212 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
edly high. During the War of the Revolution he had distinguished 
himself on several occasions, particularly in the action at Stillwater, on 
19th September, 1777, when about half of his command were either 
killed or wounded. He had also been present at the storming of Stony 
Point, but the military exploit by which he had acquired most fame, 
was a well planned and successful attack upon a Loyalist outpost at 
Morrisania, in January, 1751. Three years later he was appointed 
by Washington a special commissioner to proceed to Quebec to request 
the surrender of the western posts. He had acted as third in command 
of the force employed in the suppression of Shay’s Rebellion, and in 
1793 had been selected as commissioner to request the assistance of 
Lieut.-Governor Simcoe in the negotiations with the western Indians, 
and had performed this rather embarrassing mission with much tact 
and discretion. 
After serving for eight years as a State Senator in the Legislature 
of Massachusetts, he had been appointed Governor and Indian Agent 
for the Territory of Michigan in:1805, by President Jefferson. He had 
performed his duties so well that he had been reappointed in 1808, and 
again in 1811.1. No other person in the United States possessed such 
a wide and intimate knowledge of the affairs of the territory he had 
so long governed, and of that portion of Upper Canada adjacent to it. 
His relations with the Indians of the Northwest had been close and 
friendly, and his correspondents and subordinate agents had kept him 
well informed with respect to the more distant bands. On two previous 
occasions he had prepared well considered memorials on the military 
situation on that frontier and his opinion naturally carried great weight. 
In both of these he had strongly advocated the establishment of a 
sufficient naval force upon Lake Erie to control the upper lakes and 
maintain the communication between the military posts upon them. 
In the latter, dated 15th June, 1811, but written under the conviction 
that war with Great Britain was probable, he had endeavoured to fore- 
cast the conduct of the Indians in that event. 
“Their situation and habits are such that little dependence can be 
placed on them. At present they appear to be friendly, and was I to 
calculate on the professions of their chiefs, I should be satisfied that 
they would not become hostile. Their first passion, however, is war. 
The policy of the British Government is to consider them their allies, 
and, in the event of war, to invite them to join their standard. The 
policy of the American Government has been to advise them in the event 

*Campbell, Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William 
Hull, 
