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.
During the two succeeding days, the victorious army remained in camp,
for the purpose of burying the dead and taking care of the wounded. In
the mean time, colonel Wells, with the mounted riflemen, visited the
Prophet's town, and found it deserted by all the Indians except one,
whose leg had been broken in the action. The houses were mostly burnt,
and the corn around the village destroyed. On the ninth the army
commenced its return to Vincennes, having broken up or committed to the
flames all their unnecessary baggage, in order that the wagons might be
used for the transportation of the wounded.
The defeated Indians were greatly exasperated with the Prophet: they
reproached him in bitter terms for the calamity he had brought upon
them, and accused him of the murder of their friends who had fallen in
the action. It seems, that after pronouncing some incantations over a
certain composition, which he had prepared on the night preceding the
action, he assured his followers, that by the power of his art, half of
the invading army was already dead, and the other half in a state of
distraction; and that the Indians would have little to do but rush into
their camp, and complete the work of destruction with their tomahawks.
"You are a liar," said one of the surviving Winnebagoes to him, after
the action, "for you told us that the white people were dead or crazy,
when they were all in their senses and fought like the devil." The
Prophet appeared dejected, and sought to excuse himself on the plea
that the virtue of his composition had been lost by a circumstance of
which he had no knowledge until after the battle was over. His sacred
character, however, was so far forfeited, that the Indians actually
bound him with cords, and threatened to put him to death. After leaving
the Prophet's town, they marched about twenty miles and encamped on the
bank of Wild Cat creek.
In a letter to the war department, dated fourth of December, governor
Harrison writes:
"I have the honor to inform you that two principal chiefs of the
Kickapoos of the prairie, arrived here, bearing a flag, on the evening
before last. The account which they give of the late confederacy under
the Prophet, is as follows: The Prophet, with his Shawanoes, is at a
small Huron village, about twelve miles from his former residence, on
this side of the Wabash, where also were twelve or fifteen Hurons. The
Kickapoos are encamped near the Tippecanoe, the Potawatamies have
scattered and gone to different villages of that tribe. The Winnebagoes
had all set out on their return to their own country, excepting one
chief and nine men, who remained at their former villages. The Prophet
had sent a messenger to the Kickapoos of the prairie to request that he
might be permitted to retire to their town. This was positively
refused, and a warning sent to him not to come there. These chiefs say
that the whole of the tribes who lost warriors in the late action,
attribute their misfortune to the Prophet alone; that they constantly
reproach him with their misfortunes, and threaten him with death; that
they are all desirous of making their peace with the United States, and
will send deputations to me for that purpose, as soon as they are
informed that they will be well received. They further say, that the
Prophet's followers were fully impressed with a belief that they could
defeat us with ease; that it was their intention to have attacked us at
fort Harrison, if we had gone no higher; that Racoon creek was then
fixed on, and finally Pine creek, and that the latter would probably
have been the place, if the usual route had not been abandoned, and a
crossing made higher up; that the attack made on our sentinels at fort
Harrison was intended to shut the door against accommodation; that the
Winnebagoes had forty warriors killed in the action, and the Kickapoos
eleven, and ten wounded. They have never heard how many of the
Potawatamies and other tribes were killed."
With the battle of Tippecanoe, the Prophet lost his popularity and
power among the Indians. His magic wand was broken, and the mysterious
charm by means of which he had for years, played upon the superstitious
minds of this wild people, scattered through a vast extent of country,
was dissipated forever. It was not alone to the character of his
prophetic office that he was indebted for his influence over his
followers. The position which he maintained in regard to the Indian
lands, and the encroachments of the white people upon their hunting
grounds, increased his popularity, which was likewise greatly
strengthened by the respect and deference with which the politic
Tecumseh--the master spirit of his day--uniformly treated him. He had,
moreover, nimble wit, quickness of apprehension, much cunning and a
captivating eloquence of speech. These qualities fitted him for playing
his part with great success; and sustaining for a series of years, the
character of one inspired by the Great Spirit. He was, however, rash,
presumptuous and deficient in judgment. And no sooner was he left
without the sagacious counsel and positive control of Tecumseh, than he
foolishly annihilated his own power, and suddenly crashed the grand
confederacy upon which he and his brother had expended years of labor,
and in the organization of which they had incurred much personal peril
and endured great privation.
