SOME ACCOUNT OF TECUMSEH AND HIS PROPHET BROTHER.
TECUMSEH, whose name, with that of his brother, the Prophet, figured quite extensively in the history of this immediate locality, many years anterior to its settlement by the white people, was of the hawanoe tribe, which, for a time just after the treaty of Greenville, in August, 1795, with the consent of the Delawares, who then occupied this Territory, abode with them at this, their principal town, Out-ain-ink, known as Oldtown, to distinguish it frcm the present city of Muncie. He was the son of Puc-ke-shin-wa and Me-tho-a-tas-ke, the former of the Kiseopoke and the latter of the Turtle division of the Shawanoes, and hence of the pure blood, notwithstanding the declaration that his paternal grandfather was of the Anglo-Saxon race, as has been claimed, and his grandmother a Creek. Both his father and mother were of the Shawanoe family, and possessed qualities, mental and physical, of a high order. He was the fourth in a family of seven children-six sons and a daughter--and his name was said to signify a shooting star, foreshadowing his future career. According to the best authorities, he was born in the year 1768, on Mad River, in what is now Clark County, Ohio. His father, Puc-ke-shin-wa, was a brave of great merit, that won for him the confidence of his people, by whom he was promoted to a chieftaincy, a rank to be acquired by the exhibition of qualities found only in persons of the highest recognized distinction. He was one of the leading spirits in the battle of the Kan aw-ha, in 1774. At an early age, Tecumseh was placed under the tutelage of his elder brother, Chec-see-kau, who is represented to have taken great pains in preparing him for what he seemed destined to become, a distinguished warrior, instilling into his youthful mind a love for the truth and contempt for the wrong. His earliest instincts seem to have been for war, and his first impulses directed him forward in the development of mind and muscle, according to the most approved methods of the age, excelling in all the departments of Indian military life, assuming the leadership among his companions, as if by inherent right, in all their trainings and all their pastimes, distinguishing him self always by superior strength, activity and skill. In the use of the bow and arrow, his dexterity surpassed all the other youth of his tribe, over whom he possessed an influence only begotten of unbounded confidence and respect. This confidence is said never to have been betrayed by him. The first important warlike expedition in which he took part was an attack upon some flat boatmen descending the Ohio River near Limestone, about the year 1783, when he. was in his seventeenth year. The boats were all captured and the crews killed, except on man, who was taken prisoner and afterward burned This was the first case of burning ever witnessed by him, and the experience was a terrible one, exerting an influence upon him which ever after induced an abhorrence that he could not overcome. It has been said by those best acquainted with him, that never, in any instance, was he known to have violated this resolution to obey the promptings of an inherent humanity.
About the year 1787, he, with his brother Chec-see-kau and a small party of Kiscopokes, started on a hunting expedition to the Cherokee country, stopping for a few months in the Mississinewa country, and the crossing over to the Mississippi, encamping at the mouth of Apple Creek, where they remained about one year; from there to the place of the destination, remaining in the south some two years. Subsequently he returned to Mad River, and afterward to the Auglaize, in 1790, after the defeat of Gen.Harmar.
In the decisive engagement between the combined Indian forces and the army of Gen. Wayne, on the 20th of August, 1794, near the Maumee Rapids, he was a participant; but, from some yet unexplained cause, it appears he took no part in the council of the preceding evening, when the engagement was determined upon, hence, in the details of that engagement, we find no other evidence of his presence or method among the Indians in their movements, than his personal management of the small band of Shawanoes, who fought with a desperation seldom paralleled. It was in this action that he and Lieutenant, afterward Govenor, W. H. Harrison, met for the first time on the battlefield as opposing combatants. They were then both young, nearly the same age, and both displayed a courage and gallantry indicative of the brilliant and eventful furture in wait for them. He refused to attend the treaty of Greenville, which was concluded on the 3d of August, 1795, and continued, from that time forward, unyielding in his opposition to a recognition of its provisions.
Having removed from his former habitations, near Urbana and Piqua, Ohio, to the head-waters of the White River, in the spring of 1797, the following year the Delawares, then residing in part on White River, in the State of Indiana, invited Tecumseh to remove to that locality. This invitation he and his followers accepted, and for a number of years afterward made that his headquarters. The principal town of the Delawares to which Tecumseh and his band were invited, and where he established his headquarters, was Out-ain-ink, on the north side of the White River, opposite to the Munsey-town, now the city of Muncie. The ancient site is known now as "Old Town," and has many interesting traditions growing out of its relations to these two tribes.
