For a moment Captain Raymond seemed lost in thought. It was a question
from his daughter Elsie that caused him to resume the thread of his
narrative.
"Papa," she asked, "had the British got their guns all ready to fire at
the Americans when Colonel Miller and his men got back to Detroit? and
did they begin at once?"
"No; the British were still busy with their preparations, with which
General Hull did not seem disposed to interfere; and it was hard indeed
for his brave, patriotic officers to obey his orders to refrain from
doing so. They began to think he was either a traitor or an imbecile,
and by no means fit to have the command. They consulted together, and
concluded that salvation for the little army could be secured only by
depriving him of the command and giving it to another. Miller was asked
to take it, but declined and proposed M'Arthur, who was the senior
officer of the volunteers and one of the most vigilant, active, and
energetic men in the service.
"But when it came to carrying out their plans they hesitated to take
so bold a step. Relief might come soon from Ohio, Governor Meigs
accompany it in person, and then the honor could be properly tendered
him. Colonel Cass acted promptly upon that suggestion, writing to the
governor a very strong and urgent appeal for help to be forwarded with
all haste; telling him that the army was in a very critical situation
'from causes not fit to be put on paper'; that Maiden might easily
have been reduced, but the golden opportunity had been allowed to pass
unimproved. He asked for, at least, two thousand men, and that the
governor would accompany them.
"But before this letter had been shown to the other officers the
British were collecting in force at Sandwich, and Cass added a
postscript. 'Since the other side of this letter was written, new
circumstances have arisen. The British force is opposite, and our
situation had nearly reached its crisis. Believe all the bearer will
tell you. Believe it, however it may astonish you, as much as if
told by one of us. Even a c---- is talked of by e----. The bearer
will supply the vacancy. On you we depend.' The first blank meant a
capitulation, the second commanding general."
"But why didn't he say what he meant, papa?" asked Elsie.
"Because there was danger of the letter falling into the hands of the
wrong person. It was signed by Cass, Finley, M'Arthur, Taylor, and
Colonel Elijah Brush, of the Michigan militia."
"Was Major Denny still on the Canadian side, captain?" asked Evelyn.
"No; he had evacuated Fort Gowris and crossed the river to Detroit. On
his doing so the British under Captain Dixon of the Royal Engineers
immediately took possession and planted a battery so as to command
Detroit. The American artillery begged leave from Hull to open upon
them from the fort with twenty-four pounders, but were forbidden, and
the enemy was allowed to go on unmolested with his preparations to fire
upon Detroit."
"Well!" exclaimed Lucilla, "I'm sure that looked as if he was in league
with his country's foes; unless he had lost his reason."
"Yes," said her father, "yet I do not doubt his patriotism or his
intention to do what he deemed best under the circumstances; but he
was timid, and as I have said before, did not receive the help and
encouragement he had a right to expect from the Secretary of War or
General Dearborn, who failed to inform him of the armistice, which
would have enabled him to wait for the arrival of needed provisions
and reinforcements. And he was too honest himself to suspect the
deceptions the British practised upon him--dressing raw militiamen in
uniform and mixing them in with their regulars, sending a letter to be
intercepted by him, threatening a descent of five thousand Indians from
Mackinaw. But I think he owed it to the officers under him to consult
with them; which he did not do."
"Had the British got Captain Brush with the soldiers and provisions,
papa?" asked Elsie.
"No, he was still in the same place, waiting for reinforcements to
enable him to reach Detroit; and on the 14th Hull sent him word that
he could not spare a large enough detachment to escort him, and that
he might either stay where he was till further orders, or take a
roundabout course to avoid the enemy. But after the men had gone with
the letter Hull again changed his mind and sent M'Arthur and Cass with
350 men to escort Brush, who was supposed to be not more than 12 miles
away.
"They took a circuitous route, got entangled in a swamp, and could
not go on. They were without provisions, tired and hungry, and were
just preparing to bivouac for the night--for the evening twilight was
fading away--when a courier came with an order from Hull for them to
return immediately to Detroit. They obeyed and arrived there about ten
o'clock the next morning.
