"No, my son, I trust you never shall," returned the captain gravely, laying a hand affectionately on the child's head.
"Please tell the rest, papa," pleaded little Elsie, and her father resumed the thread of his narrative.
"The British kept up their bombardment until near midnight, our men returning it with great spirit and disabling two of the enemy's guns. About twilight someone proposed that as the fort did not command the river, a strong battery should be placed near the margin of the river and used in destroying the foe when they attempted to land. A suitable place for the purpose was chosen, but Hull utterly refused to allow the plan to be carried out; and in the early twilight of the next morning—a beautiful Sunday morning—they were allowed to cross without the least attempt being made to hinder them.
"Six hundred Indians, commanded by two British colonels and Tecumseh, had crossed the night before and taken position in the woods to attack the Americans in flank and rear should they attempt to hinder the landing of the British regulars and militia, 770 strong with 5 pieces of light artillery.
"They all breakfasted, then moved upon the fort—the whites in a single column, their left flank covered by the Indians, a mile and a half distant in the woods; their right resting on the Detroit River, defended by the Queen Charlotte.
"Colonel Miller, with the Fourth Regiment, was now in the fort; the Ohio volunteers with part of the Michigan militia were posted behind the town palisades, to annoy the enemy's whole left flank. The rest of the militia were stationed in the upper part of the town to keep back the Indians, who had joined the British in order to be permitted to plunder and kill the American whites.
"Our men were waiting, watching the cautiously approaching foe, eager to fire upon them the moment they were in the best position to receive the most destructive onslaught—for wives, children, and feeble aged ones were in danger of becoming victims to their inhuman thirst for blood and plunder, and that foe had reached a point within five hundred yards of their line when there came a peremptory command from General Hull for them to retreat within the fort.
"The soldiers were very angry but obeyed, while the enemy drew nearer and prepared to storm the fort. The shot were coming thick and fast now from the Canadian shore. A ball came bounding over the wall of the fort and struck a group standing before one of the officer's quarters, killing two officers and a surgeon and badly wounding another. The next moment two other soldiers on the inside of the fort and two on the outside were killed.
"There were women and children in the house where the officers were killed, among them General Hull's daughter and her children. Some of the women were bespattered with the blood of the slain, and almost paralyzed with fear; some were carried senseless to the bomb-proof vault for safety.
"The general saw the effect of the ball from a distance, and did not know whether his own child was killed or not.