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THE 
 
 PEOPLE'S 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 OF 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 BY RICHARD HILDRETH. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 WEEKS, JORDAN AND COMPANY', 
 
 1840. 
 
 CMt 
 
Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1839, 
 
 By Weeks, Jordan & Co. 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 TUTTLE, DENNETT AND CHISHOLm's 
 
 POWER PRESS, 
 
 No. 17 School StiTfiet, Boston. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The materials for the following " Life" have been 
 chiefly derived from a w^ork published in Cincinnati 
 in 1824, entitled " A historical narrative of the civil 
 and military services of Major General William H. 
 Harrison, and a vindication of his character and con- 
 duct as a statesman, a citizen, and a soldier ; witli a 
 detail of his negotiations and wars with the Indians 
 until the final overthrow of the celebrated chief 
 Teciimthe, and his brother the Prophet. The whole 
 written and compiled from original and authentic 
 documents furnished by many of the most respectable 
 characters in the United States; by Moses Dawson." 
 This- is a thick octavo of nearly five hundred closely 
 printed pages, containing many state papers, letters, 
 and public documents, and furnishing a great mass of 
 facts, but very ill arranged, and running frequently into 
 a tedious and confused minuteness. This book has 
 long since been out of print, and to the general 
 reader it could never have been a very inviting per- 
 formance. 
 
 Considerable use has also been made of a " Me- 
 moir of the public services of William Henry Harri- 
 son, of Ohio, by James Hall ;" published at Phila- 
 delphia in 1836. That work has considerable merit, 
 but seems to have been hastily compiled ; its arrange- 
 ment is very defective ; the main narrative is too 
 much overlaid by unimportant details, and it fails to 
 
4 
 
 Jeave any clear and distinct impression on the reader's 
 mind. 
 
 The present narrative presents a brief and compre- 
 hensive, and it is hoped a clear and correct view of the 
 Vicars and negotiations on our Northwestern frontier, 
 from the adoption of the federal constitution till the 
 close of the last war with Great Britain, by which 
 event the power of the Indian tribes in that region 
 was so broken as to leave them no longer a formida- 
 ble enemy. This is a part of our history fuli of in- 
 terest, though little known. These events are essen- 
 tially connected with the life of General Harrison, 
 and form indeed a principal part of it. 
 
 Brought forward as that gentleman has been once 
 and again as a prominent candidate for the presiden- 
 tial chair, by supporters not less respectable for iheir 
 numbers than entitled to regard for their patriotism, 
 sound judgment, and knowledge of popular sentiment, 
 some curiosity must naturally be felt to know the his- 
 tory of his political services. His retirement from 
 public life for several years previous to his nomina- 
 tion as a presidential candidate, has thrown that his- 
 tory into the back ground, — and it is only by some 
 such memoir as the present, that it can be brought 
 out again to the public recollection. 
 
 In the compilation of this little work, the author has 
 not aimed at a panegyric, but simply at a clear and 
 candid statement of facts ; a statement, it may be ob- 
 served, which seems to prove that General Harrison 
 possesses feelings, principles, and traits of character 
 such as qualify him in a peculiar manner, to fill with 
 honor to himself and advantage to his country, the 
 high station for which he has been nominated. * 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Harrison's birch, parentage and education — He is commis- 
 sioned as an ensign in the United States Army — State of 
 things on the !>forthwcstern frontier — St. Clair's defeat 
 — Harrison is promoted lo a Lieutenancy — Is appointed 
 aid to General Wayne — Operations of Wayne's Army — 
 Harrison is appointed to the command of fort Washing- 
 ton — His marriage, t 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Harrison resigns his commission in the Army — Is appomt- 
 ed Secretary of the Northwestern Territory — Is chosen 
 delegate to Congress — His Land Bill— Is appointed Gov- 
 ernor of Indiana Teriitory — His jurisdiction and powers 
 — Indian relations — Harrison's principles and method of 
 Administration, 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tecumlhe and the Prophet— The Prophet's interview with 
 Harrison — Treaty of fort Wayne— Dissatisfaction of Te- 
 cumthe and the Prophet — Tecumthe's visit to Vincennes 
 — Extract from a message of Governor Harrison to the 
 Legislature of Indiana, ...... 34 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Prosecution for Slander— Aggressions of the Prophet — 
 March to Tippecanoe— Battle of Tippecanoe, 
 
6 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 War with Great Britain— Circumstances which led to the 
 appointment of Harrison to command the Northwestern 
 Army— Extent of his authority— Difficulties to be en- 
 countered — Harrison's influence with the Militia — Anec- 
 dotes—Plan of the Campaign— Obstacles in the way — 
 Harrison recommends the construction of a fleet on lake 
 Erie— Battle of the river Raisin— End of the Campaign 
 — Expeditions against the Indians, .... 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Second campaign of the Northwestern Army— Siege and 
 defence of fort Meigs— Second siege of fort Meigs — 
 Siege of fort Stevenson— Perry's victory— Embarkation 
 of the Army— Battle of the Thames— End of the cam- 
 paign — Harrison resigns his commission, ... 94 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Harrison is appointed a commissioner to treat with the In- 
 dians—Is elected to Congress — He demands an invesu- 
 gation of his conduct as commander of the Northwestern 
 army — His militia bill — Pensions — General Jackson and 
 the Seminole War— He is elected to the Senate of Ohio 
 — Is chosen a Senator of the United States— Is appointed 
 Miiuster to Columbia, • . . . • . 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Emploj^ments of General Harrison since his recall from 
 Columbia — His person and character — His nomination 
 for the Presidency — His re -nomination — Ffis letter to 
 Harmar Denny — He is brought forward as the Whig 
 Candidate by the Convention at Harri&burg, . . 116 
 
1. 1 F E 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Harrison's Birth, Parentage and Education. — He is eommission" 
 ed as an Ensign ia the United States' Army. — State of things 
 on the Northwestern Frontier. — St. Clair's defeat.— Harrison: 
 is promoted to a Lieutenancy. — Is appointed aid to General 
 Wayne. — Operations of Wayne's Army. — Harrison is appoint" 
 ed to the command of Fort Wasliington. — His Marriage. 
 
 William Henry Harrison was born on the 
 ninth day of February, 1773, in the county of 
 Charles City, in Virginia, at a place called Berk- 
 ley, on the banks of the James River, some twen- 
 tyfive miles below Richmond. He was the third 
 and youngest son of Benjamin Harrison, a distin- 
 guished citizen of Virginia, lineally descended 
 from that General Harrison, who made so conspic- 
 uous a figure in the English civil wars, and who 
 held a high command in the armies of the Com- 
 monwealth. . 
 
 Benjamin Harrison, was one of the represen- 
 tatives of the "Old Dominion," in the Continen- 
 tal Congress, during the years 1774, 1775, and 
 1776. He was the brother-in-law of Peyton Ran- 
 dolph, the first president of Congress ; and on tJie 
 
8 
 
 death of that distinguished patriot, it was the de- 
 sire of many of the southern members that Mr 
 Harrison should succeed his brother-in-law, as the 
 presiding officer over that body. But he was well 
 aware of the existence of strong sectional feelings 
 and prejudices both in Congress and the country 
 at large. He was sensible of the danger of irri- 
 tating those prejudices, and was desirous of im- 
 proving the opportunity now afforded, to conciliate 
 the northern tnembers, and to secure their confi- 
 dence. Accordingly he used all his influence on 
 behalf of John Hancock of Massachusetts, and 
 succeeded in procuring for him a unanimous 
 vote. 
 
 Mr Harrison was Chairman of the Committee 
 of the whole House, when the Declaration of In- 
 dependence was finally agreed to ; and his signa- 
 ture is annexed to that celebrated document. In 
 the year 1777, having been elected to the House 
 of Delegates of the state of Virginia, he was chosen 
 Speaker of that body, which office he continued 
 to fill till 1782, when he was elected Governor of 
 the State. All these important trusts he discharg- 
 ed to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens. 
 
 Benjamin Harrison did not accumulate a for- 
 tune in the public service. On the contrary he 
 expended his own private means, and left his chil- 
 dren little other inheritance except his example, 
 and the friendship of many of his distinguished 
 fellow-patriots. At the death of his father, Wil- 
 liam Henry Harrison was under age. Robert 
 Morris, the celebrated financier, at his father's re- 
 quest, had consented to act as his guardian. He 
 had determined to follow the profession of medi- 
 cine, and was diligently pursuing his studies, with 
 that object, at Hampden Sidney college, when the 
 
9 
 
 ravages committed by the Indians on our north- 
 western frontier, and the opportunity afTorded of 
 serving his country in that dangerous quarter, in- 
 duced him to adopt the idea of joining the army 
 under General St. Clair, wh'ch had been raised 
 for the purpose of bringing the Indians to terms. 
 His resolution with respect to this matter, was 
 strongly opposed by his guardian. But it was ap- 
 proved by General Washington, then president of 
 the United States, who had been the intimate 
 friend of his father, and who gave him a commis- 
 sion of ensiorn in the first recrlment of United 
 States artillery, then stationed at Fort Washing- 
 ton on the Ohio, near the present site of the city 
 of Cincinnati. Thus, at the early age of nine- 
 teen, William Henry Harrison became intimately 
 associated with the fortunes of the Northwestern 
 Territory, and entered upon a long career of pub- 
 lic service, in that section of the country. Before 
 we follow him thither, it will be well to take a gen- 
 eral view of the state of affairs at that time upon 
 the northwestern border. 
 
