The Astonishing General. Wesley B. Turner
— and sometimes overwhelmed — supply routes to Upper Canada. The strain on the British finances was also heavy, for the cost of presents rose “from £60,000 in 1811 to at least £125,000 in the last year of the war. During the war, £350,000 were required for presents alone.”[42] These presents and payments came from a long tradition and had symbolic importance. In Benn’s words, “Native peoples saw gifts as rewards for past assistance, as manifestations of the giver’s power, as expressions of affection towards friends in need, and as compensation for not being able to hunt, trade, or farm while on campaign.”[43] The distribution or exchange of gifts represented friendship, the sharing of what each party had. The refusal by the British or their inability to provide supplies might be interpreted as denial of friendship or the ending of an alliance. Brock would be aware of this problem but the real crises in the British-native alliance would come after his death.
In eastern Upper Canada, in the district of Johnstown, the little village of Elizabethtown perched on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River. Although by 1810 it had a courthouse and jail, the place had far less importance than Prescott, a few miles downriver. (Prescott would have a garrison and Fort Wellington erected nearby during the war.)[44] However, there is a story of a dramatic event taking place in Elizabethtown in 1811, before Isaac Brock had taken over the government or had won any victories. The account presented by Fryer has Brock proceeding up the St. Lawrence River, passing Prescott. As he approached the village of Elizabethtown, he heard the sounds of a quarrel. It was a bitter fight over changing the name of the village as a consequence of the government making it the district seat and centre for a courthouse. Two prominent families, the Buells and the Joneses, wanted different names that would honour their families. Brock, after eating a meal in the local tavern, listened to the claims of the two factions. Then he proposed the solution of naming the village after him, and so much was the townspeople’s respect for the general, that they did just that.
Brock’s monument in Queenston.
Author’s photo
The story seems to have originated in family tradition and appeared in an early history of Leeds and Grenville Townships. The author includes a cautionary footnote: “Some discrepancy exists between this and other accounts.”[45] Evidence for this account is elusive. In the Journals of the assembly and of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, both for 1812, there are four references to Elizabethtown and none to Brockville.[46] The York Gazette of February 25, 1812, refers to Elizabethtown. Letters written in July 1812 refer to Elizabethtown, while Colonel Lethbridge, writing to Brock on August 10, mentions Brockville but on August 30 writes about an “affair at Elizabethtown.”[47] The change of name can be seen occurring in November of that year, for on the 15th Reverend William Smart delivered a homily, “Death and Victory: A Sermon Occasioned By the Death of Major Gen. Brock, Who Fell In the Battle of Queenston, Upper Canada, on the 13th Day of October, 1812: Preached at Brockville, Elizabethtown, November 15th 1812.” On the first page is a letter to Reverend Smart, requesting him to print the sermon. The letter writer was Lieutenant-Colonel Levius Sherwood (1st Leeds militia), who signed “Com. at Brockville.”[48] By December, the ambiguity over the name had been replaced by certainty, as in reports of the Alien Board the reference is to residents of Brockville.[49] Hence, from late in 1812 the usage of Brockville in place of the former Elizabethtown became popular. Another problem with the claim for the change of name in 1811 is the fact that Prescott was the transfer point for passengers and cargo when travelling up the St. Lawrence, so it would be unusual, indeed unlikely, that Brock would stop at Elizabethtown. Local lore is that some people gave the village the name of Brockville after hearing about the Battle of Queenston Heights and the next step was a petition of June 1813 to the Legislature.[50] The records of the Legislature are incomplete and the petition may be in the missing gap. What is not in doubt is that in March 1818 a bill was moved in the assembly “to establish and confirm the names of the new Towns of Brockville, Belleville and Toronto.”[51] What happened to that bill is unclear and it was not enough for the inhabitants of Brockville. They petitioned in 1819 to have the town incorporated. A bill was introduced and read, but two years later there was another petition making the same request and another bill was brought forth.[52] Brockville’s status was definitely established in January 1832, when it gained a president and board of police. Whatever the official standing of the town, before the end of 1812 its name stood for a permanent tribute to the “Hero of Upper Canada.”
NOTES
1. Stanley, War of 1812, 49. Preston, Kingston, cxii–cxiv. Information on Kingston’s population principally from Robert Gourlay. Sheppard, Plunder, 35–6 gives the population of 1,000, which may be high, other sources state it was about 600. Sheppard also claims that Upper Canada’s population declined during the war. Ibid., 195. For York see Firth, Town of York, lxxvi–lxxvii. Robinson, Life of … Robinson, 53, wrote that York had “scarcely 700 inhabitants.”
2. Bateau also spelled batteau. These were flat-bottomed boats made of planks. They were about forty feet long and six feet across at their widest part and capable of carrying 9,000 pounds. There was a lot of hard work handling cargo and navigating through rapids for a crew of only five men. See Heriot, Travels, 117–18. Stanley, War of 1812, 71.
3. Tupper, Life and Correspondence, 93, Brock to Irving, February 19, 1811; Ibid., 132, Brock to the Military Secretary, December 11.
4. Tupper, Life and Correspondence, 194–96, 198–99.
5. This paragraph is based on Turner, “Career,” 81, Appendix D.
6. LAC, RG8, C676, Gore to Craig, February 20, 1809.
7. Tupper, Life and Correspondence, 81–2, letter dated September 13, 1810. On Vincent see DCB, 7, 888–89. On Glegg see Turner, British Generals, 80 and n.102.
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