Tecumseh's retreat
(from War on the Detroit, p. 138 - 139)
On receiving this disastrous news [i.e. British defeat in the Battle of Lake
Erie] the British commander [i.e. Procter] promptly issued a proclamation commanding all loyal subjects of His Majesty the King to follow the army to Sandwich, to which place he retreated upon evacuating Amherstburg. All the storehouses of the King, the barracks, the shipyard, etc., were burned, and desolation reigned supreme.
Not wishing to be considered lacking in loyalty, no matter what my loss, I prepared to take out with all possible haste as much of the merchandise in my store as I could, storing it in the houses of trusted inhabitants who could not leave home to go with the army, which was already on its way to Sandwich. I was still in the store making my final preparations when I was warned to hurry, for already the hostile fleet was in sight at Elliott's Point opposite Bois Blanc Island. I turned over my books and all my important papers to a friend, a reliable man, tied all the army bills that I possessed, amounting to six thousand dollars, in a handkerchief about my waist as a belt, said good-bye to my two clerks, old Meloche and his son, leaped upon my horse, and was off at a gallop. I was the last man to leave the town. At the Canard River I found the bridge destroyed. What to do I knew not and was cursing my ill luck when I spied a log and decided to cross the river, which is quite wide but not very deep, on it, with my horse swimming in tow. This was accomplished without accident in a few minutes of time, and I galloped at full speed to Petite Côte, ...
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Tecumseh's retreat |