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 13
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CAUSE OF LATER DEFEAT
January 21, 1813, a reinforcement of 230 men arrived in the after- noon ; also Gen. Winchester, Colonel Wells, Major McClanahan, Surgeons Irvin and Montgomery and some others, not soldiers, who came to eat apples and drink cider. The officers having viewed and laid off a piece of ground for a camp and breastworks, resolved that it was too late to erect fortifications that evening; further, they resolved that it was not worth while, though all materials were at hand, to fortify the right wing, inasmuch as they were not to move there until the next morning. This plain want of precaution and dilatoriness, was one great cause of the
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mournful defeat which followed the next day. It is quite unexplainable, on any grounds, in view of the dangers which threatened us from the approach of the British and Indians from Malden, only twenty miles distant. (They were already on the march over the ice we had learned a little later with artillery to attack us.) The number of the approach- ing enemy was stated by the man who brought the news, at three thou- sand. This was not believed by our leading men, who were enjoying themselves with hot whisky and loaf sugar. The generality of our force, however, put confidence in the report, and were at least willing, to give us the benefit of the doubt, and work all night, if necessary, to perfect our defence. General Winchester had taken up his headquar- ters at a house of one of the leading Frenchmen of the town (Mr. Navarre) more than half a mile from the nearest part of the encamp- ment, the largest and best house in the settlement. The right wing was wholly unprotected and exposed to the attack of the enemy.
Ensign Harrow was sent with a party of men some time in the night, by the orders of Colonel Lewis, to bring in all men, either officers or privates that might be found out of their quarters. After executing this order, he went to a brick house, about a mile up the river, and entered a room ; finding it occupied, he went up stairs and saw two men, whom he took to be British officers, talking with the landlord. The landlord joined Ensign Harrow, asked him to walk down stairs to a warm room, and handing him a bottle of whisky, informed him that "there was no danger, for the British had not a force sufficient to whip us." So Har- row returned about 1 o'clock and reported to Colonel Lewis the result of his observations. The Colonel treated this report with indifference, thinking the gentlemen named, were only persons from the village: just at daybreak the reveille sounded and gave joy to the troops, who had passed a very uncomfortable night, under the apprehension of an at- tack at any moment.
ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY
The reveille had not been beating more than two minutes before the sentinels fired three guns in quick succession; this alarmed our troops, who quickly formed and were ready for the enemy before they were near enough to do any execution. The British immediately discharged their artillery, loaded with balls, bombs, and grape shot, which did but slight injury ; they then attempted to make a charge upon those behind the pickets, but were repulsed with great loss. Those on the right being entirely exposed, without fortifications of any kind, were overpowered by superior numbers and ordered to retreat to a more advantageous piece of ground. They fell into disorder and could not be again formed.
When the right wing began to retreat, it is said, orders were given by certain officers, to the men in the eastern end of the picketing, to march out to their assistance-a most unwise order, as the men were doing great execution as riflemen behind the pickets upon the ranks of the enemy. Captain Peirce, however, and a number of his men, sallied out into the open and were shot to pieces instantly. The Indians pur- sued the scattering troops, from every quarter, surrounded, killed, toma- hawked and scalped, with awful ferocity, unchecked by the British offi- cers, who commanded them. The enemy again charged on our left, with redoubled fury, but were again forced to retire. Our men lay close be- hind the picketing, through which they had made port holes, and every- one having a rest took deliberate and certain aim, that his ammunition might not be spent in vain and every shot fired by those skilled Ken. tucky riflemen brought down a red-coat or an Indian. After a long and
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bloody contest, the enemy finding that they could not either by force or strategem drive us from our position in our fortification, retired to the woods, leaving their dead on the field; a sleigh was seen about three hundred or four hundred yards from our lines going towards our right, supposed to be loaded with ammunition to supply the cannon. They received prompt attention from our Kentucky sharpshooters, who killed the men in charge and wounded the horses. Some Indians who were concealed behind the log houses, continued to annoy us with scattering balls.
