12. Hull, hearing that Mackinaw had been taken by the British, soon returned to Detroit. From this place he sent Major Van Horne to meet Major Brush, who had reached the river Raisin with reinforcements. But Tecumtha laid an ambush for Van Horne's forces and defeated them near Brownstown. Colonel Miller, with another detachment, attacked and routed the savages with great loss, and then returned to Detroit.
Engagement of the Wasp and the Frolic.
The Surrender of Detroit.
13. General Brock, governor of Canada, now took command of the British at Malden. On the 16th of August he advanced to the siege of Detroit. The Americans in their trenches were eager for battle. When the British were within five hundred yards, Hull hoisted a white flag over the fort. Then followed a surrender, the most shameful in the history of the United States. All the forces under Hull's command became prisoners of war. The whole of Michigan Territory was surrendered to the British. Hull was afterward court-martialed and sentenced to be shot; but the President pardoned him.
14. About the time of the fall of Detroit, Fort Dearborn, on the present site of Chicago, was surrendered to an army of Indians. The garrison capitulated on condition of retiring without molestation. But the savages fell upon the retreating soldiers, killed some, and distributed the rest as captives.
The War at Sea.
15. On the 19th of August the frigate Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, overtook the British Guerriere off the coast of Massachusetts. The vessels maneuvered for a while, the Constitution closing with her antagonist, until at half pistol-shot she poured in a broadside, sweeping the decks of the Guerriere and deciding the contest. On the following morning, the Guerriere, being unmanageable, was blown up; and Hull returned to port with his prisoners and spoils.