Chapter X

We have mentioned that Major-General Brock had in the spring provided for the protection of Fort St. Joseph, a small British post, distant by water nearly 700 hundred miles from York, and situate about 40 miles, also by water, to the north-east of the American island and fort of Michilimakinack, or Makinack, which island is in latitude 45° 35' north, and longitude 84° 30' west; and one of his first cares, on hearing of the declaration of the war, was to send, on the 26th of June, a notification of it to Captain Roberts, who was stationed at St. Joseph with a detachment of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, accompanied by orders to make an immediate attack upon Michilimakinack, if practicable; or, in the event of an attack by the Americans upon St. Joseph, to defend it to the utmost. Captain Roberts received at the same time another letter from Major-General Brock, dated the 27th June, suspending the orders for the attack from the uncertainty he was under of the declaration of war. In a third letter, dated Fort George, the 28th June, Major-General Brock, being sufficiently informed of such a declaration, directed Captain Roberts to adopt the most prompt and effectual measures to possess himself of Michilimakinack, and for this purpose to summon to his assistance the Indians within his influence, as well as the gentlemen and dependants of the British fur companies near his post. On the day that Captain Roberts received this letter, another reached him from Sir George Prevost, dated Quebec, 25th of June, by which he was directed to take every precaution to secure his post against any attempt by the enemy, and, in case of necessity, to effect his retreat.[58] This contrariety of instructions from the two general officers did not fail to perplex Captain Roberts, who, however, with great promptitude and decision made preparations for the attack. By another dispatch of the 4th of July, from Major-General Brock, Captain Roberts was left at his own discretion to adopt either offensive or defensive measures, as circumstances might dictate. On the 16th July, he accordingly set out with a flotilla of boats and canoes, in which were embarked 45 officers and men of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, about 180 Canadians, and nearly 400 Indians, the whole convoyed by the Caledonia brig, belonging to the North-West company; and on the ensuing morning, the British force effected a landing before Michilimakinack,[59] the garrison of which, consisting only of 61 officers and men, immediately surrendered by capitulation. A quantity of military stores and seven hundred packs of furs were found in the fort, and its surrender had a very favorable effect upon the Indians, a large number of whom now joined in open hostility against the Americans. It will be found by a letter of the 12th August, from Sir George Prevost, who appears to have seen no safety but in defensive measures, that he would _not_ have approved of the attack on Michilimakinack if it had occurred prior to Hull's invasion! And yet that officer, in his official dispatch relative to the capture of his army and the surrender of Detroit, attributed his disasters partly to the fall of Michilimakinack, which he said opened the northern hive of Indians against him!

_Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost_.

YORK, July 29, 1812.

I have the honor to transmit herewith a dispatch this instant
received from Captain Roberts, announcing the surrender by
capitulation, on the 17th instant, of Fort Michilimakinack.

The conduct of this officer since his appointment to the
command of that distant post, has been distinguished by much
zeal and judgment, and his recent eminent display of those
qualities your excellency will find has been attended with the
most happy effect.

The militia stationed here volunteered this morning their
services to any part of the province without the least
hesitation. I have selected 100, whom I have directed to
proceed without delay to Long Point, where I purpose
collecting a force for the relief of Amherstburg. This
example, I hope, will be followed by as many as may be
required. By the militia law, a mail refusing to march may be
fined £5, or confined three months; and although I have
assembled the legislature for the express purpose of amending
the act, I much fear nothing material will be done. Your
excellency will scarcely believe, that this infatuated house
of assembly have refused, by a majority of two, to suspend for
a limited time the habeas corpus.

The capture of Michilimakinack may produce great changes to
the westward. The actual invasion of the province justifies
every act of hostility on the American territory.

It was not till this morning that I was honored with your
excellency's dispatches, dated the 7th and 10th instant. Their
contents, I beg to assure your excellency, have relieved my
mind considerably. I doubt whether General Hull had
instructions to cross to this side of the river; I rather
suspect he was compelled by a want of provisions. I embark
immediately in the Prince Regent for Fort George. I return
here the day after to-morrow, and shall probably dissolve the
legislature.