In 1805, some of the Shawanoes living at the Tawa towns on the head-waters of the Auglaize River, desiring to bring together the scattered bands of their people, sent a deputation to Tecumseh, at Outain ink, inviting him and his followers to join them at these towns. The proposition, though mutually accepted, was never fully carried out, in consequence of the movements of the embryo prophet, Tens-kwa-ta-wa, who subsequently figured with conspicuous notoriety in Indian history along the Wabash. Under the influence of Tecumseh and his brother, some four hundred Indians assembled at Greenville, in April, 1807, and held a council, ostensibly for the purpose of affording an opportunity to these warriors to exhibit their mutual dissatisfaction with the provisions of the treaty at that place in 1795. The result indicates no other purpose, otherwise it had as well never been held.
The year following, the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies granted to Tecumseh and his prophet-brother a tract of land on the Tippecanoe River, a tributary of the Wabash, upon which the latter established a town, afterward known as the "Prophet's Town," because of its being the headquarters of the tribe and under the personal control of the prophet himself. From this point, also, Tecumseh radiated among the circumjacent tribes in the interest of his favorite project of establishing an Indian confederacy, as a means of offering combined opposition to the treaty provisions between the United States and the Indian tribes of the Northwest. With this purpose in view, in the spring of 1809, he attended a council of various Indian tribes at Sandusky, Ohio, and attempted to prevail upon the Wyandots and Senecas to join his settlement on the Tippecanoe. His operations in this direction appear to have been premature, for some the wily old Wyandot chiefs distrusted his purpose, and so informed him. However, with Capt. Lewis, other Shawanoe chief, a mission to the Creeks and Cherokees was planned and subsequently accomplished, all in the interest of Tecumseh's scheme.
During the latter part of the year 1809 and the spring of 1810, the movements of Tecumseh and Tens-qua-ta-wa, his brother, began more certainly than ever to develop before, their ultimate purpose to make war upon the frontier settlement on the Wabash and elsewhere. Their followers continued to increase, and there were numerous instances of secret diplomacy between them and the head men of other tribes supposed to be favorable to an alliance for the purpose of combined operations against the white people. The visit of Tecumseh to the Wyandots and the success attending it, with concurrent circumstances, elicited greater vigilance on the part of Gov. Harrison, and induced a determined purpose on his part to prepare for an active defense of his territory.
In August of that year, Tecumseh, under promise of a visit to the Governor at Vincennes, proposed to go there accompanied by no more than thirty of his principal warriors. Instead of complying with this promise, on the 12th of the month he descended the Wabash, attended by some four hundred warriors, fully armed with tomahawks and war-clubs, for the purpose of holding a conference with the Governor at his headquarters. The council took place in a grove near the Governor's residence, on the morning of August 15, 1810. Tecumseh opened the conference with a speech, in which he avowed his fixed purpose to resist all cessions of land unless agreed to by all the tribes in common as one nation. He had threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the treaty at Fort Wayne, and was still determined not to permit village chiefs, in future, to manage their affairs, but to place that power in the hands of the war chiefs. While he disclaimed any intention to make war against the United States, he declared his resolution to oppose all further intrusion of the whites on Indian lands, except on the terms indicated.
Gov. Harrison, in reply, reviewed Tecumseh's objections to the treaty at Fort Wayne, and stated that the Indians were not one nation having a common property in the lands; that the Miamis were the real owners of the lands on the Wabash ceded by that treaty, and that the Shawanoes had no right to interfere in the case, except by sufferance, because, from time immemorial, the Miamis had been in undisputed possession. As an answer to the assertion of Tecumseh, that the red people constituted but one nation, he said that, if such had been the purpose of the Great Spirit, He would have taught them to speak but one tongue; instead, as the facts were, every tribe was wont to speak a different language. This strong point in the Governor's argument greatly exasperated the chief, who, springing to his feet, flourished his tomahawk and disputed the correctness of the statement. The Indians, his warriors, springing to their feet also, assumed a warlike attitude. A collision seemed imminent; but, by the coolness of the Governor, and his manifest purpose to meet force with force, if need be, the calamity was averted. Rebuking Tecumseh for his rashness, he told him he was a bad man, and that no further communication would then be held with him, and that he must at once leave the place.
