THE MUSTER AND THE MARCH
--_The rally of the Kentuckians and their clansmen in southern Indiana,
to Harrison's support--The coming of the support of the Fourth United
States Regiment--The march to the Tippecanoe battlefield._
In the summer and early autumn of the year 1811, the British were again
distributing arms and ammunition among the tribes of the northwest and
rallying them for that second and final struggle with the United States.
In August of that year a Potawatomi chief informed Harrison that he was
present when a message from the British agent was delivered to the
Prophet, "telling him that the time had arrived for taking up arms, and
inviting him to send a party to Malden to receive the necessary
supplies." A statement made by Captain Benjamin Parke of the light
dragoons of Vincennes, to the Governor on the thirteenth of September,
was to the effect that the Indians of the Wabash and the Illinois had
recently visited Elliott at Malden; "that they are now returning from
thence with a larger supply of goods than is known ever to have been
distributed to them before; that rifles or fusees are given to those who
are unarmed, and powder and lead to all." A similar communication made
by the Hon. Waller Taylor, a judge of the supreme court of the
Territory, stated that, "The spirit of hostility manifested by the
Prophet and his followers (who, it is said, are daily increasing); the
thefts and murders committed within a few months past, and the unusual
quantities of arms, ammunition, etc., which not only these, but the
Indians generally have received from the British agent at Fort Malden,
strongly evidence a disposition to commence war as soon as a fit
opportunity occurs."
In this same month of September, Touissant Dubois, a French-Canadian
agent of the Governor's, reported to him that all the Indians along the
Wabash had been, or were then, on a visit to the British agency. "He
(Dubois) has been in the Indian trade thirty years and has never known,
as he thinks, more than one-fourth as many goods given to the Indians as
they are now distributing. He examined the share of one man (not a
chief) and found that he had received an elegant rifle, 25 pounds of
powder, 50 of lead, 3 blankets, 3 strouds of cloth, 10 shirts, and
several other articles. He says that every Indian is furnished with a
gun (either rifle or fusil), and an abundance of ammunition. A trader of
this country was lately at the King's stores at Malden. He saw 150 kegs
of powder (supposed to contain about 60 pounds each), and he was told
that the quantity of goods for the Indian Department which had been sent
over this year exceeded that of common years by twenty thousand pounds
sterling. It is impossible to ascribe this profusion to any other motive
than that of instigating the Indians to take up the tomahawk. It cannot
be to secure their trade, for all the peltries collected on the waters
of the Wabash in one year, if sold in the London market, would not pay
the freight of the goods which have been given to the Indians." The
contagion of unrest, thus encouraged and cultivated, was, as Captain
Parke observed, rapidly spreading to all the tribes of the Wabash, the
lakes and the Mississippi, and the influence of the Prophet was daily
increasing. Unless the nest of banditti at Tippecanoe was broken up, the
axe would quickly fall on all the settlements.
The plans of the Governor were speedily formed and most energetically
carried forward. His purposes were, to call upon the tribes to
immediately deliver up any and all of their people who had been
concerned in the murders on the frontier; to require them to fulfill
"that article of the Treaty of Greenville which obliges them to give
information and to stop any parties passing through their districts with
hostile intentions;" to further require them to cause such of their
warriors as had joined the Prophet to immediately return to their
tribes, or be put out of their protection. Of the Miamis he would demand
an absolute disavowal of all further connection with the Prophet, and a
disapprobation of his continued occupancy of their lands. All the tribes
were to be reminded of the lenity, justice and continued consideration
of the United States, and the efforts of the government to civilize them
and promote their happiness, and warned that in case they took up the
tomahawk against their fathers, no further mercies might be expected. To
enforce these requirements, spread terror among the recalcitrant, and
give strength to the wavering, he proposed to move up to the upper line
of the New Purchase with two companies of regulars, fourteen or fifteen
companies of militia, and two troops of dragoons. He hoped thus to
dissolve the Prophet's bands without the effusion of blood, but in case
of a continued defiance he proposed to march into the Indian country and
enforce his demands with sword in hand.
