The British in Canada didn't have many regular troops; the main force of the Canadian army was actually local militia. Similarly, the U.S. Army, from a European perspective, was essentially just militia as well. In terms of numbers, the U.S. Army had slightly more men. Logically, even if the U.S. Army was inferior, they shouldn't have been easily defeated by the Canadian forces. Even in original history, before British reinforcements arrived, the U.S. Army had a clear advantage.
"How could these Americans be so foolish!" Louis Bonaparte, the new chairman of the Louisiana Development Bank, cursed loudly in his lavishly decorated office in New Orleans' most luxurious building. "Are we now supposed to supply the weapons and mercenaries we prepared for the Canadians to these American fools?"
"Chairman, selling the weapons and mercenaries to the Americans isn't really a problem. It's still selling, after all," said a manager with a receding hairline.
"Sergey, you're right, but things have gone beyond our expectations, and it's always frustrating," Louis replied. "Moreover, we don't need to consider mercenaries yet. The U.S. still has people; it hasn't come to that point. Besides, the main issue with the U.S. military isn't morale, but that... they're completely unaware that the times have changed. However, certain British atrocities provide us with an excuse to intervene..."
Indeed, the reason for the U.S. Army's defeat was their utter backwardness. Unlike the Navy, which had been educated by the French and exposed to the world's advanced levels, the Army was truly provincial.
After the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Army hadn't fought much. Even during the Revolutionary War, their performance was mediocre at best. If not for King Louis XVI's aid to America, it's hard to say how that war would have ended. During and after that war, the U.S. Army had only one example to learn from: the French Army. However, that was the French Army of the line infantry era.
In short, the foolish Americans were cunningly overpowered by the British with landmines, shrapnel shells, barbed wire, and directional anti-infantry mines, leading to their collapse.
The British continued to advance towards Detroit. The citizens of Detroit, armed and ready, prepared to defend their city. Detroit, close to Canada and Louisiana, was a melting pot of Canadians, Americans, German-speaking French, and various Native American tribes, often engaging in conflicts. Hence, the residents, mostly well-armed whites, were prepared for battle.
Under the call to "defend the city," over four thousand armed citizens of Detroit joined the fight against British invasion in just one day.
However
, the British, employing a cunning strategy, didn't attack Detroit directly but bombarded the city with white phosphorus incendiaries.
Perhaps due to the butterfly effect, the great fire that should have swept through Detroit last year didn't happen. So, Detroit remained as it was before the fire, a city naturally evolved from the fur trade market, with no urban planning, narrow streets, and a plethora of haphazard wooden buildings, posing a significant fire hazard.
This city was a tinderbox, and the British (Canadians) set it ablaze with incendiary bombs. Unlike the historical fire that eventually engulfed Detroit but spread slowly due to a single point of origin, allowing most people to escape, this fire spread almost instantly across the city, leaving no time for evacuation. The casualties from this fire remain disputed, but even the lowest estimates suggest no fewer than nine thousand deaths, with some estimates as high as twenty thousand. The British, however, consider these figures exaggerated, as Detroit's population wasn't that large.