History of Michigan - Research Paper Example

History of Michigan 1. Background The land which is now called Michigan was considered a part of Indiana in 1800. However, most of the land was ordered to be under Michigan in 1805, including all the land of Lower Peninsula. A war took place in 1812; this war took place between British (along with their allies) and United States of America. There had been tension between USA and Britain around that time because of their colonies that had emerged after the American Revolution. The division of land that took place after the Revolution did not satisfy everyone and left them with hostility against each other. (Think Quest team, “Causes of War 1812”). One of the major causes of the hostile environment was due to the loss of the Ohio River Valley which housed important fur trade routes. This was not supported by the Canadians and British. It was also the home of a large American Indian population; many of these Indians supported British during the American Revolution and now wanted an Indian state to be formed towards South and West of Lake Erie. This idea was obviously supported by the British as it would help their fur trade and it would also serve as an obstruction to Upper Canada. On the other hand, Americans did not appreciate British support towards American Indians, as they saw it as a threat to their expansion and their policy of making the Indians give up their hunting land to become farmers (Carroll, “A good and wise measure: the search for the Canadian-American boundary”). Amercians feared the support of British for the American Indians and the legendary massacre that the Indians were famous for. This fear was aggravated when their new leader arrived whose name was Chief Tecumseh. This leader invoked the spirit of the unification of their tribes. 2. Consequences of the Hostile Environment Napoleon regulated an order in 1806, which stated that all European ports which came under his supervision would be closed for all British ships. Later, it was ordered to deny entry for even those ships that had gone to the British port before coming to their ports (Think Quest team, “Causes of War 1812”). The consequence of this action was that British issued a regulation that all ships would need to have a license for their entry on the British port. This meant that all the neutrals would have to choose one side and continue their business there. British started stopping ships and taking American sailors from their vessels. These sailors were then forced into the British Army (The War of 1812 Digitization Project, “A Short History of the War of 1812”). Fig.1: American sailors are removed from their ships by the British (Carroll, “A good and wise measure: the search for the Canadian-American boundary”). 3. War of 1812 As mentioned earlier, the chief leader of the American Indians had always made attempts to unite their tribes. One of the reasons for this was to fight USA. In his opinion, the Indians were treated unfairly when they were asked to surrender their Indian lands. This was the main reason for his rage against the Americans. He was successful in forming his hostile league; as ten to twelve tribes had agreed to support him in his efforts. They made headquarters of this association in Tippecanoe; which was around 7 miles of the city now known as Lafayette (William, “The Shawnee in the War of 1812”). In the midst of his efforts in 1811, he went to the lower Mississippi and other southern parts of the country to increase his hostile league. When he away, Governor Harrison who had an eye on Tecumseh and his plans, saw this as an opportunity and decided to attack the Indians. Governor Harrison went with about 800 troops to Tippecanoe; some of them were volunteers. When Governor Harrison reached there, he found around 1000 Indian assembled and ready to fight the Americans. During this encounter, Indians suffered a great loss since they did not have effective leadership. If Tecumseh would have been present with his people; the attack might have never taken place or at least the outcome of the battle would have been different with his vision and leadership (“WAR OF 1812”). When Tecumseh returned back from South of the country, he was stunned to see the damage and the remains of the signs of Harrison’s victory. This was a clear indication that now his plans of fighting America could not be achieved by uniting his tribes. On the contrary, he needed a bigger power to join his mission. He thought of joining hands with the British; who were having hostile relations with the Americans themselves. He therefore went to Maiden in June 1812, which is at the mouth of the Detroit river in Michigan. He allied himself and his small number of people with the British forces and authorities present there (“WAR OF 1812”). 4. Declaration of War 18th June 1812 is the date when congress announced war against England. He was present at Maiden with 30 or 40 of his Indian tribesman when General Hull came over from Detroit into Canada. This took place in July 1812. The Indian population in general wanted to stay neutral during this battle and planned a council to address this issue to make their opinion very clear to everyone. Tecumseh was also invited to this council but he refused to come and declared his alliance with England (Bishop, “The Battle of Brownstown”). 