 During the war of the Revolution, Great Britain 
 succeeded in persuading almost all the Indian 
 tribes along the whole frontier, to raise the toma- 
 hawk against the people of the United States. 
 Shortly after the close of that war, several of these 
 tribes were induced to enter into treaties of peace. 
 But the Indians northwest of the Ohio, still retain- 
 ed all their former hostility, and continued to carry 
 on a murderous anddesolatinor war, directed chief- 
 ly against the western border of Pennsylvania, and 
 the few scattered settlements which had been 
 formed within the Northwestern Territory. 
 
 The principal among these tribes, were the 
 Miamies^ whose various bands occupied, or claim- 
 
10 
 
 €d, an immense extent of territory, including all 
 that part of Ohio, west of the Scioto, almost all of 
 Indiana, and a large portion of Illinois. Of this 
 immense territory, however, the greater part was 
 entirely destitute of inhabitants. The various 
 bands or tribes, into which the Miamies were sub- 
 divided, possessed numerous villages on the Scioto, 
 and about the head waters of the Great and the 
 Little Miami. There were also many villages up- 
 on the Maumee, and its tributaries, and along the 
 course of the Wabash, as low down as Vincennes. 
 But the whole country, for a great extent, border- 
 ing on the river Ohio, was entirely destitute of in- 
 habitants, and was used merely as a hunting 
 ground. 
 
 Next to the Miames, may be ranked the Hurons 
 or Wi/andots, who occupied the southern shore of 
 Lake Erie, including all that territory now known as 
 the Connecticut Reserve; a small tribe, but enjoy- 
 ing a high reputation among the northwestern In- 
 dians, on account of the desperate valor of its 
 warriors. 
 
 In addition to these two tribes, there were also 
 within the present limits of Ohio, and engaged in 
 this war against the United States, the Delawares, 
 or Leni Lenapes, who had gradually retreated be- 
 fore the white man, from their original seats on the 
 banks of the river Delaware ; and the ShawneeSf 
 who, about the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 had fled or emigrated from Georgia or Florida — 
 driven out probably by some stronger tribe, — and 
 had sought an asylum north of the Ohio. 
 
 Besides the four tribes above enumerated, the 
 Chippevvas, Ottowas, and Potowatomies, who oc- 
 cupied the peninsula of Michigan, also took a part 
 in the hostilities carried on against the United 
 
11 
 
 States ; and these seven tribes united, were able to 
 brinor into the field a very formidable force. 
 
 It was generally believed, at that time, and no 
 doubt it was the fact, that the hostility of these 
 tribes against the United States was stimulated, 
 and that ammunition, arms, and other means of 
 carrying on the war were supplied by the British 
 authorities in Canada, through the commandants 
 of the forts at Detroit, Chicago, Mackinac, and 
 other posts within the limits of the United States, 
 which according to the provisions of the treaty of 
 peace, ought long since to have been surrendered, 
 but which were still kept possession of by British 
 troops. 
 
 The pretence or apology, for keeping possession 
 of these posts, was founded upon the allegation, 
 that the United States, or rather the individual 
 States of the union, had neglected to perform that 
 part of the treaty, which guaranteed the removal 
 of all legal obstacles in the way of collecting debts 
 due to British subjects, which had been contract- 
 ed previous to the war. As the whole value of 
 these posts consisted in the influence which the 
 possessors of them were able to exert over the 
 neighborincr Indians, there is little doubt that the 
 British government, by way of enforcing their de- 
 mand on the subject of British debts, used every 
 means in their power, to make the people of the 
 United States/ee/ the necessity of obtaining their 
 surrender. 
 
 The hostilities of these northwestern tribes, 
 whether stimulated by the British, or originat- 
 ing in their own love of war, became at length 
 so annoying, that very soon after the re-organiza- 
 tion of the government by the adoption of the fed- 
 eral constitution, the president resolved upon vig- 
 
12 
 
 orous measures. In the year 1790, General Har- 
 raer, at the head of about fifteen hundred men, 
 partly regulars, but principally militia, was sent 
 against the northwestern Indians. He marched 
 into the interior of what is now the state of Ohio, 
 and succeeded in destroying most of the Indian 
 towns on the Scioto. But in two engagements 
 between bodies of the Indians, and detachments 
 of Harmer's troops, the Americans were defeated 
 with considerable loss. Harmer found it necessa- 
 ry to retreat ; and in a short time, the incursions 
 and depredations of the Indians along the frontier, 
 became as troublesome as ever. 
 
 This unfortunate state of affairs was brought be- 
 fore Congress, and an act was passed increasing 
 the regular army, and enabling the President to 
 raise two thousand men, under the denomination 
 of levies, to serve airainst the Indians for six 
 months. It was resolved to prosecute the war 
 with vigor, and General St. Clair, at that time gov- 
 ernor of the Northwestern Territory, was appointed 
 Commander-in-chief. 
 
 The enlistment, however, and other preparations 
 for the campaign went on but slowly ; and the be- 
 ginning of September had arrived before St. Clair 
 was able to commence his march into the Indian 
 country. He advanced cautiously, opening a road, 
 and building forts at convenient distances. In this 
 way he had arrived within about fifteen miles of the 
 Miami villages, near the head waters of the Wa- 
 bash, when on the 4th of November, 1791, about 
 half an hour before sun-rise, he was suddenly at- 
 tacked in his camp by a large body of Indians. 
 The assailants pressed forward with great rapidity. 
 Firing from the ground, or the shelter afforded by 
 the trees, and scarcely seen, except when spring- 
 
13 
 
 ing from one covert to another, they advanced in 
 front and upon both flanks, close upon the Ameri- 
 can lines, and up to- the very mouths of the field 
 pieces. The militia who were posted in front, 
 were soon broken, and falling back upon the regu- 
 lar troops, threw them also into disorder. The 
 officers, most of whom had seen service, exerted 
 themselves to rally and re-form the men, and they 
 partially succeeded. The Indians were twice 
 driven back at the point of the bayonet; but while 
 they were pressed in one direction, their fire was 
 poured in from every other with fatal effect ; and 
 and the whole army was soon thrown into confu- 
 sion. A most disorderly retreat ensued. The 
 Indians followed the flying troops for four miles, 
 and then returned to plunder the camp. The ar- 
 my suffered most severely. Out of fourteen hun- 
 dred men engaged, five hundred and thirty were 
 killed and three hundred and sixty wounded. 
 This battle was planned and commanded, on the 
 part of the Indians by Meshecunnaqua, the Little 
 Turtle, a celebrated Miami warrior, and Buckon- 
 gehelas, head chief of the Delawares. 
 
 Young Harrison, as soon as he had received his 
 commission of Ensign, hastened to join his regi- 
 ment at Fort Washington, where he arrived short- 
 ly after the defeat of St. Clair's army. That de- 
 feat had been wholly unexpected, and produced 
 the greatest consternation throughout the whole 
 country. The defence of the frontier against the 
 Indians, flushed with victory, and now more au- 
 dacious than ever, devolved on a little handful of 
 men. Winter was setting in; and the hardships 
 to be anticipated by those stationed in these dis- 
 tant posts were so great, that Harrison, young, 
 slender, and apparently of a feeble constitution, 
 2 
 
14 
 
 was advised by his companions to resign his com- 
 niission, and so escape a service for which his or- 
 ganization, and early habits seemed to render him 
 unfit. This advice was at once rejected ; and the 
 energy, boldness, and capacity of the young officer 
 were soon put to the test. The first duty confided 
 to him, was the command of an escort having 
 charge of a train of pack horses, bound to Fort 
 Hamilton on the great Miami, some twenty or 
 thirty miles north of Fort Washington. This du- 
 ty was difficult and perilous, requiring great expos- 
 ure, constant watchfulness, and more prudence 
 and sagacity than is ordinarily to be expected 
 from a youth of nineteen. However, the service 
 was successfully performed, and in so able a man- 
 ner, as to attract the attention, and elicit the ap- 
 plause of General St. Clair, the commander-in- 
 chief. 
 
 At this time the vice of intemperance prevailed 
 to a great extent among the officers of the army. 
 The extreme hardships of the service, and their 
 removal from all the comforts as well as the re- 
 straints of civilized life and domestic intercourse, 
 led many promising officers to indulge in excesses, 
 which proved ruinous to their character, and de- 
 structive to their health. Young Harrison had the 
 good sense to see and avoid these dangers; and 
 he now laid the foundation of those habits of 
 temperance to which he ever after adhered, and 
 which have enabled him to support the extreme 
 fatigues of border warfare ; and have given him 
 a degree of health and vigor which few men of his 
 age enjoy. 
 
