One can hardly realize in these days of rapid communication how difficult it was then to obtain information of what was happening in different parts of the province, or to convey orders. Much depended on the individual capacity of those in charge of distant posts, and a certain latitude had to be allowed them in carrying out instructions from headquarters. Seven hundred miles from York and about fifty miles north-east of Michilimackinac {210} was a lonely outpost on the island of St. Joseph, at the head of Lake Huron. A small company of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion was stationed here under the command of Captain Roberts. On June 26th, from Fort George, General Brock sent a despatch to that officer, giving him orders to attack Michilimackinac, the island lying in the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan. On the 27th this order was suspended, but on the 28th it was renewed. On the very day this letter was received, another dated June 25th arrived at Fort Joseph from Sir George Prevost, ordering Captain Roberts to act only on the defensive. This was rather a puzzling position for the captain, but he knew well the importance General Brock attached to the taking of the island, and he resolved to act on the instructions received in the letter of the 28th. He was confirmed in his intentions by another letter from General Brock, dated July 4th, in which he was told to use his discretion either to attack or defend. [Sidenote: Capture of Mackinaw] On July 16th he therefore set out with a flotilla of boats and canoes in which were embarked forty-five officers and men of the 10th Veterans, about one hundred and eighty Canadian _voyageurs_ under Toussaint Pothier, the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a goodly number of Indians, the whole convoyed by a brig, the _Caledonia_, belonging to the North-West Company. Under cover of night they approached the white cliffs of Mackinaw. {211} It is a true Gibraltar of the northern lakes, accessible only on one side, and had sufficient time been allowed, it could no doubt have been easily defended. Its garrison consisted of sixty-one officers and men under command of a Captain Hanks. The expedition had been so cleverly managed that the enemy were completely taken by surprise, and at dawn of July 17th, the fort, which by the treaty of 1794 had been ceded to the Americans, once more came under the British flag. It was the first operation of the war, and a most important one. By it the wavering tribes of Indians in the North-West were confirmed in their allegiance to Great Britain, and these proved a very powerful aid in the coming contest. Military stores of all kinds were found in the fort, also seven hundred packs of furs, for this was the rendez-vous of the traders of the North West. The news of this success did not, of course, reach Fort George until the end of the month, while it was August 3rd when the paroled men from Mackinaw