s, including one company of artillery,
some cavalry, and the entire 4th U.S. regiment of infantry, with a stand
of colours, were surrendered to the British arms. An immense quantity of
stores and the military chest were also taken; and as there was a great
deficiency of arms in the Upper Province wherewith to equip the militia,
the 2,500 stand of American became a valuable acquisition. To this
surrender the after preservation of Upper Canada, at least, may in a
great measure be ascribed, as it caused a delay of nearly a whole year
in the meditated invasion,[70] and secured the support of some of the
Indian tribes, who were hesitating as to the side they should espouse.
It was the more fortunate that Major-General Brock acted with so much
promptitude and vigour, because large reinforcements were on their way
to General Hull; and not only would that officer's reverse otherwise
have been spared, but the western districts of Upper Canada would
probably have fallen before the overwhelming numbers which would soon
have been brought against them.

The surrender of Detroit was so unexpected, that it produced an almost
electrical effect throughout the Canadas: it was the first enterprize in
which the militia had been engaged, and its success not only imparted
confidence to that body, but it inspired the timid, fixed the wavering,
and awed the disaffected. Major-General Brock from this moment became
the idol of the great mass of those whom he governed; and when he
returned to York, whither he arrived on the 27th of August, he was
received amidst the heartfelt acclamations of a grateful people, rescued
by his promptitude from the ignominy of submitting to a conqueror. They
remembered that in the short space of nineteen days he had, not only met
the legislature and settled the public business of the province under
the most trying circumstances that a commander could encounter, but,
with means incredibly limited, he had gone nearly 300 miles in pursuit
of an invading enemy of almost double his own force and compelled him to
surrender, thus extending the British dominion without bloodshed over an
extent of country almost equal to Upper Canada.[71]

The conduct of the American general in so tamely surrendering is
inexplicable, as Detroit contained an ample supply of ammunition and
provisions for nearly a month, besides an abundance of wheat in the
territory, with mills to grind any quantity into flour. One of his
officers, Colonel Ca