 In 1792, he was promoted to the rank of lieu- 
 tenant. In 1793, he joined the new army under 
 the command of General Wayne, which had been 
 
 i 
 
15 
 
 raised for the purpose of prosecuting the war 
 asfainst the Indians. This war had now grown 
 into great importance. The defeat of St. Chiir 
 had produced a general sensation ; and it had 
 become highly necessary that some decisive steps 
 should be taken for bringing the struggle to a 
 close. For this purpose General Washington had 
 selected Wayne as St. Clair's successor, — an offi- 
 cer, who by his impetuous valor, had acquired 
 durin the revolutionary war, the title of Mad 
 Antliony ; but whose discretion and sagacity 
 were equal to his courage. 
 
 In May 1792, General Wayne having been fur- 
 nished with instructions, in which it was emphat- 
 ically declared " that another defeat would be 
 inexpressibly ruinous to the reputation of the 
 government," proceeded to Pittsburg for the pur- 
 pose of organizing his army. By the laws which 
 Congress had enacted on this occasion, an entirely 
 new arrangement was to be made. The army 
 was to consist of one Major General, four Brigadier 
 Generals, and their respective staffs, the commis- 
 sioned officers, and five thousand one hundred and 
 twenty non-commissioned officers and privates, 
 the whole to be called " the Legion of the United 
 States." St. Clair's army having been almost 
 wholly destroyed, the Legion, which never reached 
 more than half the number of which it was 
 intended to consist, had to be recruited almost 
 wholly anew ; after which the men were to be 
 disciplined and instructed in their duty. This 
 required time ; and it was the 28th of November, 
 before Wayne was able to move from Pittsburg. 
 He descended the Ohio only about twentytwo 
 miles, and then encamped for the winter. Being 
 within striking distance of the enemy, the greatest 
 
16 
 
 watchfulness was necessary to keep the army in a 
 condition for action, and great efforts were requir- 
 ed to teach the troops self-reliance, and to prepare 
 thera to face the foe. This position, which was 
 called Legionville, was strongly fortified and every 
 precaution was taken to guard against surprise. 
 
 In April, 1793, General Wayne broke up his 
 encampment at Legionville, and conveyed his 
 army in boats to Fort Washington, a post which 
 occupied, as we have already mentioned, the pre- 
 sent site of the city of Cincinnati. Here Lieu- 
 tenant Harrison joined the Legion. His spirit, 
 enterprise, and sagacity soon attracted the at- 
 tention of General Wayne, who appointed him 
 one of his aids-de-camp, in which laborious and 
 difficult post he served throughout the war. The 
 army of Wayne remained the whole summer in 
 the vicinity of Washington, waiting for supplies 
 and reinforcements, and preparing for the ensuing 
 campaign. In the month of October, General 
 Wayne took up a position about eighty miles from 
 Fort V/ashington, on the western branch of the 
 Miami, and near the head waters of that stream. 
 This position was strongly fortified and called 
 Greenville^ and here the army encamped for the 
 winter. 
 
 On the 23d of December, eight companies of 
 infantry and a body of artillery were detached to 
 take possession of the ground upon which St. 
 Clair had been defeated. The bones of the slain 
 were collected, and interred with military honors; 
 and a strong post called Fort Recovery, was 
 erected on the battle ground. In the general 
 order issued by the Commander-in-chief Lieuten- 
 ant Harrison is mentioned, as particularly entitled 
 to commendation for his " voluntary aid and ser- 
 ^•^-es" on this occasion. 
 
17 
 
 The next summer Fort Recovery was warmly 
 attacked by a large body of Indians. Thoncrh 
 repulsed several times, they still renewed the 
 assault, till finally they were obliged to retreat 
 with great loss. About the middle of July, 1794, 
 havinor been joined by a body of mounted militia 
 from Kentucky, General Wayne pushed on seven- 
 ty miles in advance of Greenville and established 
 himself at Grand Glaise, in the very heart of the 
 Indian territory. The British had lately erected 
 a fort in this vicinity, probably with the design of 
 encouraging and supporting the Indians ; — f )r 
 the difficulties and disputes between Great Britain 
 and the United States had now reached such a 
 point, that a war between the two countries 
 seemed inevitable. In his despatches to the 
 Secretary of War, General Wayne speaks of the 
 country which he had now occupied, as the 
 " grand emporium of the hostile Indians." *' The 
 very extensive and highly cultivated fields and 
 gardens show," he observes, " the work of many 
 hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers, the 
 Miami of the lake,* and the Au Glaise, appear 
 like one continued village for a number of miles 
 above and below this place ; nor have I ever before 
 seen such immense fields of corn in any part 
 of America, from Canada to Florida." 
 
 Having erected a strong work, to which he 
 gave the^nauje of Fort Defiance, at the confluence 
 of the Maumee and the Au Glaise, the two rivers 
 above described ; and being now prepared to 
 strike a final blow,— agreeably to his instructions, 
 by which he was strictly commanded to settle the 
 difficulties with the Indians by negotiation if pos- 
 sible, — he made the enemy a proposal of terms. 
 
 * Now more generally known as the Maumee. 
 
18 
 
 This proposal was rejected, notwithstanding 
 the advice of that celebrated warrior the Little 
 Turtle, who had commanded at St. Clair's defeat, 
 and who recommended its acceptance. " We 
 have beaten the enemy twice," he said, *' under 
 separate commanders. We cannot expect the 
 jsame good fortune always. The long knives are 
 now led by a chief who never sleeps. The night 
 and the day are alike to him. During all the 
 time that he has been marching on our villages, 
 notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young 
 men, we have never been able to surprise him. 
 Think well of it. There is something whispers 
 me it would be prudent to listen to his offers of 
 peace." This speech was delivered in a council 
 of the Indians held the night before that battle, in 
 which their forces were completely routed. 
 
 By this time the army had advanced into the 
 inmiediate vicinity of the rapids of the Maumee, 
 near which was the newly erected British fort, 
 and where the main body of the Indian forces was 
 assembled, under the command of Blue Jacket, a 
 war chief of the Shawnees. On the morning of 7 
 the 20th of August, General Wayne continued his | 
 march down the river, uncertain whether the 
 Indians would decide for peace or war. After 
 proceeding about five miles, the advanced corps 
 received so severe a fire from the Indians secreted 
 in the woods and grass as to compel them to re- 
 treat. The legion was immediately formed in two 
 lines, the right resting on the river, and the left 
 extending into a thick and clo.se forest which 
 formed the principal part of the battle field. For 
 a considerable distance in front, the ground was 
 covered with fallen timber uprooted probably in 
 some tornado, amid which it was impossible lor 
 
. 19 
 
 cavalry to act, and which afforded the enemy a 
 most favorable covert. The Indians were formed 
 in three lines within supporting distance of each 
 other, extending nearly two miles at right angles 
 with the river. 
 
 The mounted volunteers under General Scott, 
 were ordered to make a circuit and to gain the 
 right flank of the enemy ; while the troops of the 
 first line, who were formed in open order, were 
 commnnded to advance with trailed arms, rouse 
 the Indians from their coverts at the point of the 
 bayonet, and as soon as they began to retreat, to 
 pour in a close fire upon their backs, and to follow 
 up with a brisk charge, so as to give them no 
 opportunity of re-loading their rifles. 
 
 This idea of charging the Indians, and so 
 bringing them at once to close quarters, was 
 wholly new, and original, with General Wayne. 
 It proved entirely successful ; and has now become 
 the established method of Indian warfare. The 
 first line of the Legion advanced with such rapidi- 
 ty, driving the enemy before them, that the other 
 corps of the army had little opportunity to take a 
 part in the engagement. In the course of one hour 
 thelndians were driven more than two miles through 
 the thick woods above described. The Indians 
 engaged were thought to exceed two thousand ; 
 while the infantry of the first line fell shortof nine 
 hundred. The enemy soon abandoned themselves 
 to flight, and dispersed in every direction. The 
 contest terminated under the guns of the British 
 fort. In his official account of the battle, General 
 Wayne mentions with honor, his " faithful and gal- 
 lant aid-de-camp. Lieutenant Harrisoih as having 
 rendered the most essential service by communi- 
 cating orders in every direction, and by his con- 
 
20 
 
 duct and bravery, exciting the troops to press for 
 victory." 
 
 The army remained for three days on the banks 
 of the Maumee, near the field of battle, during 
 which time the houses and corn-fields, for a con- 
 siderable distance above and below the British fort, 
 were wasted and burnt — among the rest, the 
 houses, stores, and other property of Col. M'Kee, 
 the British Indian agent, who was regarded as the 
 principal stimulator of the war. Of all this de- 
 struction inflicted on their friends, the British gar- 
 rison were obliged to remain tacit spectators. The 
 troops afterwards returned by easy marches to 
 Grand Glaise, laying waste the villages and corn- 
 fields of the Indians in every direction. 
 
