William Lewis (soldier)

William Lewis (1767 – January 17, 1825) was American militia officer who commanded infantry at the Battle of Frenchtown during the War of 1812. He previously served as a Regular Army officer at the battles of Wabash and Fallen Timbers during the Northwest Indian War.

Lewis led the detachment that forced the British and their Indigenous allies out of Frenchtown on January 18, 1813, but was taken prisoner during the subsequent engagement on January 22. He was held at Quebec in Lower Canada for over a year before being exchanged. After the War of 1812, Lewis moved from Kentucky to Arkansas Territory, where he died in 1825.

Lewis was born in Virginia in 1767. After the American Revolutionary War he migrated to Kentucky and settled in Jessamine County. Lewis held a commission as a lieutenant in the Kentucky militia, and during the Northwest Indian War served as a captain in the Kentucky levies. He survived St. Clair's defeat on November 4, 1791. In March 1792, he was commissioned a captain in the United States Army and in September of that year was assigned to the 3rd Sub-Legion of the Legion of the United States. Lewis fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers under Major General Anthony Wayne in August 1794 after which he was honorably discharged and returned home to Jessamine County.^[1]

On August 7, 1812, a few weeks after the United States declared war on the United Kingdom, Lewis was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the Kentucky Militia and appointed to command the 5th Regiment. The regiment mustered at Georgetown a week later. On August 19, they marched north with orders to reinforce Brigadier General William Hull at Detroit. With them were the 1st Rifle Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Allen and the 1st Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Scott. Six days later they reached Newport on the Ohio River across from Cincinnati. Here they received news that Hull had surrendered Detroit to the British after a brief siege.^[2]

At Newport, Major General William Henry Harrison took command of the three regiments. Together with the 17th United States Infantry, the Kentucky militia crossed the river and continued north. By early September the detachment had reached Piqua, Ohio when they received news that Fort Wayne in the Indiana Territory was under siege by the Potawatomi and Miami. Harrison then continued north with the detachment intending to relieve the siege.^[2]

Aware that American reinforcements were approaching, the Potawatomi and Miami abandoned their siege on September 12. Lewis and his regiment arrived at Fort Wayne, Indiana|Fort Wayne later that day. The following day they a joined a detachment tasked with destroying the Miami villages at the forks of the Wabash River. Accompanied by Harrison, the detachment arrived at the forks on the evening of September 15. They discovered that the villages in the vicinity of the forks had been abandoned. All four villages were torched and the crops in the surrounding fields destroyed. The detachment returned to Fort Wayne on September 18.^[2]

Lewis and his regiment were attached to right wing of the Army of the Northwest, commanded by Brigadier General James Winchester. Winchester's force headed down the Maumee River to the confluence with the Auglaize River in preparation for a campaign to retake Detroit and advance into Upper Canada. On September 25, Winchester's scouts skirmished with scouts from a British and Indigenous expedition heading upriver towards Fort Wayne. Having learned that they were seriously outnumbered, the British withdrew back to Fort Amherstburg in Upper Canada.^[3]

Winchester's force reached the confluence with the Auglaze River at the end of September and constructed Fort Winchester near the ruins of Fort Defiance. They then received orders to proceed downriver to the Maumee Rapids and wait there for Harrison to arrive with additional men before advancing on Detroit.^[3]

They proceeded slowly downriver and spent several weeks at an encampment which the men, suffering from a lack of warm clothing and provisions, named Fort Starvation. They finally arrived at the rapids in early January. Winchester received word that a large quantity of stored grain could be found at Frenchtown 38 miles (61 km) to the north, and that the settlement was lightly defended by militia from Upper Canada. He dispatched Lewis and Allen to capture the settlement. They proceeded over the ice on Maumee Bay to a point a few miles south of Frenchtown. On January 18, 1813, during the 1st Battle of Frenchtown, Lewis and Allen's detachment charged across the frozen River Raisin in an attack that forced the Canadians to retreat.^[3]

Two days later, Winchester and the 17th Infantry joined Lewis and Allen at Frenchtown. The Americans did little to prepare the position for a possible British counterattack, despite repeated warnings that a large enemy force had crossed the frozen Detroit River and was heading towards the village. He dismissed the reports as "impossible rumour."^[3]

On January 23, Colonel Henry Proctor, leading a large force of roughly 600 regulars and militia, and supported by an equal number of Indigenous warriors led by Roundhead, retook the settlement during the 2nd Battle of Frenchtown. Winchester's regulars had been out in the open, and after an intense firefight that lasted about 25 minutes, retreated when Roundhead's warriors surged forward. Lewis and Allen led some of the Kentucky militia out from behind the village's puncheon fence in an attempt to support the regulars but were swept up in the retreat. Winchester, Lewis and Allen tried in vain to rally their men. Panicked men fled across the river unaware that some of the warriors had circled around to the American rear and blocked the escape route. About 220 were killed including Allen, and 147 men including Winchester and Lewis were taken prisoner.^[3][4]

Meanwhile, the rest of the Kentucky militia held their ground behind the fence. Over the next few hours they repulsed three frontal assaults and inflicted heavy casualties on the British. Procter finally pulled his men back and waited for his Indigenous allies to return.^[3] When Roundhead brought Winchester and Lewis to the British lines, Procter insisted that the American general order the holdouts in the village to surrender. The senior surviving Kentucky militia officer, Major George Madison, initially refused since Winchester was a prisoner, but soon agreed to terms.^[4]

In total, the Americans suffered 397 killed and 547 taken prisoner. British casualties totalled 23 killed and 185 wounded.^[3]

After receiving a false report that Harrison was approaching from the south, Procter ordered an immediate withdrawal leaving 64 badly wounded prisoners behind under the care of a few attendants. Early on the morning of 23 January, about 200 Indigenous warriors entered the village. They robbed the wounded prisoners of their clothing and blankets, killed those unable to walk, and burned the two makeshift hospitals. A contemporary report identified nine victims and estimated that an additional 15 to 18 were killed. This number was greatly inflated in later accounts.^[5]

Lewis and Winchester were brought to Fort Amherstburg. A few days later they were escorted to Fort George at the mouth of the Niagara River with the rest of the prisoners. While most of the prisoners were immediately paroled and sent across the river to the United States, Lewis and Winchester were sent to Quebec in Lower Canada. Lewis was held prisoner at Quebec for more than a year. He was released in a prisoner exchange in April 1814.^[2]

Lewis returned home to Jessamine County after he was exchanged. He was given command of the 9th Regiment of Kentucky Militia and was later promoted to Brigadier General. He resigned his commission in 1815. In 1819, he migrated with his family to the Arkansas Territory and settled in Pecannerie Township, Pulaski County, a settlement of roughly sixty families on the Arkansas River. Lewis's daughter Harriet married Dr. Nimrod P. Menifee, an iterate dueller and one of the founders of Lewisburg (present-day Morrilton, Arkansas)^[1][6] Lewis died at Pecannerie in 1825.^[1]

• William Lewis at Find a Grave