A Matter of Honour: The Life, Campaigns, and Generalship of Isaac Brock The Astonishing General: The Life and Legacy of Sir Isaac Brock by Wesley B. Turner (review)

162 The Michigan Historical Review offers full quotations and referenced primary sources not in the form of a traditional set of edited documents but within the context of his own folksy commentary. Notwithstanding this technique, I can envision the book being used as a text to explore conflicting historical sources and the process of arriving at a supportable conclusion. Near the end, “Thus Fell Tecumseh” introduces a fourth possibility for Tecumseh’s killer—David Thompson—who has a rather weak claim but allows Kuron to note that picking and choosing what is deemed pertinent is part of the scholarly process (p. 303). It is a good point for any researcher to absorb. David A. Simmons Editor, TIMELINE Ohio Historical Society Jonathon Riley. A Matter of Honour: The Life, Campaigns, and Generalship of Isaac Brock. Montréal: Robin Brass Studio, 2011. Pp. 336. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Notes. Paper, $27.95; and Wesley B. Turner. The Astonishing General: The Life and Legacy of Sir Isaac Brock. Toronto: Dundurn, 2011. Pp. 248. Appendices. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Notes. Cloth, $35.00. It is fitting that Maj. Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, KB (1769-1812) receives two biographies on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Recently retired Professor Wesley Turner of Brock University continues his study of the era by expanding on his master’s thesis and his sketch of the “savior of Upper Canada” published in British Generals in the War of 1812: High Command in the Canadas (1999). And retired British Army Lt. Gen. Jonathon Riley, CB adds to his long list of publications and his distinguished record of military leadership with a glorifying narrative of the man who captured Detroit and died performing a captain’s duty a few hundred yards from the Niagara River. Turner wonders why there are so many accolades for someone whose “combat record during the war appears unimpressive.” Looking closely, he finds that Brock “participated in two battles. He won one almost bloodlessly against a demoralized commander. He died early in a second battle yet he is remembered not as a failed leader but as its victor, thereby displacing Roger Sheaffe, the general who led the forces to victory over the American invaders” (p. 10). Even Riley displays a bit of skepticism about the general’s final day: “Brock was certainly not Book Reviews 163 lacking in courage but on Queenston Heights it may have edged into bravado” (p. 304). Both authors acknowledge, however, that it was Brock’s unexpected and effective offensive in the summer of 1812 at forts Michilimackinac and Detroit that provided His Majesty’s government with an operational depth that saved at least the western portion of Upper Canada (modern Ontario) from American domination. In A Matter of Honour Riley explores in greater detail the future general’s origins on the Channel Island of Guernsey, where he was the eighth son of a family of 13 children, 10 of whom reached maturity. Brock’s family bought him an ensignship in the Eighth (the King’s) Regiment of Foot when he was 15 years old. With the support of his brother William, a London banker, further commissions were purchased, and in 1797 Brock became the senior lieutenant colonel of the Forty-ninth Regiment of Foot. Remarkably, in the midst of the French Revolution he did not see combat until 1799, when his regiment participated in the battle of Egmont-op-Zee, suffering 20 percent casualties. The Forty-ninth also served as marines in Horatio Nelson’s squadron during the battle of Copenhagen, where Turner argues that “Nelson’s calmness under pressure as well as his aggressive leadership many have influenced Brock’s thoughts and behavior when he commanded Upper Canada” (p. 30). Riley’s analysis displays an understanding of military terminology, career development, tactics, and strategy from one familiar with both eighteenth-century and modern armies. He benefitted from years spent as a student, teacher, and deputy commandant of the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Camberley and from service in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Thus when he writes that “the very essence of generalship at the operational level” is “determining those...