William Hull William Hull ( June 24 , 1753 – November 29 , 1825 ) was an American soldier and politician . He fought in the American Revolution , was Governor of Michigan Territory , and was a general in the War of 1812 , for which he is best remembered for surrendering Fort Detroit to the British . Biography . Early life and Revolutionary War . He was born in Derby , Connecticut and graduated from Yale in 1772 , studied law in Litchfield , Connecticut and passed the bar in 1775 . At the outbreak of fighting in the American Revolution , Hull joined a local militia and was quickly promoted to captain , then to major , and to lieutenant colonel . He was in the battles of White Plains , Trenton , Princeton , Stillwater , Saratoga , Fort Stanwix , Monmouth , and Stony Point . He was recognized by George Washington and the Continental Congress for his service . Hull was a friend of Nathan Hale and tried to dissuade Hale from the dangerous spy mission that would cost him his life . Hull was largely responsible for publicizing Hale ' s famous last words , " I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country . " After the American Revolution , he moved to his wife ' s family estate in Newton , Massachusetts and served as a judge and state senator in Massachusetts . Michigan Territory and War of 1812 . On March 22 , 1805 , President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of the recently - created Michigan Territory as well as its Indian Agent . As almost all of the territory except for two enclaves around Detroit and Fort Michilimackinac were in the hands of the Indians , Hull undertook the goal of gradually purchasing more Indian land for occupation by American settlers . He negotiated the Treaty of Detroit , in 1807 , with the Ottawa , Chippewa , Wyandot and Potawatomi nations , which ceded most of present - day Southeast Michigan to the United States . These efforts to expand American settlement began to generate opposition , particularly from the Shawnee leaders Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa , the Shawnee Prophet , who preached resistance to the American lifestyle and to further land giveaways . By February 1812 , the US was openly talking about and making plans in Congress for war with Great Britain , including an invasion of Canada . The British responded by recruiting Native American tribes to form part of their defense in the Michigan , Canada area in case the Americans attacked Canada . While Hull was in Washington , Secretary of War William Eustis informed him that President Madison wished to appoint him a Brigadier General in command of the new Army of the Northwest . Hull , then nearly 60 years old , expressed his disinterest in a new military commission , and a Colonel Kingsbury was selected to lead the force instead . Kingsbury fell ill before taking command , and the offer was repeated to Hull , who this time accepted . His orders were to go to Ohio , whose governor had been charged by Madison with raising a 1 , 200 - man militia that would be augmented by the 4th Infantry Regiment from Vincennes , Indiana , to form the core of the army . From there he was to march the army to Detroit , where he was to also continue serving as Territorial Governor . During this war he was known as the man of sound . March to Detroit . Hull arrived in Cincinnati on May 10 , 1812 , and on May 25 took command of the militia at Dayton . The militia comprised three regiments , who elected as their commanding Colonels Duncan McArthur , Lewis Cass , and James Findlay . They marched to Staunton and then to Urbana , where they were joined by the 300 - man 4th Infantry Regiment . The men of the militia were ill - equipped and averse to strong military discipline , and Hull relied on the infantry regiment to quell several instances of insubordination on the remainder of the march . By the end of June , the army had reached the rapids of the Maumee River , where Hull committed the first of the errors that would later reflect poorly on him . The declaration of war on Great Britain was signed on June 18 , 1812 , and that same day Secretary Eustis sent two letters to General Hull . One of them , sent by special messenger , had arrived on June 24 but did not contain any mention of the declaration of war . The second one , announcing the declaration of war , was sent via the postal service , and did not arrive until July 2 . As a result , Hull was still unaware that war had broken out when he reached the rapids of the Maumee , and as the army was now on a navigable waterway , he sent the schooner " Cuyahoga Packet " ahead of the army to Detroit with a number of invalids , supplies , and official documents . Unfortunately for Hull , the British commander at Fort Amherstburg had received the declaration of war two days earlier , and captured the ship as it sailed past , along with all of the papers and plans for an attack on Fort Amherstburg . Invasion of Canada . Hull was , at least in part , the victim of poor preparation for war by the U . S . government and miscommunication . While governor , Hull ' s repeated requests to build a naval fleet on Lake Erie to properly defend Detroit , Fort Mackinac , and Fort Dearborn were ignored by the commander of the northeast , General Henry Dearborn . Hull began an invasion of Canada on 12 July 1812 ; however , he quickly withdrew to the American side of the river after hearing the news of the capture of Fort Mackinac by the British . He also faced unfriendly Native American forces , which threatened to attack from the other direction . Surrender of Detroit . Facing what he believed to be superior forces thanks to his enemy ' s cunning stratagems such as instructing the Native American warriors to make as much noise as possible around the fort , Hull surrendered Fort Detroit to Sir Isaac Brock on August 16 , 1812 . Accounts of the incident varied widely . A subordinate , Colonel Lewis Cass placed all blame for the surrender on Hull and subsequently succeeded Hull as Territorial Governor . Hull was court - martialed , and at a trial presided over by General Henry Dearborn , with evidence against him given by Robert Lucas , a subordinate and the future governor of Ohio and territorial governor of Iowa . Hull was sentenced to be shot , though upon recommendation of mercy by the court , Hull received a reprieve from President James Madison . Later life . Hull lived the remainder of his life in Newton , Massachusetts , with his wife Sarah Fuller , and wrote two books attempting to clear his name ( Detroit : Defence of Brig . Gen . Wm . Hull in 1814 and Memoirs of the Campaign of the Northwestern Army of the United States : A . D . 1812 in 1824 ) . Some later historians have agreed that Hull was unfairly made a scapegoat for the embarrassing loss . The publication of his " Memoirs " in 1824 changed public opinion somewhat in his favor , and he was honored with a dinner in Boston on May 30 , 1825 . That June , Lafayette visited Hull and declared , " We both have suffered contumely and reproach ; but our characters are vindicated ; let us forgive our enemies and die in Christian love and peace with all mankind . " Hull died at home in Newton several months later , on November 29 , 1825 . His son , Abraham , was an Army Captain during the War of 1812 , and died at the Battle of Lundy ' s Lane . His remains were buried in the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls , Ontario . He is the only American Officer to be buried there . He was also uncle to Isaac Hull and adopted Isaac after his father ( William ' s brother Joseph ) died while Isaac was young .