KENTUCKIANS CHAGRINED AT SURRENDER
At this time bread from the commissary's house was handed around among our troops who sat very composedly eating and watching the movements of the enemy as if on parade. We had finished our meagre lunch, when a white flag was seen approaching. It was thought to be for a cessation of hostilities that our enemies might carry off their dead, which numerously lay scattered around over the late battlefield, although they had been continually busy during the action, bearing their dead and wounded away to their rear. But what was our surprise and mortifica- tion, when we heard that General Winchester with Colonel Lewis had been taken prisoners by the Indians, in an attempt to rally the right wing, and that General Winchester had surrendered us prisoners of war to Colonel Proctor the next highest in command. Major Madison, did not agree to this, until Colonel Proctor had promised that the prison- ers should be protected from the Indians, the wounded cared for, the dead collected and buried and private property respected.
Colonel Proctor had informed General Winchester that he would afford him an opportunity to surrender his troops and if not accepted he would let loose the Indian savages upon us who would burn the town, and he would not be accountable for their conduct. General Winchester not knowing how we had successfully resisted the enemy's efforts, nor acquainting himself with the opinion of his officers nor the feeling of his men, probably thought the worst would happen if surrender was de- clined.
But why did not Proctor make this proposition before he had exerted all his skill in trying to burn the town, and setting his savage allies to do as their bloodthirsty appetites led them. Proctor knew very well that he was at "the end of his tether"-and convinced that the brave Ameri- cans were "too much for him." It was subsequently learned that Proc- tor had actually ordered a retreat to Malden at the very time that Win- chester, losing his nerve, was arranging to surrender. Simply a success- ful bluff !
It was even then that our troops, feeling perfect confidence in their ability to cope with the enemy and win the victory, most reluctantly accepted this crushing proposition; there was scarcely a man but was ready to shed tears! Many pleaded with the officers not to surrender, pledging themselves willing to die in the effort to avoid such a disgrace. We had only five killed and twenty-five wounded inside the pickets !
The British asked when they came in what we had done with our dead and wounded, as they saw but few on the ground. A barn having been set on fire to drive the Indians from its shelter, they concluded that to conceal our dead we had thrown them into these flames! One of the houses that the wounded were in was much shattered by the cannon balls of the enemy, though only a very few struck so low as a man's head. The bombs flew over. Some burst fifty feet above the ice on the river and some fell on the south side. In this battle their six cannon, three
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six-pounders and three three-pounders did but little injury to us. One of the former is said to have gone through the ice into the river.
The gallantry, firmness and general brave conduct of all the troops engaged in this engagement is worthy of all praise. While the men were at their posts firing, the officers were passing along the lines supplying ammunition and all else needed. Engaged in this employment, Major Graves was severely wounded in the knee. He sat down, bound up his wound and cried : "Boys, I am wounded ; never mind me, but fight on !"
THE SURRENDER
The British collected their troops and marched in front of the village along the bank of the river. We marched out and grounded our arms in heat and bitterness of spirit. The British and Indians took possession of them at once. But all the swords, dirks, hunting knives and toma- hawks were given up with the definite understanding that they were to be returned to us again, a pledge that was not kept in one single instance. All the prisoners except those badly wounded, Dr. Todd, Dr. Bowers and a few attendants, were marched towards Malden. The British said as they had a great many of their own wounded to take to Malden that evening it would be impossible to take ours before morning, but they would leave a sufficient guard so that they would not be interfered with by the Indians. You will presently observe with what vindictiveness and inhumanity all these promises were violated.
INDIAN OUTRAGES.
Before the British and prisoners marched the Indians ransacked the camp, plundering and stealing and destroying without the least interfer- ence or effort to prevent it by the men who had promised protection to our property according to the demand of Major Madison. After steal- ing everything they could carry away and destroying the remainder, they visited the sick and wounded, taking away from them whatever suited their fancy and insulting them in every vile way. After they had gone I bolted the door. They came back in a short time, and finding the door locked, broke it open with their tomahawks.
