276 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Hull, and invested with authority to conclude terms with him if he 
desired to capitulate.t 
Hull had indeed become so much discouraged by the gloomy 
prospect arising from the interruption of his line of communication with 
Ohio, that he hinted to some of his officers in a vague and indiscreet 
way that it might be necessary to make terms with the enemy. On the 
afternoon of the 12th the commanding officers of the Ohio regiments 
met secretly, and agreed to despatch a joint letter to Governor Meigs 
informing him of their loss of confidence in their superior, and request- 
ing him in the most urgent terms to send a large force to their assistance 
at once, of which, they suggested, that he should take the command in 
person. The terms of their letter sufficiently indicate the state of panic 
prevailing in their minds at the time. On the morning of the 14th, 
Colonel Anderson and another officer of the Michigan militia arrived 
from the River Raisin by the back road, bearing a letter from Captain 
Brush to General Hull, announcing the arrival of his convoy at that 
place and desiring further instructions. They had seen no signs of 
any hostile force on this road, which they represented as quite practicable 
for troops, although nearly double the distance of the river road. 
Encouraged by this information, Hull wrote to Brush, directing him to 
advance by this route and he would send a strong escort twenty-five or 
thirty miles along the road to meet him and protect his movement. 
For this purpose McArthur and Cass were directed to select one hundred 
and fifty men from each of their regiments and march at once. On 
the appearance of the British ships of war ascending the river he gave 
orders for the immediate construction of some new batteries near the 
water’s edge, to prevent them from approaching within effective range 
of the town and fort of Detroit, and Colonel Findlay was to move at 
sunset, with a strong detachment from his regiment, to watch the land- 
ing place below Spring Wells during the night. 
Leaving Detroit late in the afternoon, McArthur and Cass continued 
their march until near midnight and resumed it at an early hour next 
day. After having marched, as they supposed, about twenty-four miles 
without meeting the convoy, a party of dragoons was sent forward to 
reconnoitre. These men advanced as far as Godefroi’s trading house, 
where they saw a few Indians, who disappeared in the woods. Fearing 
an ambush, they returned with this report, and McArthur instantly 
decided to retreat, but had not gone far on his return march when he 
received a hurried message from Hull recalling him for the defence of 
Detroit, which, he stated, had been summoned to surrender that morning. 



1Tucas Journal, p. 406; Cass to Secretary of War, September 10th, 1812; 
Hull Defence, pp. 84-5; Brock to Hull, August 15th, 1812. 
