216 DETROIT. [1763, Mat. 



were extremely narrow, though a wide passage 

 way, known as the chemin die ronde, surrounded 

 the town, between the houses and the palisade. 

 Besides the barracks, the only public buildings 

 were a council-house and a rude little church. 



The garrison consisted of a hundred and twenty 

 soldiers, with about forty fur- traders and engages ; 

 but the latter, as well as the Canadian inhabitants 

 of the place, could little be trusted, in the event of 

 an Indian outbreak. Two small, armed schooners, 

 the Beaver and the Gladwyn, lay anchored in the 

 stream, and several light pieces of artillery were 

 mounted on the bastions. 



Such was Detroit, — a place whose defences 

 could have opposed no resistance to a civilized 

 enemy; and yet, far removed as it was from the 

 hope of speedy succor, it could only rely, in the 

 terrible struggles that awaited it, upon its own 

 slight strength and feeble resources.^ 



Standing on the water bastion of Detroit, a 

 pleasant landscape spread before the eye. The 

 river, about half a mile wide, almost washed the 

 foot of the stockade ; and either bank was lined 

 with the white Canadian cottages. The joyous 

 sparkling of the bright blue water ; the green 



1 Croghan, Journal. Rogers, Account of North America, 168. Various 

 MS. Journals, Letters, and Plans have also been consulted. The most 

 remarkable of these is the Plan Topographique du Detroit, made by or for 

 General Collot, in 1796. It is accompanied by a drawing in water-colors 

 of the town as it appeared in that year. A fac-simile of this drawing is 

 in my possession. The regular fortification, which, within the recollec- 

 tion of many now living, covered the ground in the rear of the old town 

 of Detroit, was erected at a date subsequent to the period of this his- 

 tory. 



