Harrison was vigilant. He determined to watch the river with a party of scouts, and in the meantime to muster the militia and make a show of military force. He was convinced that if his wily antagonist found him off his guard that he would not hesitate to "pick a quarrel," and launch a general attack. The Governor's letter to the war department of July 10th, 1811, is interesting. "With them (i. e., the Indians) the surprise of an enemy bestows more eclat upon a warrior than the most brilliant success obtained by other means. Tecumseh has taken for his model the celebrated Pontiac and I am persuaded that he will bear a favorable comparison in every respect with that far famed warrior. If it is his object to begin with the surprise of this place, it is impossible that a more favorable situation could have been chosen than the one he occupies. It is just so far off as to be removed from our immediate observation, and yet so near as to enable him to strike us when the water is high in twenty-four hours, and even when it is low their light canoes will come fully as fast as the journey could be performed on horseback. The situation is in other respects admirable for the purposes for which he has chosen it. It is nearly central with regard to the tribes which he wishes to unite. The water communication with Lake Erie by means of the Wabash and Miami, with Lake Michigan and the Illinois by the Tippecanoe, is a great convenience. It is immediately in the center of the back line of that fine country which he wishes to prevent us from settling, and above all, he has immediately in his rear a country that has been but little explored, consisting principally of barren thickets, interspersed with swamps and lakes, into which our cavalry could not penetrate, and our infantry only by slow and laborious marches."
Tecumseh did not keep his word. At the very time he was promising Wilson to bring only a few men he was sending word in every direction to collect his people. On the twenty-fourth of July he was within a few miles' march of Vincennes with one hundred twenty or thirty warriors, and the Weas under Lapoussier were coming on in the rear. The people were greatly alarmed and irritated and there was danger of their firing on the savage bands. Brouillette was kept in the saddle riding from camp to camp. On the twenty-fifth, Harrison sent Captain Wilson twenty miles up the river to demand of Tecumseh his reason for approaching the town with so large a force, despite the Governor's injunction and his own previous agreement. The savage after some equivocation, said that he was only attended by twenty-four men and that the remainder had come "on their own accord." Parties of savages were then lurking about the settlements on every hand, and "upwards of one hundred were within two miles of the town northwest of the Wabash." Some sinister design was moving the chieftain's mind.
On the twenty-seventh the main body of savages arrived by canoe, and on the next day came those who marched by land. Three hundred red men were present, including twenty or thirty women and children. What was Tecumseh's object? Harrison's spies reported to him that it was the intention of the Shawnee to peremptorily demand a retrocession of the late purchase, and if it was not obtained, to seize some of the chiefs who were active in making the treaty, and in the presence of the Governor put them to death. If the Governor interfered he was to share the same fate. However this may be, the great chief abandoned any hostile design he may have entertained on a view of Harrison's forces. On the day of his arrival a review of the neighboring militia was held, at which were present seven or eight hundred men under arms. "The two infantry companies on duty were increased to three, and these being relieved on different days by some management in marching and changing quarters, it appeared to the Indians that four or five companies were on constant duty. The elegant troop of dragoons commanded by Captain Parke (who is also one of our supreme judges) were exhibited to the greatest advantage, and nightly patrols both of horse and foot announced a vigilance which defied surprise. The Indians were in astonishment and terror and I believe most of them went off impressed with the belief that Vincennes was not as easily to be taken as their chief would have convinced them." The promptitude and foresight of the Governor probably prevented a massacre.
Harrison sought an immediate interview, but was not able to bring Tecumseh into council, until Tuesday the thirtieth of July. An arbor had been erected in front of the executive mansion. An hour before the time of the appointed meeting Tecumseh sent a messenger to learn whether the Governor would be attended by an armed force. In that event he announced that he would come armed also. The Governor gave him his choice, but informed the chief that in case his warriors left their guns at their camp, that he (Harrison) would only be attended by twenty-five or thirty dismounted dragoons. Tecumseh preferred the latter arrangement, "and came attended by about one hundred and seventy or one hundred and eighty men without guns, but all of them having knives and tomahawks or war clubs, and some with bows and arrows." The Governor opened the council by mentioning the great alarm which had been occasioned by the late murders in Illinois and the assembling of so large a body of savages, and declared that he was ready to listen to anything that the chiefs might have to say, but that he would enter into no negotiation concerning the late purchase. That affair was in the hands of the President who had not sent any answer to the claim that Tecumseh had last year set up on behalf of all the tribes on the continent. He also declared that Tecumseh might, if he so desired, make a visit to the President and hear his determination from his own mouth. The Governor concluded by demanding an explanation of the seizure of the salt.
Tecumseh in his short reply adverted to the matter of the salt first. He said that he had not been at home on either occasion when the salt boats had arrived, but that it was impossible to please the Governor, for last year he was angry because the salt was refused, and now he was angry because it was taken. After some further unimportant observations, a violent storm came on and the council was adjourned.
