CHAPTER I.

E-text prepared by Wallace McLean, Leonard Johnson, and the Project

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LIFE OF TECUMSEH, AND OF HIS BROTHER THE PROPHET;

With a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians

by

BENJAMIN DRAKE

Author of _The Life of Black Hawk_, _Tales from the Queen City_, &c. &c.

Cincinnati:

Printed and Published by E. Morgan & Co.

Stereotyped by J.A. James,

Cincinnati.

1841

PREFACE

Many years have elapsed since the author of this volume determined to

write the life of TECUMSEH and of his brother the PROPHET, and actually

commenced the collection of the materials for its accomplishment. From

various causes, the completion of the task has been postponed until the

present time. This delay, however, has probably proved beneficial to

the work, as many interesting incidents in the lives of these

individuals are now embraced in its pages, which could not have been

included had it been put to press at an earlier period.

In the preparation of this volume, the author's attention was drawn, to

some extent, to the history of the Shawanoe tribe of Indians: and he

has accordingly prefixed to the main work, a brief historical narrative

of this wandering and warlike nation, with biographical sketches of

several of its most distinguished chiefs.

The author is under lasting obligations to a number of gentlemen

residing in different sections of the country, for the substantial

assistance which they have kindly afforded him in the collection of the

matter embraced in this volume. Other sources of information have not,

however, been neglected. All the histories, magazines and journals

within the reach of the author, containing notices of the subjects of

this memoir, have been carefully consulted. By application at the

proper department at Washington, copies of the numerous letters written

by general Harrison to the Secretary of War in the years 1808, '9, '10,

'11, '12 and '13, were obtained, and have been found of much value in

the preparation of this work. As governor of Indiana territory,

superintendant of Indian affairs, and afterwards commander-in-chief of

the north-western army, the writer of those letters possessed

opportunities of knowing Tecumseh and the Prophet enjoyed by no other

individuals.

In addition to these several sources of information, the author has

personally, at different times, visited the frontiers of Ohio and

Indiana, for the purpose of conversing with the Indians and the

pioneers of that region, who happened to be acquainted with Tecumseh

and his brother; and by these visits, has been enabled to enrich his

narrative with some amusing and valuable anecdotes.

In the general accuracy of his work the author feels considerable

confidence: in its merit, as a literary production, very little. Every

line of it having been written while suffering under the depressing

influence of ill health, he has only aimed at a simple narrative style,

without any reference to the graces of a polished composition. B.D.

Cincinnati, 1841.

CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF THE SHAWANOE INDIANS

CATAHECASSA, or BLACK-HOOF

CORNSTALK

SPEMICA-LAWBA, the HIGH HORN; or, CAPTAIN LOGAN

THE LIFE OF TECUMSEH.

CHAPTER I.

Parentage of Tecumseh--his sister Tecumapease--his brother Cheeseekan,

Sauweeseekau, Nehasseemo, Tenskwautawa or the Prophet, and

Kumakauka

CHAPTER II.

Birth place of Tecumseh--destruction of the Piqua village--early habits

of Tecumseh--his first battle--effort to abolish the burning of

prisoners--visits the Cherokees in the south--engages in several

battles--returns to Ohio in the autumn of 1790

CHAPTER III.

Tecumseh attacked near Big Rock by some whites under Robert

M'Clelland--severe battle with some Kentuckians on the East Fork of the

Little Miami--attack upon Tecumseh in 1793, on the waters of Paint

creek--Tecumseh present at the attack on fort Recovery in

1794--participates in the battle of the Rapids of the Maumee, in

1794

CHAPTER IV.

Tecumseh's skill as a hunter--declines attending the treaty of

Greenville in 1796--in 1796 removed to Great Miami--in 1798 joined a

party of Delawares on White river, Indiana--in 1799 attended a council

between the whites and Indians near Urbana--another at Chillicothe in

1803--makes an able speech--removes with the Prophet to Greenville, in

1805--the latter commences prophecying--causes the death of Teteboxti,

Patterson, Coltos, and Joshua--governor Harrison's speech to the

Prophet to arrest these murderers--effort of Wells the U.S. Indian

agent to prevent Tecumseh and the Prophet from assembling the Indians

at Greenville--Tecumseh's speech in reply--he attends a council at

Chillicothe--speech on that occasion--council at Springfield--Tecumseh

principal speaker and actor

CHAPTER V.

Governor Harrison's address to the Shawanoe chiefs at Greenville--the

Prophet's reply--his influence felt among the remote tribes--he is

visited in 1808 by great numbers of Indians--Tecumseh and the Prophet

remove to Tippecanoe--the latter sends a speech to governor

Harrison--makes him a visit at Vincennes

CHAPTER VI.

Tecumseh visits the Wyandots--governor Harrison's letter about the

Prophet to the Secretary of War--British influence over the

Indians--Tecumseh burns governor Harrison's letter to the chiefs--great

alarm in Indiana, in consequence of the assemblage of the Indians at

Tippecanoe--death of Leatherlips, a Wyandot chief, on a charge of

witchcraft

CHAPTER VII.

Governor Harrison makes another effort to ascertain the designs of

Tecumseh and the Prophet--Tecumseh visits the governor at Vincennes,

attended by four hundred warriors--a council is held--Tecumseh becomes

deeply excited, and charges governor Harrison with falsehood--council

broken up in disorder--renewed the next day

CHAPTER VIII.

Alarm on the frontier continues--a Muskoe Indian killed at

Vincennes--governor Harrison sends a pacific speech to Tecumseh and the

Prophet--the former replies to it--in July Tecumseh visits governor

Harrison at Vincennes--disavows any intention of making war upon the

whites--explains his object in forming a union among the

tribes--governor Harrison's opinion of Tecumseh and the Prophet--murder

of the Deaf Chief--Tecumseh visits the southern Indians

CHAPTER IX.

Governor Harrison applies to the War Department for troops to maintain

peace on the frontiers--battle of Tippecanoe on the 7th of

November--its influence on the Prophet and his followers

CHAPTER X.

Tecumseh returns from the south--proposes to visit the President, but

declines, because not permitted to go to Washington at the head of a

party--attends a council at fort Wayne--proceeds to Malden and joins

the British--governor Harrison's letter to the War Department relative

to the north-west tribes

CHAPTER XI.

Tecumseh participates in the battle of Brownstown--commands the Indians

in the action near Maguaga--present at Hull's surrender--general Brock

presents him his military sash--attack on Chicago brought about by

Tecumseh

CHAPTER XII.

Siege of fort Meigs--Tecumseh commands the Indians--acts with

intrepidity--rescues the American prisoners from the tomahawk and

scalping knife, after Dudley's defeat--reported agreement between

Proctor and Tecumseh, that general Harrison, if taken prisoner, should

be delivered to the latter to be burned

CHAPTER XIII.

Tecumseh present at the second attack on fort Meigs--his stratagem of a

sham-battle to draw out general Clay--is posted in the Black Swamp with

two thousand warriors at the time of the attack on fort

Stephenson--from thence passes by land to Malden--compels general

Proctor to release an American prisoner--threatens to desert the

British cause--urges an attack upon the American fleet--opposes

Proctor's retreat from Malden--delivers a speech to him on that

occasion

CHAPTER XIV.

Retreat of the combined British and Indian army to the river

Thames--skirmish at Chatham with the troops under general

Harrison--Tecumseh slightly wounded in the arm--battle on the Thames on

the 5th of October--Tecumseh's death

CHAPTER XV.

Critical examination of the question "who killed Tecumseh?"--colonel

R.M. Johnson's claim considered

CHAPTER XVI.

Mr. Jefferson's opinion of the Prophet--brief sketch of his

character--anecdotes of Tecumseh--a review of the great principles of

his plan of union among the tribes--general summary of his life and

character

HISTORY

OF THE

SHAWANOE INDIANS.

There is a tradition among the Shawanoes, in regard to their origin,

which is said to be peculiar to that tribe. While most of the

aborigines of this country believe that their respective races came out

of holes in the earth at different places on this continent, the

Shawanoes alone claim, that their ancestors once inhabited a foreign

land; but having determined to leave it, they assembled their people

and marched to the sea shore. Here, under the guidance of a leader of

the Turtle tribe, one of their twelve original subdivisions, they

walked into the sea, the waters of which immediately parted, and they

passed in safety along the bottom of the ocean, until they reached this

island.[A]

[Footnote A: History of the Indian Tribes of North America, by James

Hall and J. L. McKinney, a valuable work, containing one hundred and

twenty richly colored portraits of Indian chiefs.]

The Shawanoes have been known by different names. The Iroquois,

according to Colden's history of the "Five Nations," gave them the

appellation of Satanas. The Delawares, says Gallatin, in his synopsis

of the Indian tribes, call them Shawaneu, which means _southern_. The

French writers mention them under the name of Chaouanons; and

occasionally they are denominated Massawomees.

The orthography of the word by which they are generally designated, is

not very well settled. It has been written Shawanos, Sawanos, Shawaneu,

Shawnees and Shawanoes, which last method of spelling the word, will be

followed in the pages of this work.

The original seats of the Shawanoes have been placed in different

sections of the country. This has doubtless been owing to their very

erratic disposition. Of their history, prior to the year 1680, but

little is known. The earliest mention of them by any writer whose work

has fallen under our observation, was in the beginning of the

seventeenth century. Mr. Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," says

that when captain John Smith first arrived in America a fierce war was

raging against the allied Mohicans, residing on Long Island, and the

Shawanoes on the Susquehanna, and to the westward of that river, by the

Iroquois. Captain Smith first landed on this continent in April, 1607.

In the following year, 1608, he penetrated down the Susquehanna to the

mouth of it, where he met six or seven of their canoes, filled with

warriors, about to attack their enemy in the rear. De Laet, in 1632, in

his enumeration of the different tribes, on either side of the Delaware

river, mentions the Shawanoes.--Charlevoix speaks of them under the

name of Chaouanons, as neighbors and allies in 1672, of the Andastes,

an Iroquois tribe, living south of the Senecas. Whether any of the

Shawanoes were present at the treaty[A] made in 1682, under the

celebrated Kensington elm, between William Penn and the Indians, does

not positively appear from any authorities before us; that such,

however, was the fact, may be fairly inferred, from the circumstance

that at a conference between the Indians and governor Keith, in 1722,

the Shawanoes exhibited a copy of this treaty written on parchment.

[Footnote A: "This treaty," says Voltaire, "was the first made between

those people (the Indians) and the Christians, that was not ratified

with an oath, and that was never broken."]

To the succeeding one made at Philadelphia, in February, 1701, the

Shawanoes were parties, being represented on that occasion, by their

chiefs, Wopatha, Lemoytungh and Pemoyajagh.[A] More than fifty years

afterward, a manuscript copy of this treaty of commerce and friendship,

was in the possession of the Shawanoes of Ohio, and was exhibited by

them. In 1684, the Iroquois, when complained of by the French for

having attacked the Miamis, justified their conduct on the-ground, that

they had invited the Santanas (Shawanoes) into the country, for the

purpose of making war upon them.[B] The Sauks and Foxes, whose

residence was originally on the St. Lawrence, claim the Shawanoes as

belonging to the same stock with themselves, and retain traditional

accounts of their emigration to the south.[C] In the "History of the

Indian Tribes of North America," when speaking of the Shawanoes, the

authors say, "their manners, customs and language indicate a northern

origin; and, upwards of two centuries ago, they held the country south

of Lake Erie. They were the first tribe which felt the force and

yielded to the superiority of the Iroquois. Conquered by these, they

migrated to the south, and from fear or favor, were allowed to take

possession of a region upon the Savannah river; but what part of that

stream, whether in Georgia or Florida, is not known; it is presumed the

former." Mr. Gallatin speaks of the final defeat of the Shawanoes and

their allies, in a war with the Five Nations, as having taken place in

the year 1672. This same writer, who has carefully studied the language

of the aborigines, considers the Shawanoes as belonging to the Lenape

tribes of the north. From these various authorities, it is apparent

that the Shawanoes belonged originally to the Algonkin-Lenape nation;

and that during the three first quarters of the seventeenth century,

they were found in eastern Pennsylvania, on the St. Lawrence, and the

southern shore of Lake Erie; and generally at war with some of the

neighboring tribes. Whether their dispersion, which is supposed to have

taken place about the year 1672, drove them all to the south side of

the Ohio, does not very satisfactorily appear.

[Footnote A: Proud's History of Pennsylvania.]

[Footnote B: Colden.]

[Footnote C: Morse's Report.]

Subsequently to this period, the Shawanoes were found on the Ohio river

below the Wabash, in Kentucky, Georgia and the Carolinas. Lawson, in

his history of Carolina in 1708, speaks of the Savanoes, removing from

the Mississippi to one of the rivers of South Carolina. Gallatin quotes

an authority which sustains Lawson, and which establishes the fact that

at a very early period in the history of the south, there was a

Shawanoe settlement on the head waters of the Catawba or Santee, and

probably of the Yadkin. From another authority it appears, that for a

time the Shawanoes had a station on the Savannah river, above Augusta;

and Adair, who refers to the war between the Shawanoes and Cherokees,

saw a body of the former in the wilderness, who, after having wandered

for some time in the woods, were then returning to the Creek country.