_Sir George Prevost to Major-General Brock._

QUEBEC, July 31, 1812.

I have received your letter of the 20th instant, accompanied
by the copy of two letters from Lieut.-Colonel St. George, who
is in command at Amherstburg, and some interesting documents
found on board a schooner, which had been taken by the boats
of the Hunter.

In consequence of your having desired Colonel Proctor to
proceed to Amherstburg, and of your presence being necessary
at the seat of government to meet the legislature of Upper
Canada, I have taken upon myself to place Major-General
Sheaffe on the staff, to enable me to send him to assist you
in the arduous task you have to perform, in the able execution
of which I have great confidence. He has been accordingly
directed to proceed without delay to Upper Canada, there to
place himself under your command.

I believe you are authorized by the commission under which you
administer the government of Upper Canada, to declare martial
law in the event of invasion or insurrection; it is therefore
for you to consider whether you can obtain any thing
equivalent to that power from your legislature. I have not
succeeded in obtaining a modification of it in Lower Canada,
and must therefore, upon the occurrence of either of those
calamities, declare the law martial unqualified, and of course
shut the doors of the courts of civil law.

The report transmitted by Captain Dixon, of the Royal
Engineers, to Lieut.-Colonel Bruyeres, of the state of defence
in which he had placed Fort Amherstburg, together with the
description of the troops allotted for its defence, give me a
foreboding that the result of General Hull's attempt upon that
fort will terminate honorably to our arms.

If Lieut.-Colonel St. George be possessed of the talents and
resources required to form a soldier, he is fortunate in the
opportunity of displaying them. Should General Hull be
compelled to relinquish his operations against Amherstburg, it
will be proper his future movements should be most carefully
observed, as his late march exhibits a more than ordinary
character of enterprize.

Your supposition of my slender means is but too correct;
notwithstanding, you may rely upon every exertion being made
to preserve uninterrupted the communication between Kingston
and Montreal, and that I will also give all possible support
to your endeavours to overcome every difficulty.

The possession of Malden, which I consider means Amherstburg,
appears a favorite object with the government of the United
States. I sincerely hope you will disappoint them.

Should the intelligence, which arrived yesterday by the way of
Newfoundland, prove correct, a remarkable coincidence will
exist in the revocation of our orders in council as regards
America, and the declaration of war by congress against
England, both having taken place on the same day in London and
at Washington, the 17th June.

_Colonel Baynes to Major-General Brock_.

QUEBEC, August 1, 1812.

Sir George yesterday received your letter of the 20th with its
several enclosures, which are, I assure you, highly
interesting to all, and doubly so to those who feel warmly and
sincerely attached to you; and few, I believe, possess more
friends and well wishers than yourself. 100 effective of the
Newfoundland, and 50 picked men of the Veterans, left this in
boats on Thursday, and, as it has blown a gale of east wind
ever since, have I trust made great progress: they were
intended to reinforce the garrison of Kingston, and to relieve
the company of the 49th that escorted stores to that place.
Sir George regrets extremely his inability to render you a
more efficient aid, but, under existing circumstances, he does
not feel himself warranted to do more. I regret to find your
militia at Sandwich so lukewarm, to call it by no harsher
name; but I fear that little can be expected from those
recently settled, or of American extraction, and with our
Canadians we have found a very reluctant compliance. I trust
we may still look to considerable reinforcements from home
this year. We are led to expect the 1st battalion of the
Royals from the West Indies immediately, destined indeed to
relieve the 41st. I hope we shall not be disappointed, as our
militia will feel bold if well backed; and I am sure Sir
George will rejoice in receiving the means of rendering you
further assistance. It appears to be credited that the orders
in council were rescinded, in as far as regarded America, on
the 17th June, the day the war vote was carried: this will
strengthen the oppositionists in the States, and the timid
will feel alarmed, not without reason, when they read the
glorious and judicious exploit of Captain Hotham, in the
Northumberland, 74, in destroying, under circumstances of
great difficulty and peril, two French 44-gun frigates and a
sloop, which received a superior degree of protection from
batteries on the shore than can be afforded to Commodore
Rodgers in any harbour of the States.