4.1 Battle of Brownstown Then in August that year, General Hull was informed that a group of volunteers; headed by Captain Henry Brush, were close to the River Raisin; around 40 miles from Detroit, Michigan. This group was on its way from Ohio going to Detroit; with cattle and supplies for the Army. Captain Brush told the General that he required an escort since he had come to know that a group of Indians headed by Tecumseh had come from Maiden and were now prepared at Brownstown to disrupt him on his way (Bishop, “The Battle of Brownstown”). General Hull hesitated a little but then allowed Major Van Home to take 300 men to assemble under the supervision of Captain Brush and escort them from the River Raisin till Detroit. Then on 6th August, when he was near Brownstown, he witnessed the sight of a large number of British troops and many Indians which were being commanded by Tecumseh. The Major was very less in number as compared to the British troops combined with the Indians, therefore after a short encounter with the other side he decided to retreat to his own land and comprehensively plan an attack. It proved to be a very short battle; Americans lost seventeen lives and several wounded. The British troops and Indians also faced loss of similar magnitude (Carroll, “A good and wise measure: the search for the Canadian-American boundary”). Tecumseh proved to be a great leader for his side and it was due to his great skills and nobility that they Major Van Home lost this battle. 4.2 Battle of Monguagon When General Hull learnt about the defeat at Brownstown; Colonel Miller along with other majors were ordered to go down the river with 600 men. This detachment was ordered to join forces with Captain Brush at the River Raisin and then later escort them to Detroit. Colonel Miller left the camp with his troops on 8th August for the village Trenton, which is about fifteen miles below Detroit. This place called ‘Monguagon’ was five miles from Brownstown, where they had been defeated before. Monguagon was surrounded by a thick forest making it difficult to see any movement in the distance. Major Muir, who was from the British Army, had positioned his army around this area. He was accompanied with about 400 regular troops, 200-300 Indians who were headed by Tecumseh. Major Muir had put numerous logs in front of his troops to partly protect them from any retaliation from the enemy’s side (Bishop, “The Battle of Monguagon”). Americans faced a loss of about twenty lives and 60 were wounded. The loss of the other side could not be known but Major Muir and Tecumseh were wounded. Major Antoine Dequindre, who belonged to Detroit, had a major part to play in this battle (Carroll, “A good and wise measure: the search for the Canadian-American boundary”). On 16th August, Detroit had to be surrendered by General Hull to General Brock. This surrender was greatly criticized as General Hull was condemned of getting intimidated by the number of troops on the other side. Tecumseh was a remarkable and genius man; who knew Detroit in and out. This knowledge about Detroit proved to be very beneficial for the British side. 4.3 Battle and Massacre of Frenchtown, Michigan On 17th Jan 1813; 550 American soldiers were sent under the command of Col. William Lewis, Col. John Allen and Major Ben. They were ordered to go to Frenchtown, Michigan, on the River Raisin. They had recieved information that the British troops were gathered there and were mistreating the natives of that village. They camped near the River Raisin for the night. The next day, the inhabitants came to where the American soldiers had been camping and told them the British were not equipped with much weapons at that time. The American soldiers began their journey towards the River Raisin, when they were crossing the river the British saw them and started firing at them. Then the Americans were ordered to drop their weapons. When they reached the opposite side of the river; they all started shouting and making sounds like chicken and dogs etc. The men were disposed as follows; The right battalion which was under Colonel Allen, the center one by Major Madison and the left one by Major Graves. One of the battalions was ordered to dislocate the enemy from their current position. After some time Col Allen ordered his forces to move back a distance of 40 yards or less so that the occasional firing by the Indians would not hurt his men. After some time, the battle raged and the British started fighting very hard as they were resisting very inch of the land. The British were starting to be defeated and being compelled to move back. The battle continued for three hours and American lost eleven lives while 54 were wounded. The American soldiers who were wounded were sent back from this location (Dudley, “Battle and Massacre at Frenchtown”). On 21st, the intelligence agency of the Americans brought the information to the Americans that the British along with the Indians were moving towards their camps in great number. On the morning of the 22nd; when the American troops were waking up, they heard the gun fire in the sky. The Americans immediately took charge of their positions. Some bombs were even fired by the British but none of them did much damage. When the Americans faced the loss of few lives, General Winchester ordered his troops to get back a few yards and reform on the bank of the river. The British continued their firing for a number of hours and at the end of this day, many Americans got killed and many help prisoners. By this time, the ammunition of the Americans had almost finished. It was finally decided to surrender Fort Detroit, and took a pledge from the British that the wounded would be secure from their ill-treatment. It was a sad sight for the Americans to surrender who had fought like brave men. Fig.2: Painting by