In the early days of the War of 1812, an American army under Brigadier-General William Hull who was also the first Governor of Michigan Territory moved to Detroit, intending to use it as a base for an attack on Upper Canada.

At the Miami Rapids, Captain Henry Brush's company of Ohio Volunteers were waiting with vital supplies for Hull's garrison, including 300 head of cattle and 70 packhorses each laden with 200 pounds of flour.

On 4 August, British troops under Captain (local Major) Adam Muir of the 41st Regiment and Native Americans under Tecumseh and Roundhead defeated a detachment which Hull had sent to collect these supplies at the Battle of Brownstown.

The Canadian author John Richardson was present as a volunteer and later wrote: Here it was that we first had an opportunity of perceiving the extreme disadvantage of opposing regular troops to the enemy in the woods.

Accustomed to the use of the rifle from his infancy ... and possessing the advantage of a dress which renders him almost undistinguishable to the eye of a European, the American marksman enters with comparative security into a contest with the English soldier whose glaring habiliment and accoutrements are objects too conspicuous to be missed, while his utter ignorance of a mode of warfare, in which courage and discipline are of no avail, renders the struggle for mastery even more unequal.

The "enemy" turned out to be Potawatomi warriors allied to the British under Chief Main Poc, who immediately thought that the people firing at them must be Americans.

The officer commanding one of the other companies of the 41st Regiment thought that the bugle was sounding the "recall" and ordered his men to fall back.

Colonel Miller first wasted the tactical advantage that was given to him by the confusion within the British force, and then appears to have completely lost his nerve.

James Miller's War of 1812 career ended in success and promotion to brigadier-general, thanks mainly to his capture of the British batteries at the Battle of Lundy's Lane.

Miller's failure might have had dire consequences for the garrison of Detroit in the event of a sustained siege, when the supplies from the Miami Rapids would have been needed.