Immediately after the conference with Tecumseh the Governor had sent a
message to the Miami chiefs who had accompanied the Shawnee leader,
requiring their return to Vincennes, that he might confer with them on
measures of peace. To this demand they returned an insolent reply and
refused to come. He then dispatched Touissant Dubois with a written
speech to the Miami, Eel river and Wea tribes.
"My children: My eyes are open and I am now looking toward the Wabash. I
see a dark cloud hanging over it. Those who have raised it intended it
for my destruction, but I will turn it upon their heads."
"My children: I hoped that you would not be injured by this cloud. You
have seen it gathering. You had timely notice to keep clear of it. The
thunder begins to roll; take care that it does not burst upon your
heads."
"My children: I now speak plainly to you. What is that great collection
of people at the mouth of the Tippecanoe intended for? I am not blind,
my children. I can easily see what their object is. Those people have
boasted that they will find me asleep, but they will be deceived."
"My children: Do not suppose that I will be foolish enough to suffer
them to go on with their preparations until they are ready to strike my
people. No. I have watched their motions. I know what they wish to do,
and you know it also. Listen, then, to what I say. I will not suffer
any more strange Indians to settle on the Wabash. Those that are there,
and do not belong there, shall disperse and go to their own tribes."
"My Children: When you made the treaty with General Wayne you promised
that if you knew of any parties of Indians passing through your country
with hostile intentions toward us, that you would give us notice of it
and endeavor to stop them. I now inform you that I consider all those
who join the Prophet and his party as hostile, and call upon you to
fulfill your engagements. I have also sent to the tribes who have any of
their warriors with the Prophet, to withdraw them immediately. Those who
do not comply, I shall consider to have let go the chain of friendship
which united us."
"My Children: Be wise and listen to my voice. I fear that you have got
on a road that will lead you to destruction. Have pity upon your women
and children. It is time that my friends should be known. I shall draw a
line. Those who keep me by the hand must keep on one side of it, and
those that adhere to the Prophet on the other."
"My children: Take your choice. My warriors are in arms but they shall
do you no hurt unless you force me to it. But I must have satisfaction
for the murder of my people and the war pole that has been raised on the
Wabash must be taken down."
When Dubois arrived at the Miami town with the above message, the
chieftains were all preparing to go to Malden. The words of the Governor
called them to a sudden halt. They must now determine whether they
would further listen to the counsel of the Prophet and accept presents
from the British, or remain on terms of friendship with the United
States. No further wavering or delay would be tolerated.
In the council which followed, Lapoussier was insolent and told Dubois
that the Miamis had received no notice whatever of any hostile intention
on the part of the Prophet; that they (the Miamis) would defend their
lands to the last man, and that the Governor was making himself
contemptible in the eyes of all. These bold declarations were approved
by Pecan, the Big Man, Negro Legs, Osage, and Sa-na-mah-hon-ga, or The
One That Eats Stones, commonly known as the Stone Eater. The words of
Little Turtle were of a different tone. He then and afterwards, affirmed
his allegiance to the United States. While he prayed the Governor to
avoid if possible the shedding of blood, he still proclaimed that the
lands on the Wabash were the property of the Miamis; that they had
endeavored to stop the Prophet from going there, and that his settlement
was made without their consent. "I told my people when they were going
to see the Governor not to say anything respecting the land; that the
treaty was made and it was a fair one. They had signed the paper which
bound the sale of the lands, and that nothing further should be said on
the subject. I also charged them whatever they did, to have nothing to
do with the Prophet; that the Prophet was an enemy of Governor
Harrison's and Governor Harrison's of his; that if they formed any kind
of connection with the Prophet it would make the Governor an enemy of
theirs."
While these events were going forward, the Governor was making
preparations for his expedition up the Wabash. The noise of the coming
storm soon reached the ears of the Kentuckians. On the twenty-fourth of
August, Joseph Hamilton Daviess wrote to the Governor offering himself
as a volunteer. He had been instrumental in checking the treasonable
designs of Aaron Burr, was Master of the Grand Lodge of Free Masons of
the state of Kentucky, and was one of the most eloquent advocates at the
bar of his state. His coming was hailed with eager joy by the rough
militiamen of the frontier. In the latter part of the month Harrison was
in Louisville asking for volunteers. His call, says Pirtle, "was met
with a prompt and ample response. He was very popular, his voice
stirring the people like a bugle call. Old Indian fighters like Major
General Samuel Wells and Colonel Abraham Owen, of the Kentucky militia,
instantly started for the field." Captain Frederick Geiger raised a
company, and Captain Peter Funk, who was in command of a company of
militia cavalry, at once hastened to Governor Charles Scott of Kentucky,
to obtain permission to raise a company of mounted riflemen. In a few
days his men were enrolled and early in September joined the forces of
Colonel Joseph Bartholomew on their march to Vincennes.
