Opposed to these was the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Isaac Brock, a major-general in the British army. A soldier from boyhood, he had commanded a regiment in active campaign at twenty-eight. He was now forty-two, and for the last ten years had served in North America; first with his regiment, and later as a general officer in command of the troops. In October, 1811, he was appointed to the civil government of the province. He was thoroughly familiar with the political and military conditions surrounding him, and his mind had long been actively engaged in considering probable contingencies, in case war, threatening since 1807, should become actual. In formulated purpose and resolve, he was perfectly prepared for immediate action, as is shown by his letters, foreshadowing his course, to his superior, Sir George Prevost, Governor General of Canada. He predicted that the pressure of the Indians upon the western frontier of the United States would compel that country to keep there a considerable force, the presence of which would naturally tend to more than mere defensive measures. With the numerical inferiority of the British, the co-operation of the Indians was essential. To preserve Upper Canada, therefore, Michilimackinac and Detroit must be reduced. Otherwise the savages could not be convinced that Great Britain would not sacrifice them at a peace, as they believed her to have done in 1794, by Jay's Treaty. In this he agreed with Hull, who faced the situation far more efficiently than his superiors, and at the same moment was writing officially, "The British cannot hold Upper Canada without the assistance of the Indians, and that they cannot obtain if we have an adequate force at Detroit."[436] Brock deemed it vital that Amherstburg, nearly opposite Detroit, should be held in force; both to resist the first hostile attack, and as a base whence to proceed to offensive operations. He apprehended, and correctly, as the event proved, that Niagara would be chosen by the Americans as the line for their main body to penetrate with a view to conquest. This was his defensive frontier; the western, the offensive wing of his campaign. These leading ideas dictated his preparations, imperfect from paucity of means, but sufficient to meet the limping, flaccid measures of the United States authorities.
To this well-considered view the War Department of the United States opposed no ordered plan of any kind, no mind prepared with even the common precautions of every-day life. This unreadiness, plainly manifested by its actions, was the more culpable because the unfortunate Hull, in his letter of March 6, 1812, just quoted, a month before his unwilling acceptance of his general's commission, had laid clearly before it the leading features of the military and political situation, recognized by him during his four years of office as Governor of the Territory. In this cogent paper, amid numerous illuminative details, he laid unmistakable emphasis on the decisive influence of Detroit upon the whole Northwest, especially in determining the attitude of the Indians. He dwelt also upon the critical weakness of the communications on which the tenure of it depended, and upon the necessity of naval superiority to secure them. This expression of his opinion was in the hands of the Government over three months before the declaration of war. As early as January, however, Secretary Eustis had been warned by Armstrong, who subsequently succeeded him in the War Department, that Detroit, otherwise advantageous in position, "would be positively bad, unless your naval means have an ascendency on Lake Erie."[437]
Unfortunately for himself and for the country, Hull, upon visiting the capital in the spring, did not adhere firmly to his views as to the necessity for a lake navy. After the capitulation, President Madison wrote to his friend, John Nicholas, "The failure of our calculations with respect to the expedition under Hull needs no comment. The worst of it was that we were misled by a reliance, authorized by himself, on its [the expedition] securing to us the command of the lakes."[438] General Peter B. Porter, of the New York militia, a member also of the House of Representatives, who served well on the Niagara frontier, and was in no wise implicated by Hull's surrender, testified before the Court Martial, "I was twice at the President's with General Hull, when the subject of a navy was talked over. At first it was agreed to have one; but afterwards it was agreed to abandon it, doubtless as inexpedient."[439] The indications from Hull's earlier correspondence are that for the time he was influenced by the war spirit, and developed a hopefulness of achievement which affected his former and better judgment.