The Americans are forming depôts in the neighbourhood of the
Montreal frontier and building batteries on the lake, but they
have not brought forward any considerable shew of
strength;--on this appearance of weakness we cannot rely, as
it would answer no good end making a parade before they
intended to attack. If they be serious in their views on this
province, the attempt will be probably backed by predatory
incursions on various points. A corps of militia is kept on
the Point Levi side.

Our legislature meet this day to terminate the session. One
great object has been accomplished in the house, adding the
provincial security to the army money note bill; the province
pays the interest accruing upon the notes and the expense of
the establishment, and they are constituted a legal tender.
Without this step we were completely at a stand, for we could
not obtain money to pay the last month's subsistence to the
troops: great benefit is expected to accrue from the operation
of the bill. The clergy have engaged to promote the
circulation of the notes, all of which above twenty-five
dollars bear interest, and all under are payable on demand.

Adieu, my dear generals--may every success and good fortune
attend you in the arduous task before you: we cannot command
success, but I am sure you will not fail to merit it.

_Lieut.-Colonel Bruyeres, Royal Engineers, to Major-General Brock._

QUEBEC, August 1, 1812.

I take the favorable advantage of this being delivered to you
by General Sheaffe, to assure you of the sincere interest I
feel in the very arduous and important position you are now
placed in to protect and defend a chain of posts, and a
country that has been so long neglected. This difficult task
placed in any other hands, I should consider very
discouraging; but I acknowledge that I look with a certain
degree of confidence to your abilities and perseverance in
surmounting every difficulty that must unavoidably occur in a
service of this nature. I most fervently and earnestly hope
that every possible success may attend all your proceedings. I
trust that you will always meet with zeal and activity in the
officers of my department, to perform every part of the duty
allotted to their charge. It is very difficult at this
distance to suggest any ideas that might be useful, as every
operation in which you are engaged must depend so entirely
upon local circumstances, and the conduct which the enemy may
pursue towards attaining the object he has in view. I am glad
to find that the new arrival of the Royals, expected at Quebec
to-morrow, will give you the reinforcement of the 49th
regiment, which, with the detachments of the Newfoundland and
Veterans, and gun-boat No. 7, will add something to your
present strength.

_Sir George Prevost to Major-General Brock._

QUEBEC, August 2, 1812.

Last evening an officer of the 98th regiment arrived here
express from Halifax, the bearer of dispatches to me, dated on
the 22d ultimo, from Mr. Foster, who was then in Nova Scotia.

I lose no time in making you acquainted with the substance of
this gentleman's communication. He informs me that he had just
received dispatches from England, referring to a declaration
of ministers in parliament, relative to a proposed repeal of
the orders in council, provided the United States government
would return to relations of amity with us, the contents of
which may possibly induce the American government to agree to
a suspension of hostilities as a preliminary to negotiations
for peace;--that he proposed sending his majesty's hired armed
ketch Gleaner to New York, with letters to Mr. Baker, whom he
had left at Washington in a demi-official capacity, with
directions to communicate with the American minister and to
write to me the result of his interview. Should the president
of the United States think proper to signify that hostile
operations should cease on the American side, Mr. Foster
suggests the expediency of my being prepared to make a similar
signification on our part.

As I propose sending Colonel Baynes immediately into the
United States, with a proposal for a cessation of hostile
operations, I enclose for your information the copy of my
letter to General Dearborn, or the commander-in-chief of the
American forces.