Tecumseh returned from the south through Missouri, visited the tribes
on the Des Moins, and crossing the head waters of the Illinois, reached
the Wabash a few days after the disastrous battle of Tippecanoe. It is
believed that he made a strong impression upon all the tribes visited
by him in his extended mission; and that he had laid the foundation of
numerous accessions to his confederacy. He reached the banks of the
Tippecanoe, just in time to witness the dispersion of his followers,
the disgrace of his brother, and the final overthrow of the great
object of his ambition, a union of all the Indian tribes against the
United States: and all this, the result of a disregard to his positive
commands. His mortification was extreme; and it is related on good
authority, that when he first met the Prophet, he reproached him in
bitter terms for having departed from his instructions to preserve
peace with the United States at all hazards. The attempt of the Prophet
to palliate his own conduct, excited the haughty chieftain still more,
and seizing him by the hair and shaking him violently, he threatened to
take his life.
During the ensuing winter, there was peace on the frontiers. In the
month of January, 1812, Little Turtle, the celebrated Miami chief,
wrote to governor Harrison, that all the Prophet's followers had left
him, except two camps of his own tribe, and that Tecumseh had just
joined him with only eight men; from which he concluded there was no
present danger to be apprehended from them. Shortly afterwards,
Tecumseh sent a message to governor Harrison informing him of his
return from the south; and that he was now ready to make the promised
visit to the President. The governor replied, giving his permission for
Tecumseh to go to Washington, but not as the leader of any party of
Indians. The chieftain, who had been accustomed to make his visits to
Vincennes, attended by three or four hundred warriors, all completely
armed, did not choose to present himself to his great father, the
President, shorn of his power and without his retinue. The visit was
declined, and here terminated the intercourse between him and governor
Harrison.
Early in March, the peace of the frontiers was again disturbed by
Indian depredations; and in the course of this and the following month,
several families were murdered on the Wabash and Ohio rivers. On the
15th of May, there was a grand council held at Mississiniway, which was
attended by twelve tribes of Indians. They all professed to be in favor
of peace, and condemned the disturbances which had occurred between the
Indians and the settlers, since the battle of Tippecanoe. Tecumseh was
present at this council and spoke several times. He defied any living
creature to say that he had ever advised any one, directly or
indirectly, to make war upon the whites: it had constantly been his
misfortune, he said, to have his views misrepresented to his white
brethren, and this had been done by pretended chiefs of the
Potawatamies, who had been in the habit of selling land to the white
people, which did not belong to them. "Governor Harrison," he
continued, "made war on my people in my absence: it was the will of God
that he should do so. We hope it will please God that the white people
will let us live in peace. We will not disturb them, neither have we
done it, except when they came to our village with the intention of
destroying us. We are happy to state to our brothers present, that the
unfortunate transaction that took place between the white people and a
few of our young men at our village, has been settled between us and
governor Harrison; and I will further state, that had I been at home,
there would have been no bloodshed at that time."
In the month of June, following this council, Tecumseh made a visit to
fort Wayne, and sought an interview with the Indian agent at that
place. Misfortune had not subdued his haughty spirit nor silenced the
fearless expression of his feelings and opinions. He still maintained
the justice of his position in regard to the ownership of the Indian
lands, disavowed any intention of making war upon the United States,
and reproached governor Harrison for having marched against his people
during his absence. The agent made a long speech to him, presenting
reasons why he should now become the friend and ally of the United
States. To this harangue, Tecumseh listened with frigid indifference,
made a few general remarks in reply, and then with a haughty air, left
the council-house, and took his departure for Malden, where he joined
the British standard.
In taking leave of that part of our subject which relates to the
confederacy of Tecumseh and the Prophet, and the principle on which it
was established, we quote, as relevant to the case, and as an
interesting piece of general history, the following letter from
governor Harrison to the Secretary of War:
_"Cincinnati, March 22_, 1814.
