his colors. In a proclamation Hull looked
forward to a bloodless conquest, informing the Canadians that they were
to be emancipated from tyranny and oppression and restored to the
dignified station of freemen. "I have a force which will break down all
opposition," said he, "and that force is but the vanguard of a much
greater."

He soundly reasoned that unless a movement could be launched against
Niagara, at the other end of Lake Erie, the whole strength of the
British might be thrown against him and that he was likely to be trapped
in Detroit. There was a general plan of campaign, submitted by Major
General Henry Dearborn before the war began, which provided for a
threefold invasion--from Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario, from
Niagara, and from Detroit--in support of a grand attack along the route
leading past Lake Champlain to Montreal. Theoretically, it was good
enough strategy, but no attempt had been made to prepare the execution,
and there was no leader competent to direct it.

In response to Hull's urgent appeal, Dearborn, who was puttering about
between Boston and Albany, confessed that he knew nothing about what was
going on at Niagara. He ranked as the commander-in-chief of the American
forces and he awoke from his habitual stupor to ask himself this amazing
question: "Who is to have the command of the operations in Upper Canada?
I take it for granted that my command does not extend to that distant
quarter." If Dearborn did not know who was in control of the operations
at Niagara, it was safe to say that nobody else did, and Hull was left
to deal with the increasing forces in front of him and the hordes of
Indians in the rear, to garrison Detroit, to assault the fort at
Amherstburg, to overcome the British naval forces on Lake Erie--and all
without the slightest help or cooperation from his Government.

Meanwhile Brock had ascertained that the American force at Niagara
consisted of a few hundred militia with no responsible officer in
command, who were making a pretense of patrolling thirty-six miles of
frontier. They were undisciplined, ragged, without tents, shoes, money,
or munitions, and ready to fall back if attacked or to go home unless
soon relieved. Having nothing to fear in that quarter, Brock gathered up
a small body of regulars as he marched and proceeded to Amherstburg to
finish the business of the unfortunate Hull.

That Hull deserves some pity as well as the disgrace which overwhelmed
him is