1810. Assistance given the Indians by England. 511 to make war upon us, we shall be in their neighborhood at the very moment when the impressions which have been made against us are most active in the minds of the savages. —succeeded in getting the chiefs together at Fort Wayne, though he found them all preparing to go to Malden. The result of the council discovered that the whole tribes (including the Weas and Eel Rivers, for they are all Miamies,) were about equally divided in favor of the Prophet, and the United States. Lapousier the Wea chief, whom I before mentioned to you as being seduced by the Prophet, was repeatedly asked by what land it was that he was determined to defend with his blood; whether it was that which was ceded by the late treaty or not, but he would give no answer. reports that all the Indians of the Wabash have been, or now are, an a visit to the British agents at Malden. He had never known one-fourth as many goods given to the Indians as they are now distributing. He examined the share of one man (not a chief,) and found that he had received an elegant rifle, 25 pounds of powder, 50 pounds of lead, 3 blankets, 3 trouds of cloth, 10 shirts and several other articles. He says every Indian is furnished with a gun (either rifle or fusil) and an abundance of ammunition. A trader of this country was lately in the king's stores at Malden, and was told that the quantity of goods for the Indian department, which had been sent out this year, exceeded that of common years by 20,000 pounds sterling. It is impossible to ascribe this profusion to any other motive than that of instigating the Indians to take up the tomahawk. It cannot be to secure their trade; for all the peltry collected on the waters of the Wabash in one year, if sold in the London market, would not pay the freight of the goods which have been given to the Indians.* On the other hand we know that Sir James Craig, the Governor of Canada, wrote on the 25th of November 1810 to Mr. Morier, the British Minister at Washington, authorizing him to inform the United States Government that the northern savages were meditating hostilities; † we know also that in the following March Sir James wrote to Lord Liverpool in relation to the Indians, and spoke of the information he had given the Americans, and that his conduct was approved; ‡ we have farther the repeated denial by the English Minister at Washington of any influence having been exerted over the frontier tribes adverse to the States, by the authority, or with the knowledge of the English Ministry or the American State Papers, v. 799. 801 to 804. † American State Papers, iii. 453.—Gaston in Congress; quoted by Dawson, 175. 512 Council at which Tecumthe declares himself. 1810 Governor of Canada. These things, we think, must lead us t acquit the rulers of Great Britain, but they do not show who, nar how high in authority the functionaries were who tried, as Tecumthe told Harrison, to set the red men, as dogs, upon the whites! But however we may think the evil influence originated, certain it is that the determination was taken by "the successor of Pontiac," to unite all the western tribes in hostility to the United States, in case that Power would not give up the lands bought at Fort Wayne, and undertake to recognize the principle, that no purchases should be thereafter made unless from a Council representing all the tribes united as one nation. By various acts the feelings of Tecumthe became more and more evident, but in August, he having visited Vincennes to see the Governor, a council was held at which, and at a subsequent interview, the real position of affairs was clearly ascertained-of that council we give the account contained in Mr. Drake's life of the Great Chieftain. Governor Harrison had made arrangements for holding the council on the portico of his own house, which had been fitted up with seats for the occasion. Here, on the morning of the fifteenth, he awaited the arrival of the chief, being attended by the judges of the Supreme Court, some officers of the army, a sergeant and twelve men, from Fort Knox, and a large number of citizens. At the appointed hour Tecumseh, supported by forty of his principal warriors, made his appearance, the remainder of his followers being encamped in the village and its environs. When the chief had approached within thirty or forty yards of the house, he suddenly stopped, as if awaiting some advances from the governor. An interpreter was sent requesting him and his followers to take seats on the portico. To this Tecumseh objected-he did not think the place a suitable one for holding the conference, but preferred that it should take place in a grove of trees-to which he pointedstanding a short distance from the house. The governor said he had no objection to the grove, except that there were no seats in in it for their accommodation. Tecumseh replied, that constituted no objection to the grove, the earth being the most suitable place for the Indians, who loved to repose upon the bosom of their mother. The governor yielded the point, and the benches and chairs having been removed to the spot, the conference was begun, the Indians being seated on the grass. Tecumseh opened the meeting by stating, at length, his objections to the Treaty of Fort Wayne, made by Governor Harrison in the previous year; and in the course of his speech, boldly avowed the principle of + Dawson, 159. * American State Papers, 453. iii. 453, 462. 1810. Tecumthe meets Harrison in Council. 513 his party to be, that of resistance to every cession of land, unless made by all the tribes, who, he contended, formed but one nation. He admitted that he had threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the treaty of Fort Wayne; and that it was his fixed determination not to permit the village chiefs, in future, to manage their affairs, but to place the power with which they had been heretofore invested, in the hands of the war chiefs. The Americans, he said, had driven the Indians from the sea coast, and would soon push them into the lakes; and, while he disclaimed all intention of making war upon the United States, he declared it to be his unalterable resolution to take a stand, and resolutely oppose the further intrusion of the whites upon the Indian lands. He concluded, by making a brief but impassioned recital of the various wrongs and aggressions inflicted by the white men upon the Indians, from the commencement of the revolutionary war down to the