 The spirit of the Indians was broken by the 
 decisive victory obtained over them by General 
 Wayne, and by the severe losses which they had 
 suflfered in consequence. The conduct also of the 
 commander of the British fort, in declining to take 
 any open part in their behalf, had disgusted many 
 of the principal warriors. The celebrated chiefs, 
 Little Turtle, and Buckongehelas, thenceforward 
 renounced the British connection, and became the 
 advocates of peace with the United States. On the 
 first of January, 1795, the Indians commenced a 
 negotiation with General Wayne ; and the news of 
 his victory, which liad reached London in Novem- 
 ber, is said to have had considerable effect in in- 
 ducing the British government to accede to the 
 propositions of Mr Jay, who was then employed 
 in negotiating the celebrated treaty which bears 
 his name, — among other provisions of which was 
 included the surrender of the Western posts. The 
 negotiation with the Indians was considerably pro- 
 tracted, but in August, 1795, a treaty of peace 
 
21 
 
 was finally concluded at Greenville, by which the 
 United States obtained the cession of considerable 
 tracts of land, and secured quiet and security to 
 the border settlements. 
 
 These events have been related with the more 
 particularity, in order that the reader may have an 
 opportunity to compare the conduct of General 
 Harrison when subsequently acting as commander- 
 in-chief, in the same regions, with that of those 
 celebrated officers under whom he had previously 
 served in a subaltern capacity. Such a compari- 
 son candidly made, will place his conduct and 
 services in a highly favorable point of view. 
 
 Shortly after the close of the campaign, Lieute- 
 nant Harrison was promoted to the rank of cap- 
 tain, and was placed in command of Fort Wash- 
 ington, under circumstances, which show the con- 
 fidence reposed by General Wayne, in his talents 
 and discretion. At this period, certam agents of 
 the French government were zealously employed 
 in Kentucky in attempting to get up an invasion 
 of Louisiana ; and thus to embroil the United 
 States with Spain, and force it into an alliance 
 with France. This project was very alluring to the 
 Kentuckians, who had long entertained the most 
 violent hostility towards the Spaniards, on account 
 of their refusing to the United States the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi. The government at 
 Washington felt great apprehensions, lest the Ken- 
 tuckians might be inveigled into some acts of hos- 
 tility against the Spanish government. General 
 Wavne was trusted with the management of this 
 affair ; and among other precautions he placed 
 Captain Harrison in command of Fort Washing- 
 ton, with extensive discretionary powers to be 
 used as circumstances might require. Among 
 
22 
 
 other things, he was instructed to keep General 
 Wayne advised of all movements, and to prevent 
 the passage down the river of boats laden with 
 military stores, belonging to the French agents. 
 
 About this time the posts at the Northwest, 
 which had been so long held back by the British, 
 were at length surrendered to the United States, 
 under Jay's treaty. The troops intended to occu- 
 py these posts, together with their provisions and 
 warlike stores, were sent to Fort Washington, 
 thence to be forwarded through the wilderness. 
 Captain Harrison was charged with this whole 
 service, which he discharged with a prudence, 
 ability and intelligence, which justified the high 
 confidence reposed in him by the Commander-in 
 chief. 
 
 While in command of Fort Washington, Cap- 
 tain Harrison married a daughter of John Cleves 
 Symmes, the celebrated founder of the Miami set- 
 tlements, a lady in whom he has ever found a 
 faithful and aflfectionate companion. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Harrison resigns his commission in the Army. — Is appointed 
 Secretaiy of the Northwestern Territory. -ris chosen Delegate 
 to Congress.— -His iand bill. — Is appointed Governor of the 
 Indiana Territory. — His jurisdiction and powers. — Indian re- 
 lations. — Harrison's principles and method of Administration. 
 
 On the death of General Wayne, in 1797, Cap- 
 tain Harrison resigned his commission in the army, 
 and received his first civil appointment, that of 
 
23 
 
 Secretary of the Northwestern Territory, and ex- 
 officio, Lieutenant Governor. General St. Clair 
 still remained Governor of the Territory. 
 
 Mr Harrison's conduct as Secretary was so 
 much approved, and so favorable was the impres- 
 sion made upon his fellow-citizens by his charac- 
 ter and manners, that the next year, when the 
 Northwestern Territory entered the second grade 
 of Territorial Government, (according to the sys- 
 tem which then prevailed,) and the inhabitants 
 became entitled to elect a Delegate to Congress, 
 he was chosen to fill that office. The opposing 
 candidate was Arthur St. Clair, Jr., the son of the 
 governor. 
 
 What recommended him in particular to the 
 choice of his fellow citizens upon this occasion, 
 was the stand he had taken, and the exertions he 
 had made, against the system of disposing of the 
 public lands which then prevailed ; a system high- 
 ly detrimental to the interests of the new settlers, 
 and which retarded the population, and checked 
 the prosperity of the Territory. By the law as it 
 then stood, the public lands could not be pur- 
 chased in tracts of less than four thousand acres ; 
 and as the minimum price was, at that time, two 
 dollars per acre, it was utterly beyond the means 
 of the vast majority of the new settlers to become 
 possessors of land by an original purchase from 
 the government. They were driven to the neces- 
 sity of buying at second hand, and at great disad- 
 vantage. 
 
 The injustice and impolicy of this exclusive 
 system had struck Mr Harrison very forcibly. His 
 daily observation satisfied him that it was adverse 
 to the interests both of the government and the 
 settlers ; and the stand he had taken upon this 
 
24 
 
 subject pointed him out to his fellow citizens as 
 a proper person to represent them on the floor of 
 Congress, and to bring this question, in which 
 they were so deeply interested, to the notice of the 
 National Legislature. , 
 
 Nor did he disappoint the hopes and expecta- 
 tions of his constituents. Soon after he had taken 
 his seat, he offered a resolution for the appoint- 
 ment of a committee with instructions to inquire 
 into and report, on the existing mode of selling 
 the public lands. He was himself appointed the 
 chairman of that committee, the only instance, it 
 is believed, in which that honor has been confer- 
 red upon a Territorial Delegate. 
 
 ■ The committee, in due time, made a report, ac- 
 companied by a bill, providing that the public 
 lands should be sold thereafter in alternate half 
 and quarter sections ; that is, in alternate tracts of 
 320 and 160 acres. This report, in the prepara- 
 tion of which Mr Harrison had been aided by Mr 
 Gallatin, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury, 
 produced a powerful sensation, and when it came 
 up for consideration, led to a warm debate. The 
 reasonableness, justice, propriety, and good sense, 
 of the modification proposed by Mr Harrison, is 
 now so obvious that it will be acknowledged by 
 all ; yet at that time it was most violently opposed 
 by many able men and leading politicians. The 
 report was zealously attacked by Mr Cooper of 
 New York, and Mr Lee of Virginia; but it was 
 ably defended by Mr Harrison, who exhibited in 
 his speech a perfect acquaintance with the whole 
 subject. He fully exposed the folly and injustice 
 of the old system, and demonstrated that it could 
 benefit nobody except the wealthy monopolist, or 
 the adventurous land speculator ; while the great 
 
25 
 
 mass of the people by whom the country was to 
 be settled, would be driven by this law to the ne- 
 cessity of purchasing at an advanced price, and 
 at second hand ; or what was more probable and 
 more to be dreaded, would be reduced to the con- 
 dition of a tenantry, dependant upon a few wealthy 
 proprietors, instead of being themselves free-hold- 
 ers of the soil. 
 
 Mr Harrison's eloquence and arguments pre- 
 vailed ; and the bill was carried triumphantly 
 through the House. But in the Senate, where 
 the spirit of opposition to all popular ameliorations 
 of the law, is always most powerful, a very strong 
 opposition was made to it ; and finally a commit- 
 tee of conference upon the subject was mutually 
 appointed by the House and Senate. The con- 
 ferrees on the part of the House, were Messrs 
 Gallatin and Harrison ; on the part of the Senate, 
 Messrs Ross and Brown. The conference finally 
 resulted in a compromise, according to which the 
 public lands were to be thereafter sold in alternate 
 whole and half sections ; that is, in alternate 
 tracts of 640 and 320 acres. This, though far 
 from being all that Mr Harrison and his constitu- 
 ents could have desired, was a very great improve- 
 ment upon the old system ; and as about this time 
 the tide of emigration began to flow pretty rapidly 
 upon Ohio, the influence of this law upon the 
 character and fortunes of her inhabitants must 
 have been exceedingly great. 
 
 Another important bill was subsequently intro- 
 duced into the House by Mr Harrison, providino" 
 for an improvement in the method of locatino- mili- 
 tary land warrants, the mode then in operation be- 
 ing very objectionable in several particulars. This 
 bill also became a law. 
 
26 
 
 At this session a bill was passed for dividing 
 the Northwestern Territory. By this division, 
 what is now the State of Ohio was made a Terri- 
 tory by itself, and the remainder of the North- 
 western Territory received the name of Indiana, 
 and was erected into a separate government. Mr 
 Harrison served in Congress but one year, having 
 been appointed, at the end of the session, Gover- 
 nor of the Indiana Territory. 
 
