Battle of Queenston Heights and the death of Sir Isaac Brock

Background. Isaac Brock, a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey, was promoted to major general in 1811 and given responsibility for defending Upper Canada against the threat of an American invasion. In October 1811 he also became administrator of the province. When the United States declared war in June 1812, Brock's quick victories at Fort Mackinac and Detroit temporarily thwarted American invasion attempts, and news of Detroit reached Britain in early October 1812.

American Command and Preparations. Stephen Van Rensselaer, long active in the militia, held the rank of major general and commanded troops on the New York–Canada border during the War of 1812. He officially took command on 13 July 1812, but lacked the men and supplies to attack across the Niagara River in the summer of 1812. The only significant American military presence along the river before June 1812 had been a company of artillery at Fort Niagara.

Aftermath. The battle was a decisive British victory, and Van Rensselaer resigned his commission after the defeat. Brock fell in action near the heights on 13 October 1812, in the forty-third year of his age. The defeat remained contentious: John Armstrong, Jr., Secretary of War from 1813, blamed the general in his 1836 Notices of the War of 1812, provoking an indignant response from Solomon Van Rensselaer, who blamed Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie.