HISTORY

Don't Call Up the Troops

In early 1813, after the disasters of Detroit and the River Raisin, Governor Shelby of Kentucky called all 15,000 of the state's militia into service. This is an understandable request after these two debacles where the militia did not perform well. Numbers would have been key. You needed to have enough troops on hand, after subtractions from desertions, sickness and refusal to cross national borders to still have an imposing enough force to be able to achieve victory over local British forces.

Secretary of War Armstrong objected to the cost of calling up all the militia, insisting that only a small number would be required to overrun the British. Armstrong wrote opposing the call of 15,000 militia, saying: " . . . and to do what? To take a work defended on the sides by pickets! To fight an enemy, not more than two thousand, of all colors and kinds."

He insisted that Shelby encourage the men of Kentucky to join the regulars. Problem was that the Kentucky militia preferred to be mounted. Few, if any, could be enticed to join the foot slogging infantry. Still, the fervor over the Battle of the River Raisin raised 1,200 regular troops in Kentucky, but that was still short of the number deeded necessary.

In the end, Gen. Harrison asked Shelby to raise the mounted Kentucky militia despite objections and it was those troops that were in the vanguard of the victory at the Battle of the Thames.