Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/595

Rh the march was continued, and the rapids were occupied and fortified on 10 Jan., 1813. On 17 Jan. he sent forward a detachment of about 700 men, who drove a party of British and Indians from Frenchtown (now Monroe, Mich.), 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. Col. Henry Proctor, who was then at Fort Maiden, eighteen miles dis- tant, 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 re- pelled the enemy and seemed likely to hold their position. Proctor agreed to make provision for the protection of the prisoners against savage bar- barity ; 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 vic- tims resided, and excited great indignation through- out the United States. The battle-cry of the Ken- tucky soldiers during the remainder of the war was " Remember the River Raisin ! " The Ameri- can 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 mas- sacre 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 Gen. Winchester, which was written at Maiden on the day after the battle. Gen. Win- chester was taken as a prisoner to Quebec, and con- fined at Beauport, near that city, till his exchange in 1814. On 21 March, 1815, he resigned his com- mission in the army, and he afterward resided on his Tennessee estate.

WINCHESTER, Oliver Fisher, manufacturer, b. in Boston. Mass., 30 Nov., 1810; d. in New Ha- ven, Conn., 10 Dec., 1880. After receiving a lim- ited education, he was apprenticed to a carpenter, and in 1830 became a master-builder in Baltimore, Md., but left his trade in 1833, entered business in that city, and in the following year established the first men's furnishing-store in Maryland. About 1848 he removed to New Haven, Conn., and began the manufacture of shirts, which he was probably the earliest to undertake in this country. The business, in which he was associated with John M. Davies, grew to be one of the largest in the United States. About 1856 he became interested in fire- arms, and in 1857 he was a large stockholder in the Volcanic arms company, which had just been formed to manufacture the repeating rifle of Ben- jamin T. Henry, one of the earliest magazine arms in this country. The company was unsuccessful, and in 1860 Mr. Winchester bought it out and or- ganized the New Haven arms company, of which he became president. In 1865 the company was reorganized as the Winchester repeating arms com- pany, and, selling his interest in the shirt-factory, Mr. Winchester gave the former his entire atten- tion. The Henry rifle was improved more and more, until its name was changed to the Winches- ter repeating arm, and in 1872 the company also began to make metallic cartridges, of which its plant can produce half a million a day. The build- ings of the company in New Haven cover an area of four acres. They furnished many rifles for the French government during the war with Germany, and for Turkey in the Russo-Turkish war. Mr. Winchester was a Republican presidential elector in 1864, and in 1866 was chosen lieutenant-governor of Connecticut. He took a deep interest in relig- ious and educational affairs, which he aided liber- ally. Besides large donations to the scientific and theological departments of Yale, he gave to the university property whose value at the time was about $100,000, and will increase to many times that amount, for the foundation of the Yale ob- servatory. Though this was called at first the Winchester observatory, Gov. Winchester specially requested that his name should not be used in the title. One of the chief features of the observatory is its heliometer, which is the only one in the coun- try, and at the time of its purchase was the largest in the world. The institution is also known for its horological and thermometric bureaus, by which many hundreds of watches and thermometers are examined yearly, and their peculiarities certified. Gov. Winchester was also much interested in hor- ticulture, and his residence and grounds in New Haven were among the finest in the city.

WINCHESTER, Samuel Gover, clergyman, b. in Rock Run, Harford co., Md.. 17 Feb., 1805 ; d. in New York city, 31 Aug., 1841. He attended school at Bel Air and Baltimore, Md., and began the study of law in the University of Maryland in 1825, but abandoned it for theology, studied in Princeton seminary, and in 1830-'7 was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. From the latter year till his death he had charge of a con- gregation in Natchez, Miss. Besides frequently contributing to current religious literature, he pub- lished " Companion for the Sick " (1833) ; " Chris- tian Counsel to the Sick" (1836); "Family Re- ligion" (1841); and "The Theatre" (1841). WINDER, Levin, governor of Maryland, b. in 1756 ; d. in Baltimore, Md., 7 July, 1819. He was appointed major of the 4th Maryland regiment, and before the close of the Revolutionary war attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Subse- quently he became a brigadier-general of the Mary- land militia. He also was speaker of the house of delegates, and in 1816 was a member of the state senate

WINDER, William Henry, soldier, b. in Somerset county, Md.. 18 Feb., 1775; d. in Baltimore, Md., 24 May, 1824. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, studied law, and settled in Baltimore, where he continued from 1798 until the war with Great Britain. In March, 1812, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 14th U. S. infantry, and on 6 July was given command of that regiment. He had charge of a successful expedition sent from Black Rock to the Canada shore below Fort Erie on 28 Nov., 1812, and was made brigadier-general on 12 March, 1813. At the battle of Stony Creek, 1 June, 1813, his command repelled the British attack, but he was captured. In May, 1814, he was appointed adjutant- and inspector-general, and commanded at the battle of Bladensburg. He was unable to prevent the occupation of Washington, and on the reduction of the army in June, 1815, he was retired. He returned to his profession and served in the Maryland senate. — His son, John Henry, soldier, b. in Maryland in 1800; d. in Branchville, S. C, 9 Feb., 1865, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1820, and after various services became captain in the 1st artillery on 7 Oct., 1842. He took part in the war with Mexico, and was at the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, the storming of Chapultepec, and the capture of Mexico, gaining for his gallantry the brevets of major and lieutenant- colonel. On 22 Nov., 1860, he was promoted major,