Mr. Foster also submits the propriety of our abstaining from
an invasion of the United States territory, as only in such an
event could the American government be empowered to order the
militia out of the States. I am led to believe from this, that
General Hull, in possessing himself of Sandwich, has exceeded
his instructions; particularly as Mr. Foster informs me that
Mr. Monroe had told him Fort Maiden (Amherstburg) would not be
attacked, but that General Hull had stated to a friend of his,
some time ago, that he would attempt it.

A report has been made to me that a frigate and six
transports, with the Royal Scots (1st battalion) on board,
from the West Indies, are just below Bic;--in consequence of
this reinforcement, I have ordered the company of the 49th
regiment, sent to Kingston, to remain there; and in addition
to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and a detachment of an
officer and 50 Veterans most fit for service, now on their
route to that station, I shall order Major Ormsby, with three
companies of the 49th regiment, to proceed from Montreal to
the same post, to be disposed of as you may find it necessary.

Lieut.-General Sir J.C. Sherbrooke has informed me that one of
the transports, with part of the Royals on board, has been
captured by the United States frigate the Essex; that she has
been ransomed and the officers and troops allowed to proceed,
upon condition that they are not to serve against America
until regularly exchanged. The vessel and troops had arrived
at Halifax, and will shortly be sent hither.

_Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost._

YORK, August 4, 1812.

I have the honor to enclose a statement made by me yesterday
to his majesty's executive council, which will fully apprize
your excellency of my situation. The council adjourned for
deliberation, and I have no doubt will recommend the
prorogation of the assembly and proclamation declaring martial
law, but doubts occurred in contemplation of such an event,
which I take the liberty to submit to your excellency, and
request the aid of your experience and superior judgment.

1.--In the event of declaring martial law, can I, without the
sign manual, approve and carry into effect the sentence of a
general court martial?

2.--Can I put upon a general court martial, after martial law
is proclaimed, any person not a commissioned officer in his
majesty's regular forces? In other words, can officers of
militia sit in conjunction with those of the line?

_Sir George Prevost to Major-General Brock_.

MONTREAL, August 12, 1812.

Your letter of the 4th instant, enclosing the proceedings of
the executive council of the 3d.; Captain Glegg's letter of
the 5th instant, transmitting copies of letters from Colonel
Proctor to you of 26th and 30th July, with the correspondence
between Brigadier-General Hull and Lieut.-Colonel St. George,
and the intercepted correspondence of the former, together
with your letter to Colonel Baynes, of the 4th instant, were
all delivered to me on my arrival at this place yesterday. The
information they contain is highly interesting, and I lose no
time in dispatching to you Brigade Major Shekleton, as the
bearer of this letter, and for the purpose of receiving
whatever communication you may have to make in return. Being
fully aware of the necessity of affording you such
reinforcements as the exigencies of the service in other parts
of the two provinces would permit, I had, previous to the
receipt of your letter, made arrangements for that purpose.

Major Ormsby, with three companies of the 49th regiment,
protecting a considerable supply of ordnance and ordnance
stores, left La Chine on the 6th instant for Kingston and Fort
George, taking with him £2,500 for the payment of the regular
and militia forces. Major Heathcote, with one company of the
49th regiment, about 110 men of the Newfoundland regiment, and
50 picked Veterans, are to leave La Chine on the 13th instant.
With this detachment, an additional supply of ordnance stores
and camp equipage for 500 men will be forwarded for Upper
Canada; and as soon as a sufficiency of bateaux can again be
collected at La Chine, Colonel Vincent is under orders to
proceed to Kingston with the remainder of the 49th regiment,
and a subaltern of the royal artillery and ten gunners, with
two 3-pounders.

When these reinforcements reach you, they will, I trust,
enable you successfully to resist the internal, as well as
external, enemies opposed to you, and materially aid the able
measures you have adopted for the defence of Upper Canada.

