DETROIT
Que faut-il pour vaincre les ennemis de la patrie? De l'audace,
encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace.--Danton.
The events described in the last chapter show the condition of
affairs when General Brock arrived at Amherstburg. He immediately
summoned a council of war to meet at Colonel Elliott's quarters. It
was here that he first met his Indian ally, Tecumseh, and both seem
to have been favourably impressed with each other. After hearing
what had happened at Brownstown and Maguaga, the general explained to
the savage warrior his intention of immediately advancing upon
Detroit. Tecumseh, taking a roll of birch bark, spread it on the
ground, and with his scalping knife etched upon the bark a plan of
the country, its hills, woods, morasses and roads. One who was
present at the meeting reported Tecumseh's speech on the occasion.
He said: "I have fought against the enemies of our great father, the
king, beyond the great lakes, and they have never seen my back. I am
come here to fight his enemies on this side the great salt lake, and
now desire with my soldiers to take lessons from you and your
warriors that we may learn how to make war in these great forests."
{246} The commanding figure and fine countenance of General Brock
seemed to strike the savage chief, and turning round to his people he
stretched out his hand, exclaiming in his own tongue, "This is a man."
[Sidenote: Tecumseh]
It is stated that although Tecumseh could speak English, he never
spoke any language but his own at any council or when in the presence
of any officer or agent of a government, preferring to make use of an
interpreter. He held the opinion that the honour of his people and
race required official intercourse to be carried on in the Shawanese
tongue. He is described as being of about five feet nine inches in
height, very erect, with an oval face, clear hazel eyes, straight
nose, and a Napoleonic mouth, finely formed and expressive. He was
invariably dressed in tanned buckskin made in the usual Indian
fashion, that is, a fringed hunting frock descending to the knee,
over underclothes of the same material. Leggings and moccasins and a
mantle, also of buckskin, completed the costume. In his belt was a
silver-mounted tomahawk, also a knife in a strong leather case. On
the occasion of their first interview General Brock presented
Tecumseh with his sash, but the next morning he appeared without it.
When asked the reason, he said an abler warrior than himself, the
Wyandot chief Roundhead, was present, and he had transferred it to
him. This little piece of diplomacy shows how well Tecumseh
understood the art of {247} keeping his savage allies in good humour.
In a letter to Lord Liverpool, General Brock gives his impression of
the chief. He writes: "Among the Indians whom I found at
Amherstburg, who had arrived from distant parts of the country, were
some extraordinary characters. He who attracted most of my attention
was the Shawanese chief, Tecumseh, brother to the prophet, who for
the last two years has carried on, contrary to our remonstrances, an
active warfare against the United States. A more sagacious or more
gallant warrior does not exist. He was the admiration of every one
who conversed with him. From a life of dissipation, he has not only
become in every respect abstemious, but has likewise prevailed on all
his nation and many of the other tribes to follow his example."
On August 14th, at Amherstburg, General Brock issued the following
general order: "The troops in the western district will be formed
into three brigades. 1st Brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel St.
George, to consist of a detachment of the Royal Newfoundland
Regiment, and of the Kent and 1st and 2nd Regiments of Essex Militia;
2nd Brigade, under Major Chambers, to consist of fifty men of the
41st Regiment, and the whole of the detachments of the York, Lincoln,
Oxford, and Norfolk Militia; 3rd Brigade, under Major Tallon, to
consist of the remainder of the 41st Regiment. Colonel Procter will
have charge of the whole line under the orders of the major-general.
James Givins, {248} late captain of the 5th Regiment, is appointed
provincial aide-de-camp, with the rank of major of the militia."
General Brock called together his principal officers to confer with
them on the proposed crossing of the river to attack Fort Detroit.
He had already made up his own mind, but only one officer, the
quartermaster-general, Colonel Nichol, agreed with him as to the
advisability of the enterprise. The general then said: "I have
decided on crossing, and now, gentlemen, instead of any further
advice, I entreat of you to give me your cordial and hearty support."
If the ideal officer is the man who can decide rightly what to do in
any situation of war, who is able to make up his mind quickly what
course to adopt and how to carry it out, then Isaac Brock was that
ideal officer. Nature had given him the hero's outfit,--"courage and
the faculty to do."
