| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| James N. |
Posted - October 11 2014 : 12:05:43 PM
A U. S. force marching in the dead of winter in Jan., 1813, took refuge here some forty miles south of Detroit, Michigan, which had been seized by the British. A small settlement known as Frenchtown on the north bank of what locals called the Riviere Rasin for the grapes which grew along its banks and not far from the shores of nearby Lake Erie provided some shelter to U. S. regulars and Kentucky militia led by James Winchester. They were attacked and overwhelmed by a force of British regulars, Canadian militia, and Indians. After a bloody battle the U.S. commander surrendered, with the promise from Colonel Henry Proctor that his wounded would receive protection by the British from their native allies.
The next day, with the bulk of the British and their prisoners including the walking wounded gone, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh's warriors returned, murdering about sixty too badly wounded to be moved; along with them were some of the inhabitants of Frenchtown who tried to protect their injured charges. ( Tecumseh himself was innocent and outraged when he found out what had happened. ) Along with another similar event at Fort Mims in Alabama this was the most notorious event of the war and one which provided the American battle cry "Remember the Raisin!"
The site of the battle and subsequent massacre is only slightly removed from the town of Monroe, Michigan, which was established later and named in honor of President James Monroe. The land encompassing Frenchtown and the battle has recently become a unit of the National Park Service and is undergoing development, with a small temporary museum and short walking trail. Above is a marker overlooking part of the battlefield and the campsite of the U. S. Regulars of the 17th Infantry Regiment. Below is probably the only remaining structure, a trading post which originally stood near Frenchtown but has been removed several miles away on the other side of Monroe.
The Navarre-Anderson Trading Post dates from ca. 1789 and quite possibly earlier; the "window" visible low on its side is a plexiglass cover showing the original log construction of a type known as piece-sur-piece which features logs stacked upon themselves in a typical French fashion. This also allows the many bullet holes in the logs to be clearly seen!
|
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - October 20 2014 : 4:48:32 PM
"I used to go on trips like this all the time"
.
Why not surprise yourself - and GO on one??? ... |
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - October 19 2014 : 3:19:07 PM
"Tecumseh" ... Now there was a leader.
.
"These white Americans ... give us fair exchange, their cloth, their guns, their tools, implements, and other things which the Choctaws need but do not make ... So in marked contrast with the experience of the Shawnee, it will be seen that the whites and Indians in this section are living on friendly and mutually beneficial terms."
.
"Where today are the Pequot? ... Where are the Narragansett, the Mochican, the Pocanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? - They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white man ... Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws ... Will not the bones of our dead be plowed up, and their graves turned into plowed fields?" — Tecumseh, 1811
.
|
| richfed |
Posted - October 19 2014 : 1:19:45 PM
I wish I could have the get-up-and-go that I used to possess. I used to go on trips like this all the time. Would love to visit this ground. |
|
![The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]](images/wwwboard.gif "The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]")
