In a way, it's good that almost nobody knows much about the War of 1812. Detroit played a significant role, and it was not the city's finest hour.
Poor leadership, outnumbered and inexperienced troops, limited supplies, a fierce cannon bombardment and the imminent threat of an Indian attack led to this ignominious claim to fame: Detroit became the only major American city ever to surrender to a foreign power — a record that still stands.
While the war is primarily remembered today for the birth of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the burning of the White House and the Battle of New Orleans, in the first year and a half of the war, Detroit and the Great Lakes took center stage.
Motivations for war
The setting for the war came at a low point in our country. By 1812 the American Revolution had long been over. Many in the world stopped admiring the U.S. and soured on the idea of democracy, especially after the hideous violence of the French Revolution of 1789-99. Politically, Americans bickered viciously, divided between Federalists primarily in New England versus Republicans in Virginia. The U.S. was called the "land of hate" by U.S. history author Gaillard Hunt.
The reasons for going to war were never clear. Sections of the U.S. were so geographically separated that each region came to fight the war for different reasons.
The eastern seaboard loathed impressments, in which armed British military would board American vessels and force American sailors to fight on their war ships.
The mid-Atlantic coast fought against a blockade the British had established.
New Orleans feared an invasion from the mighty British navy.
In Detroit and the Northwest Territory that included Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and parts of Minnesota, the belief was that the British were inciting Indians to drive out the settlers and retake the land; it was claimed the British did this to protect their lucrative fur trade.
Of course, the British did not see it this way. An account of "The Late War Between Great Britain and the United States of America …" written by William James and published in London in 1818 gave the British perspective:
"The Indians cannot exist without their hunting grounds: these are continually cut down, and encroached upon, by the white borderers ... An American citizen — out of mere wantonness and with as little remorse as if it were a wild turkey — shoots a poor Indian; the yells of the widowed squaw and her children rend the air in vain …"
Hull's soldiers grow impatient
While terrifying to settlers, Tecumseh had a charisma and regal bearing that impressed both Native Americans and whites. He was described by a British aide-de-camp: "Tecumseh's appearance was very prepossessing: his figure light, and finely proportioned; his age I imagined to be about five-and-thirty [he was about forty]; in height, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches; his complexion light copper; countenance oval, with bright hazel eyes, bearing cheerfulness, energy, and decision. Three small silver crosses or coronets were suspended from the lower cartilage of his aquiline nose, and a large silver medallion of George the Third, which I believe his ancestor had received from Lord Dorchester when Governor General of Canada, was attached to a mixed-colored wampum string and hung round his neck. His dress consisted of a plain, neat uniform, tanned deer-skin jacket, with long trowsers (sic) of the same material, the seams of both being covered with neatly-cut fringe, and he had on his feet leather moccasins, much ornamented with work made from the dyed quills of the porcupine."
With the Indians' reputation for cruel treatment of American soldiers and settlers, the British used the Indian warriors to effectively undermine American morale through fear. Indians would come and go as they pleased and the British were expected to feed, arm, and supply their families. The British seldom knew at any one time how many Indians they had available for fighting.
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