Historic Monroe County , Michigan

MOST OF US THINK OF THE WAR OF 1812 AS A FIGHT BETWEEN THE AMERICANS AND BRITISH IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE USA, BUT THAT WASN’T WHOLLY THE CASE. 

For proof, visit the River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe County. After walking the tract of scarred land, your view of history — or at least that part of it — will be changed.

“Out here, this was the frontier,” says Jami Keegan, the park’s chief of interpretation and education. “So, the battle was primarily between the United States and the native people here.”

Waged from Jan. 18–23, 1813, the Battle of the River Raisin was the most lopsided American defeat in the War of 1812. Of the 1,000 U.S. troops who fought in the battle, approximately 220 were killed and another 150 or so were taken prisoner by an alliance of the British and dozens of Native American tribes that were trying to defend their lands from westward expansion.

“The battlefield is sacred ground to all who visit here,” Keegan says.

“It is still a cemetery. Every January, we have a ceremony in which we honor the Native Americans who fought to protect their homes and the French settlers for whom the battle just happened to occur in their backyards. We even represent the British and Canadian forces because they were also defending their nations. And, of course, we honor the United States, in particular the Kentuckians who made up the majority of the U.S. forces [in the battle].”

The park also serves an educational purpose. “We are always striving to tell the untold story, and that’s the Native American involvement in the War of 1812 and the aftermath. We have documentation that ties the events here at River Raisin to the Indian Removal Act [of 1830]. The aftermath of the battle is still felt strongly today by the native nations.