[Sidenote: Sandwich and Detroit]
Early on August 15th orders were given to advance at once to
Sandwich, sixteen miles from Amherstburg and four miles below
Detroit. The troops arrived the same day at their destination. A
detachment of two hundred and fifty Americans, left by General Hull
in a fort on the Canadian side, evacuated it on the approach of the
British, and crossed the river to the American side. General Brock
occupied as headquarters Colonel Baby's house, so lately vacated by
General Hull. Preparations had already been made for bombarding
Detroit, for batteries had been constructed under the superintendence
{249} of Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers. They were equipped
for one 18-pounder, two 12½ and two 5½-inch mortars. It is scarcely
to be wondered at that doubts were felt as to the possibility of
crossing the river to attack a strong fort with the scanty force at
the command of the British general. He had but two hundred and fifty
of the 41st Regiment, fifty of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment,
thirty Royal Artillery, four hundred militia, and about seven hundred
Indians. For artillery there were but five guns--three 6-pounders
and two 3-pounders. In the Detroit River there were two British
gunboats, one the _Queen Charlotte_ (Captain Finnis) a sloop of war
armed with eighteen 24-pounders, the other the brig _Hunter_. On the
Canadian side of the river, directly opposite Detroit, was the
battery under the command of Captain Dixon. The river at Sandwich is
about three-quarters of a mile wide.
The American general had under his command two troops of cavalry, one
company of artillery, the 4th United States Regiment, detachments of
the 1st and 3rd Regiments of the regular army of volunteers, three
regiments of Ohio militia and one of the Michigan territory. In all
there were about two thousand men posted in and around the fort,
while a detachment of three hundred and sixty men under Colonel
McArthur, who had left for the river Raisin, had been recalled and
were now on their way back. All these troops were well armed. {250}
The fort was defended by twenty-six pieces of ordnance of large
calibre. There was an abundance of ammunition, as Colonel Cass's
report to the secretary of war showed. He stated that they had four
hundred rounds of 24-pound shot fixed, and about one hundred thousand
cartridges made. There were also forty barrels of powder and two
thousand five hundred stand of arms.
It was indeed a bold enterprise to attempt to take the place by
assault. As General Brock said afterwards, he made a cool
calculation of the _pours_ and _contres_, and was helped in his
decision by the letters that had fallen into his hands at Brownstown
addressed to the secretary of war; and also by the private letters of
hundreds of the American army to their friends. These showed that
confidence in General Hull was gone, and that despondency prevailed
throughout the fort.
[Sidenote: Brock's demand]
When General Brock arrived at Sandwich on the morning of August 15th,
he determined at once to carry out his plan. From his headquarters
he penned a missive summoning the American general to surrender. In
coolness and boldness it is only equalled by that of Nelson to the
Crown Prince at Copenhagen. Possibly Brock thought of that day when
he stood by England's great admiral and saw him write his demand for
the surrender of the Danish forts. In almost similar terms the
British general wrote: "The force at my disposal authorizes me to
require of you the immediate surrender of {251} Fort Detroit. It is
far from my inclination to join in a war of extermination, but you
must be aware that the numerous body of Indians who have attached
themselves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment the
contest commences."
This letter was taken to Fort Detroit by the two aides-de-camp,
Captain Glegg and Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell. General Hull refused
to see them, and after keeping them waiting about two hours, returned
this answer: "I have received your letter of this date. I have no
other reply to make than to inform you that I am prepared to meet any
force which may be at your disposal, and any consequences which may
result from any exertion of it you may think proper to make."
On the receipt of this the batteries were ordered to open fire upon
the fort, which apparently threw the enemy into some confusion. An
effort was made to return the fire from the opposite bank, but
without effect. No damage was done on either side. All night the
troops in Sandwich lay on their arms, prepared to cross the river at
early dawn. Under the cover of darkness, six hundred Indians led by
Tecumseh crossed over during the night, and were ordered to attack
the enemy in flank and rear if they should oppose the landing of the
troops. At six o'clock on Sunday, the 16th, three hundred regulars
and four hundred militia under Brock's immediate command, were
embarked in boats and canoes, carrying with them five pieces of light
{252} artillery, and were landed at Springwells, four miles below
Detroit. One who was present writes: "A soft August sun was just
rising as we gained the centre of the river, and the view at the
moment was certainly very animated and exciting, for amid the little
squadron of boats and scows conveying the troops and artillery were
mixed numerous canoes filled with Indian warriors decorated in their
half-nakedness for the occasion, and uttering yells of mingled
defiance of their foes and encouragement of the soldiery. Above us
again were to be seen and heard the flashes and thunder of the
artillery from our batteries, which, as on the preceding day, were
but feebly replied to by the enemy, while the gay flags of the _Queen
Charlotte_, drooping in the breezeless, yet not oppressive air, and
playing on the calm surface of the river seemed to give earnest of
success, and inspired every bosom."[1]
Years before Isaac Brock had crossed the river on a peaceful visit to
this garden of the West. The landscape was the same but what a
change had come! There were still the settlers' homesteads, the
orchards laden with fruit, the vines heavy with grapes, the fields of
rich grass that lined the water's edge. But the flower-decked homes
were deserted. Through the orchards gleamed the bayonets of armed
men. Under the vines lurked the half-naked savage ready for his
cruel work. Instead of the welcome he had once received, guns
pointed their grim muzzles {253} down the road. The women and
children who had met him with smiles before were gathered trembling
in the fort, and instead of the church bells calling them to prayer
this Sunday morning, came the dull boom of the cannon from the shore
and fort.