 This vast tract of country, including what now 
 constitutes the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 
 gan and the territory of Wisconsin, contained at 
 that time but three principal white settlements, 
 separated from each other by extensive intervening 
 forests. The first of these settlements, known as 
 Clark's grant, was at the falls of the Ohio, nearly 
 opposite Louisville, where is now the flourishing 
 town of New Albany. The second was at Vin- 
 cennes, on the Wabash, distant from the first 
 more than a hundred miles. The third was the 
 French settlement along the banks of the Missis- 
 sippi, in the tract now known as the American 
 Bottom, extending from Cahokia, nearly opposite 
 St. Louis, some thirty or forty miles down the 
 Mississippi, to Kaskaskia. This settlement was 
 distant two hundred miles from Vincennes. 
 
 The country to the north of these settlements 
 was in the possession of the Indian tribes above 
 described, among whom the Miamies were the 
 most powerful ; and the intervening tracts served 
 as a sort of common hunting ground to the In- 
 dians and the whites. 
 
 The only roads between the three different set- 
 tlements were narrow beaten paths, without ferries 
 or bridges. There were of course no houses of 
 eraertainment : but here and there, along the 
 
27 
 
 road, some settler erected a station, consisting of 
 a log house, surrounded by palisades. These sta- 
 tions afforded a resting place and an asylum to 
 travellers through the wilderness. 
 
 The seat of government was Vincennes, a small 
 village beautifully and advantageously situated on 
 the Wabash. This town was originally built by 
 the French, and the greater part of its inhabitants 
 were of French origin. They were sufficiently 
 well disposed to respect the new authority placed 
 over them, but were entirely ignorant of the lan- 
 guage and the laws of the United States, prefer- 
 ring those simple institutions under which they 
 had long lived. 
 
 The population of the new Territory was very 
 small ; and the form of government established 
 over it by the act of Congress regulating the Ter- 
 ritory, was what was called the first grade of Ter- 
 ritorial government ; a system under which very 
 extensive authority was placed in the hands of the 
 governor. The governor, with the assistance of 
 the judges, had the power of adopting and pub- 
 lishing such laws of the original states, civil and 
 criminal, as might be necessary, and best suited 
 to the circumstances of the Territory. He had 
 the appointment of all magistrates and other civil 
 officers, and all militia officers below the rank of 
 general. He also possessed the sole power of di- 
 viding the Territory into counties and townships. 
 Besides this, the governor was the agent and rep- 
 resentative of the general government, and kept 
 ^p a voluminous correspondence with the cabinet 
 at Washington, in reference to the affairs of the 
 Territory. 
 
 Another power of a very delicate character was 
 confided to the Governor of Indiana : that name- 
 
28 
 
 ly, of confirming grants of land to individuals 
 having certain equitable claims. This power, so 
 great, and so liable to be abused, was entrusted to 
 the governor alone, without any check or limita- 
 tion. No other officer was required to approve, 
 to countersign, or even to record these grants. 
 The application was made directly to the gover- 
 nor, and his sole signature vested a title. No 
 formality or publicity was required ; and whatever 
 secret collusion there might have been between 
 the claimant and the governor, the title would still 
 have been unquestionable before any legal tribu- 
 nal. 
 
 Such, however, was Governor Harrison's pru- 
 dence, his scrupulous attention to the public in- 
 terest, and his nice regard for his own honor, that 
 none ever questioned or suspected his honest and 
 just discharge of this delicate trust. Many men, 
 under like circumstances, would have amassed 
 splendid fortunes, by availing themselves of the 
 facilities for speculation thus afforded ; but neither 
 at this, nor at any other time did Governor Harri- 
 son, either directly or indirectly, make any use 
 for his own advantage, of any knowledge of land 
 titles, gained in his official capacity ; nor has he 
 evefr owned a single acre of land, held under a ti- 
 tle emanating from himself, as the agent and rep- 
 resentative of the general government. 
 
 The governor of Indiana was ex-officio Superin- 
 tendent of Indian affairs, in addition to which he 
 was appointed sole Commissioner for treating with 
 the Indians, — an appointment which carried with 
 it a vast deal of trouble and labor. Soon after en- 
 tering upon the government of the Indiana Terri- 
 tory, Governor Harrison opened a communication 
 with the Indian tribes, and was visited by most of 
 
29 
 
 the principal chiefs in the vicinity of Vincennes. 
 The Indians made verv heavy complaints of the 
 conduct of the whites. They alleged that their 
 people had been killed, their lands settled upon, 
 their game destroyed, their young men made 
 drunk, and then cheated of their furs, upon which 
 they depended to procure blankets, ammunition, 
 and other necessaries. 
 
 The governor was well satisfied that the greater 
 part of these allegations were true. The Ken- 
 tucky settlers on the Ohio were in the constant 
 habit of coming over into the Indian territory, and 
 destroying the game. Numerous murders, some 
 of them of a very aggravated character, had been 
 perpetrated on the Indians. By the treaty of 
 Greenville, murderers were to be delivered up, or 
 punished, on both sides. This part of the treaty, 
 the Indians had faithfully performed. In the case 
 of several atrocious murders committed by the 
 whites, the governor made every possible exertion 
 to bring the culprits to justice ; but without suc- 
 cess. They were either acquitted by the juries in 
 the face of the plainest proofs, or else rescued 
 from prison, and enabled to escape. The frontier 
 settlers, in fact, considered the Indians to be as 
 fair game as the wild animals of the forest. They 
 did not regard the murder of an Indian as a crime. 
 " All these injuries," says Governor Harrison in a 
 letter to the Secretary of War, under date of the 
 15th of July, 1801, "the Indians have hitherto 
 borne with astonishing patience. But though 
 they discover no disposition to make war upon the 
 United States at present, 1 am confident that most 
 of the tribes would eagerly seize any favorable op- 
 portunity for that purpose. And should the United 
 States be at war with any of the European nations, 
 
30 
 
 who are known to the Indians, there would proba- 
 bly be a combination of more than nine tenths of 
 the northern tribes against us, unless some means 
 are made use of to conciliate them." The war 
 with Great Britain fully verified all these anticipa- 
 tions. 
 
 The governor was constantly engaged in at- 
 tempts to put the affairs with the Indians on a bet- 
 ter footing. Mr Jefferson, then President of the 
 United States, procured the passage by Congress 
 of several laws designed to secure the rights, and 
 better the condition of the Indians. The sale of 
 whiskey was prohibited ; and trading houses were 
 established among them, by the government, for 
 the purpose of supplying them with goods at cost, 
 and protecting them against the frauds of the tra- 
 ders. Efforts were also made to induce them to 
 apply themselves to the cultivation of the land. 
 But all these philanthropic attempts were counter- 
 acted and defeated by the arts and intrigues of 
 interested persons, who stirred up the prejudices 
 of the Indians against things solely intended for 
 their benefit ; and who, while they lived by the 
 plunder of these unhappy savages, had the cun- 
 ning to assume the character of their best friends. 
 The British and the American traders alike com- 
 bined to poison the minds of the Indians against 
 the government ; and the reckless insults and 
 abuse heaped upon them by the American settlers, 
 afforded great color to the suggestions of the tra- 
 ders, that the pretended philanthropy of the Ameri- 
 can government, was merely a hypocritical dis- 
 guise, under which were concealed the most hos- 
 tile intentions, and diabolical designs. 
 
 In the year 1804, the governor succeeded in ne- 
 gotiating a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, tribes 
 
31 
 
 which had not been included in the treaty of 
 Greenville. By this treaty, in addition to the 
 peaceful relations established with these tribes, 
 there was obtained the cession of an extensive and 
 valuable tract of country, stretching along the 
 Mississippi, from the mouth of the Illinois, to the 
 mouth of the Wisconsin, including the whole 
 region between the river Illinois and the Missis- 
 sippi, with a northern boundary, extending from 
 the head of Fox river, to a point on the Wiscon- 
 sin, thirty six miles above its mouth. This was 
 the largest tract of land which had ever yet been 
 ceded by the Indians in one body. 
 
 Some considerable cessions of land were also 
 obtained from the Delawares and Piankishaws, by 
 which a communication was opened between the 
 different settlements of the Territory. All that 
 tract between the Ohio and the AVabash, as far 
 north as the road from Louisville to Vincennes, 
 was obtained by one treaty, and by a subsequent 
 treaty, the Piankishaws ceded a tract extending 
 from Vincennes westward to the settlements on the 
 Mississippi. This tribe, which had been original- 
 ly a branch of the Miamies, was now very much 
 reduced in numbers, and the lands ceded, by the 
 destruction of the game, had ceased to be of any 
 use to them. For these cessions the Indians were 
 compensated by certain annuities, most of which 
 still continue to be paid. 
 
 Shortly after the purchase of Louisiana, that 
 country was annexed to the government of the In- 
 diana Territory, and so continued for some time. 
 This annexation gave to the jurisdiction of Gover- 
 nor Harrison a vast extent, and increased the la- 
 borious duties of his station. 
 
