Eustis had sent his first letter of 18 June by special messenger. Congress had passed the declaration of war later that day, but Eustis sent a letter with this vital information only by ordinary mail. On 28 June, the postmaster at Cleveland, Ohio hired an express rider to rush the letter to Hull but even this arrived only on 2 July. The British ambassador in Washington had sent the news urgently to Britain and Canada, and the military commanders in Canada had, in turn, hastened to inform all their outposts of the state of war. On 2 July, the unsuspecting "Cayahoga" was captured by , a Canadian-manned armed brig of the Provincial Marine, under the command of Lieutenant Frédérick Rolette, near the British post at Amherstburg, Ontario at the foot of the Detroit River.