The Governor also earnestly pressed the government to establish a strong post on the Wabash in the upper portion of the New Purchase. The citizens of Vincennes had been thoroughly alarmed by the presence of so large a gathering of red men at the council in August. Murders were frequent, and horse-stealing was an everyday occurrence. To adopt a policy of vacillation with a savage was to confess weakness. The Prophet was openly declaring to Brouillette, the Governor's agent, that no survey of the new lands would be permitted. Immigration was ebbing, and the selling and settling of the newly acquired territory was wholly out of the question so long as the purchasers could not be assured of protection. The display of a strong force of regulars and mounted militia, the establishment of a strong position on the borders of the Indian country, would not only dishearten the followers of the Prophet and discourage further accessions to his banner, but strengthen the hands of those Miami chieftains who still preserved their allegiance to the United States. Any expeditionary force to be employed was to be headed by the Governor himself, who had taken a very active part in the training of the frontier militiamen, and who now offered his services voluntarily and without compensation.
The Federal authorities moved slowly. It was evident that the old indifference as to the welfare of the western world still prevailed. Some strange hallucination led the Washington authorities to believe that friendly relations might be sustained with a band of savages who were carried away by a religious frenzy, and who were daily giving ear to British whisperings. The consequences were that a party of mounted dragoons organized by Judge Benjamin Parke to protect Vincennes and who made a demand for pistols and swords, did not receive their equipment until late in the following spring, and then the swords were found to be of iron; that no orders were issued to form a friendly alliance with the Miami chiefs, and hold them steadfast; that the small detachment of one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty regulars under Captain Cross did not arrive until the third of October, and that no instructions were received from the government, until all forage for the horses had disappeared from the woods, and it was too late in the season to undertake an expedition.
With the opening of the spring of 1811, the insolence and effrontery of the Shawnee leaders measurably increased. About the first of April twelve horses were stolen from the settlement of Busseron, about twenty miles above Vincennes. The pillaging bands of the Potawatomi, directly under the influence of the Prophet, were committing robberies and murders on the Illinois and Missouri frontiers. In the issue of August 18th, 1810, of the Western Sun, of Vincennes, appeared this paragraph: "Extract of a letter from a gentleman at St. Louis, to his friend in this place, dated August 3rd, 1810. 'On my return from the garrison up the Missouri, I stayed at Captain Cole's, who just returned from the pursuit of some Indians that had stolen horses from the settlement—they came in view of the Indians on the prairie, and pursued on until night, and encamped, made fires, etc., in the woodland, and not apprehending any danger from the Indians, lay down to sleep—some time after midnight, they were fired upon by the Indians, and four men killed."
What had happened was this: There is a grove about three or four miles southwest of Morocco, in Newton County, Indiana, named Turkey Foot grove, and another of the same name about forty miles south of it, and two or three miles southeast of the town of Earl Park. In this region dwelt Turkey Foot, at the head of a lawless band of the prairie Potawatomi. They had kept the frontiers of Illinois in terror for months and had caused considerable anxiety both to Governor Harrison and to Governor Ninian Edwards of the Illinois Territory. In a spirit of devilish mischief and led on by the hope of plunder, the chief and his followers had ridden hundreds of miles across the grand prairies of Indiana and Illinois, had forded the Mississippi, and pierced to the outposts of Loutre island in the Missouri river, below the present town of Hermann, and from fifty to seventy miles west of St. Louis, had stolen a bunch of horses there, and made good their escape, after committing one of the foulest murders recorded in the early history of that territory.
As soon as the theft of the horses was discovered, great excitement prevailed, as horses were very valuable to the early pioneer. A rescue party was organized, composed of Samuel Cole, and William T. Cole, Temple, Patton, Murdock and Gooch, and after pursuing the Indians all day, they came in sight of them on a large prairie, but the horses of Cole's party were so tired that Cole had to give up the chase, and an encampment was made in a small woodland. After midnight, and when all were in slumber, the stealthy savages returned, surrounded the camp, and on the first attack killed Temple, Patton and Gooch. Murdock sought shelter under the bank of a creek near by, but William T. Cole was attacked by two savages, one in front and one in the rear. In the rencounter Cole was stabbed in the shoulder, but wrenched a knife from one of his assailants and killed him. The other Indian escaped in the darkness.
This murder and larceny combined, was brought to the attention of Governor Harrison by the then acting governor of the Louisiana Territory. Later, documentary proof was furnished by Governor Howard. Harrison sent William Wells and John Conner to Tippecanoe to demand restitution of the stolen property. Four horses were delivered up, and a promise made by the Shawnee leaders to procure the remainder, but this was never done. Wells found out that the Potawatomi banditti who had committed these murders were directly under the influence of Tecumseh and the Prophet, but he was given to understand that the murderers had fled to the Illinois river, and that no attempt would be made to apprehend them. Tecumseh boldly attempted to excuse all these outrages in a subsequent conference with the Governor.
