[Footnote 30: _The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K.B._, by Ferdinand Brock Tupper, p. 16. This most interesting volume has furnished very much of the material for this chapter. D. B. Read's _Life and Times of General Brock_ is an excellent book for popular use and will be found quoted herein.]
[Footnote 31: One cause of desertion seems to have been the ubiquitous American girl. In a later letter Brock wrote:
"Not a desertion has been attempted by any of the 49th for the last ten months, with the exception, indeed, of Hogan. He served Glegg, who took him with him to the Falls of Niagara, where a fair damsel persuaded him to this act of madness, for the fellow cannot possibly gain his bread by labour, as he has half killed himself with excessive drinking; and we know he cannot live upon love alone."]
[Footnote 32: A letter from Colonel Kempt runs: "I have just received a long letter . . . giving me an account of a splendid ball given by you to the _beau monde_ of Niagara and its vicinity, and the manner in which she speaks of your liberality and hospitality reminds me of the many pleasant hours I have passed under your roof. We _have no such parties now_, and the indisposition of Sir James having prevented the usual public days at the castle, nothing more stupid than Quebec now is can be imagined."]
[Footnote 33: British Ambassador to the United States.]
[Footnote 34: In the face of the fact here divulged concerning Proctor's attitude toward Brock's determination to move upon Detroit it is interesting to remember Brock's very high praise of Proctor in his report of the capture. His words, so characteristic of the gentleman, were: "I have been admirably supported by Colonel Proctor. . . ."]
[Footnote 36: The reference here is to the failure of the British to assist the Indian confederacy withstand General Wayne's invasion of the Maumee Valley which ended in the victory of Fallen Timber.]
[Footnote 37: That Brock feared the Indians when acting in unison, that is, when not "interspersed" among the troops, is perfectly plain from his letter to General Prevost of July 3d.]
We have explained the influence of the life and death of General Brock in the upper province sufficiently for the reader to conceive, perhaps, an unusual interest in the course of the war that soon was raging, in reality or in burlesque, as it sometimes appeared, along the northern border; no one can take any interest in Brock's career without wondering whether his province was invaded or conquered despite the sacrifices of this undefeated but dead hero.