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ELKSWATAWA, THE PROPHET.

you are now to behold.'" He was then taken to a gate which opened into the Spirit-land, but he was not permitted to enter.

Such was Elkswatawa's story, and henceforth he was regarded as a divine messenger and was called The Prophet. He immediately entered upon his mission as a preacher of righteousness. He inveighed against vices, and warned his people to have nothing to do with the Pale-facestheir religion, their customs, their arms, or their arts; for every imitation of the intruders was offensive to the Great Master of Life. Tecumtha, possessed of a master mind and a statesman's sagacity, was the moving spirit in all this imposture. He had conceived the grand idea, like Pontiac, of confederating all the Indian tribes from the Ohio to the Mississippi in a war of extermination against the Americans northward of the Beautiful River, and this was a part of his grand scheme for obtaining influence over them. He went from tribe to tribe, and published in the ears of eager listeners the wonders of his brother's divine mission. At the same time the cunning brother was acting his part with such success that his sway over the people was almost omnipotent.

For several years Tecumtha and his brother, encouraged by Elliott, Girty, and other British agents, were industriously engaged in the Confederacy scheme. Having excited the ill-will of some of the leading Shawnoese chiefs, they left their native valley and seated themselves upon the Wabash, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe, gathered followers around them, and called the village The Prophet's Town. They were within the borders of Indiana, over whose settlements William Henry Harrison watched as Governor of the Territory. He observed the development of Tecumtha's scheme with much

concern, and kept a watchful eye upon the movements of the savages.

As early as the spring of 1810 the Indians at The Prophet's Town gave unmistakable evidences of hostile intentions. Harrison adopted conciliatory measures toward them. He sent them friendly messages, and received for a time loyal but deceptive replies. His most trusted and efficient agent was Joseph Barron, a kindhearted interpreter, of French descent, who possessed and deserved the respect of all the tribes. Even he was at length received by the Prophet in an unfriendly spirit. "For what purpose do

you come here?" angrily exclaimed the impostor on one occasion. "Brouillette was here; he came as a spy. Dubois was here; he was a spy. Now you have come. You, too, are a spy." Then, pointing to the ground, he said, vehemently, "There is your grave: look on it!" At that moment Tecumtha appeared, and assured Barron of his personal safety, and promised to visit Governor Harrison at Vincennes. This promise was fulfilled on the 12th of August (1810), when he suddenly appeared with four hundred armed warriors, to the great alarm of the inhabitants. His bearing was haughty, and his words were insolent and defiant. When invited to the Governor's house to hold a council, he said, "Houses were built for you to hold councils in; Indians hold theirs in the open air!" He then took a position under some trees in front of the house; and, unabashed by the large assemblage of people before him, he opened the business with a speech marked by great dignity and native eloquence. When he had concluded one of the Governor's aids said to the chief, through Barron, the interpreter, and pointing to a chair, "Your father requests you to take a seat at his side." The chief drew his mantle around him, and, standing erect, said, with scorn

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ful tone, "My father! The Sun is my father, and the Earth is my mother: on her bosom I will repose" -and then seated himself upon the ground. The council was a stormy one, and some hostile demonstrations were made by the Indians; but it finally broke up with an apparently friendly spirit.

Harrison well knew the great ability and influence of Tecumtha, and regarded war with him and his followers not only possible, but probable. He made preparations to meet the savages in battle. A company of United States troops were called from Newport, opposite Cincinnati, to join well-drilled In

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professions of friendly feelings, and promised to see the Governor soon and convince him that he had no reason to suspect the Indians of hostile intentions. He visited Vincennes at the close of July (1811) with about three hundred followers (twenty of them women), and saw the Governor surrounded by almost eight hundred well

diana militia and dragoons at Vincennes. This movement was known to the Indians, and yet, during the ensuing winter, they became bolder and more hostile. The teachings of Tecumtha, the oracular revelations of The Prophet, and the encouragement of the British in Canada, incited them to action; and in the spring of 1811 roving bands of savages plundered the cabins of the set-armed soldiers. His duplicity was perfect. He tlers, and the wigwams of Indians who would not join them, all over the Upper Wabash region. There was wide-spread alarm. Barron was sent to the Shawnoese brothers to assure them that the Governor was well prepared for war with all the tribes combined, and to tell them that unless they put a stop to the outrages complained of, and ceased their warlike movements, he should attack them. Tecumtha was alarmed, made

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made solemn protestations of friendship, yet left Vincennes a few days afterward and went South to visit the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws for the purpose of inducing them to join his proposed league against the white people.