At two o'clock the next day the council again convened, when Lapoussier, the Wea chieftain, who was now the firm friend of Tecumseh, arose and made a long speech on the treaties that had been entered into between the Governor and the Indian tribes. He closed by stating that the Miamis had been forced by the Potawatomi to make the late treaty of Fort Wayne, and that it would be proper to make an inquiry as to the person who had held the tomahawk over their heads, and punish him. This was, of course, an allusion to Winamac. Harrison immediately called on the Miami chiefs present for a contradiction of this statement, and then turning to Tecumseh, told him that it lay within his power to manifest the truth of his professions of friendship towards the United States and his desire to preserve peace, by delivering up the two Potawatomi who had murdered the four white men on the Missouri last fall, and who were then in his camp.
The reply of Tecumseh is given in Harrison's own language. "He said that after much trouble and difficulty he had at length brought all the northern tribes to unite and place themselves under his direction. That the white people were unnecessarily alarmed at his measures—that they really meant nothing but peace—the United States had set him the example of forming a strict union amongst all the fires that compose their confederacy. That the Indians did not complain of it—nor should his white brothers complain of him for doing the same thing with regard to the Indian tribes. As soon as the council was over he was to set out on a visit to the southern tribes to get them to unite with those of the north. To my demand of the murderers, he observed that they were not in his town, as I believed them—that it was not right to punish those people—that they ought to be forgiven, as well as those who lately murdered our people in the Illinois. That he had set us an example of forgiveness of injuries which we ought to follow. The Ottawas had murdered one of his women, and the Osages one of his relations, and yet he had forborne to revenge them—that he had even taken the tomahawks out of the hands of those who were ready to march against the Osages. To my inquiry whether he was determined to prevent the settlement of the New Purchase, he replied that he hoped no attempt would be made to settle until his return next spring. That a great number of Indians were coming to settle at his town this fall, and who must occupy that tract as a hunting ground, and if they did no further injury, they might kill the cattle and hogs of the white people, which would produce disturbance. That he wished every thing to remain in its present situation until his return—our settlements not to progress further—and no revenge sought for any injury that had been or should be received by the white people until his return—that he would then go and see the President and settle everything with him. That the affairs of all the tribes in this quarter were in his hands and that nothing could be done without him—that he would dispatch messengers in every direction to prevent them from doing any more mischief—that he had made full atonement for the murders which had been committed by the wampum which he delivered."
The reply of the Governor was short and pithy. It was now evening and the moon was shining. He told the assembled tribesmen that the moon which they beheld would sooner fall to the earth "than the President would suffer his people to be murdered with impunity, and that he would put his warriors in petticoats sooner than he would give up a country which he had fairly acquired from the rightful owners." The meeting was then broken up.
We have said that the promptitude and foresight of the Governor probably averted a massacre. It was the opinion of all the neutral Indians on the ground that Tecumseh meditated a stroke. His manner throughout the council was embarrassed, and it was evident to all that the speech he actually delivered was not the one he had prepared for the occasion. If he had found the Governor unprepared and the town defenseless, his fierce hatred of the paleface and his boundless ambition as a warrior, would probably have prompted him to resort to violence, for it is a well known fact, observed by all Indian writers, that a savage will always act upon the advantage of the moment, regardless of future consequences. Besides, it is probable that Tecumseh now felt himself powerful enough to deal a telling blow. Many accessions had been made to his confederacy and the daring depredations in the Illinois country had gone unpunished. Like all savages, he had nothing but contempt for a government that did not promptly revenge its wrongs. But when, on approaching the town, he observed the great military array, and saw bodies of armed men and mounted riflemen moving to and fro, his resolution was shaken and he experienced a more wholesome respect for his adversary's strength. "Heedless of futurity," says Harrison, "it is only by placing the danger before his eyes, that a savage is to be controlled. Even the gallant Tecumseh is not insensible to an argument of this kind. No courtier could be more complaisant, than he was upon his last visit. To have heard him, one would have supposed that he came here for the purpose of complimenting me. This wonderful metamorphosis in manner was entirely produced by the gleaming and clanging of arms; by the frowns of a considerable body of hunting shirt men, who accidentally lined a road by which he approached to the council house."
The body of savages again melted away, and the Miami chieftains who had accompanied the expedition returned to their homes. On the fifth of August, Tecumseh, with a retinue of twenty chiefs, including the famous Potawatomi, Shaubena, passed down the Wabash to visit the nations of the south and more firmly cement the bonds of his confederacy. The day before he departed he called on the Governor and labored hard to convince him that he had no object in view other than to unite the tribes in a league of peace. After visiting the Creeks and Choctaws, he was to pass through the land of the Osages and return by the Missouri river. Before his return, the last hope of the red man was to be forever crushed, and the old dream of Pontiac forever dispelled.