According to John Johnston,[A] a large party of the Shawanoes, who

originally lived north of the Ohio, had for some cause emigrated as far

south as the Suwanoe river, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. From

thence they returned, under the direction of a chief named Black Hoof,

about the middle of the last century, to Ohio. It is supposed that this

tribe gave name to the Suwanoe river, in 1750, by which name the

Cumberland was also known, when Doctor Walker, (of Virginia) visited

Kentucky.

[Footnote A: I Vol. Trans. Amer. Antiquarian Society.]

Of the causes which led the Shawanoes to abandon the south, but little

is known beyond what may be gleaned from their traditions. Heckewelder,

in his contributions to the American Philosophical Society, says, "they

were a restless people, delighting in wars, in which they were

constantly engaged with some of the surrounding nations. At last their

neighbors, tired of being continually harassed by them, formed a league

for their destruction. The Shawanoes finding themselves thus

dangerously situated, asked to be permitted to leave the country, which

was granted to them; and they immediately removed to the Ohio. Here

their main body settled, and then sent messengers to their elder

brother,[A] the Mohicans, requesting them to intercede for them with

their grandfather, the Lenni Lenape, to take them under his protection.

This the Mohicans willingly did, and even sent a body of their own

people to conduct their younger brother into the country of the

Delawares. The Shawanoes finding themselves safe under the protection

of their grandfather, did not choose to proceed to the eastward, but

many of them remained on the Ohio, some of whom settled as far up that

river as the long island, above which the French afterwards built fort

Duquesne, on the spot where Pittsburg now stands. Those who proceeded

farther, were accompanied by their chief, named Gachgawatschiqua, and

settled principally at and about the forks of the Delaware, between

that and the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill; and some, even

on the spot where Philadelphia now stands; others were conducted by the

Mohicans into their own country, where they intermarried with them and

became one people. When those settled near the Delaware had multiplied,

they returned to Wyoming on the Susquehannah, where they resided for a

great number of years."

[Footnote A: The Shawanoes call the Mohicans their _elder brother_, and

the Delawares their _grandfather_.]

Chapman, in his history of Wyoming, states, that after the Shawanoes

were driven from Georgia and Florida, they built a town at the mouth of

the Wabash, and established themselves in it. They then applied to the

Delawares for some territory on which to reside. When granted, a

council was held to consider the propriety of accepting the offer of

the Delawares. On this question the Shawanoes divided--part of them

remained on the Wabash,--the others, composing chiefly the Piqua tribe,

formed a settlement in the forks of the Delaware. Alter a time, a

disagreement arose between them and the Delawares, which induced the

former to remove to the valley of the Wyoming, on the Susquehannah, on

the west bank of which they built a town, and lived in repose many

years. Subsequently to the treaty held at Philadelphia, in 1742,

between the governor and the Six Nations, the Delawares were driven

from that part of Pennsylvania; and a portion of them also removed to

the Wyoming valley, then in possession of the Shawanoes, and secured

the quiet occupancy of a part of it; built a town on the east bank of

the river, which they called Waughwauwame, where they lived for some

time, on terms of amity with their new neighbors.

During the summer of 1742, count Zinzendorf of Saxony, came to America

on a religious mission, connected with the ancient church of the United

Brethren. Having heard of the Shawanoes at Wyoming, he determined to

make an effort to introduce Christianity among them. He accordingly

made them a visit, but did not meet with a cordial reception. The

Shawanoes supposed that the missionary was in pursuit of their lands;

and a party of them determined to assassinate him privately, for fear

of exciting other Indians to hostility. The attempt upon his life was

made, but strangely defeated. Chapman relates the manner of it, which

he obtained from a companion of the count, who did not publish it in

his memoirs, lest the United Brethren might suppose that the subsequent

conversion of the Shawanoes was the result of their superstition. It is

as follows:

"Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds,

which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins

approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the

cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary for his

comfort and convenience. A curtain, formed of a blanket, and hung upon

pins, was the only guard to his tent. The heat of this small fire had

aroused a large rattlesnake, which lay in the weeds not far from it;

and the reptile, to enjoy it the more effectually, had crawled slowly

into the tent, and passed over one of his legs, undiscovered. Without,

all was still and quiet, except the gentle murmur of the river, at the

rapids about a mile below. At this moment, the Indians softly

approached the door of his tent and slightly removing the curtain,

contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of

his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay

before him. At a sight like this, even the heart of the savages shrunk

from the idea of committing so horrid an act; and, quitting the spot,

they hastily returned to the town, and informed their companions, that

the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they had found him with

no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his

legs without attempting to injure him. This circumstance, together with

the arrival soon afterwards of Conrad Weizer, the interpreter, procured

the count the friendship of the Indians, and probably induced some of

them to embrace Christianity."

When the war between the French and the English occurred in 1754, the

Shawanoes on the Ohio took sides with the former; but the appeal to

those residing at Wyoming to do the same, was ineffectual. The

influence of the count's missionary efforts had made them averse to

war. But an event which happened soon afterward, disturbed the peace of

their settlement, and finally led to their removal from the valley.

Occasional difficulties of a transient nature, had arisen between the

Delawares and the Shawanoes at Wyoming. An unkind feeling, produced by

trifling local causes, had grown up between the two tribes. At length a

childish dispute about the possession of a harmless grasshopper,

brought on a bloody battle; and a final separation of the two parties

soon followed. One day, while most of the Delaware men were absent on a

hunting excursion, the women of that tribe went out to gather wild

fruits on the margin of the river, below their village. Here they met a

number of Shawanoe women and their children, who had crossed the stream

in their canoes, and were similarly engaged. One of the Shawanoe

children having caught a large grasshopper, a dispute arose with some

of the Delaware children, in regard to the possession of it. In this

quarrel, as was natural, the mothers soon became involved. The Delaware

women contended for the possession of the grasshopper on the ground

that the Shawanoes possessed no privileges on that side of the river. A

resort to violence ensued, and the Shawanoe women being in the

minority, were speedily driven to their canoes, and compelled to seek

safety by flight to their own bank of the stream. Here the matter

rested until the return of the hunters, when the Shawanoes, in order to

avenge the indignity offered to their women, armed themselves for

battle. When they attempted to cross the river, they found the

Delawares duly prepared to receive them and oppose their landing. The

battle commenced while the Shawanoes were still in their canoes, but

they at length effected a landing, which was followed by a general and

destructive engagement. The Shawanoes having lost a number of their

warriors before reaching the shore, were too much weakened to sustain

the battle for any length of time. After the loss of nearly one half

their party, they were compelled to fly to their own side of the river.

Many of the Delawares were killed. Shortly after this disastrous

contest, the Shawanoes quietly abandoned their village, and removed

westward to the banks of the Ohio.[A]

[Footnote A: Chapman]

After the Shawanoes of Pennsylvania had fallen back upon the waters of

the Ohio, they spread themselves from the Alleghenies as far westward

as the Big Miami. One of their villages was seventeen miles below

Pittsburg: it was called Log's Town, and was visited by Croghan, in

1765. Another, named Lowertown, also visited by the same traveler,

stood just below the mouth of the Scioto. It was subsequently carried

away by a great flood in that river, which overflowed the site of the

town, and compelled the Indians to escape in their canoes. They

afterwards built a new town on the opposite side of the river, but soon

abandoned it, and removed to the plains of the Scioto and Paint creek,

where they established themselves, on the north fork of the latter

stream. They had also several other villages of considerable size in

the Miami valley. One was "Chillicothe," standing near the mouth of

Massie's creek, three miles north of Xenia. Another, called Piqua, and

memorable as the birth place of TECUMSEH, the subject of our present

narrative, stands upon the north-west side of Mad river, about seven

miles below Springfield, in Clark county. Both of these villages were

destroyed in 1780, by an expedition from Kentucky, under the command of

general George Rogers Clark.

After the peace of 1763, the Miamis having removed from the Big Miami

river, a body of Shawanoes established themselves at Lower and Upper

Piqua, in Miami county, which places, being near together, became their

great head-quarters in Ohio. Here they remained until driven off by the

Kentuckians; when they crossed over to the St. Mary's and to

Wapakanotta. The Upper Piqua is said to have contained, at one period,

near four thousand Shawanoes.[A]

[Footnote A: John Johnston.]

From the geographical location of the Shawanoes, it will be perceived

that they were placed under circumstances which enabled them, with

great facility, to annoy the early settlements in Kentucky; and to

attack the emigrants descending the Ohio. In this fierce border war,

which was waged upon the whites for a number of years, and oftentimes

with extreme cruelty, the Delawares, Wyandots, Mingoes and Miamis,

united: the Shawanoes, however, were by far the most warlike and

troublesome.

The Shawanoes were originally divided into twelve tribes or bands, each

of which was sub-divided into families, known as the Eagle, the Turtle,

the Panther, &c., these animals constituting their _totems_. Of these

twelve, the names of but four tribes are preserved, the rest having

become extinct, or incorporated with them. They are, 1st. the

Mequachake,--2d. the Chillicothe,--3d. the Kiskapocoke,--4th. the

Piqua. When in council, one of these tribes is assigned to each of the

four sides of the council-house, and during the continuance of the

deliberations, the tribes retain their respective places. They claim to

have the power of distinguishing, at sight, to which tribe an

individual belongs; but to the casual observer, there are no visible

shades of difference. In each of the four tribes, except the

Mequachake, the chiefs owe their authority to merit, but in the last

named, the office is hereditary. Of the origin of the Piqua tribe, the

following tradition has been recited:[A] "In ancient times, the

Shawanoes had occasion to build a large fire, and after it was burned

down, a great puffing and blowing was heard, when up rose a man from

the ashes!--hence the name Piqua, which means a man coming out of the

ashes." Mequachake, signifies a perfect man. To this tribe the

priesthood is confided. The members, or rather certain individuals of

it, are alone permitted to perform the sacrifices and other religious

ceremonies of the tribe.[B] The division of the tribe into bands or

totems, is not peculiar to the Shawanoes, but is common to several

other nations. One of the leading causes of its institution, was the

prohibition of marriage between those related in a remote degree of

consanguinity. Individuals are not at liberty to change their totems,

or disregard the restraint imposed by it on intermarriages. It is

stated in Tanner's narrative, that the Indians hold it to be criminal

for a man to marry a woman whose totem is the same as his own; and they

relate instances where young men, for a violation of this rule, have

been put to death by their nearest relatives. Loskiel, in his history

of the Moravian missions, says, the Delawares and Iroquois never marry

near relatives. According to their own account, the Indian nations were

divided into tribes for the sole purpose, that no one might, either

through temptation or mistake, marry a near relation, which is now

scarcely possible, for whoever intends to marry must take a person of a

different totem. Another reason for the institution of these totems,

may be found in their influence on the social relations of the tribe,

in softening private revenge, and preserving peace. Gallatin, on the

information derived from a former Indian agent[C] among the Creeks,

says, "according to the ancient custom, if an offence was committed by

one or another member of the same clan, the compensation to be made, on

account of the injury, was regulated in an amicable way by the other

members of the clan. Murder was rarely expiated in any other way than

by the death of the murderer; the nearest male relative of the deceased

was the executioner; but this being done, as under the authority of the

clan, there was no further retaliation. If the injury was committed by

some one of another clan, it was not the injured party, but the clan to

which he belonged, that asked for reparation. This was rarely refused

by the clan of the offender; but in case of refusal, the injured clan

had a right to do itself justice, either by killing the offender, in

case of murder, or inflicting some other punishment for lesser

offences. This species of private war, was, by the Creeks, called, 'to

take up the sticks;' because, the punishment generally consisted in

beating the offender. At the time of the annual corn-feast, the sticks

were laid down, and could not be again taken up for the same offence.

But it seems that originally there had been a superiority among some of

the clans. That of the Wind, had the right to take up the sticks four

times, that of the Bear twice, for the same offence; whilst those of

the Tiger, of the Wolf, of the Bird, of the Root, and of two more whose

names I do not know, could raise them but once. It is obvious that the

object of the unknown legislation, was to prevent or soften the effects

of private revenge, by transferring the power and duty from the blood

relatives to a more impartial body. The father and his brothers, by the

same mother, never could belong to the same clan, as their son or

nephew, whilst the perpetual changes, arising from intermarriages with

women of a different clan, prevented their degenerating into distinct

tribes; and checked the natural tendency towards a subdivision of the

nation into independent communities. The institution may be considered

as the foundation of the internal policy, and the basis of the social

state of the Indians."

[Footnote A: Stephen Ruddell's manuscript account of the Shawanoes, in

possession of the author.]

[Footnote B: John Johnston.]

[Footnote C: Mitchell.]

One mode of ascertaining the origin of the Indian tribes, and of

determining their relation to each other, as well as to other races of

mankind, is the study of their language. This has, at different times,

engaged the attention of several able philologists, who have done much

to analyze the Indian languages, and to arrange in systematic order,

the numerous dialects of this erratic people. The results of the

investigation of one[A] of the most learned and profound of these

individuals, may be summed up in the three following propositions:

1. "That the American languages in general, are rich in words and in

grammatical forms, and that in their complicated construction, the

greatest order, method and regularity prevail.

