USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume I > Part 11
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"I remain, my dear General, faithfully yours, "HENRY PROCTOR, Colonel Commanding.
"To Major General Sheaffle, "Fort George."
"To Major General Sheaffle, Fort George : Return of prisoners taken after the action at Rivière aux Raisins, on the 22d January, 1813: One brigadier general, one colonel, one major, nine captains, six lieutenants, ten ensigns, one brigade major, one adjutant, one quartermaster, two surgeons, twenty-seven sergeants, four hundred thirty-five rank and file, total 495.
"N. B. The Indians have brought in and delivered up several pris- oners since the above return was taken; they continue to do so this morning, so that this return is not perfectly correct, nor can a correct one be procured until they arrive at Sandwich.
"FELIX TROUGHTON R. A., Acting Department Assistant Quarter Master General :
"Return of the killed and wounded of the Rivière aux Raisins, 22d January, 1813: Royal Artillery, one sergeant, one gunner killed; one lieutenant, one corporal, one bombardier, five gunners wounded.
"Tenth Royal Veteran Battalion : Two privates killed.
1
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"Forty-first Foot: Fifteen privates killed; one captain, one lieu- tenant, three sergeants, one corporal, ninety-one privates wounded.
"Newfoundland Regiment: One private killed; one ensign, one ser- geant, three corporals, thirteen privates wounded.
"Marine Department: One seaman killed; two lieutenants, one mid- shipman, one gunner, twelve seamen wounded.
"First Essex Militia : Two privates killed; one captain, two lieuten- ants, two sergeants, seven privates wounded.
"Second Essex Militia : Three privates killed; one ensign, three pri- vates wounded.
"Staff : One lieutenant colonel wounded.
"Total: Twenty-four killed; one hundred and fifty-eight wounded.
"FELIX TROUGHTON, Lt. R. A., Acting Department Assistant Quar- ter Master General.".
GENERAL WINCHESTER'S REPORT
For the purpose of comparison with the British returns on some points where the foregoing appear to be either gross misrepresentation or errors, I am favored with a copy of Brigadier General Winchester's report of the battle made the following day to the secretary of war of the United States which follows :
"MALDEN, January 23d, 1813.
"Sir: A detachment from the left wing of the Northwestern Army under my command at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, was attacked on the 22d instant, by a force greatly superior in numbers, aided by several pieces of artillery. The action commenced at the dawn of day ; the picket guards were driven in and a heavy fire opened on the whole line, by which a part thereof was thrown into disorder ; and being ordered to retire a small distance in order to form on more advantageous ground I found the enemy doubling our flank with force and rapidity. A destructive fire was sustained for some time; at length, borne down by numbers, the few of us that remained with the party that retired from the lines submitted. The remainder of the force, in number about four hun- dred continued to defend themselves with great gallantry in an uneffec- tual contest against small arms and artillery, until I was brought in as a prisoner to that part of the field occupied by the enemy. At this latter place I understood that our troops were defending themselves in a state of desperation, and was informed by the commanding officer of the enemy, that he would afford them an opportunity of surrendering them- selves as prisoners of war, to which I acceded. I was the more ready to make surrender from being assured that unless done quickly the build- ings adjacent would be immediately set on fire, and that no responsibility would be undertaken for the conduct of the savages who were then assembled in great numbers. In this critical situation, being desirous to preserve the lives of our brave fellows who still held out, I sent a flag to them and agreed with the commanding officer of the enemy that they would be surrendered prisoners of war, on condition of being pro- tected from the savages, allowed to retain their private property, and having their side arms returned to them. It is impossible for me to ascertain with certainty the loss we have sustained in this action from the impracticability of knowing the number who have made their escape. "Thirty-five officers and about four hundred and eighty-seven non- commissioned officers and privates are prisoners of war. A list of the names of the officers is herewith enclosed to you. Our loss in killed is considerable. However unfortunate may seem the affair of yesterday,
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I am flattered by a belief that no material error is chargeable to my- self, and that still less censure, if any, is deserved by the troops I had the honor of commanding. With the exception of that portion of our force which was thrown into disorder, no troops ever behaved with more determined intrepidity.
