THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE
Tecumseh was soon on his southern journey, with twenty
warriors to aid in the work which was now apparently
nearing completion. Inspired by patriotic zeal, he passed
from tribe to tribe, incessantly active. Through dismal
swamps and across wide plains he made his way, and in
his light canoe shot many a dangerous rapid. He laboured
diligently among the Indians to make them sensible of
their wrongs and induce them to sink their petty tribal
jealousies in a grand and noble patriotism. He braved
the dangers and difficulties of winter travel over the
crusted snow and through the white forests. From sunrise
to sunset he journeyed, passing from camp-fire to camp-fire,
binding together the scattered tribes by the fire and
force of his eloquence.
In Tecumseh's absence the Prophet reigned at Tippecanoe,
performing his mysterious rites, seeing visions, and
dreaming dreams. Indians from the most remote tribes were
drawn by tales of his miraculous deeds to this chosen
seat of the Great Spirit, the centre from which radiated
the Prophet's influence. The ever-increasing number of
red men there assembling was evidence also of the success
of Tecumseh's mission. The Americans had heard with
uneasiness his bold avowal before starting on his southern
journey, and their alarm was increased by the reports
from Harrison's spies, posted near the Prophet's town.
On August 7, 1811, the United States government demanded
the surrender of all Indians who were in any way connected
with the murder of American citizens, and threatened to
exterminate those tribes which raised the hatchet. In
response the Prophet promised to comply with the president's
demands, and reiterated his earnest desire to avert war.
But, in spite of such pacific protesting, the Indians
continued their acts of hostility. Some horses were
stolen, and the thieves were tracked to Tippecanoe. The
owners hastened thither to reclaim their property, and
on nearing the town were fired upon by Indians. Similar
incidents were common.
Harrison was well aware of the important and extensive
nature of the work in which Tecumseh was engaged, and
viewing with alarm the rapid growth of the confederation
on the western frontier, he resolved on action. The
destruction of Tippecanoe would be of the utmost strategic
importance, but, if such a drastic measure were determined
upon, it would have to be accomplished before Tecumseh's
return. On the other hand, the president's commands had
been to maintain peace. The governor reconciled the
two opposing courses of action by the thought that a
large army advancing upon the Indians might intimidate
them into submission. Failing that, the alternative
war became inevitable.
On October 5 Harrison set out from Vincennes with over
one thousand men. This army encamped for a brief period
on the Wabash, where the city of Terre Haute now stands,
and erected a fort which, in honour of the leader, was
named Fort Harrison. Leaving about one hundred men as a
guard, Harrison, with the remaining nine hundred, set
out for Tippecanoe on October 29. Two well-worn trails
made by the Prophet's disciples led along the Wabash,
one on either side of the river. Harrison chose that
along the eastern side, then forded the river and struck
the other trail. He safely crossed the dangerous pass at
Pine Creek, where fatal havoc had been wrought upon the
troops of General Harmar. Worn out by their tedious and
difficult march, the soldiers encamped on the evening of
November 5 within ten miles of the Prophet's headquarters.
Next morning they were early on the march; and, after
having gone about five miles, they sighted a party of
reconnoitring Indians, with whom they endeavoured to
communicate, but the red men ignored their advances and
assumed an unfriendly attitude. Within a mile and a half
of the town several of the officers impatiently urged an
immediate attack; but as the president's commands were
to keep peace as long as possible, Harrison decided to
send an officer with a small guard to arrange for a
conference. This overture, however, did not succeed; the
Indians were hostile, and even made an attempt to capture
the officer and his men. And Harrison then ordered his
army to advance upon the town.
Suddenly three Indians appeared, making their way directly
towards the army. The Prophet's chief counsellor, with
two interpreters, had come to demand the reason of this
warlike advance. Peace, they declared, was their one
desire. With much gesticulation they explained that
messages to that effect had been sent by certain chiefs,
who must have taken the other trail and so missed the
general of the Seventeen Fires. The governor agreed to
suspend hostilities in order that terms of peace might
be arranged in council on the following day, and then
set his men in motion towards Tippecanoe. This unlooked-for
action startled the Indians, who immediately assumed the
defensive. The governor, however, assured them that he
had no hostile intentions, and asked whether there was
a near-by stream by the side of which his troops might
encamp. He was directed to a creek about a mile distant
which ran through the prairie to the north of the town.
Thither the Americans at once proceeded, and finding it
a most desirable camping-ground, the soldiers were soon
busily engaged in pitching their tents and gathering
brushwood to make fires, for the November air was chill.
Although no attack was anticipated, Harrison arranged
his camp as if expecting battle, and posted around it a
thin line of sentries.
Darkness fell upon the two encampments. The weary soldiers
were sleeping on their arms; the Prophet and his counsellors
sat about their council fire, eager and alert, earnestly
discussing the situation. Tecumseh's parting injunction
had been to maintain peace at all hazards until his
return. But the Prophet saw himself surrounded by intrepid
warriors who would dare anything at his command, and his
ambition was sorely tempted. In point of numbers his
force was equal to that of the Americans, and the latter,
moreover, were without the protection of fortifications.
Visions of certain victory passed before his mind. He was
still smarting from Harrison's stinging message to the
tribes five years before, and not too well pleased with
Tecumseh's rising fame, which threatened to eclipse his
own. Moved by these thoughts, the Prophet yielded to the
counsel of his boldest warriors and decided upon battle.
Hurried preparations were then made to take the enemy by
surprise. There was no moon and the sky was clouded.
Nature herself apparently was aiding the Prophet's plans.