"At a little past noon of that day General Brock sent two of his
officers with a flag to bear a summons to General Hull for the
unconditional surrender of the post. 'The force at my disposal,' he
said, 'authorizes me to require of you the surrender of 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.'"
"And Hull meekly surrendered without any more ado?" said Lucilla, in a
tone between assertion and enquiry.
"No, not yet," replied her father. "Poor man! really patriotic and
proud, he no doubt felt sorely tried and humiliated at the very thought
of surrender to his country's foes; at the same time, being ignorant
of the armistice and not knowing when succor would arrive, having only
a thousand men in fighting condition, his force wasting with disease,
disappointment, and death, it seemed to him very uncertain whether
he could keep the foe at bay till help would come; but his troops
were eager to measure strength with the enemy, and confident in their
ability to do so successfully.
"So difficult did Hull find it to decide what was the best and wisest
course of conduct that he kept the flag waiting two hours; but at
last he said to Brock's messengers that he had no other reply to make
than that he was ready to meet any force at his disposal, and any
consequence that might result.
"His own troops were greatly pleased when they learned what his answer
to Brock had been. They watched the return of the flag, and when it
reached the Canadian shore the bearers were startled by a loud huzza
from the American fort and camp. Our brave soldiers believed and
rejoiced in the thought that the time for action had come, or was near
at hand; they were confident of victory, and at once set about the most
active preparations for the fight.
"Jesup, serving as adjutant-general to Hull, rode down to Spring Wells
to reconnoitre the enemy at Sandwich. He saw that the British vessel,
_Queen Charlotte_, had taken such a position that she could cover the
landing of the enemy there with her guns. He thought a battery might
be used to drive her away, so selecting a suitable spot for it, he
hastened back to Detroit, told Hull what he proposed to do, and asked
him to send down a twenty-pounder.
"Hull refused and Jesup rode back to the spot he wished to defend,
to find Snelling there with a few men and a six-pounder, occupying
the very place he had selected. By the way, it is said that Snelling
was to have been married that evening to a daughter of Colonel Thomas
Hunt, and that when about to leave the fort for Spring Wells, he asked
of Hull, 'If I drive the redcoats back, may I return and be married?'
and that General Hull consented, and the marriage took place that same
evening.
"When Detroit was surrendered Snelling refused to raise the white flag,
and when marched as a prisoner through the streets of Montreal, being
ordered by a British officer to take off his cap to Nelson's monument,
he refused and kept it on in spite of the efforts of the soldiers to
enforce the order, and finally General Brock ordered them to respect
the scruples of a brave man."
"I respect and like Brock for that," said Walter. "He was a far better,
braver, nobler man than Proctor."
"He was indeed!" assented the captain. "Cruelty and cowardice usually
go hand in hand, and they were both prominent traits in Proctor's
character. But to return. Both Snelling and Jesup, perceiving that
the greater part of the British force was at Sandwich, hastened back
to Hull, and, reporting that fact to him, Jesup asked for 150 men to
go over and spike the enemy's guns opposite Detroit. Hull said he
could not spare so many. 'Give me one hundred, then,' entreated Jesup.
'Only one hundred,' added Snelling imploringly. Hull only replied that
he would consider it, and then took refuge in the fort; for at four
o'clock the British battery, whose guns Snelling and Jesup had proposed
to spike, began firing shot and shell upon the fort, the town, and the
camp. Then all the troops except Finley's regiment, which was stationed
three hundred yards northwest of the fort, were ordered within the
walls, crowding it far too much for comfort."
The captain paused, and Grandma Elsie remarked that she remembered
reading of some interesting occurrences given by Lossing in notes to
his history of the attack upon Detroit and its fort.
"One was that during the evening a large shell fell upon the roof of a
private dwelling, two stories high, and coming down through the roof
and upper floor, fell upon the table around which the family were
sitting, then through to the cellar, and they had just time to fly from
the house when the shell exploded, tearing it to pieces."
"That was a very narrow escape for them," remarked Violet.
"Please tell us some more, grandma," begged Neddie, and Grandma Elsie
kindly continued.
"There was a battery commanded by a brave soldier--Lieutenant Daliba,"
she said. "He stood on the ramparts during the cannonade, and when he
saw the smoke or flash of the enemy's cannon he would call out to his
men, 'Down!' and they would drop behind the parapet until the ball had
struck.