period of that council; all of which was calculated to arouse and inflame the minds of such of his followers as were present. To him the Governor replied, and having taken his seat, the interpreter commenced explaining the speech to Tecumseh, who, after listening to a portion of it, sprung to his feet and began to speak with great vehemence of manner. The governor was surprised at his violent gestures, but as he did not understand him, thought he was making some explanation, and suffered his attention to be drawn towards Winnemac, a friendly Indian lying on the grass before him, who was renewing the priming of his pistol, which he had kept concealed from the other Indians, but in full view of the governor. His attention, however, was again directed towards Tecumseh, by hearing General Gibson, who was intimately acquainted with the Shawanoe language, say to Lieutenant Jennings, "those fellows intend mischief; you had better bring up the guard." At that moment, the followers of Tecumseh seized their tomahawks and war clubs, and sprung upon their feet, their eyes turned upon the governor. As soon as he could disengage himself from the arm chair in which he sat, he rose, drew a small sword which he had by his side, and stood on the defensive. Captain G. R. Floyd, of the army, who stood near him, drew a dirk, and the chief Winnemac cocked his pistol. The citizens present were more numerous than the Indians, but were unarmed; some of them procured clubs and brick-bats, and also stood on the defensive. The Rev. Mr. Winans, of the Methodist church, ran to the governor's house, got a gun, and posted himself at the door to defend the family. During this singular scene, no one spoke, until the guard came running up, and appearing to be in the act of firing, the governor ordered them not to do so. He then demanded of the interpreter, an explanation of what had happened, who replied that Tecumseh had interrupted him, 514 Harrison prepares for Indian hostilities. 1811 declaring that all the governor had said was false; and that he and the Seventeen Fires had cheated and imposed on the Indians.* The governor then told Tecumseh that he was a bad man, and that be would hold no further communication with him; that as he had come Vincennes under the protection of a council-fire, he might return in safety, but that he must immediately leave the village. Here the cour cil terminated.t The now undoubted purposes of the Brothers being of a character necessarily leading to war, Governor Harrison proceeded to strengthen himself for the contest by preparing the militia, and posting the regular troops that were with him, under Captains Posey and Cross at Vincennes.‡ 1811. During the first half of this year, while the difficulties with England made a war with her every day more probable, nothing took place to render a contest with the Indians any the less certain. In June Harrison sent to the Shawanese leaders a message bidding them beware of hostilities. To this Tecumthe gave a brief reply, promising the Governor a visit. This visit he paid in July, accompanied by three hundred followers; - but as the Americans were prepared and determined, nothing resulted from the meeting; and the Chief proceeded to the South, as it was believed, to enlist the Creeks in his cause.§ Harrison, meanwhile, had taken steps to increase his regular troops,¶ and had received the promise of strong reinforcements, with orders, however, to be very backward in employing them** unless in case of absolute need. Under these circumstances his plan as given to the Secretary of War upon the 1st of August was to again warn the Indians to obey the treaty of Greenville, but at * Dawson's Historical Narrative. Dawson, 139, 160, 170, 173. | Dawson, 180. + Drake's Life of Tecumseh, 125. § Dawson, 179 to 187.-Drake, 134 to 145. The mother of Tecumthe was a Creek. ¶ Dawson, 179. ** Dawson, 190 to 192. 1811. Building of Fort Harrison. 515 the same time to prepare to break up the Prophet's establishment, if necessary." Messages were sent out as proposed, and deputations from the natives followed,† promising peace and compliance, but the Governor, having received his reinforcements, commenced his proposed progress. On the 5th of October he was on the Wabash sixty or sixty-five miles above Vincennes, at which point he built "Fort Harrison." Here one of his sentinels was fired upon, and news were received from the friendly Delawares which made the hostile purposes of the Prophet plain. The Governor then determined to move directly upon Tippecanoe, still offering peace, however. Upon the 31st of October he was near the mouth of the Vermillion river, where he built a block house for the protection of his boats, and a place of deposite for his heavy baggage ; § from that point he advanced without interruption into the immediate vicinity of the Prophet's town, where he was met by ambassadors; he told them he had no hostile intentions in case the Indians were true to existing treaties, and made preparations to encamp. In a few moments the man who had been with me before made his appearance. I informed him that my object for the present was to procure a good piece of ground to encamp on, where we could get wood and water; he informed me that there was a creek to the northwest which he thought would suit our purpose. I immediately despatched two officers to examine it, and they reported that the situation was excellent. I then took leave of the chief, and a mutual promise was again made for a suspension of hostilities until we could have an interview on the following day. I found the ground destined for the encampment not altogether such as I could wish it-it was indeed admirably calculated for the encampment of regular troops, that were opposed to regulars, but it afforded great facility to the approach of savages. It was a piece of dry oak land, rising about ten feet above the level of a marshy prairie in front (towards the Indian town) and nearly twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear, through which and near to this bank ran a small stream clothed with willows, and brushwood. Towards the left flank this bench of high land widened considerably, but became gradually narrower in the opposite direction, and at the distance of one Dawson, 192. + Dawson, 196. Dawson, 197.-Dawson says 65 miles from Vincennes; Perkins in his History of the War of 1812 (p. 94) says 60 miles. Dawson, 197, 198, 199. § Dawson, 203.-Official account, American State Papers, v. 776. |