Harrison now increased his military strength by calling to Vincennes the Fourth Regiment of United States troops, under Colonel John P. Boyd. He was authorized by the Government to employ these troops and the entire militia of Indiana, if necessary, in attacking the savages on the Tippecanoe; for it was evident that The Prophet's Town was becoming the rendezvous for an Indian force that might soon imperil the whole white population of the Territory.

As the autumn advanced this cloud became more and more threatening, and Harrison determined to disperse it. He called for volunteers, and was delighted with a quick and ample response. He was very popular in the West, and his voice stirred the people like the sound of a trumpet. Old Indian fighters like General Wells and Colonel Owen of Kentucky instantly started for the field, accompanied by the eloquent Kentucky lawyer, Joseph Hamilton Daviess, and many others whose names are among those that Americans love to remember. On the 26th of September Governor Harrison was enabled to leave Fort Knox, at Vincennes, with about nine hundred effective men. With these he moved up the Wabash Valley; and on the eastern bank of the river, near the present village of Terre Haute, in Indiana, he commenced the erection of a stockade fort early in October.

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HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Governor Harrison, by virtue of his office, was Commander-in-Chief of the expedition, and Colonel Boyd was his second in command. The army, when it reached the Vermilion River on the 2d of November, was composed of regulars under Boyd, sixty volunteers from Kentucky, and between five and six hundred Indiana militia. The command of the dragoons was intrusted to Colonel Daviess, and the riflemen to General Wells, both bearing, in this expedition, the relative rank of Major.

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It was completed at near the close of the month, | tation came from the alarmed savage to ask for and by the unanimous request of the officers it a parley. It was granted. The deputies aswas called "Fort Harrison." only now indicate its locality. Within its area sent to him, but that the couriers had missed A few mounds sured Harrison that a friendly message had been stands a log-house built of the timbers of one of him by going down the opposite side of the the block-houses. The old sycamore and elm river. They hoped he would not advance any trees that were then in their early maturity when further, nor disturb the women and children by the fort was built yet stand along the bank be- occupying the town. tween the canal and the river, living witnesses gular ridge back from the Wabash, about a mile, of stirring scenes there in 1813, when a handful which he would find an eligible place for an enThey pointed to a trianof men, under Captain Zachary Taylor (the campment. twelfth President of the United States), sus- ther party should commence hostilities until It was mutually agreed that neitained a siege against an overwhelming body of Harrison and The Prophet should have an inIndians. marched to the ridge at the present Battleterview the next day. The little army then Ground station on the Louisville, New Albany, and Chicago Railway, about seven miles north of the city of Lafayette, Indiana, and there encamped. piece of dry oak land, rising about ten feet above It was described by Harrison as the level of a marshy prairie in front, toward The Prophet's Town, and nearly twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear, through which, and near to this bank, ran a On the evening of the 5th of November the willows and other brushwood. Toward the left small stream [Burnet's Creek] clothed with little army encamped within eleven miles of The flank this bench of land widened considerably, Prophet's Town. Now, for the first time since but became gradually narrower in the opposite they left Vincennes, were Indians visible. They direction, and at the distance of one hundred were observed hovering around the camp and and fifty yards from the right flank terminated caused great watchfulness. As the troops moved in an abrupt point." At that "abrupt point," forward on the morning of the 6th the forest delineated in the engraving as it appeared when seemed alive with them. The approach of the I visited the spot in 1860, the railway strikes army had been made known to The Prophet, the "bench of land." On the right the little and his scouts, numerous and vigilant, watched figures show the place of the road along the every step of the invaders, who now marched in bank of the wet prairie. On the left is seen the battle order after the manner of Wayne's army steep bank of Burnet's Creek, now, as then, on the Maumee in 1794, which the present lead-"clothed with willows and other brush wood," er then suggested. When they were within a and vines. In the centre are seen the oaks and mile and a half of The Prophet's Town a depu- a portion of the fence that now incloses the bat

VIEW AT TIPPECANOE BATTLE-GROUND.

