midnight
The gallant daring , and promptness of decision , for which the lamented general , Sir Isaac Brock , was so eminently distinguished , achieved the conquest almost as soon as the American declaration of war had been made known in Canada ; and on this occasion we ourselves had the good fortune to be selected as part of the guard of honour , whose duty it was to lower the flag of America , and substitute that of England in its place . On the approach , however , of an overwhelming army of the enemy in the autumn of the ensuing year it was abandoned by our troops , after having been dismantled and reduced , in its more combustible parts , to ashes . The Americans , who have erected new fortifications on the site of the old , still retain possession of a post to which they attach considerable importance , from the circumstance of its being a key to the more western portions of the Union . It was during the midnight watch , late in September , 1763 , that the English garrison of Detroit , in North America , was thrown into the utmost consternation by the sudden and mysterious introduction of a stranger within its walls . The circumstance at this moment was particularly remarkable ; for the period was so fearful and pregnant with events of danger , the fort being assailed on every side by a powerful and vindictive foe , that a caution and vigilance of no common kind were unceasingly exercised by the prudent governor for the safety of those committed to his charge . A long series of hostilities had been pursued by the North-American Indians against the subjects of England , within the few years that had succeeded to the final subjection of the Canadas to her victorious arms ; and many and sanguinary were the conflicts in which the devoted soldiery were made to succumb to the cunning and numbers of their savage enemies . In those lone regions , both officers and men , in their respective ranks , were , by a communionship of suffering , isolation , and peculiarity of duty , drawn towards each other with feelings of almost fraternal affection ; and the fates of those who fell were lamented with sincerity of soul , and avenged , when opportunity offered , with a determination prompted equally by indignation and despair .