"I have the honor to be, with high respect,
"Your obedient servant,
"JAMES WINCHESTER, Brigadier General, United States Army.
"To the Honorable Secretary of War, Washington, District of Columbia."
"N. B. The Indians have still a number of prisoners in their possession, which I have reason to hope will be given up to Colonel Proctor at Sandwich.
"JAMES WINCHESTER, Brigadier General."
ACCOUNT OF HONORABLE LAURENT DUROCHER
The narrative of Honorable Laurent Durocher which follows, gives some of the horrible details of the massacre which accompanied this affair, while the simple story told by one of the Kentuckians, who, to the number of more than six hundred formed a part of the army who fought valiantly in the vain effort to save the settlement from destruc- tion, is certainly most convincing in its truthfulness and candor, com- ing from such authority. Laurent Durocher was afterwards a prominent and trusted official of the county, state and city. Judge Durocher's narrative:
"I came to the Territory of Michigan in the year 1803 and fixed my residence at the River Raisin in 1805, near the spot where I now reside, in the City of Monroe, and near the place where the army of General Winchester was defeated by the British in the spring of 1813. Before war was declared, I, with many of the young men of the River Raisin county, most of them French descendants, volunteered our services in the American army under General Hull.
"One company of cavalry, another of infantry. I belonged to the cavalry. We preferred to volunteer our services to being drafted. The term of service was one year.
"We did service until the surrender of Detroit by General Hull on the 16th of August, 1812. We, at the River Raisin, held out and did not surrender the fort until two days after the surrender of Detroit. Under the capitulation the fort at the River Raisin and the men belong- ing to the army here were included.
"We surrendered to Captain Elliott, a British officer, who came from Detroit for that purpose, with a copy of the articles of capitu- lation. Our horses and arms were delivered up, but we were left on parole, &c. Soon after the Indians came, plundered and pillaged all the property within their reach through the whole settlement, tearing and breaking whatever articles of household furniture they could not conveniently carry away, with insults, threats and menaces to men and women that were indescribable; but murder at that time was prevented by the interference of some British officers.
"The inhabitants of the settlement remained in a dangerous situa- tion, being daily exposed to the insults, pillage, &c., of the Indians, bands of whom, one after another, taking and carrying away what little property had been secreted from the first Indians.
"The settlements remained in this precarious situation until in
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the fall, when two companies of British militia and Indians and several British officers were stationed here (then called Frenchtown) on the River Raisin, and it made a rendezvous for their scouts to start from to make discoveries on the frontier American army. They remained until the 18th of January, 1813, when Col. Lewis, with part of the troops under command of Gen. Winchester, then at Maumee, with some of the French inhabitants of this place, came, fought and drove away the British and Indians, took possession and occupied the same build- ings before occupied by the British troops, and made their encampment near the same buildings, in orchards and gardens. During the night of this day (18th of January) the Indians gathered their dead and wounded, killed some of the inhabitants and pillaged on their retreat to Malden. On the morning of the 19th Col. Lewis ordered the inhabit- ants of the settlement at Sandy Creek, which lies about three miles north of the River Raisin, towards Detroit, to come in on the River Raisin on account of the Indians, they having committed several mur- ders there on the night of the 18th of January.
"On the 19th and 20th of January other detachments of troops, under the command of Col. Allen of the army of Gen. Winchester, arrived and encamped in the open fields to the east of Col. Lewis' troops. On the 20th Gen. Winchester came to the River Raisin with some officers. They took up their lodgings at the house of Col. Francis Navarre, on the south side of the river, about a half mile above, or west of the encampment of the army.
"On the 21st of January, in the afternoon, certain news reached us through some of the inhabitants, who had gone on business to Malden, that the British were gathering their forces, militia and Indians, with their regular troops at that place (Malden), preparatory to crossing at the mouth of the Detroit river on the ice, with a view of coming to the River Raisin to attack the American army. On the next morning, I, together with other persons, went to the house of Col. Navarre to see Gen. Winchester.
