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an American editor trumps up a story of colonel Cass having "driven the 41st regiment and some Indians more than half a mile, when the darkness of the night made further progress hazardous ;" and adds :-" The colonel was content to possess the bridge and some adjoining houses until morning, when, after reconnoitring the neighbourhood, and not finding the enemy, he commenced his return to the camp at Sandwich."'*

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On the 19th a second reconnoitring party, consisting of 150 men of the Ohio volunteers, and a detachment of artillery, with two pieces of cannon, under the command of colonel M'Arthur, returned to the ground abandoned by colonel Cass; but who, with 100 men, soon afterwards joined M'Arthur's detachment. small look-out party of the 41st regiment, sent across the very bridge, which colonel Cass had been" content to possess," but too much furried to destroy, two privates, who behaved like noble fellows, were wounded and taken prisoners. Upon the bridge the British had two light field-pieces, with the fire from which they disabled one of the American guns, and drove the Americans into the plane; but were too inferior in force to pursue them. The American editor, concealing that any artillery was engaged on his side, has multiplied the British guns from

Sketches of the War, p. 22.

two to six, and, in despite of distance and shoal water, brought to the spot the British ship "Queen Charlotte, of 20 guns."* After stating that "the chief, Tecumseh, celebrated for his dexterity with the tomahawk and rifle, was at the head of the Indians," Mr. Thomson gravely pronounces "the escape of M'Arthur and his companions" as "truly miraculous."*

The American general, in expectation that 150 Ohio volunteers, under the command of captain Brush, were waiting at the river Raisin, 36 miles off, with a quantity of provisions for the army, despatched major Vanhorne, with 200 men,† to meet and escort the reinforcement to its destination. Fortunately, the major encountered, on his second day's march, near Brownstown, 70 Indians, under the brave Tecumseh, in ambuscade. The latter fired, and, according to the American accounts, killed twenty men, including captains M'Culloch, Bostler, Gilcrease, and Ubry; and wounded nine. Tecumseh and his 70 Indians, with the loss of only one man killed, drove these 200 Americans before them, for seven miles, and took possession of the mail they were escorting. When the American force first appeared in sight, Tecumseh sent an express to the river Aux Canards, for captain Muir and his company. But captain Muir had been de* Sketches of the War, p. 23. - + Hist. of the War, p. 40,

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tached, across the river, to a spot three miles beyond Amherstburg. Being relieved by captain Mockler of the Newfoundland Fencibles, captain Muir hastened back; and, re-crossing the river, arrived at Brownstown just as the affair ended. Not a white man was engaged; yet have the American editors magnified Tecumseh's little party into "a very superior force of regulars and Indians." One editor says, "The whole detachment retreated in great disorder, and could not, by any exertion of major Van Horn, be rallied;" another says, "they fled with precipitation ;" and a third editor, and he who alone has, in direct contradiction to the official account,* ventured to reduce major Vanhorn's command to "150 men," says: "To the Americans the odds were fearful, but, after an obstinate resistance, they succeeded in making an orderly retreat."+ Here is confusion!

Among the numerous anecdotes which contribute to fill the pages of the American histories, the following most authentic one no where ap pears. In the pocket of captain M'Culloch, of the American army, killed in this affair with the Indians, was found a letter addressed to his wife, in which this humane individual, this officer of a nation vaunting itself to the world as a pattern of civilization, states that, on the 15th of July, * App. No. 9. + Sketches of the War, p. 25.

he killed an Indian,* and had the pleasure of tearing the scalp from the head of the savage with his teeth!-We may presume that, had this exploit been performed in December instead of July, the bloody trophy itself would have been found in the other pocket, ready to accompany the letter, as a still more delectable present to the American lady.

The fall of Michilimacinac had, to use general Hull's language, "opened the northern hive of Indians" upon him; and he was induced, from his fears, greatly to magnify "the reinforcements from Niagara" that had been sent to colonel Proctor, who had succeeded lieutenant-colonel St. George, at Amherstburg. But the worst of all was, that the general's proclamation, "so well calculated to inspire confidence, and secure the friendship of the Canadians," no longer produced its effect. The promised" protection to persons, property, and rights," was fulfilled in a way that taught the subjects of Canada what reliance they could place upon republican faith. The inhabitants received from their "brethren" worse treatment than the most ferocious enemy could inflict. This, by degrees, opened their eyes; and, as the American general deplores, "the desertion of the (Canadian) militia ceased." Much of * See p. 59. +Hist. of the War, p. 36.

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general Hull's disappointment, no doubt, arose from the salutary effects of the counter-proclamation*, which general Brock, on the 22d of July, issued at Fort-George. These "untoward" circumstances combined to relieve the upper province from the tread of the invaders. The general and his powerful army, except 250 infantry and a corps of artillerists, left in a small fortress on the banks a little below Detroit, re-crossed the river during the night of the 7th of August, and, by day-break next morning, were safely encamped at Detroit; thus shamefully leaving to their fate," says Mr. O'Connor, in the height of his indignation against general Hull, "the Canadians who had joined the American standard.”

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The communication which had been opened by the American army, between Raisin and their present post, was shut up by the Indians. It was deemed indispensably requisite that it should be re-opened, or the provisions at that river could never reach the garrison; which, in a few days, would be in want of subsistence. Accordingly, 600 men,t under the command of lieutenant-colonel Miller, accompanied by a detachment of artillery with two six-pounders, were immediately sent upon that service. Upon the lieutenant-colonel's arrival at Maguaga,

* App. No. 5. 1 Sketches of the War, p. 40.

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