On the third of September, the regular troops of the Fourth United
States Regiment of infantry, under Colonel John Parke Boyd, arrived in
keel boats at the Falls of the Ohio. The Governor was there to meet
them. Boyd was a soldier of fortune and one of the most striking
military adventurers of that day. A short sketch of him as given by
Benson J. Lossing is as follows: "John Parke Boyd was born in
Newburyport, Massachusetts, December 21, 1764. His father was from
Scotland, and his mother was a descendant of Tristam Coffin, the first
of that family who emigrated to America. He entered the army in 1786, as
ensign in the Second Regiment. With a spirit of adventure, he went to
India in 1789, having first touched the Isle of France. In a letter to
his father from Madras, in June, 1790, he says: 'Having procured
recommendatory letters to the British consul residing at the court of
his highness, the Nizam, I proceeded to his capital, Hyberabad, 450
miles from Madras. On my arrival, I was presented to his highness in
form by the British consul. My reception was as favorable as my most
sanguine wishes had anticipated. After the usual ceremony was over, he
presented me with the command of two kansolars of infantry, each of
which consists of 500 men.' His commission and pay were in accordance
with his command. He describes the army of the Nizam, which had taken
the field against Tippoo Sultan. It consisted of 150,000 infantry,
60,000 cavalry, and 500 elephants, each elephant supporting a 'castle'
containing a nabob and servants. He remained in India several years in a
sort of guerrilla service, and obtained much favor. He was in Paris
early in 1808 and at home in the autumn of that year, when he was
appointed (October 2) Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the U. S. Army."
This tall, handsome and courteous officer, who had fought with the
hordes of India on the other side of the world, was shortly to encounter
the eagle-feathered chiefs of the Winnebagoes on the banks of the
Wabash.
On the night of the 19th of September the regulars of the Fourth
Regiment arrived at Vincennes by way of the Wabash. They were under the
immediate command of Colonel James Miller, of "I'll try, Sir," fame in
the War of 1812. The Governor and Colonel Boyd had already traveled
overland on horseback from Louisville. The sight which greeted the eyes
of the old French residents on the morning of the twentieth, was a novel
one. The American infantry of that period wore a uniform consisting of
"blue, brass-buttoned tail-coats, skin-tight pantaloons, and 'stove-pipe
hats,' with red, white and blue cockades." One pictures them marching in
the brown October woods, their bayonets gleaming in the sunshine, and
their bugles awakening strange echoes from headland and bluff. The
regiment, though small, was made up of a formidable array of men. While
not disciplined in Indian warfare, the rank and file were composed of
brave, resolute soldiers, and such officers as Captains W. C. Baen,
Josiah Snelling, Robert C. Barton, Return B. Brown, George W. Prescott
and Joel Cook, were of the best of that time. The gallant Baen was on
his last march, and his bones were destined to repose in a savage
wilderness.
A military conference was now held, participated in by Governor
Harrison, Colonel Boyd, and two judges of the supreme court, Benjamin
Parke and Waller Taylor, both of whom were officers in the local
militia. It was determined to ascend the river with a respectable force,
which would not only defy attack, but impress the tribesmen, if
possible, with a due respect for the power and authority of the United
States. The Prophet, though not a warrior, was known, as Harrison says,
to be, "daring, presumptuous and rash." He was now reinforced by a
considerable body of Winnebago warriors, and the Potawatomi of the
prairies and the Illinois were coming to his support. A small expedition
would not only excite contempt, but might lead to a disaster.
