"Father!—You have got the arms and ammunition which our great father sent for his red children. If you have any idea of going away, give them to us and you may go and welcome. Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it be his will, we wish to leave our bones upon them."
This speech referred to the retreat from Malden. Tecumseh reluctantly gave his assent to a still further withdrawal, but he warned Proctor that if he did not stop retreating and fight, he would call off his warriors and have nothing to do with him. The British leader was forced to give battle at the Moravian Town on the Thames. He and Tecumseh chose the battle ground, the Shawanoe having the most to say about it. He showed Proctor how he could protect one flank with the river and the other with a swamp.
The battle of the Thames October 5, was another brilliant victory for the Americans under General Harrison. Proctor and a few others escaped by starting early in their flight. With this exception, the whole British force became prisoners.
KIT CARSON
Tecumseh never thought of retreating or surrendering, but, at the head of his fifteen hundred warriors, he held the American army in check for a long time. He soon received a severe wound in the arm, but paid no attention to it, and fought on with as much bravery as ever. His wonderful voice rose above the roar of battle, and nerved the arms of his warriors, but suddenly it ceased, and it quickly became known that Tecumseh had fallen. A panic instantly spread among the Indians, who broke into headlong flight in all directions.
A strange dispute raged for years as to who it was that killed Tecumseh. Although it was never settled, it is generally believed that it was Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky, afterward Vice-President of the United States. While the identity of Tecumseh's slayer may be uncertain, there is no doubt that, whoever he was, he closed the career of the "greatest American Indian that ever lived."