[cRUIKSHANK] GENERAL HULL’S INVASION OF CANADA IN 1812 241 
advanced post so near Amherstburg. A verbal order was accordingly 
sent to Cass to return at once to camp as the General was not yet pre- 
pared to attack the fort, and he could not consent to divide his forces. 
But being informed that firing had again been heard in the direction 
of the Canard River, he ordered the remainder of the 4th Infantry 
with a field gun to move to Cass’s support. On receiving the order to 
return, Cass and Miller wrote a joint letter urging the advantage of 
holding the bridge. Hull promptly replied in writing that it would 
be a week before his siege artillery could be made ready, warning 
them against the danger of being cut off by a turning movement by the 
Canard ford or on the Detroit River, but giving them permission to 
act on their own discretion. By this time some boats filled with soldiers 
were observed ascending the river and a council of war was assembled 
which decided to retreat, Cass and Captain Snelling of the 4th Infantry 
alone opposing this determination. On arriving at Sandwich they 
found that McArthur had likewise returned from his foraging expedi- 
tion, while a smaller party, under Captain Forsyth, had brought in a 
valuable flock of merino sheep, imported by Lord Selkirk for breeding 
purposes, as the result of a raid upon the Scottish settlement at Bal- 
doon.! McArthur had advanced with his infantry as far as the mills 
on the Thames, near the site of the present city of Chatham, where he 
took possession of a quantity of grain and flour which was brought away 
in boats. A formal parole binding them not to bear arms during the 
war was exacted from the male inhabitants along their line of march, 
among whom was John McGregor, one of the representatives of the 
County of Essex in the House of Assembly. Some of McArthur’s 
horsemen rode up the river as far as the townships of Delaware and 
Westminster, distributing proclamations as they went, and were joined 
by Simon Watson, Andrew Westbrook, and other disaffected inhabitants.” 
Not less than sixty persons, representing themselves as deserters 
from the Canadian militia, came into Hull’s camp that day, some of 
whom seem to have expressed a desire to enlist under his command. 
They reported that all the women and children had been sent away 
for safety from the fort and Indian camps at Amherstburg, that many 
more of the militia were ready to desert, and that the Indians were 
daily returning to their villages. Hull advised these men to go to their 
homes and promised them protection. He was so greatly encouraged 
by their information, that he announced his intention of advancing 

*Lucas Journal, pp. 381-2; Hull Defence, pp. 128-132; Forbes, Trial, 
passium. Letter from Capt. Ulery in Poulson’s American. 
?McDonald, Life of McArthur; Brock to Prevost, 26th July, Quebec 
Mercury; Walker, 55. 
Sec. II., 1907. 16. 