Accordingly, on the morning of the twenty-sixth of September, an army of
about one thousand men, including one hundred and forty dragoons and
sixty mounted riflemen, commenced its march to the upper end of the New
Purchase. The cavalry had been sent forward two days before to the
settlement of Busseron, where forage for the horses could more easily be
procured. Just before the departure of the army, a deputation of
warriors arrived from the Prophet's Town, led by a war chief of the
hostile Kickapoos. He expressed his astonishment at seeing such warlike
preparations, said that his women and children were all in tears, and
falsely asserted that the hearts of all the Prophet's party were warm
towards the United States. The Governor peremptorily informed the
Kickapoo that the army was about to march, and that nothing but an
immediate surrender of the Indian murderers and horse-thieves would
satisfy the government. The mount of Captain William Piatt, chief
quartermaster of the expedition, and four horses from Busseron had just
been stolen, and all further dissimulation on the part of the savages
was without avail.
The account of the march, as recorded by Captain John Tipton, is
exceedingly interesting. The militiamen of southern Indiana and Kentucky
assembled from the frontier settlements, were men of simple habits,
rough, unlettered, hard to teach the intricacies of military evolutions,
but as General John C. Black has stated, they were also "insensible to
fatigue, watchful as a catamount, resolute as men, heroic as martyrs."
Some of their favorite sports were wrestling, shooting at a mark, and
horse-racing. All were inured to an active, outdoor life. Most of them
were without tents and few had blankets, but they did not complain. As
the army advanced through the wilderness, the cutting down of bee trees,
the shooting of squirrels, raccoon and deer were everyday occurrences;
horses strayed away and were recovered; the provision boats lodged on
the sand bars in the river and were launched again; stories of adventure
and midnight massacre were told about the great camp fires. All came
from families who had suffered from savage outrage; all hated both
British and Indians "with a holy hate," and all were determined that the
forces of civilization should not recede. They were eager for battle and
unafraid.
On the second of October the army arrived at Terre Haute or "high land,"
said to be the scene of a bloody battle between the ancient tribe of the
Illinois and the Iroquois. The place was designated by the old French
traders and settlers as "Bataille des Illinois." A few old apple and
peach trees still marked the site of an ancient Indian village. About
two miles from this location was a town of the Weas. Harrison
immediately began the erection of a quadrangular stockaded fort, with a
blockhouse at three of the angles. This fortification, amid much
celebrating, was, on Sunday, the twenty-seventh of October,
christened as Fort Harrison. An oration was delivered on the occasion by
Joseph Hamilton Davis.
[Illustration: The Line of Harrison's March to Tippecanoe and the New
Purchase of 1809. Drawing by Heaton]
All doubt of the Prophet's hostility was now dispelled. He had committed
open acts of war on the United States. While the army was on the march
to Terre Haute a party of the Prophet's raiders, in open daylight, took
eight horses from a settlement in the Illinois Territory about thirty
miles above Vincennes. At eight o'clock, on the evening of the tenth of
October, a sentinel belonging to the Fourth United States Regiment was
fired on and badly wounded by savages prowling about the camp. "The army
was immediately turned out," says Harrison, "and formed in excellent
order in a very few minutes. Patrols were dispatched in every direction,
but the darkness was such that pursuit was impracticable. Other alarms
took place in the course of the night, probably without good cause, but
the troops manifested an alertness in taking their positions which was
highly gratifying to me." On the evening of the eleventh, John Conner
and four of the Delaware chiefs came into camp. Before leaving
Vincennes, Harrison had sent a request that some of their chiefs might
meet him on the march, for the purpose of undertaking embassies of peace
to the different tribes. On the sixth of October, many of them had set
out from their towns, but were met on the way by a deputation from the
Prophet's Town. This deputation declared that the followers of the
Prophet had taken up the tomahawk against the United States, "and that
they would lay it down only with their lives." They were confident of
victory and required a categorical answer from the Delawares to the
question of whether they would or would not join them in the coming
war. Conner and the four chiefs were immediately sent to report to
Harrison, and another party ordered forward to Tippecanoe to remonstrate
with the Prophet. On the twenty-seventh the latter party reported to the
Governor at Fort Harrison. They had been insulted and badly treated by
the Prophet and were dismissed with contempt. During their stay with the
Shawnee leader, the warriors arrived who had fired on the sentinel at
Terre Haute. They were Shawnees and the Prophet's nearest friends.
