Nathaniel Gray Smith Hart (c. 1784 – January 23, 1813) was a Lexington, Kentucky lawyer and businessman, who served with the state's volunteer militia during the War of 1812. As Captain of the Lexington Light Infantry from Kentucky, Hart and many of his men were killed in the River Raisin Massacre of January 23, 1813, after being taken prisoner the day before following the Battle of Frenchtown in Michigan Territory.
Hart was especially well-connected politically and socially. In addition to reading law with Henry Clay, Hart's sister Lucretia was married to Clay. Another sister of Hart named Ann was married to James Brown, a future ambassador to France. Hart's wife Anna Edward Gist was the stepdaughter of Charles Scott, Governor of Kentucky and through her Hart was the brother-in-law of James Pindell a member of the Society of Cincinnati. Many other members of Hart's Kentucky militia unit and its associated troops also came from the elite of Lexington and of the state. The men's deaths in the two Battles of Frenchtown, but especially in the subsequent Massacre captured state and national attention. The phrase "Remember the Raisin!" became an American call to arms for the duration of the War.
Personal life
Born around 1784 Nathaniel Hart was one of seven children, the second son of Colonel Thomas Hart, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and his wife Susanna (Gray) Hart.
Originally from North Carolina, the family had moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, where Nathaniel was born. In 1794 they settled in Lexington, Kentucky as part of the postwar migration west. His father was a highly successful businessman, achieving wealth. Hart's four sisters married men who achieved some renown: Ann married the future US Senator James Brown (who subsequently served as Minister to France); Eliza married the surgeon Dr. Richard Pindell (a member of the Society of the Cincinnati); Susanna married the lawyer Samuel Price, and Lucretia married Henry Clay, future US Senator and Secretary of State.
Hart attended Princeton College, where his classmates included William Elliott from western Ontario. Elliott's father was a Loyalist who had resettled in Canada after the Revolutionary War. The two young men were close enough that Elliot stayed with Hart's parents for a time to recover from a serious illness.
After Hart's return to Lexington, he read law under Henry Clay, passed the bar, and set up a law practice in the city. Like his father, he became a successful businessman, a ropewalk (hemp rope factory) in the city being among his ventures. Hemp was a commodity crop of central Kentucky. In April 1809, Hart married Anna Edward Gist, the stepdaughter of General Charles Scott, governor of Kentucky, and daughter of Judith Cary Gist Scott and her late husband General Nathaniel Gist. Hart and Anna had two sons, Thomas Hart Jr. and Henry Clay Hart. On January 7, 1812, Hart duelled with Samuel E. Watson at a location on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, near where Silver Creek emptied into the river. This was the site where Henry Clay had duelled with fellow state legislator Humphrey Marshall in 1809.
Military service and death
At the start of the War of 1812, Hart was commissioned as Captain of the Lexington Light Infantry Company (aka "The Silk Stocking Boys") a volunteer unit of the Fayette County, Kentucky militia. He later served as either a Deputy Inspector or as Inspector General of William Henry Harrison's Army of the Northwest. Hart's command was attached to the Fifth Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia and left for the Northwest in August 1812, where it became part of Army of the Northwest under General James Winchester. In January 1813, a detachment was sent to the defense of Frenchtown, Michigan Territory as part of an effort to retake Detroit from the British. Frenchtown residents had sent word to the Americans asking for relief from an occupying force of the British and their Indian allies.
During the First Battle of Frenchtown on January 18, 1813, the American forces under Lt. Colonel William Lewis were successful in forcing the retreat of the small British force stationed there. The British commander of the Fort Malden garrison in Amherstburg, Colonel Henry Procter, made plans to take back Frenchtown and he ordered troops to the area.