"In these measures he[60] was most opportunely aided by the fortunate surrender of Fort Michilimakinack, which, giving spirit and confidence to the Indian tribes in its neighbourhood, part of whom assisted in its capture, determined them to advance upon the rear and flanks of the American army, as soon as they heard that it had entered the province."
FOOTNOTES:
[58] This order strikes us as an unmilitary interference on the part of Sir George Prevost with Major-General Brock's authority, Captain Roberts being under the immediate command of the latter general.
[59] See Captain Roberts' Dispatch, Appendix A, Sec. 1, No. 2.
[60] Major-General Brock.
CHAPTER XI.
Whilst Major-General Brock impatiently lingered on the Niagara frontier, so as to give time to the legislature to assemble at York, he dispatched Colonel Proctor, of the 41st regiment, with such reinforcements as could be spared, to assume the command at Amherstburg. General Hull, after crossing to Sandwich, remained for some time inactive, under pretext of making preparations for the reduction of Amherstburg, or Malden, as the Americans called it, which lay but eighteen miles below him, and was not in a condition to withstand a regular siege. During the delay, three detachments of his army were on three successive days beaten back by a small number of the 41st regiment and a few Indians. Michilimakinack had fallen since the invasion, and the Indians from that quarter were flocking to the British standard. Our naval force being superior on the lake, Colonel Proctor pushed over to Brownstown, an American village, about 25 miles from Detroit, and nearly opposite to Amherstburg, a small detachment of the 41st regiment, and some Indians under the celebrated Tecumseh, who, with 70 of the latter, awaited in ambush near that village a party of 200 Americans, under Major Van Home, on their march[61] from Detroit to the River Raisin, (40 miles south of Detroit,) to meet a detachment of volunteers from Ohio, with a convoy of provisions for Hull's army. The Indians, firing suddenly, killed 20, including 5 officers, and wounded about the same number of the Americans, who hastily retreated, and were pursued seven miles by the warriors alone, not a British soldier being engaged. In this affair, General Hull's dispatches and the correspondence of his troops fell into the hands of Tecumseh, and it was partly the desponding nature of their contents which afterwards induced Major-General Brock to attempt the capture of the American army. Foiled in the reduction of Fort Amherstburg; disappointed in his hope of a general insurrection of the Canadians; and, "above all, dismayed at the report of General Brock's resolution to advance against him,"[62] Hull's schemes of conquest vanished; and he who, less than a month before, had landed in Canada boastful of his strength and with threats of extermination, now saw no other alternative than a hasty return to Detroit, under the pretence of concentrating his forces; and after re-opening his communication with the rivers Raisin and Miami, through which he received his supplies, of resuming offensive operations. Accordingly, on the 7th and 8th of August the American army re-crossed the river, with the exception of a garrison of 250 men left in charge of a small fortification they had thrown up on the British side, a little below Detroit, and which they evacuated and destroyed before the arrival of Major-General Brock.[63] On the 9th of August, a body of 600 Americans, sent to dislodge the British from Brownstown and to open a communication with the Rivers Raisin and Miami, was met by the white troops and Indians under Captain Muir, of the 41st, at Maguaga, between Brownstown and Detroit, but, after a severe conflict, Captain Muir was compelled to retreat.
From the moment that Major-General Brock heard of the invasion of the western district, he determined on proceeding thither in person after he had met the legislature and dispatched the public business. Having expressed a wish of being accompanied by such of the militia as might voluntarily offer their services, 500, principally the sons of veteran soldiers who had settled in the province, cheerfully came forward for that purpose. The threatening attitude, however, of the enemy on the Niagara frontier, obliged the general to content himself with half this number; and he left York on the 6th of August for Burlington Bay, whence he proceeded by land for Long Point, on Lake Erie. In passing the Mohawks' village, on the Grand River, or Ouse, he desired the Indians there to tell him who were, and who were not, his friends; and at a council held on the 7th of August, they promised that about 60 of their number should follow him on the ensuing Monday, the 10th. At Long Point, a few regulars and nearly 300 militia embarked with him on the 8th of the same month in boats of every description, collected among the neighbouring farmers, who usually employed them for transporting their corn and flour. The distance from Long Point to Amherstburg is about 200 miles along the shore, which in many parts is a high precipitous bank of red clay, with scarcely a creek for shelter. The little flotilla encountered heavy rain and tempestuous weather, but nothing could for a moment retard its progress, or diminish the confidence of the men in their indefatigable leader. Among his general orders from the commencement of hostilities, the only one relating to this voyage is the following, which, from the singularity of the circumstances attending it, is thought worthy of being preserved:
G.O. Head Quarters, Pointe au Prince, Aug. 12, 1812.