Capture of Mackinaw
On July 16th he therefore set out with a flotilla of boats and canoes in which were embarked forty-five officers and men of the 10th Veterans, about one hundred and eighty Canadian voyageurs under Toussaint Pothier, the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a goodly number of Indians, the whole convoyed by a brig, the Caledonia, belonging to the North-West Company. Under cover of night they approached the white cliffs of Mackinaw. It is a true Gibraltar of the northern lakes, accessible only on one side, and had sufficient time been allowed, it could no doubt have been easily defended. Its garrison consisted of sixty-one officers and men under command of a Captain Hanks. The expedition had been so cleverly managed that the enemy were completely taken by surprise, and at dawn of July 17th, the fort, which by the treaty of 1794 had been ceded to the Americans, once more came under the British flag. It was the first operation of the war, and a most important one. By it the wavering tribes of Indians in the North-West were confirmed in their allegiance to Great Britain, and these proved a very powerful aid in the coming contest. Military stores of all kinds were found in the fort, also seven hundred packs of furs, for this was the rendez-vous of the traders of the North West. The news of this success did not, of course, reach Fort George until the end of the month, while it was August 3rd when the paroled men from Mackinaw reached Detroit and bore the first news of the disaster to General Hull.
From Fort George, early in July, General Brock wrote to the commander-in-chief that the militia were improving in discipline, but showed a degree of impatience under restraint. "So great was the clamour," he says, "to return and attend to their farms, that I found myself in some measure compelled to sanction the departure of a large proportion, and I am not without my apprehension that the remainder will, in defiance of the law which only imposes a fine of twenty dollars, leave the service the moment the harvest begins."
A tactful commander
The general, however, knew how to deal with his homespun warriors, and instead of blaming the men his general order of July 4th gave them the word of praise they needed. He also gave them the word of sympathy that showed them he realized how hard it was for them to leave their homes and their ungathered harvests, and spend their days and nights in tedious drill and outpost duty, without tents, without blankets, some even without shoes, which at that time could scarcely be provided in the country. His order ran as follows: "Major-General Brock has witnessed with the highest satisfaction the orderly and regular conduct of such of the militia as have been called into actual service, and their ardent desire to acquire military instruction. He is sensible that they are exposed to great privations, and every effort will be immediately made to supply their most pressing wants, but such are the circumstances of the country that it is absolutely necessary that every inhabitant should have recourse to his own means to furnish himself with blankets and other necessaries. The major-general calls the serious attention of every militiaman to the efforts making by the enemy to destroy and lay waste this flourishing country. They must be sensible of the great stake they have to contend for, and will by their conduct convince the enemy that they are not desirous of bowing their necks to a foreign yoke. The major-general is determined to devote his best energies to the defence of the country, and has no doubt that, supported by the zeal, activity and determination of the loyal inhabitants of this province, he will successfully repel every hostile attack, and preserve to them inviolate all that they hold dear. From the experience of the past the major-general is convinced that should it be necessary to call forth a further proportion of the militia to aid their fellow-subjects in defence of the province, they will come forward with equal alacrity to share the danger and the honour." Thus he took the rough metal at his hand, and out of it forged a weapon of strength that did good service through three years of trial.
The position of affairs in Upper Canada in the early part of July was extremely unpromising. About four thousand American troops under the command of Brigadier-General Wadsworth were on the Niagara frontier between Black Rock and Fort Niagara, with headquarters at Lewiston, directly opposite Queenston. A report had come to General Brock of the bombardment of Sandwich (which was not true), but a further report came of its occupation by the American general. President Madison announced in his address to congress that General Hull had passed into Canada with a prospect of easy and victorious progress. From Sandwich Hull issued a proclamation to the people of Canada, offering the alternatives of "peace, liberty and security, or war, slavery and destruction."[[2]] Colonel St. George, who commanded the Canadian militia on the Detroit frontier, reported to General Brock that they had behaved badly and that many of them had joined the invading army. There is no doubt that on that western peninsula there were many American settlers, bound by no tie of patriotism to Canada, whose sympathies were entirely with the United States. A very different feeling prevailed in that part of the country which had been mainly settled by Loyalists after the American revolution, and also where General Brock was personally known and where his influence extended. He wrote to Sir George his impressions about the loyalty of the population of Upper Canada, and said that although a great number were sincere in their desire to defend the country, there were many others who were indifferent, or so completely American as to rejoice in the prospect of a change of government.
Another disquieting report came at this time of the feeling among the Indians on the Grand River. They had heard of General Hull's successful entry into the country, his emissaries were already among them, and they had decided to remain neutral.
American assertion
The American press was now full of boastful predictions of the early fall of Canada. Dr. Eustis, the American secretary of war, said: "We can take the Canadas without soldiers, we have only to send officers into the province, and the people, disaffected towards their own government, will rally round our standard." Henry Clay said: "It is absurd to suppose we shall not succeed in our enterprise against the enemy's provinces. We have the Canadas as much under our command as Great Britain has the ocean; and the way to conquer her on the ocean is to drive her from the land. I am not for stopping at Quebec or anywhere else, but I would take the continent from them. I wish never to see a peace till we do."
In the face of all this assertion, and with a knowledge that a handful of regulars and a few thousand undisciplined militia were all that he had to drive the invaders back, it was hard for the general in command to keep a confident air, and to prevent the people dependent on him from giving up in despair. To Sir George Prevost Brock wrote: "It is scarcely possible that the government of the United States will be so inactive or supine as to permit the present limited (British) force to remain in possession of the country. Whatever can be done to preserve it, or to delay its fall, your Excellency may rest assured will be done." "I talk loud and look big," he laughingly says in a letter to Colonel Baynes.