Ted J. Ligibel, Director of EMU’s Historic Preservation
Program in the Department of Geography and Geology, has received $20,905 from the National Park Service through Heidelberg College’s Center for Historic and Military Archaeology to research and document the boundaries of the River Raisin Battlefield. The project covers the routes taken by both American and British armies and allies to and from the battles during the War of l812.
“We’re concentrating on zones peripheral to the battlefield core,” says Ligibel. “So our work extends outside the limits of the area normally associated with the battle of Monroe. We’re focusing, among others, on British and Indian assembly areas and assault routes, the path of retreat of U.S. Regulars across the River Raisin, and sites of resistance and capture of fleeing U.S. Regulars.
We’ll combine primary and secondary data and literature reviews to produce GIS/electronic mapping that will be available in hard copy and digital formats. We’ll incorporate an extensive review of the existing eyewitness accounts, second-hand accounts of battlefield interpretations, and prior artifact discoveries from the battlefield area. We’re using resources from EMU’s IGRE and Map Library, the Clements, Burton, and State Libraries, and several other historical repositories, and materials from the Monroe County Historical Museum and Historical Society. It’s an extensive review of what were pivotal battles.”
The River Raisin Battlefield Center in historic Monroe is the site of the Battles of the River Raisin, sometimes referred to as the Battles of Frenchtown or the Massacre on the River Raisin, one of the largest military encounters in the War of 1812, on Jan. 22, 1813.
Also involved in the project are G. Michael Pratt of Heidelberg’s Center; William Rutter, a program Alumni and preservation consultant; and Jeffrey Green, Monroe City Planner and a program Alumni. Together, Ligibel and the team will add significantly to the knowledge of what is sometimes called the United States’ Second War of Independence.
