It is March 17th. Welcome to Episode 76 of History in a Year. Today, the United States suffers one of the most humiliating military defeats in its history. While the US Navy is shocking the world on the ocean, the American invasion of Canada turns into an absolute catastrophe. We follow the aging, terrified General William Hull as he cowers inside Fort Detroit. We explore the brilliant, aggressive partnership between British Major General Isaac Brock and the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, and the masterful psychological bluff that forces an entire American army to surrender without firing a single shot.
STEPHEN:
Welcome to History in a Year: America’s First 250 Years.
LEAH:
Join us every single day as we journey from the Revolution of 1776 to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode and join the discussion at PointedWords.com. I’m Stephen.
LEAH:
And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
It is March 17th. Welcome to Episode 76. Yesterday, we watched the USS Constitution earn the nickname “Old Ironsides” by destroying a British frigate in the Atlantic.
LEAH:
It was a massive morale boost for the country. But back on land, the War of 1812 was turning into a complete nightmare for the United States.
STEPHEN:
The grand American plan was to march north and conquer Canada. And the first prong of that invasion was led by a Revolutionary War veteran named General William Hull.
LEAH:
General Hull was the Governor of the Michigan Territory. He was in his late fifties, he had suffered a recent stroke, and he really did not want this command. But President Madison basically forced him to take it.
STEPHEN:
In July 1812, Hull took an army of about 2,500 men, crossed the Detroit River, and officially invaded Upper Canada.
LEAH:
He issued this incredibly arrogant proclamation to the Canadian civilians, basically telling them to surrender to the American liberators or face the horrors of war.
STEPHEN:
But the problem was, General Hull was terrified. He was completely paralyzed by the fear of Native American attacks. He knew the frontier was swarming with warriors who had allied with the British.
LEAH:
And waiting for him in Canada was the worst possible combination of enemies he could have ever faced.
STEPHEN:
The British forces were commanded by Major General Isaac Brock. Brock was aggressive, brilliant, and absolutely fearless.
LEAH:
And Brock had just formed an alliance with the great Shawnee leader, Tecumseh.
STEPHEN:
When Brock and Tecumseh met for the first time, it was immediate, mutual respect. Brock later wrote that he had never met a more sagacious or gallant warrior. They instantly hatched a plan to completely break General Hull’s mind.
LEAH:
As soon as Hull’s supply lines were harassed by Native American raiding parties, he panicked. He abandoned the invasion of Canada, ordered his entire army to turn around, and retreated back across the river to cower behind the wooden walls of Fort Detroit.
STEPHEN:
Fort Detroit was packed. It held Hull’s army, the local militia, and hundreds of civilian women and children—including Hull’s own daughter and grandchild.
LEAH:
Isaac Brock and Tecumseh saw their opportunity. They marched their forces up to the Canadian side of the river, directly across from the fort, and they launched a masterclass in psychological warfare.
STEPHEN:
First, Brock allowed a fake document to be “captured” by American spies. The document claimed that over 5,000 savage Native American warriors were marching from the north to join the British.
LEAH:
In reality, Tecumseh only had about 600 warriors. But to make the American spies inside the fort believe the lie, Tecumseh pulled off an incredibly clever visual trick.
STEPHEN:
He marched his warriors out of the woods, across a clearing in full view of the fort, and then dipped down into a ravine. Once they were out of sight, the warriors ran back through the woods to the starting point, and marched across the clearing again!
LEAH:
They just walked in a massive circle over and over again. To the terrified Americans looking through their spyglasses, it looked like a never-ending stream of thousands of warriors arriving for a massacre.
STEPHEN:
To twist the knife even further, General Brock sent a letter across the river under a flag of truce directly to General Hull.
LEAH:
The letter essentially said, “I don’t want to slaughter your people. But once the fighting starts, I will not be able to control the thousands of Indians under my command. Surrender now, and I will protect you.”
STEPHEN:
Hull completely broke. He was sitting inside the fort, sleep-deprived, chewing tobacco so nervously that the juice was running down his face and staining his uniform. He was terrified that his daughter and grandchild were going to be scalped.
LEAH:
On the morning of August 16, 1812, the British artillery started firing on the fort. A few cannonballs smashed through the wooden walls, killing four American officers.
STEPHEN:
That was it. General Hull didn’t consult with his junior officers. He didn’t ask his men to fight. He simply found a white tablecloth, hung it out the window of the fort, and surrendered.
LEAH:
His own soldiers were absolutely disgusted. The Ohio militia literally broke their swords over their knees rather than hand them over to the British.
STEPHEN:
Without firing a single musket in defense of the fort, General William Hull handed over 2,500 American soldiers, 39 cannons, massive stockpiles of weapons, and the entire city of Detroit to a British force that was less than half his size.
LEAH:
It is the only time in American history that a major US city has completely surrendered to a foreign army.
STEPHEN:
The War Hawks in Washington D.C. were stunned. The invasion of Canada was supposed to be a “mere matter of marching.” Instead, the United States had just lost the entire Michigan Territory.
LEAH:
General Hull was later court-martialed for cowardice and sentenced to be shot. President James Madison pardoned him from the firing squad because of his service in the Revolution, but his name became synonymous with absolute disgrace.
STEPHEN:
The British now controlled the entire western frontier. If the United States wanted any hope of winning this war, they had to take back the Great Lakes.
LEAH:
Join us tomorrow for Episode 77. The Battle of Lake Erie. We meet a 28-year-old naval commander named Oliver Hazard Perry. We witness a brutal, bloody naval battle fought on fresh water, and the iconic moment Perry refuses to surrender his sinking ship, transferring his flag in a rowboat through a hail of cannon fire to secure one of the most vital victories of the war.
STEPHEN:
I’m Stephen.
LEAH:
And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode at PointedWords.com. And this… is our story.