[488] Ibid., 88-89; Dawson, Harrison, 82-83.
This delusion was soon ended, partly by the good sense of the Indians reasserting itself, partly through the influence of Governor Harrison, who sent a ringing protest against it.[489] But the influence of the Prophet continued to wax, and by the summer of 1807 hundreds of Indians from far and near had come to visit him and to listen to his instruction.[490] The British, who feared an outbreak of war and an invasion of Canada by the Americans following the Chesapeake affair of 1807, sought to foster the excitement and to turn it to their own ends by attaching the Indians to their cause in the impending conflict. Messengers were sent to all the tribes to summon them to Malden,[491] where for years presents of guns, ammunition, and other supplies had been distributed to the Indians with a prodigal hand.[492] Hull at Detroit did his best to counteract the effect of the meetings at Maiden, but with indifferent success.[493] The British urged the Indians to join actively in the expected war with the Americans. Hull, on the other hand, tried to win them to a policy of neutrality, a role entirely foreign to their savage nature. Many of them stopped at Detroit on their return from Maiden, and showed great readiness in inventing excuses for their conduct. "When you first sent for us," said one, "we immediately prepared to come to see you. Captain McKee prevented us from coming then; he renewed his promise of presents to us, and gave us a keg of spirits; that fatal keg stopped us. We were stopped a second and a third time; at last, without his knowledge, we crossed the river. We are now happy on your shore and safe under your protection."[494]
[489] Dawson, Harrison, 83-84.
[490] Captain Wells at Fort Wayne estimated that up to May 25, 1807, fifteen hundred Indians had passed that point going to visit the Prophet (Dawson, Harrison, 91).
[491] Michigan Pioneer Collections, XV, 44-45, 47-48; American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 797 ff.
[492] For a description by a British partisan of the distribution of goods to the Indians at Maiden, see Weld, Travels through the States of North America, II, Letter 34.
[493] American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 745-46; Michigan Pioneer Collections, VIII, 568-71.
[494] American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 745.
Meanwhile Tecumseh's plans steadily developed. In June, 1809, he established himself with his brother, the Prophet, and a considerable number of warriors gathered from various tribes on the "Great Clearing," where Tippecanoe Creek empties into the Wabash.[495] For three years this town was the center of Indian intrigue and turbulence in the Northwest. One hundred miles to the northwest was Fort Dearborn; about the same distance to the northeast Fort Wayne guarded the approach to the Maumee; while one hundred and fifty miles to the south Vincennes protected the Illinois frontier. The new Indian town occupied the center of the triangle formed by these three posts. Here was to be worked out, for weal or woe, the great experiment on the outcome of which depended the future of the red race. That Tecumseh's was the master mind which guided the enterprise cannot be doubted, although he made clever use of the influence wielded by his brother, and at times seemed to shrink into the background in comparison with the latter. Here at Tippecanoe the Indians proceeded to exemplify the Prophet's teachings, which shall be given in his own words.
[495] Dawson, Harrison, 106-7.