After General Hull surrendered Detroit the previous August, frightened Detroiters sent a letter to [American] Judge Augustus Woodward (excerpt below), who was planning to leave, asking him not to abandon them. They had reason to be afraid; the letter was sent just prior to the nearby Battle of the River Raisin:
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It was a matter of quite as great importance that the civil affairs of the community should be attended to as that the military affairs should be properly conducted. ...Woodward alone, remained in Detroit as the representative of the territory. [British] General Proctor, as civil governor under the terms of the capitulation, ordered the supreme court to convene at the council house in Detroit early in February 1813 and Woodward, as the only remaining judge, was expected to preside. Judge Woodward did not get along with General Proctor and did not think he could be an effective advocate for the citizens of Detroit because of it. [Source]
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