Hal Sherman of Englewood, Ohio (Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum, “War of 1812") Henry Procter left the prisoners with an incompetent guard who could not safeguard them. He was unable to prevent some of the North American allies from killing sixty Americans. This incident came to be known as the "River Raisin Massacre." After this the phrase “Remember the River Raisin” became a well known rallying cry for the Americans (Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum, “War of 1812"). When the news of the River Raisin massacre reached Kentucky, since Kentuckians were greatest in number to be killed in Frenchtown, MI. Governor Shelby was asked by the Legislature to look into the reinforcements himself. General Harrison had asked for only 2000 but there were around 4000 volunteers waiting to get on the field against the British (Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum, “War of 1812"). Then early in September that same year, Commodore Perry overcame the British forces in Lake Erie and it finally came under the American control. This enabled the Americans to put more forces against British in Detroit. Fig.3: “Remember the River Raisin" National Guard Heritage Print by by Ken Riley. (Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum, “War of 1812") 4.4 War of Thames Under the supervision of William Henry Harrison, a Kentucky regiment commanded by Col. Richard M. Johnson went one hundred miles to conquer General Henry A. Proctor’s British troops at Ontario, Canada in the war of Thames on October 5, 1813. This war was won by the US and Richard M. Johnson was responsible for killing the great Indian leader Tecumseh during that battle. After the death of Tecumseh, the alliance of the Indians with the British ended in the Detroit region (Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum, “War of 1812"). Conclusion The Americans were able to take back control over Detroit by making the British Navy retreat in the battle of Lake Fire. This achievement proved to be vital for the Americans, as they cut off the supply line for the British forces in Detroit. British faced many difficulties due to this and attacked Upper Canada that marked the end of the war. In short it can be said that Michigan was an important area of conflict throughout the War of 1812. In the end, the land which was occupied by the British came back under the control of the Americans. State of Michigan served as a focal point for the economic and military impact of postwar on the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota in the north of United States. The pact, on the basis of which war ended, was known as The Treaty of Ghent. It defined boundaries between Canada and the United States in the 1820s. Because of this treaty both the countries could pay their full attention to their political and industrial advancement. (Warof1812-History.com, “The War of 1812”). Fig.4: Signing of the Treaty of Ghent (Warof1812-History.com, “The War of 1812”) Many of the issues that caused this war remained unresolved even after the end of the war. Briefly it can be depicted that after the return of Michigan to United States, the population started growing slowly in 1825. Although, approximately 200 years have passed but the impacts of War of 1812 can be observed on the history and evolvement of the state to-date. References Bishop, L., The Battle of Brownstown, 1812, (Historic Michigan) - Michigan Pioneers and Historical Collections, VI, 464-466, Web. 11th Dec 2009, http://genealogytrails.com/mich/military1812.html Bishop, L., The Battle of Monguagon, 1812, (Historic Michigan) - Michigan Pioneers and Historical Collections, VI, 464-466, Web. 10th Dec 2009, http://genealogytrails.com/mich/military1812.html Carroll, F., M., A good and wise measure: the search for the Canadian-American boundary, 1783, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001, Print. http://books.google.com/books?id=1AjlS20Q5J8C&pg=PA24&dq=barrier+intitle:Good+intitle:and+intitle:Wise+intitle:Measure+intitle:The+intitle:Search+intitle:for+intitle:the+intitle:Canadian-American+inauthor:Francis+inauthor:M+inauthor:Carroll&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2009&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=2009&num=30&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES#v=onepage&q=barrier%20intitle%3AGood%20intitle%3Aand%20intitle%3AWise%20intitle%3AMeasure%20intitle%3AThe%20intitle%3ASearch%20intitle%3Afor%20intitle%3Athe%20intitle%3ACanadian-American%20inauthor%3AFrancis%20inauthor%3AM%20inauthor%3ACarroll&f=false Dudley, P., T., Battle and Massacre at Frenchtown, MI JAN 1813, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XXII, 436-443, Web. 13th Dec 2009, http://genealogytrails.com/mich/military1812.html Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum, War of 1812. Kynghistory.ky.gov, 2008, Web. 11th Dec 2009, http://www.kynghistory.ky.gov/history/1qtr/warof1812.htm Think Quest team, Causes of War 1812, Re-living History- War of 1812, Web. 10th Dec 2009, http://library.thinkquest.org/22916/excauses.html The War of 1812 Digitization Project: "Footsteps to the Battlefield", A Short History of the War of 1812, Web. 12th Dec 2009, http://monroe.lib.mi.us/war_of_1812/main.htm Warof1812-History.com, The War of 1812, 2009, Web. 14th Dec 2009, http://www.warof1812-history.com/, WAR OF 1812, Web. 12th Dec 2009, http://www.forgotteninvasion.com/teachers/PDF/1812lessonplan.pdf. William, R., The Shawnee in the War of 1812, Web. 13th Dec 2009, http://umbrigade.tripod.com/articles/shawnee.html Read More