On May 25, three weeks before the declaration of war, Hull took command of the militia assembled at Dayton, Ohio. On June 10, he was at Urbana, where a regiment of regular infantry joined. June 30, he reached the Maumee River, and thence reported that his force was over two thousand, rank and file.[440] He had not yet received official intelligence of war having been actually declared, but all indications, including his own mission itself, pointed to it as imminent. Nevertheless, he here loaded a schooner with military stores, and sent her down the river for Detroit, knowing that, twenty miles before reaching there, she must pass near the British Fort Malden, on the Detroit River covering Amherstburg; and this while the British had local naval superiority. In taking this risk, the very imprudence of which testifies the importance of water transportation to Detroit, Hull directed his aids to forward his baggage by the same conveyance; and with it, contrary to his intention, were despatched also his official papers. The vessel, being promptly seized by the boats of the British armed brig "Hunter," was taken into Malden, whence Colonel St. George, commanding the district, sent the captured correspondence to Brock. "Till I received these letters," remarked the latter, "I had no idea General Hull was advancing with so large a force."[441]
When Brock thus wrote, July 20, he was at Fort George, on the shore of Ontario, near Niagara River, watching the frontier where he expected the main attack. He had already struck his first blow. Immediately upon being assured of the declaration of war, on June 28, he had despatched a letter to St. Joseph's, directing all preparations to be made for proceeding against Mackinac; the final determination as to offensive or defensive action being very properly left to the officer there in command. The latter, thus aware of his superior's wishes, started July 16, with some six hundred men,—of whom four hundred were Indians,—under convoy of the armed brig "Caledonia," belonging to the Northwestern Fur Company. The next day he appeared before the American post, where the existence of war was yet unknown. The garrison numbered fifty-seven, including three officers; being about one third the force reported necessary for the peace establishment by Mr. Jefferson's Secretary of War, in 1801. The place was immediately surrendered. Under all the conditions stated there is an entertaining ingenuousness in the reference made to this disaster by President Madison: "We have but just learned that the important post of Michilimackinac has fallen into the hands of the enemy, but from what cause remains to be known."[442]
Brock received this news at Toronto, July 29; but not till August 3 did it reach Hull, by the arrival of the paroled prisoners. He was then on the Canada side, at Sandwich, opposite Detroit; having crossed with from fourteen to sixteen hundred men on July 12. This step was taken on the strength of a discretionary order from the Secretary of War, that if "the force under your command be equal to the enterprise, consistent with the safety of your own post, you will take possession of Malden, and extend your conquests as circumstances may justify." It must be added, however, in justice to the Administration, that the same letter, received July 9, three days before the crossing, contained the warning, "It is also proper to inform you that an adequate force cannot soon be relied on for the reduction of the enemy's posts below you."[443] This bears on the question of Hull's expectation of support by diversion on the Niagara frontier, and shows that he had fair notice on that score. That over-confidence still possessed him seems apparent from a letter to the secretary dated July 7, in which he said, "In your letter of June 18, you direct me to adopt measures for the security of the country, and to await further orders. I regret that I have not larger latitude."[444] Now he received it, and his invasion of Canada was the result. It is vain to deny his liberty of action, under such instructions, but it is equally vain to deny the responsibility of a superior who thus authorizes action, and not obscurely intimates a wish, under general military conditions perfectly well known, such as existed with reference to Hull's communications. Hull's attempt to justify his movement on the ground of pressure from subordinates, moral effect upon his troops, is admissible only if his decision were consistently followed by the one course that gave a chance of success. As a military enterprise the attempt was hopeless, unless by a rapid advance upon Malden he could carry the works by instant storm. In that event the enemy's army and navy, losing their local base of operations, would have to seek one new and distant, one hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, at Long Point; whence attempts against the American positions could be only by water, with transportation inadequate to carrying large bodies of men. The American general thus might feel secure against attacks on his communications with Ohio, the critical condition of which constituted the great danger of the situation, whether at Detroit or Sandwich. Hull himself, ten days after crossing, wrote, "It is in the power of this army to take Malden by storm, but it would be attended, in my opinion, with too great a sacrifice under the present circumstances."[445]
Instead of prompt action, two days were allowed to pass. Then, July 14, a council of war decided that immediate attack was inexpedient, and delay advisable. This conclusion, if correct, condemned the invasion, and should have been reached before it was attempted. The military situation was this: Hull's line of supplies and re-enforcements was reasonably secure from hostile interference between southern Ohio and the Maumee; at which river proper fortification would permit the establishment of an advanced depot. Thence to Detroit was seventy-two miles, through much of which the road passed near the lake shore. It was consequently liable to attack from the water, so long as that was controlled by the enemy; while by its greater distance from the centre of American population in the West, it was also more exposed to Indian hostilities than the portion behind the Maumee. Under these circumstances, Detroit itself was in danger of an interruption of supplies and re-enforcements, amounting possibly to isolation. It was open to the enemy to land in its rear, secure of his own communications by water, and with a fair chance, in case of failure, to retire by the way he came; for retreat could be made safely in very small vessels or boats, so long as Malden was held in force.
