Kentucky Rising: Democracy, Slavery, and Culture from the Early Republic to the Civil War

5. Half Horse and Half Alligator: War of 1812

97 5 Half Horse and Half Alligator War of 1812 Kentucky has an enduring legacy of military tradition dating back to the frontier; today, military and police snipers still use the term Kentucky windage , which initially referred to adjusting the Kentucky long rifle after the first shot to allow for wind and other variables. Shawnee warriors and Indians from other tribes attacked Kentucky settlers who depended on the militia for protection. Kentucky militiamen responded with preemptive raids deep into Indian territory; they took the initiative and went on the offensive, taking the war to the enemy and burning villages and destroying the winter supply of corn. Total war on the frontier gave birth to the legend that Kentuckians were superior fighters: sharpshooters with long rifles who seldom missed and “Long Knives” who fought ferociously in hand-to-hand combat. The Shawnee and other tribes of the Northwest developed a special hatred and fear of Kentuckians that increased during the American Revolution and reached its height in some of the most escalated retaliatory violence of the War of 1812. Legendary fame sometimes has a dark side, and for the Kentucky fighting man in the War of 1812 at times it meant being a special target ; sometimes it involved the impossible challenge of measuring up to the heroic myth.1 On the American frontier, Indian fighting was total war characterized by the killing of noncombatants and prisoners of war and lack of respect for enemy corpses. In the intense conflict of the War of 1812 in the Northwest, an unconfirmed tale reported that, on the day of the Battle of the Thames, several Indian mothers drowned their babies because they had heard that Kentuckians slaughtered infants. Faced with the prospect of fighting 98 KENTUCKY RISING Kentuckians, sometimes Indians would shout, “Kentucky! Too much!” and run away. According to a story told by a Frenchman residing in Frenchtown , on the Raisin River in the Michigan Territory in the winter of 1812, an elderly Indian was smoking with a white man by the fireplace in the white man’s home when news came that American soldiers were approaching . “Ho, the Americans come. I suppose Ohio men come, we give them another chase,” the Indian said, referring to a recent fight. But soon the Americans appeared, and, when the Indian saw that they were tall Kentuckians , he shouted “Kentuck!” picked up his rifle, and ran into the woods. The tale is unconfirmed, but that it was told indicates something about how Kentuckians were regarded. A Kentucky volunteer wrote early in the war: “The Indians at Piqua are panic struck at our coming. I am informed they will be off as soon as possible.”2 When Kentuckians participated in the campaign to recapture Detroit from the British and Indians in 1812, retaliatory violence escalated, and wounded Kentucky prisoners were murdered. The demand for retaliation was so great that Kentucky militia commanders warned their men not to kill captured enemy warriors. At the peak of the violence on the eve of the Battle of the Thames, when General William Henry Harrison’s army of Kentuckians was about to avenge the Indian atrocities in the earlier Battle of the River Raisin, Harrison issued an order forbidding the murder of prisoners of war. “Kentuckians: Remember the River Raisin,” he said, but he went on to explain that it was to be only during the fighting—when the firing stopped, they were to refrain from taking revenge on their detested enemies. William M’Carty’s history of the war stated that, when British general Isaac Brock issued a proclamation defending the use of Britain’s Indian allies, he was referring to the Kentucky militia when he stated that the Americans had men in their camp who were “a ferocious and mortal foe, using the same mode of warfare” as the Indians.3 Kentuckians celebrated the reputation of the Kentucky state militia; they were honored that the Kentucky citizen-soldier had what historian Mary Ellen Rowe called “a fierce military tradition,” and they were proud that Kentucky soldiers and civilians were considered unparalleled in patriotism . Throughout the nation, the militiaman symbolized republicanism and public service; when summoned, he brought his musket and was willing to risk his life for the community. The militia was a fraternal organization that brought the people together for regular drills, reception of visiting Half Horse and Half Alligator...