620 TECUMSEH.-BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. [Book V. a chair." "My father?" says Tecumseh, with great indignity of expression, "the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother; and on her bosom I will repose ;' and immediately seated himself, in the Indian manner, upon the ground.* The fight at Tippecanoe followed soon after. This affair took place in the night of Nov. 6, 1811, in which 62 Americans were killed, and 126 wounded. Tecumseh was not in this fight, but his brother, the Prophet, conducted or ordered the attack. During the action, he was performing conjurations on an eminence not far off, but out of danger. His men displayed great bravery, and the fight was long and bloody. Harrison lost some of his bravest ofììcers. The late Colonel Snelling, of Boston, then a captain, was in this fight, and took prisoner with his own hands an Indian chief, the only Indian taken by the Americans. The name of the captured chief we do not learn, but from his fear of being taken for a Shawanee, it is evident he was not of that tribe. When he was seized by Capt. Snelling, he ejaculated, with hurried accents, "Good man, me no Shawanee." The chiefs White-lion (Wapamangwa,) Stone-eater (Sanamahhonga,) and Winnemak, were conspicuous at this time. The latter had been the pretended friend of the governor, but now appeared his enemy. He was killed the next year by the lamented Logan. Just before hostilities commenced, in a talk Governor Harrison had with Tecumseh, the former expressed a wish, if war must follow, that cruelty to prisoners should not be allowed on either side. Tecumseh assured him that he would do all in his power to prevent it; and it is believed he strictly adhered to this resolution. Indeed, we have one example, which has never been called in question, and is worthy the great mind of this chief. When Colonel Dudley was cut off, and near 400 of his men, not far from Fort Meigs, by falling into an ambush, Tecumseh arrived at the scene of action when the Americans could resist no longer. He exerted himself to put a stop to the massacre of the soldiers, which was then going on; and meeting with a Chippeway chief who would not desist by persuasion nor threats, he buried his tomahawk in his head. † It is said that Tecumseh had been in almost every important battle with the Americans, from the destruction of General Harmer's army till his death upon the Thames. He was under the direction of General Proctor, in this last great act of his life, but was greatly dissatisfied with his course of proceedings, and is said to have remonstrated against retreating before the Americans in very pointed terms. Perry's victory had just given the Americans the command of Lake Erie; and immediately after, Proctor abandoned Detroit, and marched his majesty's army up the River Thames, accompanied by General Tecumseh, with about 1500 warriors. Harrison overtook them near the Moravian town, Oct. 5, 1813, and, after a bloody battle with the Indians, routed and took prisoners nearly the whole British army; Proctor saving himself only by flight. After withstanding almost the whole force of the Americans for some time, Tecumseh received a severe wound in the arm, but continued to fight with desperation, until a shot in the head from an unknown hand laid him prostrate in the thickest of the fight. § Of his warriors 120 were left upon the field of battle. Thus fell Tecumseh, in the forty-fourth year of his age. He was about five feet ten inches in height, of a noble appearance, and a perfectly symmetrical form. "His carriage was erect and lofty-his motions quick-his eyes penetrating his visage stern, with an air of hauteur in his countenance, which arose from an elevated pride of soul. It did not leave him even in death.” He is thus spoken of by one who knew him. At the battle of the Thames, a chief by the name of Shane served as a guide to Colonel Johnson's regiment. He informs us that he knew Tecumseh well, and that he once had had his thigh broken, which not being properly set, caused a considerable ridge in it always after. This was published in a Kentucky newspaper, lately, as necessary to prove that the Indian killed by Schoolcraft. James, i. 291-Perkins, 221. Information of his son, W. J. Snelling, Esq. of Boston. The story that he fell in a personal rencounter with Colonel Johnson, must no longer he believed. Facts are entirely opposed to such a conclusion. Indeed, we cannot learn that the colonel ever claimed the honor of the achievement. Colonel Johnson was Tecumseh. From the same paper it would seem, that, even on the day of battle, it was doubted by some whether the chief killed were Tecumseh, and that a critical inquest was held over his body; and although it was decided to be he, yet to the fact that the colonel killed him, there was a demur, even then. But, no doubt, many were willing it should so pass, thinking it a matter of not much consequence, so long as Tecumseh, their most dreaded enemy, was actually slain; and, perhaps, too, so near the event, many felt a delicacy in dissenting from the report of Colonel Johnson's friends; but when time had dispelled such jealousy, those came out frankly with their opinion, and hence resulted the actual truth of the case. That the American soldiers should have dishonored themselves, after their victory, by outraging all decency by acts of astonishing ferocity and barbarity upon the lifeless body of the fallen chief, is grievous to mention, and cannot meet