Brock's Monument is a 56-metre (185 ft) column atop

Queenston Heights The Queenston Heights is a geographical feature of the Niagara Escarpment immediately above the village of Queenston, Ontario, Queenston, Ontario, Canada. Its geography is a promontory formed where the escarpment is divided by the Niagara River. ...

Queenston Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the eponym ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, dedicated to Major General Sir Isaac Brock, one of Canada's heroes of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Brock, a British Army officer in charge of defending

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

from a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

invasion, and one of his aides-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel

John Macdonell Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell of Greenfield (19 April 1785 – 14 October 1812) was an aide-de-camp to British Major General Sir Isaac Brock during the War of 1812, dying in the Battle of Queenston Heights. Life He was born on 19 Apr ...

, are interred at the monument's base on the heights above the battlefield where both fell during the

Battle of Queenston Heights The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major engagement of the War of 1812. The battle took place on 13 October 1812 at Queenston in Upper Canada (now Ontario) and was a decisive British victory. United States regulars and New York (state ...

. The current monument was constructed between 1853 and 1856, which replaced an earlier Monument to Brock on the battlefield (1824–1840).

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

maintains the monument, the most imposing feature of

National Historic Site. It is the fourth oldest war memorial in Canada.

History

Brock died by gunshot wound to the chest on the morning of October 13, 1812, leading a charge of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

regulars and Canadian militia up the Heights to regain the Redan Battery, earlier captured by American

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

forces under Captain John Wool. One of Brock's aides-de-camp,

was also mortally wounded while attempting to lead a subsequent abortive charge when his mount was shot from beneath him and fell on him. The combined British, Canadian, and

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

forces eventually won a resounding victory under the command of Major-General Roger Hale Sheaffe. Brock and his aide were initially buried in the north-east corner of Fort George in nearby

Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York (state), New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the R ...

. This corner has come to be known as Brock's Bastion and is immortalized as such by a small stone bearing that inscription. A campaign began among prominent Upper Canadians to honour Brock, whose dramatic death provided a rallying point during and after the war as a symbol of Canadian independence from the United States. This led to the erection of the first Brock's Monument, a 135-foot (41.1m) Tuscan column with a viewing platform at the top. Construction began in 1823, and the monument was inaugurated October 13, 1824. During its construction,

William Lyon Mackenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify the establishment of Upper Canada. He represe ...

suggested that a capsule be sealed within the monument containing an inscription written by Mackenzie, coins, a copy of the ''Upper Canada Gazette'' and the first issue of the '' Colonial Advocate''. The Upper Canada Lieutenant-Governor Peregrine Maitland ordered its removal because he did not want to include a newspaper critical of the government in the monument. On April 17, 1840, an explosive charge did serious and irreparable damage to the monument although it failed to bring it down. The attack was presumed to have been orchestrated by Benjamin Lett, an anti-British agitator and participant in the 1837 Rebellion although a subsequent

Assize The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

failed to confirm this. Brock and Macdonell's remains were removed after the monument's disassemblage and reinterred in the Hamilton Family Burial Grounds at Niagara Parkway and Dee Road in Queenston.

Replacement

A campaign to rebuild the monument began almost immediately. In 1852,

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

William Thomas had his design selected for a monument even grander than the first. A master stone carver named Charles Thomas Thomas (1820–1867) supervised the construction and stone carving of Brock's Monument. He was an English-born stone carver. Thomas was employed by Worthington Brothers of Toronto, contractors for the stone work on Brock's Monument. Construction began in 1853 again using

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

from the nearby Queenston Quarry and was completed three years later. The remains of Brock and Macdonell were led back up

and interred for the fourth time. The monument was officially inaugurated on October 13, 1859. A smaller obelisk, closer to the exact site of Brock's death, was dedicated by Prince Edward (later

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

), in 1860. On the re-interment, two oval plates were attached to Brock's coffin. They read:

Here lie the earthly remains of a brave and virtuous hero, / Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, / Commander of the British forces, / and President Administering / the Government of Upper Canada, / Who fell when gloriously engaging the Enemies / of his Country, / at the head of the Flank Companies / of the 49th Regiment, / in the Town of Queenstown, / on the morning of the 13th October, 1812, / aged 42 years. J.B. Glegg, A.D.C.

A 1929

lightning strike A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which an electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning ...

severely damaged Brock's statue, sending large portions crashing to the ground below. In August 2003 the Friends of Fort George and

held a ceremony to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the monument's groundbreaking. Engineering inspections carried out in 2003 and 2004 revealed the need for significant restorative work to the structure's interior and exterior limestone. Parks Canada closed the monument to the public in 2005 pending repairs. An extensive restoration on the monument began in 2008 and was completed in May 2009. Improvements included relining the interior walls to protect against condensation as well as battery-powered interior emergency lights to assist with exiting the monument should there be a power loss.

Features

The main entrance is flanked by two large

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

trees believed to have been planted during the 1850s. Inside the monument's base are a number of brass plaques: Brock and Macdonell's epitaphs, a list of donors and builders, and a tribute to the British, Canadian, and First Nations soldiers who died at the Battle of Queenston Heights. The two bodies are interred in crypts within the limestone walls. More recent educational displays outline Brock's life, the battle, and the monument's history—including a portion of Brock's former limestone arm that collapsed in 1929. A 235-step spiral staircase up the column leads visitors to a small indoor platform underneath Brock's statue. Porthole windows provide views of the surrounding Niagara region and

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. The monument, illuminated at night, marks the end of an interpretive historical walking trail that leads down and then up Queenston Heights, recounting key events in the battle. There is also a small monument to Tecumseh between the monument and the look out. This monument is approximately 3 feet tall, and is composed of twigs, twine and dyed dollar store feathers. It has a placard made of paper protected by a report cover, and has been maintained for years, however, not by Parks Niagara, Parks Ontario, or Parks Canada, but by some caring civilians.

References

External links

Queenston Heights and Brock's Monument at Parks Canada

Brock's Monument – The Friends of Fort George

The Saga of Brock's Monument – Archives of Ontario
{{War of 1812, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Niagara-on-the-Lake 1856 sculptures Canadian military memorials and cemeteries Landmarks of the War of 1812 William Thomas (architect) buildings Monuments and memorials in Ontario Monumental columns in Canada Tourist attractions in the Regional Municipality of Niagara Cemeteries in Ontario

History

Replacement

Features

See also

References

External links