In January, 1813, an American army of more than 6,000 men, under the command of Brigadier General William Henry Harrison, was advancing toward the lightly-defended British posts at Deroit and Fort Malden. Brigadier General James Winchester's advance guard of 900 men--including the 17th U.S. Infantry, the 1st and 5th Kentucky Militia Regiments and the Kentucky Rifle Regiment--preceded the main body. On January 18th, Winchester captured Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, only 26 miles from Detroit. Pleased with their easy victory over Canadian militia and Indians and ready for a rest, the Americans set up camp, taking few if any security measures. Winchester's troops paid for this negligence on the morning of the 22nd, when Colonel Henry Proctor of the 41st Foot attacked the American camp with a "makeshift force of 273 regulars, 61 fencibles, 212 militia, 28 sallors...and possibly 600 Indians." (1) Although Proctor lost some of the element of surprise when he ordered his artillery (sleigh-drawn 3-pounders) to open fire, the Kentucky militia on the right of the American line was quickly routed. On the left, however, 400 regulars, led by Major George Madison, put up a stubborn fight until ordered to surrender by Winchester, who had teen captured while trying to make his way from headquarters to the frontlines. Almost 400 Americans were killed at Frenchtown. About 30 of these casualties were badly wounded men, massacred by some of Proctor's Indians after the battle. Only a handful, perhaps 30 or 40, of Winchester's troops escaped; the rest were captured, along with their commander. To their credit, Madison's regulars had killed or wounded 185 of the enemy before surrendering. Winchester's defeat and an aborted attack on Fort Malden in February marked the end of Harrison's winter campaign. With more and perhaps better men than previous American commanders, Harrison had accomplished less. (2) However, the disaster at Frenchtown had at least one positive result. Graphically described by paroled survivors, the battle and the massacre that followed gave Kentuckians and other Westerners even more reason to hate Great Britain's Indian allies. "Remember the Raisin!" became a rallying cry for those who wished to avenge the deaths of friends and relatives. By encouraging enlistments, this desire for revenge probably strengthened the war effort of the Western states. Two eyewitnesses--one American and the other British--have described the weapons, dress and equipment of the Kentucky militia riflemen who followed Winchester to disaster at Frenchtown. American describes the appearance of the Kentuckians at the beginning of the campaign, when the men were still relatively neat and clean. The Government did not equip the Kentucky volunteer in the rifle regiment [Lt. Col. John Allen's 1st Rifle Regiment]. He furnished his own gun and his own clothes and was paid eight dollars a month! The equipment of a volunteer in Hickman's company [Capt. Paschal Hickman's company of Franklin County volunteers] consisted of a hunting-shirt made of linsey, with a slight fringe border, color either blue, such as is obtained from indigo, a pale yellow made from hickory bark, or a dingy brown obtained from the black walnut. His pants were of Kentucky deans, and he walked in shoes or moccasins as was his fancy. Around his waist was a leather belt, on one side of which was a leather pocket fastened by leaden tacks, instead of thread, and in this was placed the indispensable tomahawk. Across his shoulder was the strap that held up his powder horn, in which strap was another leather case containing his formidable butcher knife, and another to hold his bullets. A knapsack of home manufacture contained his clothing, and the outside of it was garnished with a glittering tin cup. His well-tried rifle, faithful and to be trusted in the hour of peril, although it was what is now derisively called the "old flint lock" was his weapon of war; and thus accoutered he went to meet the enemy with a fearless step, and his deeds will well compare with any that have since been performed. (3) The British observer, however, saw the Kentucky militiamen several months later, after the rigors of a winter campaign had left their mark. They had the air of men to whom cleanliness was a virtue unknown and their squalid bodies were covered by habiliments that had evidently undergone every change of season, and were arrived at the last stage of repair.... It was the depth of winter, but scarcely an individual was in possession of a great coat or cloak, and few of them wore garments of wool of any description. They still retained their summer dress, consisting of cotton stuff of various colors shaped into frocks and descending to the knee. Their trowsers were of the same material. They were covered with slouched hats, worn bare by constant use, beneath which their long hair fell matted and uncombed ever their cheeks; and these, together with the dirty blankets wrapped round their loins to protect them against the inclemency of the season, and fastened by broad leathern belts, into which were thrust axes and knives of enormous length, gave them an air of wildness and savageness which in Italy would have caused them to pass for brigands of the Apennines. The only distinction between an officer and that of a soldier was that the one, in addition to his sword, carried a short rifle instead of a long one, while a dagger, often curiously worked and of some value, supplied the place of the knife. (4) The similarities between these two descriptions are striking. Together, they give the reader a before and after picture of the men who marched to Frenchtown in 1813. End Notes (1) J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812 paperback (No place: University of Toronto Press, 1965), p. 113. The account of Harrison's winter campaign and the battle of Frenchtown above is based on Philip R. N. Katcher, The American War. 1812-1814 paperback (Reading, Berks.: Osprey Publishing, 1971; Robert Leckie, The Wars of America (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), and Hitsman. (2) Leckie, p. 251+. (3) Orlando Brown, ousted in C. Glenn Clift, Remember the Raisin: (Frankfort, Ky.: Kentucky Historical Society, 1961), p. 19. (4) John Richardson, quoted in Freeman Cleaves, Old Tippicanoe: William Henry Harrison and his Time, reprint (New York: Kennikat Press, 1969), p. 14). Senior Editor's Note Today, Frenchtown is now as Monroe, Michigam, Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 27 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1978 by Jean Lochet This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com