"We told him the news as we had heard it and that it might be relied on as true. On the 22d of January (Friday), early in the morn- ing, between four and five o'clock, the attack was made by the British and Indians on the American army. The attack was very sharp at the beginning, especially on that part of the army lying encamped below and easterly of Col. Lewis and caused their retreat or flight across the south side of the river to the road leading to Maumee, until they reached Plumb or Mill Creek, which is about a mile in a southern direction from the River Raisin. Near that, most of those who had fled were killed by the Indians who had surrounded them. It was there and near that point where Gen. Winchester was taken prisoner in his attempt to rally those of the army who had fled. Then followed the surrender of Gen. Winchester's army. Soon after the whole of the men were taken to Malden as prisoners, except the wounded, who were left in the houses and guarded by a few men; also excepting some prisoners who were captured and kept by the Indians, of whom Capt. Hart was one. He was killed, but not by the Indians who had him as prisoner.
"On the 23d of January, 1813, a party of Indians returned to the River Raisin and went to the houses occupied by the wounded Americans and murdered them. Some were killed in the houses whilst others were dragged out, shot and tomahawked. The Indians fired the houses with the dead in them, as well as some of the wounded who were still alive.
"On the 22d of January, and after the defeat of Gen. Winchester's Vol. 1-5
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army, many of the inhabitants fled to the Ohio frontier, others went to the settlements near Detroit and soon the entire settlement of the River Raisin was nearly abandoned and deserted.
"I remark here that after the surrender of Detroit and the defeat of Gen. Winchester, the British made several attempts to persuade the Indians to destroy the settlements on the River Raisin, for it was alleged that it afforded or would afford assistance to the Americans. "It was even proposed to the Indians in council, but the Pottawa- tamies protested against it and declared that in such an event they would take part in favor of the inhabitants, for it was they, the Potta- watamies, who had given the lands to the first settlers, and had been recompensed therefor, and had built on each piece so given a fire there- on, and would not suffer the inhabitants to be destroyed. And I further remark, to refute false statements heretofore made against the French population, that no people could have been more loyal or more attached to the government of the United States than were the inhabitants of the River Raisin at that time under such distressing circumstances- their sufferings even to starvation, murdered friends, abandonment of their habitations, their willingness to defend their country, and that the flower of the young men volunteered their services and were at all times willing to take up arms against the British and Indians and did so when they were prisoners of war on parole."
HARRISON TO SHELBY
Report and comment by General Harrison to Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, two days after the tragedy at the River Raisin :-
"From Major General Harrison to Governor Isaac Shelby-CAMP OF CARRYING ROCK, fifteen miles from the Rapids, January 24, 1813.
"My dear Sir: I send Colonel Wells to you to communicate the par- ticulars (as far as we are acquainted with them), of an event that will overwhelm your mind with grief, and fill your whole state with mourn- ing.
"The greater part of General Winchester's regiment, United States Infantry, and the First and Fifth Regiments of Kentucky Infantry, and Allen's rifle regiments under the immediate orders of General Winchester, have been cut to pieces by the enemy or been taken pris- oners. Great as the calamity is, I hope that as far as it relates to the objects of the campaign, it is not irreparable. As soon as I was informed of the attack upon General Winchester, about 12 o'clock on the 22d instant, I set out to overtake the detachment of Kentucky troops that I had sent that morning to reinforce him, and I directed the only regi- ment that I had with me to follow. I overtook Major Robb's detachment at a distance of six miles; but before the troops in the rear could get up, certain information was received of General Winchester's total defeat. A council of war was called, and it was the unanimous opinion of the Generals Payne and Perkins, and all the field officers, that there was no motive that could authorize an advance, but that of attacking the enemy, and that success could not be expected, after a forced march of forty miles against an enemy superior in number, and well provided with artillery. Strong detachments of the most active men were, how- ever, sent forward on all the roads to assist and bring in such of our men as had escaped. The whole number that has reached our camp does not exceed thirty, among whom were Major McClanahan and Cap- tain Claves.
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"Having a large train of heavy artillery and stores coming on this road from West Sandusky, under an escort of four companies, it was thought advisable to fall back to this place for the purpose of securing them. A part of it arrived last evening, and the rest is within thirty miles. As soon as it arrives, with a reinforcement of three regiments from the Virginia and Pennsylvania brigades I shall again advance and give the enemy an opportunity of measuring their strength with ours once more.