Harrison now resolved to immediately march to Tippecanoe and demand
satisfaction. To return to Vincennes with his troops without effecting a
dispersion or humiliation of the Prophet's party would be attended with
the most fatal consequences. "If he is thus presumptuous upon our
advance," writes the Governor, "our return without chastising him, or
greatly alarming his fears and those of his followers, would give him an
eclat that would increase his followers, and we would have to wage
through the winter a defensive war which would greatly distress our
frontiers." The Governor's display of force on the Wabash had not had
the desired effect. While some of the Weas were returning to their
villages, and the Wyandots were reported to be urging the tribes to fall
away from the Prophet, still the spirit of treachery was abroad in the
whole Wabash country. The Miami chiefs arrived for an apparently
friendly council, but the Stone Eater was vacillating, and already under
the influence of the Prophet. Winamac, who had made so many professions
of friendliness towards the government, was now rallying his forces on
the side of the Shawnee. Reinforcements of savage Kickapoos and
Potawatomi from the Illinois river were beating down the great trails on
the way to Tippecanoe. The constant and continued influence of the
British, the "ridiculous and superstitious pranks" of the Shawnee
impostor, and the natural fear and jealousy of all the tribesmen, on
account of their lands, had at last cemented the savage union. The young
men and braves of all the clans were ranged in either open or secret
hostility against the United States.
The forces at the Prophet's Town were estimated at about six hundred. At
a council of the officers it was decided to send for a reinforcement of
four companies, but without waiting for their return, to at once take up
the march, as all forage for the horses would soon disappear. On the
twenty-ninth of October the army moved forward. It consisted of about
six hundred and forty foot and two hundred and seventy mounted men. Two
hundred and fifty of these were regulars, about sixty were Kentuckians,
and the remainder were Indiana militia, raised at Corydon, Vincennes,
and points along the Wabash and Ohio rivers. "The militia," says
Harrison, "are the best I ever saw, and Colonel Boyd's regiment is a
fine body of men." Along with the army rolled nineteen wagons and one
cart to transport the supplies, as the winding course of the river and
the nature of the ground near it, rendered their further transportation
by boats impracticable. The Governor at the last moment sent forward a
message to the Prophet's Town requiring the immediate disbandment of the
Winnebago, Potawatomi and Kickapoo followers of the Shawnee, the
surrender of all murderers, and the delivery up of all stolen horses.
"I am determined," wrote Harrison to Governor Scott of Kentucky, "to
disperse the Prophet's banditti before I return, or give him the chance
of acquiring as much fame as a warrior, as he now has as a saint."
On Thursday, the thirty-first, the army crossed the northern line of the
New Purchase at Raccoon Creek, and a few hours later forded the Wabash
at Montezuma. The water was very deep and the troops and wagons were
three hours in making the passage. The east bank of the river had been
reconnoitered for several miles up and a feint made as though to cut a
wagon road, but the country on the left bank afforded too many
opportunities for an ambuscade, and Harrison now resolved to strike the
open prairies toward the state line. On the first of November the army
encamped on the west side of the Wabash about two or three miles below
the mouth of the Big Vermilion, and as it had been determined to take
forward the provisions from this point in wagons, a small blockhouse,
twenty-five feet square was here erected, with a breastwork at each
corner next to the river, to receive supplies from the boats. Remnants
of the old landing were still to be seen in 1914. Logs and brush were
now employed to level down the great horse weeds that filled the
lowlands, and corduroy roads made for the passage of the wagons to the
uplands at the west. Major General Samuel Wells, Colonel Abraham Owen
and Captain Frederick Geiger had now arrived with some of the Kentucky
volunteers, and the army, after leaving a guard of eight men at the
blockhouse, at once crossed the Big Vermilion at the site of the old
Kickapoo village and entered upon Sand Prairie at the north.
Harrison was now in the heart of the hostile Kickapoo country. Like his
old commander Wayne, he maintained a most diligent lookout. The army was
moving forward with mounted men in advance, in the rear and on both
flanks. The infantry marched in two columns of files, one on either side
of the road. The heavy army wagons drawn by oxen, and the beeves and led
animals were in the center. A company of twelve scouts under the command
of Captain Touissant Dubois closely scanned every place of danger and
pointed out the army's way.