with too severe condemnation. Pieces of his skin were taken away by some of them as mementoes! * He is said to have borne a personal enmity to General Harrison, at this time, for having just before destroyed his family. The celebrated speech, said to have been delivered by the great "Shawanese warrior" to General Proctor, before the battle of the Thames, is believed by many not to be genuine. It may be seen in every history of the war, and every periodical of that day, and not a few since, even to this. Therefore we omit it here. The speech of Logan, perhaps, has not circulated wider. Another, in our opinion, more worthy the mighty mind of Tecumseh, published in a work said to be written by one who heard it, is now generally (on the authority of a public journal ‡) discarded as a fiction. Among the skirmishes between the belligerents, before General Hull surrendered the north-western army, Tecumseh and his Indians acted a conspicuous part. Malden, situated at the junction of Detroit River with Lake Erie, was considered the Gibraltar of Canada, and it was expected that General Hull's first object would be to possess himself of it. In a movement that way, Colonel M'Arthur came very near being cut off by a party of Indians led by Tecumseh. About 4 miles from Malden, he found a bridge in possession of a body of the enemy; and although the bridge was carried by a force under Colonel Cass, in effecting which, 11 of the enemy were killed, yet it seems, that in a "few days afterwards" they were in possession of it again, and again the Americans stood ready to repeat the attack. It was in an attempt to reconnoitre, that Colonel M'Arthur "advanced somewhat too near the enemy, and narrowly escaped being cut off from his men" || by several Indians who had nearly prevented his retreat. Major Vanhorn was detached on the 4 August from Aux Canards, with 200 men, to convoy 150 Ohio militia and some provisions from the River Raisin. In his second day's march, near Brownstown, he fell into an ambush of 70 Indians under Tecumseh, who, firing upon him, killed 20 men; among whom were Captains M'Culloch,¶ Bostler, Gilcrease,** and Ubry: 9 more were wounded. The rest made a precipitate retreat. Major Vanhorn having failed in his attempt, Colonel Miller was sent on the 8th of August, with 600 men to protect the same provisions and transports. The next day, August 9th, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the vanguard, commanded by Captain Snelling, was fired upon by an extensive line of British and Indians, at the lower end of the village of Magaugo, 14 miles from Detroit. The main body was half a mile in the rear when the attack began. Captain Snelling maintained his position in a most gallant manner, under a heavy fire, until the line was formed and advanced to his relief. The force against which the Americans were now contending was made ur *We have often heard it said, but whether in truth we do not aver, that there are those who still own razor straps made of it. ↑ John Dunn Hunter. Since governor of Michigan, and now secretary of war. North American Review. In this officer's pocket, it is said, was found a letter written for his wife, giving an account of his having killed an Indian, from whose head he tore the scalp with his teeth. Gilchrist, commonly written. 622 TECUMSEH. [BOOK V. of a body of 500 Indians under Tecumseh, Walk-in-the-water, Marpot, and the since famous Black-hawk, and a considerable number of whites under Major Muir. They were formed behind a breastwork of felled trees. When Colonel Miller had brought his men into line, the enemy sprang from their hiding-places, and formed in line of battle, and a fierce and appalling strife ensued. The British and Indian force was one third greater than the American, but nothing could withstand them, when led on by such officers as Miller and Snelling, and the ground was disputed inch by inch for near two miles, to the village of Brownstown. Here the British took to their boats, and the Indians to the woods, and thus the battle closed. It was owing to a disobedience of orders on the part of the cavalry, that the British escaped entire destruction; for Colonel Miller ordered them to rush upon them and cut them up when their guns were unloaded, and their ranks were in confusion, but they would not, although Captain Snelling offered to lead them in person. In this affair the Indians and British lost 100 killed and 200 wounded, and the Americans had 18 killed and 58 wounded.* A British writer upon the late war, † after having related the battle of the Thames, in which Tecumseh fell, says: "It seems extraordinary that General Harrison should have omitted to mention, in his letter, the death of a chief, whose fall contributed so largely to break down the Indian spirit, and to give peace and security to the whole north-western frontier of the U. States. Tecumseh, although he had received a musket-ball in the left arm, was still seeking the hottest of the fire," when he received the mortal wound in the head, of which he in a few moments expired. The error, which for some time prevailed, of his being shot by Colonel Johnson, is copied into this author's work. The following descriptions, though in some respects erroneous, are of sufficient value to be preserved. Tecumseh was endowed "with more than the usual stoutness, possessed all the agility and perseverance, of the Indian character. His carriage was dignified; his eye penetrating; his countenance, which, even in death, betrayed