City history / Military / Politics
William Hull
1753–1825 · army officer, first governor of Michigan Territory
First governor of Michigan Territory who, as a general, surrendered Fort Detroit to the British without a battle in August 1812.
- Born
Derby, Connecticut- Died
Newton, Massachusetts
aged 72- Detroit years
- 1805–1812
- Field
- City history, Military, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
A Yale graduate and Revolutionary War veteran from Connecticut, William Hull was named the first governor of the new Michigan Territory by Thomas Jefferson and reached Detroit in July 1805, just weeks after a fire had leveled the town. With Judge Augustus Woodward and the other territorial judges he made the territory's laws, quarrelling with Woodward constantly, and in 1807 he negotiated the Treaty of Detroit, in which four nations ceded much of southeastern Michigan. When war with Britain came in 1812, Hull led an army north from Ohio as a brigadier general, crossed into Canada at Sandwich, then fell back to Detroit when British and Native forces cut his supply line. On August 16, 1812, facing Isaac Brock and Tecumseh, he surrendered Fort Detroit without a real fight. A court-martial sentenced him to death in 1814, but President Madison pardoned him. Hull spent his last years defending his decision, and some historians see him as a scapegoat.
Highlights
- First governor of Michigan Territory, 1805–1813
- Negotiated the 1807 Treaty of Detroit with four Native nations
- Surrendered Fort Detroit to the British on August 16, 1812
- Sentenced to death by court-martial in 1814; pardoned by President Madison
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1805–1812
Site of Fort Lernoult (Fort Detroit, later Fort Shelby)
Demolished · 1779–1827
The fort Hull surrendered on August 16, 1812; it was demolished in 1827, and a historical marker on the corner building recalls it.