I immediately applied to a British officer and told him the Indians were committing outrages and ignoring the arrangement made by the understanding with Colonel Proctor by General Winchester. He turned around and called to another officer to send the guard. The Indians had at that time plundered the commissary's house, which was near the house in which were the wounded and taken everything of any use or value, then piled rails and brush against it and set them on fire. With the as- sistance of two British officers we put out the fire. One of the British officers, Major Rundels, inquired where the ammunition was. I told him if there was any it was upstairs. We went up, but found none; there was, however, a large amount of wheat stored in the loft; he said it was a pity that it was there, because the Indians wound burn the building. I apprehended from that the town would be burned and began to lament our wretched condition. After we went down Rundel asked me how many we had killed and wounded on the 18th. I told him, but he dis- puted it. I had the returns in my pocket and showed it to him, which he read without comment. Those of us that remained being hungry, I applied to one of the British in the evening for some flour, as there were a good many barrels in the commissary's store which I had considered belonged to them. He told me to take as much as I wanted. I asked him if there was any guard left on duty. He said there was no necessity for Vol. 1-6
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any, for the Indians were going to their camp, and there were inter- preters who would walk from house to house and see that there would be no interference with us. He kept walking about and looking towards the road. He told me I had better keep inside the house, for the Indians would as soon shoot me as not, although he had just told me we should not be interfered with. I rather suspected he was looking for General Harrison, who was expected by some to arrive with fresh troops. But this was not to be.
BRITISH PROMISES VIOLATED.
As the British did not leave the guard which they promised, I lost all confidence in their honor or feelings of humanity and expected we would all be massacred before morning. As I was the only person in this house not wounded. I prepared, with the assistance of those who were the least hurt. something for about thirty to eat. The Indians kept lurk- ing and searching about town till after dark. One came into the house we occupied who could talk English a very little and said he com-
COL. NAVARRE'S HOME Occupied by General Winchester, of the Kentucky troops, at the massacre January 22. 1813. From a sketch made in 1855.
manded a company in the retreating party and that most of that com- pany were slain. He said the men gave up their guns, pleaded for their lives, and even offered money if they would spare them, but "his boys" as he called them would tomahawk them without merey. He further said the plan that was fixed up between the British and Indians before the battle commenced was that the British were to attack in front to induce us to charge on them. Five hundred Indians were placed on the right and five hundred on the left to flank and take possession of the town ; but he said the Americans were too cunning for them and would not move out from the pickets.
We passed the miserable night under the most serious apprehension of being massaered by the tomahawk or consumed in the flames. I fre- quently went out during the night to see if the house had been fired. At length the long wished for morning arrived, filling our hearts with the hope, since we were still alive, that we should be delivered from the bar- barous cruelties of those merciless savages. We made every preparation to be ready for the promised sleighs which never came, but instead, alas! about an hour after sunrise a vast number of savages, painted in various colors and yelling hideously. came swarming around our house, sent there by their even more cruel and perfidious British. They rushed into
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the houses where the suffering and despondent wounded lay, instantly stripped them of blankets and clothing and ordered them to leave the houses ! I at once ran out of the house to inform the interpreters what was going on. At the door an Indian snatched my hat and put it on his own head. I then discovered that all the other houses where the wounded were had been visited and the inmates as inhumanly used as the first. It is impossible to describe the scenes here enacted-they surpass de- scription or belief. I saw my fellow soldiers, naked and wounded, in that bitter wintry weather crawling out of their houses to avoid being con- sumed in the flames which were destroying them. Men that had not been able to turn themselves on their beds for four days were now forced to flee or be burned to death; they cried for help, but there were none to help them! Even at that there were many who, being absolutely unable to escape, were consumed in the flames. Now the scenes of murder and all manner of cruelty which we had been dreading during the night at the hands of these monsters fully commenced. The savages would rush upon the wounded and in their shocking and bloodthirsty manner shoot, tomahawk and scalp their victims most cruelly, mangling their naked bodies as they lay agonizing and weltering in their blood. Others were started towards Malden, but being unable to travel as fast as their strong and uninjured captors, were inhumanly tomahawked, stripped and scalped. The road followed by the troops and savages was for miles strewed with the mangled bodies, all left for beasts and birds of prey to feast upon.