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tle-ground of Tippe

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Harrison arranged his camp with care on the afternoon of the 6th, in the form of an irregular parallelogram on account of the shape of the ground. On the point was a battalion of United States Infantry under Major G. R. C. Floyd, flanked on the left by one company, and on the right by two companies of Indiana militia under Colonel Joseph Bartholomew. In the rear was a battalion of United States Infantry under CapWilliam C.

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The

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Baen, acting as Major, with Captain R. C. Bur- Mars," said Judge Naylor of Crawfordsville, ton of the Regulars in immediate command. Indiana (who was in the fight), to me, who These were supported on the right by four com- fired that first alarm-gun. Poor fellow! He panies of Indiana militia, led respectively by discharged his rifle, rushed toward the camp, Captains Josiah Snelling, John Posey, Thomas but was shot dead before he reached it." The Scott, and Jacob Warrick, the whole commanded whole camp was immediately aroused by a cry by Lieutenant-Colonel Luke Decker. The right "To arms!" and in the pale light of smouldering flank, eighty yards wide, was filled with mount-watch-fires the officers formed their men for ed riflemen under Captain Spear Spencer. battle as speedily as possible. But some of left, about one hundred and fifty yards in extent, them were compelled to fight singly at the doors was composed of mounted riflemen under Major- of their tents, for a number of the frenzied InGeneral Samuel Wells, commanding as Major, dians had penetrated to the centre of the camp. and led by Colonels Frederick Geiger and David These savages were slain every one of them. Robb, acting as Captains. Two troops of dragoons, under Colonel Joseph H. Daviess, acting as Major, were stationed in the rear of the front line near the left flank; and at a right angle with these companies in the rear of the left flank was a troop of cavalry, as a reserve, under Captain Benjamin Parker. Wagons, baggage, officers' tents, etc., were in the centre. Such was the disposition of Harrison's troops on the evening of the 6th of November, within a mile of the hostile savage camp at The Prophet's Town near the mouth of the Tippecanoe. Having established the guards and sentinels sound sleep soon fell upon the remainder of the camp. There was a slight drizzle of rain, and the night was intensely dark.

But there was no sleep in the camp of the savages. Unmindful of his solemn promise not to commence hostilities until after a parley to be held the following day, the treacherous Prophet, as soon as the darkness came on, prepared his followers to fall stealthily upon the American camp and massacre those who had confided in his honor. He brought out a pretended magic bowl and string of holy beans, and with the latter in one hand, and the flaming "medicine torch" in the other, he required his duped followers to touch the talismanic beans and be made invulnerable, while each took an oath to exterminate the Pale-faces. Having finished his incantations, he turned to his highly-excited band of warriors, about seven hundred in number, and said, holding up the holy beans, "The time to attack the white man has come. They are in your power. They sleep now and will never awake. The Great Spirit will give light to us and darkness to the white man. Their bullets shall not harm us; your weapons shall be always fatal." War-songs and dances followed, until the Indians were perfectly frenzied, when The Prophet said "Go!" and they rushed forth into the midnight blackness to fall upon the unsuspecting Americans. Stealthily they crept through the long grass of the prairie in the deep gloom, intending to surround the camp, kill the sentinels, rush in, and massacre the whole army.

It was now about four o'clock in the morning. Harrison was just pulling on his boots when the crack of a single rifle at the northwest angle of the camp fell upon his ear. instantly followed by the loud yells of numerous savages from that quarter. "It was Stephen

This was

Harrison was soon in his saddle; his own fine white horse, frightened by the horrid yells of the savages and the cracking of musketry, had broken from his fastenings, and could not be found. He mounted another horse that stood snorting near, and with his aid, Colonel Owen, hastened to the point of attack. Other parts of the camp were soon assailed; and the gallant Governor galloped in all directions, and made such dispositions for defense as were possible in the darkness. The battle raged for some time upon the front, rear, and flanks of the camp. The men behaved with the greatest gallantry and coolness, notwithstanding nineteen-twentieths of them had never been under fire before. Many brave men fell. Daviess, while leading a party at the angle on the front and left flank of the camp to dislodge the savages, fell mortally wounded. Spencer and his lieutenant on the left flank were killed; Warrick was wounded past recovery; and not far from the same spot the gallant Owen, who bore honorable scars received in battle with Indians, under St. Clair, precisely twenty years before, was slain.

