of flailing bodies being swept downstream in the grip of the cold river current toward Lake Ontario. For the majority, however, surrender was the only realistic option and at least two attempts were made to raise a white flag. Unfortunately, battle fever blinded some of the Allied troops and the unfortunate bearers of the flag were shot down. Eventually Winfield Scott brought matters to a close by seizing a white neckcloth and holding it aloft on his sword as a sign of the American capitulation. In the aftermath of this final action, four participants recorded their impressions of these events:
We was then ordered to advance; our little field pieces commenced firing. It was returned by the Americans with a six-pounder masked in the brush. A rapid advance was ordered, without firing a musket shot on our part, until within a small distance of the enemy under cover of the woods and underbrush. We was then ordered to halt and fire…. We stood but a short time until, I suppose, we was ordered to advance with double quick time. The musketry made such a noise I heard no order, but as the others moved we all followed…. The General and his aid, no doubt, as they ought to do, had a position that was clear to them, but as the wind blew from the enemy we had both their smoke and ours in our faces.[7]
— Private William Woodruff,
1st Lincoln Militia
The Ground on which we had fought was well adapted to favour a small number against a stronger force. On our left, the steep descent of Queenstown mountain, along which & the meadows beneath, we had an uninterrupted view — on our right an extensive field, that reached to the Niagara River, which exposed to our Sight any Body of the Enemy that might advance in that Direction to pass our flank … General Sheaffe and the Troops — having now ascended the Hill … a Reinforcement of Light Infantry of one Hundred Men … of the 41st were sent to us … at the same time we were also strengthened by a number of Cuyugwa Warriors, who had been detained at Niagara…. We were thus more than doubly strengthened. We arranged ourselves on the Extremity of the left — the Light Infantry taking post on our right — next to the Main Body. When we saw the right Wing enter the field — we rushed forward — the enemy fired — we closed & they ran; … we came upon them Swiftly — they left their cannon, & we raised the Shout of Victory. — they ran in disorder — many falling on the way … right along the Bank of the River — the Enemy disappeared under the Bank; many plunging into the River.[8]
— John Norton, Native warrior leader
On the advance I perceived an iron 6 pounder abandoned…. I ran to it with two or three men and turned it round upon a large group of Yankees in Lewiston, our own people being between it and the enemy on the heights [at Fort Gray] … and managed to discharge it several times towards the enemy at Lewiston…. The battle …was a very warm and close one. I have been in many hail storms, but never in one where the stones flew so thick as the bullets on this occasion…. The lines were very near each other, and every foot of the ground the enemy gave way gave us an advantage, as on their side it descended. After almost half an hour’s close engagement they disappeared in the smoke, throwing down their arms, and ran down the heights to the water’s edge in the vain hope of reaching their own side.[9]
— Captain James Crooks,
1st Lincoln Militia
I saw many of the American soldiers run and plunge down the bank, some went down upon the rocks and trees & were killed while many who plunged into the river were drowned, the river running at a very rapid rate. None but the most powerful swimmers succeeded in reaching the American shore.[10]
— Private John Chapman, 41st Regiment
The losses suffered by the American army in this battle are somewhat ambiguous. This situation is not surprising considering:
the disorganized and broken nature of the units landing on the Canadian shore;
the confused mixture of regiments engaged in the various portions of the battle;
the high level of desertions from the field and military encampments, both during and after the battle; and
the unknown number of individuals who were swept away by the river when their boats sank beneath them in the initial assaults or during the chaos of the rout at the end of the battle.
Brock’s Monument as it looks today. The second one to be built, it marks the epicentre of the fighting at the climax of the Battle of Queenston Heights. The area, which was once a landscape of fields, farmsteads, military buildings, and dense forest, is now a manicured park that attracts tourists from around the globe.
Estimates are that only about one-third of the available troops actually crossed the river. Of these, over 900 ended up as prisoners. On the other side of the conflict, British official accounts record a far lower casualty roll.*[11] This disparity would normally stand as a glorious victory for the British, but the death of General Brock was credited as such a grievous loss that some contemporary accounts make more of this event than of the subsequent success of General Sheaffe in winning the battle.
In a sidebar to the battle, it must be noted that the garrisons at Fort George and Fort Erie were also engaged in combat during the course of the day. At Fort George, before dawn, as General Brock galloped toward Queenston, the American artillery at Fort Niagara opened up on the fort and the town alongside. Within a short time the town’s jail, courthouse, and several homes and other civilian buildings were set ablaze, torched by the Americans using cannonballs cooked in a furnace until red-hot and then fired as “hot-shot.” In return, the British artillery batteries at Fort George, supported by detached batteries sited along the riverbank, bombarded Fort Niagara, causing significant damage and forcing the artillerists to abandon their elevated positions on the fort buildings. In retaliation, the American detached batteries along the riverbank joined in and several hot-shot set fire to the wooden barracks and storehouses within the fort. Most dangerously, however, was the impact of a hot-shot on the roof of the fort’s powder magazine. Piercing the roof’s metal covering, the red-hot ball lodged within the wooden beams of the roof and began to burn its way through toward the large quantities of black powder below, threatening a devastating explosion. In response, many of the small number of troops left behind to guard the garrison made a quick exit through the fort’s gate and headed for the cover of the nearby woods. Ignoring the danger, however, Captain Henry M. Vigoureux (Royal Engineers) and a handful of men clambered up onto the smouldering building and proceeded to tear away at the roofing to expose the shot. Creating a bucket chain, Vigoureux and his valiant crew doused the rising fires and extracted the still-warm cannonball, thus saving the fort from destruction. While at Fort Erie, once news reached the fort of the American attack at Queenston, the riverside batteries were ordered to begin a bombardment of the enemy positions in an effort to prevent them detaching troops to support the invasion. As part of this cannonade, an American barrack, containing a quantity of ammunition, exploded, killing and injuring several soldiers inside the building; a warehouse full of goods removed from the Caledonia was set on fire, severely damaging the salvaged goods; while the Caledonia, already damaged, was hit several more times and sank at her mooring.
(Above) A View of Fort George Upper Canada, E. Walsh, artist, circa 1813. Fort George as seen
