Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/21

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MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK.
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by a bullet, and which prevented its entering his neck. He was second in command of the land forces at the memorable attack of Copenhagen by Lord Nelson, in 1801, and was appointed to lead the 49th in storming the principal of the Treckroner batteries, in conjunction with five hundred seamen under Captain Fremantle; but the protracted and heroic defence of the Danes rendering the attempt impracticable, Lieut.-Colonel Brock, during this hard-fought battle, continued on board the Ganges, of 74 guns, commanded by that excellent officer, the late Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Fremantle. Another of his brothers, Savery, served under him in the 49th in Holland, and at Copenhagen. While in the act of pointing one of the guns of the Ganges, his cocked hat was torn from his head by a cannon or grape shot, and a naval officer, who was present, recently described the scene which followed this narrow escape in these words: "I now hear Sir Isaac exclaim, Ah! poor Savery is dead! But Savery was not an instant on his back; in the same moment he rubbed his head, assured his brother that he was not injured, and fired the gun with as much coolness as if nothing had happened."[1] In the following year Lieut.-Colonel Brock proceeded to Canada with his favorite 49th, and there remained, with only one intermission, when he returned on leave to Europe, until the period of his death. In 1803 or 1804, he quelled a serious mutiny which was on the point of breaking out in the regiment, part of which was in garrison at Niagara, under the command of the junior lieutenant-colonel, while the head quarters were fixed at York, the

  1. The effect of the ball passing so near him was such, that although a remarkably tall, athletic young man, he was knocked down and stunned for a moment.