LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
| Page | |
| 1. The Home of General William Henry Harrison, at Vincennes, as it now appears | [Frontispiece] |
| 2. A Section of the Grand Prairie in Benton County, Indiana, which extends West to Peoria, Illinois | [25] |
| 3. A Typical Buffalo Wallow on the Donaldson Farm, in Benton County, Indiana | [33] |
| 4. The Wabash River at Merom Bluff, Sullivan County, Indiana—LaMotte Prairie beyond | [41] |
| 5. Location of the Indian Tribes of the Northwest | [57] |
| 6. Shaubena, the best of the Potawatomi Chiefs, and a follower of Tecumseh | [73] |
| 7. Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States | [97] |
| 8. Map of the Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne Campaigns | [161] |
| 9. Map showing the Wea Plains, and the Line of Scott's March. Tippecanoe County, Indiana | [185] |
| 10. Indian Hills on the Wabash River, just below the old site of Fort Ouiatenon | [193] |
| 11. General Anthony Wayne and Little Turtle, at Greenville. From an old painting by one of Wayne's staff | [241] |
| 12. Governor William Henry Harrison | [257] |
| 13. Another View of the Wabash. A land of great beauty | [291] |
| 14. Raccoon Creek, Parke County, Indiana. The North Line of the New Purchase | [323] |
| 15. The Line of Harrison's March to Tippecanoe and the New Purchase of 1809 | [363] |
| 16. Pine Creek, in Warren County, Indiana, near the place where Harrison crossed | [371] |
| 17. Judge Isaac Naylor. From an old portrait in the Court Room at Williamsport, Indiana | [387] |
PREFACE
In presenting this book to the general public, it is the intention of the author to present a connected story of the winning of the Northwest, including the Indian wars during the presidency of General Washington, following this with an account of the Harrison-Tecumseh conflict in the early part of the nineteenth century, ending with the Battle of Tippecanoe.
The story embraces all of the early efforts of the Republic of the United States to take possession of the Northwest Territory, acquired from Great Britain by the Treaty of 1783 closing the Revolutionary War. The whole western country was a wilderness filled with savage tribes of great ferocity, and they resisted every effort of the government to advance its outposts. Back of them stood the agents of England who had retained the western posts of Detroit, Niagara, Oswego, Michillimacinac and other places in order to command the lucrative fur trade, and who looked upon the advance of the American traders and settlers with jealousy and alarm. They encouraged the savages in their resistance, furnished them with arms and ammunition, and at times covertly aided them with troops and armed forces. In other words, this is a part of that great tale of the winning of the west.
We are well aware that there is a very respectable school of historians who insist that the British took no part in opposing the American advance, but the cold and indisputable facts of history, the words of Washington himself, contradict this view. England never gave up the idea of retrieving her lost possessions in the western country until the close of the War of 1812.
An attempt has also been made in this work to present some of the great natural advantages of the Northwest; its wealth of furs and peltries, and its easy means of communication with the British posts. The leading tribes inhabiting its vast domain, the Indian leaders controlling the movements of the warriors, and the respective schemes of Brant and Tecumseh to form an Indian confederacy to drive the white man back across the Ohio, are all dwelt upon.