The reduction of Malden might therefore secure Detroit, by depriving the enemy of a base suitable for using his lake power against its communications. Unless this was accomplished, any advance beyond Detroit with the force then at hand merely weakened that place, by just the amount of men and means expended, and was increasingly hazardous when it entailed crossing water. A sudden blow may snatch safety under such conditions; but to attempt the slow and graduated movements of a siege, with uncertain communications supporting it, is to court disaster. The holding of Detroit being imperative, efforts external to it should have been chiefly exerted on its rear, and upon its front only to prevent the easy passage of the enemy. In short, when Detroit was reached, barring the chance of a coup de main upon Malden, Hull's position needed to be made more solid, not more extensive. As it was, the army remained at Sandwich, making abortive movements toward the river Canard, which covered the approach to Malden, and pushing small foraging parties up the valley of the Thames. The greatest industry was used, Hull reported, in making preparations to besiege, but it was not till August 7, nearly four weeks after crossing, that the siege guns were ready; and then the artillery officers reported that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to take them to Malden by land, and by water still more so, because the ship of war "Queen Charlotte," carrying eighteen 24-pounders, lay off the mouth of the Canard, commanding the stream.
The first impression produced by the advance into Canada had been propitious to Hull. He himself in his defence admitted that the enemy's force had diminished, great part of their militia had left them, and many of their Indians.[446] This information of the American camp corresponded with the facts. Lieut. Colonel St. George, commanding Fort Malden, reported the demoralized condition of his militia. Three days after Hull crossed he had left but four hundred and seventy-one, in such a state as to be absolutely inefficient.[447] Colonel Procter, who soon afterwards relieved him, could on July 18 muster only two hundred and seventy Indians by the utmost exertion, and by the 26th these had rather decreased.[448] Professing to see no immediate danger, he still asked for five hundred more regulars. At no time before Hull recrossed did he have two hundred and fifty.[449] Under Hull's delay these favorable conditions disappeared. British re-enforcements, small but veteran, arrived; the local militia recovered; and the Indians, with the facile changefulness of savages, passed from an outwardly friendly bearing over to what began to seem the winning side. Colonel Procter then initiated the policy of threatening Hull's communications from the lake side. A body of Indians sent across by him on August 4 defeated an American detachment marching to protect a convoy from the Maumee. This incident, coming upon accumulating adverse indications, and coinciding with the bad news received from Mackinac, aroused Hull to the essential danger of his situation. August 8 he recrossed to Detroit. August 9 another vigorous effort was made by the enemy to destroy a detachment sent out to establish communications with the rear. Although the British were defeated, the Americans were unable to proceed, and returned to the town without supplies. In the first of these affairs some more of Hull's correspondence was captured, which revealed his apprehensions, and the general moral condition of his command, to an opponent capable of appreciating their military significance.
Brock had remained near Niagara, detained partly by the political necessity of meeting the provincial legislature, partly to watch over what he considered the more exposed portion of his military charge; for a disaster to it, being nearer the source of British power, would have upon the fortunes of the West an effect even more vital than a reverse there would exert upon the East. Being soon satisfied that the preparations of the United States threatened no immediate action, and finding that Hull's troops were foraging to a considerable distance east of Sandwich, along the Thames, he had decided to send against them a small body of local troops with a number of Indians, while he himself gathered some militia and went direct by water to Malden. To his dismay, the Indians declined to assist, alleging their intention to remain neutral; upon which the militia also refused, saying they were afraid to leave their homes unguarded, till it was certain which side the savages would take. On July 25 Brock wrote that his plans were thus ruined; but July 29 it became known that Mackinac had fallen, and on that day the militia about York [Toronto], where he then was, volunteered for service in any part of the province. August 8 he embarked with three hundred of them, and a few regulars, at Long Point, on the north shore of Lake Erie; whence he coasted to Malden, arriving on the 13th.