James Baby's dinner at the Duff-Baby house as told by Verchères

(from War on the Detroit, p. 140 - 141, 143)

The day following my unexpected arrival at the house of Mr. Baby, that hospitable gentleman gave a banquet, inviting General Procter, Major Muir, and several other officers of the Forty-first and of the artillery, Colonel Elliott, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the famous Shawnee chief Tecumseh, Sheriff William Hands, and his brothers, Jean Baptiste and Francis Baby. Tecumseh was seated at my left with his pistols on either side of his plate and his big hunting knife in front of him. He wore a red cloak, trousers of deerskin, and a printed calico shirt, the whole outfit a present from the English. His bearing was irreproachable for a man of the woods as he was, much better than that of some so-called gentlemen.

The first courses had been served and disposed of when there came a knock on the dining-room door and a sergeant entered, who without further ceremony announced that the [American] fleet was at this moment coming up the river, though there was but a light breeze and it was making very slow progress. ... [A]ll hurried to pack up preparatory to a retreat that same day to the River Thames. The [American] fleet had already reached Turkey Island, halfway up the river.

The American fleet invades Sandwich

See more: The Duff-Baby Mansion