"Colonel Wells will communicate some circumstances, which while they afflict and surprise, will convince you that Kentucky has lost none of her reputation for valor for which she is famed. The detachment to the River Raisin was made without my consent or knowledge, and in direct opposition to my plans. Having been made, however, I did everything in my power to reinforce them, and a force exceeding by three hundred men that which General Winchester deemed necessary was on its way to join him, and a fine battalion within fourteen miles of its destination. After the success of Colonel Lewis I was in great hopes that the post could be maintained. Colonel Wells will communi- cate my future views to you, much better than I can do in writing at this time.
"I am, dear sir, with esteem your obedient servant,
"His Excellency, Governor Shelby."
"W. H. HARRISON."
HARRISON TAKES THE FIELD
Far from being discouraged by the discomfiture of their armies under Generals Hull and Winchester, a third and more formidable force under General Harrison was despatched, which reached Fort Meigs shortly after the Frenchtown battle. Determined if possible to thwart the opera- tions of this new government, Proctor, who had meanwhile been promoted from colonel to brigadier-general, ordered an expedition to be in readi- ness to move for the Miami. Accordingly, toward the close of April a detachment of the Forty-first Regular Foot, a body of militia and one thousand four hundred Indians, accompanied by a train of artillery and attended by two gunboats, proceeded up that river (Miami) and estah- lished themselves on the left bank at the distance of a mile from the site selected for their batteries.
The season was very wet, but the work went on rapidly. The enemy were well equipped with artillery, among which were two splendid twenty-four pounders which they had captured at Detroit, the trans- portation of which the horrible condition of the roads made necessary the combined efforts of two hundred men, several horses and oxen.
The siege and battle of the Miami continued for several days and was one of the most severe engagements of the war. The following copy of a dispatch from General Harrison and other documents following are of historical interest and value in this connection :
GENERAL HARRISON TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR "HEADQUARTERS, CAMP MEIGS, 9th May, 1813.
"Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the enemy having been several days making preparations for raising the siege of this post, accomplished this day, the removal of their artillery from the opposite bank, and about 12 o'clock left their encampment below, were soon em- barked and out of sight. I have the honor to enclose to you an agree- ment entered into between General Proctor and myself for the dis- charge of prisoners of the Kentucky militia in his possession and for the
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TECUMSEH
This portrait of the Great Shawnee Chief was painted by one of the officers of the 41st Regiment, British troops, after the death of Tecumseh, at Moravian Town, -and is said to be very life-like. It is the only one in existence.
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exchange of the officers and men of the regular troops, which were re- spectively possessed by us. My anxiety to get the Kentucky troops released as early as possible induced me to agree to the dismission of all the prisoners I had, although there were not as many of ours in General Proctor's hands; the surplusage is to be accounted for, and an equal number of ours released from their parole, whenever the government may think proper to direct it. The two actions on this side of the river on the 5th were infinitely more important and more honorable to our arms than I had at first conceived. In the sortie made upon the left flank, Captain Waring's company of the Tenth Regiment, a detach- ment of twelve months volunteers, under Major Alexander, and three companies of Kentucky militia under Colonel Boswell, defeated at least double the number of Indians and British.
"The sortie on the right was still more glorious. The British bat- teries in that direction were defended by the grenadier and light infan- try companies of the Forty-first Regiment, amounting to two hundred effectives and two companies of militia flanked by a great host of In- dians. The detachment sent to attack these consisted of all the men off duty, belonging to the companies of Croghan and Bradford of the Seventeenth Regiment-Langham's, Elliot's (late Graham's) and War- ing's of the Nineteenth, about eighty of Major Alexander's volunteers and a single company of Kentucky militia under Captain Sebree, amount- ing in the whole to not more than three hundred and forty. Yet the event of the action was not a moment doubtful, and had not the British troops been covered in their retreat by their allies (Indians) the whole of them would have been taken.
"It is not possible for troops to behave better than ours did through- out; all the officers exerted themselves to execute my orders, and the enemy, who had a full view of our operations from the opposite shore, declared that they had never seen so much work performed in so short a time."
