William Hull was an American soldier and politician.
29 Facts About William Hull
2.
William Hull fought in the American Revolutionary War and was appointed as Governor of Michigan Territory, gaining large land cessions from several American Indian tribes under the Treaty of Detroit.
3.
William Hull is most widely remembered as the general in the War of 1812 who surrendered Fort Detroit to the British on August 16,1812 following the Siege of Detroit.
4.
William Hull graduated from Yale University in 1772, studied law in Litchfield, Connecticut, and joined the bar in 1775.
5.
At the outbreak of fighting in the American Revolutionary War, William Hull joined a local militia and was quickly promoted to captain, then through the ranks to lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army.
6.
William Hull fought in the battles of White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Stillwater, Saratoga, Fort Stanwix, Monmouth, and Stony Point.
7.
William Hull was recognized by commanding General George Washington and the Second Continental Congress for his service.
8.
William Hull was a friend of Nathan Hale and tried to dissuade him from the dangerous spy mission that ultimately cost him his life.
9.
William Hull was elected captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1789.
10.
All of the territory was in the hands of the Indians except for two enclaves around Detroit and Fort Mackinac, so William Hull worked to gradually purchase Indian land for occupation by American settlers.
11.
William Hull negotiated the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 with the Odawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi tribes, which ceded most of Southeast Michigan and northwestern Ohio to the United States, to the mouth of the Maumee River where Toledo developed.
12.
Hull was in Washington, DC when Secretary of War William Eustis informed him that President James Madison wished to appoint him a Brigadier General in command of the new Army of the Northwest.
13.
William Hull was nearly 60 years old and had little interest in a new military commission, so Colonel Jacob Kingsbury was selected to lead the force instead.
14.
William Hull's orders were to go to Ohio, whose governor had been charged by Madison with raising a 1,200-man militia that would be augmented by the 4th Infantry Regiment from Vincennes, Indiana to form the core of the army.
15.
William Hull arrived in Cincinnati on May 10,1812 and took command of the militia at Dayton on May 25.
16.
William Hull was partly the victim of his government's poor preparation for war and poor communication.
17.
William Hull had repeatedly urged his superiors while he was governor to build a naval fleet on Lake Erie in order to defend Detroit, Fort Mackinac, and Fort Dearborn, but his requests were ignored by General Henry Dearborn, the commander of the northeast.
18.
William Hull began an invasion of Canada on July 12,1812, crossing the Detroit River east of Sandwich.
19.
William Hull had faced a lack of support from his officers and fear among the troops of a possible massacre by Indian forces.
20.
William Hull surrendered Fort Detroit to General Isaac Brock on August 16,1812 because Brock had tricked him into thinking that he was vastly outnumbered by his foes.
21.
The number of troops under William Hull's command was estimated at between 750 and 1060 by his grandson.
22.
William Hull believed that the surrender was a valid step because he was lacking adequate gunpowder and cannon balls to withstand a long siege.
23.
In 1814, William Hull was court martialed at a trial presided over by General Henry Dearborn, with future president Martin Van Buren as the special judge advocate in charge of the prosecution.
24.
William Hull was convicted of cowardice and neglect of duty and was sentenced to be shot.
25.
William Hull lived the remainder of his life in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife Sarah Fuller.
26.
William Hull's son Abraham was an Army captain during the War of 1812 and died at the Battle of Lundy's Lane at age 27.
27.
William Hull's remains were buried in the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the only American officer to be buried there.
28.
William Hull was uncle to Isaac William Hull, son of his brother Joseph.
29.
Joseph died while Isaac was young, so William Hull adopted the boy.