The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock

Ferdinand Brock Tupper

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• Publié par: meshir
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 43
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, by Ferdinand Brock Tupper This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock Author: Ferdinand Brock Tupper Release Date: December 23, 2004 [EBook #14428] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR ISAAC BROCK *** Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B. INTERSPERSED WITH NOTICES OF THE CELEBRATED INDIAN CHIEF, TECUMSEH; AND COMPRISING BRIEF MEMOIRS OF DANIEL DE LISLE BROCK, ESQ.; LIEUTENANT E.W. TUPPER, R.N., AND COLONEL W. DE VIC TUPPER, "What booteth it to have been rich alive? What to be great? What to be glorious? If after death no token doth survive Of former being in this mortal house, But sleeps in dust, dead and inglorious!" SPENCER'S "Ruins of Time." EDITED BY HIS NEPHEW, FERDINAND BROCK TUPPER, ESQ. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & Co. GUERNSEY : H. REDSTONE. 1845. PREFACE. In the early part of last year, a box of manuscripts and the trunks belonging to Sir Isaac Brock, which had remained locked and unexamined for nearly thirty years, were at length opened, as the general's last surviving brother, Savery, in whose possession they had remained during that period, was then, from disease of the brain, unconscious of passing events. With that sensibility which shrinks from the sight of objects that remind us of a much-loved departed relative or friend, he had allowed the contents to remain untouched; and when they saw the light, the general's uniforms, including the one in which he fell, were much moth-eaten, but the manuscripts were happily uninjured. On the return of the Editor from South America in May last, he for the first time learnt the existence of these effects; and a few weeks after, having hastily perused and assorted the letters and other papers, he decided on their publication. Whether this decision was wise, the reader must determine. If, on the one hand, part of their interest be lost in the lapse of years; on the other, they, and the comments they have elicited, can now be published with less risk of wounding private feelings. It has been the Editor's study to avoid all unnecessary remarks on the letters in this volume, so as to allow the writers to speak for themselves. But he has deemed it a sacred obligation due to the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, to withhold nothing descriptive of his energetic views and intentions, and of the obstacles he experienced in the vigorous prosecution of the contest—obstacles which his gallant spirit could not brook, and which necessarily exposed "his valuable life" much more than it would have been in offensive operations.[1] He regrets, however, that in the performance of this duty, he must necessarily give pain to the relatives of the late Sir George Prevost, of whose military government in Canada he would much rather have written in praise than in censure. Brief memoirs are inserted, at the conclusion of the Appendix, of one of Sir Isaac Brock's brothers, the bailiff or chief magistrate of Guernsey, and of two of their nephews, Lieutenant E.W. Tupper, R.N., and Colonel W. De Vic Tupper, of the Chilian service. The premature fate of these two promising young officers is, to those who knew them best, still a source of unceasing regret and of embittering remembrance. The notices of the celebrated Tecumseh interspersed throughout the volume, and the connected sketch of him near its close, can scarcely fail to interest the reader; that sketch is drawn from various and apparently authentic sources, and the Editor believes that it is more copious than any which has yet appeared of this distinguished Indian chief. A perusal will perhaps awaken sympathy in behalf of a much-injured people; it may also tend to remove the films of national prejudice, and prove that virtue and courage are not confined to any particular station or country, but that they may exist as well in the wilds of the forest, as in the cultivated regions of civilization. GUERNSEY, January 15, 1845. FOOTNOTES: [1] See pages 275-28O, 298, 304, 305, 315-317. CONTENTS. PREFACE. CHAPTER I. Parentage and birth—Boyhood—Enters the King's Regiment—Trait of determination of character—Becomes Lieutenant-Colonel of the 49th—Campaign in Holland, in 1799—Russian troops in Guernsey—Battle of Copenhagen, in 1801 —Notice of John Savery Brock, Esq. CHAPTER II. Proceeds to Canada with the 49th—Suppresses a mutiny at Fort George —Returns to Europe, and recommends the formation of a Veteran Battalion for Up p e r Canada—Re-embarks for Canada, and succeeds Colonel Bowes in command of the troops there—Letters to Lieut.-Colonel Gordon, Right Hon. W. Windham, the Adjutant-General, Mr. President Dunn, and to Lord Castlereagh —Arrival of Sir James Craig CHAPTER III. Is made a Brigadier—Letters to his family—Proceeds to Upper Canada—Letters f r o m Colonels Baynes and Thornton—Lieut.-Colonel Murray—Baroness de Rottenburg CHAPTER IV. Letters to and from Lieut.-Governor Gore—from Colonels Kempt and Baynes—to Sir James Craig and Major Taylor—from Colonel Vesey—P. Carey Tupper, Esq. CHAPTER V. Is made a Major-General—Sir James Craig returns to England; his character and administration—Letters from Major-General Vesey and Colonel Baynes—Duke of Manchester—Arrival of Sir George Prevost—Letters from Lieut.-General Drummond and Lieut.-Colonel Torrens—to and from Sir George Prevost CHAPTER VI. Origin of the American war—Letters to and from Sir G. Prevost and Colonel Baynes—Meeting of the Legislature—Letter to Colonel Baynes relative to Detroit and Michilimakinack, &c.—Letters to Lieut.-Colonel Nichol—from Sir James Saumarez, Major-General Le Couteur, and Sir John Dumaresq CHAPTER VII. Description of the boundaries, military posts, and lakes of Upper Canada—of the Michigan territory, Detroit, and Michilimakinack CHAPTER VIII. War declared—Major-General Brock's proceedings—Force under his command —Letters from Colonel Baynes, and to and from Sir George Prevost—American newspaper. CHAPTER IX. General Hull invades Upper Canada—His proclamation, and that of Major-General Brock in reply—Letters to Sir G. Prevost and from Sir T. Saumarez—Meeting of the Legislature—Critical state of the Province CHAPTER X. Capture of Michilimakinack—Letters to and from Sir G. Prevost, from Colonels Baynes and Bruyeres CHAPTER XI. Occurrences in the Western District—Tecumseh—Major-General Brock proceeds t o Amherstburg—Voyage described—General Order—Indians, and notice of Tecumseh—Summons to General Hull, and his answer—Surrender of Detroit, and its consequences—Anecdotes of Tecumseh—Country about Detroit—Indian war in 1763. CHAPTER XII. Letters relative to Detroit, to and from Sir G. Prevost, to Earl Bathurst, from W.D. Powell, Esq., Chief Justice Sewell, General Maitland, Major-General Burnet, from Major-General Brock to his brothers, and from Lieut.-Colonel Nichol—General Hull's reception at Montreal CHAPTER XIII. Major-General Brock returus to the Niagara frontier—Armistice—Proposed attack on Sackett's Harbour prevented—Letters to and from Sir