“Remember the River Raisin” became a national battle cry in the War of 1812 after settlers and Kentucky soldiers were massacred by Indians on the river’s banks in violation of protection promised by the British. The stream was the center of a sturdy French-American settlement that took form from 1780 to 1786. In the period of controversy after the War of Independence and until 1794, British-Canadian authorities sought to establish the River Raisin as the international boundary and thus retain possession of Michigan and control of the Great Lakes. Indians called the stream “Numasepee,” or River of Sturgeon. French settlers changed the name to “Riviere aux Raisins,” meaning River of Grapes, and early records tell of great masses of wild grapes festooning the trees along its banks.