 In 1805, the Territory of Indiana was raised to 
 
32 
 
 the second rank of Territorial government, being 
 allowed a Territorial House of Assembly, elected 
 by the citizens, and a Delegate to Congress. To 
 complete the Territorial Legislature, a Legislative 
 Council of five members was added, to be appoint- 
 ed by the president out of twice that number 
 nominated by the Territorial Assembly. Although 
 the power of the governor was considerably 
 abridged by this change, yet always partial to the 
 rights of the people, he had exerted himself to 
 bring it about, by which he gained the ill will of 
 several leading citizens of the Territory, who re- 
 garded the probable increase of expense and tax- 
 es as a decisive argument against the change. 
 
 The address of the governor at the first meet- 
 ing of the Territorial Legislature, is a document 
 interesting in itself, and an excellent specimen of 
 that superior clearness and fluency of style in 
 which all the state papers of General Harrison are 
 written. We regret that our limits do not enable 
 us to lay it before the reader. 
 
 The reply of the Territorial Assembly clearly 
 shows the high estimation in which the governor 
 was held ; and is one among many proofs of that 
 remarkable popularity with which his administra- 
 tion was always attended. In this respect we 
 may observe a striking difference between Gener- 
 al Harrison and most of our other Territorial gov- 
 ernors. The powers vested in these governors, 
 especially according to the system which prevail- 
 ed in Governor Harrison's time, are so extensive, 
 and their authority is so nearly absolute, that in gen- 
 eral, they have found it next to impossible to pre- 
 serve any degree of popularity. The settlers, 
 generally from the older states, where they have 
 been accustomed to a participation in political af- 
 
33 
 
 fairs, are apt to grow impatient at being governed 
 by a man in whose appointment they have had no 
 agency ; and though a governor may give no just 
 cause of complaint, a jealousy of his intentions, 
 and a repugnance to his authority, will naturally 
 spring up, unless the greatest caution and good 
 judgment on his part be used to prevent it. The 
 conduct of Governor Harrison seems never to 
 have excited any such hostile feelings in the hearts 
 of those over whom he exercised the functions of 
 government. He appears to have possessed an 
 unusual faculty of conciliating, not only the re- 
 spect, but the warm affections of those placed 
 under his authority. This was owing not more to 
 the suavity of his manners, and the evident good- 
 ness of his heart, than to the disinterestedness, 
 the moderation, and the wisdom with which he 
 exercised the extensive powers entrusted to him. 
 In the appointment of all public otlicers, judges 
 only excepted, he appealed to the people ; and 
 uniformly selected those who appeared to enjoy 
 the confidence of their fellow-citizens. He acted 
 upon this principle even to the sacrifice of private 
 friendship and political feeling — having more than 
 once appointed to office, persons who were opposed 
 to him in sentiment, both with regard to men and 
 to measures. He also refused to accept any of 
 those fees, whether as governor or superintendent of 
 Indian affairs, which before his time had been cus- 
 tomarily paid. The patronage of his office was 
 thus rendered worthless, and its emoluments were 
 much diminished : but he secured what he esteem- 
 ed of more value — the confidence and affections 
 of the people. 
 
 The method which Governor Harrison pursued 
 in keeping his accounts with the general govern- 
 
34 
 
 inent, was as simple as it was correct ; and in i 
 some particulars might be advantageously imitated 
 by the disbursing officers of the present day. He 
 never kept on hand any amount of public money. 
 When money was to be paid on the public account, 
 he gave the person entitled to payment, a draft onj 
 the War Department. A copy of the draft, and a 
 receipt for the payment made, were always for- 
 warded to Washincrton in the same letter. These 
 drafts on the War Department were always m de- 
 mand, and were readily cashed by persons having 
 remittances to make to the eastern cities. In this 
 way the department was saved the risk and ex- 
 pense of transmitting money to the West ; all I 
 long and complicated accounts, whether with the 
 government, or with individuals, were avoided ; as 
 well as all the temptations and embarrassments at- 
 tendent upon the receipts and disbursement of 
 large sums of public money. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tecurathe and the Propliet — The Prophet's interview with Har- 
 rison — Treaty of Fort Wayne — Dissatisfaction of Tecumthe 
 and the Prophet — Tecumthe's visit to Vincennes — Extract from 
 a message of Governor Harrison to the Legislature of In- 
 diana. 
 
 During the year 1806, some very remarkable 
 influences began to develop themselves among 
 the Indian tribes Northwest of the Ohio; by 
 which all the plans of the General Government for 
 civilizing and conciliating those tribes, were dis- 
 
35 
 
 turbed and broken up ; and by means of which 
 the Indians were eventually involved in a war 
 with the United States, which resulted in the ruin 
 of many tribes, and their final expulsion from 
 their homes and hunting grounds. 
 
 Two twin brothers of the Shawnese tribe : Te- 
 cumfhe, The Couching Panther, and Olliivachica., 
 The Open Door, or as others interpret it, The 
 Loud Voice, better known as the Prophet, seem 
 to have formed a plan for a general union of all 
 the Indian tribes, for the purj)ose of preventing 
 any further encroachments by the whites, and for 
 recovering a portion of the lands already lost. 
 These two brothers, possessed between them, all 
 the qualities and accomplishments necessary to 
 give them influence with the race to which they 
 belonged. Tecumthe was a celebrated warrior ; 
 but not less distinguished in the council than in 
 the field. He was a daring, sagacious, active, un- 
 scrupulous man, who stopped at nothing in the ac- 
 complishment of his purposes, but who preferred 
 tact, management and negotiation to force. He 
 was inspired with high enthusiasm, and with a deep 
 hatred toward the whites, imbibed probably with 
 his mother's milk. 
 
 The Prophet is said not to have been a warrior ; 
 but he was an orator even more accomplished and 
 persuasive than his brother; and what was of far 
 greater importance towards the accomplishment of 
 their mutual object, he was a medicine man, or 
 magician of the highest pretensions, holding con- 
 stant intercourse with the Great Spirit, and claim- 
 ing a vast and miraculous power over the opera- 
 tions of nature. 
 
 Ignorance and superstition are always twin sis- 
 ters J and accordingly we find that all savage na- 
 
36 
 
 tions are at once the slaves and the dupes of the 
 most extravagant credulity, on the one hand, and 
 the most impudent impostures on the other. Hav- 
 ing made but few observations upon that regular 
 and uninterrupted course in which the operations 
 of nature proceed, they are constantly ready to as- 
 cribe to accidental, supernatural influences, that 
 which takes place according to fixed and regular 
 laws ; and with that self-conceit and self-impor- 
 tance which is so conspicuously displayed in al- 
 most all systems of human opinion and belief, they 
 readily adopt the idea, that some favored individu- 
 als may not only obtain a certain extraordinary 
 power over the operations of nature, but may even 
 establish a sort of influence and control over those 
 very supernatural beings, who are the great ob- 
 jects of their reverence and awe. 
 
 These wild opinions exercise a powerful influ- 
 ence even among the most sagacious of the"5lavage 
 warriors, — a circumstance at which we cannot be 
 much surprised, when we consider the extent to 
 which similar superstitions prevail, even among the 
 most civilized nations. This credulity is taken 
 advantage of by a set of persons among the Indian 
 tribes called medicine men, who are in general, to 
 a considerable extent, the dupes of their own im- 
 postures, though they do not scruple, when occa- 
 sion presents itself, to practise the most barefaced 
 deceptions upon others who are still greater dupes 
 than themselves. 
 
 Such was Olliwachica, the Prophet. The pre- 
 tensions, however, which he set up, were far more 
 lofty than those advanced by the generality of his 
 profession. He announced himself as having been 
 specially sent by the Great Spirit to reform the 
 manners of the red people, and to revive all those 
 
37 
 
 old customs which had been discontinued by the 
 too common and frequent intercourse of the Indi- 
 ans with the whites. All the innovations in dress 
 and manners which had thus been brought about, 
 were abolished ; and they were promised the re- 
 turn of all the happiness and prosperity which 
 their forefathers had enjoyed, and of whicli they 
 had heard their old men so often speak, provided 
 they would implicitly obey the will, and follow the 
 advice of the prophet. He pretended to foretell 
 future events ; declared that he was invulnerable 
 to the arms or shot of his enemies ; and promised 
 the same inviolability to those of his followers who 
 would devote themselves entirely to his service. 
 
