The American army, to whom was committed this year the honour of conquering Canada, was divided, as the year before, into three divisions: first, the Army of the North, consisting of 18,000 men, commanded by General Hampton, and stationed along the southern shore of Lake Champlain, on the south precincts of Lower Canada; the second, the Army of the Centre, consisting of 7,000 effective men, which was again subdivided into two divisions, commanded by Generals Dearborn and Wilkinson, and were posted from Buffalo, at the lower extremity of Lake Erie, to Sackett's Harbour, at the lower end of Lake Ontario; and the third, the Army of the West, consisting of "8,000 effective men," according to the American account, commanded by Generals Harrison and Wilkinson, whose limits extended from Buffalo westward, as far as the British frontier extended.
After the capture of Detroit by General Brock and his little army, Colonel Proctor was appointed to command that fort, with a force of about 600 regulars and a number of Indians—an entirely insufficient force, but all that could be spared and provided from the slender forces of Upper Canada. The American General, Harrison, who succeeded Hull in the command of the West, organized a large force by the end of 1812, of over 5,000 men, consisting principally of men from Ohio and Kentucky. Among the small outposts which Proctor had established in the neighbourhood of Detroit, was one at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, twenty-six miles from Detroit, which consisted of thirty of the Essex Militia, under Major Reynolds, and about 200 Indians. On the 17th of January, 1813, Brigadier-General Winchester, commanding a division of the American army, sent Colonel Lewis with a strong force to dislodge the British—which he succeeded in doing, after a sharp encounter in which the Americans lost twelve killed and fifty wounded. Reynolds retreated to Brownstown, sixteen miles in his rear, and gave information to Colonel Proctor of the advance of Winchester's brigade, which now occupied Frenchtown, and was over one thousand strong.
Colonel Proctor knew that his only hope of success was by prompt action to fight the enemy in detail, before General Harrison could unite his whole force to bear on Detroit. He therefore forthwith assembled all his available force at Brownstown, and on the 21st pushed on to attack the American camp at Frenchtown, with about 500 regular soldiers and militia and 600 Indians. The attack upon the American camp was made on the morning of the 22nd; and the Indians, under the Wyandot chief Roundhead, speedily turned the enemy's flank and caused him to retreat—Chief Roundhead with his Indians taking General Winchester himself prisoner, and delivering him unharmed to Colonel Proctor. About 500 of General Winchester's men had thrown themselves into the houses, where they were making deadly resistance from fear of falling into the hands of the Indians, who were greatly exasperated by this mode of warfare, and assailed and pursued their retreating but resisting enemies with a ferocity unequalled during the whole three years' war. Colonel Proctor informed General Winchester that the houses would be set on fire, and he would be utterly unable to restrain the Indians, if this kind of warfare were persisted in, and they refused to surrender. They at length surrendered, on being assured that they would be protected from the Indians. Thirty-two officers and upwards of 500 men were taken prisoners, not one of whom sustained any injury from their captors, whether regular soldiers, militia, or Indians.
But many Americans were slaughtered in refusing to surrender for fear of the Indians, and determined to fight and retreat in hopes of making their escape. They suffered severely; and on that account several American writers have represented the Indians at the battle of Frenchtown as committing unheard-of cruelties upon helpless men, women, and children. Even President Madison joined in the misrepresentation, as he was always ready to seize upon any pretext to assail the British Government for admitting the alliance of the Indians in the war—forgetful that his Government had repeatedly sought to do the same thing, but had only succeeded in a few instances. But in vindication of the Indians and their commander, Colonel Proctor, the following facts may be stated, which are conclusive on the subject. In the first place, General Winchester, the commander of the American detachment, was taken prisoner by the Indians, and instead of being butchered and scalped, was delivered unharmed by the Wyandot chief Roundhead into the hands of Colonel Proctor.
However, many of the Americans refused to surrender from fear of falling into the hands of the Indians, and attempted to retreat and fight, in hopes of escape, but were mostly killed in the attempt by the Indians, so greatly exasperated by the mode of warfare adopted against them from the houses. Under this pretext most American writers have represented the Indians, with the sanction of the English, as having committed unheard-of cruelties against helpless men, women, and children at the battle of Frenchtown—statements which were pure fiction, as has been proved to demonstration in Chapter XXXV. of this history, in the fictions of the alleged "Massacre of Wyoming."
For example, General Harrison, who was one of the few old American generals employed by the democratic President Madison in the war, and who was one or two days' march from Frenchtown, was informed and wrote in a despatch two days after the battle (24th of January), that "General Winchester had been taken by the Indians, killed and scalped; his body was cut up and mangled in a shocking manner, and one of his hands cut off;" when not a hair of General Winchester's head was injured, and he was afterwards exchanged, and appeared on the Niagara frontier, and was again taken prisoner, safe and sound, by the British at the battle of Stony Creek.
General Harrison, in his despatches written five days afterwards, after having ascertained all the facts of the battle, makes no mention of any cruelties practised by the Indians, which he doubtless would have done had there been any truth in the imputations against the Indians or the English soldiers with whom they acted. He speaks of General Winchester as among the prisoners, notwithstanding his statement five days before that he had been killed, scalped, and cut to pieces. The following facts, given by Mr. Thompson in his "History of the War of 1812," are conclusive on this affair of the battle of Frenchtown, the 22nd of January, 1813:
"Much has been said by American writers regarding the conduct of the combined forces of the affair of Frenchtown. They have not even stopped to charge British officers and soldiers with the most enormous cruelties, committed in conjunction with the Indians, when it was in their power to have prevented them. Such have been the contemptible misrepresentations to which many publications, otherwise deserving of merit, have descended, as well of this as of many other affairs during the war; and even amongst a few British subjects they have gained credence.
"General Harrison, however, in writing his despatches to Governor Meigs, as well as several officers of his army who avail themselves of the general express to write to their friends in Chillicothe, in most of their letters give the details of the battle, but seem to be ignorant as regards the greatest part of that 'Massacre,' as it has been gravely termed. It is gathered from these despatches and letters by a Chillicothe journal of the 2nd of February, 1813, that 'those who surrendered themselves on the field of battle were taken prisoners by the British, while those who attempted to escape were pursued, tomahawked, and scalped.' Now, even this account, in part, is incorrect; for the Indians, by whom they were assailed, were posted there for the express purpose of cutting off their retreat; and those who surrendered to the Indians were safely conducted to the British camp; but such was the panic with which these unfortunate fugitives were seized, that no persuasions on the part of the Indian chiefs, who were fully disposed to comply with the orders of Colonel Proctor, could prevail on them to surrender until they were either wounded and taken, or overtaken in the chase by their pursuers, when no efforts of the chiefs could save them from their fury.
"In a letter containing copies of despatches from General Harrison, dated 24th January, 1813, it is stated that 'when the attack commenced, General Winchester ordered a retreat, but from the utter confusion which prevailed, this could not be effected; and he then told them that every man must take care of himself, and attempted to make his own escape on horseback, but was overtaken by the Indians before he had gone a mile, and killed and scalped. His body was cut up and mangled in a most shocking manner, and one of his hands cut off.'