Why calls the bastion forth the patriot’s sigh,
And starts the tear from beauty’s swelling eye?
Within its breach intrepid Brock is laid,
A tomb according with the mighty dead;
Whose soul devoted to his country’s cause,
In deeds of glory sought his first applause;
Enrolled with Abercrombie, Wolfe and Moore,
No lapse of time his merits shall obscure;
Fresh shall they burn in each Canadian heart,
And all their pure and living fires impart;
A youthful friend rests by his hero’s side,
Their mutual love Death sought not to divide;
The muse that gives her Brock to deathless fame
Shall in the wreath entwine Macdonell’s name.

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Source: Janet Carnochan. History of Niagara (in part). Toronto: William Briggs, 1904

Carnochan writes: James Strachan, the brother of Bishop Strachan, in 1819 wrote a sonnet on Fort George, then the burial-place of General Brock and his Adjutant, Macdonnell.

Read the poem Niagara Falls by John Robert Colombo, a found poem from the unpublished writings of Bishop John Strachan

Brock, Macdonell, and Brock’s horse Alfred were all killed at the Battle of Queenston Heights, shortly after the time depicted in the painting. All three were first buried in one of the bastions at Fort George. Brock and Macdonell were later buried in the base of Brock’s Monument at Queenston Heights.