Staff Reports
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS — Major-General Isaac Brock
BORN: Oct. 6, 1769, in St. Peter Port, Guernsey (Channel Islands) in England, eight son of John and Elizabeth DeLisle Brock.
EDUCATION: Attends school in Southampton, England, and studies French for a year in Rotterdam (1784).
MILITARY: Buys a commission as an ensign in the 8th (The King’s) Regiment of the British army (1785)
• Promoted to captain and changes regiments to 49th Foot so he can be posted abroad (1791)
• Sent to Kingston, Jamaica, he suffers a seriious illness, probably yellow fever.
• Commissioned a major (1795) and a lieutenant colonel (1797) and soon named commander of the 49th Regiment.
• Assigned to Upper Canada (Ontario) and stationed at York (now Toronto) in 1803.
• Promoted to brigadier-general (1807)
• Leads 730 soldiers and militia and 600 native warriors to capture Fort Detroit, Aug, 16, 1812, giving the British control of the Michigan Territory and the Upper Mississippi. American Brigadier General Hull surrenders his 2,500-member force without hardly firing a shot.
• Just before dawn, Oct. 13, 1812, Brock killed leading his 49th Foot (Regiment) up the hill.
• Buried at Fort George, Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.), his remains are later moved to the base of the splendid monument atop Queenston Heights (1856).
Source: “Isaac Brock: Larger Than Life,” by Ven Begamudre (The Quest Library)
