he enterprise, and to endeavor to draw on
to them, by entering into action, the troops behind. It is not proper
here to enter into explanations of the causes of the disaster at the
River Raisin, the consequence of this movement, nor to give the
particulars of the battle. The incidents which signalized the
character of the subject of this memoir alone are proper here.

There were two battles at the River Raisin, one on the 18th, the other
on the 22d of January. In the first, the whole body of Indian
warriors, drawn together from all the lake tribes, for the defence of
Upper Canada against the approaching Kentuckians, were encountered. In
moving to the attack of this formidable force of the fiercest, and
bravest, and most expert warriors on the continent, a strong party of
them were descried from the line with which Ensign Butler advanced,
running forward to reach a fence, and hold it as a cover from which to
ply their rifles. Butler instantly proposed, and was permitted, to
anticipate them. Calling upon some of the most alert and active men of
the company, he ran directly to meet the Indians at the fence. He and
his comrades out-stripped the enemy, and getting possession of the
fence, kept the advantage of the position for their advancing friends.
This incident, of however little importance as to results, is worth
remembrance in giving the traits of a young soldier's character. It is
said that the hardiest veteran, at the opening of the fire in battle,
feels, for the moment, somewhat appalled. And Gen. Wolfe, one of the
bravest of men, declared that the "horrid yell of the Indian strikes
the boldest heart with affright." The strippling student, who, for the
first time, beheld a field of battle on the snows of the River Raisin,
presenting in bold relief long files of those terrible enemies, whose
massacres had filled his native State with tales of horror, must have
felt some stirring sensations. But the crack of the Indian rifle, and
his savage yell, awoke in him the chivalric instincts of his nature;
and the promptitude with which he communicated his enthusiasm to a few
comrades around, and rushed forward to meet danger in its most
appalling form, risking himself to save others, and secure a triumph
which he could scarcely hope to share, gave earnest of the military
talent, the self-sacrificing courage, and the soldierly sympathies
which have drawn to him the nation's esteem. The close of the battle
of the 18th gave anot