b'The governor of the Michigan He led troops from Cincinnati on toTerritory, General William Hull, led a Lebanon, Dayton, Piqua, and St. Marys.group of 1,500 Ohio militiamen from Suffering some defeats, Harrison and hisCincinnati and Dayton toward Detroit. men did not give up. They built FortThey moved through Greene County, Meigs on the Maumee River, believingClark County, and Champaign County, this would be an important area for themwhere more men joined the group. By the to operate from. Troops were stationedtime they had passed through Logan, along Lake Erie. The British tried toHardin, Hancock, and Wood counties, attack Fort Meigs, but Ohioans held itmore than 2,000 men made up Hulls and the British retreated. Many nativemilitia. Although Hull had been a great warriors began deserting the Britishleader during the American Revolution, army. Tecumseh, however, continued tohe was now old and not well. He made fight and was given the rank of majorsome serious mistakes on his way to general.Detroit, mainly losing his important One of the most important battlespaperspapers that showed the plan of of the War of 1812 took place in Ohio atattack that he and his men were fol- Fort Stephenson. Twenty-one-year-oldlowing. Hull and his men arrived at George Croghan and 150 militiamenDetroit before the British could get defeated more than 1,000 British sol-there. His men encouraged him to attack diers and natives in August 1813, usingthe British in their posts across the one cannon named Old Betsey[seeriver in Canada right away, but he waited graphic (VVV)]. After an entire day oftoo long. When the British and their fighting, the British left their dead andnative allies arrived at Detroit, Hull was dying on the field and retreated by wayfrightened by the possibility of being of Lake Erie (today you can visit a monu-massacred by the natives (one of his"secret" fears that had been writtenabout in his lost papers). The Britishcommander, General Brock, used thisfear to make Hull surrender by threat-ening to turn loose the natives on him andhis troops. Without even telling his offi-cers, a terrified General Hull ran up thewhite flag in surrender, one of the mostembarrassing moments in U.S. militaryhistory.William Henry Harrison replaced The Old Betsey CannonHull as commander of the western militia. Graphic (VVV)page 75'