"The council was opened by General Brock, who informed the Indians that he was ordered by their great Father, the King, to come to their assistance, and with them to drive the enemy from Fort Detroit. His speech was highly applauded, and Tecumseh was unanimously called upon to speak in reply. He commenced with expressing his joy that their great Father beyond the Salt Lake (meaning the King of England) had at length awoke from his long sleep, and sent his warriors to the assistance of his red children, who had roused themselves in their honour, and were now ready to shed the last drop of their blood in their great Father's service.
"Previously to passing over to Detroit, General Brock inquired of Tecumseh what kind of country he should have to pass through, in the event of his proceeding further. Tecumseh, taking a roll of elm bark, and extending it on the ground, drew forth his scalping knife, and presently etched upon the bark a plan of the country; which, if not so neat, was as fully intelligible as if a surveyor had prepared it. Pleased with this talent in Tecumseh, and with his characteristic boldness, General Brock induced the Indians to cross the river for the attack on Detroit, prior to the embarkation of the white troops.
"Soon after Detroit was surrendered, General Brock took off his sash, and publicly placed it around the body of the chief Tecumseh, who received the honour conferred on him with evident gratification; but was seen the next day without his sash. The British general, fearing that something had displeased the Indian chief, sent his interpreter for an explanation. Tecumseh told him that he did not wish to wear the sash as a mark of distinction, when an older warrior than himself was present; he had transferred the sash to the Wyandot chief, Roundhead.
"In his correspondence, General Brock states that 'of many Indians whom he met at Amherstburg, he who most attracted his notice was the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, brother of the Prophet—a more gallant or sagacious warrior does not, I believe, exist; he was the admiration of every one, and was as humane as he was brave.'
"General Brock, in General Orders of the 16th of August, 1812, after the capture of Detroit, states that two fortifications had been already captured, Michilimackinac and Detroit, without a drop of blood being shed by the hands of the Indians; the moment the enemy surrendered, his life became sacred.
"On congratulating General Brock, after the capture of Detroit, Tecumseh said to the General, 'We observed you from a distance standing the whole time in an erect position, and when the boats reached the shore, you were the first man on the land; your bold and sudden movements frightened the enemy, and so compelled them to surrender to half their number.'
"General Brock engaged the Indians to throw away the scalping knife—implanting in their hearts the virtue of clemency, and teaching them to feel pleasure and pride in compassion extended to a vanquished enemy. In return, they revered him as their common Father, and whilst under his control, were guilty of no excesses; and thereby the noble Tecumseh was humane as well as brave."[196]
Such was the character and results of the first American invasion of Canada.
It may be worth while to notice some events which preceded the taking of Detroit, and which doubtless disappointed and disheartened General Hull. In the island of St. Joseph, in Lake Huron, there was a fort or block-house, under the command of Captain Roberts, with thirty regulars. General Brock, in communicating to Captain Roberts the American declaration of war against Great Britain, instructed him to take every precaution for the protection of St. Joseph, and, if possible, to get possession of Michilimackinac, now called Mackinac, and pronounced Mackinaw, an island about nine miles in circumference, commanding the entrance from Lake Huron into Lake Michigan, on which the Americans had a fort with a captain in command, and a garrison of seventy-five men. Captain Roberts was aided by Mr. Pothier, a gentlemen of the South-west Fur Company, who volunteered his own services, attended by about 160 Canadian voyageurs, and placed the contents of the stores at the disposal of Captain Roberts, who, with his little armament, consisting of thirty regulars, two artillerymen and a sergeant, 160 Canadians, and two iron field-pieces, set out on the 16th of July with his flotilla of boats and canoes, convoyed by the Caledonia brig, belonging to the North-West Company, loaded with stores and provisions. On the ensuing morning he reached Mackinac, a distance of about forty miles, landed without opposition, and immediately summoned the garrison to surrender, which was complied with in a few minutes. Thus was this key of the West taken without the effusion of a drop of blood.
The Americans had carried on a brisk trade in schooners and sailing vessels from Detroit, through Lake Huron, to the head of Lake Michigan, now Chicago. The capture of Mackinac—which was a surprise to the commander, who had not heard of the declaration of war—interrupted this trade, and gave confidence to the Canadian voyageurs and Indians in the British interests employed in the fur trade in these distant countries.