Nathaniel G. S. Hart

Nathaniel G. S. Hart
Nathaniel Gray Smith Hart
Born circa 1784[1]
Hagerstown, Maryland
Died January 23, 1813(1813-01-23) (aged 29)
Michigan
Buried at

Detroit, Michigan (originally)

Re-interred at State Cemetery/Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1834[1][2][3]
Allegiance United States
Years of service War of 1812, 1812–1813
Rank Captain
Unit Lexington Light Infantry
Commands held

Lexington Light Infantry

Deputy Inspector for Left Wing of Northwestern Army
Battles/wars Battle of Frenchtown, Battle of River Raisin
Relations Lucretia Hart Clay, Henry Clay

Nathaniel Gray Smith Hart (c. 1784 – January 23, 1813), often Nathaniel G. S. Hart[4] was a prominent Kentucky lawyer,[5], brother-in-law to Henry Clay and to Senator James Brown of Louisiana. Hart was the Captain of the Lexington Light Infantry during the War of 1812 and died along with most of his men in the River Raisin Massacre. The phrase "Remember the Raisin!" was a rallying-cry for the Americans throughout the duration of the War.

Contents

Personal life

Henry Clay's Lexington law office

Hart was one of seven children,[6] the second son of Colonel Thomas Hart, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and his wife Susanna Gray Hart.[7] The family was originally from North Carolina, moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, and then settled in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1794. His four sisters married men of some renown – Ann married the U.S. Senator and diplomat James Brown, Eliza married the surgeon Dr. Richard Pindell, Susanna married the lawyer Samuel Price and Lucretia married Henry Clay.[4][8]

Hart studied law with Clay and had a law practice. He also was a successful businessman,[2] a ropewalk (hemp rope factory) in Lexington being among his ventures.[4] In April 1809, he married Anna Edward Gist,[1] the stepdaughter of General Charles Scott, governor of Kentucky, and daughter of Judith Cary Gist Scott, widow of General Nathaniel Gist.[9] Hart and Anna had two sons, Thomas Hart Jr. and Henry Clay Hart.[2][4][7] On January 7, 1812, Hart duelled with Samuel E. Watson at Shirt Tail Bend, a location on the Indiana side of the Ohio River at Silver Creek, the same place that Clay had duelled with Humphrey Marshall in 1809.[10][11][12]

Military service and death

At the start of the War of 1812, Hart was Captain of the Lexington Light Infantry Company (aka "The Silk Stocking Boys"),[7][13] a volunteer unit of the Fayette County, Kentucky militia.[4] He later served as either a Deputy Inspector[1] or Inspector General of William Henry Harrison's Army of the Northwest[14][Note 1]

Hart's command was attached to the Fifth Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia and left for the Northwest in August 1812,[15] where it became part of Army of the Northwest under General James Winchester. In January 1813, a detachment was sent to the defense of Frenchtown, Michigan. Its residents had sent word to the Americans asking for relief from an occupying force of the British and their Native American allies.[16]

Lewis' River Raisin crossing – First Battle

The American forces under Lt. Colonel William Lewis were initially successful in forcing the retreat of the small British force stationed there during the First Battle of Frenchtown on January 18, 1813. The British commander of the Fort Malden garrison, Colonel Henry Procter,[17] made plans to take back the area.[18] On the morning of January 22, 1813, Procter's forces attacked the American troops and overwhelmed the right flank of regulars under Winchester, forcing him and much of the general staff to surrender. The Kentucky militia under the command of Major George Madison on the left flank fought on and thought the flag of truce presented by the enemy was actually a British flag of surrender.[19]

During this second Battle of Frenchtown, Hart was wounded and was among the survivors who surrendered to Procter upon orders of Winchester.[20][2] He was promised safe-passage by Captain William Elliott, [Note 2] a Loyalist British officer who had spent a great length of time in the Lexington home of Hart's father[2] recovering from a severe illness,[21] but this pledge was abandoned during the aftermath of the battle.[20] Elliott borrowed a horse, bridle and saddle from the American officer Major Benjamin Franklin Graves and promised to send help that never came.[22] Elliott is said to have remarked before he departed that "the Indians were very excellent surgeons (and ought to kill all the officers and men)."[23][24] In one official letter, the eye-witness says that Elliott's broken-promise included taking Hart in Elliott's "own sleigh to Malden that evening" and Hart could remain there in Elliott's home for his recovery.[25] Unable to march with the able-bodied prisoners, Hart paid a friendly Indian to take him to safety on horseback but was instead shot and then scalped.[26][27] The killing of Hart along with the deaths of the other unarmed wounded prisoners became known as the River Raisin Massacre.[4] [28][2][29]

