A GIFTED ORATOR
Indian oratory, like that of most savage races, is poetical
and picturesque in thought and expression. It abounds in
imagery and is not without touches of pathos and humour.
The unlettered Indian has no rich store of written history
from which to draw his illustrations. He takes them from
Nature's ever-open book--the sheltered lake, the winding
stream, the storm-swept forest--and from the legendary
lore of his tribe. Tecumseh was one of the most renowned
of a race of orators. The stately Algonquian language
displayed its greatest beauty when spoken by him. His
eloquence flowed as freely as a mighty river, or again,
thundering like a cataract, it swept everything along on
its tempestuous tide. Tecumseh's speech can never reach
our ears; we cannot see the light flash from his hazel
eye or the smile play upon his bronzed cheek. We cannot
watch his graceful gestures. His personal presence we
may not feel; but behind his recorded words we are still
aware of living force and power. We can picture his manly
form in its simple attire, as he paces up and down,
dominating his hearers by his persuasive speech, convincing
their reason, controlling their judgement, compelling
their action. None knew the untaught and unteachable art
of oratory better than Tecumseh. Throughout his life it
ever played an important part, from his first outburst,
which was in defence of a helpless captive, until his
last appeal to the courage of a British general. Tecumseh
acquitted himself gallantly upon the field of battle,
where he was always conspicuous for his courage; but in
the council-chamber there were also battles to be fought,
in which words were weapons, and there Tecumseh was no
less conspicuous and successful.
After the arrival of the commissioners and Indian chiefs
at Chillicothe the governor summoned them to a great
council. Tecumseh was to speak on behalf of the red men.
Upon him was centred the attention of all. He spoke for
three hours, during which he held his listeners spellbound.
He assured them that it was far from his intention to
take up the hatchet against the pale-face, but that he
would sternly resist any trespass upon his people's
rights. Rapidly reviewing all the treaties between the
western tribes and the whites, he boldly denied the
validity of the Treaty of Greenville. At the same time,
he pleaded for conciliation and peace. His speech made
a great impression. The governor's fear of an uprising
at Greenville was allayed, and the militia, which had
been hastily summoned, were dismissed.
Tecumseh's oratory was called into play again in the
autumn of 1807, when the Americans were thrown into a
state of terror by the murder of a white man near the
site of the present town of Urbana. This deed of violence,
coupled with the constant increase of the Prophet's band
at Greenville, caused the wildest alarm among the settlers.
Tecumseh and his brother disclaimed all knowledge of the
murder, which had been committed by some wandering Indians,
and they agreed to attend a council at Springfield to
reassure the whites. The Indians who attended the council
were asked to lay aside their arms. Tecumseh haughtily
refused, thinking it unbecoming the dignity of a warrior
chief. When the request was repeated, the wily Indian
replied that his tomahawk was also his pipe and that he
might wish to smoke. Thereupon a gaunt American advanced
and offered Tecumseh his own pipe. Taking the earthen
bowl with its long stern into his fingers, Tecumseh eyed
it curiously; his gaze then travelled to the owner, who
stood half fearful of the result of this offer. Then with
an indignant gesture the chief tossed the pipe into the
bushes behind him. Nothing more was said about the tomahawk.
The council was held in the shade of spreading maples.
The chiefs and their warriors ranged themselves in a
semicircle on the grass. The pipe of peace slowly made
its round in token of goodwill. Several chiefs spoke in
turn, expressing the pacific intentions of the Indians.
Tecumseh referred to the recent murder, and denied that
it had been the act of any of the tribes under his
influence. He explained that the motive for the gathering
of so many red men at Greenville was purely religious,
and that all were friendly towards the whites. His wards
and manner again carried conviction, and the council
terminated peacefully.
The Americans, however, still continued to regard the
Prophet's settlement at Greenville as a real menace.
During the same autumn came another message to all the
tribes under the Prophet's influence from the governor
of the territory of Indiana, William Henry Harrison,
afterwards president of the United States, and an active
and successful leader of the Americans in the War of
1812. The message closed with these words:
My children, I have heard bad news. The sacred spot
where the great council fire was kindled, around which
the Seventeen Fires and ten tribes of their children
smoked the pipe of peace--that very spot, where the
Great Spirit saw His red and white children encircle
themselves with the chain of friendship,--that place
has been selected for dark and bloody councils. My
children, this business must be stopped. You have
called in a number of men from the most distant tribes,
to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the
Great Spirit, but those of the devil and of the British
agents. My children, your conduct has much alarmed
the white settlers near you. They desire that you will
send away those people, and if they desire to have
the impostor with them, they may carry him. Let him
go to the lakes; he can hear the British more distinctly.
