Brock discussed his plans of attack with Tecumseh and asked the chief if he could give him definite information. Tecumseh, who had an intimate knowledge of the district which Brock planned to make the scene of his first engagement, took a piece of birch bark and, laying it on the ground, made a military map, showing all the natural features of the district. Brock and Colonel Nichol examined the map, and the former advised with his staff no more. His decision was made and needed no further deliberating. He would cross the Detroit River in the morning, though Prevost and the War Office had said him “Nay!”
CHAPTER VII
Detroit Taken
August 16th, then, sees Major-General Isaac Brock and his men embarked for the American shore. Tecumseh had not waited for the main body, but with Colonel Elliott and six hundred Indians had crossed the night before, as an advance guard to hold the enemy should they attempt to hinder Brock.
We can picture the crossing of this comparative handful of men—382 British regulars, 362 Canadian militiamen, and the remainder of the Indians. They set out to the accompaniment of the booming of the guns from the Hunter and the Queen Charlotte, which were in the river just above what is now the city of Windsor. Many of Brock’s men were quite new to the idea of conflict, and doubtless the thoughts of men before battle then were much the same as they are now. But the sun rose high in the heavens, and the hearts of the men rose with it. The glint of the sun’s rays caught the bayonets which moved to and fro as the batteaux and canoes made swiftly across stream. Blue-shirts of sailors and red-coats of soldiers colored the scene, which took on a quaint and awesome quality when the Indians’ gaudy feathers and brilliant paint began to be discernible as the expedition neared the opposite bank and finally landed at Springwells, three miles below the fort. The whoops and strange cries of the Indians did not tend to hearten the enemy.
Brock surveyed the situation. Here was he, against his superior’s orders, on enemy ground, taking the offensive. He had little better than half the men his opponent had, and, what is more, his men were for the most part green and untried, while General Hull’s, though not actually experienced, were far more highly trained. Above him, as he looked, rose not far away the heavy walls of a strong fort, with all that that implied of gunfire and destruction. But Brock knew that if in material he did not equal Hull, the spirit of his men was unbreakable, while the braggart who opposed him secretly feared the issue.
His plan was to split Hull’s army. He knew that Hull dare not leave the fortress unprotected and that that fact would lessen the number who would give him direct battle. He planned to lure Hull into the open, and he relied on his few regulars and the inveterate fighters he had in the Indians to hearten the raw recruits, if they needed any spur other than that of defending their families and homes. But here a factor was introduced which would not allow him time for strategy.
He suddenly learned that about 350 men—this number was exaggerated to him—were away from Hull’s main body, bringing supplies. Hull, aware of Brock’s approach, had sent peremptory orders to this detachment to return immediately. They were only a short distance away, and Brock saw that he must strike at once. This man of action decided to assault the fort itself. Seldom has there been a more splendidly foolhardy plan. He drew up his 1,400 men, roughly, half Indian and half white, and prepared to attack the fort.
It must have looked a hard obstacle to conquer. It has been described as being constructed in the form of a parallelogram. At each corner was a strong bastion and all round stretched a moat, twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. There were palisades of hardwood, ten feet in height, inclining from the base of the rampart at an angle of forty degrees, and sharpened at the top. The ramparts were twenty-two feet high, and breaches for cannon occurred at regular intervals. There was a portcullis, well provided for small-arm firing, and a drawbridge. And perhaps the most important thing from the defenders’ point of view was that the fort commanded quite open country, so that the attacking army would find it very difficult to remain undiscovered for long. The fortress, Brock told himself, was going to be hard to take, but it was worth a determined struggle, not only for the intrinsic gain but also for what a victory signified. The fort held a great deal of ammunition, as well as more than thirty guns.
Brock personally led his army in the attack. Colonel Nichol, the gallant Scottish-Canadian merchant whom Brock had made quartermaster-general of militia, protested against this. He reined up by the side of the commander who was riding up and down in front of his army, heartening them for the attack, and said: “General, I cannot forbear entreating you not to expose yourself. If we lose you, we lose all.” But Brock, who had always believed in the inspiration of personal example, turned to his officer and said: “Master Nichol, I duly appreciate the advice you give, but I feel that in addition to their sense of loyalty and duty, many here follow me from personal regard, and I will never ask them to go where I do not lead them.”
Brock believed in co-operation, and while he advanced down the long, narrow road the battery at Sandwich, commanded by Captain Hall, and the guns on the deck of the Queen Charlotte poured heavy fire into the fort. This had its effect, for just at the time Brock’s column was nearing its destination a shot from Captain Hall’s guns found its billet in one of the rooms at the fort, wounding and killing several officers and men. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Bullock was leading the advance guard for Brock. He had three six pounders and two three pounders. It was a case of David and Goliath over again, for this sort of weapon was hardly fitted to the great task in front of Brock. He was leading his men down the country road, in the very face of a battery of two twenty-four pounders, two twelve-pounders, and two six-pounders.