supplies were running short. Brock sent Hull a demand for surrender, stating: The force at my disposal authorizes me to require of you the immediate surrender of Fort Detroit. It is far from my intention to join in a war of extermination, but you must be aware, that the numerous body of Indians who have attached themselves to my troops, will be beyond control the moment the contest commences. According to Brock's later report, his force included 600 warriors and 1300 soldiers (including those left to garrison Amherstburg and Sandwich), and two warships. Brock's carried out several bluffs to deceive the Americans into believing that there were more Indians and troops than there actually were. Major Thomas Evans at Fort George suggested that Brock give his militia the cast-off uniforms of the 41st Regiment to make Hull believe that most of the British force were regulars. The troops were told to light individual fires instead of one fire per unit, thereby creating the illusion of a much larger army. They marched to take up positions in plain sight of the Americans then quickly ducked behind entrenchments, and marched back out of sight to repeat the maneuver. The same trick was carried out during meals, where the line would dump their beans into a hidden pot, then return out of view to rejoin the end of the line. Battle On 15 August, gunners of the Provincial Marine set up a battery of one 18-pounder and two 12-pounder guns and two mortars on the Canadian shore of the Detroit River (in the grounds of the Francois Bâby House, formerly Hull's headquarters) and began bombarding Fort Detroit, joined by the armed vessel General Hunter and the 20-gun sloop-of-war . In the early hours of the morning of 16 August, Tecumseh's warriors crossed the river about south of Detroit. They were followed after daybreak by Brock's force, divided into three small "brigades". The first was composed of 50 men of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles and some Lincoln and Kent militia; the second consisted of 50 men of the 41st Regiment with York, Lincoln, Oxford and Norfolk militia; the third was formed from the main body of the 41st (200 men) and 50 men of the Royal Artillery with five field guns (three 6-pounders and two 3-pounders). Elements of the Essex militia, which had been disheartened in the face of Hull's initial advance into Upper