Tecumseh was absent from Greenville when this message
was received, and it fell to the Prophet to make a reply.
He was sorry, he said, that his father listened to the
advice of bad birds. He denied that the Indians had any
intercourse with the British, or that they desired anything
but peace and to hear the words of the Great Spirit.
Early in the spring of 1808 Tecumseh and the Prophet,
with their band of followers, left Greenville and set
out in a westerly direction, across what is now the state
of Indiana. Land had been granted to them by the Potawatomis
and Kickapoos on the banks of the Tippecanoe, near its
junction with the Wabash, and here they intended to make
a new town, which should be the headquarters of their
proposed confederacy. No more desirable spot could have
been chosen. It was almost central in relation to the
tribes they were endeavouring to bring together, and it
had convenient communication with Lake Erie by means of
the Wabash and Maumee rivers, and with Lake Michigan and
the Illinois country by way of the Tippecanoe and other
connecting waters. On one side an almost impenetrable
stretch of wilderness formed a natural defence. From
this position, also, Tecumseh was able to watch carefully
the country from which he wished to exclude white settlers.
The Prophet's influence soon extended Among the neighbouring
tribes, and the American authorities again became alarmed,
the more so as they learned that among his followers
warlike sports were now being practised along with
religious rites. To counteract the effect of such reports
the Prophet sent a message to Governor Harrison to say
that he had been misrepresented, and followed it up by
a personal visit along with a number of his followers,
to explain his attitude towards the Americans. The visit
lasted for a fortnight and frequent conferences took
place between Harrison and the Prophet. The governor also
questioned many of the Indians, but could learn nothing
from them derogatory to their leader. Desiring to know
to what extent the Prophet's teachings controlled his
followers, he tempted them with liquor, but they remained
true to their vow of total abstinence.
Before taking his leave Tenskwatawa thus addressed himself
to the governor:
I told all the redskins, that the way they were in
was not good, and that they ought to abandon it. That
we ought to consider ourselves as one man; but we
ought to live agreeably to our several customs, the
red people after their mode, and the white people
after theirs; particularly that they should not drink
whisky; ... do not take up the tomahawk should it be
offered by the British, or by the Long Knives; do not
meddle with anything that does not belong to you, but
mind your own business and cultivate the ground, that
your women and your children may have enough to live on.
I now inform you, that it is our intention to live in
peace with our father and his people for ever.
This harangue ended with the customary begging for
presents, after which the Prophet and his company took
their departure.
Meanwhile Governor Harrison was planning to take more
territory from the Indians and add it to the United
States. By a treaty with some of the tribes made at Fort
Wayne on September 30, 1809, he obtained a tract of about
three million acres, extending nearly one hundred miles
on each side of the Wabash. By this treaty the Indians
found that they were deprived of much of their best
hunting-ground. Their indignation rose to fighting pitch,
and many who had been holding back now accepted Tecumseh's
scheme of a great confederation by means of which they
might, with some hope of success, battle for their rights.
The powerful Wyandots, keepers of the great wampum belt
of tribal union, turned to the Prophet. Many of the lesser
tribes followed their example, and refused to recognize
the American claims to this newly ceded territory. For
lands acquired under various treaties, the Indians were
receiving from the Americans certain annuities in goods.
That year, when their annual portion of salt arrived at
Tippecanoe, the Indians refused to take it and drove the
boatmen away. They accused the Americans of deception,
demanding that the land should be given back, and that
no more should be taken without the unanimous consent of
all the tribes.
War between the British and the Americans now seemed
inevitable, and everything pointed to an alliance between
the British and the Indians of Tecumseh's confederacy.
British interests required that the confederacy should
not be weakened by premature outbreaks. Gifts of clothing,
food, and weapons were lavishly bestowed upon Tecumseh,
who was encouraged to unite the tribes, but not to declare
war until word came from Canada. 'My son,' said a British
agent, 'keep your eyes fixed on me; my tomahawk is now up;
be you ready, but do not strike until I give the signal.'
The governor of Indiana, desiring to learn the Prophet's
strength and, if possible, to avert war, sent the following
message to Tippecanoe:
There is yet but little harm done, which may be easily
repaired. The chain of friendship, which united the
whites with the Indians, may be renewed and be as
strong as ever. A great deal of that work depends on
you--the destiny of those who are under your direction
depends upon the choice you may make of the two roads
which are before you. The one is large, open and
pleasant, and leads to peace, security, and happiness;
the other, on the contrary, is narrow and crooked,
and leads to misery and ruin. Do not deceive yourselves;
do not believe that all the nations of Indians united
are able to resist the force of the Seventeen Fires.