"Near the battery was a large pear-tree which was somewhat in the way,
and Colonel Mack, of the Michigan militia, ordered a young volunteer
named John Miller to cut it down. He made haste to obey, seizing an
axe and falling vigorously to work; but when he had cut about halfway
through the trunk one of the enemy's balls struck it and nearly
finished the work. The young man turned coolly toward the British and
called out, 'Send us another, John Bull; you can cut faster than I
can.'"
"Was the British soldier that fired it named John Bull?" queried Neddie.
"Why, that's what we call Englishmen, don't you know?" said his sister
Elsie. "And we are all Brother Jonathans. Aren't we, papa?"
"That's what they call us," returned her father, with a smile, "and
though not a very euphonious name, I, for one, prefer it to John Bull."
"So do I," she said.
"But Jonathan's a boy's name," objected Ned sturdily. "Men and boys can
be Jonathans, but women and girls can't."
"Well, I don't want to be," said Elsie. "It isn't a pretty name; but
John Bull's worse. Grandma, haven't you another little story to tell
us?"
"One more, which I found in Lossing's book," replied Grandma Elsie
pleasantly. "He says it is related that while cannonading was going on,
the shot striking thick and fast around the fort, a negro was seen on
its roof. He stood near a chimney, watching the firing of the British
on the other side of the river, and whenever he saw the smoke of a
cannon would spring behind the chimney till the shot had struck, then
peep out again.
"At length one struck the top of the chimney just over his head, tore
it to pieces, and covered him with brick and mortar. He jumped aside,
shaking himself free, as well as he might, from the dust and rubbish,
and exclaiming: 'What de debble you doin' up dar?' then hastened away
to find a safer spot."
"Wasn't that a bad, swearing word, grandma?" queried Ned.
"It was not a nice word," she answered. "I should be sorry indeed to
hear it used by my sons or grandsons."
"My papa never says such words, nor Maxie, nor any of my relations, and
I don't mean ever, ever to say them," said the little fellow, looking
up into his father's face.
"No, my son, I trust you never shall," returned the captain gravely,
laying a hand affectionately on the child's head.
"Please tell the rest, papa," pleaded little Elsie, and her father
resumed the thread of his narrative.
"The British kept up their bombardment until near midnight, our men
returning it with great spirit and disabling two of the enemy's guns.
About twilight someone proposed that as the fort did not command the
river, a strong battery should be placed near the margin of the river
and used in destroying the foe when they attempted to land. A suitable
place for the purpose was chosen, but Hull utterly refused to allow
the plan to be carried out; and in the early twilight of the next
morning--a beautiful Sunday morning--they were allowed to cross without
the least attempt being made to hinder them.
"Six hundred Indians, commanded by two British colonels and Tecumseh,
had crossed the night before and taken position in the woods to attack
the Americans in flank and rear should they attempt to hinder the
landing of the British regulars and militia, 770 strong with 5 pieces
of light artillery.
"They all breakfasted, then moved upon the fort--the whites in a
single column, their left flank covered by the Indians, a mile and a
half distant in the woods; their right resting on the Detroit River,
defended by the _Queen Charlotte_.
"Colonel Miller, with the Fourth Regiment, was now in the fort; the
Ohio volunteers with part of the Michigan militia were posted behind
the town palisades, to annoy the enemy's whole left flank. The rest of
the militia were stationed in the upper part of the town to keep back
the Indians, who had joined the British in order to be permitted to
plunder and kill the American whites.
"Our men were waiting, watching the cautiously approaching foe, eager
to fire upon them the moment they were in the best position to receive
the most destructive onslaught--for wives, children, and feeble aged
ones were in danger of becoming victims to their inhuman thirst for
blood and plunder, and that foe had reached a point within five hundred
yards of their line when there came a peremptory command from General
Hull for them to retreat within the fort.
"The soldiers were very angry but obeyed, while the enemy drew nearer
and prepared to storm the fort. The shot were coming thick and fast
now from the Canadian shore. A ball came bounding over the wall of the
fort and struck a group standing before one of the officer's quarters,
killing two officers and a surgeon and badly wounding another. The next
moment two other soldiers on the inside of the fort and two on the
outside were killed.
