William Beall American The Capture of the Cuyahoga

William Beall was a wealthy plantation owner from Kentucky. He was captaining the Cuyahoga Packet on July 2, 1812, unaware that war had been declared. Beall sailed past Amherstburg on the Detroit River and was ordered to surrender by the British. His ship carried, among other things, Hull’s personal and military correspondence. Beall was imprisoned at Amherstburg aboard the Thames and left a good record of that place as it prepared for an American attack that never came. Beall was frustrated by Hull’s reluctance to attack Amherstburg which Beall correctly identified as being unfit to withhold an attack. “The British officers and soldiers begin to laugh at Hull... He is now the object of their jest and ridicule instead of being as he was formerly their terror and greatest fear... I am confident that he will not take Malden (Amherstburg) though three hundred men could do it... Why does he not, by taking Malden, silence and drive the Indians away who infest the Country and secure a safe communication with the States, and safety to our Frontiers? Heaven only knows. I for a Harrison a Daviess or a Wells.” He witnessed Brock's and Tecumseh’s arrival at Amherstburg, as well as the aftermath of the British coup at Detroit.