On the following morning, having recalled his hasty temper, Tecumseh sought and obtained another interview with the Governor, in which the subjects of conference were more pacifically canvassed, not materially changing the issues. In this latter interview, the Wyandots, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Winnebagoes signified their purpose to abide by the principles of their compact with the Shawanoes.
Subsequently, while manifesting an indisposition to commence hostilities against the whites, Tecumseh occupied his time in visiting other tribes, and sought by every means in his power to further the objects of his contemplated confederacy. In the meantime, however, the battle of Tippecanoe was brought about through the instrumentality of the Prophet, contrary to the wishes and purposes of Tecumseh, who, at the time, was on a mission to the Southern Indians soliciting their co-operation with his plans This untoward movement of Tens-qua-ta-wa in closing the issues involved in the partially matured purposes of Tecumseh prematurely thwarted those purposes and changed his course of policy. Upon the declaration of war by the United States against Great Britain, on the 18th of June, 1812, he declared himself the ally of the latter and united his destinies with the British army, where he was given command of the Indians in alliance with him. In the engagement at Brownstown, which took place soon after the declaration of war, he received a slight wound. Subsequently, in the action before Detroit, on the 16th of August, 1812, the courage and tact exhibited by him, induced his appointment as a Brigadier General in the British army. During the siege of Fort Meigs, in May, 1813, Tecumseh again cornmanded the Indian allies, distinguishing himself as on former occasions. It is related of him in this connection, that, after the defeat of Col. Dudley through his agency, many of the Americans taken prisoners were saved from the tomahawk and scalping-knife, the usages of civilized warfare being more in consonance with his convictions of duty; thus, in his conduct, exhibiting qualities of heroism to which the British General, Proctor, seemed to be a stranger. On that occasion, seeing the indisposition of Proctor to stay the effusion of blood, Tecumseh said to him: "You are unfit to command; go and put on petticoats." Another of his declarations at that time is especially characteristic, and dressing Gen. Proctor, he said: "I conquer to save, and you to murder."
In October following, the battle of the Thames was fought, between the army of Gen. Harrison, on the one hand, and the combined forces of Proctor and Tecumseh on the other The rest of this engagement Was most disastrous to the latter, who suffered an inflorious defeat. Tecumseh, the brave and magnanimous, fell in the midst of the fight--a greater hero than his superior in command. In his fall, he was a willing sacrifice at the post of duty, disgusted with the perfidy of his Commanding General.THE PROPHET.
The name by which this individual was known anterior to the date of his endowment with the spirit of prophecy, was Law-le-wa-si-ka, signifying "a loud voice," a name, no doubt, from his noisy propensities in early life. He was born about the year 1771, in the vicinity of Piqua, Ohio. He does not appear to have created any great sensation in early life, because of his sagacity, but rather the reverse. It was not until the early part of the year 1805 that he assumed to have been clothed upon with oracular power. The circumstances of this acquisition are thus related: "About this time, Pen-a-ga-she-ga (the changed feathers), who, for some years, had been the reputed prophet of the Shawanoes, died, and his mantle was appropriated by Law-le-wa-si-ka. From this time forward, he refused to answer to the name of 'the loud voice,' but gave himself the name of Tens-qua-ta-wa, or, as some have it, Pens-qua-ta-wa, meaning the 'open door,' because he then claimed to be the medium through which his people were to enter into the new ways of life proclaimed and exemplified by him. In November of that year, he called together at Wa-pa-con-netta, on the river Auglaize, a large number of his own tribe, with many Wyandots, Senecas and Ottawas, and, unfolding, displayed the formularies of the new character assumed by him, with the evidences of his divine commission. Among other things, he declaimed, with a show of earnestness, against the sin of drunkenness, of which he had been a victim; against the custom of Indian women intermarrying with white men, formerly prevalent among his people. Another of his peculiar doctrines advocated under the new departure, was that all property should be owned in common, each and every individual having an exact equality of right in the use and disposition of it under the sanction of the community. He advocated, also, the observance of a precept which might be safely indorsed by the white race-the duty, especially of young people, at all times and under all circumstances-to respect age, support and cherish the weak and infirm. As a means of preserving the identity as the superior of all other divisions of the Indian family, he taught that the observance of the original habits and dress was especially necessary. The chief of the new lights which, through his agency , were made to dawn upon his peculiar people was, that, having received from, the Great Spirit supernatural powers, "he was able to cure all manner of diseases, to confound his enemies, and stay the arm of death in sickness or on the battle-field."
