Isaac Brock was transferred to Canada in 1806. He was a British Colonel who was keenly aware that the United States and the British Empire were likely headed for another war. The general assumption was that, at some point, the U.S. would invade Canada and claim its territory. The Americans believed it. Even the soldiers defending Canada believed that they wouldn’t stand a chance. In 1811, Brock wrote that: “Most of the people have lost all confidence – I however speak loud and look big.” Brock refused to go down without a fight. He fortified the positions under his command with artillery and warships. He trained and strengthened his troops. He even reached out to Shawnee Chief Tecumseh to seek an alliance.
When war was declared in 1812, Brock’s preparations paid off. He controlled the Great Lakes so his forces easily captured an American ship that contained all of the military dispatches and personal mail of the troops in Fort Detroit. It turned out that the American troops under General Hull fared much worse than his did. They had just arrived from a long march, many were newly recruited and not very well trained; the men were exhausted, lacking supplies, and had low morale. From these letters, Brock knew the size and state of Hull’s forces and he gained the knowledge that Hull was especially terrified of Native Americans and First Nations people.
Brock set about to write a fake letter playing on Hull’s racist fears. Brock claimed that –Tecumseh had more than 5,000 warriors ready to fight the Americans. Please don’t send any more warriors. – Brock made sure that the letter just happened to fall into American hands. The truth was that Tecumseh commanded 600 warriors. Combined with Brock’s regulars and militia, that meant that Brock’s fighting forces were a little over 1,100 men. General Hull had about 2,200 men in Fort Detroit.
Brock put his intel to work. He sent a letter to Hull urging him to surrender. Tecumseh had so many warriors – Brock claimed that they, “will be beyond control the moment the [battle begins].” While Hull was deliberating, Brock took extra regimental uniforms and put them on militia men. They marched in front of Fort Detroit to show off their strength – more and more regimental soldiers. But once they had marched past and gone out of sight, they looped back and marched around again. Hull’s men thought that they were seeing 2 times, even 3 times as many troops! On the verge of battle, Tecumseh’s warriors did the same thing and, as they walked past, they made loud war cries. Brock began his attack. Hull was convinced that he was facing, not just defeat, but also “the horrors of an Indian massacre.” Against the advice of his officers, Hull surrendered the 2,200 soldiers, 700 civilians, and about 2,500 muskets and other weapons and supplies. Brock was outnumbered about 2 to 1, yet he took the strategically located Fort Detroit with only 2 wounded on his side and 7 deaths on the other.
Resources:
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Brock
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Detroit
-https://www.thoughtco.com/war-of-1812-siege-of-detroit-2361363