Kentucky in the War of 1812

During the War of 1812, Kentucky supplied numerous troops and supplies to the war effort. Because Kentucky did not have to commit manpower to defending fortifications, most Kentucky troops campaigned actively against the enemy. This led to Kentucky seeing more battle casualties than all other states combined.

With the impending onset of hostilities, the governor of the Indiana Territory, future United States President William Henry Harrison sought military assistance from neighboring Kentucky. After being appointed brigadier general of the Kentucky militia on August 22, Harrison went to attain the force in order to defend the Indiana territorial government at Vincennes, Indiana. Harrison had resigned his military commission in December 1811, but with the help of Kentucky governor Charles Scott, he was able to recruit Kentucky citizens to help defend Indiana; citizens in Ohio and Indiana had heard of the lack of camp provisions and chose not to be burdened by such hardships. As a result, most of Kentucky's militia during the war fought in what was the old Northwest Territory.

Some 25,010 Kentuckians served in war, which is about five out of every six men then of military age. Fighting against both the British and their Native Americans allies, Kentucky sent a total of 36 regiments, four battalions, and twelve independent companies to the field, an almost unbelievable accomplishment considering the state's small population at the time.

John Allen, a former gubernatorial candidate and Kentucky state legislator, on June 5, 1812, was made colonel of the 1st Kentucky Rifle Regiment, first militia troops raised by the state for the war. Allen was killed while rallying his men at the Battle of the River Raisin in Michigan. He was buried in Frankfort Cemetery, and Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio would all name counties in his honor. Eight other Kentucky officers died in either the battle or the massacre that followed it, and had counties named for them. The River Raisin casualties included about 400 Kentuckians killed in the fighting, plus eighty wounded prisoners who were tomahawked by the Indians as soon as the British troops departed. The murder of the prisoners led to the Kentuckian's rallying cry for the rest of the war - Remember the River Raisin!

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