The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-12
cetters tc tbe Gdit,r
Gen. william Hull.

<AAACluUlGnL aDA |OAASSN'Sf history of the United States Is second in importance to no other reform In the scheme of public education. The State of Alabama has assumed the re- sponsibilfty of teaching the science or civics by compelling the teachers of
 State schools to accept as fundamental
 principles of that science the aver ments or certain books styled history" History of public men and measures, no matter what the printed page may tell. is quite as much the preoicaie ol enlightened civil institutions and Tree government as the Alabama Reports are the admitted foundation Of the Ju-
 dicial function of the State govern ment; or as the literature of medicine edge in the practice of physicians and surgeons; or as the books on theology are Indispensable to the modern pulpit
 teachings In a word, . the nas s.asS nas as the public school to educate In facts concerning public men who nave n the past been exemplars of the art or Tree government and teach the eMects or their methods and measures upon the lives and fortunes of the population. IT the printed text be consistent With the
 individual example, of power and in- fluence set forth and true to the results, then 1t is history. If the text be ignor-
 ant. or vicious. or both, then the statute
 of the State which compels the use in
 the education of the school cnlIoren pe- comes tremendous power for evil,
 I quote a paragraph from the legally prescribed page Chambers's Higher
 History of the. United States put by law in the hands of the public schools, says (p. 2s6): "General Brock Gov ernor of Canada, advanced from Maiden to lay siege to Detroit His forces were inferior to those Of Hull h ns nastia Amss,. h,,. General Hull hoisted the white flag Of surrender before shot was nred, and his disgusted army were deIivered up
 Except that General Brock advanced on Detroit from Canada and that Gen. eral Hull commanded the. post that sapitulated; there is not q me & or uvsa vha truth in regard to the fate of Hull be known 1t is impossible to understand the importance of the services of Gen. Andrew Jackson in Alabama and at New Orleans in order to divesl atten- tion from the disgracefuI conduct of the army on the northern frontier. To this end, the misfortune of Gen. VII
 Who was general William Huli1
 He was q young gentleman of New broke out. of the highest culture and attainments. He was among the first to enlist on the side of the colonies He fought the enemy at Boston,, went with Washington into the battles or Princeton. Trenton and Monmouth, as- sisted Gates to capture Burgovne at Saratoga. In published letter as early as 17s9 General Washington oPoEe xeest Gt merlt EeiGhs' Washington desired to have him on his staff but Baron Steuben interposed personally and to leave with him an officer that had become so essential to his own work. When the army was disbanded at the end of the war, Washfngton in VII knowledge of the character of every man or rank wno had served wltn him, asked that Hull be retained as second in command of the only Regi- ment that Congress kept in the serv- France and Washington was called. from Mount Vernon to take command of the army about to be raised. he imposed the condition that he should be permitted to select hls ranking oI% ficers. He chose Alexander Hamilton liam Hui as one of his Major Generals. Governor of Michigan. Suffice t to say Hull ot to3k tp at eTo won , in the seven years war of the -evo- lution and he came out of that long struggle so ilIustrious that Wash ington accorded to him the full GSI COAAlQChCG WeNo hNAS "
 The war of 1872. as far as the army on the northern frontier was concern son in the Southwest the struggle would have been lost or prolonged in- definitely, with consequences to the none now car. predict The British captured Washington, drove President Madison in flight, burned the public yaaIFunF in fha cir struck them and their red allies with Ken- lucky and Tennessee riflemen. There's the rub with the school histories! What was the matter up North? Gen. Harrison of Virginia, resigned from that army; General Wade Hampton of South Carolina, resigned from 1t; Gen olina. resigned all resignations based on the incompetency of Gen. Dearborn and the villainy of General Wilkin- son, who were ranking officers,
 Let us glance at Hull at Detroit. Lewis Cass afterwards a noted senator and Jessup afterwards commander of the army of the United States, were young officers there under him. They have left on the record their estimates that Null had In the slight fort from 750 to 1000 men. Besides these troops in the fort there were considerable numbers of women and children that took refuge there from the small set dement's scattered about in the woods, to escape the Indian allies of the BT1tlSn.
 The only way to provision the fort was by pack horses travelling through the swamps for 250 miles. Gen. Dearborn was up in Canada, fac ing the British under Brock. with a considerable army. Now, Dearborn made an armistice with Brock for his own safety and as soon as Dearborns hands were thus tied. Brock marched his 1s,OOO thoroughly equipped soldiers to Detroit, picking up on the way thousands of savages to whom the British government had promised full restoration of all the land the Americans had taken away from them.
 HuIl's troops saw certain starvation approaching within the fort It was not provisioned or arrnad or manned for a siege and no relief was possihlr
 satisfaction rose higher day by day. At length Brock drew up in front of Hul1's line of thin breast works and sent under flag polite note tel
 an assault; that only one result could follow if the assault was made. and that was @ general massacre of all within by his red allies. The British commander spoke the truth.
 Hull surrendered as q soldier should have done. Dearborn preferred charges. Hull welcomed the op- portunity to vindicate himself. The court was ordered and the first name on the list of officers selected for 1t was Brigadter General Wade Hampton grand father of the Confederate cavalry leader Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Dearborn took the alarm. He could see HLll's vindication certain and he knew that results of the trial must condemn his armistic with Brock
 cured the dissolution of this high mind ed court of fourteen officers. General Schuyler was one. General McComb was another and Colonel Izard anoth-