The gruesome deaths of Hart and of his fellow soldiers during the Battle of Frenchtown and the subsequent Massacre became fuel for the War-Hawk political factions, for the pro-war and anti-British sentiment of the era.[30] The phrase "Remember the Raisin!" entered the lexicon of the day as a flashpoint for popular sentiment, becoming a battle cry for American troops, especially the ones on the Western frontier.[31] That many of the murdered men were well-known and well-connected members of Kentucky's elite increased the public-outcry. Among the dead was Colonel John Allen, Henry Clay's law-partner and co-counsel in Aaron Burr's conspiracy trial at Frankfort.[32][33] Hart's death is even remembered in modern times as "The Murder of Captain Hart."[34]

Aftermath of Hart's death and memorials

River Raisin Massacre Monument
Dedicated and erected in 1904 by the State of Michigan to honor the Kentuckians who died there in 1813

Owing to the wholesale nature of the slaughter, the Americans who did survive at the time were not able to give the bodies of their fallen comrades a proper burial[35] as they were either prisoners or escapees; the bones were not interred until months later.[36] In 1818, the remains were transferred from Monroe, Michigan to Detroit.[3] Isaac Baker, an American ensign who survived the Massacre, stated in a report to Judge Woodward in Detroit that:

The dead of our army are still denied the rites of sepulture. ... I was told the hogs were eating them. A gentleman told me he had seen them running about with skulls, arms, legs and other parts of the human system in their mouths. The French people on the Raisin buried Captains Hart, Woolfolk, and some others, but it was more than their lives were worth to have been caught paying this last customed tribute to mortality."[37]

In 1834, the box containing the comingled mass remains (including the universally tomahawked skulls), were moved from their former Detroit resting-place and re-interred in Detroit's City Cemetery.[3] These remains are asserted to have received final burial in the State Cemetery of Frankfort, Kentucky.[1][2] As late as 1849, a mass grave was excavated during road construction in Monroe. Some writers state that those skeletons, along with the City Cemetery remains, were then returned to Kentucky for final and proper burial that year.[38][Note 3] but other experts' investigations have placed doubt upon these various accounts.[39]

Matthew Harris Jouett, a man who painted famous portraits of Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark and Lafayette, was one of the Kentucky volunteers and among the survivors of the River Raisin Massacre. The company payroll of $6000 disappeared during the slaughter and Jouett took it upon himself to restore the missing funds, using his skill as a painter to do so. He also painted portraits of his fellow soldiers, including Hart and Colonel Allen, from memory. [40]

The state of Kentucky named its 61st county Hart County, Kentucky in Nathaniel Hart's honor in 1819.[41][42] In 1904 residents of Monroe, Michigan, erected a monument to the Kentuckians who died defending their settlement during the various River Raisin engagement, [43] the area being where some unidentified victims were buried.[44]

Name

Although some sources list Hart's name as "Nathaniel G. T. Hart," this is incorrect according to Kleber and to the Heidlers Encyclopedia.[1][2] Hart is also referred to in court documents dating from before his death as "Nathaniel G. S. Hart."[45]

The misnomer apparently dates to a mistake in Historical Sketches of Kentucky, either the Richard Collins edition (published in 1874)[1] or the original edition (published in 1848 by Lewis Collins).[46]

See also

Portal icon War of 1812 portal

Notes

  1. ^ Henry Clay (The papers of Henry Clay, Volume 1, Page 19) refers to Hart's rank as "Inspector General of the N.W.[Northwestern] Army."
  2. ^ According to Pierre Berton's War of 1812 (Page 406), Elliott was half Shawnee and was raised among Native Americans.
    "He tried to explain that it is impossible to restrain the Indians and (...) that they are simply seeking revenge for their own losses."(of Tippecanoe and Mississinewa)
  3. ^ According to Clift's Remember the Raisin! (Page xii) "Kentucky historians have written that these dead now rest in the state lots at Frankfort Cemetery. ... In the light of present day research, little has been found to substantiate these statements."

