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay:
The War of 1812 and Its Aftermath. (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell,
2002), 20. “General Prevost’s immediate subordinate in Upper Canada
was Major General Sir Isaac Brock,” Skaggs, David Curtis and Altoff,
Gerard T., A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812-13.
(Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 12.
4 Hitsman, J. Mackay, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History.
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965; reprint - Toronto: Robin
Brass Studio, 1999). Turner, Wesley, British Generals in the War of 1812:
High Command in the Canadas. (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University
Press, 1999), 58-83. Malcomson, Robert, A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle
of Queenston Heights, 13 October 1812. (Toronto: Robin Brass Studio,
2003).
5 Nelson to Parker, late March 1801, cited in Pope, Dudley, The Great
Gamble: Nelson at Copenhagen. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972),
283. See also Bennett, Geoffrey, Nelson the Commander, (London:
Batsford Ltd., 1972),181-208. Savery Brock’s zeal for action is portrayed
in Tupper, Life of Brock, 18-23. Savery was, for several years, a
paymaster with the 49th Foot, and had other brief experiences in the
military, but did not undertake a full time career in that quarter.
6 27 commissioned officers, 35 sergeants, 19 drummers,623 rank and
file, as well as 95 women and 69 children, showed on the returns
prepared after the transports Tartar, Peggy, Richard and Norfolk docked
at Quebec; returns enclosed with Hunter to Browrigg, 24 August and 13
September 1802, OA, Miscellaneous Collection, 1797-1802, MU 2100,
1802, #2.
7 Brock to Baynes, 17 March 1807, Tupper, Ferdinand Brock, The Life and
Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B. 2nd ed. (London:
Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1847), 47. [ Hereafter: Tupper, Life of Brock.]
This book continues to be the most thorough version of Brock’s life and,
to simplify the references here, has been used as the chief source of
Brock correspondence.
8 Brock to Baynes, 1 July 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 59.
9 Brock to Baynes, 17 March 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 47
10 Brock to his brothers, 5 September 1808, Tupper, Life of Brock, 72.
11 Brock to Mackenzie, 29 June 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 57. Brock
criticized Mackenzie report on accounts in the Provincial Marine. Incident
with individual malcontents, mutineers and deserters are described in
Tupper, Life of Brock, 24-33.
12 Brock to Dunn, 4 June 1807, Tupper, Life of Brock, 54. See also Brock
to Dunn, 5 January 1807, Tupper Life of Brock, 44.
13 Brock’s plan, early 1806, Tupper, Life of Brock, 33. Titles of the books
are taken from the list of items in Brock’s estate, OA, Miscellaneous
Collection, 1563-1820, MU 2143, #1.
14 Brock to Mrs. William Brock, 10 July 1810, Tupper, Life of Brock, 79.
15 Kempt to Brock, 17 January 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 89.
16 Brock to Irving Brock, 19 February 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 92. It
has often been stated that Brock was engaged to Sophia Shaw, the
daughter of the influential York resident Aeneas Shaw, and that he
stopped to pay his respects to her on 13 October 1812 during his early
morning ride to view the fighting at Queenston. No primary source has
been found to substantiate either claim.
17 Brock to Mrs. William Brock, 8 June and 10 July 1810, Tupper, Life of
Brock, 76, 79.
18 Vesey to Brock, 9 May 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 100.
19 Glegg to William Brock, 30 December 1813, Kosche, Ludwig, “Relics of
Brock: An Investigation.” Archivaria, 9 (1979), 79.
20 Brock to Irving Brock, 10 January 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 87.
Vesey to Brock, 9 May 1811, ibid., 101.
21 Brock to Irving Brock, 19 February 1811, Tupper, Life of Brock, 92.
Baynes to Brock, 11 October 1810, ibid., 85. Brock to Irving Brock, 10
January 1811, ibid., 87.
22 Brock to Irving Brock, 10 January 1811, ibid., 87. 23 Brock to Prevost,
12 February 1812, Tupper, Life of Brock, 151. Brock to Savery Brock, 7
October 1811, ibid., 111. Brock to Irving Brock, 30 October 1811, ibid.,
112. William Brock to Brock, 31 October 1811, ibid., 114. Torrens to
Brock, 17 October 1811, ibid., 116.
24 Attributed to Stanley Hatch and cited in Kosche, Ludwig,
“Contemporary Portraits of Isaac Brock: An Analysis,” Archivaria, 20
(1985), 23. The Brock portraits are discussed in this article, while a
forensic examination of his uniforms is topic of Kosche, “Relics of Brock:
An Investigation.”
25 Attributed to George Sanderson and cited in Kosche, “Contemporary
Portraits of Isaac Brock: An Analysis,” 23.
26 Lieutenant Archibald McLean to unknown, 15 October 1812, Quebec
Mercury, 27 October 1812.
| border="1"Robert Malcomson at Queenston Heights |