2. "That these complicated forms, which I call _poly synthetic,_ appear

to exist in all those languages, from Greenland to Cape Horn.

3. "That these forms appear to differ essentially from those of the

ancient and modern languages of the old hemisphere."

[Footnote A: Mr. Duponceau.]

In a late learned dissertation[A] on this subject, it is stated that in

nearly the whole territory contained in the United States, and in

British and Russian America, there are only eight great families, each

speaking a distinct language, subdivided in many instances, into a

number of dialects belonging to the same stock. These are the Eskimaux,

the Athapascas (or Cheppeyans,) the Black Feet, the Sioux, the

Algonkin-Lenape, the Iroquois, the Cherokee, and the Mobilian or

Chahta-Muskhog. The Shawanoes belong to the Algonkin-Lenape family, and

speak a dialect of that language. It bears a strong affinity to the

Mohican and the Chippeway, but more especially the Kickapoo. Valuable

vocabularies of the Shawanoe language have been given by Johnston and

by Gallatin in their contributions to the American Antiquarian Society,

which may be consulted by those disposed to prosecute the study of this

subject.

[Footnote A: Mr. Gallatin.]

The Shawanoes have been known since the first discovery of this

country, as a restless, wandering people, averse to the pursuits of

agriculture, prone to war and the chase. They have, within that period,

successively occupied the southern shore of lake Erie, the banks of the

Ohio and Mississippi, portions of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee,

Kentucky, and eastern Pennsylvania; then again the plains of Ohio, and

now the small remnant of them that remains, are established west of

Missouri and Arkansas. They have been involved in numerous bloody wars

with other tribes; and for near half a century, resisted with a bold,

ferocious spirit, and an indomitable hatred, the progress of the white

settlements in Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and especially Kentucky.

The Shawanoes have declined more rapidly in numbers[A] than any other

tribe of Indians known to the whites. This has been, and we suppose

justly, attributed to their wandering habits and their continual wars.

Although one of their villages is said once to have contained four

thousand souls, their present number does not exceed eighteen hundred.

They have ever been considered a courageous, powerful and faithless

race; who hare claimed for themselves a pre-eminence not only over

other tribes, but also over the whites.[B] Their views in regard to

this superiority were briefly set forth by one of their chiefs at a

convention held at fort Wayne, in 1803.

[Footnote A: John Johnston.]

[Footnote B: General Harrison considers the Shawanoes, Delawares and

Miamis, as much superior to the other tribes of the west.]

"The Master of Life," said he, "who was himself an Indian, made the

Shawanoes before any other of the human race; and they sprang from his

brain: he gave them all the knowledge he himself possessed, and placed

them upon the great island, and all the other red people are descended

from the Shawanoes. After he had made the Shawanoes, he made the French

and English out of his breast, the Dutch out of his feet, and the

long-knives out of his hands. All these inferior races of men he made

white and placed them beyond the stinking lake.[A]

"The Shawanoes for many ages continued to be masters of the continent,

using the knowledge they had received from the Great Spirit in such a

manner as to be pleasing to him, and to secure their own happiness. In

a great length of time, however, they became corrupt, and the Master of

Life told them that he would take away from them the knowledge which

they possessed, and give it to the white people, to be restored, when

by a return to good principles they would deserve it. Many ages after

that, they saw something white approaching their shores; at first they

took it for a great bird, but they soon found it to be a monstrous

canoe filled with the very people who had got the knowledge which

belonged to the Shawanoes. After these white people landed, they were

not content with having the knowledge which belonged to the Shawanoes,

but they usurped their lands also; they pretended, indeed, to have

purchased these lands; but the very goods they gave for them, were more

the property of the Indians than the white people, because the

knowledge which enabled them to manufacture these goods actually

belonged to the Shawanoes: but these things will soon have an end. The

Master of Life is about to restore to the Shawanoes both their

knowledge and their rights, and he will trample the long knives under

his feet."

[Footnote A: Atlantic Ocean.]

It has been already stated that, for a series of years, the several

tribes of Indians residing in the territory now forming the state of

Ohio, made violent opposition to the settlement of the whites, west of

the Alleghanies. Among the most formidable of these were the Shawanoes.

The emigrants, whether male or female, old or young, were every where

met by the torch, the tomahawk and the scalping-knife. The war-cry of

the savage was echoed from shore to shore of the beautiful Ohio, whose

waters were but too often reddened with the blood of women and

children. Many of those who escaped the perils of the river, and had

reared their log-cabins amid the cane-brakes of Kentucky, were doomed

to encounter the same ruthless foe, and fell victims to the same

unrelenting cruelty. While the feelings are shocked at these dreadful

scenes of blood and carnage, and the Indian character rises in hideous

deformity before the mind, it is not to be forgotten that there are

many mitigating circumstances to be pleaded in behalf of the

aborigines. They were an ignorant people, educated alone for war,

without the lights of civilization, without the attributes of mercy

shed abroad by the spirit of christianity. They were contending for

their homes and their hunting grounds--the tombs of their

forefathers--the graves of their children. They saw the gradual, but

certain, encroachments of the whites upon their lands; and they had the

sagacity to perceive, that unless this mighty wave of emigration was

arrested, it would overwhelm them. They fought as savage nature will

fight, with unflinching courage and unrelenting cruelty. But it was not

alone this encroachment upon their lands, which roused their savage

passions. The wanton aggressions of the whites oftentimes provoked the

fearful retaliation of the red-man. The policy of the United States

towards the Indians has generally been of a pacific and benevolent

character; but, in carrying out that policy, there have been many

signal and inexcusable failures. The laws enacted by congress for the

protection of the rights of the Indians, and to promote their comfort

and civilization, have, in a great variety of cases, remained a dead

letter upon the statute book. The agents of the government have often

proved unfaithful, and have looked much more to their own pecuniary

interests, than to the honest execution of the public trusts confided

to them. Nor is this all. There has ever been found upon the western

frontiers, a band of unprincipled men who have set at defiance the laws

of the United States, debauched the Indians with ardent spirits,

cheated them of their property, and then committed upon them

aggressions marked with all the cruelty and wanton bloodshed which have

distinguished the career of the savage. The history of these

aggressions would fill a volume. It is only necessary to recall to the

mind of the reader, the horrible murder of the Conestoga Indians, in

December 1763, by some Pennsylvanians; the dark tragedy enacted on the

banks of he Muskingum, at a later period, when the Moravian Indians, at

the three villages of Schoenbrun, Salem, and Gnadenhuetten, were first

disarmed and then deliberately tomahawked by Williamson and his

associates; the unprovoked murder of the family of Logan; the

assassination of Bald Eagle, of the gallant and high-souled Cornstalk,

and his son Elinipsico: we need but recall these, from the long

catalogue of similar cases, to satisfy every candid mind, that rapine,

cruelty and a thirst for human blood are not peculiarly the attributes

of the American Indian.

But there are still other causes which have aroused and kept in

activity, the warlike passions of the Indians. They have been

successively subjected to English, Dutch, French and Spanish influence.

The agents of these different powers, as well as the emigrants from

them, either from interest or a spirit of mischievous hostility, have

repeatedly prompted the Indians to arm themselves against the United

States. The great principle of the Indian wars, for the last seventy

years, has been the preservation of their lands. On this, the French,

English and Spanish have in turn excited them to active resistance

against the expanding settlements of the whites. It was on the

principle of recovering their lands, that the French were their allies

between the commencement of hostilities with the colonies, in 1754, and

the peace of 1762; and subsequently kept up an excitement among them

until the beginning of the revolution. From this period, the English

took the place of the French, and instigated them in a similar manner.

Their views and feelings on this point, may be gathered from their own

words:

"It was we," say the Delawares, Mohicans and their kindred tribes, "who

so kindly received the Europeans on their first arrival into our own

country. We took them by the hand and bid them welcome to sit down by

our side, and live with us as brothers; but how did they requite our

kindness? They at first asked only for a little land, on which to raise

bread for their families, and pasture for their cattle, which we freely

gave them. They saw the game in the woods, which the Great Spirit had

given us for our subsistence, and they wanted it too. They penetrated

into the woods in quest of game, they discovered spots of land they

also wanted, and because we were loth to part with it, as we saw they

had already more than they had need of, they took it from us by force,

and drove us to a great distance from our homes."[A]

[Footnote A: Heckewelder's historical account of the Indians.]

It is matter of history, that for a period of near seventy years after

it was planted, the colony of William Penn lived in peace and harmony

with the neighboring Indians, among whom were bands of the warlike

Shawanoes. It was an observation of this venerable and worthy man, when

speaking of the Indians, that "if you do not abuse them, but let them

have justice, you will win them, when there is such a knowledge of good

and evil." His kind treatment to them was repaid by friendly offices,

both to himself and his followers. The Indians became indeed the

benefactors of the colonists. When the latter were scattered in 1682,

and without shelter or food, they were kind and attentive, and treated

them as brothers.[A]

[Footnote A: Clarkson's Life of Penn.]

Proud, in his History of Pennsylvania, when explaining the aversion of

the Indians to christianity, attributes it to the character and conduct

of the whites residing near or among them, "many of whom were of the

lowest rank and least informed of mankind, who flowed in from Germany,

Ireland and the jails of Great Britain, or who had fled from the better

inhabited parts of the colony, to escape from justice." The proceedings

of the assembly of Pennsylvania show that, as early as 1722, an Indian

was barbarously killed by some whites, within the limits of the

province. The assembly proposed some measures for the governor's

consideration in regard to the affair; and mentioned the repeated

requests of the Indians, that strong liquors should not be carried nor

sold among them. In a treatise published in London, in 1759, on the

cause of the then existing difficulties between the Indians and the

colonists, we find this paragraph. "It would be too shocking to

describe the conduct and behavior of the traders, when among the

Indians; and endless to enumerate the abuses the Indians received and

bore from them, for a series of years. Suffice it to say, that several

of the tribes were, at last, weary of bearing; and, as these traders

were the persons who were, in some part, the representatives of the

English among the Indians, and by whom they were to judge of our

manners and religion, they conceived such invincible prejudices against

both, particularly our holy religion, that when Mr. Sargeant, a

gentleman in New England, took a journey in 1741, to the Shawanoes and

some other tribes living on the Susquehanna, and offered to instruct

them in the christian religion, they rejected his offer with disdain.

They reproached Christianity. They told him the traders would lie and

cheat." In 1744, governor Thomas, in a message to the assembly of

Pennsylvania, says, "I cannot but be apprehensive that the Indian

trade, as it is now carried on, will involve us in some fatal quarrel

with the Indians. Our traders, in defiance of the laws, carry

spirituous liquors among them, and take advantage of their inordinate

appetite for it, to cheat them of their skins, and their wampum, which

is their money." In 1753 governor Hamilton appointed Richard Peters,

Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, to hold a treaty with the Indians

at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In the report of these commissioners they

say: "But in justice to these Indians, and the promises we made them,

we cannot close our report, without taking notice, that the quantity of

strong liquors sold to these Indians, in the places of their residence,

and during their hunting season, have increased to an inconceivable

degree, so as to keep these poor creatures continually under the force

of liquors, that they are thereby become dissolute, enfeebled and

indolent when sober; and untractable and mischievous in their liquor,

always quarreling, and often murdering one another." Some of the chiefs

at this treaty said, "these wicked whisky-sellers, when they have once

got the Indians in liquor, make them sell their very clothes from their

backs. In short, if this practice is continued, we must be inevitably

ruined; we most earnestly, therefore, beseech you to remedy it."[A]

[Footnote A: Proud's History of Pennsylvania.]

This brief sketch of the early intercourse between the colonists and

the aborigines of this country, is not over-drawn, nor is it at all

inapplicable to the period which has elapsed since the formation of the

federal government. With an insatiable cupidity and a wanton disregard

of justice, have the lands and property of the Indians been sought by

citizens of the United States. The great agent of success in this

unholy business, has been ardent spirits, by means of which their

savage reason has been overthrown, and their bad passions called into

action. The class of reckless and desperate characters, described by

Proud, have hung upon the western frontiers, for the purpose of preying

upon the Indians. If government itself be not to blame, for want of

good faith towards this miserable race, is it not highly culpable for

not having, by the strong arm of physical power, enforced the salutary

laws, which from time to time, have been enacted for their protection?

Impartial posterity will, we apprehend, answer this question in the

affirmative.

The Shawanoes engaged in the war between the French and English, which

commenced in 1755, and was terminated by the peace of 10th February,

1763. In this contest they took sides with the former, and rendered

them essential service. They committed many depredations on the

frontier settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The peace of 1763,

between France and England, did not terminate the Indian war against

the colonies. The Indians were displeased with the provisions of this

treaty, especially that which ceded the provinces of Canada to Great

Britain. This dissatisfaction was increased when the British government

began to build forts on the Susquehanna, and to repair or erect those

of Bedford, Ligonier, Pittsburg, Detroit, Presque Isle, St. Joseph and

Michilimakinac. By this movement the Indians found themselves

surrounded, on two sides, by a cordon of forts, and were threatened

with an extension of them into the very heart of their country. They

had now to choose whether they would remove to the north and west,

negociate with the British government for the possession of their own

land, or take up arms for its defence. They chose the last alternative;

and, a war of extermination against the English residents in the

western country, and even those on the Susquehanna, was agreed upon and

speedily commenced. Many of the British traders living among the

Indians were murdered; the forts of Presque Isle, St. Joseph and

Mackinac, were taken, with a general slaughter of their garrisons;

while the forts of Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit and Pitt, were

barely preserved from falling into their hands. The contest was

continued with resolute and daring spirit, and with much destruction of

life and property, until December, 1764, when the war was brought to a

close by a treaty at the German Flats, made between Sir William

Johnston and the hostile Indians. Soon after the conclusion of this

peace the Shawanoes became involved in a war with the Cherokees, which

continued until 1768, when, pressed hard by the united force of the

former tribe and the Delawares, the southern Indians solicited and

obtained a peace.[A] For the ensuing six years, the Shawanoes remained

quiet, living on amicable terms with the whites on the frontiers: in

April, 1774, however, hostilities between these parties were renewed.

