The Battle of Queenston Heights Brock Memorial "Revenge the General!!" Lieutenant John Macdonell   Further Reading An Overview of the Battle of Queenston Heights British Background to the Battle of Queenston Heights American Background to the Battle of Queenston Heights The British at Queenston Heights Brock at Queenston Heights The Americans at Queenston Heights The Iroquois at Queenston Heights

The British at Queenston Heights General Brock feels the British advantage slipping away. The big gun was essential for harassing the enemy embarkment at Lewiston, and without the advantage of the Heights the British will be pushed back towards the village. Brock gathers his men and leads two attacks up the slope. Each time, the Americans lose ground but quickly regroup and drive the British back. Brock’s determination to retake the gun overshadows everything else. As he leads his men in another strike, his general’s uniform is easily distinguishable in the early morning light. A volley of bullets from the American line meets the charge. One musket ball enters General Brock’s chest above his heart, killing him instantly. The British defense unravels quickly. No sooner is the General’s body pulled from the field, than another frontal assault is attempted by Brock’s young aide, John Macdonell. A bullet tears through Macdonell’s back and stomach; he will die before the day is out. The Americans secure the Heights and take control of the village. All but one British gun is silenced. Marching towards the battle, the regiments and militia commanded by Major General Roger Sheaffe catch their first glimpse of wounded prisoners. The young militiaman, John Robinson later remembers: "We met troops of Americans on their way to Fort George, under guard and the road was lined with miserable wretches suffering under wounds of all descriptions and crawling to our houses for protection and comfort. The spectacle struck us, who were unused to such scenes, with horror." The Iroquois under John Norton have already moved forward and are skirmishing with the Americans on the Heights. The few U.S. troops still in the village of Queenston fall back to the high ground to help their comrades. Newly arrived British guns pound the American position. This leaves Sheaffe’s force free to proceed without obstruction. Along with the reinforcements from Fort Erie, Sheaffe commands close to 1,000 troops. The men form up opposite the American lines. Sheaffe orders them to advance. Only a few hundred meters away, Winfield Scott realizes his shrinking force can expect no reinforcements from across the river. He orders a strategic withdrawal. Any semblance of order soon disintegrates; the retreat becomes a mad dash down the Heights toward the shore. "The river presented a horrid spectacle, filled with poor wretches who plunged into the stream from the impulse of fear, with scarcely the prospect of being saved," reported a young Canadian militiaman. "Many leaped down the side of the mountain to avoid the horrors, which pressed on them, and were dashed in pieces by the fall." The British and Iroquois fall upon the Americans on the shore. Winfield Scott narrowly escapes being tomahawked before he formally surrenders to Sheaffe. In what must have been a few terrifying minutes for the Americans, some British regulars and Iroquois continue to harass the US troops. But the battle soon winds down and the counting of the dead begins. British losses are light: 19 dead and 100 wounded or missing. For his part in the victory, Sheaffe receives the daunting reward of replacing Brock as commander of Canada’s forces.