Remember the Raisin
Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Remember the Raisin. Rendezvous of Kentucky Volunteers, Aug. 15, 1812, ordered to relieve Gen. Hull at Detroit. Kentuckians took Frenchtown (Monroe) on Raisin River Jan. 18, 1813. Four days later enemy attacked-killed, massacred, wounded, or captured all but 30. Of 1050 men not half reached home. Ky. counties named for officers: Allen, Ballard, Graves, Hart, Hickman, Edmonson, McCracken, Meade, Simpson. Dedicated August 5, 1962. For more information, see ExploreKYHistory: Remember the Raisin!
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
In August 1812, Georgetown served as the rendezvous for Kentucky volunteers ordered north to relieve General Hull at Detroit. Their advance ended in catastrophe on the River Raisin in January 1813, where after taking Frenchtown the enemy attacked and killed, massacred, wounded, or captured all but thirty—fewer than half of the 1,050 men ever reached home. The rallying cry 'Remember the Raisin!' endured, and nine Kentucky counties bear the names of officers lost in the campaign.
Why it matters
The River Raisin disaster became one of the young nation's defining rallying cries, and its dead are memorialized in the very map of Kentucky's counties.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Hull
Related events
- · Battle of Frenchtown
- · River Raisin Massacre
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hiram Lodge #4 F. & A.M.
Frankfort, KY
Chartered by Virginia in 1799 as Hiram Lodge No. 57, this Masonic body was renumbered No. 4 in 1800 when the Grand Lodge of Kentucky formed. Its Ann Street home in Frankfort was built in the 1890s, with the cornerstone laid in 1893 and the building dedicated in 1896. Its rolls included figures of the early republic—Vice President Richard M. Johnson, Postmaster General Amos Kendall, Senator George M. Bibb, and Col. John Allen, a Grand Master killed in the War of 1812.
Gov. George Madison
Frankfort, KY
George Madison came to Kentucky as a young Virginian who had already soldiered in the Revolutionary War, and he spent roughly two decades as auditor of the state's public accounts after his appointment by Governor Isaac Shelby. Distinguished service in the War of 1812 lifted him to popularity, and in 1816 Kentuckians elected him governor. He died only weeks after taking office—the first Kentucky governor to die in office—and Lieutenant Governor Gabriel Slaughter completed the term. Madison rests in the state section of the Frankfort Cemetery.
Home of Gen. William O. Butler
Carrollton, KY
This was the home of General William O. Butler, a Kentucky soldier and statesman whose career spanned the young republic's formative wars. Born in 1791, he fought at the River Raisin, Pensacola, and New Orleans during the War of 1812, served on Andrew Jackson's staff, and won praise for heroism in the Mexican War. A lawyer and congressman, he ran unsuccessfully for governor, vice president, and the Senate, and in 1861 served as a Kentucky commissioner to a last-ditch peace conference.
Christopher Gist, John Bowman, and Isaac Shelby
Covington, KY
At 'The Point,' where the Licking River meets the Ohio, Christopher Gist of the Ohio Company became in 1751 the first documented white man to set foot here. From this confluence Colonel John Bowman launched a 1777 expedition against the Shawnee, and in 1813 Governor Isaac Shelby gathered 4,000 Kentucky troops before his victory at the Thames.