the indications of a lofty spirit, rather of the sterner cast. Had he not possessed a certain austerity of manners, he could never have controlled the wayward passions of those who followed him to battle. He was of a silent habit; but, when his eloquence became roused into action by the reiterated encroachments of the Americans, his strong intellect could supply him with a flow of oratory, that enabled him, as he governed in the field, so to prescribe in the council. Those who consider that, in all territorial questions, the ablest diplomatists of the U. States are sent to negotiate with the Indians, will readily appreciate the loss sustained by the latter in the death of their champion. The Indians, in general, are full as fond as other savages of the gaudy decoration of their persons; but Tecumseh was an exception. Clothes and other valuable articles of spoil had often been his; yet he invariably wore a deerskin coat and pantaloons. He had frequently levied subsidies to, comparatively, a large amount; yet he preserved little or nothing for himself. It was not wealth, but glory, that was Tecumseh's ruling passion. Fatal day! when the Christian people' first penetrated the forests, to teach the arts of 'civilization' to the poor Indian. Till then water had been his only beverage, and himself and his race possessed all the vigor of hardy savages. Now, no Indian opens his lips to the stream that ripples by his wigwam, while he has a rag of clothes on his back, wherewith to purchase rum; and he and his squaw and his children wallow through the day, in beastly drunkenness. Instead of the sturdy warrior, with a head to plan, and an arm to execute, vengeance upon the oppressors of his country, we behold the puny, besotted wretch, squatting on his hams, ready to barter his country, his children, or himself, for a few gulps of that deleterious compound, which, far more than the arms of the United States, [Great Britain and France,] is hastening to extinguish all traces of his name and character. Tecumseh, himself, in early life, had been addicted to intemperance; but no sooner did his judgment Sketches of the War, i. 22. ↑ James, i. 287, &c As though the English of Canada had never been guilty of encroachments! decide against, than his resolution enabled him to quit, so vile a habit. Beyond one or two glasses of wine, he never afterwards indulged." It was said not to be from good will to the Americans, that he would not permit his warriors to exercise any cruelty upon them, when fallen into their power, but from principle alone. When Detroit was taken by the British and Indians, Tecumseh was in the action at the head of the latter. After the surrender, General Brock requested him not to allow his Indians to ill-treat the prisoners; to which he replied, "No! I despise them too much to meddle with them." Some of the English have said that there were few officers in the U. States' service so able to command in the field as Tecumseh. This it will not us behove to question; but it would better have become such speechmakers, if they had added, "in his peculiar mode of warfare." That he was a more wily chief than Mishikinakwa, may be doubted; that either had natural abilities inferior to those of General Wayne, or General Brock, we see no reason to believe. But this is no argument that they could practise European warfare as well as those generals. It is obvious, from his intercourse with the whites, that Tecumseh must have been better skilled in their military tactics than most, if not all, of his countrymen, whether predecessors or contemporaries. A military man,* as we apprehend, says, "He [Tecumseh] was an excellent judge of position, and not only knew, but could point out the localities of the whole country through which he had passed." "His facility of communicating the information he had acquired, was thus displayed before a concourse of spectators. Previously to General Brock's crossing over to Detroit, he asked Tecumseh what sort of a country he should have to pass through in case of his proceeding farther. Tecumseh, taking a roll of elm-bark, and extending it on the ground by means of four stones, drew forth his scalpingknife, and with the point presently etched upon the bark a plan of the country, its hills, woods, rivers, morasses, and roads; a plan which, if not as neat, was, for the purpose required, fully as intelligible as if Arrowsmith himself had prepared it. Pleased with this unexpected talent in Tecumseh, also with his having, by his characteristic boldness, induced the Indians, not of his inmediate party, to cross the Detroit, prior to the embarkation of the regulars .and militia, General Brock, as soon as the business was over, publicly took off his sash, and placed it round the body of the chief. Tecumseh received the honor with evident gratification, but was, the next day, seen without his sash. General Brock, fearing something had displeased the Indian, sent his interpreter for an explanation. The latter soon returned with an account that Tecumseh, not wishing to wear such a mark of distinction, when an older, and, as he said, abler, warrior than himself was present, had transferred the sash to the Wyandot chief Round-head." The place of this renowned warrior's birth was upon the banks of the Scioto River, near what is now Chillicothe. His father's name was Pukeesheno, which means, I light from flying. He was killed in the battle of Kanhawa, in 1774. His mother's name was Meetheetashe, which signifies, a