 By these lofty pretensions, the prophet soon suc- 
 ceeded in securing the reverence and admiration 
 of many, not only in his own, but in several of the 
 neighboring tribes ; and he presently established 
 himself at Greenville, on the borders of Indiana 
 and Ohio, upon lands already ceded to the United 
 States, where great numbers resorted to him to 
 hear his preaching, listen to his revelations, and 
 witness his incantations and miracles. In the 
 mean time, Tecumthe was employed in travelling 
 among all the tribes of the Northwest, spreading 
 every where his brother's fame, and magnifying 
 his supernatural power. It thus came about that 
 the reputation of the prophet was generally greater 
 at a distance, than in his own immediate vicinity. 
 It often happened that his followers, engaged in 
 religious exercises, and relying upon the supposed 
 supernatural power of the prophet, neglected to 
 provide the necessary means for their own subsis- 
 tence, in consequence of which they sometimes 
 approached the very verge of starvation. Dispir- 
 ited and disappointed, the less persevering among 
 4 
 
38 
 
 them would feel their faith shaken, quit the proph- 
 et and return home. At these very times, reports 
 would be prevailinor at a distance, of abundance 
 and luxury supernaturally existing in the proph- 
 et's camp. It was alleged and firmly believed, 
 that he caused pumpkins to spring out of the 
 ground as large as a house, and that he had the 
 power of causing corn to grow up suddenly and 
 spontaneously, of so remarkable a size, that one 
 ear would suffice lo feed a dozen men. These 
 wonderful stories, which found a ready belief 
 among the superstitious and idle, were propagated 
 in every direction by the indefatigable exertions 
 ofTecumthe; and numerous devotees from the 
 most distant tribes were continually flocking to- 
 wards the prophet, and making good the places of 
 those, whom disappointment, disbelief, or the love 
 of change induced to quit him. 
 
 Tecumthe and his brother applied their most 
 earnest efforts to bring over to their party, the 
 chiefs of their own tribe, of the Delawares, and 
 the Miamies. In this effort they had, on the 
 whole, but little success. These chiefs did not 
 feel inclined to surrender up all their authority and 
 influence into the hands of two adventurers who 
 claimed an authority from the Great Spirit, to 
 control every thing. They openly accused them 
 of imposture, and endeavored to open the eyes of 
 those Indians, whom a belief in the supernatural 
 powers of the prophet had attracted from a dis- 
 tance. Undismayed by this opposition, the two 
 brothers applied themselves to undermine the au- 
 thority and influence of the chiefs, by accusing 
 them of having betrayed their trust, of having sold 
 their tribes to the white ujen, and of having caused 
 all the calamities of the Indians by those cessions 
 of land to which they had consented. 
 
39 
 
 With the Delaware tribe they went still furthe. . 
 atid resorted to the most extraordinary method of 
 ridding tliemselves of the opposing chiefs. Tiiey 
 preferred against these chiefs the charge of witch- 
 craft, an indefinite but tcrribhi offence, which the 
 Indians contemplate with such iiorror and alarm, 
 that the mere accusation generally passes vvitli 
 them as a sufficient proof of guilt. Having 
 wrought up the tribe to a high pitch of fanatical 
 fury, the Shawnese intriguers succeeded in procur- 
 ing the execution of Teteboxti, a venerable war- 
 rior, eighty years of age, and of one other of the ob- 
 noxious chiefs ; nor is it at all certain to what ex- 
 treme lengths they might have gone, had not their 
 proceedings been interrupted by the arrival of a 
 snecial messencrer, bearincr a strontr remonstrance 
 against the murder of their chiefs, addresse 1 by 
 Governor Harrison to the Delaware tribe. This 
 remonstrance put a stop to further executions. 
 
 The operations of the prophet and his brother 
 were continued, however, with the greatest perse- 
 verance and assiduity. The prophet appointed 
 occasional seasons of prayer and exhortation, 
 which were continued for many days in succes- 
 sion. Previous notice beinsj criven of the time at 
 which they were to be held, the Indians of the 
 most distant tribes flocked to hear them, frequent- 
 ly to the neglect of their corn-fields and other 
 means of subsistence, so that the agents of the 
 United States were obliged to supply them with 
 provisions to preserve them from starvation. Du- 
 ring these seasons, the devotees of the prophet 
 seemed wholly possessed with a sort of religious 
 phrenzy ; but their religious exercises were always 
 succeeded or intermixed with warlike sports, such 
 as shooting with bows, throwing the tomahawk, 
 
40 
 
 and wielding the war-club. This combination of 
 religious and warlike exercises, and especially this 
 revival of the use of weapons of their own manufac- 
 ture, plainly intimated the ultimate intentions of 
 the prophet. 
 
 The two brothers, with all their efforts, were 
 not able to obtain a preponderating influence with 
 the Delawares and Miamies, among whom they 
 were well known. But their influence with the 
 more distant tribes, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Poto- 
 vvatomies, Kickapoos and Winnebagos was very 
 great; and in the summer of 1808, the prophet 
 removed his encampment to a spot on the banks 
 of the Tippecanoe, a tributary of the Upper Wa- 
 bash, — a place since known as The Prophet's 
 toivn, — with the design perhaps of being nearer 
 to those tribes over whom he possessed the great- 
 est influence. This purpose he effected in spite 
 of the opposition of the Delawares and Miamies, 
 to whom the land belonged, and who were very 
 anxious to prevent his settlement upon it. 
 
 About this time our relations with Great Britain 
 assumed a very hoj-tile aspect, and war seemed to 
 be impending. The British Indian agents, and 
 traders in Canada, anxious as it was supposed, to 
 strengthen themselves by alliances with the Indi- 
 ans, had opened, as was generally believed, a 
 communication with the prophet, and through him 
 with all the Indian tribes. This circumstance 
 caused the influence of the prophet to be regarded 
 as the more formidable, and his operations to be 
 watched with a more jealous eye. 
 
 The prophet, conscious of the suspicions which 
 were entertained of his designs, and not yet 
 ready to break with the Americans, resolved to 
 practise a bold deception, and by the most positive 
 
41 
 
 protestations of his pacific intentions, to deceive if 
 possible the vigilance of Governor Harrison. 
 With this design, soon after his establishment at 
 Tippecanoe, he sent a message to Viiiciiiiries, in 
 which he complained bitterly of the misrepresenta- 
 tions of his views and designs which were circu- 
 lated in the settlements, and promised shortly to 
 visit the governor in person. In the month of 
 August he made his appearance accordingly, and 
 remained with the governor about two weeks. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival, the prophet delivered 
 to the governor the following speech : 
 
 " Father, It is three years since I first began with 
 that system of religion which I now practise. The 
 white people and some of the Indians were against 
 me ; but 1 had no intention except to introduce among 
 the Indians those good principles of rehgion which 
 the white people profess. I was spoken badly of by 
 the white people, who reproached me with misleading 
 the Indians ; but I defy them to say that I did any 
 thing amiss. 
 
 " Father, I was told that you intended to hang me. 
 When I heard this, I resolved to remember it, and to 
 tell my Father, when I went to see him, the whole 
 truth. 
 
 " I also heard that you, my Father, wanted to 
 know whether I was God or man, and that you had 
 said, if I was the former. I should not steal horses. 
 This I heard but I did not believe it. 
 
 "The Great Spirit told me to tell the Indians that 
 he had made them and the world, and that he had 
 placed them in it to do good and not evil. 
 
 " I told all the Indians that the way they were in 
 was not good, and that they ought to abandon it : 
 that we ought to live agreeably to our several cus- 
 toms, the red people after their mode, and the white 
 people after theirs ; particularly that they should not 
 drink whiskey, which was not made for them, but for 
 the white people, who alone knew how to use it j 
 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 and that it is the cause of all the mischiefs which the 
 Indians suffer. I bade them follow the directions of 
 the Great Spirit, as it was he who made us. I told 
 them to listen to nothing that is bad. I said to them — 
 Do not tfike up the tomahawk should it be oifered 
 by the British, or by the Long Knives. Do not 
 meddle with anything that does not belong to you, 
 but mind your own business and cultivate the ground, 
 that your women and children mtcy have enough to 
 live ujjon. 
 
 " I now inform you that it is our intention to live 
 in peace with our father and his people forever. 
 
 "■My Father, I have informed you what we mean 
 to do, and 1 call the Great Spirit to witness the truth 
 of my declaration. The religion which I have estab- 
 lished has been received by all the different tribes of 
 Indians in this part of the world. They were once a 
 divided peo})Ie ; they are now one ; and they are all 
 determined to practise what 1 have received from the 
 Great Spirit and declared to them. 
 
 " Brother, I speak to you as a warrior. You are 
 one. But let us lay aside this character, and attend 
 to the care of our children, that they inay live in 
 comfort and peace. We desire you to unite with us 
 for the preservation of both the red and the white 
 man. Formerly, when we lived in ignorance we 
 were foolish, but now since we listen to the voice of 
 the Great Spirit, we are happy. 
 
 " I have listened to what you have said to us. 
 You have })romised to assist us. I now request you 
 in behalf of the red peoj)le, to use your exertions to 
 prevent the sale of liquor to us. We are all well 
 pleased to hear you say that you will endeavor to 
 promote our haj)piness. We give you every assu- 
 rance that we will follow the dictates of the Great 
 Spirit." 
 
 This speech so characteristic of the person by 
 whom it was delivered, but at the same time so 
 well calculaled to obtain confidence, was followed 
 up by a corresponding course of conduct. The 
 
43 
 
 prophet, often in the presence of the governor, 
 harangued his followers; and his constant topics 
 were, the evils of war, and of whiskey-drinking. 
 That upon this latter subject, the prophet had ob- 
 tained a complete mastery over the passions and 
 appetites of his disciples, was apparent from the 
 fact, that by no persuasion could they be prevailed 
 upon, under any circumstances, to touch a drop 
 of that liquor, which formerly was one of their 
 greatest objects of desire. 
 