It is hard for the human mind to grasp the full enormity of these awful practices in an age of civilization, and they will always remain an indelible stain upon the pages of modern warfare and to the crying disgrace of those who could but did not interfere to prevent the out- rages which I personally witnessed.
NARRATIVE OF TIMOTHY MALLARY
It seems that others of the Kentucky troops who were at the river Raisin battle and massacre were thoughtful enough to keep a record of their experiences and these narratives form a most interesting portion of the history of the tragic events of those perilous times. The following is the story of one of the volunteers, which is a carefully written paper of which we have been allowed to make a copy :
"During the battle on the 22d of January, 1813, at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, between the combined forces of British Canadians and Indians and the Americans, I received a wound from a piece of plank which had been split off by a cannon ball. It struck me on the side and unfortunately broke three of my ribs. The battle having terminated in favor of the combined forces of the enemy, and I not being able to travel with those American prisoners who were to march immediately for Malden, I remained on the ground until the next morning with others of my wounded countrymen who had received a solemn promise from the British commander that they should be carried to Malden in sleighs. To this promise no attention was afterwards paid! It was sacrificed on the altar of savage brutality and barbarity! and to the God of murder and cruelty ! Instead of sleighs, savages were sent to murder and muti- late these unfortunate victims !
"After they had executed in part their purpose on the ground where we lay, they ordered several other prisoners and myself to march for Malden. We had not proceeded far before they tomahawked four of our number, among them Captain Hart of Lexington, Kentucky. He had hired an Indian to take him to Malden and I witnessed the money
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paid to the Indian in part for this service. After having taken him some distance another Indian demanded him, claiming him as his pris- oner; the hireling would not give him up; the claimant seeing that he could not get him alive, shot him in the left side with his gun. Captain Hart still remained on his horse; the claimant then ran up, struck him with his tomahawk, dragged him from his seat, scalped him and left him there dying.
"We proceeded forward until we came within three miles of Browns- town, where we encamped for the night. The next day we resumed our march to their encampment, seven or eight miles south of Detroit, which appeared to be their headquarters. They were furnished at this place with bark wigwams. Here were assembled also a large number of squaws and children, I should think nearly two thousand. Here they stripped off my clothes and dressed me after the Indian fashion. They also shaved off my hair, except a scalp lock on top of my head, which I construed to be for the purpose of facilitating scalping later on. They next bored holes in my ears, in which they hung, plentifully, ear rings and chains for ornaments. They wanted to bore my nose also, but as I objected vigorously they did not insist. They also painted my face one side black, the other red, with black and red stripes across. Shortly after these cere- monies I was adopted into the family of a Pottawatamie that had re- cently lost a son in the battle of the river Raisin. I was presented for- mally to this family by an Indian, whose name was Ke-wi-ex-Kim. He introduced me to my future relations, father, mother, brothers and sis- ters and instructed me to call them such. My father's name was Asa Chipsaw after whom they called me.
"They asked me if I had a squaw; upon answering in the negative they appeared much pleased and brought me a squaw, urging me to marry her. I refused, telling them that as soon as I got well I would do so. They took this as an offense and showed ill humor, but did nothing to me. Later on they examined my wound and rudely dressed it. They next made a strong tea of sassafras and cherry tree bark which was the only drink I was permitted to take for fifteen days. They frequently took me to Detroit for the purpose of helping them to pack provisions from thence to their camp. But they would not allow me to talk to the inhabitants of that place. Fifteen loaves of bread, weighing three pounds apiece, ten pounds of pork, or beef and a peck of corn was what they drew for six days. This would not last for half that time, the remaining time they lived on fragments of dog or horse meat.
