no need to bring but a few of your young men with you. I must be plain with you. I will not suffer you to come into our settlements with such a force. Brothers, if you wish to satisfy us that your intentions are good, follow the advice that I have given you before that is, that one or both of you should visit the President of the United States, and lay you'r grievances before him. He will treat you well, will listen to what you say, and, if you can show him that you have been injured, you will receive justice. If you will follow my advice in this respect it will convince the citizens of this country, and myself. that you have no design to attack them. Brothers, with respect to the lands that were purchased last fall, I can enter into no negotiations with you on that subject. The affair is in the hands of the President. If you wish to go and see him, I will supply you with the means. Brothers, the person who delivers this is one of my war officers. He is a man in whom I have entire confidence. Whatever he says to you, although it may not be contained in this paper, you may believe comes from me. My friend Tecumseh! the bearer is a good man, and a brave warrior. I hope you will treat him well. You are, yourself, a warrior, and all such should have esteem for each other.”

The messenger who bore this speech was politely received by Tecumseh, who sent by him to Governor Harrison a brief reply, stating that he would visit Vincennes in a few days. He arrived, accordingly, on the twenty-seventh of July, 1811. He brought with him a considerable force of Indians, which created much alarm among the inhabitants. On the day of the arrival of Tecumseh, Governor Harrison, in adopting various precautionary measures, reviewed the militia of the county

about seven hundred and fifty well armed men and stationed two companies of militia and a detachment of dragoons on the borders of the town. In the course of the interview which took place, at this time, between Governor Harrison and Tecumseh, the latter declared that it was not his intention to make war against the United States that he would send messengers among the Indians to prevent murders and depredations on the white settlements that the Indians, as well as

the whites, who had committed murders, ought to be forgiven; that he had set the white people an example of forgiveness, which they ought to follow; that it was his wish to establish a union among all the Indian tribes; that the northern tribes were united; that he was going to visit the Southern Indians, and that he would return to the Prophet's Town. He said. that he would, on his return from the south, in the next spring, visit the President of the United States, and settle all causes of difficulty between the Indians and him. He said, further, that he hoped no attempts would be made to make settlements on the lands which had been sold to the United States, at the treaty of Fort Wayne, because the Indians wanted to keep those lands for hunting grounds.

Immediately after his interview with Governor Harrison. Tecumseh, with about twenty of his followers, departed for the south, for the purpose of inducing the tribes in that quarter to join his confederacy.

"In the year 1811," says Dillon,* "a law-suit, in which Governor Harrison was plaintiff, and a certain William McIntosh was defendant, was determined in the supreme court of the territory, at Vincennes. The jury, in the case, found a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and assessed his damages at the sum of four thousand dollars." The defendant, Mr. McIntosh, was a wealthy resident of Vincennes, a native of Scotland, well educated, and a man of considerable influence among those who were opposed to the treaty-making policy which had distinguished the administration of Governor Harrison. The suit at law was instituted against McIntosh, for asserting "that Governor Harrison had cheated the Indians out of their lands; and that, by his conduct in so doing, he had made them enemies to the United States." To satisfy the verdict of the jury in this case, a large quantity of land, owned by the defendant, was sold, in the absence of Governor Harrison. The Governor, some time afterward, caused about two-thirds of the property to be restored to Mr. McIntosh, and the remainder was given to some orphan children.

* Dillon's Early History of Indians - Davison's Life of Harrison.

CHAPTER XIV.

HARRISON'S CAMPAIGN, CONTINUED.

AFTER exhausting every possible endeavor to maintain

peace with the Prophet and his followers, Governor HarSuch were

rison determined to resort to military measures. his instructions from the President. His first movement was to erect a new fort on the Wabash river, and to break up the assemblage of hostile Indians at the Prophet's Town. For this purpose he ordered Colonel Boyd's regiment of infantry to move from the falls of the Ohio to Vincennes. On the twenty-fifth of September, 1811, when the military expedition that had been organized by Governor Harrison, was nearly ready to march to the Prophet's Town, several Indian chiefs arrived at Vincennes from that place, and declared that the Indians would comply with the demands of the Governor and disperse. This, however, did not check the military proceedings. The army, under the command of Harrison, moved from Vincennes on the twenty-sixth of September, 1811, and on the third of October, having encountered no opposition from the enemy, encamped at the place where Ft. Harrison was afterwards built, and near where the city of Terre Haute now stands. On the night of the eleventh of October, a few hostile Indians approached the encampment and wounded one of the sentinels. This caused considerable excitement. The army was immediately drawn up in line of battle, and small detachments were sent in all directions, but the enemy could not be found.

At this point the Governor sent a message to the Prophet's Town, requiring the Shawanees, Winnebagoes, Pottawatomies and Kickapoos, who were at that place, to return to their

respective tribes. It also required the Prophet to restore all the stolen horses in his possession, and to deliver up the murderers of white people, or to give satisfactory proof that such persons were not there, nor had lately been" under his control. To this message the Governor received no answer, unless that answer was delivered in the battle of Tippecanoe.

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The new fort on the Wabash was finished on the twenty-eighth of October, and on that day, at the request of all the subordinate officers, it was called Fort Harrison. This fort was garrisoned with a small number of men, under Lieutenant Colonel Miller, and on the twenty-ninth the remainder of the army moved toward the Prophet's Town. This force amounted to

about nine hundred and ten men, and it was composed of two hundred and fifty regular troops, under the command of Colonel Boyd, about sixty volunteers from Kentucky, and about six hundred citizens of the Indiana territory. About two hundred and seventy of the troops were mounted.

With this army the Governor marched to within half a mile of the Prophet's Town, when a conference was opened with a distinguished chief who was in the esteem of the Prophet. He informed Harrison that the Indians were much surprised at the approach of the army, and had already dispatched a message to him by another route. Harrison replied that he would not attack them until he had satisfied himself that they would not comply with his demands; that he would go on and encamp on the Wabash, and on the following morning would have an interview with the Prophet. Harrison then resumed his march, and after some difficulty selected a place to encamp. The spot where the troops encamped was not altogether what could have been wished, as it afforded great facilities to the approach of savages. It was a piece of dry oak land, rising about ten feet above the marshy prairie in front (toward the Indian town), and nearly twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear, through which, and near to this bank, ran a small stream, clothed with willows and brushwood. Toward the left flank this high land widened considerably, but became gradually narrower in the opposite direction, and at a distance of one hundred and fifty yards from the right flank, terminated in an abrupt point. The two columns of infantry occupied the front and rear of this ground, at the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from each other on the left, and a little more than half that distance on the right flank. These flanks were filled up, the first by two companies of mounted riflemen, amounting to about one hundred and twenty men, under the command of Major-General Wells, of the Kentucky Militia; the other by Spencer's company of mounted riflemen, consisting of eighty men. The front line was composed of one battalion of United States infantry, under the command of Major Floyd, flanked on the right by two companies of militia, and on the left by one company. The