turtle laying her eggs in the sand. She died among the Cherokees. She had, at one birth, three sons:-Ellskwatawa, which signifies, a door opened, was called the Prophet; Tecumseh, which is, a tiger crouching for his prey; and Kumskaka, a tiger that flies in the air. † We will here present the reader with a specimen of the Shawanee language, in the Lord's Prayer. Coe-thin-a, spim-i-key yea-taw-yan-oe, o-wes-sa-yeg yey-sey-tho-yan-ae: Daypale-i-tum-any-pay-itch tha-key, yea-issi-tay-hay-yon-ae issi-nock-i-key, yoe-ma assis-key-kie pi-sey spim-i-key. Me-li-na-key oe noo-ki cos-si-kie ta-wa-it-thin oe yea-wap-a-ki tuck-whan-a; puck-i-tum-i-wa-loo kne-won-ot-i-they-way. Yea-sepuck-i-tum-a ma-chil-i-tow-e-ta thick-i ma-chaw-ki tus-sy-neigh-puck-sin-a wamun-si-loo wau po won-ot-i-they ya key-la tay pale-i-tum-any way wis-sa kie was-si-cut-i-we-way thay-pay-we-way.‡ * Mr James, ut supra. † Schoolcraft. Carey's Museum, vi. 313, (for 1789.) 624 ELLSKWATAWA, THE PROPHET. [BOOK V. In 1826, the only surviving son of Tecumseh, whose name is Puchether, which signifies crouching or watching his prey, left the Ohio to settle beyond the Mississippi.* This son, when his father was slain, was fighting by his side. "The prince regent," says Mr. James, "in 1814, out of respect to the memory to the old, sent out as a present to the young Tecumseh a handsome sword;" and then closes this paragraph with this most savage lamentation: "Unfortunately, however, for the Indian cause and country, faint are the prospects that Tecumseh the son will ever equal, in wisdom or prowess, Tecumseh the father." + ELLSKWATAWA. Although we have given some important facts in the life of this impostor, there are some circumstances which claim to be related. After the termination of the war of 1812, he received a pension from the government of Great Britain, and resided in Canada. In 1826, he was prevailed upon to leave that country, and went, with others, to settle beyond the Mississippi. At the same time also went the only surviving son of Tecumseh. Much has been said and written about the Prophet; and, as is generally the case, the accounts vary, in proportion to their multiplicity. From a wellwritten article in a foreign periodical, it is said that, during the first 50 years of his life, he was remarkable for nothing except his stupidity and intoxication. In his 50th year, while in the act of lighting his pipe, he fell back in his cabin, upon his bed; and, continuing for some time lifeless, to all appearances, preparations were made for his interment; and it was not until the tribe was assembled, as usual on such occasions, and they were in the act of removing him, that he revived. His first words were, "Don't be alarmed. 1 have seen heaven. Call the nation together, that I may tell them what has appeared to me." When they were assembled, he told them that two beautiful young men had been sent from heaven by the Great Spirit, who spoke thus to him: -The Great Spirit is angry with you, and will destroy all the red men: unless you refrain from drunkenness, lying and stealing, and turn yourselves to him, you shall never enter the beautiful place which we will now show you." He was then conducted to the gates of heaven, from whence he could behold all its beauties, but was not permitted to enter. After undergoing several hours' tantalization, from extreme desire of participating in its indescribable joys and pleasures, he was dismissed. His conductors told him to tell all the Indians what he had seen; to repent of their ways, and they would visit him again. My authority says, that, on the Prophet's visiting the neighboring nations, his mission had a good effect on their morals, &c. But this part of his story, at least, is at variance with facts; for none would hear to him, except the most abandoned young warriors of those tribes he visited, and their miserable condition in colonizing themselves upon the Wabash, in 1811, is well known. § There was an earthquake said to have taken place in the Creek country, in December, 1811. || The Prophet visited the Creeks in the previous August, and "pronounced in the public square, that shortly a lamp would appear in the west, to aid him in his hostile attack upon the whites, and, if they would not be influenced by his persuasion, the earth would ere long tremble to its centre. This circumstance has had a powerful effect on the minds of these Indians, and would certainly have led them, generally, to have united with the northern coalition, had it not been for the interposition of travellers." This statement was made by a Mr. Francis M'Henry, in the Georgia Journal, to contradict that ever any such earthquake did take place, and by which we * Johnson's Ind. Nar. 217. † Military Occurrences, i. 293. This famous vision of the Prophet will compare in strangeness with that of Keposh, head chief of the Delaware nation, related by Loskeil, (ii. 114.) He lay to all appearance dead for three days. In his swoon, he saw a man in white robes, who exhibited a catalogue of the people's sins, and warned him to repent. In 1749, he was about 80 years of age, and was baptized by the name of Solomon. We have related in Book III. an account of Squando's vision; and others might be mentioned. "The earthquakes, which, in 1811, almost destroyed the town of New Madrid of the Mississippi, were very sensibly felt on the upper portion of the Missouri country, and occa sioned much superstitious dread amongst the Indians." Long's Expedition, i. 272. |