The 1st Battle of the River Raisin

In the opening months of the War of 1812, American outposts in the West suffered a series of disasters as Fort Mackinac fell, the inhabitants and garrison of Fort Dearborn at what is now Chicago were massacred, Detroit surrendered on August 15, 1812, and the Frenchtown settlement on the River Raisin came under British control. After news of Detroit's fall, armies marching in Ohio and Kentucky were reorganized under Gen. William Henry Harrison with the goal of recapturing Detroit. The planned American force was divided into three groups, with men from Pennsylvania and Virginia on the right, Ohio troops in the center, and a left wing of Kentuckians who were the first to reach the assembly point a few miles above the mouth of the Maumee River. About 1,100 effective soldiers under Gen. James Winchester arrived at the Rapids of the Maumee near present-day Toledo on January 12, 1813, where Winchester learned that only a few soldiers and several hundred Indian allies were at the River Raisin. The decision was made to attack, and before dawn on January 18, 1813, Lt. Col. William Lewis led a detachment of 667 Kentuckians northward across the frozen water of Lake Erie. Reaching LaPlaisance, two miles south of the Raisin, at 3:00 PM, they were joined by 100 local resident volunteers as the Battle of the River Raisin was about to begin.

Monroe, Michigan · United States