All being ready, he concocted some charmed fluid, over
which he muttered curious incantations. He assured his
credulous followers that half the enemy were mad and the
remainder dead; and he solemnly promised them that bullets
would glance harmlessly from their own bodies. The
superstitious Indians, thus excited to an intense pitch
of religious fanaticism, were prepared to dare anything.
Shortly before daylight on November 7 the whole Indian
force crept stealthily through the grass towards the
fires of Harrison's camp. The hush that precedes the dawn
was broken only by the soft patter of rain. A watchful
sentinel discerned in the dawning light the spectre-like
form of the foremost savage. He fired at once, and the
shot roused the sleeping camp. It told the Indians that
they were discovered, and with wild war-whoops they rushed
against the American position. The line of sentries was
quickly broken through; but the soldiers sprang to arms;
camp-fires were trodden out; and Indians and whites fought
furiously in the darkness. Perched on a safe eminence,
the Prophet looked down upon the fight, chanting his
war-song further to excite the savages, and rattling
deers' hoofs as signals for advance or retreat. Under
the influence of their fierce fanaticism the Indians
abandoned their usual practice of fighting from behind
cover, and braved the enemy in open conflict. In spite
of Tenskwatawa's prophecies, the American bullets wrought
deadly havoc among the warriors, who, seeing that they
had been deceived, began to waver. Finally, the Indians
gave way before a terrific charge and fled to the woods,
while the soldiers applied the torch to their village.
On the head of the Prophet fell the blame for this
disastrous reverse. 'You are a liar,' said a Winnebago
chief to his former spiritual adviser, 'for you told us
that the white people were all dead or crazy, when they
were in their right mind and fought like the devil.' The
Prophet vainly endeavoured to give reasons for the failure
of his prophecy; it was, he declared, all due to some
error in compounding his concoction; but the wizard's
rod was broken, his mysterious influence shattered. His
radiant visions of power had vanished in the smoke of
battle, and he slipped back into the oblivion from which
he had so suddenly sprung.
Meanwhile Tecumseh was pursuing his mission with
determination and vigour. After travelling many weary
miles, he turned again homeward, pleased with his success,
his thoughts soaring hopefully as he neared the little
town which owed its existence to him. But he arrived
there to find his headquarters demolished, his followers
disbanded, his brother humiliated. Hardest of all to bear
was the knowledge that his own brother, on whose
co-operation he had so firmly relied, had caused this
great disaster to his people. The Prophet's miserable
excuses so enraged him that he seized him by the hair
and shook him violently. Tecumseh mused upon his years
of patient and careful organization, and thought sorrowfully
of his town, so laboriously fortified, and peopled at
the cost of so many dangers risked and privations endured.
It was a blow almost too great to be borne. Should he accept it as
a total defeat and abandon his purpose? No! The courageous chief,
as he stood amid the charred remains of Tippecanoe, resolved to
persevere in his struggle for the freedom of his race.
Tecumseh now informed the governor of his return and
expressed his willingness to visit the president of the
United States. Permission was granted him to go to
Washington, but it was stipulated that he must do so
unattended. This offended Tecumseh's pride and dignity.
He was the most powerful American Indian living, with
five thousand warriors at his command; holding in one
hand an alliance with Great Britain, and in the other an
alliance with the Indians of the south-west. Such was
the position he had reached, and he intended to maintain
it. Was so great a chief, ruler over a confederacy similar
to that of the white man, to visit the chief of the
Seventeen Fires without a retinue! No! He haughtily
refused to go to Washington under such conditions.
In the early spring of 1812 two settlers were put to
death near Fort Dearborn, several others near Fort Madison,
and a whole family was murdered near Vincennes. These
acts of violence threw the settlers into a panic. A
general Indian rising was feared; but at this critical
moment Tecumseh attended a grand council at Mississinewa,
on the Wabash, between Tippecanoe and Fort Wayne, and
succeeded in calming the excited fears of the Americans.
He was not yet prepared for open war. On this occasion,
in the course of his address, he said:
Governor Harrison made war on my people in my absence;
it was the will of the Great Spirit that he should do
so. We hope it will please the Great Spirit that the
white people may 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 your brothers present,
that the unfortunate transaction that took place
between the white people and a few of our men at our
village has been settled between us and Governor
Harrison; and I will further state, had I been at
home, there would have been no blood shed at the time.
In speaking of the recent murders, Tecumseh said he
greatly regretted that the ill-will of the Americans
should be exercised upon his followers, when the
Potawatomis, over whom he had no power, alone were guilty.
To a message from the British agent Tecumseh replied:
You tell us to retreat or turn to one side should the
Long Knives come against us. Had I been at home in
the late unfortunate affair [the attack on Tippecanoe]
I should have done so, but those I left at home were
(I cannot call them men) a poor set of people, and
their scuffle with the Long Knives I compare to a
struggle between little children, who only scratch each
other's faces. The Kickapoos and Winnebagoes have since
been at Post Vincennes and settled the matter amicably.
If Tecumseh regarded the Tippecanoe battle lightly, the
Americans considered it a serious event. It was magnified
into an important victory, and cited to rouse feelings
of enmity against Great Britain, whose agents were held
to be responsible for the conduct of the Indians. Occurring
at a crisis of affairs, it was made a strong argument
for a declaration of war against England.
When June came Tecumseh demanded ammunition from the
Indian agent at Fort Wayne. The agent presented many
reasons why the chief should now become friendly to the
Seventeen Fires. Tecumseh listened with indifference. He
then bitterly expressed his resentment at Governor
Harrison's advance in his absence, and maintained his
right to the lands the Americans had invaded, but he
still declared that he had no intention of taking up arms
against the United States. The agent refused the ammunition.
'My British father will not deny me; to him will I go,'
retorted Tecumseh.