[Sidenote: The advance]
The road from Springwells passed up across the ground between the
fort and the river. A few village dwellings were on the river side
of the road, and a few farm houses on the west side. Fronting the
road and commanding the approach in that direction were two 24-pound
field guns, two 12-pound iron and two 6-pound brass guns. The 1st
Regiment of Ohio volunteers was posted in an orchard on the west;
next to them, extending to the west curtain of the fort, was the 2nd
Regiment, and then the 3rd Regiment covering the north-west bastion
and wagon train; while in the fort was the entire 4th United States
Regiment, and a company of artillery. When the troops had crossed
the river they formed and advanced in column, General Brock leading.
Colonel Nichol went up to him and said: "Pardon me, General, but I
cannot forbear entreating you not to expose yourself thus. If we
lose you, we lose all. Let me pray you to allow the troops to pass
on led by their own officers;" but the only answer he received was,
"Master Nichol, I duly appreciate the advice you give me, but I feel
that in addition to their sense of loyalty and duty, many here follow
me from personal regard, and {254} I will never ask them to go where
I do not lead them."
The Indians under Tecumseh moved through the skirt of the woods
covering the left flank, while the right rested on the river
protected by the _Queen Charlotte_. The guns of the fort commanded
the road by which Brock led his men, and there seemed no reason why a
withering fire should not have met them.[2] General Brock continued
the advance until within three-quarters of a mile of the fort, and
then deployed to the left through a field to a house about three
hundred yards from the road, which he selected as his headquarters.
In this position the troops were covered. He then ascended the
rising ground to reconnoitre. Scarcely had he done so when an
officer bearing a white flag was seen coming from the point at which
were stationed the threatening guns.
[Sidenote: Hull's surrender]
General Brock had not miscalculated the effect of the boldness of his
advance. The explanation of {255} the pusillanimous conduct of the
American general is not hard to find. The cannonade from the battery
on the Canadian side had opened again early on the morning of the
16th, and the true range having been found, some round shot fell into
the fort, killing and wounding several. Among the killed was
Lieutenant Hanks, who had been in command at Michilimackinac, and was
then a prisoner on parole. Fort Detroit at the time was full of
women and children and decrepit men from the surrounding country who
had sought refuge from the Indians, believing there would be an
indiscriminate slaughter. The fear of the Indians, the presence of
some members of his own family in the fort, perhaps the entreaties of
the non-combatants, combined to make General Hull decide on an
immediate surrender.
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell and Captain Glegg accompanied Captain
Hull, the bearer of the flag of truce, back to the fort to arrange
the terms of the capitulation. At mid-day of the 16th the British
troops marched in. The territory of Michigan, the {256} fort with
thirty-seven pieces of ordnance, the brig _Adams_ were ceded to the
British. Two thousand five hundred American troops became prisoners
of war. Four hundred rounds of 24-pound shot, one hundred thousand
cartridges, and two thousand five hundred stand of arms, much needed
by the Canadian militia, also fell into General Brock's hands.
He wrote to his friend Major Evans, on the 17th. "Detroit is ours,
and with it the whole Michigan territory, the army prisoners of war.
The force you so skilfully prepared and forwarded to me at so much
risk, met me at Point aux Pins in high spirits and most effective
state. Your thought of clothing the militia in the 41st's cast-off
clothing proved a most happy one, it having more than doubled our own
regular force to the enemy's eye."
[Sidenote: American discomfiture]
At the time of the surrender large reinforcements were on their way
to General Hull, and had it not been for General Brock's bold and
rapid advance, western Canada would undoubtedly have fallen, and
perhaps in consequence the rest of the country also. The general
well deserved the praise he received. In nineteen days he had met
his legislature, settled the public business of the province, had
made a troublesome journey of three hundred miles by land and water,
and, without the loss of a man, had won for the British Crown a
territory almost equal in size to the province of Upper {257} Canada.
Colonel Cass, the American quartermaster-general, in his report to
the secretary of war at Washington said: "That we were far superior
to the enemy, that upon any ordinary principle of calculation we
would have defeated them, the wounded and indignant feelings of every
man there will testify. I was informed by General Hull the morning
after the capitulation, that the British forces consisted of eighteen
hundred regulars, and that he surrendered to prevent the effusion of
human blood. That he magnified their regular force nearly five fold
there can be no doubt. Whether the philanthropical reason assigned
by him is a sufficient justification for surrendering a fortified
town, an army and a territory is for the governor to determine.
