Porter Hanks
| Porter Hanks | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1785 |
| Died | August 16, 1812 Detroit, Michigan |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1805-1812 |
| Battles/wars | |
Porter Hanks (c. 1785–August 16, 1812) was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. He is best known for having been the commanding officer at Fort Mackinac, situated on the Strait of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. He surrendered the fort without bloodshed on July 17, 1812 in one of the opening movements of the war.
Hanks, who joined the army as an artillery lieutenant in 1805, was the commander at Mackinac Island in the spring of 1812. Fort Mackinac was a highly strategic location during the opening weeks of the War of 1812, being the westernmost U.S. military post on the Upper Great Lakes. Its location, however, made communications between the U.S. War Department and the fort difficult. Although the United States had declared war against the British Empire on June 18, 1812, as of mid-July no news of the conflict had been transmitted to northern Michigan.
By contrast across the border in the British post of Fort St. Joseph, Hanks' opposite number had been informed of the outbreak of conflict. Captain Charles Roberts learned on July 8, 1812 that the United States had declared war upon the United Kingdom and, by implication, upon British Canada. Although Roberts' own command numbered scarcely forty men, he was able to recruit approximately 580 First Nations and Native American warriors and fur traders into becoming members of an amphibious assault column. On July 16, a British flotilla made up of one schooner and a fleet of war canoes set sail from Fort St. Joseph to Fort Mackinac. That night, Roberts and his men landed without opposition at Mackinac Island's British Landing, and the small British-Canadian column brought a 6-pound fieldpiece cannon ashore and set it up on a high point that commanded the helpless, uninformed U.S. fort. On the morning of July 17, the British demanded that the Americans surrender their fortification without bloodshed. Hanks, with only 61 men facing the British-Canadian-First Nations force of more than 600, decided to accept the British request.
...
Wikipedia