[cruIKksHANK] GENERAL HULL’S INVASION OF CANADA IN 1812 225 
of communication would have been comparatively secure.! As long 
before as April 27th, Quartermaster-General Porter of the Ninth Mil- 
itary District (who was also a leading figure in Congress) had been 
ordered to deposit at Detroit a supply of provisions sufficient to subsist 
two thousand men for six months. The contract was let by him to 
his brother, Augustus Porter, who began purchasing in Western New 
York and Pennsylvania. On June 15th a supplementary order was 
issued for the deposit of 14,000 rations at Sandusky, whither two com- 
panies of Ohio Volunteers were marching, and an additional quantity 
of 366,000 rations at Detroit. Only a fraction of these supplies had 
been delivered when the declaration of war became known, and the vigil- 
ance of the British warships on Lake Erie prevented the conveyance of 
the rest by water, and land carriage was impossible. A few small vessels 
had already been captured and the remainder were locked up in the 
ports below? The situation seemed so serious that Hull informed the 
Secretary of War that as the lake was closed and the contractor unable 
to supply his demands, he had been forced to make another contract 
with Mr. Piatt, of Cincinnati, for two hundred thousand rations of 
flour to be forwarded from Ohio by pack horses, and herds of cattle 
driven forward for beef, warning him at the same time in the most 
emphatic terms that the line of communication must be kept open by 
fresh troops. “This must not be neglected,” he concluded. “If it is, 
this army will perish by hunger.” * To Governor Meigs he wrote in 
the same urgent strain, appealing to him to detach another body of 
militia for that purpose.* That zealous and energetic officer lost no 
time in complying with his request, and authorized the immediate organ- 
ization of a supply column at Urbana. 
Orders were issued for crossing the river on the night of July 10th. 
The boats were in readiness and the men ready to march when a part 
of the Ohio militia absolutely refused to invade Canada. This caused 
much-uproar and confusion, several muskets were discharged at random 
and Major Munson of the 3rd Ohio Regiment was badly wounded. The 
noise and disorder became so great that General Hull countermanded 
his orders for the movement. Next morning two entire companies of 
McArthur’s regiment refused to cross the river, and an officer was, in 
consequence, placed under arrest. Hull directed that a list should be 
made of the names of all who were unwilling to take part in the inva- 
*Hull, Defence, pp. 79-80. 
2 Federal Republican, 28th July, 1812. 
8 Hull to Eustis, July 10th; Forbes, Trial, Appendix II, p. 9. 
*Hull to Meigs; Forbes, Appendix II, p. 19. 
Sec. II., 1907. 15. 