Late on the third of November, the frontiersmen saw for the first time
the great prairies of the west, stretching north to Chicago and west to
the Mississippi. They camped that night in Round Grove, near the present
town of Sloan. An abundance of blue grass carpeted the sheltered ground
and a fine spring of water supplied fresh drink. All the next day the
great wheels of the lumbering baggage wagons cut through the sod of the
Warren prairies, leaving a long trail over the plains that was plainly
traceable for a half century afterwards. Night found the army encamped
on the east bank of Pine creek, above the site of the old Brier milldam.
An old bayonet of the revolutionary type was long years afterward picked
up in an adjoining wheat field and is now lodged in the Babcock museum
at Goodland. The dangerous passes to the south had been avoided and
scouts were Posted far down the stream to avoid the danger of a night
attack.
Wednesday the sixth, it was very cold. Indian signs were now observed
for the first time, the scouts caught four Indian horses, and parties of
savages were constantly lurking on the skirts of the advancing forces.
Every effort to hold conversation with them, however, was in vain. At a
distance of about four miles from the Prophet's Town the army was formed
in order of battle, and moved forward with great caution. The scouts had
evidently picked out a poor path, for the army now found itself on
dangerous ground, and Harrison was obliged to change the position of the
several corps three times in the distance of a mile, to avoid the peril
of an ambuscade.
At half past two o'clock in the afternoon the troops crossed Burnet's
Creek at a distance of one and one-half miles from the town, and again
formed in order of battle. Captain Dubois, now offering to go to the
Indian camp with a flag, was sent forward with an interpreter to request
a conference. The savages knew Dubois well, but they now appeared on
either flank and attempted to cut him off from the army. Harrison
recalled him and determined to encamp for the night.
In the meantime, the impatient Major Daviess had advanced to the Indian
corn fields along the river with a party of dragoons. He now returned
and reported that the Indians were very hostile and had answered every
attempt to bring them to a parley with insolence and contempt. He,
together with all the officers, advised an immediate attack. Harrison
was mindful of the President's injunctions. He did not wish to bring on
a conflict until all efforts for peace had failed. He ordered the army
to advance, but placed the interpreters at the front, with directions
to invite a conference with any Indians that they might meet with.
After proceeding about four hundred yards, the advance guard was
approached by three Indians who expressed a wish to see the Governor.
One of them was a chief closely connected with the Prophet. He told
Harrison that they were surprised at his rapid advance upon them; that
they had been given to understand by a party of Delawares and Miamis
whom the Governor had sent forward, that he would not march on their
town until an answer had been made to his demands; that Winamac had been
detailed two days before to meet the Governor and arrange terms, but
that he had proceeded down the south side of the Wabash. These
statements were all false, but the General answered that he had no
intention of attacking them until he was convinced that they would not
comply with his demands, and that he would now go forward and encamp on
the river. In the morning, an interview would be held and he would
communicate to them the determination of the President. The march was
then resumed.
The Indian corn lands extended for a great distance along the river and
the ground was so broken and uneven, and the timber had been cleared
away to such an extent, that no suitable place could be found for a
camp. The troops were now almost upon the town, when fifty or sixty
savages sallied forth and with loud cries called upon the cavalry and
militia to halt. The Governor immediately pressed to the front, and
directed the interpreter to request some of the chiefs to come near.
Harrison now informed them that his only object for the present was to
secure a camp, where he might find wood and water. The chiefs informed
him that there was a creek to the northwest that would suit his purpose,
and after mutual promises of a suspension of hostilities until the
following day, the interview was brought to an end.
Majors Waller Taylor and Marston G. Clark, aides to the Governor, were
now detailed to select a site for an encampment. The ground chosen was
the destined battlefield of Tippecanoe. "It was a piece of dry oak land
rising about ten feet above the level of a marshy prairie in front,
(towards the Indian town), and nearly twice that height above a similar
prairie in the rear, through which, and near to this bank, ran a small
stream clothed with willows and brush wood. Towards the left flank this
bench of high land widened considerably, but became gradually narrower
in the opposite direction, and at the distance of one hundred and fifty
yards from the right flank, terminated in an abrupt point."
[Illustration: Smith Pine Creek in Warren County, Indiana, a few miles
below the place where Harrison crossed. Photo by Lawrence]