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RAISIN MASSACRE OF 1813 |
Log homes of French settlers loyal to the American cause lined the banks of the River Raisin here when war was declared against Great Britain in 1812. Kentucky and Ohio recruits under General James Winchester were the victims of a surprise attack by the British and their Indian allies January 22, 1813, after coming to defense of the settlement. Winchester, separated from his troops, was captured and induced to surrender. State conduct failed for the sick and wounded soldiers and the settlers left in the French homes on the battlefield when the British marched their prisoners away the next day, January 23. Frenzied Indians set the buildings on fire burning the occupants alive or killing them as they sought escape. |
The Potters Field |
In 1832 and 1871 Monroe County purchased parcels of land here for a poor farm and county infirmary as a way or caring for the indigent. This institution included a "potter's field" where people without means were interred in unmarked graves. Burials continued on this knoll until the 1940's. Among those buried here is Ezra Younglove (1771-1867). A War of 1812 veteran, he was awarded a gold medal for service as a sharpshooter on the ship Niagara during the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. This area is part of the land provided to Monroe County Community College by the county in 1964.
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Papermill School |
In the 1850's the Papermill School took its name from the McDowell Papermill located across the river. It served children of mill workers and students living on the north bank for over 100 years. An early wooden bridge spanned the River Raisin here about 1849. In 1887, and ice jam carried the bridge away and students from the south side rowed across the river to complete the term. The mill closed in 1887 and the bridge was not replaced for eighty years. The school became a part of the Monroe Public Schools in 1955 and served as a classroom until 1962 when students were transferred to Raisinville School. The site was purchased by the Monroe County Board of Supervisors who turned it over to the Monroe County Historical Commission. |
Old Whipping Post |
Public whipping for minor crime was a custom brought from New England by Monroe's earliest American settlers. Not general in the Midwest, the punishment was administered here chiefly to ne'er to wells whom the citizens wished to rid of. Peter P. Perry, a former soldier of Napoleon's army, served as local justice of the peace. He sentenced many an offender to be lashed in public until the custom was abolished around 1835. The first frame courthouse was built across the street from here in 1817 when Monroe became the county seat. The whipping post was erected in front of it. |
Old Michigan Southern |
One of the pioneer rail lines of the west, the Michigan Southern transported during a colorful but brief period a vast army of settlers who crossed Lake Erie by boat. Trains united at the piers to carry the travelers and their possessions west to Chicago. From Lake Erie to this point the line was build By local capital and was known as the River Raisin & Lake Eire, moving freight by horse drawn cars. Sold to the State in 1837 the road was extended to Adrian, the first train running November 30, 1840. Monroe and eastern capital rescued the State from failure and extended the rails at Chicago. About 1860 the old railroad station was moved from this site to the intersection of Detroit-Toledo line. |
Old Hull Road |
General Hull's army hewed out of the wilderness the first Michigan road when it advanced from the War of 1812. In Monroe the original crossing of the river by hull's Army was at ford near the present Winchester Bridge. North of Monroe, Hull's road followed an old Indian trail which is now the course of M-56, long known as the Old Dixie, which courses the shore line of Lake Erie and which, northwest of Oldport runs into the Old River Road, thence into Jefferson Avenue, Detroit. Hull's army engineers were the first to bridge the Huron River in anticipation of the movement to Detroit of men and supplies from Monroe where a quartermaster depot had been established. |
Port of Monroe |
The port of Monroe one mile east of here is one of the oldest on the Great Lakes. Only port in Michigan on Lake Erie, and located strategically on its most westerly shore, it was a major point of entry for Michigan settlement and for passage of Chicago bound settlers from 1800 to 1860. During the period of sail-borne commerce, and until 1835, the harbor development centered at the old mouth of the River Raisin two miles south. The Monroe port has been officially recognized by the Federal Government since 1826. The turning basin was dug and the channel deepened beginning 19323. The port terminal building was completed in 1939. |
Old Burial Ground |
Although earlier cemeteries which have since disappeared existed at Monroe and Front Streets and Monroe at 6th Street, this sacred ground is the successor to the first parish cemetery established in 1794 and abandoned in 1830. That first cemetery was located west of Monroe on N. Custer Rd. as part of the St. Antoine's church land. Parishioners renamed their church St. Mary's, locating at Elm Avenue and Monroe Street and consecrating a new burial ground on this site. During the cholera epidemic of 1832 victims of all nationalities and religions were buried along side the Roman Catholic parishioners to whom it was once dedicated. |
Murder of Captain Hart |
Captain Nathaniel G.T. Hart, brother-in-law of Henry Clay and inspector general of American Army of the Northwest under Harrison, was killed here during the massacre of the River Raisin January 22-23, 1813. Captain Hart, wounded in battle, was rescued by a doctor from a log cabin field hospital just before the Indians set fire to it. Under escort of a friendly Pottawatomie and on horseback, he was about to make his escape when shot down by a Wyandotte savage. Captain Hart was on of many sons of well-known Kentucky families who sacrificed their lives in desperate measures to extend American protection to the pioneer settlers of the River Raisin. |
Monroe Pike |
With the opening of Erie Canal in 1825, Monroe's LaPlaisance Harbor became the gateway to the West. A stream of settlers from Europe and the East crossed Lake Erie in sailing vessels and later in steamships, all seeking new homes in Michigan or in states to the West. These pioneer families journeyed in covered wagons along the Monroe Pike, some settling on the River Raisin, others moving on to the Chicago Pike which interested this highway at Cambridge Junction, 45 miles west of here. Stagecoach routes, begun in 1826, followed this pioneer highway and taverns were established along the way to shelter the ever increasing number of travelers. |
Memorial Place |
Here was buried unidentified remains of victims of the River Raisin massacre in 1813. In 1872 surviving veterans of that war gathered in Monroe from Ohio and Kentucky. They headed a colorful civic pageant which halted solemnly at this spot while the old soldiers paid military honor to their fallen comrades. General George Armstrong Custer, a member of the local welcoming committee read the roll call of the veterans. In 1904-05 the ladies of the Monroe Civic Improvement Society induced city official to establish the old burial ground as a park. Appropriation was made by the State of Michigan for the monument which stands as a permanent tribute to Kentucky and her militiamen. |
Monroe's Soldiers |
Local historians credit Monroe County with the largest proportionate enrollment of volunteers in the Civil War or any country in the United States. Military enrollments have been proportionately large in Monroe County in every way, due no doubt, to the community's military background The community was frontier and battleground for the first 35 years of its existence, 1780 to 1815. Its loyal settlers were in the forefront of the War of 1812. Trained in Indian warfare, many of them and their sons participated in the later campaigns of the far west and in the Patriot War in Canada. |
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