[Footnote A: Thatcher's Indian Biography.]

It is not our purpose in the present sketch of this tribe, to present a

detail of all their conflicts with the whites; but the "Dunmore war,"

(as it is generally called,) of 1774, having been mainly prosecuted by

Shawanoes, one of their distinguished chiefs having commanded in the

battle of Point Pleasant, and another, Puckecheno, (the father of

Tecumseh,) having fallen in this engagement, would seem to render a

full account of the border feuds of this year, not out of place in the

present narrative.

In the latter part of April, 1774, a report that the Indians had stolen

some horses, from the vicinity of Wheeling, alarmed the whites who were

making settlements on the Ohio below that place. For greater safety

they immediately assembled on Wheeling creek, and learning that two

Indians were with some traders above the town, they went up the river,

and without stopping to enquire as to their guilt, deliberately put

them to death. On the afternoon of the same day, they found a party of

Indians on the Ohio, below Wheeling creek, on whom they fired, and

killed several. The Indians returned the fire and wounded one of the

assailing party. It is admitted by all the authorities on this subject,

that the two Indians killed above Wheeling, were shot by men under the

command of colonel Michael Cresap. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on

Virginia, states that the second attack, in which one of Logan's family

is alleged to have been killed, was also headed by Cresap; and, in this

he is sustained by Doddridge, Heckewelder and others; but it is denied

by Jacob. "Pursuing these examples," says Mr. Jefferson, "Daniel

Greathouse and one Tomlinson, who lived on the opposite side of the

river from the Indians, and were in habits of friendship with them,

collected at the house of Polk, on Cross creek, about sixteen miles

from Baker's bottom, a party of thirty-two men. Their object was to

attack a hunting party of Indians, consisting of men, women and

children, at the mouth of Yellow creek, some distance above Wheeling.

They proceeded, and when arrived near Baker's bottom they concealed

themselves, and Greathouse crossed the river to the Indian camp. Being

among them as a friend, he counted them and found them too strong for

an open attack with his force. While here, he was cautioned by one of

the women not to stay, for that the Indian men were drinking; and

having heard of Cresap's murder of their relatives at Grave creek, were

angry; and she pressed him in a friendly manner to go home; whereupon,

after inviting them to come over and drink, he returned to Baker's,

which was a tavern, and desired that when any of them should come to

his house, he would give them as much rum as they could drink. When

this plot was ripe, and a sufficient number of them had collected at

Baker's and become intoxicated, he and his party fell on them and

massacred the whole except a little girl, whom they preserved as a

prisoner. Among them was the very woman who had saved his life by

pressing him to retire from the drunken wrath of her friends, when he

was playing the spy in their camp at Yellow creek. Either she herself

or some other one of the murdered women was the sister of Logan; there

were others of his relations who fell at the same time. The party on

the opposite side of the river, upon hearing the report of the guns,

became alarmed for their friends at Baker's house, immediately manned

two canoes and sent them over. They were met by a fire from

Greathouse's party, as they approached the shore, which killed some,

wounded others, and obliged the remainder to return. Baker subsequently

stated, that six or eight were wounded and twelve killed."

The settlers along the frontier, satisfied that the Indians would

retaliate upon them, for these unprovoked aggressions, either returned

to the interior of the country, or gathered in forts, and made

preparation for resistance. The assembly of the colony of Virginia

being then in session, an express was sent to the seat of government,

announcing the commencement of hostilities with the Indians, and asking

assistance. In the month of May, the excitement among the Indians was

still further increased by the murder of the Delaware sachem, "Bald

Eagle," and the wounding of "Silver Heels," a popular chief of the

Shawanoe tribe. Bald Eagle was an aged, harmless man, who was in the

habit of visiting the whites on the most friendly terms. At the period

of his death, he was returning alone, in his canoe, from a visit to the

fort at the mouth of the Kanawha. The individual who committed the

murder, having scalped him, placed the body in a sitting posture in the

canoe and suffered it to float down the stream, in which condition it

was found by the Indians. Silver Heels was returning from Albany to the

Ohio, having been to that city as the voluntary escort of some white

traders, who were fleeing from the frontiers. He was fired upon and

dangerously wounded while crossing Big Beaver in a canoe. Such were

some of the causes which called into action the vindictive feelings of

the Indians.

The distinguished Mingo chief, Logan, was roused to action by the

murder of his relatives at Yellow creek; and in the course of the

summer, led some war parties against the whites, and destroyed several

families. The Earl of Dunmore, then governor of the colony of Virginia,

made arrangements for a campaign against the Indians, but it was not

until September, that his forces were brought into the field. He

ordered three regiments to be raised west of the Blue Ridge, the

command of which was given to general Andrew Lewis. A similar army was

assembled from the interior, the command of which the Earl assumed in

person. The mouth of the Great Kanawha was the point at which two

divisions of the army were to meet; from whence, under the command of

governor Dunmore, they were to march against the Indian towns on the

north side of the Ohio. General Lewis' division amounted to eleven

hundred men, most of whom were accustomed to danger, and with their

officers, familiar with the modes of Indian warfare. On the eleventh of

September, general Lewis moved from his camp, in the vicinity of

Lewisburg, and after a march of nineteen days, traversing a wilderness

through the distance of one hundred and sixty-five-miles, he reached

the mouth of the Kanawha, and made an encampment at that point. Here he

waited several days for the arrival of governor Dunmore, who, with the

division under his command, was to have met him at this place.

Disappointed in not hearing from Dunmore, general Lewis despatched some

scouts, over land to Pittsburg, to obtain intelligence of him. On the

ninth of October, and before the return of these scouts, an express

from Dunmore arrived in camp, with information that he had changed his

plan of operations; and intended to march directly against the Indian

towns on the Scioto; and directing general Lewis to cross the Ohio and

join him. Preparations were making to obey this order, when, about

sunrise, on the morning of the tenth, a large body of Indians was

discovered within a mile of the camp. Two detachments were ordered out

by general Lewis, to meet the enemy, one under the command of colonel

Charles Lewis, the other under colonel Fleming. The former marched to

the right, some distance from the Ohio, the latter to the left, on the

bank of that stream. Colonel Lewis had not proceeded half a mile from

the camp, when, soon after sunrise, his front line was vigorously

attacked by the united tribes of the Shawanoes, Delawares, Mingoes,

Ioways, and some others, in number between eight hundred and one

thousand. At the commencement of the attack, colonel Lewis received a

wound, which in the course of a few hours proved fatal: several of his

men were killed at the same time, and his division was forced to fall

back. In about a minute after the attack upon Lewis, the enemy engaged

the front of the other division, on the bank of the Ohio, and in a

short time, colonel Fleming, the leader of it, was severely wounded,

and compelled to retire to the camp. Colonel Lewis' division having now

been reinforced from the camp, pressed upon the Indians until they had

fallen back in a line with Fleming's division. During this time, it

being now twelve o'clock, the action continued with unabated severity.

The close underwood, the ravines and fallen trees, favored the Indians;

and while the bravest of their warriors fought from behind these

coverts, others were throwing their dead into the Ohio, and carrying

off their wounded. In their slow retreat, the Indians, about one

o'clock, gained a very advantageous position, from which it appeared to

our officers so difficult to dislodge them, that it was deemed

advisable to maintain the line as then formed, which was about a mile

and a quarter in length. In this position, the action was continued,

with more or less severity, until sundown, when, night coming on, the

Indians effected a safe retreat.[A]

[Footnote A: Official Report, xii. vol., Niles Register.]

McClung, in his valuable Sketches of Western Adventure, in describing

this sanguinary battle, speaks of the Indians fighting from behind a

breastwork; Stone, in his Life of Brant, says the Indians were forced

to avail themselves of a rude breastwork of logs and brushwood, which

they had taken the precaution to construct for the occasion. There must

be some mistake in regard to this breastwork, as it is evident from the

circumstances of the case, that the Indians could not, before the

battle, have erected one so near the camp without discovery; and after

the action commenced, it was too fiercely prosecuted for a rampart of

this kind to have been thrown up.

In regard to the number killed on either side, there is no very certain

information. Doddridge, in his Notes on the Indian wars, places the

number of whites killed in this action at seventy-five, and the wounded

at one hundred and forty. Campbell, in his History of Virginia, says

the number of whites who were killed was upwards of fifty, and that

ninety were wounded, which is probably near the truth. The Indian force

engaged in this action has been estimated by different writers, at from

eight hundred to fifteen hundred men. It is probable that the number

did not exceed eight hundred. They were led on by some bold and warlike

chiefs, among them Cornstalk, Logan, Elenipsico, Red Eagle, and

Packishenoah, the last of whom was killed. Cornstalk, the chief in

command, was conspicuous for his bravery, and animated his followers in

tones which rose above the clash of arms; and when a retreat became

necessary, conducted it so successfully and with so much delay, as to

give his men an opportunity of bearing off all their wounded and many

of the killed, whose bodies were thrown into the river. The loss of the

Indians was never ascertained. One of the historians already quoted,

speaks of it as "comparatively trifling." The character of our troops,

many of whom were experienced woods-men, familiar with Indian fighting,

the long continuance of the action--from the rising to the going down

of the sun--the equality in numbers and position of the contending

parties, the known usage of the Indians in hiding their dead and

carrying off the wounded, the number of killed found on the battle

ground the following day, and the severe loss of the Virginians, all

forbid the idea that the loss of the enemy could have been trifling.

The Ohio and Kanawha rivers afforded them opportunities for concealing

their dead, while the plan of retreat,--alternately giving ground and

renewing the attack,--was no doubt adopted for the purpose of gaining

time to remove the wounded across the Ohio. It is fair to assume that

the loss of the Indians was not far short of that sustained by the

whites.

All circumstances considered, this battle may be ranked among the most

memorable, and well contested, that has been fought on this continent.

The leaders, on either side, were experienced and able, the soldiers

skilful and brave. The victorious party, if either could be so called,

had as little to boast of as the vanquished. It was alike creditable to

the Anglo-Saxon and the aboriginal arms.

After the Indians had recrossed the Ohio, they marched to the valley of

the Scioto, and encamped on the east side of that stream, about eight

miles north of where Chillicothe now stands. Here a council was held to

decide upon their future movements. Cornstalk, although true to the

interests of the Shawanoes, was the friend of peace, and had been

opposed to making the attack on the troops of general Lewis. Being

overruled, he entered into the action determined to do his duty. He now

rose in the council and demanded, "_What shall we do now? The Long

Knives are coming upon us by two routes. Shall we turn out and fight

them_?" No reply being made to his questions, he continued, "shall we

kill all our women and children, and then fight until we are all killed

ourselves?" The chiefs were still silent. Cornstalk turned round, and

striking his tomahawk into the war-post standing in the midst of the

council, said with his characteristic energy of manner, "_Since you are

not inclined to fight, I will go and make peace_."

In the meantime the earl of Dunmore, having procured boats at fort

Pitt, descended the river to Wheeling, where the army halted for a few

days, and then proceeded down the river in about one hundred canoes, a

few keel boats and perogues, to the mouth of Hockhocking, and from

thence over land, until the army had got within a few miles of the

Shawanoe camp. Here the army halted, and made a breastwork of fallen

trees, and entrenchments of such extent as to include about twelve

acres of ground, with an enclosure in the centre containing about one

acre. This was the citadel, which contained the markees of the earl and

his superior officers.[A] Before the army of Dunmore had reached this

point, he had been met by messengers from the Indians suing for peace.

General Lewis, in the meantime, did not remain inactive. The day after

the battle he proceeded to bury his dead, and to throw up a rude

entrenchment around his camp, and appoint a guard for the protection of

the sick and wounded. On the succeeding day he crossed the Ohio with

his army, and commenced his march through a trackless desert, for the

Shawanoe towns on the Scioto. Governor Dunmore, having determined to

make peace with the Indians, sent an express to general Lewis, ordering

him to retreat across the Ohio. The order was disregarded, and the

march continued until the governor in person, met the general and

peremptorily repeated it. General Lewis and his troops, burning with a

desire of avenging the Indian massacres, and the loss of their brave

companions in the late battle, reluctantly obeyed the command of

Dunmore; and turned their faces homewards. When the governor and his

officers had returned to their camp, on the following day, the treaty

with the Indians was opened. For fear of treachery, only eighteen

Indians were permitted to attend their chiefs within the encampment,

and they were required to leave their arms behind them. The conference

was commenced by Cornstalk, in a long, bold and spirited speech, in

which the white people were charged with being the authors of the war,

by their aggressions upon the Indians at Captina and Yellow creek.