With regard to the queries you have submitted to me on the
subject of martial law, I have to observe, that it has not
fallen within my experience to see martial law proclaimed,
except in those places where it has been declared under the
authority of a provincial legislature, which of course
regulated the mode in which it was to be executed. As the
martial law which you purpose declaring is founded on the
king's commission, and upon the extreme case of invasion
alluded to in it, I am inclined to think that whatever power
is necessary for carrying the measure into effect, must have
been intended to be given you by the commission, and
consequently, that the power of assembling courts martial and
of carrying their sentence into execution, is included in the
authority for declaring martial law. The officers of militia
becoming themselves subject to martial law when it is
declared, I conceive they may sit upon courts martial with
officers of his majesty's regular forces; but upon both these
points I desire not to be understood as speaking
decisively--extreme cases must be met by measures which, on
ordinary occasions, would not perhaps be justified. Your
situation is such as to warrant your resorting to any step
which, in your judgment, the public safety may require. I
should therefore think, that after taking the best opinions
you can obtain from the first law characters you have about
you respecting the doubts you entertain on this subject, you
need not hesitate to determine upon that line of conduct which
you shall think will best promote the good of the service,
trusting, if you do err, to the absolute necessity of the
measures you may adopt, as your justification for them to his
majesty's government.

Your letters of the 26th, 28th and 29th July, with the several
enclosures and papers accompanying them, were received by me
shortly previous to my leaving Quebec; the last containing
Captain Roberts' official account of the capture of Fort
Michilimakinack. Great credit is certainly due to that
officer for the zeal and promptitude with which he has
performed this service; at the same time I must confess, my
mind has been very much relieved by finding that the capture
took place at a period subsequent to Brigadier-General Hull's
invasion of the province, as, had it been prior to it, it
would not only have been in violation of Captain Roberts'
orders, but have afforded a just ground for the subsequent
conduct of the enemy, which, I now plainly perceive, no
forbearance on your part would have prevented. The capture of
this place will, I hope, enable the Indian tribes in that
quarter to co-operate with you in your present movements
against the enemy, by threatening his flanks, a diversion
which would greatly alarm him, and probably have the effect of
compelling him to retreat across the river.

I send you enclosed a copy of the official repeal of the
orders in council, which I received last night by express from
Quebec. Although I much doubt whether this step on the part of
our government will have any effect upon that of the United
States, the circulation of the paper evincing their
conciliatory disposition may tend to increase and strengthen
the divisions which subsist amongst the people upon the
subject of the war. I therefore recommend to you to have a
number of copies struck off and distributed.

Colonel Baynes is still absent upon his mission to the enemy's
camp. Your letter to him of the 29th ultimo was received at
the same time with those I have last acknowledged. Colonel
Lethbridge I have directed to return to Montreal.

The issue of army bills has taken place at Quebec, and I hope
to be able shortly to send you a supply of them.

* * * * *

We have previously alluded (page 206) to that part of the preceding letter which relates to the capture of Michilimakinack. This capture appears to have been effected _contrary_ to Sir George Prevost's orders, as Fort St. Joseph being nearly 350 miles from Detroit and Sandwich, and as the expedition left the fort only four days after Hull's invasion, it was scarcely possible that Captain Roberts was then aware of that circumstance. Neither in his letter to the adjutant-general, announcing the capture, does he excuse himself by stating that he had heard of the invasion. In his dispatch to Earl Bathurst, written exactly a fortnight after the preceding letter, and dated Montreal, August 26, Sir George Prevost, in communicating the surrender of Detroit, expressed himself in very altered language, as he said:

"In these measures he[60] was most opportunely aided by the
fortunate surrender of Fort Michilimakinack, which, giving
spirit and confidence to the Indian tribes in its
neighbourhood, part of whom assisted in its capture,
determined them to advance upon the rear and flanks of the
American army, as soon as they heard that it had entered the
province."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 58: This order strikes us as an unmilitary interference on the part of Sir George Prevost with Major-General Brock's authority, Captain Roberts being under the immediate command of the latter general.]

[Footnote 59: See Captain Roberts' Dispatch, Appendix A, Sec. 1, No. 2.]

[Footnote 60: Major-General Brock.]