"They appeared indifferent whether they had killed the animal that day or whether it had died by some accidental cause eight or ten days prior to the meal. They appointed me cook, and as they did not appear to be fastidious in the least, it looked an easy job, but it wasn't; getting the necessary fuel and keeping up the everlasting stew was no sinecure. Whenever any kind of spirits were to be had there was a drunken frolic of hideous character. When it was at its height no devils in hell could have been worse. The squaws hid me on these festive occasions to pre- vent my being murdered. Once I was hid in some brush and had no food for four days, during all of which time, night and day, the most horrible uproar was going on in the camp.
"The squaws, who frequently visited me and to whom I appealed for something to eat, informed me that nothing could be done until the grand drunk was over, and then the men would have to go out and either kill provisions or draw from Detroit. On the fourth day when I was about giving up and expecting to perish from hunger they brought me some dog meat without salt, and although I thought I could never be brought to eat dog, yet it was to me at that time the most delicious morsel that I
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ever recollect to have eaten. During my enforced stay with them I saw a large number of scalps taken by them to Malden where they received from two to five dollars each, either in whisky or store goods. They said they got thirty-seven scalps at the battle of the 18th and upwards of four hundred on the 22d of January. I replied that there were only ten scalped on the 18th. They said, "Yankee d-d lie!" and they further stated that they had only two killed on the 18th. I replied, "Indian d-d lie!" for I saw myself twelve dead on the field. I asked them how many British and Indians were at the Raisin on the 22d; they replied that there were two thousand five hundred Indians and one thousand British. They once gave me a jug of whisky, asking me to drink. I
MONUMENT MARKING THE BATTLEGROUND Erected by the Monroe Civic Improvement Society.
took what satisfied me and offered them the jug again; they insisted on my drinking more. I put the jug to my mouth, but did not drink; they discovered the deception, crying out, "Yankee no good man-he d-d lie." They then forced me to drink until they could hear the gurgle in my throat.
"Soon the camp broke up. Previous to the march of the Indians they took bark of swamp willow and tobacco, mixed them together, pul- verizing them, then formed a circle around a fire in the center which had been formed for that purpose, and one rose and delivered a speech as I understood relative to the war. At the conclusion of the harangue the powdered mixture was passed around the circle, each individual tak- ing a pinch as it passed; each individual then snuffed a part of his por-
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tion and threw the remaining part into the fire. After this had been performed with great solemnity one took the snuff remaining in the ves- sel and threw it all into the fire. They then took up their packs, raised the scalp yell, waved their tomahawks over their heads and marched out for battle.
"There were three thousand warriors who drew four days' rations at Detroit. When they left us they told us to be good boys and stay there until they came back and they would bring some more Yankees, who should cook and do all the hard work, and we might go with them hunting. They left us in care of the squaws and a few old men. We had no other way of getting free from this unpleasant situation but desert- ing; for we knew that they had been offered $100 each for four of us by the citizens of Detroit, but refused it. These four were Major Graves, Samuel Ganoe, John Davenport and myself. Thinking this as favorable an opportunity as we should get, I proposed to Samuel Ganoe to set off with me; he readily consented and we set off just at dark, and ran eight miles to Detroit. Reaching the house of a Mr. H. we were concealed in a potato cellar where we remained four days. From there we were taken to Sandwich and then to Malden. On the 16th of May we were sent across the lake (Erie) to Cleveland."
A POEM OF THE BATTLE.
There was evidently a poet among the prisoners, for the following verses were found in a house where some of them were confined in Am- herstburg :
BATTLE OF THE RIVER RAISIN
On Raisin darkness reigned around, And silent was the tented ground, Where weary soldiers slept profound. Far in the wintry wilderness.
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