Logan, the celebrated Mingo chief, refused to attend, although willing

to make peace. His influence with the Indians made it important to

secure his concurrence in the proposed treaty. Dunmore sent a special

messenger, (colonel John Gibson,) to him. They met alone in the woods,

where Logan delivered to him his celebrated speech. Colonel Gibson

wrote it down, returned to Dunmore's camp, read the speech in the

council, and the terms of the peace were then agreed on. What those

terms were, is not fully known. No copy of the treaty can now be found,

although diligent enquiry has been made for it. Burk, in his History of

Virginia, says, that the peace was on "condition that the lands on

_this side of the Ohio_ should be for ever ceded to the whites; that

their prisoners should be delivered up, and that four hostages should

be immediately given for the faithful performance of these conditions."

Campbell, in his History of Virginia, says, the Indians "agreed to give

up their lands on this side of the Ohio, and set at liberty their

prisoners." Butler, in his History of Kentucky, remarks that, "such a

treaty appears at this day, to be utterly beyond the advantages which

could have been claimed from Dunmore's expedition?" This is undoubtedly

a reasonable conclusion. The statement in Doddridge, that "on our part

we obtained at the treaty a cessation of hostilities and a surrender of

prisoners, and nothing more," is most probably the true version of the

terms of this peace. If an important grant of land had been obtained by

this treaty, copies of it would have been preserved in the public

archives, and references in subsequent treaties, would have been made

to it; but such seems not to have been the case. The conclusion most

be, that it was only a treaty for the cessation of hostilities and the

surrender of prisoners.

[Footnote A: Doddridge's Indian Wars.]

There have been various speculations as to the causes which induced

governor Dunmore to order the retreat of the army under general Lewis,

before the treaty was concluded. However desirous of a peace, the

presence of an additional force would only have rendered that result

more certain. It was believed by some of the officers of the army, and

the opinion has been held by several writers since, that after governor

Dunmore started on this expedition, he was advised of the strong

probability of a war between Great Britain and her colonies; and that

all his subsequent measures were shaped with a reference to making the

Indians the allies of England in the expected contest. On this

supposition, his conduct in not joining general Lewis at the mouth of

the Kanawha, in risking his own detachment in the enemy's country, and

in positively forbidding the other wing of the army from uniting with

his, at camp Charlotte, has been explained. There are certainly

plausible grounds for believing that governor Dunmore at this time, had

more at heart the interests of Great Britain than of the colonies.

Soon after the conclusion of this war, the Shawanoes, with other tribes

of the north-western Indians, took part with England in the war with

the colonies; nor did the peace of 1783 put an end to these

hostilities. The settlement of the valley of the Ohio by the whites,

was boldly and perseveringly resisted; nor was the tomahawk buried by

the Indians, until after the decisive battle at the rapids of the Miami

of the lakes, on the 20th of August, 1794. The proximity of the

Shawanoe towns to the Ohio river--the great highway of emigration to

the west--and the facility with which the infant settlements in

Kentucky could be reached, rendered this warlike tribe an annoying and

dangerous neighbor. Led on by some daring chiefs; fighting for their

favorite hunting-grounds, and stimulated to action by British agents,

the Shawanoes, for a series of years, pressed sorely upon the new

settlements; and are supposed to have caused the destruction of more

property and a greater number of lives, than all the other tribes of

the north-west united. They participated in most of the predatory

excursions into Kentucky. They were present at the celebrated attack on

Bryant's station; they fought with their characteristic bravery in the

battle of the Blue Licks, and participated in colonel Byrd's hostile

excursion up Licking river, and the destruction of Martin's and

Riddle's stations. In turn, they were compelled to stand on the

defensive, and to encounter the gallant Kentuckians on the north side

of the Ohio. Bowman's expedition in 1779, to the waters of Mad river;

Clark's in 1780 and 1782, and Logan's in 1786, to the same point;

Edwards' in 1787, to the head waters of the Big Miami; and Todd's in

1788, into the Scioto valley--not to name several minor ones--were

chiefly directed against the Shawanoes; and resulted in the destruction

of two or three of their principal villages, but not without a fierce

and bloody resistance. The Shawanoes were likewise found in hostility

to the United States, in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne.

They united in the treaty of Greenville, in 1795; and with the

exception of a few who fought at Tippecanoe, remained at peace with

this government until the war with Great Britain, in 1812, in which a

considerable body of them became the allies of the latter power. Some

of the tribe, however, remained neutral in that contest, and others

joined the United States, and continued faithful until the peace of

1815.

WEYAPIERSENWAH, OR BLUE JACKET.

In the campaign of general Harmar, in the year 1790, Blue Jacket--an

influential Shawanoe chief--was associated with the Miami chief, Little

Turtle, in the command of the Indians. In the battle of the 20th of

August 1794, when the combined army of the Indians was defeated by

general Wayne, Blue Jacket had the chief control. The flight previous

to the battle, while the Indians were posted at Presque Isle, a council

was held, composed of chiefs from the Miamis, Potawatimies, Delawares,

Shawanoes, Chippewas, Ottawas and Senecas--the seven nations engaged in

the action. They decided against the proposition to attack general

Wayne that night in his encampment. The expediency of meeting him the

next day then came up for consideration. Little Turtle was opposed to

this measure, but being warmly supported by Blue Jacket, it was finally

agreed upon. The former was strongly inclined to peace, and decidedly

opposed to risking a battle under the circumstances in which the

Indians were then placed. "We have beaten the enemy," said he, "twice,

under separate commanders. We cannot expect the same good fortune

always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a chief who never

sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him; and, during all the

time that he has been marching upon our villages, notwithstanding the

watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him.

Think well of it. There is something whispers me, it would be prudent

to listen to his offers of peace." The councils of Blue Jacket,

however, prevailed over the better judgment of Little Turtle. The

battle was fought and the Indians defeated.

In the month of October following this defeat, Blue Jacket concurred in

the expediency of sueing for peace, and at the head of a deputation of

chiefs, was about to bear a flag to general Wayne, then at Greenville,

when the mission was arrested by foreign influence. Governor Simcoe,

colonel McKee and the Mohawk chief, captain John Brant, having in

charge one hundred and fifty Mohawks and Messasagoes, arrived at the

rapids of the Maumee, and invited the chiefs of the combined army to

meet them at the mouth of the Detroit river, on the 10th of October. To

this Blue Jacket assented, for the purpose of hearing what the British

officers had to propose. Governor Simcoe urged the Indians to retain

their hostile attitude towards the United States. In referring to the

encroachments of the people of this country on the Indian lands, he

said, "Children: I am still of the opinion that the Ohio is your right

and title. I have given orders to the commandant of fort Miami to fire

on the Americans whenever they make their appearance again. I will go

down to Quebec, and lay your grievances before the great man. From

thence they will be forwarded to the king, your father. Next spring you

will know the result of every thing what you and I will do." He urged

the Indians to obtain a cessation of hostilities, until the following

spring, when the English would be ready to attack the Americans, and by

driving them back across the Ohio, restore their lands to the

Indians.[A] These counsels delayed the conclusion of peace until the

following summer.

[Footnote A: Amer. State Papers, vol. 5, p. 529. Stone's Life of Brant,

vol. 2, p.392.]

Blue Jacket was present at the treaty of Greenville in 1795, and

conducted himself with moderation and dignity. Upon his arrival at that

place, in excuse for not having met general Wayne at an earlier period,

he said, "Brother, when I came here last winter, I did not mean to

deceive you. What I promised you I did intend to perform. My wish to

conclude a firm peace with you being sincere, my uneasiness has been

great that my people have not come forward so soon as you could wish,

or might expect. But you must not be discouraged by these unfavorable

appearances. Some of our chiefs and warriors are here; more will arrive

in a few days. You must not, however, expect to see a great number.

Yet, notwithstanding, our nation will be well represented. Our hearts

are open and void of deceit."

On the second day of the council, Blue Jacket made a remark, showing

the relation subsisting between the Shawanoes and some other tribes, to

which allusion has been made already.

"Brothers: I hope you will not take amiss my changing my seat in this

council. You all know the Wyandots are our uncles, and the Delawares

our grandfathers, and that the Shawanoes are the elder brothers of the

other nations present. It is, therefore, proper that I should sit next

my grandfathers and uncles. I hope, younger brothers, you are all

satisfied with what your uncles said yesterday, and that I have done

every thing in my power to advise and support you."

At the conclusion of the treaty Blue Jacket rose and said:

"Elder Brother, and you, my brothers, present: you see me now present

myself as a war-chief to lay down that commission, and place myself in

the rear of my village chiefs, who for the future will command me.

Remember, brother's, you have all buried your war hatchet. Your

brothers, the Shawanoes, now do the same good act. We must think of war

no more.

"Elder Brother: you see now all the chiefs and warriors around you,

have joined in the good work of peace, which is now accomplished. We

now request you to inform our elder brother, general Washington, of it;

and of the cheerful unanimity which has marked their determination. We

wish you to enquire of him if it would be agreeable that two chiefs

from each nation should pay him a visit, and take him by the hand; for

your younger brothers have a strong desire to see that great man and to

enjoy the pleasure of conversing with him."

We are indebted to major Galloway of Xenia, for the following anecdote

of this chief:

"In the spring of 1800, Blue Jacket and another chief, whose name I

have forgotten, boarded for several weeks at my father's, in Green

county, at the expense of a company of Kentuckians, who engaged Blue

Jacket, for a valuable consideration, to show them a great silver mine,

which tradition said was known to the Indians, as existing on Red

river, one of the head branches of the Kentucky. A Mr. Jonathan Flack,

agent of this company, had previously spent several months among the

Shawanoes, at their towns and hunting camps, in order to induce this

chief to show this great treasure. At the time agreed on, ten or twelve

of the company came from Kentucky to meet Blue Jacket at my father's,

where a day or two was spent in settling the terms upon which he would

accompany them; the crafty chief taking his own time to deliberate on

the offers made him, and rising in his demands in proportion to their

growing eagerness to possess the knowledge which was to bring untold

wealth to all the company. At length the bargain was made; horses,

goods and money were given as presents, and the two chiefs with their

squaws, were escorted in triumph to Kentucky, where they were feasted

and caressed in the most flattering manner, and all their wants

anticipated and liberally supplied. In due time and with all possible

secrecy, they visited the region where this great mine was said to be

emboweled in the earth. Here the wily Shawanoe spent some time in

seclusion, in order to humble himself by fastings, purifications and

_pow-wowings_, with a view to propitiate the Great Spirit; and to get

His permission to disclose the grand secret of the mine. An equivocal

answer was all the response that was given to him in his dreams; and,

after many days of fruitless toil and careful research, the mine, the

great object so devoutly sought and wished for, could not be found. The

cunning Blue Jacket, however, extricated himself with much address from

the anticipated vengeance of the disappointed worshippers of Plutus, by

charging his want of success to his eyes, which were dimmed by reason

of his old age; and by promising to send his son on his return home,

whose eyes were young and good, and who knew the desired spot and would

show it. The son, however, never visited the scene of his father's

failure; and thus ended the adventures of the celebrated mining company

of Kentucky."

CATAHECASSA, OR BLACK-HOOF.

Among the celebrated chiefs of the Shawanoes, Black Hoof is entitled to

a high rank. He was born in Florida, and at the period of the removal

of a portion of that tribe to Ohio and Pennsylvania, was old enough to

recollect having bathed in the salt water. He was present with others

of his tribe, at the defeat of Braddock, near Pittsburg, in 1755, and

was engaged in all the wars in Ohio from that time until the treaty of

Greenville, in 1795. Such was the sagacity of Black Hoof in planning

his military expeditions, and such the energy with which he executed

them, that he won the confidence of his whole nation, and was never at

a loss for _braves_ to fight under his banner. "He was known far and

wide, as the great Shawanoe warrior, whose cunning, sagacity and

experience were only equalled by the fierce and desperate bravery with

which he carried into operation his military plans. Like the other

Shawanoe chiefs, he was the inveterate foe of the white man, and held

that no peace should be made, nor any negotiation attempted, except on

the condition that the whites should repass the mountains, and leave

the great plains of the west to the sole occupancy of the native

tribes.

"He was the orator of his tribe during the greater part of his long

life, and was an excellent speaker. The venerable colonel Johnston of

Piqua, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, describes

him as the most graceful Indian he had ever seen, and as possessing the

most natural and happy faculty of expressing his ideas. He was well

versed in the traditions of his people; no one understood better their

peculiar relations to the whites, whose settlements were gradually

encroaching on them, or could detail with more minuteness the wrongs

with which his nation was afflicted. But although a stern and

uncompromising opposition to the whites had marked his policy through a

series of forty years, and nerved his arm in a hundred battles, he

became at length convinced of the madness of an ineffectual struggle

against a vastly superior and hourly increasing foe. No sooner had he

satisfied himself of this truth, than he acted upon it with the

decision which formed a prominent trait in his character. The temporary

success of the Indians in several engagements previous to the campaign

of general Wayne, had kept alive their expiring hopes; but their signal

defeat by that gallant officer, convinced the more reflecting of their

leaders of the desperate character of the conflict. Black Hoof was

among those who decided upon making terms with the victorious American

commander; and having signed the treaty of 1795, at Greenville, he

continued faithful to his stipulations during the remainder of his

life. From that day he ceased to be the enemy of the white man; and as

he was not one who could act a negative part, he became the firm ally

and friend of those against whom his tomahawk had been so long raised

in vindictive animosity. He was their friend, not from sympathy or

conviction, but in obedience to a necessity which left no middle

course, and under a belief that submission alone could save his tribe

from destruction; and having adopted this policy, his sagacity and

sense of honor, alike forbade a recurrence either to open war or secret

hostility.

