“Major Chambers. General Proctor could never think of saying anything to wound your feelings, sir.  The character of general Harrison, as an officer, is well known.  General Proctor’s force is very respectable, and there is with him a larger body of Indians than has ever before been embodied.

“General Harrison. I believe I have a very correct idea of general Proctor’s force; it is not such as to create the least apprehension for the result of the contest, whatever shape he may be pleased hereafter to give it.  Assure the general, however, that he will never have this post surrendered to him upon any terms.  Should it fall into his hands, it will be in a manner calculated to do him more honor, and to give him larger claims upon the gratitude of his government than any capitulation could possibly do.”

The siege was continued, but without any very active efforts against the fort, until the morning of the 9th of May, when the enemy retreated down the bay, leaving behind them a quantity of cannon balls, and other valuable articles.

The force under general Proctor amounted, as nearly as could be ascertained, to six hundred regulars, eight hundred Canadian militia, and about eighteen hundred Indians.  The number of troops under general Harrison, including those which arrived on the morning of the fifth, under general Clay, was about twelve hundred in all.  The number fit for duty did not, perhaps, equal eleven hundred.

The number of the American troops killed and massacred on the north side of the river, was upwards of seventy.  One hundred and eighty-nine were wounded, and eighty-one killed, in the two sorties from the fort.  The loss of the British and Indians, in killed and wounded, could never be satisfactorily ascertained.  That it was very considerable, there can be no doubt.

The enemy brought against fort Meigs a combined army of near three thousand men, under Proctor, Elliott and Tecumseh, and prepared, by a train of artillery, for vigorous operations.  These were prosecuted with skill and energy.  The Indians, led on by the daring Tecumseh, fought with uncommon bravery, and contributed largely to swell the list of our killed and wounded.  It is said, that the sagacious leader of the Indian forces did not enter upon this siege with any strong hopes of ultimate success; but having embarked in it, he stood manfully in the post of danger, and took an active, if not a leading part, in planning and executing the various movements which were made against the fort.  The spirit with which these were prosecuted may be in part inferred from the fact, that during the first five days of the siege, the enemy fired upon the fort with their cannon, fifteen hundred times,[A] many of their balls and bombs being red-hot, and directed specially at the two block houses containing the ammunition.  These shots made no decided impression upon the picketing of the fort, but killed or wounded about eighty of the garrison.