Wacousta | Page 9

left; while the opposite shores of
Canada, distinctly seen in the distance, presented, as far as the eye
could reach, the same enlivening character of fertility. The banks,
covered with verdure on either shore, were more or less undulating at
intervals; but in general they were high without being abrupt, and
picturesque without being bold, presenting, in their partial cultivation, a
striking contrast to the dark, tall, and frowning forests bounding every
point of the perspective.
At a distance of about five miles on the left of the town the course of
the river was interrupted by a small and thickly wooded island, along
whose sandy beach occasionally rose the low cabin or wigwam which
the birch canoe, carefully upturned and left to dry upon the sands,
attested to be the temporary habitation of the wandering Indian. That
branch of the river which swept by the shores of Canada was (as at this
day) the only navigable one for vessels of burden, while that on the
opposite coast abounded in shallows and bars, affording passage
merely to the light barks of the natives, which seemed literally to skim
the very surface of its waves. Midway, between that point of the
continent which immediately faced the eastern extremity of the island
we have just named and the town of Detroit, flowed a small tributary
river, the approaches to which, on either hand, were over a slightly
sloping ground, the view of which could be entirely commanded from
the fort. The depth of this river, now nearly dried up, at that period

varied from three to ten or twelve feet; and over this, at a distance of
about twenty yards from the Detroit, into which it emptied itself, rose,
communicating with the high road, a bridge, which will more than once
be noticed in the course of our tale. Even to the present hour it retains
the name given to it during these disastrous times; and there are few
modern Canadians, or even Americans, who traverse the "Bloody
Bridge," especially at the still hours of advanced night, without
recalling to memory the tragic events of those days, (handed down as
they have been by their fathers, who were eye-witnesses of the
transaction,) and peopling the surrounding gloom with the shades of
those whose life-blood erst crimsoned the once pure waters of that now
nearly exhausted stream; and whose mangled and headless corpses
were slowly borne by its tranquil current into the bosom of the parent
river, where all traces of them finally disappeared.
These are the minuter features of the scene we have brought more
immediately under the province of our pen. What Detroit was in 1763 it
nearly is at the present day, with this difference, however, that many of
those points which were then in a great degree isolated and rude are
now redolent with the beneficent effects of improved cultivation; and in
the immediate vicinity of that memorable bridge, where formerly stood
merely the occasional encampment of the Indian warrior, are now to be
seen flourishing farms and crops, and other marks of agricultural
industry. Of the fort of Detroit itself we will give the following brief
history:--It was, as we have already stated, erected by the French while
in the occupancy of the country by which it is more immediately
environed; subsequently, and at the final cession of the Canadas, it was
delivered over to England, with whom it remained until the
acknowledgement of the independence of the colonists by the
mother-country, when it hoisted the colours of the republic; the British
garrison marching out, and crossing over into Canada, followed by
such of the loyalists as still retained their attachment to the English
crown. At the commencement of the late war with America it was the
first and more immediate theatre of conflict, and was remarkable, as
well as Michilimackinac, for being one of the first posts of the
Americans that fell into our hands. 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