Battle of Frenchtown - River Raisin Massacre

River Raisin Massacre

Immediately following the American surrender, some of the Kentuckians argued with their officers that "they would rather die on the field" than surrender, fearing that their surrender would lead to their eventual deaths anyway at the hands of their captors. However, the fighting ceased immediately following their surrender. At least 300 Americans were initially estimated as killed, and over 500 were taken as prisoners. Procter, unsure of what do with so many prisoners, wanted to make a hasty retreat in case that William Henry Harrison would send more troops to the area once word of Winchester's defeat reached him. The uninjured prisoners were marched north and then across the frozen Detroit River to Fort Malden, but the wounded prisoners unable to walk were left behind at Frenchtown. Procter had to wait another day for sleds to arrive to transport the wounded American prisoners, but he feared that more Americans were on the way from the south.

However, on the morning of January 23, the Native Americans began robbing and pillaging the injured Americans. Any American able to walk was marched away toward Fort Malden, while many of the more severely injured were left behind and simply murdered. The buildings that housed the wounded were set on fire. Those that could escape the burning buildings were murdered as they tried to flee, and those unable to move died in the fires. While the prisoners were marched north toward Detroit, those unable to keep up with the march were inhumanely murdered as well. An account from a survivor read, "The road was for miles strewed with the mangled bodies." Estimates of the numbers of wounded killed by Native Americans range from 30 to as high as 100.

The needless slaughter of the American wounded became known as the River Raisin Massacre, and the precise number of those killed after their surrender at the Battle of Frenchtown is unknown. The Americans were so upset by this that the massacre itself overshadowed the actual battle, and word of the River Raisin Massacre spread throughout the country. The massacre was particularly devastating for the state of Kentucky, which supplied many soldiers that fell during the Battle of Frenchtown and subsequent massacre. The rallying cry "Remember the River Raisin" prompted many Kentuckians to enlist immediately for service in the war.