WINCHESTER, James, soldier, born in White Level (now Westminster), Maryland, 6 February, 1752; died near Gallatin, Tennessee, 27 July, 1826. He served in the Revolution, being commissioned lieutenant in the 3d Maryland regiment, 27 May, 1778, was captured by the British, and exchanged, 22 December, 1780. He then settled in Sumner county, Tennessee, where he married and resided on a large estate. On 27 March, 1812, he was appointed a brigadier-general in the regular army, and on 18 September he relieved General William Henry Harrison of his command at Fort Wayne, much to the dissatisfaction of the soldiers, some of whom refused at first to serve under the new commander. On 24 September, Harrison was given command of the Northwestern army, including the force under Winchester. The latter had already set out, on 22 September, for Maumee rapids with 2,000 men. He was opposed by about 1,200 British and Indians under Major Muir; but Muir, alarmed by exaggerated reports of Winchester's strength, fled without offering battle. Winchester was afterward joined at Fort Defiance by Harrison, who, having quelled a mutiny among the troops, left him there in command of the left wing of the army, with which he intended to move on Detroit. Winchester now moved on Maumee rapids as he had been ordered, and though Harnson soon afterward recommended the abandonment of the movement, in view of reports that Tecumseh was in position to cut off his supplies, the march was continued, and the rapids were occupied and fortified on 10 January, 1813. On 17 January he sent forward a detachment of about 700 men, who drove a party of British and Indians from Frenchtown (now Monroe, Michigan), on Raisin river, with a loss of only 12 killed and 55 wounded. On the 20th Winchester followed with 300 men, and encamped outside the town. Colonel Henry Proctor, who was then at Fort Malden, eighteen miles distant, now approached secretly with 1,500 British and Indians ; but, though the American commander was informed of their advance, he refused to believe it. His camp was surprised on the evening of the 22d, and after a bloody conflict he surrendered his force, including those in the town who had repelled the enemy and seemed likely to hold their position. Proctor agreed to make provision for the protection of the prisoners against savage barbarity; but this was not done, and the surrender was followed by a massacre of the sick and wounded who had been "left in the town. This outrage was keenly felt in Kentucky, where most of the victiros resided, and excited great indignation throughout the United States. The battle-cry of the Kentucky soldiers during the remainder" of the war was "Remember the River Raisin!" The American loss was 934 men out of an army of about 1,000, while that of the British was 180. Those British writers that make any mention of the massacre at Frenchtown try to shield Proctor by affirming that he neither accepted the surrender on any conditions, nor agreed to protect the wounded: but their statements are controverted by the testimony of many witnesses, and by the report of General Winchester, which was written at Malden on the day after the battle. General Winchester was taken as a prisoner to Quebec, and confined at Beauport, near that city, till his exchange in 1814. On 21 March, 1815, he resigned his commission in the army, and he afterward resided on his Tennessee estate.