"There were women and children in the house where the officers were
killed, among them General Hull's daughter and her children. Some of
the women were bespattered with the blood of the slain, and almost
paralyzed with fear; some were carried senseless to the bomb-proof
vault for safety.
"The general saw the effect of the ball from a distance, and did not
know whether his own child was killed or not.
"Just then an officer of the Michigan militia in the town came to
ask if they alone were to defend it, as he had seen the approach of
the enemy without a gun being fired from the fort or the twenty-four
pounders outside; also to inform Hull that the Indians were at the
tan-yard, close upon the town. Hull did not answer his queries, but
stepped into a room in the barracks, hastily wrote a note, and handing
it to his son, Captain Hull, directed him to display a white flag
immediately from the walls of the fort, where it might be seen by the
British Captain Dixon, over the river.
"The order was promptly obeyed. The flag was a tablecloth. By order of
General Hull it was waved from one of the bastions by Captain Burton,
of the Fourth Regiment.
"The firing soon ceased, and in a few minutes Captain Hull was seen
leaving the fort with a flag of truce. At the same time a boat was
despatched across the river to Captain Dixon, commander of the battery
on the Canada shore.
"General Hull was acting without consultation with any of his officers,
and no one knew what were his intentions, but the sight of the white
flag upon the walls awakened painful suspicions, and presently the
arrival of two British officers, Colonel M'Donell and Major Glegg, made
it evident that the garrison was betrayed.
"Hull had acted entirely on his own responsibility, consulting no one,
and this quick surrender, without a single shot having been fired
upon the enemy, or an effort made to stay his course, was almost as
unexpected and unwelcome to the brave, patriotic men under him as a
thunderbolt out of a clear sky. So angry and indignant were they that
for a moment nothing but reverence for gray hairs and veneration for a
soldier of the Revolution, who had served his country well in that war,
saved him from personal violence at their hands; it is said that many
of them shed tears of mortification and disappointment.
"The terms of capitulation were soon settled, and Hull issued a general
order to his troops, stating that with pain and anxiety he announced to
the Northwest Army that a sense of duty had compelled him to agree to
articles of capitulation which he then enumerated.
"You will remember that he had sent Colonels M'Arthur and Cass toward
the River Raisin, then ordered them back; they were coming, but had
not yet arrived; he sent a messenger to meet them, with a note to
M'Arthur informing him of the surrender, and that he and his command
were included in it, as prisoners of war. They had drawn near enough to
Detroit to see the white flags that had silenced the British cannon,
reaching there thoroughly exhausted with marching and hunger--for Hull
had sent them off without provisions and failed to keep his promise to
send some after them; so that for forty-eight hours they had nothing to
eat but some green pumpkins and potatoes they had found in the fields.
As they went and came they had been observing the enemy, taking note of
his numbers and movements, and concluded that they might easily capture
him by falling upon his rear while the army at Detroit attacked him
in front. But what did the silence mean? The armies were within half
cannon shot of each other, but there was no firing; both seemed silent
as the grave, from where these listeners stood. Had there been any
evidence of fighting, M'Arthur would have fallen upon the rear of the
foe, without waiting for orders.
"But Hull's courier was seen approaching, and in a few moments more
these patriots heard the almost unbearable tidings that Hull had given
them up to the foe without an effort at self-defence.
"M'Arthur tried to communicate with Hull, but failed. He sent Hull's
note to Captain Brush, with a message from himself, 'By the within
letter you will see that the army under General Hull has been
surrendered. By the articles you will see that provision has been made
for your command; you will, therefore, I hope, return to Ohio with us.'
"Lossing tells us in a note that Captain Elliott, the son of Colonel
Elliott, with a Frenchman and Wyandot Indian, arrived at Brush's camp
on the Raisin, bearing a flag of truce, a copy of the capitulation at
Detroit, and authority to receive the surrender of Brush and his men.
"A lieutenant, the officer of the day, blindfolded Elliott and led
him to the block-house. Brush, when informed of Elliott's arrival and
on what errand, doubting his authority, had him arrested and placed
in confinement. On reading M'Arthur's letter, however, he learned his
mistake; but instead of releasing Elliott at once and complying with
Hull's order, he hastily packed up the public property at the Raisin,
and with his whole command and his cattle, started for Ohio, leaving
orders that Elliott should be kept in confinement until the next day.
