Meanwhile General Brock reached Malden, held a council of war at which Tecumseh with his following of a thousand Indians was present, and sent to General Hull a summons to surrender. Hull refused to yield and started messengers to recall an expedition of three hundred and fifty men which he had despatched under two Ohio colonels, MacArthur and Lewis Cass, to the River Raisin to rescue the necessary supplies for the army. As soon as Hull’s reply was received two British vessels moved up the river to Sandwich, where their guns could cover the American fort. During the night Tecumseh and six hundred Indians crossed to the American side of the river and established themselves in the woods at a point where they could intercept the returning Ohio colonels with their force. On the morning of August 16, General Brock crossed the river with seven hundred soldiers. The British commander had intended to take up a position and force Hull to attack him, but after he reached the American bank of the river, he learned from Tecumseh that the Ohio detachment was only a few miles away. Fearing lest he be surrounded if he delay, Brock determined to make an immediate attack. Within his tent General Hull sat debating what to do. Should he admit to his officers and men his desire to surrender at once, their undisguised scorn at his previous delays would perhaps turn to open mutiny; yet he felt sure that the fort must ultimately be taken, and he dreaded the loss of life and possible Indian massacre should he hold out. The British column began to advance. Every soldier expected that the heavy American guns which were pointed toward them would be lighted and discharged into their midst; instead, an American was seen advancing from the fort with a white flag. Within an hour, and without the firing of a single shot, the surprised British troops found themselves in possession of Detroit. Hull included in the terms of capitulation not only the troops within the fort but the Ohio detachment now advancing up the river, so that General Brock gained at least twenty-five hundred prisoners of war. The mortification of the country at the whole course of the war vented itself after this surrender upon General Hull, who was really the victim of poor management of the army and lack of support at headquarters. He might have been forced to give up Detroit within a few weeks unless he was reënforced, but he could have kept Brock from returning to harry Niagara in nine days.