William Atherton

William Atherton (January 10, 1793 – September 11, 1863) was an American soldier, rifleman and veteran of the War of 1812 from Shelbyville, Kentucky. He was a private in Captain John Simpson's company of the 1st Rifle Regiment. He served under William Henry Harrison. Atherton wrote a journal that detailed his war service within the Kentucky militia, including their defeat and subsequent massacre at River Raisin by opposing forces, and his subsequent capture and imprisonment. Battle of Frenchtown Atherton was one of the 25,010 Kentuckians who served in war fighting against both the British and their Native Americans allies. This represented about five out of every six men then of military age. Mustered at the age of seventeen, he was an eighteen year old soldier during the Battle of Frenchtown, which took place in Michigan during January 1813. He described in his own postwar narrative the methods of fighting used by the enemy forces (retreat and fire on advancing on American forces), which ultimately gave the opposing forces superiority on the battlefield.