"Picket Fence at Frenchtown" Topic

Silly question: what might the picket fence have looked like at Frenchtown for the 1813 Battle of the Raisin? Log structure shorter than a palisade or shoulder height, or just a waist high fence for livestock?

If the sources specify picket fence, I would presume it would be the classic picket fence.

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@rmaker,

I have my doubts about your contention. Frenchtown was a raw frontier town, which probably boasted few elements of purely decorative value. My best guess would be something more in the nature of a miniature palisade, probably intended either to keep animals in or out. Anyway, an ordinary picket fence as we now understand it would be of so little tactical value that it would probably not have merited mention in accounts of the battle. There is a website devoted to Frenchtown and the Battle of the River Raisin, but I do not recall that it said anything specific about the fence.

Attila, I think you underestimate the sturdiness and utility of picket fences. They are more than "purely decorative". As such, it is well within the capabilities of frontier types. And why do you think a picket fence would be of less tactical value than, say, a snake rail fence?

Rmaker,

I discount the tactical value of an ordinary picket fence because it offers neither concealment nor significant resistance to enemy fire. Also, unless unusually tall, it would not offer much of a barrier to movement. By the way, I did not intend to discount the ability of frontiersmen to build a picket fence if they so desired. It is more a matter of priorities in a frontier context. I do not envision much time being spent on decorative elements, as opposed to those which were clearly necessary (e.g. shelter, protecting crops from animals, protecting domestic animals from wild animals, etc.).

Regarding that fence at Frenchtown;

Lossing's 'The Pictorial Field Book of the War Of 1812"
has the reference " As soon as his little army was safely encamped in the village gardens, behind the strong "puncheon" pickets …"

Puncheon is defined as "A short wooden upright used in structural framing" and an 1887 woodworking book I came across on Google Books says that in early America all lumber made by splitting was called "puncheon lumber".

So it was a picket fence as rmaker linked to. No mention of how tall, but it seemed to be the surround of the Frenchtown people's gardens.

That's a good find, Camcleod.

Now where to find a scale model of a puncheon picket fence. Something "primitive"! I wonder if Tom Sawyer whitewashed it for them…?

Thank you all!

Jeff

If you can stand any more on the subject, I found a U.S. National Park Service website that defined a puncheon fence as, "A fence made out of split logs with one face smooth and the other still naturally round."

A quote from page 130 of John K. Mahon's book "The War of 1812": "Most of the American army lay behind an eight-foot puncheon fence which protected the village on the north and west, but the regulars were on the right, unprotected."

Lossing's "Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812" gives further details: "Frenchtown, at the time in question, was a flourishing settlement containing thirty-three families, twenty-two of whom resided on the north side of the Raisin. Gardens and orchards were attached to their houses, and these were inclosed [sic]with heavy pickets, called 'puncheons,' made of sapling logs split in two, driven into the ground, and sometimes sharpened at top." Further down in the section describing the battle Lossing mentions that at least some part of the puncheon fence was strong enough to withstand rounds from a British howitzer when it fired from beyond the effective range of American rifles (at least 300 yards for really expert marksmen).

The above seems to vindicate my previous post, in which I suggested that the picket fence was probably really more in the nature of a miniature palisade.

Well, Renedra has a primitive picket fence, but I don't know where to find a puncheon fence!

How might one scratch build one? Maybe ignore the split and make a low palisade fence of round logs.

Thanks for sharing all the great info, folks!

I don't know what scale you are talking about, but it should be possible to scratch-build in actual wood in 25mm or larger. Splitting works better with green wood, so I would look for a stand of willows or some kind of bush that has fairly long sections of branch clear of forks. Select some branches of appropriate size and try splitting them down the center, just following the natural grain, then let them dry out and cut to length. Something else you might try using are the bamboo skewers sold in grocery stores for grilling kebabs, but I don't know whether or not that could be satisfactorily split.

Or you might find a source of commercially available palisade wall and cut down the height to something more appropriate.

Here in Michigan the early French would build the fence around their house area to also enclose their garden area.
The farm stock would be outside of this, many times grazing free, the purpose of the fence was to keep the cows and pigs out. Also, we had a very large deer population then so it was critical to keep these bad boys out or you might lose your food. As to how high was this fence, it was not the picket fence of today's suburbs. The fence would have to be high enough that the deer could not see over it, so think 5 to 6 foot high. Deer hate to jump where they can not see, so the fence became a visual barrier.
Also, a fine defense during Black Powder fights.