14. A General Who Fell for a Bluff
General Brock also tricked the Americans into believing that he had more regulars under his command than was the case, by dressing his Canadian militia in castoff British regimental uniforms. Outside Detroit, he had the same troops march in a loop over the same stretch within eyesight of the garrison. They would then duck out of sight, and return to march anew as if they were fresh reinforcements. Brock also ordered his troops to light five times as many fires at night than was the norm, in order to further convey an illusion of greater strength.
General Hull’s already low confidence collapsed at the prospect of facing a strong British army accompanied by 5,000 Natives. Brock sent a message demanding surrender, and informed Hull that he did not want to massacre the defenders, but that he would have little control over his Indian allies once fighting commenced. Hull, unwilling to sacrifice his men against hopeless odds, and fearing for the women in children inside the Fort, including his own daughter and grandchild, decided that resistance was futile. So he raised a white flag and asked Brock for three days to negotiate the terms of surrender.
Read too: Greatest Military Bluffs in History.
