During the Battle of Queenston Heights, the British suffered a devastating loss when the hero of Upper Canada, Major-General Isaac Brock, was killed. The province decided to commemorate Brock by building a monument and tomb for him in Queenston. There seems to be some debate on whether the first monument was finished, but Brock, along with his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, were buried beneath the monument in October of 1824.
On April 17, 1840, the monument was bombed. It is believed that Irish-Canadian Benjamin Lett, who was involved in William Lyon Mackenzie’s 1837 Rebellion, was the culprit. The Native Allies spearheaded a fundraising campaign to construct a second monument, which was built in 1853, and still stands today.
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