"Black Hoof was the principal chief of the Shawanoe nation, and

possessed all the influence and authority which are usually attached to

that office, at the period when Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet

commenced their hostile operations against the United States. Tecumseh

had never been reconciled to the whites. As sagacious and as brave as

Black Hoof, and resembling him in all the better traits of savage

character, he differed widely from that respectable chief in his

political opinions. They were both patriotic in the proper sense of the

word, and earnestly desired to preserve the remnant of their tribe from

the destruction that threatened the whole Indian race. Black Hoof,

whose long and victorious career as a warrior placed his courage far

above suspicion, submitted to what he believed inevitable, and

endeavoured to evade the effects of the storm by bending beneath its

fury; while Tecumseh, a younger man, an influential warrior, but not a

chief, with motives equally public spirited, was, no doubt,

unconsciously biassed by personal ambition, and suffered his hatred to

the white man to master every other feeling and consideration. The one

was a leader of ripened fame, who had reached the highest place in his

nation, and could afford to retire from the active scenes of warfare;

the other was a candidate for higher honors than he had yet achieved;

and both might have been actuated by a common impulse of rivalry, which

induced them to espouse different opinions in opposition to each

other."[A]

[Footnote A: History of the Indian Tribes of N. America.]

When Tecumseh and the Prophet embarked in their scheme for the recovery

of the lands as far south as the Ohio river, it became their interest

as well as policy to enlist Black Hoof in the enterprise; and every

effort which the genius of the one and the cunning of the other, could

devise, was brought to bear upon him. But Black Hoof continued faithful

to the treaty which he had signed at Greenville, in 1795, and by

prudence and influence kept the greater part of his tribe from joining

the standard of Tecumseh or engaging on the side of the British in the

late war with England. In that contest he became the ally of the United

States, and although he took no active part in it, he exerted a very

salutary influence over his tribe. In January, 1813, he visited general

Tapper's camp, at fort McArthur, and while there, about ten o'clock one

night, when sitting by the fire in company with the general and several

other officers, some one fired a pistol through a hole in the wall of

the hut, and shot Black Hoof in the face: the ball entered the cheek,

glanced against the bone, and finally lodged in his neck: he fell, and

for some time was supposed to be dead, but revived, and afterwards

recovered from this severe wound. The most prompt and diligent enquiry

as to the author of this cruel and dastardly act, failed to lead to his

detection. No doubt was entertained that this attempt at assassination

was made by a white man, stimulated perhaps by no better excuse than

the memory of some actual or ideal wrong, inflicted on some of his own

race by an unknown hand of kindred colour with that of his intended

victim.[A]

[Footnote A: James Galloway.]

Black Hoof was opposed to polygamy, and to the practice of burning

prisoners. He is reported to have lived forty years with one wife, and

to have reared a numerous family of children, who both loved and

esteemed him. His disposition was cheerful, and his conversation

sprightly and agreeable. In stature he was small, being not more than

five feet eight inches in height. He was favored with good health, and

unimpaired eye sight to the period of his death, which occurred at

Wapakonatta, in the year 1831, at the age of one hundred and ten years.

CORNSTALK.

The reader of these pages is already familiar with the name of

Cornstalk, "the mighty Cornstalk, sachem of the Shawanoes, and king of

the Northern Confederacy." His conduct in the memorable battle of Point

Pleasant establishes his fame as an able and gallant warrior. He

carried into that action the skill of an accomplished general, and the

heroism of a dauntless brave. Neither a thirst for blood, nor the love

of renown, ever prompted him to arms. He was the open advocate for

honorable peace--the avowed and devoted friend of the whites. But he

loved his own people and the hunting grounds in which they roamed; and,

when his country's wrongs demanded redress, he became the "thunderbolt

of war," and avenged the aggressions upon his tribe with energy and

power. He fought, however, that peace might reign; and, after the

battle in which he so highly distinguished himself, was the first among

his associated chiefs to propose a cessation of hostilities. While he

mourned over the inevitable doom of the Indians, he had the sagacity to

perceive that all efforts to avert it, were not only useless, but, in

the end, reacted upon them with withering influence.

He has been justly called a great and a good man. He was the zealous

friend of the Moravian missions; and warmly encouraged every effort to

ameliorate the moral and physical condition of his people. "His noble

bearing," says Mr. Withers, "his generous and disinterested attachment

to the colonies, when the thunder of British cannon was reverberating

through the land, his anxiety to preserve the frontier of Virginia from

desolation and death, (the object of his visit to Point Pleasant,) all

conspired to win for him the esteem and respect of others; while the

untimely and perfidious manner of his death, caused a deep and lasting

regret to pervade the bosoms even of those who were enemies to his

nation; and excited the just indignation of all towards his inhuman and

barbarous murderers." The strong native powers of his mind had been

more enriched by observation, travel and intercourse with the whites,

than is usual among the Indian chiefs. He was familiarly acquainted

with the topography and geography of the north-west, even beyond the

Mississippi river, and possessed an accurate knowledge of the various

treaties between the whites and the Indian tribes of this region, and

the relative rights of each party.

At the treaty with Dunmore, he made a speech alike creditable to his

love of country and his sense of justice. He pourtrayed, in living

colors, the wrongs inflicted upon the Indians by the colonists, and

placed in strong contrast the former and present condition of his

nation, the one being happy and prosperous, the other degraded and

oppressed. He spoke in a strain of manly boldness of the repeated

perfidy of the white people; and especially, of the unblushing

dishonesty of the traders; and, finally concluded by proposing as one

of the fundamental provisions of the treaty, that no commerce with the

Indians should be carried on for individual profit, but that honest men

should be sent among them by their white brother, with such things as

they needed, to be exchanged, at a fair price, for their skins and

furs: and still further, that no "fire-water," of any kind, should be

introduced among them, inasmuch as it depraved his people and

stimulated them to aggressions upon their white brethren.

As an orator, the fame of Cornstalk stands high. Colonel Benjamin

Wilson, an officer in Dunmore's campaign, in 1774, who was present at

the interview (at camp Charlotte) between the chiefs and the governor,

in speaking of Cornstalk, says, "when he arose, he was in no wise

confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and audible voice, without

stammering or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks, while

addressing Dunmore, were truly grand and majestic, yet graceful and

attractive. I have heard the first orators in Virginia,--Patrick Henry

and Richard Henry Lee,--but never have I heard one whose powers of

delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk."

The treaty at camp Charlotte did not bring much repose to the frontier.

In the course of the two years succeeding it, new difficulties arose

between the Indians and the inhabitants of western Virginia. Early in

the spring of 1777, several tribes joined in an offensive alliance

against the latter. Cornstalk exerted all his influence to arrest it,

but in vain. Sincerely desirous of averting war, he resolved to

communicate this condition of affairs to the Virginians, in the hope

that they might dissipate the impending war-cloud. This information he

determined to give in person. Taking with him Red Hawk, and one other

Indian, he went secretly to the fort at Point Pleasant, with a flag of

peace, and presented himself to the commander of that post. After

stating to him the object of the mission, and fully explaining the

situation of the confederate tribes and their contemplated attack upon

the whites, he remarked, in regard to his own, "the current sets (with

the Indians,) so strong against the Americans, in consequence of the

agency of the British, that they (the Shawanoes) will float with it, I

fear, in spite of all my exertions." No sooner had this information

been given to the commander, captain Matthew Arbuckle, than he decided,

in violation of all good faith, to detain the two chiefs as hostages,

to prevent the meditated attack on the settlements. This he did; and

immediately gave information to the executive of Virginia, who ordered

additional troops to the frontier. In the mean time, the officers in

the fort held frequent conversations with Cornstalk, whose intelligence

equally surprised and pleased them. He took pleasure in giving them

minute descriptions of his country, its rivers, prairies and lakes, its

game and other productions. One day, as he was drawing a rude map on

the floor, for the gratification of those present, a call was heard

from the opposite shore of the Ohio, which he at once recognized as the

voice of his favorite son, Elenipsico, a noble minded youth, who had

fought by his father's side in the battle of Point Pleasant. At the

request of Cornstalk, Elenipsico crossed over the river, and joined him

in the fort, where they had an affectionate and touching meeting. The

son had become uneasy at his father's long absence; and regardless of

danger, had visited this place in search of him. It happened on the

following day that two white men, belonging to the fort, crossed over

the Kanawha, upon a hunting excursion; as they were returning to their

boat, they were fired upon by some Indians in ambush, and one of the

hunters, named Gilmore, was killed, the other making his escape. The

news of this murder having reached the fort, a party of captain Hall's

men crossed the river and brought in the body of Gilmore; whereupon the

cry was raised, "let us go and kill the Indians in the fort." An

infuriated gang, with captain Hall at their head, instantly started,

and in despite of all remonstrance, and the most solemn assurances that

the murderers of Gilmore had no connection whatever with the imprisoned

chiefs, they persisted in their cruel and bloody purpose, swearing,

with guns in their hands, that they would shoot any one who attempted

to oppose them. In the mean time, the interpreter's wife, who had been

a captive among the Indians, and had a feeling of regard for Cornstalk

and his companions, perceiving their danger, ran to the cabin to tell

them of it; and to let them know that Hall and his party charged

Elenipsico with having brought with him the Indians who had killed

Gilmore. This, however, the youthful chief denied most positively,

asserting that he came unattended by any one, and for the single

purpose of learning the fate of his father. At this time captain Hall

and his followers, in despite of the remonstance and command of captain

Arbuckle, were approaching the cabin of the prisoners. For a moment,

Elenipsico manifested some agitation. His father spoke and encouraged

him to be calm, saying, "my son, the Great Spirit has seen fit that we

should die together, and has sent you here to that end. It is his will,

and let us submit; it is all for the best;" and turning round to meet

the assassins at the door, was shot with seven bullets, and expired

without a groan. The momentary agitation of Elenipsico passed off, and

keeping his seat, he met his death with stern and heroic apathy. Red

Hawk manifested less resolution, and made a fruitless effort to conceal

himself in the chimney of the cabin. He was discovered and instantly

shot. The fourth Indian was then slowly and cruelly put to death. Thus

terminated this dark and fearful tragedy--leaving a foul blot on the

page of history, which all the waters of the beautiful Ohio, on whose

banks it was perpetrated, can never wash out, and the remembrance of

which will long outlive the heroic and hapless nation which gave birth

to the noble Cornstalk.

SPEMICA-LAWBA--THE HIGH HORN,

generally known as

CAPTAIN LOGAN

In September, 1786, captain Benjamin Logan, of Kentucky, led an

expedition of mounted men from that state against the Shawanoes, on the

north side of the Ohio, and destroyed the Machachac towns on the waters

of Mad river. Most of the warriors happened to be absent from the

villages when the invading army reached them. About thirty persons were

captured, chiefly women and children. After the slight resistance which

was made by the Indians had ceased, captain Logan's men were both

annoyed and endangered by some arrows, shot among them by an invisible

but not unpractised hand. After considerable search, in the tall grass

around the camp, an Indian youth was discovered, who with his bow and a

quiver of arrows, had concealed himself in a position from which he

could successfully throw his darts against the enemy: that intrepid boy

was Logan, the subject of the present biographical sketch. He likewise

was made prisoner, and with the others carried to Kentucky. The

commander of the expedition was so much pleased with the bold conduct

of this boy, that upon returning home, he made him a member of his own

family, in which he resided some years, until at length, at a council

for the exchange of prisoners, held on the bank of the Ohio, opposite

to Maysville, between some Shawanoe chiefs and a deputation of citizens

from Kentucky, our young hero was permitted to return to his native

land. He was ever afterwards known by the name of Logan.

Of the family of this distinguished individual, we have been enabled to

glean but few particulars. In M'Afee's History of the Late War, and in

Butler's History of Kentucky, he is represented to have been the son of

Tecumseh's sister: this is manifestly an error; there was no

relationship between them, either by blood or marriage.

Logan was a member of the Machachac tribe of the Shawanoes, and was

elevated to the rank of a civil chief on account of his many estimable

qualities, both intellectual and moral. He was a married man, and left

behind him a wife and several children--requesting on his death bed

that they might be sent into Kentucky, and placed under the patronage

of his friend, colonel Hardin, who had married the daughter of his

early patron, captain Logan. This, however, was not done, owing to

objections interposed by the wife. The personal appearance of Logan was

remarkably good, being six feet in height, finely formed and weighing

near two hundred pounds.

