The siege of Detroit, also known as the surrender of Detroit or the Battle of Fort Detroit, was an early engagement in the War of 1812. A British force under Major General Isaac Brock with Native American allies under Shawnee leader Tecumseh used bluff and deception to intimidate U.S. Brigadier General William Hull into surrendering the fort and town of Detroit, Michigan, along with his dispirited army which actually outnumbered the victorious British and Indians (the first nations of then to become Canada). The British victory reinvigorated the militia and civil authorities of Upper Canada, who had previously been pessimistic and affected by pro-U.S. agitators. Many Indians in the Northwest Territory were inspired to take arms against U.S. outposts and settlers. The British held Detroit for more than a year before their small fleet was defeated on Lake Erie, which forced them to abandon the western frontier of Upper Canada. Background American plans and moves Tension was increasing between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early months of 1812. Michigan Territory Governor William Hull urged President James Madison and Secretary of War William Eustis to form an army which would secure the Northwest Territory against Indians who were being incited by British agents and fur trading companies to take up arms against the United States. It was urgently necessary to reinforce the outpost of Detroit, which had a population of 800 and a garrison of 120 soldiers. It was also suggested that this army might invade the western districts of Upper Canada, where support might be expected from the many recent immigrants from the United States who had been attracted by generous land grants. Madison and Eustis concurred with this plan and offered command of the army to Hull, an aging veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He was reluctant to take the appointment, but no other officer was available with his prestige and experience. He accepted after repeated pleas from Madison and was commissioned as a brigadier general in the United States Army. His army consisted of three regiments of Ohio militia under Colonels Lewis Cass, Duncan McArthur, and James Findlay. Hull took command of them at Dayton, Ohio on 25 May but found that they were badly equipped and ill-disciplined, and no arrangements had been made to supply them on the march. He made hasty efforts to remedy the deficiencies in equipment. The army marched