"In April 1812, as the United States prepared for possible war with Great Britain, Michigan's Territorial Governor, William Hull, became commander of the Army of the Northwest. His first task was to lead his army from Dayton, Ohio, to Detroit, building Hull's Trace, a two-hundred-mile long road, as it marched.
"The army left Dayton on June 1. As they cut the trace through the wilderness from Urbana north, it laid logs crosswise across swampy areas to create a rough, but stable corduroy roadbed that could support supply wagons.
"In late June, a detachment from Frenchtown, commanded by Hubert Lacroix also worked on the road, attempting to follow a route laid out under an 1808 territorial Legislative Council act. (This must have been McCloskey's work, see previous post.)
"On June 18, 1812, war was declared. Hull's army arrived in Detroit on July 5."
--Brock-Perry
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