In the
successful cultivation of other branches of industry, and in the
progress of general improvement favorable to the national prosperity,
there is just occasion also for our mutual congratulations and
thankfulness.
With these blessings are necessarily mingled the pressures and
vicissitudes incident to the state of war into which the United States
have been forced by the perseverance of a foreign power in its system of
injustice and aggression.
Previous to its declaration it was deemed proper, as a measure of
precaution and forecast, that a considerable force should be placed in
the Michigan Territory with a general view to its security, and, in
the event of war, to such operations in the uppermost Canada as would
intercept the hostile influence of Great Britain over the savages,
obtain the command of the lake on which that part of Canada borders,
and maintain cooperating relations with such forces as might be most
conveniently employed against other parts. Brigadier-General Hull was
charged with this provisional service, having under his command a body
of troops composed of regulars and of volunteers from the State of Ohio.
Having reached his destination after his knowledge of the war, and
possessing discretionary authority to act offensively, he passed into
the neighboring territory of the enemy with a prospect of easy and
victorious progress.
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