Robert Lucas American Fall of Fort Detroit

Robert Lucas was an Ohio native with a healthy appetite for action. He had been promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Ohio militia, but was eager to join the regulars who were guaranteed to see immediate action on the Detroit frontier. Lucas applied for a captain's commission, but before it came through, Duncan McArthur put in an appeal for 1200 volunteer recruits to fortify Detroit. Lucas jumped at the opportunity, unconcerned with the fact that he had dropped in rank to private. He marched north with McArthur and kept a detailed journal of his adventures. Lucas became a valuable asset to General Hull's forces. He quickly developed a reputation for bravery balanced with intelligence and practicality. When volunteers were asked to invade Upper Canada at Sandwich, Lucas was among the first to step forward. He continued to scout and skirmish around Amherstburg, and was ambushed at Brownstown by Tecumseh's forces while trying to secure a safe supply route. Lucas' first-hand knowledge of British weaknesses at Amherstburg made Hull's order to retreat to Detroit difficult to swallow. He became very critical of Hull's lack of leadership. He wrote to a friend: "Never was there a more Patriotic army...neither was there ever an army that had it more completely in their power to have accomplished every object of their Desire than the present, And must now be sunk into Disgrace for want of a General at their head...Would to God Either of our Colonels had the command, if they had, we might yet wipe off the foul stain that has been brought upon us." Even as Detroit surrendered, Lucas exercised his initiative. He hid his uniform and disguised himself as part of the civilian militia who were to be paroled to Cleveland by boat. Upon his arrival he wrote optimistically of the Detroit debacle, "I was happy to find on my return that the disasters at Detroit had kindled an unextinguishable flame of patriotism in the breasts of my neighbors". In the 1830's, Lucas would become the Democratic governor of Ohio, and later, of Iowa.