"Sir,--The tribes of Indians on this frontier and east of the
Mississippi, with whom the United States have been connected by treaty,
are the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanoes, Miamis, Potawatamies, Ottawas,
Chippewas, Piankashaws, Kaskaskias and Sacs. All but the two last were
in the confederacy which carried on the former Indian war against the
United States, that was terminated by the treaty of Greenville. The
Kaskaskias were parties to the treaty, but they had not been in the
war. The Wyandots are admitted by the others to be the leading tribe.
They hold the grand _calumet_ which unites them and kindles the council
fire. This tribe is nearly equally divided between the _Crane_, at
Sandusky, who is the grand sachem of the nation, and Walk-in-the-Water,
at Brownstown, near Detroit. They claim the lands bounded by the
settlements of this state, southwardly and eastwardly; and by lake
Erie, the Miami river, and the claim of the Shawanoes upon the
Auglaize, a branch of the latter. They also claim the lands they live
on near Detroit, but I am ignorant to what extent.
"The Wyandots of Sahdusky have adhered to us through the war. Their
chief, the Crane, is a venerable, intelligent and upright man. Within
the tract of land claimed by the Wyandots, a number of Senecas are
settled. They broke off from their own tribe six or eight years ago,
but received a part of the annuity granted that tribe by the United
States, by sending a deputation for it to Buffalo. The claim of the
Wyandots to the lands they occupy, is not disputed, that I know of, by
any other tribe. Their residence on it, however, is not of long
standing, and the country was certainly once the property of the
Miamis.
"Passing westwardly from the Wyandots, we meet with the Shawanoe
settlement at Stony creek, a branch of the Great Miami, and at
Wapauckanata, on the Auglaize. These settlements were made immediately
after the treaty of Greenville, and with the consent of the Miamis,
whom I consider the real owners of these lands. The chiefs of this band
of Shawanoes, Blackhoof, Wolf and Lewis, are attached to us from
principle as well as interest--they are all honest men.
"The Miamis have their principal settlement at the forks of the Wabash,
thirty miles from fort Wayne; and at Mississinaway, thirty miles lower
down. A band of them under the name of Weas, have resided on the
Wabash, sixty miles above Vincennes; and another under the Turtle on
Eel river, a branch of the Wabash, twenty miles north-west of fort
Wayne. By an artifice of Little Turtle, these three bands were passed
on general Wayne as distinct tribes, and an annuity granted to each.
The Eel river and Weas, however, to this day call themselves Miamis,
and are recognized as such by the Mississinaway band. The Miamis,
Maumees or Tewicktowes, are the undoubted proprietors of all that
beautiful country which is watered by the Wabash and its branches; and
there is as little doubt that their claim extended at least as far east
as the Scioto. They have no tradition of removing from any other
quarter of the country; whereas all the neighboring tribes, the
Piankishaws excepted, who are a branch of the Miamis, are either
intruders upon them, or have been permitted to settle in their country.
The Wyandots emigrated first from lake Ontario, and subsequently from
lake Huron--the Delawares from Pennsylvania and Maryland--the Shawanoes
from Georgia--the Kickapoos and Potawatamies from the country between
lake Michigan and the Mississippi--and the Ottawas and Chippewas from
the peninsula formed by lakes Michigan, Huron and St Clair, and the
strait connecting the latter with Erie. The claims of the Miamis were
bounded on the north and west by those of the Illinois confederacy,
consisting originally of five tribes, called Kaskaskias, Cahokias,
Peorians, Michiganians, and Temorais, speaking the Miami language, and
no doubt branches of that nation.
"When I was first appointed governor of Indiana territory, these once
powerful tribes were reduced to about thirty warriors, of whom
twenty-five were Kaskaskias, four Peorians, and a single Michiganian.
There was an individual lately alive at St. Louis, who saw the
enumeration made of them by the Jesuits in the year 1745, making the
number of their warriors four thousand. A furious war between them and
the Sacs and Kickapoos, reduced them to that miserable remnant, which
had taken refuge amongst the white people of the towns of Kaskaskias
and St. Genevieve. The Kickapoos had fixed their principal village at
Peoria, upon the south bank of the Illinois river, while the Sacs
remained masters of the country to the north.