Confident I am that had the courage and conduct of the general been
equal to the spirit and zeal of the troops, the event would have been
brilliant and successful as it is now disastrous and dishonourable."
After the surrender Tecumseh came to General Brock and said: "I have
heard much of your fame, and am happy again to shake by the hand a
brave brother warrior. The Americans endeavour to give us a mean
opinion of British generals, but we have been the witness of your
valour. In crossing the river to attack the enemy we observed you
from a distance standing the whole time in an erect position, and
when the boats reached the shore you were among the first who jumped
on land. Your bold {258} and sudden movement frightened the enemy,
and you compelled them to surrender to half their own force."
[Sidenote: Brock's despatches]
On the morning of August 17th the victory was celebrated by firing a
salute from the esplanade in front of the fort, while a general
parade of the British troops was held by General Brock, who with his
staff appeared in full dress to receive the spoils they had won. The
salute from the fort was returned by the guns of the _Queen
Charlotte_ which "dressed with flags, and with streamers flaunting
proudly, sailed up the stream." Nor was the victorious general
forgetful of those whose conduct in their several positions deserved
praise at his hands. Dean, the private of the 41st, who had so
bravely kept the bridge at the Canard, and had been taken a prisoner
to Detroit, was released from the guard-room by General Brock
himself, called before the assembled troops and warmly commended.
The general shook him by the hand and declared that he was indeed an
honour to the service. In the orders of the day, Isaac Brock
expressed his admiration of the conduct of the several companies of
the militia who had accompanied him, and requested Major Salmon,
Captains Hatt, Heward, Bostwick and Robinson to assure the officers
and men under their respective commands that their services had been
duly appreciated, and would never be forgotten. It was the first
enterprise in which the militia had been engaged, and its success
imparted {259} confidence. Isaac Brock was the idol of the hour.
The untrained men he had led felt there was one standing by them on
whom they could depend for sure guidance. He had taught them the
value of a citizen soldiery who in the hour of danger could be a
"tough and stubborn barrier between an invading force and the homes
and hearths of the nation."
That the Americans had anticipated a very different result is easily
seen by the letters of their public men. Ex-President Jefferson had
written: "The acquisition of Canada as far as Quebec will be a mere
matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack on
Halifax and the final expulsion of England from the continent." The
scene on the esplanade of Detroit on that 17th of August was a
forcible answer to the boastful prediction.
To Captain Glegg, A.D.C., was given the honour of bearing to Quebec
General Brock's despatches to the commander-in-chief, together with
the colours of the 4th United States Regiment. Another young officer
of the militia who had done good service at Captain Dixon's battery,
was entrusted with despatches bearing the good tidings to the Talbot
Settlement. This was George Ryerson of the 1st Norfolk Militia, of
which regiment his father was the colonel. Lieutenant Ryerson rode
all day through the woods and by the river Thames, and when night
fell found himself in an Indian encampment occupied only by women and
children {260} and some aged warriors, who received the good news
with shouts of joy, and chanted all night their songs of victory.
One short message General Brock sent to his brothers in England:
"Rejoice at my good fortune, and join with me in prayers to heaven.
Let me hear that you are all united and happy." This letter was
addressed to Irving Brock and reached him on October 13th.
[1] Richardson, in "The War of 1812."
[2] "The column having been formed we moved forward by sections, at
nearly double distance, in order to give to our little force a more
imposing appearance. Lieutenant Bullock commanded the advance guard,
and immediately in rear of this, and preceding the column, were the
light artillery (three 6 and two 3-pounders) with which only we
advanced against the enemy's fortress. Nothing but the boldness of
the enterprise could have assured its success. When within a mile
and a half of the rising ground we distinctly saw two long heavy guns
planted in the road, and around them the gunners with their fuses
burning. At each moment we expected they would be fired, yet
although it was evident the discharge must literally have swept our
small but dense column, there was neither halt nor indecision
perceptible. Had there been the slightest wavering or appearance of
confusion in the men, the enemy, who were closely watching us, and
who seemed intimidated by the confidence of our advance, would not
have failed to profit by the discovery, and fearful, in such case,
must have been the havoc."--_Richardson_.
General Brock says in his despatch to the commander-in-chief: "I
crossed the river with an intention of waiting in a strong position
the effect of our force upon the enemy's camp, and in hopes of
compelling him to meet us in the field; but receiving information
upon landing that Colonel McArthur, an officer of high reputation,
had left the garrison three days before with a detachment of five
hundred men, and hearing soon afterwards that his cavalry had been
seen that morning three miles in our rear, I decided on an immediate
attack."
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