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.

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.

[1] By contrast across the border in the British post of Fort St. Joseph, Hanks' opposite number had been informed of the outbreak of conflict.

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 the morning of August 16, while Hanks was awaiting a military tribunal, he and an officer standing beside him were killed by the random flight of a British artillery cannonball aimed at the American fort's personnel.