In 1812, George, Prince of Wales, was really the monarch of Great Britain, for the court physicians had pronounced his father, George III., hopelessly insane.  Great Britain was waging a tremendous war against Napoleon, having just formed an alliance with Russia against the ambitious Corsican.  England’s naval armament on the American stations, Halifax, Newfoundland, Jamaica and the Leeward Islands, then consisted of five ships-of-the-line, nineteen frigates, forty-one brigs and sixteen schooners and some armed vessels on Lakes Ontario and Erie, with several others building.  The British land forces in the two Canadian provinces were about seven thousand five hundred, while the number of Canadian militia did not exceed forty thousand with a frontier of seven hundred miles to guard.

The governor of Michigan went to Washington City in the winter of 1812 and heard the question of the invasion of western Canada discussed.  He informed the president that the success of such an enterprise depended on having armed vessels on Lake Erie, with a competent force in the northwest to protect the American frontier against the Indians.  In the spring, Governor Meigs of Ohio summoned the militia of that State to rendezvous at Dayton, to meet the impending danger.  Hull accepted the commission of brigadier, and late in May arrived at Dayton, Ohio, and took command of the troops at that place.  Hull had under him such noted officers as Colonels Duncan McArthur, James Findlay and Lewis Cass.  With these forces, he marched to Detroit, through an almost trackless wilderness.  While on the march with about two thousand men, Hull was informed of the declaration of war, which news at the same time reached the British posts in Canada, and his little army was in imminent peril.  The government gave Hull discretionary power for invading Canada.

General Sir Isaac Brock, Lieutenant Governor of upper Canada, was in command of the British forces.  On July 12, 1812, Hull crossed the Detroit River with his whole force and encamped at some unfinished works at Sandwich, preparatory to an attack on Fort Malden near the present Amherstburg.  From this point, Hull issued a proclamation, promising protection to the inhabitants who would remain at home and death to all who should side with the Indians, then gathering under Tecumseh at Malden.  General Proctor was sent to take command at Fort Malden, while Brock began to assemble a force about him at Fort George.  Here he was joined by John Brant, son of the great Mohawk chief with one hundred warriors from Grand River.

By his extreme caution and delay, Hull lost his opportunity to capture Fort Malden, which was soon strongly reinforced by British and Indians.  Meanwhile, information reached Hull of the fall of the fort on Mackinaw.  He also learned that Fort Dearborn at Chicago was invested, while a detachment under Major Van Horne, sent down to the West side of the Detroit River to escort a supply train from Ohio, was attacked by the British