Dawn brought relief. The lines of the camp
remained unbroken. The foe was now visible.
He was in greatest force upon the two flanks.
Harrison strengthened them; and was about to
order the cavalry under Parke to charge upon
the savages on the left, when Major Wells, not
understanding the Governor's intentions, led the
infantry to perform that duty. It was executed
gallantly and effectually. The Indians were
driven at the point of the bayonet, and the dra-
goons pursued them into the wet prairies on
both sides of the ridge on which the battle was
fought, as far as the soft ground would permit
their horses to go. On the right flank the In-
dians had been put to flight in the same man-
ner, and driven into the marsh beyond Burnet's
Creek. They were scattered in all directions;
and on the following day Harrison advanced
upon The Prophet's Town, and laid it in ashes.
The dispersion of the savages and the conflagra-
tion were thus alluded to by a poet of the day:
"Sound, sound the charge! Spur, spur the steed,
And swift the fugitives pursue!-
'Tis vain rein in-your utmost speed
Could not o'ertake the recreant crew

In lowland marsh, in dell or cave,
Each Indian sought his life to save;
Whence peering forth, with fear and ire,
He saw his Prophet's town on fire."
Looking eastward from the site of the battle-

HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

motive, with its magnificent chariots, courses by them daily; and upon the very spot where Major Wells charged upon the foe and drove them to the tangled prairies is a flourishing college, called "The Battle-ground Institute," and a little village large enough to deserve a charter.

ground, over the "wet prairie" (now a fenced and cultivated plain), toward the Wabash, the visitor will see a range of very gentle hills covered with woods. On one of these the Prophet stood while the battle was raging on that dark November morning, at a safe distance from danger, singing a war-song and performing some pretended religious mummeries. When inform- Congress to declare war against Great Britain. In the spring of 1812 it was determined in ed that his followers were falling before the bul- That act was performed late in June, at which lets of the white man, he said, "Fight on! it will time Brigadier-General Hull was at the head of soon be as I told you." When, at last, the fugitive a little army, destined for the invasion of Canwarriors of many tribes-Shawnoese, Wyandots, ada. The expedition not only failed to accomKickapoos, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, plish its object, but was disastrous in the exWinnebagoes, Sacs, and a few Miamies-lost treme, for the army was captured at Detroit, attheir faith, and covered The Prophet with re- the middle of August, and the whole peninsula proaches, he cunningly told them that his predic- of Michigan passed into the possession of the tions had failed because, during his incantations, British. Mackinack, an important post between his wife touched the sacred vessels and broke the Lakes Huron and Michigan, had already been charm! Even Indian superstition and credulity seized by the British; and the day before Hull could not accept that transparent falsehood for an surrendered, Fort Dearborn, at Chicago, was excuse, and the dishonest charlatan was deserted taken possession of by the Indians, many of its by his disappointed followers, and compelled to garrison were massacred, and the whole country take refuge with a small band of Wyandots in an-northward of Fort Wayne was left free to roamother part of the Wabash region. The spirit of ing bands of savages. the Northwestern Indians was broken, for many a brave warrior lay prone in death around the American camp. But the white people had suffered terribly, having no less than one hundred and eighty-eight killed and wounded. This loss produced wide-spread exasperation, not only against the Indians of the Northwest, but against the British, the instigators of hostilities, and greatly strengthened the war-party in and out of Congress.

The battle-field of Tippecanoe is now a beautiful spot, and has become classic ground. It belongs to the State of Indiana, and is soon to be inclosed in an iron railing in place of the wooden fence that now surrounds it. The same oaks are there that looked down in the pride of their strength on the morning of the battle; but instead of standing in the midst of a vast wilderness, they are surrounded by the varied forms in which civilization is manifested. The fiery loco

edy. Our space will allow only a meagre outThe events at Chicago formed a fearful tragline record of them. It was a trading post in the remote wilderness, where the great city of Chicago now stands. there was John Kinzie, an enterprising Indian The first white settler trader. Early in the present century the United States Government built a fort there; and on the 4th of July, 1804, it was formally named of War. Fort Dearborn, in honor of the then Secretary

cago River. Kinzie's pleasant residence was on
It stood on the south side of the Chi-
the north side and opposite. Both appear in the
accompanying engraving, made from a sketch
by a daughter-in-law of Mr. Kinzie, the author-
ess of "Wau-bun, or the Early Days in the
Northwest."

small garrison at Fort Dearborn, commanded
At the time we are considering there was a
by Captain Nathan Heald. He and his family,

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THE KINZIE MANSION AND FORT.

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