Wells had much conversation at this time with Tecumseh, who "openly and positively avowed his determination to resist the encroachments of the white people." Wells told the Shawnee chief that he would never be able to accomplish his designs, but Tecumseh replied that Wells would live to see the contrary. About this time a friendly Kickapoo chief arrived at Vincennes and told the Governor that he was determined to put him on his guard against the Prophet and his brother. "He said that their pacific professions were not to be relied upon; that he had heard them speaking to the Indians for several years and in that time he had never heard anything that they said but war and hatred against the United States. That the delivering up of the horses which were occasionally stolen was merely intended to lull our vigilance and to prevent us from discovering their designs until they were ripe for execution. That they frequently told their young men that they would defeat their plans by their precipitancy. That in their harangues to the Indians they frequently requested those who would not join their confederacy, to keep their secret. That they always promised them a rich harvest of plunder and scalps, declaring that the first stroke would put them in possession of an ample supply of arms, ammunition and provisions."
On the second of May, General William Clark, of St. Louis, wrote to the Governor informing him that the Prophet had sent the belt to the Mississippi tribes, inviting them to join in a war against the United States, and declaring that the war would be begun by an attack on Vincennes. About the same time word was brought that the Sacs had acceded to the hostile confederacy, and that the Potawatomi in the region of Chicago were on the warpath. A party of surveyors employed by the surveyor-general to divide the New Purchase into townships, were seized and bound by a party of Weas, their arms taken from them, and the engineers driven in terror to Cincinnati. In the fore part of June, a pirogue sent up the Wabash with the annual supply of salt for the Indian tribes was seized by the Prophet and every barrel taken. The excuse given was, that the Prophet had two thousand warriors to feed, and that he had taken none on the previous year. Pierre La Plante, Harrison's agent at the Prophet's Town, reported that only about one hundred warriors were present at the time, but that Tecumseh was shortly expected to arrive with a considerable reinforcement from the lakes. About the twentieth of June, five Shawnees and ten Winnebagoes of the Prophet's party invaded Vincennes bringing a number of rifles and tomahawks to be repaired. They were boldly accused by some Potawatomi of Topenebee's faction to be meditating war against Harrison and to be making observations on the situation of affairs within the town.
So threatening and warlike were the actions of the Shawnee leaders that the Governor now addressed a communication to the Secretary of War, demanding that the Fourth United States Regiment at Pittsburgh, under the command of Colonel John Parke Boyd, be sent forward immediately for the defense of the frontiers. The government was in part aroused from its state of lethargy. Recent advices from Governor Edwards had announced a series of murders and depredations on the Illinois frontier, and the citizens of Vincennes were in constant dread and apprehension. The Governor said that he could not much longer restrain his people, and that there was danger of them falling on the Indians and slaying friend and foe alike, from their inability to discriminate the various tribes. By a letter of the seventeenth of July, the Governor received word that the aforementioned regiment, with a company of riflemen, had been ordered to descend the Ohio, and that Colonel Boyd was to act under the advice and command of the Governor himself. If necessary, this force was to be employed in an attack upon the Prophet, but the Governor was given positive orders not to march them up the river or to begin hostilities, until every other expedient had failed. Hedged about by timid restrictions and foolish admonitions, the course of the Governor was rendered extremely difficult. One thing, however, he had firmly resolved to do. The Prophet's forces must soon be scattered.
In the meantime, Harrison had dispatched Captain Walter Wilson, of the Territorial militia, with a speech to the Prophet's Town. The Captain was well received by Tecumseh. Harrison's talk was plain and to the point. He informed the Shawnee brothers that he was well aware of their design to unite the tribes, murder the Governor, and commence a war upon his people. That their seizure of the salt sent up the Wabash was ample proof of their hostile intention. That they had no prospect of success, for his hunting shirt men were as numerous as the mosquitoes on the shores of the Wabash. That if they were discontented with the sale of the lands at Fort Wayne, that he (the Governor) would furnish them the means to visit the President of the United States, and they might then state their claims in full and receive justice, but that they must not come to Vincennes with a large retinue, as this would not be permitted. If they came they must only be attended by a few of their young men. This last proposition, Tecumseh promptly acquiesced in and sent word to the Governor that he expected to be in Vincennes in about eighteen days, and that all matters would then be settled in "peace and happiness."