The declaration of the chief that he would give his feet no rest until he united all the red men was carried out. His travels and labors were prodigious. During the year 1811, he visited numerous tribes west of the Mississippi, and about Lakes Superior and Huron, not once, but several times, thrilling all by his eloquence and winning hundreds to his side. Regarding this tour, the following incident is authentic, though since it must have been a coincidence, it certainly was one of the most remarkable ever known.
While making one of his appeals to the Creeks, Tecumseh lost patience with their coldness. He shouted angrily:
"When I go back to my people, I will stamp the ground and the earth shall shake!"
It was just about time for the chieftain to reach his towns to the north, when the New Madrid earthquake took place, the severest phenomenon of the kind which up to that time our country had ever known. When the Creeks felt the ground rocking under their feet, they ran from their tepees shouting in terror:
"Tecumseh has got home! Tecumseh has got home!"
While the chieftain was absent on this tour, The Prophet was busy with his magic. He made the wildest prophecies, and hundreds of his superstitious countrymen believed that, as he claimed, he was in direct communion with the Great Spirit. The Prophet told them the Indians should soon be given back their former hunting grounds and all the pale faces should be driven into the sea. Fired by these promises, the fanatical warriors gathered around The Prophet and began committing outrages upon the whites. The government could not refuse to go to the protection of its citizens. A small force of regulars and militia was brought together at Vincennes, the capital, and placed under the command of Governor Harrison, who was given a free hand to do all he might think necessary.
No better officer could have been chosen. United to his fine military talent, he had a thorough knowledge of Indian character, and was safe against any such blunders as had been committed by St. Clair, Harmar and others. Marching into the Indian country, he encamped, early in November, within nine miles of The Prophet's town. The redskins did not disturb him, and he pushed three miles further. He sent forward his interpreters, but the Indians refused to have anything to do with them.
Certain that treachery was intended, the governor moved with the utmost care. He was pleased when he was not attacked on the way to the town, which he reached without the firing of a shot. Still the Indians refused to receive or make any replies to the calls of his interpreters. Harrison formed his line of battle and was advancing upon the town, when several messengers of The Prophet appeared. An interview was held, in which they asked that no attack should be made before the morrow, when the principal chiefs would visit Harrison with proposals for peace.
That officer was not deceived. The men slept on their arms, the guards were strengthened, and nothing was neglected that could prevent surprise. Every officer and private knew just what to do, in the event of an attack, and it maybe doubted whether there was a soldier in the army who did not feel sure such an attack would soon be made.
Just as it was growing light, on the morning of November 7, 1811, the Indians made a furious charge upon the camp. The fight was one of the most desperate in the history of our frontier. But for the preparation, the coolness and bravery, and the fine generalship of commander and officers, all the force would have been destroyed. As it was, the Americans lost sixty-two killed and one hundred and twenty-five wounded, among whom were some of the bravest officers. The loss of the Indians was about one hundred and fifty. They were routed and driven headlong from the field.