is arrival at Amherstburg, General Brock sent to the
Americans a summons to surrender, adding with a crafty discernment of
the effect of the threat upon the mind of the man with whom he was
dealing: "You must be aware that the numerous body of Indians who have
attached themselves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment
the contest commences." Hull could see only the horrid picture of a
massacre of the women and children within the stockades of Detroit. He
failed to realize that his thousand effective infantrymen could hold out
for weeks behind those log ramparts against Brock's few hundred regulars
and volunteers. Two and a half years later, Andrew Jackson and his
militia emblazoned a very different story behind the cypress
breastworks of New Orleans. Besides the thousand men in the fort, Hull
had detached five hundred under Colonels McArthur and Cass to attempt to
break through the Indian cordon in his rear and obtain supplies. These
he now vainly endeavored to recall while he delayed a final reply to
Brock's mandate.

Indecision had doomed the garrison which was now besieged. Tecumseh's
warriors had crossed the river and were between the fort and McArthur's
column. Brock boldly decided to assault, a desperate venture, but he
must have known that Hull's will had crumbled. No more than seven
hundred strong, the little British force crossed the river just before
daybreak on the 16th of August and was permitted to select its positions
without the slightest molestation. A few small field pieces, posted on
the Canadian side of the river, hurled shot into the fort, killing four
of Hull's men, and two British armed schooners lay within range.

Brock advanced, expecting to suffer large losses from the heavy guns
which were posted to cover the main approach to the fort, but his men
passed through the zone of danger and found cover in which they made
ready to storm the defenses of Detroit. As Brock himself walked forward
to take note of the situation before giving the final commands, a white
flag fluttered from the battery in front of him. Without firing a shot,
Hull had surrendered Detroit and with it the great territory of
Michigan, the most grievous loss of domain that the United States has
ever suffered in war or peace. On the same day Fort Dearborn (Chicago),
which had been forgotten by the Government, was burned by Indians after
all its defenders had been slain. These two disasters with the earlier
fall of Macki