quite apparent. Most of his troops were ill-equipped, unreliable,
and insubordinate. Even during the march to Detroit he had to use a
regular regiment to compel the obedience of twelve hundred mutinous
militiamen who refused to advance. Their own officer could do nothing
with them. At Detroit two hundred of them refused to cross the river, on
the ground that they were not obliged to serve outside the United
States. Granted such extenuation as this, however, Hull showed himself
so weak and contemptible in the face of danger that he could not expect
his fighting men to maintain any respect for him.

His fatal flaw was lack of courage and promptitude. He did not know how
to play a poor hand well. In the emergency which confronted him he was
like a dull sword in a rusty scabbard. While the enemy waited for
reinforcements, he might have captured Amherstburg. He had the superior
force, and yet he delayed and lost heart while his regiments dwindled
because of sickness and desertion and jeered at his leadership. The
watchful Indians, led by the renowned Tecumseh, learned to despise the
Americans instead of fearing them, and were eager to take the warpath
against so easy a prey. Already other bands of braves were hastening
from Lake Huron and from Mackinac, whose American garrison had been
wiped out.

Brooding and shaken, like an old man utterly undone, Hull abandoned his
pretentious invasion of Canada and retreated across the river to shelter
his troops behind the log barricades of Detroit. He sent six hundred men
to try to open a line to Ohio, but, after a sharp encounter with a
British force, Hull was obliged to admit that they "could only open
communication as far as the points of their bayonets extended." His only
thought was to extricate himself, not to stand and fight a winning
battle without counting the cost. His officers felt only contempt for
his cowardice. They were convinced that the tide could be turned in
their favor. There were steadfast men in the ranks who were eager to
take the measure of the redcoats. The colonels were in open mutiny and,
determined to set General Hull aside, they offered the command to
Colonel Miller of the regulars, who declined to accept it. When Hull
proposed a general retreat, he was informed that every man of the Ohio
militia would refuse to obey the order. These troops who had been so
fickle and jealous of their rights were unwilling to share the leader's
disgrace.

Two days after h