I know your warriors are brave, but ours are not less
so; and what can a few brave warriors do against the
innumerable warriors of the Seventeen Fires? Our blue
coats are more numerous than you can count; our hunters
are like the leaves of the forest, or the grains of
sand on the Wabash.
Do not think the red coats can protect you; they are
not able to protect themselves. They do not think of
going to war with us. If they did, you would in a few
moons see our flag wave over all the forts of Canada.
To this the Prophet made no direct reply, but said
that Tecumseh, as his representative, would visit the
governor shortly.
True to this promise, early in August 1810, Tecumseh,
with four hundred warriors grotesquely painted for the
occasion, swept down the Wabash in canoes. Captain Lloyd,
then at Fort Knox, writes of their passing:
The Shawanoe Indians have come; they passed this
garrison, which is three miles above Vincennes, on
Sunday last, in eighty canoes. They were all painted
in the most terrific manner. They were stopped at the
garrison by me, for a short time. I examined their
canoes and found them well prepared for war, in case
of an attack. They were headed by the brother of the
Prophet (Tecumseh), who, perhaps, is one of the
finest-looking men I ever saw--about six feet high,
straight, with large, fine features, and altogether
a daring, bold-looking fellow. The governor's council
with them will commence to-morrow morning.
Tecumseh and his warriors encamped at Vincennes, the
capital at that time of the territory of Indiana, where
many had assembled for the council, which was fixed for
August 12. At the hour appointed Tecumseh, attended by
forty followers, proceeded to the governor's house. Seated
in state on the portico was the governor, surrounded by
judges of the Supreme Court, officers, and citizens.
About forty yards from the house Tecumseh halted abruptly.
An interpreter advanced with the request that the chief
and his warriors should take seats on the portico. To
this Tecumseh signified strong disapproval, saying that
he preferred a neighbouring grove. The governor objected
that there were no chairs there. 'The earth is my mother,
and on her bosom will I repose,' was the rejoinder. The
chief carried his point, and chairs for the governor and
his suite were removed to the grove.
Tecumseh put forth all the powers of his eloquence. He
traced the course of relations between the two races from
the time when only the moccasined foot of the red man
trod the wilderness. He depicted vividly the evils suffered
by his race since their first contact with the whites.
The ruthless destruction of his birthplace, the sufferings
of his childhood, the conflicts of his early manhood--all
these he passed over in rapid review. And he closed his
address by contending that the Treaty of Fort Wayne was
illegal, since it had not been agreed to by all the
tribes, who constituted a single nation and who had joint
ownership in the land. Governor Harrison in his reply
disputed Tecumseh's statement that all the Indians were
as one nation, using as his main argument the fact that
they spoke different tongues. He contended that if the
Miamis desired to sell their land, the Shawnees had no
right to interfere. On the following day he inquired
whether Tecumseh intended to prevent a survey of the
disputed land. The chief replied that it was the intention
of the united tribes to recognize the old boundary only,
and that, while he had no desire to provoke war, he would
oppose further aggression. If the Americans gave up this
land, he would serve them faithfully; if not, he would
cast in his lot with the British. The governor promised
to notify the president of Tecumseh's views, without
holding out much prospect of a decision to surrender the
land to its former owners.
'Well,' returned Tecumseh, 'as the great chief is to
decide the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put enough
sense into his head to induce him to direct you to give
up this land. It is true he is so far off he will not be
injured by the war; he may sit still in his town and
drink his wine, while you and I shall have to fight it out.'
In the following spring (1811), when the Americans were
distributing the annuity of salt to the Kickapoos and
Shawnees, the Prophet's Indians at Tippecanoe, on being
offered their share of five barrels, forcibly seized the
whole boat-load. This angered the Americans, who were
further incensed by the murder on the Missouri of four
white men by two Indians of the Potawatomi tribe. Tecumseh,
who was absent at the time either on a hunting expedition
or for the purpose of strengthening his confederation,
was summoned to Vincennes shortly after his return. He
arrived on July 27, attended by a party of three hundred
warriors. The governor referred to the recent seizure of
the salt by the Prophet's warriors and demanded an
explanation. Tecumseh replied that it was indeed difficult
to please the governor, since he seemed equally annoyed
if the salt were taken or rejected. When asked to deliver
up the Indians guilty of the murder, he replied that he
had no jurisdiction over them, since they were not of
his town. The white people, he said, were needlessly
alarmed at his active measures in uniting the northern
tribes; for he was but following the example which the
Seventeen Fires had set him when they joined the Fires
in one confederacy, and he boldly declared that he would
endeavour also to unite the various tribes of the south
with those of the north. The land question he hoped would
be left in abeyance until his return in the spring.