Because of the superstitious credulity of the Indians, the Prophet was capable of and did exercise an uncommon control over the opinions and actions of a large number of his own as well as of kindred nations. The power assumed to be exercised by him he claimed to be supreme and would not admit of interference or opposition from others; hence, numerous instances are recorded of his dealing out to such summary punishment for their temerity. "If an individual, and especially a chief, was supposed to be hostile to his plans or doubted the validity of his claim to the character of a Prophet, he was denounced as a witch, and the loss of reputation, if not of life, speedily followed. Among the first of his victims were several Delawares-Tat-e-poc-o-she, Patterson, his nephew, Coltos, an old woman, and an aged man called Joshua. These were successively marked by the Prophet, and doomed to be burned alive. The tragedy was commenced with the old woman," who was roasted slowly over a fire for four days, when she yielded up the ghost. The next victim was Tat-e-poc-o--she, a venerable chief of the Delaware who had incurred the displeasure of this self-constituted Prophet, and was hence condemned to suffer death. He was deliberately tomahawked by the Prophet's order, and his body was consumed by fire. Other victims were similarly disposed of, when tbe wife of Pat-e-poc-o she was selected for immolation, after the manner of her husband. While preparations were in progress, her brother, a youth of twenty summers, suddenly stepped forward, and, taking her by the hand, to the astonishment of all the council sitting in judgement, led her from the house. On his return, alluding.to the Prophet and the consequences, of his presumption, he excaimed: "The devil has come among us, and we are killing each other." Having thus spoken, he re-seated himself in the crowd. This bold and unexpected act, it is said, checked the supertitious frenzy of the Indians, by causing them to appreciate the inhumanity of the deeds committed by the emissaries of the Prophet, whose influence, in consequence, was essentially impaired.
Many of these proceedings took place during the temporary residence of Tecumseh, the Prophet and some of their immediate followers, among the Munsees of the Delawares, upon the banks of the White River, with headquarters at Out-ain-ink, where, tradition has it, these numerous burnings, or many of them, were enacted. Indeed, the statement has been made without contradiction, in many of the historical works of the day, that, not only did these sacrifices on the altar of superstition occur within the limits of this old Indian town on the north bank of White River, but the desecrated spot was long marked by the evidences remaining within the past half-century, of the post to which victims, white and red, had be tied during the progress of the fiery ordeal which reduced their bodies to ashes. In the latter part of the year 1807, he extended the influence of his newly acquired. powers among the Ojibways, and for some time there was much interest excited touching the observances proposed as tests of their sincerity. The effect of these spasmodic efforts to keep themselves in good repute with the Prophet's chosen ministers, was of short duration, then the proffered influence was cast aside as impotent. From other quarters, however, proselytes came in large numbers and remained in the sacred presence until their means of subsistence were exhausted and their superstitious frenzy had abated.
During the following year, the Prophet's Town was established on the banks of the Tippecanoe. This town, in the subsequent history of pioneer movements on the Wabash, figured quite extensively. Indeed, in its real character, it became the hot-bed of treachery and corruption, where raids upon the frontier settlements were hatched and sent out and plans laid for the construction of the great Indiana Confederacy. Here, the prime purpose of the Prophet's zea1 among his people was nurtured into maturity and br6ught forth its legitimate fruit-the defeat of his enterprise and the ultimate breaking of his magic spell.
The frequent and large accessions to his band from various tribes, made the number so formidable as to become a source of uneasiness and apprehension to Gov. Harrison and the Territorial authorities. As a consequence of the disturbances that uniformly had their origin at this point, attention was directed toward the pacification of the elements of discord concentrated there, either by diplomacy or the force of arms. So well were the motives of the Prophet concealed under his, plausible statements, that it was long before the full measure of his deceptive villainy was fully ascertained. The development came, however, and with it the knowledge that it was the purpose of the Prophet and those acknowledging his leadership to massacre the entire population of Vincennes. To meet this exigency, prompt measures were adopted. In the course of time, however, affairs came to a crisis. The battle of Tippecanoe was fought on the 7th of November, 1811, and with it the destruction of his hopes of renown; his magic power was dispelled by the death-dealing bullets of the frontiersmen, and his assumed supremacy among the chieftains of the Wabash tribes vanished with the return of day, when his unguarded ambition induced him to ignite the slumbering volcano whose consequent explosion cost him his reputation. and the lives of many of his deluded followers. Obscurity followed him to his death. (Pages 44-46)
Back to Contents Home