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Kleber, John E. (1992). "Hart, Nathaniel Gray Smith". The Kentucky encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 415–416. ISBN 978-0813117720. http://www.kyenc.org/entry/h/HARTN01.html. Retrieved October 15, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Heidler, David Stephen; Jeanne T. Heidler (2004). Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. Naval Institute Press. pp. 232–233. http://books.google.com/books?id=_c09EJgek50C&pg=PA232#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c Farmer, Silas (1890). History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan. S. Farmer & Co. for Muncell & Vo., New York. pp. 280. http://books.google.com/books?id=_Od5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA280#v=onepage&q&f=falsee. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Clift, G. Glenn (1961,2009). Remember the Raisin! Kentucky and Kentuckians in the battles and massacre at Frenchtown, Michigan Territory, in the War of 1812. Clearfield. pp. 149–150. ISBN 978-0806345208. http://books.google.com/books?id=1A3k7Wqaq0wC&pg=PA149#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 15, 2011. 
  5. ^ Clift, Page 149
  6. ^ Remini, Robert Vincent (1993). Henry Clay:Statesman for the Union. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 29. http://books.google.com/books?id=f9Hb6i90_mAC&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  7. ^ a b c Smith, Zechariah Frederick; Mary Katherine (Rogers) Clay, Mary Rogers Clay (1899). The Clay Family. J. P. Morton and company (Filson Club Publications, Number 14). pp. 232. http://books.google.com/books?id=72gUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA232#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
  8. ^ Connelley, William Elsey; Ellis Merton Coulter (1922). History of Kentucky, Volume 3. The American Historical Society. pp. 5. http://books.google.com/books?id=7DMVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
  9. ^ Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 16. Kentucky Historical Society. 1918. pp. 59. http://books.google.com/books?id=XXIUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
  10. ^ "The Duels at Silver Creek". Indiana History Series (Volume III, Series No. 8). New Albany Floyd County Public Library. http://www.nafclibrary.org/Resources/Adults/Indiana/History/Series/308DuelsatSilverCreek.pdf. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
  11. ^ Samuel Scott (New Albany Rotary Club) (ca.1950s). "Field of Honor". New Albany Floyd County Public Library. http://www.nafclibrary.org/Resources/Adults/Indiana/River/FieldOfHonor.aspx. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
  12. ^ James F. Hopkins, ed (1959). The Papers of Henry Clay, Volume 1 (1797–1814). University Press of Kentucky. pp. 613. http://books.google.com/books?id=76bJUn8VJWIC&pg=PA613#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  13. ^ Ranck, Page 156
  14. ^ Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 11(Issue 31). 1912–1913. pp. 19. http://books.google.com/books?id=UAg8AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  15. ^ Ranck, Page 157
  16. ^ "The History". River Raisin Battlefield. City of Monroe, Michigan. http://www.co.monroe.mi.us/government/departments_offices/museum/docs/River_Raisin_Battlefield_Brochure.pdf. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  17. ^ Ramage, James (2011). Kentucky Rising: Democracy, Slavery, and Culture from the Early Republic to the Civil War. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 105. http://books.google.com/books?id=l4qKA2xglF8C&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 2, 2011. 
  18. ^ Ridler, Jason. "Henry Procter (Proctor)". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006512. Retrieved November 2, 2011. 
  19. ^ Coles, Henry L. (1966). The War of 1812. University of Chicago Press. pp. 116. http://books.google.com/books?id=d8ZOFNbhIU0C&pg=PA116#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 2, 2011. 
  20. ^ a b Ranck, George Washington (1872). History of Lexington, Kentucky. R. Clarke. pp. 256. http://books.google.com/books?id=qidAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA256#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  21. ^ Lossing, Benjamin John (1868). The pictorial field-book of the war of 1812: or, illustrations, by pen and pencil. Harper & Brothers. pp. 358. http://books.google.com/books?id=okh7K53m_BIC&pg=PA358#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
  22. ^ Ranck, Page 255
