The Fall and Recapture of Detroit in the War of 1812: In Defense of William Hull

10. The Recapture of Detroit

[ 1 0 ] The Recapture of Detroit The military events of 1813 leading up to the recapture of Detroit suggest what Hull also might have accomplished had he been afforded the same resources as Brigadier General William Henry Harrison and had the Americans been in control of the waterways of Lake Erie and the Detroit River. With these advantages Hull probably would have approached his Detroit campaign differently, and its outcome could have been completely different. In March 1813, two months after Winchester’s defeat at Frenchtown, Harrison constructed a new fort at the Falls of the Maumee. The site he selected, on the south side of the river near present-day Perrysburg, Ohio, could easily be supplied and defended. The choice was excellent, well elevated with a deep ravine behind and a small stream across its eastern edge. Its interior formed a rectangle 200 yards wide and 400 yards long, completely surrounded by picket fencing. Seven large twostory blockhouses, five raised batteries, and two storehouses filled out its complement. Ditches filled with a breastwork of sharpened stakes in key locations surrounded the exterior of the picket walls. Harrison named his armed camp Fort Meigs in honor of Ohio’s governor, then settled down to see what the future would bring.1 At Malden, Procter viewed the construction of Fort Meigs with alarm. It forced him to plan an attack on Harrison before the latter became too strong. He also was running critically short of supplies, having to feed hundreds of Indians, his own troops, and the citizens of Detroit and Amherstburg . A victory over Harrison at Fort Meigs could provide him with the large store of supplies that Harrison had accumulated for his own Map of Northwest campaigns in the War of 1812. The Recapture of Detroit 155 troops. Unfortunately, the early winter weather had not been conducive to a winter campaign in Ohio. March and early April had been extremely wet, making it virtually impossible to haul artillery from Fort Malden to Fort Meigs for an assault on the latter’s pickets. On April 24 Procter finally was ready. His army, of 469 regular troops with their 26 officers and 27 sergeants, 462 Canadian militia, and 600 Indians under Chief Roundhead, boarded a fleet of six ships, two gunboats, and other transports and sailed across to the Ohio shore, disembarking near the entrance to the Maumee River. On April 27 Procter held an Indian council, to which Tecumseh brought 600 more warriors, bringing the total number of Indians to 1,200, about equal to that of all the American troops within Fort Meigs.2 The next day the British moved within easy range of the fort. Procter’s artillery officers busily positioned their heavy guns: two 24-pounders, two 12-pounders, an eight-inch howitzer, and two five-and-one-half-pound mortars. These were augmented by the nine-pounder guns aboard the two British gunboats that had trailed the troops up the Maumee River from Lake Erie. By 10:00 a.m. May 1, the British artillery on the northern bank of the river approximately 300 yards across from Fort Meigs began bombardment of the fort.3 Harrison countered with heavy fire from his own artillery: five 18-pounder guns, five 12-pounders, four six-pounders, and five howitzers.4 Over the next two days the British dropped 590 rounds onto Fort Meigs with little effect other than the loss of six men and the wounding of 11. They were stymied by Harrison’s foresight in having built a 10-foothigh , 20-foot-thick earthen bank across the center of the fort’s interior that extended from one picket wall to the other. Called the Grand Traverse , it formed a huge sponge into which British shells and bombs were buried without causing much harm. The Americans simply created cavelike shelters within its foundation for their protection.5 On May 4, the third day after the British arrival, an exasperated Procter demanded the fort’s surrender but was summarily rebuffed. Tecumseh added a note of derision to the surrender request, writing, “I have with me 800 braves. You have many in your hiding place. Come out with them and give me battle. You talked like a brave when we met at Vincennes, and I respected you, but now you hide behind logs and in the earth, like a groundhog. Give me your answer.”6 Harrison...