Memoirs of the Generals, Commodores and other Commanders, who distinguished themselves in the American army and navy during the wars of the Revolution and 1812, and who were presented with medals by Congress for their gallant services

by Thomas Wyatt

In consequence of hostile indications on the part of the Northwestern Indians, prompted by the master spirit Tecumseh, government had determined on a military expedition into the Indian country, and Colonel Miller was, with his regiment, ordered to prepare with all possible dispatch to proceed to Vincennes and join the forces under General Harrison. The first steamboat ever launched on the western waters was then on the stocks at Pittsburgh, and of course afforded matter for much observation and comment. On the 2d of August, the troops embarked in keel boots for Vincennes. They reached Newport, Kentucky, the distance of five hundred and twenty miles, in seven days, and there landed and remained until the 30th of the same month, when they again embarked and descended the river to Jeffersonville, Indiana, in order to meet General Harrison.

At the request of General Harrison, Colonel Boyd, then in command of the regiment, left the expedition and went with General Harrison across the country to Vincennes, leaving Colonel Miller in command of the troops, with orders to proceed by water.

They descended about three hundred miles to the farther Wabash, and then made their way up that river one hundred and seventy miles more to Vincennes.

The ascending the Wabash was at that time exceedingly toilsome and harassing; the river was very low, and they had eleven large boats from fifty to seventy-five feet long to pass over the bars and shallows of the river, which were of very frequent occurrence. It sometimes required the united efforts of an hundred men to lift or drag a single boat over a rocky shallow. On the 17th of September, the day of the great solar eclipse, they were engaged in passing the grand rapids of the Wabash.

To encourage and animate the men, Colonel Miller himself frequently went into the water to assist at the boats, as did every other officer, and for several successive days, had not the opportunity of a change of dry clothes. It was to this exposure and fatigue that Colonel Miller was probably indebted for the severe illness with which he was subsequently attacked.

The boats, with the troops, reached Vincennes on the 19th and there joined the militia under General Harrison. The combined force immediately commenced drilling for Indian warfare, and on the 27th of September, marched for the Prophet’s town, in the vicinity of the Tippecanoe ground. On the 2d of October, the army reached the spot, seventy miles from Vincennes, where they halted to build Fort Harrison, which was subsequently so bravely and successfully defended against the Indians by Lieutenant, now Major-General Zachary Taylor. The next day after his arrival at this place, Colonel Miller was seized with a violent bilious fever, which at once completely prostrated him, from the effects of which, and the treatment and exposure which he necessarily had to undergo, he has never entirely recovered.

Until the fort was built, he was sheltered in a tent, with a bearskin and blankets for bedding. The weather for the first few days was very warm, and then suddenly changed to cold, with snow and rain; to hasten salivation, the physicians applied mercury very freely externally, as well as administering it internally, with blisters on the neck and limbs.

He had never been confined by sickness for a single day in his life before. He received the kindest attention from General Harrison, Colonel Boyd, and other officers, particularly from Colonel Davis, of the Kentucky dragoons, who was afterwards killed at Tippecanoe.

When the army moved from Fort Harrison, on the 29th of October, Colonel Miller had so far recovered as to be able to walk a few steps with the assistance of a cane, but was utterly unable to accompany the troops. For fifteen days he had been unable to move from his hard bed without being lifted, a tent his only shelter; and the weather suddenly changed from warm to cold, sufficiently to allow the snow to remain on the ground for two days at a time. His regret at being compelled to remain behind, is thus expressed in a letter written some time after:—“I reflected that I had sailed, marched, and rowed in boats, more than two thousand miles in search of, and with the expectation of acquiring, in common with my brothers in arms, some military fame: to be brought to the ‘right about’ and obliged to halt within a few miles of the scene of action and consequent honor acquired by the glorious victory obtained—I thought my lot a hard one.” From the 4th day of May to the 18th of November, he had slept in a house but two nights. Colonel Miller was left in command of Fort Harrison, with the invalids of the army, and although thus debarred from participating in the battle which ensued, and resulted in the victory of Tippecanoe, he was fortunately able to be of essential service after the battle. For when apprised of the result, by express from General Harrison, he dispatched boats up the river, with hay in them for the reception of the wounded, and fresh provisions for the troops, to a point where the army would be likely to strike the river, on their return to Fort Harrison.

When the army left Fort Harrison, on its return to Vincennes, in the following November, although still an invalid, Colonel Miller requested to accompany them, and he was sent in command of the troops and boats, by way of the river: although it was considered the most easy way of traveling, he suffered much from exposure on the journey. He spent the following winter at Vincennes, and during that time became an inmate in the house and family of General Harrison, who with the most affectionate kindness urged this hospitality upon him. In May, 1812, he received orders to proceed with the fourth regiment to Dayton, Ohio, and from thence marched to Detroit, having joined General Hull at Urbana.