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[ 4 ] The Invasion of Canada, July 12–August 2 The number of troops that General Hull had available at the outset of the invasion has been disputed for generations. No official list exists. The numbers offered by officers involved in the campaign, including Hull, all differ. Historian Alec Gilpin, after comparing the various accounts as well as other evidence, has come to what is probably the most reasonable conclusion. “[I]t seems likely that Hull had a force at Detroit of about 450 regulars, 1,450 militia [volunteers] from Ohio, and 200 militia from Michigan—a total, allowing for some errors in the above figures, of between 2,000 and 2,200 men, largely untrained and ill-equipped.”1 He based his estimate on the following: on June 24 Hull wrote the secretary of war that he began his march to Detroit with 1,592 volunteers, but after detaching troops to garrison the five forts established along the trail from Urbana, no more than 1,450 probably made it to Detroit. Already on duty in Detroit were 200 members of the Michigan Detached Militia. Miller’s Fourth Regiment of regulars added another 264 troopers, plus there were about 100 men of the United States Artillery and First Infantry within Fort Detroit. The combined total came to between 2,000 or 2,200 men.2 Arrayed against Hull across the Detroit River was a British/Canadian/ Indian force of about 1,550. However, and more important, the number of British regulars matched those of Hull. In a dispatch to Lieutenant Colonel R. H. Bruyeres, Captain Dixon of the Royal Engineers at Fort Malden wrote on July 8, “Our force here consists of 300 Regulars, 850 Militia, and about 400 Indians, so that I think we have no reason to be afraid of our Yankee friends.”3 Dixon certainly was aware of the size of Chapter 4 54 Hull’s army yet did not seem to be overly impressed. In the same dispatch , he also wrote, “Since we have received here news of the War with the U.S. my attention has been wholly directed to the object of putting the Fort [Malden] in a decent state: The S. and E. curtains [stockades] have been formed and finished with the exception of the Timber Facing: Twenty Pieces of cannon are mounted: the Platforms all repaired; Four 12dr Green Carriages made; the Four Bastions Fraized and the escarp all around as much as possible deepened.” He added, “The North Curtain [the side that Hull would most probably attack] remains as it was, and with Timber we are giving it a thickness of 14 feet to that side.”4 It would seem that Fort Malden was not in a state of total disrepair, as some have claimed, and would be a formidable obstacle to attack by troops not backed by heavy guns. If there was any factor that tipped the balance in favor of the British force, it was the presence of the Canadian Provincial Marine, for which the Americans had no counterpart. Guarding Amherstburg and Fort Malden at the riverside was the formidable sloop of war the Queen Charlotte, armed with 17 guns, 14 of which were short-barreled, 24-pounder carronades , very effective in short-range firing. It also carried two long guns, both 24-pounders. Also on hand was the brig General Hunter, which carried four 12-pounder carronades and two six-pounder long guns, and the Lady Prevost, mounting 10 12-pounder carronades and two nine-pounder long guns. This fleet was augmented by two lightly armed ships of the British North West Company ordinarily used in its fur trade.5 It would be natural for Hull to have been concerned about their presence in Detroit waters. He had no means of counteracting their firepower if he chose to attack Malden other than to construct several floating batteries , borrowing cannon from Fort Detroit, and ferry them across the river. A secondary concern was that the ships could transport troops to any point along the riverside trail to Ohio to interdict Hull’s main supply route to Ohio. The Indians, with their countless number of canoes, represented a floating force in themselves, and Hull did his best to keep them on the sidelines of military action. On July 7 he held council with the principal chiefs residing on the American side of the river. Among them were Crane of the Ohio Wyandots, Walk-in-the-Water of the 1...

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