From the period of his residence in Kentucky, to that of his death,

Logan was the unwavering friend of the United States. He was

extensively and favorably known on the frontier of Ohio, and the

Indiana territory; and, immediately after the declaration of war

against England in 1812, he joined the American service. He acted as

one of the guides of general Hull's army to Detroit; and, prior to the

actual investment of fort Wayne,--an account of which will be presently

given--he was employed by the Indian agent at Piqua, on an important

and delicate mission. The Indians around fort Wayne were giving

indications of a disposition to abandon their neutrality. This rendered

it expedient that the women and children then at that point, should be

removed within the inhabited portions of Ohio. John Johnston, the

Indian agent at Piqua, knowing Logan intimately, and having great

confidence in his judgment as well as his fidelity, selected him to

perform this duty. He was accordingly furnished with a letter to the

commandant of that fort, in which assurances were given, that the

persons about to be removed might confidently rely upon the discretion

and enterprise of Logan. He proceeded on his mission, and executed it

successfully: bringing into Piqua--near one hundred miles distant from

fort Wayne--twenty-five women and children; the former, without an

exception, bearing testimony to the uniform delicacy and kindness with

which he treated them. Deeply impressed with the dangerous

responsibility of the office he had assumed, he is said not to have

slept from the time the party left fort Wayne, until it reached Piqua.

We next hear of Logan, in connection with the memorable siege of fort

Wayne. This post, which was erected in 1794, stood at the junction of

the St. Joseph's and St. Mary's rivers, and, although not within the

limits of Ohio, its preservation was all-important to the peace and

safety of our north-western frontier. Having been built of wood, it

was, in 1812, a pile of combustible matter. Immediately after the

surrender of general Hull, in August, 1812, the Indians, to the number

of four or five hundred, closely invested this place. The garrison at

that time, including every description of persons, amounted to less

than one hundred persons, of whom not more than sixty or seventy were

capable of performing military duty. These were commanded by captain

Rhea, an officer who, from several causes, was but ill qualified for

the Station. His lieutenants were Philip Ostrander and Daniel Curtis,

both of whom, throughout the siege, discharged their duty in a gallant

manner.

At the time of the investment of this place, there was a considerable

body of Ohio troops in the neighborhood of Piqua. These had been

ordered out by governor Meigs, for the relief of Detroit; but, upon

hearing of the surrender of that place, their course was directed

towards fort Wayne. They were, however, almost in a state of

disorganization, and manifested but little ardor in entering upon this

new duty. Perceiving this state of things, and aware that the fort was

in imminent danger, a young man, now major William Oliver, of

Cincinnati, determined upon making an effort to reach the garrison.

Young Oliver was a resident of fort Wayne, and was on his return from a

visit to Cincinnati when, at Piqua, he learned that the place was

besieged. He immediately joined a rifle company of the Ohio militia;

but seeing the tardy movements of the troops, in advancing to the

relief of the fort, he resolved in the first place to return with all

possible expedition, to Cincinnati, for the purpose of inducing colonel

Wells, of the 17th U.S. infantry, to march his regiment to the relief

of the fort; and, in the second place, to make an effort to reach it in

person, that the garrison might be encouraged to hold out until

reinforcements should arrive. When Oliver arrived in Cincinnati, he

found that general Harrison had just crossed the Ohio, from Kentucky,

and assumed the command of the troops composing the north-western army.

He called upon the general, stated the condition of things on the

frontier, and avowed his intention of passing into the fort in advance

of the reinforcements. The general informed him that the troops then at

Cincinnati would be put in motion that day, and marched with all

practicable expedition to the invested point. This was on the 27th of

August; on the 31st Oliver overtook the Ohio militia at the St. Mary's

river. Here he learned that Adrian and Shane, two experienced scouts,

had been sent in the direction of fort Wayne, and had returned with

information that the hostile Indians were in great force on the route

to that place. On the next day, general Thomas Worthington, of

Chillicothe, who was then on the frontier as Indian commissioner,

seeing the great importance of communicating with the garrison,

determined to unite with Oliver in the attempt to reach it. These two

enterprising individuals induced sixty-eight of the Ohio troops and

sixteen Shawanoe Indians, among whom was Logan, to accompany them. They

marched eighteen miles that day, and camped for the night at Shane's

crossing.

Next morning they again moved forward, but in the course of the day,

some thirty-six of their party abandoned the hazardous enterprise, and

returned to the main army. The remainder pursued their route, and

encamped that evening within twenty-four miles of fort Wayne. As the

party was not strong enough in its present condition to encounter the

besieging enemy, general Worthington was very reluctantly induced to

remain at this point, while Oliver, with Logan, captain Johnny and

Brighthorn, should make an effort to reach the fort. Being well armed

and mounted, they started at daybreak next morning upon this daring

adventure. Proceeding with great caution, they came within five miles

of the fort, before they observed any fresh Indian signs. At this point

the keen eye of Logan discovered the cunning strategy of the enemy: for

the purpose of concealing their bodies, they had dug holes on either

side of the road, alternately, at such distances as to secure them from

their own fire: these were intended for night watching, in order to cut

off all communication with the fort. Here the party deemed it advisable

to leave the main road, and strike across the country to the Maumee

river, which was reached in safety at a point one and a half miles

below the fort. Having tied their horses in a thicket, the party

proceeded cautiously on foot, to ascertain whether our troops or the

Indians were in possession of the fort. Having satisfied themselves on

this point, they returned, remounted their horses, and taking the main

road, moved rapidly to the fort. Upon reaching the gate of the

esplanade, they found it locked, and were thus compelled to pass down

the river bank, and then ascend it at the northern gate. They were

favored in doing so by the withdrawal of the hostile Indians from this

point, in carrying out a plan, then on the point of consummation, for

taking the fort by an ingenious stratagem. For several days previous to

this time, the hostile chiefs under a flag of truce, had been holding

intercourse with the garrison; and had, it is supposed, discovered the

unsoldier-like condition of the commander. They had accordingly

arranged their warriors in a semicircle, on the west and south sides of

the fort, and at no great distance from it. Five of the chiefs, under

pretence of treating with the officers of the garrison, were to pass

into the fort, and when in council were to assassinate the subaltern

officers with pistols and knives, concealed under their blankets; and

then to seize captain Rhea, who, in his trepidation, and under a

promise of personal safety, would, they anticipated, order the gates of

the fort to be thrown open for the admission of the besiegers. The

plan, thus arranged, was in the act of being carried into execution at

the moment when Oliver and his companions reached the gate. In speaking

of the opportune approach of this party, lieutenant Curtis says, "the

safe arrival of Mr. Oliver at that particular juncture, may justly be

considered most miraculous. One hour sooner or one later, would no

doubt have been inevitable destruction both to himself and escort: the

parties of Indians who had been detached to guard the roads and passes

in different directions, having all at that moment been called in, to

aid in carrying the fort. It is generally believed by those acquainted

with the circumstances, that not one hour, for eight days and nights

preceding or following the hour in which Mr. Oliver arrived, would have

afforded an opportunity of any probable safety." Winnemac, Five Medals,

and three other hostile chiefs, bearing the flag under which they were

to gain admittance to the fort to carry out their treacherous

intentions, were surprised by suddenly meeting at the gate, Oliver and

his companions. Coming from different directions and screened by the

angles of the fort, the parties were not visible to each other until

both were near the gate. On meeting, they shook hands, but it was

apparent that Winnemac was greatly disconcerted; he immediately wheeled

and returned to his camp, satisfied that this accession of strength to

the garrison--the forerunner, in all probability, of a much larger

force--had defeated his scheme. The others of his party entered the

fort, and remained some little time, during which they were given to

understand that Logan and his two Indian companions were to remain with

the garrison. Oliver, in the mean time, having written a hasty letter,

describing the condition of the fort, to general Worthington; and the

Indians being equipped with new rifles from the public stores, they

prepared to leave the fort without delay. Fortunately their movements

were not observed by the enemy, until they had actually started from

the garrison gate. They now put spurs to their horses and dashed off at

full speed. The hostile Indians were instantly in motion to intercept

them; the race was a severe and perilous one, but Logan and his

companions cleared the enemy's line in safety, and this accomplished,

his loud shout of triumph rose high in the air, and fell like music

upon the ears of the beleaguered garrison. The party reached general

Worthington's camp early the next morning, and delivered Oliver's

letter to him. Notwithstanding the perilous condition of the garrison,

however, the Ohio troops delayed moving for its relief, until they were

overtaken by general Harrison, who, with his reinforcements, was unable

to reach the fort until the twelfth. In the mean time the Indians kept

up an incessant firing, day and night, upon the fort, killing on one

occasion, two of the garrison who passed out of the gate on police

duty. Several times the buildings of the fort were set on fire by the

burning arrows which were shot upon them, but by the vigilance of the

garrison in extinguishing the flames, a general conflagration was

prevented. Some days after the arrival of Oliver, the Indians appeared

to be making preparations for some uncommon movement, and one

afternoon, just before night-fall, succeeded in getting possession of

one of the trading houses standing near the fort. From this point they

demanded a surrender of the garrison, under a promise of protection;

and with a threat of extermination if they were compelled to carry the

fort by storm: they alleged, further, that they had just been

reinforced by a large number of warriors, some pieces of British

cannon, and artillerists to man them. Their demand being promptly

refused, they immediately closed in upon the fort, yelling hideously,

firing their guns and also a couple of cannon. Every man in the fort

capable of doing duty, now stood at his post, having several stands of

loaded arms by his side. They were directed by the acting lieutenant,

Curtis,[A] not to fire until the Indians had approached within

twenty-five paces of the fort: the fire was at length opened upon the

entire Indian lines, and in a manner so destructive, that in twenty

minutes the enemy retreated with the loss of eighteen of their

warriors, killed. It was discovered, subsequently, that the cannon used

on this occasion by the Indians, had been made of wood by some British

traders who were with them; one of the pieces burst upon the first, and

the other on the second, fire.

[Footnote A: Captain Rhea, by common consent, was suspended for

incapacity, and lieutenant Ostrander was on the sick list.]

The day before general Harrison reached this place, the Indians

concentrated at a swamp, five miles south of the fort, for the purpose

of giving him battle; but after reconnoitering his force, and finding

it too strong for them, they fell back, passing by the fort in great

disorder, in the hope, it is supposed, of drawing out the garrison,

under a belief that they, (the Indians,) had been defeated by general

Harrison's army. To promote this idea, they had, while lying at the

swamp, kindled extensive fires, that the rising volume of smoke might

be mistaken for that which usually overhangs the field of battle. This

device proving unavailing, the Indians, after a vigorous investment,

running through more than twenty days, withdrew forever from the siege

of fort Wayne.

The enterprise of young Oliver, just related, reflected the highest

credit on his bravery and patriotism: being wholly voluntary on his

part, the moral heroism of the act was only surpassed by its fortunate

results; as it prevented, in all probability, the fall of an important

frontier post, and saved its garrison from the tomahawk and scalping

knife. So hazardous was the effort deemed, indeed, that experienced

frontier's-men endeavored to dissuade him from the undertaking; and

even Logan considered it one of great peril; but when once resolved

upon, he gallantly incurred the hazard of the deed, and showed himself

worthy of the trust reposed in him.

In November of this year, general Harrison directed Logan to take a

small party of his tribe, and reconnoitre the country in the direction

of the Rapids of the Maumee. When near this point, they were met by a

body of the enemy, superior to their own in number, and compelled to

retreat. Logan, captain Johnny and Bright-horn, who composed the party,

effected their escape, to the left wing of the army, then under the

command of general Winchester, who was duly informed of the

circumstances of their adventure. An officer of the Kentucky troops,

general P., the second in command, without the slightest ground for

such a charge, accused Logan of infidelity to our cause, and of giving

intelligence to the enemy. Indignant at this foul accusation, the noble

chief at once resolved to meet it in a manner that would leave no doubt

as to his faithfulness to the United States. He called on his friend

Oliver, and having told him of the imputation that had been cast upon

his reputation, said that he would start from the camp next morning,

and either leave his body bleaching in the woods, or return with such

trophies from the enemy, as would relieve his character from the

suspicion that had been wantonly cast upon it by an American officer.

Accordingly, on the morning of the 22d he started down the Maumee,

attended by his two faithful companions, captain Johnny and

Bright-horn. About noon, having stopped for the purpose of taking rest,

they were suddenly surprised by a party of seven of the enemy, amongst

whom were young Elliott, a half-breed, holding a commission in the

British service, and the celebrated Potawatamie chief, Winnemac. Logan

made no resistance, but with great presence of mind, extending his hand

to Winnemac, who was an old acquaintance, proceeded to inform him, that

he and his two companions, tired of the American service, were just

leaving general Winchester's army, for the purpose of joining the

British. Winnemac, being familiar with Indian strategy, was not

satisfied with this declaration, but proceeded to disarm Logan and his

comrades, and placing his party around them, so as to prevent their

escape, started for the British camp at the foot of the Rapids. In the

course of the afternoon, Logan's address was such as to inspire

confidence in his sincerity, and induce Winnemac to restore to him and

his companions their arms. Logan now formed the plan of attacking his

captors on the first favorable opportunity; and whilst marching along,

succeeded in communicating the substance of it to captain Johnny and

Bright-horn. Their guns being already loaded, they had little further

preparation to make, than to put bullets into their mouths, to

facilitate the reloading of their arms. In carrying on this process,

captain Johnny, as he afterwards related, fearing that the man marching

by his side had observed the operation, adroitly did away the

impression by remarking, "me chaw heap tobac."

