[cruIks "ANK] GENERAL HULL’S INVASION OF CANADA IN 1812 229 
and corn. Their arms in war or in hunting.were a rifle or musket, 
a long spear, tomahawk and hunting knife. The Hurons of the River 
Canard could turn out about two hundred fighting men, and there were 
a number of Munceys and Delawares on the Thames, most of whom 
were prevented by their religion from bearing arms.' 
The Thames was navigable for small vessels as high as the forks, 
a distance of nineteen miles. Thence a road following the right bank 
ran through the Long Woods to Oxford, Ancaster, and the head of 
Lake Ontario, but except in very dry weather, or when the ground was 
frozen, it was excessively bad. The distance from Amherstburg to 
Lake Ontario by this route was two hundred and thirty miles. The 
route generally followed was by water to Long Point, thence twenty 
miles across the plains to the village of the Six Nations where there 
was a bridge and a ford on the Grand River. From this place it was 
twenty-eight miles to the head of Lake Ontario, the road passing through 
the woods for six miles and for the remainder of the way over plains.? 
Elliott’s first step after his return was to devise means to convey 
a message to Tecumseh and the Shawnee Prophet “ to retreat or turn 
aside if the Big Knives should come against them.” For this purpose 
he selected Isidore Chesne, a Huron who had been employed as an 
interpreter in the Indian Department during the Revolution, and 
Walk-in-the-Water obtained a safe conduct from the Acting Governor 
of Michigan for two of his tribesmen to go to the Wabash to attend a 
council. Parties of Indians continued to arrive at Amherstburg to 
solicit ammunition for hunting, as their families were in great distress ; 
some of them coming from the vicinity of the Mississippi. A limited 
quantity of powder, amounting in all to about twelve hundred pounds, 
was issued to them in response to their insistent demands, but they 
were invariably refused lead, of which they had not received an ounce 
since December, 1811, and many of them lingered at Amherstburg in 
hope of eventually having their wants supplied, meanwhile drawing 
provisions from the Government store. 
On his arrival at Fort Wayne, Isidore Chesne presented a letter 
from Mr. Atwater to the Indian Agent at that place, requesting him 
to furnish Chesne with a canoe, but on learning that he bore a message 
from Colonel Elliott to the Indians of the Wabash, he refused to give 
him any assistance, and he was obliged to. continue his journey on foot. 

1 Smith, View. Watson formerly lived at Montreal, where he had been 
appointed a Justice of the Peace. 
2 National Intelligencer, January, 1813; Notes on Upper Canada. Memo. 
by Lieut.-Col. Glegg. 
3 Claus to Brock, 16th June, 1812; Lucas to Foster, 4th November, 1812. 
