Indian Biography; Vol. 2 (of 2) / Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable Characters

by B. B. Thatcher

Tecumseh and Elskwatawa were seen for the last time previous to their joining the British, at Fort Wayne. The former passed that way to the Malden council, and he then explicitly stated to the Commander of the station, that he was going "to receive from the British twelve horse-loads of ammunition for the use of his people at Tippecanoe." The visit of the Prophet, which took place immediately after, is referred to in the following communication from the Commander to an American authority:

"On the 12th [July, 1812,] the Prophet arrived at this place, with nearly one hundred Winnebagoes and Kickapoos, who have ever since been amusing the Indian agent at this place with professions of friendship, and it is now evident that he has completely duped the agent, who had suffered him to take the lead in all his councils with the Indians, giving him ammunition, &c. to support his followers until they can receive a supply from Tecumseh.

"On the 19th instant an express arrived in the Prophet's camp from Tecumseh. In order that it should make the better speed, the express stole a horse from some of the inhabitants of the river Raisin, and rode night and day. The horse gave out within twenty miles of this place. This messenger was directed by Tecumseh to tell the Prophet to unite the Indians immediately, and send their women and children towards the Mississippi, while the warriors should strike a heavy blow at the inhabitants of Vincennes; and he, Tecumseh, if he lived, would join him in the country of the Winnebagoes.

"The Prophet found no difficulty in keeping this information to himself and one or two of his confidential followers, and forming a story to suit the palate of the agent here; and, on the 20th instant, he despatched two confidential Kickapoos to effect the objects Tecumseh had in view. In order that these two Indians might make the better speed, they stole my two riding-horses, and have gone to the westward at the rate of one hundred miles in twenty-four hours, at least. To keep the agent blind to his movements, the prophet went early in the morning yesterday, and told the agent that two of his bad young men were missing, and that he feared they had stole some horses. The agent found no difficulty in swallowing the bait offered him, and applauded the Prophet for his honesty in telling of his bad men, as he called them, stealing my horses.

"To keep up appearances, the Prophet has this morning despatched two men on foot, as he tells the agent, to bring back my horses, &c. He says he and all his party will certainly attend the Commissioner of the United States next month at Piqua.

"This he will do, if he finds he cannot raise the western Indians against the United States; but if he finds the western Indians will join him, you may rely on it, he will strike a heavy blow, as Tecumseh says, against the whites in that quarter. You may rely on the correctness of this statement, as I received information relative to the views of Tecumseh, last night, from a quarter that cannot be doubted. The conduct of the agent towards the Prophet, I have been an eye-witness to."

The most remarkable passage in this graphic narration, refers to the exertions Tecumseh was now making for the promotion of the great cause which lay so near his heart. There was occasion indeed for a mighty effort, to regain the ground which his brother had lost. The battle of Tippecanoe was a premature explosion, and a most unfortunate one for his interests. It intercepted the negotiations for new allies, diminished the moral power of the Prophet, and frightened and forced many, who were or would have been his adherents, into neutrality in some cases, and open hostility in others. The vast scheme of Tecumseh, the object so long of all his solicitude and his labor, was thrown into confusion, on the very brink of success. He was exasperated, humiliated, afflicted. He could have wept, like Philip, when his projects were thwarted in mid career by the rashness of his warriors. But here was the trial of his noblest qualities. He came forward and made every proposition, looking like compromise, which he deemed consistent with his dignity,—perhaps necessary to it,—but in vain. He saw then, plainly, that the battle must be fought, and his soul grew strong. The wrongs and woes of his race, and the power and pride of the white men, passed before him. The mortification of failure and exposure on his own part, the dishonor brought upon his brother's name, the ignominy of submission, the censure and scorn of his savage rivals, the triumph of his civilized enemy, all were daggers in his bosom. Then boiled within him the frenzy of despair. Fear and hope struggled for the mastery. Pride, revenge, ambition, were roused. "Let them come, then"—thought he—"I hear them and see them, in the South and in the East, like the summer leaves rolling and rustling in the breeze. It is well. Shall Tecumseh tremble? Shall they say that he hated the white man, and feared him? No! The mountains and plains which the Great Spirit gave, are behind and around me. I, too, have my warriors, and here,—where we were born and where we will die,—on the Scioto, on the Wabash, on the broad waters of the North, my voice shall be heard."

And it was heard, indeed. At the date of the communication last cited, he had scarcely a hundred followers; and the intentions of the Western Indians, we have seen, were not then ascertained. But from the time of the Malden Council, Tecumseh girded himself to his task, like a strong man for battle. He set his brother and all his emissaries, and at the same time devoted himself, night and day, to the business of recruiting. Repeatedly, before this, he had visited all the tribes on the west banks of the Mississippi, and upon Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan. He now traveled over the route once more. From north to south, and from east to west, he ranged the continent,—threatening, flattering, rousing resentment, alarming superstition, provoking curiosity. No labor fatigued, no disappointment discouraged, no danger alarmed, no emergency surprised him.

The result, with the entire sequel of the history of the two brothers, may be stated in the most general terms. Those who know anything of the history of the last war, need not be informed, that Tecumseh was substantially, as well as nominally, the head and life of the Anglo-Indian Department, and that greater forces were collected by his influence, and embodied under his command, than in any other instance from the first settlement of the country. He brought in six hundred Wabash recruits in one body, early in 1813. In the attack made upon Fort Stephenson, in the summer of the same year, the enemy numbered but five hundred British regulars, for eight hundred Indians, (under Dickson,) while Tecumseh was at the same time stationed on the road to Fort Meigs with a body of two thousand more, for the purpose of cutting off the American reinforcements on that route.

In the decisive battle of the Moravian Towns, he commanded the right wing of the allied army, and was posted in the only part of it which was engaged with the American troops. Here was his last struggle. Disdaining to fly, when all were flying around him but his own nearest followers, he pressed eagerly into the heart of the contest, encouraging the savages by his voice, and plying the tomahawk with a tremendous energy. He appeared to be advancing, it is said, directly upon Colonel Johnson, who was hastening towards him on the other side, at the head of his mounted infantry. Suddenly a wavering was perceived in the Indian ranks; there was no longer a cry of command among them. Tecumseh had fallen, and his bravest men, still surviving, were defeated by the same blow. They fled, leaving thirty-three dead on the field, most of whom were found near Tecumseh.