"During the war of our Revolution, the Miamis had invited the Kickapoos
into their country to assist them against the whites, and a
considerable village was formed by that tribe on Vermillion river, near
its junction with the Wabash. After the treaty of Greenville, the
Delawares had, with the approbation of the Miamis, removed from the
mouth of the Auglaize to the head waters of White river, a large branch
of the Wabash--and the Potawatamies, without their consent, had formed
two villages upon the latter river, one at Tippecanoe, and the other at
Chippoy, twenty-five miles below.
"The Piankishaws lived in the neighborhood of Vincennes, which was
their ancient village, and claimed the lands to the mouth of the
Wabash, and to the north and west as far as the Kaskaskias claimed.
Such was the situation of the tribes, when I received instructions from
President Jefferson, shortly after his first election, to make efforts
for extinguishing the Indian claims upon the Ohio, below the mouth of
the Kentucky river, and to such other tracts as were necessary to
connect and consolidate our settlements. It was at once determined,
that the community of interests in the lands amongst the Indian tribes,
which seemed to be recognized by the treaty of Greenville, should be
objected to; and that each individual tribe should be protected in
every claim that should appear to be founded in reason and justice. But
it was also determined, that as a measure of policy and liberality,
such tribes as lived upon any tract of land which it would be desirable
to purchase, should receive a portion of the compensation, although the
title might be exclusively in another tribe. Upon this principle the
Delawares, Shawanoes, Potawatamies, and Kickapoos, were admitted as
parties to several of the treaties. Care was taken, however, to place
the title to such tracts as might be desirable to purchase hereafter,
upon a footing that would facilitate the procuring of them, by getting
the tribes who had no claim themselves, and who might probably
interfere, to recognize the titles of those who were ascertained to
possess them.
"This was particularly the case with regard to the lands watered by the
Wabash, which were declared to be the property of the Miamis, with the
exception of the tract occupied by the Delawares on White river, which
was to be considered the joint property of them and the Miamis. This
arrangement was very much disliked by Tecumseh, and the banditti that
he had assembled at Tippecanoe. He complained loudly, as well of the
sales that had been made, as of the principle of considering a
particular tribe as the exclusive proprietors of any part of the
country, which he said the Great Spirit had given to all his red
children. Besides the disaffected amongst the neighboring tribes, he
had brought together a considerable number of Winnebagoes and
Folsovoins, from the neighborhood of Green Bay, Sacs from the
Mississippi, and some Ottawas and Chippewas from Abercrosh on lake
Michigan. These people were better pleased with the climate and country
of the Wabash, than with that they had left.
"The Miamis resisted the pretensions of Tecumseh and his followers for
some time; but a system of terror was adopted, and the young men were
seduced by eternally placing before them a picture of labor, and
restriction as to hunting, to which the system adopted would inevitably
lead. The Potawatamies and other tribes inhabiting the Illinois river
and south of lake Michigan, had been for a long time approaching
gradually towards the Wabash. Their country, which was never abundantly
stocked with game, was latterly almost exhausted of it. The fertile
regions of the Wabash still afforded it. It was represented, that the
progressive settlements of the whites upon that river, would soon
deprive them of their only resource, and indeed would force the Indians
of that river upon them who were already half starved.
"It is a fact, that for many years the current of emigration, as to the
tribes east of the Mississippi, has been from north to south. This is
owing to two causes; the diminution of those animals from which the
Indians procure their support; and the pressure of the two great
tribes, the Chippewas and Sioux, to the north and west. So long ago as
the treaty of Greenville, the Potawatamies gave notice to the Miamis,
that they intended to settle upon the Wabash. They made no pretensions
to the country, and their only excuse for the intended aggression was,
that they were 'tired of eating fish and wanted meat.' It has already
been observed that the Sacs had extended themselves to the Illinois
river, and that the settlements of the Kickapoos at the Peorias was of
modern date. Previously to the commencement of the present war, a
considerable number had joined their brethren on the Wabash. The Tawas
from the Des Moins river, have twice made attempts to get a footing
there.
* * * * *
"The question of the title to the lands south of the Wabash, has been
thoroughly examined; every opportunity was afforded to Tecumseh and his
party to exhibit their pretensions, and they were found to rest upon no
other basis than that of their being the common property of all the
Indians. The Potawatamies and Kickapoos have unequivocally acknowledged
the Miami and Delaware titles."