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Updated: May 15, 2025
Roger Sheaffe, the senior military officer there, and to him, Gen'l. Smyth, the new American commander at Niagara, applied for an armistice, which was granted, and which lasted from the battle of Queenston until the 20th of November. Nothing could have been more silly than this consent to an armistice on the part of a general so very fortunate as General Sheaffe had been. He needed no rest.
Two sessions of parliament had been held in Upper Canada, since the commencement of the war, one was opened by Major General Brock, on the 3rd of February, 1812, when eleven Acts were passed, and the other by Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, during which other eleven Acts became law. They show the temper of the times.
On the very afternoon that the British defeated the Americans at Queenston, and when the moral effect of that victory, followed up by vigorous attack, would have saved Canada from a continuance of the war, and deplorable loss of life and trade, Sheaffe actually agreed to another armistice. For this second truce, like his first, "no valid reason, military or civil, has ever been assigned."
The town was garrisoned by only six hundred men, including militia and dockyard men, under Gen. Sheaffe. Under cover of a heavy fire, which swept the beach, the Americans landed, drove in the British outposts, which stoutly contested every foot of ground, and made a dash for the dilapidated fort, which the fleet meanwhile heavily bombarded.
Scott, who was at this moment engaged in unspiking a gun, rushed to the front, and, rallying his men, sent the dusky warriors rapidly in retreat. The British general Sheaffe, who held the command at Fort George, having heard the firing, at once put his troops in motion and marched for the scene of the conflict. Sheaffe's command consisted of eight hundred and fifty men.
"I have the honour to bear despatches from General Sheaffe," said the young officer; when the adjutant promptly requested him to proceed to his quarters, and sent the others to the mess-room, with orders for their generous refreshment.
This was done while Brock was in the West. Sheaffe it also was who, with hat in hand and strange alacrity, later agreed, despite his first terrible blunder, to repeat the offence.
While General Sheaffe was President of Upper Canada, an Act was passed to facilitate the circulation of the Lower Province Army Bills. They were to be received in payment of duties and at the office of the Receiver General.
Helm, a delicate woman of seventeen years, was permitted to sit waiting in her saddle, outside the gate, for more than an hour, before the refreshment of fire or food, or even the shelter of a roof, was offered them. When Colonel Sheaffe, who had been absent at the time, was informed of this brutal inhospitality, he expressed the greatest indignation. He waited on Mrs.
Brock, on regaining the bottom of the slope, seeing that the main attack was to be made at Queenston, sent Captain Derenzy with a despatch to Sheaffe at Fort George.
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