TECUMSEH, THE GREAT SHAWNEE
"Like monumental bronze, unchanged his look, A soul which pity touch'd but never shook ; Train'd from his tree-rock'd cradle to his bier, The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook ; Unchanging, fearing but the shame of fear, A stoic of the woods, a man without a tear."
Tecumseh the Shawnee and Pontiac the Ottawa stand forth preemi- nently, as the two greatest Indian chiefs of their time. Differing widely in their personalities as they did in their dispositions and natures, they were much the same in their craftiness, intellectual strength, and mag- netic qualities to influence and command large bodies of men, whose nature rebelled against authority of any kind except that exercised by their own chosen leaders-and these two eminent savages were, indeed, born leaders and generals, accustomed to be listened to with respect in the councils of their tribes, and to obedience when they chose to exercise the arbitrary right of rulers. Tecumseh's character was perhaps as plainly shown at the battle of the Thames, or Moravian towns, as Pon- tiac's was at the siege of Detroit, and in his conspiracy to destroy that fort, along with all the frontier forts west of the Alleghany. The British valued the cooperation of Tecumseh most highly for his sagacity, good judgment, friendly disposition towards them, as well as for his widely extended influence with other tribes besides his own. He was not at the battle of the River Raisin or Frenchtown, being absent on a mission to neighboring tribes in securing the confederation, nor was his brother
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"the prophet;" had he been there, it is the general belief of those who knew the nature of the great chief, that the massacre of the Kentucky troops and of the French settlers would not have taken place. But the Chief Roundhead who had command of the Indians, was an entirely dif- ferent sort of man; brutal, bloodthirsty, inhuman, of the lowest and most detestable instincts; he it was who took Winchester prisoner, and led the intoxicated and infuriated Indians in the horrible scenes of massacre which followed the surrender of the American forces at French- town. We have a circumstantial account of Tecumseh's behavior at the Moravian towns and of his death at that time, in a paper written by Major John Richardson, who was in command of a division of the Forty- first Regiment, British army in Canada. It is as follows: "The most serious loss we sustained on this occasion was that of the noble and un- fortunate Tecumseh. Only a few minutes before the clang of the Ameri- can bugles was heard ringing through the forest, and inspiring to action, the haughty chieftain had passed along our line, evidently pleased with the manner in which his left was supported, and seemingly san- guine of success. He was attired very becomingly in his usual deer- skin dress, finely ornamented, which admirably displayed his sinewy, athletic figure from which was thrown back a fur mantle which he wore in camp. In his handkerchief, rolled up as a turban over his brow, was placed a handsome white ostrich feather, which had been given him by a near relative of the writer of this narrative and with which he was very fond of decorating himself, either for the council hall or the battle- field. He pressed the hand of each officer as he passed, made some remark in Shawnee, which was sufficiently understood accompanied as it was by the expressive signs of his mobile features, and then passed away forever from view, except as we saw him during the engagement, fight- ing gallantly, or as he afterwards lay stretched a corpse upon the field. Towards the close of the engagement, he had been personally opposed to General Johnson who was commanding the American mounted riflemen, and having severely wounded that officer with a ball from his rifle, was in the act of springing upon him with his tomahawk, when his adversary drew a pistol from his belt and shot him dead upon the spot. It has been denied by some that the chief met his death from the hand of Johnson; but such was the statement on the day of the battle, nor was it ever con- tradicted at that period. There is every reason to state then, authori- tatively, that the merit (if any merit could attach to the destruction of all that was noble and generous in savage life) of having killed Tecumseh rests with Colonel Johnson of the Kentucky Mounted Riflemen.
It was also repeated many times that the body of the fallen brave was flayed and razor strops made of his skin; if there was any truth in these (of which there are grave doubts) the outrages were committed by his own immediate followers. On the night of the engagement, when seated around a fire kindled in the forest, partaking on the very battle ground of the meat which General Harrison's aide de camp were con- siderately and hospitably toasting for us on long, pointed sticks, or skewers, and which, half famished as we were, we greedily ate without bread or salt, the painful subject was discussed and it is not less a eulogy to the memory of the high minded Tecumseh, than a justice to General Harrison to add that that officer was the first to deplore his death; while the sentiments he expressed, when the circumstances and manner of his death became known, were such as to reflect credit on himself both as a man, a Christian and a soldier.
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