[8] The dispatch of General Wayne has been erroneously
printed, without the commendatory notice of
Lieutenant Harrison, and other officers, but it may
be found in the original.
[9] The expressive term among the Indians for “coward.”
[10] Among the Kentucky volunteers, concerned in this
expedition, were William T. Barry and Charles A.
Wickliffe, afterwards Postmasters-general of the
United States, and John J. Crittenden, for many years
a distinguished senator in Congress, subsequently
attorney general, again a member of the Senate, and,
at the present time, (1848,) governor of the State of
Kentucky.
[11] Nevertheless, it was the decided opinion of
Napoleon, (Las Casas, vii., 184,) that cavalry must
always break infantry, if led by equally brave
and resolute men. His cavalry won the victories
of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Jena; and a charge of
English dragoons, on the flank of his Old Guard, lost
him the day at Waterloo. It should be borne in mind,
however, that the mounted men of Colonel Johnson were
armed with rifles only, and, with the exception of
the officers, were without pistols and sabres.
[12] The honor of killing Tecumseh has been denied
Colonel Johnson upon strong circumstantial evidence.
In opposition to this we have the sincere belief of
the Colonel himself, that he shot the distinguished
Indian chief with his pistol; he could not well
be positive upon the subject, as he sank upon his
dying steed, the moment after he fired his piece,
completely exhausted from the loss of blood. His
bravery, however, cannot be questioned,--though
Tecumseh may not have fallen by his hand,--as he was
borne from the field in a blanket, while his blood
ran out at the ends.