Elliott was very angry, and sent for Tecumseh to pursue Brush; but it
was too late."
"Did M'Arthur do that way too, papa?" asked little Elsie.
"No; when on the evening of the 17th Colonel Elliott came with
authority from Brock to receive tokens of the submission of M'Arthur's
detachment, the dark eyes of that officer flashed with indignation,
then filled with tears of mortification; he thrust his sword into
the ground and broke it to pieces, then tore his epaulets from his
shoulders. But having in that way relieved his feelings, he became
calm and dignified, while in the dim twilight, Cass and their whole
detachment were marched into the fort and stacked their arms."
"Oh, how hard it must have been for M'Arthur, and all of them, indeed!"
exclaimed Lucilla.
"Were they shut up in jail, papa?" asked Elsie.
"The volunteers and militia with some of the regular officers, not of
high rank, were paroled and allowed to go home," replied her father.
"Those belonging to Michigan were discharged right there, the Ohioans
sent in a vessel to Cleveland, and there relieved from British control.
General Hull and the regulars were held as prisoners of war and sent to
Montreal."
"But that wasn't the worst for poor General Hull, was it, papa?" said
Grace. "The blame he got from the whole country, and being tried for
cowardice, condemned to be shot, and all the rest of it, I should
think, must have been far worse. Do you think he was really a coward
and so very much to blame, papa?"
"No," replied her father; "he was perhaps weak, but neither wicked
nor cowardly; he was very cautious, prudent, and anxious to save the
women, children, and aged men in the fort from falling into the hands
of the bloodthirsty, tomahawking, scalping savages. Had he known of
the armistice and that provisions and ammunition were coming, and had
Dearborn and the Secretary of War done their duty, the result might
have been very different. As it was, he was made the scapegoat for all."
"Poor man! I feel sorry for him," sighed Grace.
"As I do," said her father. "I have no doubt he did what he believed to
be his duty as a humane and Christian man. In parting at Detroit with
one of his aids he said to him, 'God bless you, my young friend! You
return to your family without a stain; as for myself, I have sacrificed
a reputation dearer to me than life, but I have saved the inhabitants
of Detroit, and my heart approves the act.' In his despatch to the
Secretary of War he generously said, 'I well know the responsibility of
the measure, and take the whole of it on myself.' And after alluding
to M'Arthur, Finley, Miller, and Cass in commendatory terms, he adds,
'If aught has taken place during the campaign which is honorable to the
army, these officers are entitled to a large share of it. If the last
act should be disapproved, no part of the censure belongs to them.'"
"That was noble and generous!" exclaimed Evelyn, with warmth, "and
it was shameful, shameful that all the blame was put upon him when
Dearborn and the Government were really so very much more deserving of
it."
"Yes," said Grandma Elsie, in her own sweet, gentle tones, "and he bore
it in such a patient, Christian spirit; confident that his countrymen
would some day understand and do him justice. I have read that on his
deathbed he was asked whether he still believed he had done right in
surrendering Detroit, and he answered that he did and was thankful he
had been enabled to do it."
"I suppose," said Evelyn, "it was a great mistake, but he acted as he
deemed best for others and that at a great sacrifice of himself; so I
think he was a noble, generous man, worthy of all honor, and I am very
glad he was not made to suffer death, though I am not sure that what he
had to bear was not worse."
"Yes," exclaimed Walter, "and how I despise those mean fellows who put
all the blame on him when they themselves deserved a great deal more of
it than he!"
"How long did the British keep possession of Detroit, papa?" asked
Grace.
"Until Perry's victory on Lake Erie restored it to the Americans."
"Oh, that was a grand victory!" exclaimed Lucilla, with enthusiasm.
"Yes; the navy did well in that war," the captain said, with a smile
and a sparkle in his eye. "I have always felt a patriotic pride in the
achievements of Perry, McDonough, and Isaac Hull. The first two were
earnest Christian men and gave all the glory to God. I do not know, but
hope the gallant Hull was a Christian also."