They stacked their arms and lowered their colors from the flagstaff. The blue-clad soldiers marched onto the parade ground. Immediately, the cannons on both sides of the river ceased to roar. Running low on ammunition and fearing the worst, Americans raised a white flag over the parapet. Peering from the doorway, she caught a glimpse of more cannonballs in air. She was filled with anxiety but refused to panic. “Never shall I forget my sensations as I crossed the parade ground to gain this place of safety,” she recalled. With the walls crumbling, Bacon and her compatriots decided to seek shelter in a root-house. Though beset with “grief and mortification,” she expressed relief upon discovering that her husband survived the deadly siege. The same blow killed an attendant, since the shrapnel ripped open his flesh. It hit a patient, instantly severing his head from his torso. Moments later, she saw another cannonball soar into the makeshift hospital. In the blink of an eye, it took off legs and left bodies writhing on the floor. It then passed through the wall to enter another room. She saw the cannonball hit two officers standing next to her. While she made powder bags and treated wounded soldiers, a 24-pound shot entered the room in which she toiled. She watched in horror, as a solid shot knock down a chimney at the troop quarters. Like other women on the post, Bacon joined in the defense of Fort Detroit. She discovered that British troops and ships were massing on the Detroit River. On the morning of August 16, 1812, she arose from her bed after hearing the sounds of cannon fire. Her husband, Lieutenant Josiah Bacon, served as the quartermaster for an American regiment operating along the border with Canada. Lydia Bacon waited nervously at Fort Detroit – a square, 2-acre earth-and-wood structure equipped with 40 guns.
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