IN

XVI.

TECUMSEH, AND THE WAR OF 1812.

N the year 1800 the Indiana Territory was established, and General William Henry Harrison appointed governor. Out of this territory the States of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin have since been formed. Harrison was popular, particularly with the Indians, but the latter were illtreated by the settlers, and by speculators who defrauded them, encroached upon their reserved domain, and demoralized them with whiskey.

"You call us your children," said an old chief, bitterly, to Harrison, one day; "why do you not make us happy as our fathers the French did? They never took from us our lands; indeed they were common between us. They planted where they pleased, and they cut wood where they pleased, and so did we. But now if a poor Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree as his own."

The flames of discontent were fanned by British emissaries. The price of furs was so low, owing to commercial restrictions abroad, that Indian hunters found it difficult to procure their necessary supplies from the traders. At the beginning of 1811, the excellent provisions of Wayne's treaty in their behalf having been substantially obliterated, and vast bodies of their land assured by it having been transferred to the white man and the original proprietors dispossessed, the Indians were ripe for mischief.

Just at this time a great Indian orator and warrior came forward, who had for years earnestly and successfully advocated among the tribes the policy of leagueing themselves together, with the common object of driving back the white man from the fair land of their fathers. He told them that the treaties giving up the lands north of the Ohio were fraudulent, and therefore void, and assured his auditors that he and his brother the Prophet would resist any further attempts at settlement in that direction by the white people. He also told them that the Indian's land belonged to all in common, and that no part of it could be sold without the consent of all.

Tecumseh, though a Shawnee, was born of a Creek mother, near the

his dissipated habits, assumed at that time to be a prophet. He was a cunning, unprincipled man, and was disfigured by the loss of an eye. Assuming to have had a vision, the "Prophet" everywhere harangued against drunkenness and witchcraft,

of his followers were alarmed, and ceased to drink the "fire-water" of the white man.

The great eclipse of the sun in the summer of 1806 enabled him to convince many that he possessed miraculous powers. Having learned when it was to occur, he boldly announced that on a certain day he would prove his miraculous powers by bringing darkness over the sun. At the appointed time the eclipse occurred as predicted. Pointing to the heavens, as he stood in the midst of his followers, he exclaimed, "Behold! darkness has shrouded the sun. Did I not prophesy truly?" Of course this striking phenomenon, thus adroitly used, produced a powerful effect on the Indians.

If not himself the author of this imposture, Tecumseh made great use of it to promote his grand scheme of uniting the North-western tribes, and he went from one to another of them, proclaiming the wonders of his brother's divine mission.

The white settlers were alarmed. As early as in 1807, Governor Harrison, in a speech to the chiefs and headmen of the Shawnees, denounced the Prophet as an impostor. He said to them:

"My children, this business must be stopped. Your conduct has much alarmed the white settlers near you. I will no longer suffer it. You have called a number of men from the most distant tribes to listen to a fool who speaks not the words of the Great Spirit, but those of the evil spirit and of the British agents. Let him go to the lakes; he can then hear the British more distinctly."

The tribe listened to the governor, and, in the spring of 1808, the Prophet and his followers took up their abode on the banks of the Wabash, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe River. Here the brothers continued their hostile intrigues, and succeeded in securing the warlike Wyandots as allies. Tecumseh fiercely denounced those who had taken part in the treaty made with Harrison at Fort Wayne, ceding nearly eight million acres on the Wabash, declared the treaty void, and threatened to kill every chief concerned in it. "Return those lands," he said to Harrison, "and Tecumseh will be the friend of the Americans."

As the influence of the Prophet increased, he used it for the gratification of his personal resentments, and caused the execution of several hostile Delaware chiefs, on a charge of witchcraft. One of these was Tarhe, the wise and venerable sachem of the Wyandots. Perceiving the approach of danger, Governor Harrison, who well knew the great ability and influence of Tecumseh, tried hard to conciliate him.

He told the chief that his principles and claims could not be allowed by the President, and advised him to relinquish them. "Well," said

Tecumseh, "as the Great Chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up this land. It is true he is so far off he will not be injured. by the war. He may sit still in his town, and drink his wine, while you and I will have to fight it out." This prophecy, as will be seen, was literally fulfilled.

After a speech from Tecumseh, of great boldness, dignity, and eloquence, at Vincennes, Governor Harrison, through an interpreter, invited the orator to take a seat by the side of his white father. The chief drew his robe more closely about him, and standing erect said, with scornful tone: My father? The sun is my father, and the earth is my mother, on her bosom I will repose;" and then seated himself upon the ground in the Indian fashion.

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The teachings and the active efforts of this great leader, the authority of the Prophet, and the open encouragement of the British in Canada, all had their effect. Early in 1811, the Indians in the Wabash region began stealing and plundering, and the signs of impending hostilities became more and more evident.

Harrison sent word to the brothers that if they did not put a stop to these outrages, and cease their warlike preparations, he would attack them. He at once began a fort on the site of the present city of Terre Haut, called Fort Harrison, and moved promptly forward with a force of nine hundred and ten men, mostly Indiana volunteers.

On arriving near the Prophet's town, the alarmed savages asked for a parley. It was granted. They assured Harrison that a friendly message had been sent him by the Prophet, which had missed him November 6. on the way, pointed out a suitable spot for his encampment, and exchanged promises that no hostilities should take place until an interview could be held on the following day.

Harrison's position afforded to the savages great facilities for approach, and for their peculiar mode of warfare. Knowing well the foe with whom he had to deal, the governor made such a disposition of his forces that, in the event of an attempt to surprise his camp, every man would be in his proper place to repel it with the least possible delay. The troops slept in their clothes, with their accoutrements on and their arms by their sides. The night was intensely dark, with a slight rain. Soon the whole camp, except the sentinels and guards, were sleeping soundly.

In the Indian camp, on the contrary, all was stir and activity. The Prophet, with his incantations and mystical movements, had wrought his followers up to a high pitch of excitement. "The time to attack the white man," said he, "has come. They are in your power. They sleep now and will never awake. The omens are all favorable. The Great Spirit will give light to us and darkness to the white man. Their bullets. shall not harm us; your weapons shall be always fatal." By their warsongs and dances they worked themselves into a frenzy, and then rushed forth to the attack. Stealthily they crept through the tall grass, intending to surround the camp, kill the sentinels, and then rush in to massacre every soul.

Nov. 7, 1811.

At four o'clock on the following morning, just as Harrison was pulling on his boots, a single gun, fired by a watchful sentinel, followed immediately by the horrid yells of the savages, announced that the attack had begun. A heavy fire was opened upon the troops while they were forming in front, and some of the Indians, in their first fierce onslaught, even penetrated Harrison's lines. The horses of the officers, which had been fastened to stakes in the square, broke loose, and for a few moments all was confusion.

Most of the troops were in position before they were fired upon, but some were compelled to defend themselves at the doors of their tents. The camp-fires were immediately extinguished, as their light was an advantage to the Indian marksmen. Nineteen-twentieths of the troops had never before been in battle, but, notwithstanding the alarming situation in which they were placed, their conduct was cool and gallant, and after the first momentary surprise there was little noise or confusion.