  23. ^ American state papers: Documents, legislative and executive of the Congress of the United States(Part 5, Volume 1). Gales and Seaton (US. Congress). 1832. p. 375. http://books.google.com/books?id=iJUbAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA375#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 26, 2011. 
  24. ^ Caldwell, William (January 2003 (1813)). "War of 1812 – Caldwell letter(February 20, 1813)". Jessamine Historical Quarterly. Jessamine County Historical & Geneaological Society. p. 6. http://www.jesshistorical.com/newsletters/Vol2Nr1.pdf. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  25. ^ Brannan, John (1823). Official letters of the military and naval officers of the United States, during the war with Great Britain in the years 1812, 13, 14, & 15s. Way & Gideon. pp. 135-136. http://books.google.com/books?id=ceceAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 8, 2011. 
  26. ^ Heidler, David Stephen; Jeanne T. Heidler (2010). Henry Clay: the essential American. Random House Digital. pp. 104. http://books.google.com/books?id=gy8O2xY8mCUC&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  27. ^ Lossing, Page 359
  28. ^ Cook, Michael L. & Bettie Cummings (1985). Fayette County, Kentucky Records, Vol. I (Hart vs. Benton Lawsuit August 22, 1812). Evansville, IN: Cook Publications. pp. 185–189. http://simpsonhistory.com/notes/thomashart3.html. Retrieved October 15, 2011. 
  29. ^ "The Battles of the River Raisin". City of Monroe, Michigan. http://www.co.monroe.mi.us/government/departments_offices/museum/the_battles_of_the_river_raisin.html. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  30. ^ Clift, p. 87-88.
  31. ^ Michigan Historical Commission, Michigan State Historical Society, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society (1892). Michigan historical collections, Volume 7. State of Michigan (Michigan Historical Commission). pp. 222. http://books.google.com/books?id=DqxNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 26, 2011. 
  32. ^ Kleber, Page 15
  33. ^ Elizabeth Shelby Kinkead (1896). A history of Kentucky. American book company. p. 111. http://books.google.com/books?id=zfETAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  34. ^ "Murder of Captain Hart". HMdb.org. http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=27260. Retrieved October 15, 2011. 
  35. ^ American state papers, page 369 (Alexis Labadie)
  36. ^ Scroggins, William G. Leaves of a Stunted Shrub, Volume One. pp. 41. http://books.google.com/books?id=bt99KfyjpFUC&pg=RA2-PA41#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  37. ^ American state papers, page 370 (Isaac Baker)
  38. ^ Niles, William Ogden, ed (1849). "Kentucky's Gallant Dead". Niles' national register 74: 235. http://books.google.com/books?id=EAAQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA235#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  39. ^ Stottman, M. Jay; David Pollack, Peter E. Killoran, Sarah E. Miller, Phillip B. Mink, Christina A. Pappas, Eric Schlarb, Lori Stahlgren (August 2005). "Archaeological Investigation of the State Monument – Frankfort, Kentucky". Kentucky Archaeological Survey. http://heritage.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/2D6096F9-A3B5-48E2-85CB-E04A99ECA539/0/StateMonument.pdf. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  40. ^ Pennington, Estill Curtis; Ellen G. Miles (2010). Lessons in Likeness: Portrait Painters in Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley, 1802–1920. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 172. http://books.google.com/books?id=sV12204GZC8C&pg=PA172#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 26, 2011. 
  41. ^ "Hart County Chamber of Commerce". http://hartcountychamber.com/visithart/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=44. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
  42. ^ "Kentucky Counties Named in Honor of Military Personnel". Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum. Commonwealth of Kentucky. http://kynghistory.ky.gov/people/ky+counties+named+after+military+persons.htm. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  43. ^ Ohio history, Volume 15. Ohio Historical Society. 1906. pp. 141–153. http://books.google.com/books?id=peKyAQzpPTYC&pg=PA141#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  44. ^ "The Battle of River Raisin". Friends of the River Raisin Battlefield (RiverRaisinBattlefield.Org). http://www.riverraisinbattlefield.org/the_battles.htm. Retrieved October 25, 2011. 
  45. ^ Cook, p. 185
  46. ^ Collins, Lewis (1848). Historical sketches of Kentucky. Collins of Maysville, Kentucky & James of Cincinnati. pp. 345. http://books.google.com/books?id=XFlAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA345#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 

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