The evening being now at hand, the British Indians determined to encamp

on the bank of Turkeyfoot creek, about twenty miles from fort

Winchester. Confiding in the idea that Logan had really deserted the

American service, a part of his captors rambled around the place of

their encampment, in search of blackhaws. They were no sooner out of

sight, than Logan gave the signal of attack upon those who remained

behind; they fired and two of the enemy fell dead--the third, being

only wounded, required a second shot to despatch him; and in the mean

time, the remainder of the party, who were near by, returned the fire,

and all of them "treed." There being four of the enemy, and only three

of Logan's party, the latter could not watch all the movements of their

antagonists. Thus circumstanced, and during an active fight, the fourth

man of the enemy passed round until Logan was uncovered by his tree,

and shot him through the body. By this time Logan's party had wounded

two of the surviving four, which caused them to fall back. Taking

advantage of this state of things, captain Johnny mounted Logan--now

suffering the pain of a mortal wound--and Bright-horn--also wounded--on

two of the enemy's horses, and started them for Winchester's camp,

which they reached about midnight. Captain Johnny, having already

secured the scalp of Winnemac, followed immediately on foot, and gained

the same point early on the following morning. It was subsequently

ascertained that the two Indians of the British party, who were last

wounded, died of their wounds, making in all five out of the seven, who

were slain by Logan and his companions.

When the news of this gallant affair had spread through the camp, and

especially after it was known that Logan was mortally wounded, it

created a deep and mournful sensation. No one, it is believed, more

deeply regretted the fatal catastrophe, than the author of the charge

upon Logan's integrity, which had led to this unhappy result.

Logan's popularity was very great; indeed he was almost universally

esteemed in the army, for his fidelity to our cause, his unquestioned

bravery, and the nobleness of his nature. He lived two or three days

after reaching the camp, but in extreme bodily agony; he was buried by

the officers of the army, at fort Winchester, with the honors of war.

Previous to his death, he related the particulars of this fatal

enterprise to his friend Oliver, declaring to him that he prized his

honor more than life; and, having now vindicated his reputation from

the imputation cast upon it, he died satisfied. In the course of this

interview, and while writhing with pain, he was observed to smile; upon

being questioned as to the cause, he replied, that when he recalled to

his mind the manner in which captain Johnny took off the scalp of

Winnemac, while at the same time dexterously watching the movements of

the enemy, he could not refrain from laughing--an incident in savage

life, which shows the "ruling passion strong in death." It would

perhaps be difficult in the history of savage warfare, to point out an

enterprise the execution of which reflects higher credit upon the

address and daring conduct of its authors, than this does upon Logan

and his two companions. Indeed a spirit even less indomitable, a sense

of honor less acute, and a patriotic devotion to a good cause less

active, than were manifested by this gallant chieftain of the woods,

might, under other circumstances, have well conferred immortality upon

his name.

The Shawanoe nation has produced a number of distinguished individuals,

besides those who have been noticed in this brief sketch of that

people. The plan of our work does not permit a more extended

enumeration of them. When a full and faithful history of this tribe

shall be written, it will be found, we think, that no tribe of

aborigines on this continent, has given birth to so many men,

remarkable for their talents, energy of character, and military

prowess, as the Shawanoe.

Under a treaty held at the rapids of the Miami of the lakes, in 1817,

by Duncan McArthur and Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part of the

United States, for extinguishing Indian titles to lands in Ohio, the

Shawanoes ceded to the government the principal portion of their lands

within the limits of this state. After this period they resided

principally on the reserve made by them at and around Wapakanotta, on

the Auglaize river. Here the greater part of them remained, until

within a few years past, when, yielding to the pressing appeals of the

government, they sold their reserved lands to the United States, and

removed west of the Mississippi.

For a number of years prior to their final departure from Ohio, the

society of Friends, with their characteristic philanthropy towards the

Indians, maintained a mission at Wapakanotta, for the purpose of giving

instruction to the Shawanoe children, and inducing the adults to turn

their attention to agricultural pursuits. Notwithstanding the wandering

and warlike character of this tribe, such was the success attending

this effort of active benevolence, that the Friends composing the

Yearly Meetings of Baltimore, Ohio and Indiana, still continue a

similar agency among the Shawanoes, although they are now the occupants

of the territory lying beyond the distant Arkansas.

Whether the new position west of the Mississippi, in which the Indian

tribes have been placed, will tend to promote their civilization,

arrest their deterioration in morals, or their decline in numbers, we

think extremely problematical. Should such, however, be the happy

result, it may be anticipated that the tribe which has produced a

Logan, a Cornstalk and a Tecumseh, will be among the first to rise

above the moral degradation in which it is shrouded, and foremost to

exhibit the renovating influences of Christian civilization.

THE LIFE OF TECUMSEH.

CHAPTER I.

Parentage of Tecumseh--his sister Tecumapease--his brothers

Cheeseekau, Sauweeseekau, Nehasseemo, Tenskwautawa or the Prophet,

and Kumskaukau.

There are not wanting authorities for the assertion that both the

Anglo-Saxon and Creek blood ran in the veins of TECUMSEH.[A] It has

been stated that his paternal grandfather was a white man, and that his

mother was a Creek. The better opinion, however, seems to be, that he

was wholly a Shawanoe. On this point we have the concurrent authority

of John Johnston, late Indian agent at Piqua; and of Stephen Ruddell,

formerly of Kentucky, who for near twenty years was a prisoner among

the Shawanoes. They both possessed ample opportunities for ascertaining

the fact, and unite in asserting that Puckeshinwa, the father of

Tecumseh, was a member of the Kiscopoke, and Methoataske, the mother,

of the Turtle tribe of the Shawanoe nation.

[Footnote A: The Indian orthography of this name is Tecumthà, but the

public have been so long under a different impression, that no attempt

has been made in this work to restore the original reading.]

The parents of Tecumseh removed from Florida to the north side of the

Ohio, about the middle of the eighteenth century. The father rose to

the rank of a chief, and fell in the celebrated battle of the Kanawha,

in 1774, leaving six sons and one daughter. Of these, one or two were

born at the south, the others within what now constitutes the state of

Ohio. They will be briefly noticed in the order of their birth.

Cheeseekau, the eldest, is represented to have taken great pains with

his brother Tecumseh, laboring not only to make him a distinguished

warrior, but to instil into his mind a love of truth, and a contempt

for every thing mean and sordid. Cheeseekau fought by the side of his

father in the battle of Kanawha; and, some years afterwards, led a

small band of Shawanoes on a predatory expedition to the south,

Tecumseh being one of the party. While there, they joined some

Cherokees, in an attack upon a fort, garrisoned by white men. A day or

two before the attack, Cheeseekau made a speech to his followers, and

predicted that at such an hour, on a certain morning, they would reach

the fort, and that he should be shot in the forehead and killed; but

that the fort would be taken, if the party persevered in the assault,

which he urged them to do. An effort was made by his followers to

induce him to turn back, but he refused. The attack took place at the

time predicted, and Cheeseekau fell. His last words expressed the joy

he felt at dying in battle; he did not wish, he said, to be buried at

home, like an old woman, but preferred that the fowls of the air should

pick his bones. The fall of their leader created a panic among the

assaulting party, and they suddenly retreated.[A]

[Footnote A: Stephen Ruddell's manuscript narrative.]

Tecumapease, known also by the name of Menewaulakoosee, was a sister

worthy of her distinguished brother Tecumseh, with whom, up to the

period of his death, she was a great favorite. Sensible, kind hearted,

and uniformly exemplary in her conduct, she obtained and exercised a

remarkable degree of influence over the females of her tribe. She was

united in marriage to a _brave_, called Wasegoboah, (stand firm,) who

fell in the battle of the Thames, fighting courageously by the side of

his brother-in-law, Tecumseh. In 1814, Tecumapease visited Quebec, in

company with some other members of her tribe, from whence, after the

close of the war between this country and England, she returned to the

neighborhood of Detroit, where, not long afterwards, she died. Tecumseh

is represented to have entertained for her a warm affection, and to

have treated her, uniformly, with respect. He was in the habit of

making her many valuable presents.

Sauwaseekau, is supposed to have been born while his parents were

removing from the south to the Ohio. Concerning him few particulars

have been preserved. He stood well as a warrior, and was killed in

battle during Wayne's campaign in 1794.

The fourth child, TECUMSEH, or the Shooting Star, is the subject of

this biography.

Of the fifth, Nehaseemo, no information has been obtained.

The two remaining children, Laulewasikaw, called after he became a

prophet Tenskwautawa, and Kumskaukau, were twins. Such is understood to

have been the statement of the former, in giving the family pedigree.

Other authorities[A] say that Tecumseh, Laulewasikaw, and Kumskaukau

were all three born at the same time. The last named lived to be an old

man, and died without distinction.

[Footnote A: John Johnston and Anthony Shane.]

Laulewasikaw, as will appear in the course of this work, lived to

attain an extraordinary degree of notoriety. He became, under the

influence of his brother Tecumseh, a powerful agent in arousing the

superstitious feelings of the north-western Indians, in that memorable

period of their history, between the year 1805, and the battle of

Tippecanoe, in 1811, which dissolved, in a great measure, the charm by

which he had successfully played upon their passions and excited them

to action. The character and prophetical career of this individual will

necessarily be fully displayed in the progress of this work. There is,

however, one trait of his character which may be appropriately

mentioned in this place--his disposition to boast, not only of his own

standing and importance, but also of the rank and respectability of the

family to which he belonged. As an instance of this peculiarity, and of

his tact in telling a plausible tale, the following narration may be

cited. It is an ingenious mixture of truth and fiction; and was written

down by the gentleman to whom it was related by Laulewasikaw. The

language is that of the individual to whom the narrative was made.

"His paternal grandfather, (according to his statement of the family

pedigree) was a Creek, who, at a period which is not defined in the

manuscript before us, went to one of the southern cities, either

Savannah or Charleston, to hold a council with the English governor,

whose daughter was present at some of the interviews. This young lady

had conceived a violent admiration for the Indian character; and,

having determined to bestow herself upon some 'warlike lord' of the

forest, she took this occasion to communicate her partiality to her

father. The next morning, in the council, the governor enquired of the

Indians which of them was the most expert hunter; and the grandfather

of Tecumseh, then a young and handsome man, who sat modestly in a

retired part of the room, was pointed out to him. When the council

broke up for the day, the governor asked his daughter if she was really

so partial to the Indians, as to prefer selecting a husband from them,

and finding that she persisted in this singular predilection, he

directed her attention to the young Creek warrior, for whom, at first

sight, she avowed a decided attachment. On the following morning the

governor announced to the Creeks that his daughter was disposed to

marry one of their number; and, having pointed out the individual,

added, that his own consent would be given. The chiefs at first very

naturally doubted whether the governor was in earnest; but upon

assuring them that he was sincere, they advised the young man to

embrace the lady and her offer. He was not so ungallant as to refuse;

and having consented to the fortune that was thus buckled on him, was

immediately taken to another apartment, where he was disrobed of his

Indian costume by a train of black servants, washed, and clad in a new

suit, and the marriage ceremony was immediately performed.

"At the close of the council the Creeks returned home, but the young

hunter remained with his wife. He amused himself in hunting, in which

he was very successful, and was accustomed to take a couple of black

servants with him, who seldom failed to bring in large quantities of

game. He lived among the whites until his wife had borne him two

daughters and a son. Upon the birth of the latter, the governor went to

see his grandson, and was so well pleased, that he called his friends

together, and caused thirty guns to be fired. When the boy was seven or

eight years old his father died, and the governor took charge of the

child, who was often visited by the Creeks. At the age of ten or

twelve, he was permitted to accompany the Indians to their nation,

where he spent some time; and two years after, he again made a long

visit to the Creeks, who then, with a few Shawanoes, lived on a river

called Pauseekoalaakee, and began to adopt their dress and customs.

They gave him an Indian name, Puckeshinwau, which means _something that

drops_; and after learning their language, he became so much attached

to the Indian life, that when the governor sent for him he refused to

return."

Such is the pleasant and artful story, narrated with solemn gravity by

Laulewasikaw, to emblazon the family pedigree by connecting it with the

governor of one of the provinces: and here, for the present, we take

our leave of the "Open Door."

The band of Shawanoes with whom Puckeshinwau and his family emigrated

to the Ohio, established themselves, in the first place, in the valley

of the Scioto, from whence they subsequently removed to the waters of

Mad River, one of the tributaries of the Great Miami. After the death

of Puckeshinwau, his wife Methoataaskee, returned to the south, where

she died at an advanced age, among the Cherokees. She belonged to the

Turtle tribe of the Shawanoes, and her name signifies, _a turtle laying

eggs in the sand_. That she was a respectable woman, is the testimony

of those who knew her personally: that she was naturally a superior

one, may be fairly inferred from the character of at least a part of

her children.

With this brief account of an aboriginal family, highly reputable in

itself, but on which the name of Tecumseh has conferred no small degree

of distinction, we now proceed to the immediate subject of this memoir.