 On the whole the governor was rather favorably 
 impressed by this visit of the prophet ; and was 
 induced to regard him as a person disposed to use 
 the vast influence which he had obtained over the 
 Indians, for good purposes ; and capable of being 
 employed as an instrument, for checking their most 
 dangerous vices, and promoting their civilization. 
 
 Soon after the return of the prophet to his town, 
 notwithstanding all the pacific protestations he had 
 made, reports of his intention to attack the white 
 settlements prevailed extensively, both in those 
 settlements themselves, and among the Indian 
 tribes; and the number of warriors which he 
 often had at his town, and under his control, was 
 a constant source of apprehension and alarm. 
 The prophet's town also soon became the refuge 
 of all those Indians, to whatever tribe they migh 
 belong, who had committed depredations of ant 
 kind upon the whites; and though in reply to thy 
 messages that were sent to him, the prophet al- 
 ways returned very civil and peaceable answers, 
 it was impossible to obtain from him the surrender 
 of any of the depredators. 
 
 Governor Harrison had long considered it a very 
 desirable object, to obtain the cession of that tract 
 of land which intervened between the settlements 
 
44 
 
 about Vincennes, and the cession which had been 
 made at the treaty of Greenville. Considering 
 this to be a favorable time to effect that object, he 
 obtained the necessary authority from the War 
 Department ; and in a council held at Fort Wayne 
 in September, ic!>09, he succeeded in gaining the 
 assent to the cession of the Miamies, the Dela- 
 wares, the Potovvatomies, and the Kickapoos, — the 
 only tribes who had the slightest claim of title to 
 the land. The consideration for the cession con- 
 sisted in certain annuities which the tribes con- 
 cerned regarded as a satisfactory equivalent. 
 
 This purchase, however, was soon made a great 
 matter of complaint by tlie prophet and his broth- 
 er. They set up the doctrine, that the Indian 
 lands belonged in common, to all the tribes ; and 
 that for a cession to be binding, all the tribes must 
 join in it. On this ground they denounced the 
 treaty of Fort Wayne as invalid ; and threatened 
 to kill all the chiefs who had been concerned in 
 making it. They assumed every day a more hos- 
 tile attitude ; and though they still professed the 
 most pacific intentions, there was every reason to 
 believe that they were only waiting for a favorable 
 opportunity to com:y;etice hostilities. Their in- 
 fluence was considerably increased about this time 
 by their success in gaining over the Hurons or 
 Wyandots to their party. This was a small tribe, 
 but though few in number, they possessed great 
 influence in the Indian councils. The other tribes 
 called them Unkles, and venerated them for their 
 superior talents and valor. To their custody was 
 committed the great belt, which had been the 
 symbol of union between the tribes during their 
 war with the United States, and also the original 
 duplicate of the treaty of Greenville, by which that 
 
45 
 
 war had been concluded. The prophet, conscious 
 of the great advantaije which he should derive 
 from the adhesion of the Wyandots, sent them a 
 deputation, expressing his surprise that a nation 
 which had directed the councils of so many other 
 tribes, and nad always taken so leading a part in 
 all wirs and negotiations with the whites, should 
 sit still, and allow two or three tribes to cede away 
 lands which belonojed to all the Indians in common. 
 He requested also to see the treaties in their pos- 
 session ; being anxious to know what they actual- 
 ly contained. 
 
 The Wyandots replied, that they had carefully 
 preserved the belt which formerly united all the 
 tribes as one nation ; but it had remained so long 
 in their hands, without any inquiry being made 
 about it, that they had supposed it was forgotten. 
 They were glad however that at length it was call- 
 ed for. For themselves, they were tired of their 
 present situation ; they wished with all their heart, 
 to see all the tribes united again as one man. 
 Everything done since the treaty of Greenville, 
 they looked upon as good for nothing; and they 
 were ready to join with the prophet in bringing 
 the tribes together, and uniting them so as to put 
 a stop to the encroachments of the white people, 
 and to attempt the recovery of what had been un- 
 justly taken from them. They had been pushed 
 back until they could go back no further ; and 
 they might as well die where they were, as be dri- 
 ven amoncr those distant and hostile tribes who 
 would probably kill them. 
 
 This answer of the Wyandots, the prophet im- 
 mediately circulated in every direction, rnd it pro- 
 duced a strong impression in his favor. Even 
 Bome of the Miami chiefs were so intimidated by 
 
46 
 
 the reproaches of the Wyandots, who passed! 
 through their village, on their way to the prophet,' 
 as to consent to attend a general meeting at the 
 prophet's town. 
 
 The influence which this person acquired, and 
 the readiness with which his views were adopted 
 by the Indians was but natural. At this time the | 
 Indians of the Northwest—especially those tribes 
 nearest to the white settlements, — were in a 
 wretched condition. The game which formerly 
 was so abundant, was now so scarce, in many 
 parts of the country, as hardly to afford subsist- 
 ence to the most active hunters; and a large part; 
 of each tribe was often in a state of starvation. : 
 Even the European war was felt in its conse-1 
 quences by these [ndians, and tended to aggra- 
 vate their suiferinsfs. The commercial exclusion 
 of the Encrlish from the continent, — where the 
 greater part of the American furs had usually been 
 disposed of, — had so reduced the price of those 
 articles, that the Indians could hardly procure 
 with the produce of their year's hunt, the necessa- 
 ry ammunition for the next year. Whiskey, which 
 in spite of all attempts to prevent it, was sold pro- 
 fusely among them, produced its usual ravages ; 
 and the conciliatory efforts and benevolent inten- 
 tions of the general government were constantly 
 neutralized by the conduct of the settlers, most of 
 whom were inspired with a bitter hatred and de- 
 testation of the Indians, and a total disregard of 
 their feelings and rights. It is true that a war 
 with the United States was more likely to ag- 
 gravate than to remedy all these evils, — a consid- 
 eration which had great weight with a portion of 
 the Indians, and which operated to restrain them 
 from hostilities ; but a consideration which was 
 
47 
 
 little regarded by the more fanatical followers of 
 
 the prophet, who placed implicit confidence in the 
 
 orophecies of their leader, and who fondly relied 
 
 ^oon the etfect of his supernatural intimacy with 
 
 t'* Great Spirit. 
 
 'overnor Harrison, however, was for a long 
 
 ^^'^^^ncrcdulous as to the actual danger of a war ; 
 
 ^^.?j*^^ the reports of hostile intentions which came 
 in from every quarter, induced him to make such 
 preparations as were in his power, to guard against 
 its effects. He did not doubt that war had been 
 thought of and talked about; but he supposed that 
 the fears and the prudence of the Indians, would 
 prevail over their inclination for hostilities. To 
 ascertain, if possible, the real intentions of the 
 prophet, he sent several messengers to his town; 
 and finally invited him and his brother to make a 
 visit to Vincennes. 
 
 Tecumthe came accordingly ; and though the 
 governor, who had no great confidence in his good 
 faith, had particularly requested him not to bring 
 above thirty attendants, he brought with him four 
 hundred warriors completely armed. About forty ' 
 of these warriors were present at the Council hol- 
 den on the ISth of August. The governor was at- 
 tended by the Judges of the Supreme Court, several 
 officers of the army, Winnemack, a friendly chief 
 of the Potowatomies, and a considerable number of 
 unarmed citizens. A guard consisting of a Ser- 
 jeant and twelve men, were placed near the gover- 
 nor ; but as in that position they were exposed to 
 the sun, he sent tliem to a shade at some dis- 
 tance. 
 
 Tecumthe opened the Council by a speech, in 
 which the designs of himself and his brother were 
 fully avowed. He declared that it was their ob- 
 
48 
 
 Ject to form a combination of all the tribes, 
 for the purpose of putting a stop to further en- 
 croachments on the part of the whites, and to 
 establish it as a principle that lands were to b 
 considered the common property of all the trib"'* 
 never to be sold without the consent of all. ^^ 
 avowed the intention of putting to death all f^.^ .. 
 chiefs who had been concerned in any of the late 
 treaties. But still, with a strange inconsistency, 
 he persisted in the assertion, that he and his bro- 
 ther had no intention of making w^r ; and declared 
 that they who had given this information to the 
 governor were liars. This was particularly aimed 
 at Winnemack, who had often communicated to the 
 governor the designs of the prophet, and who was 
 now overwhelmed with such a torrent of threats and 
 abuse by Tecumthe, that he secretly charged a 
 pistol which he had in his hand, and stood ready to 
 defend his life. 
 
 In reply, the governor ridiculed the assertion of 
 Tecumthe tliat the Great Spirit had intended the 
 Indians to be one people, — for if so, why had he 
 put different tongues into their heads, instead of 
 giving them one language which all might under- 
 stand ? As to the land in dispute, it had been 
 bought of the Miamies, who owned it at a time when 
 the Shawnese lived in Georgia. They had seen 
 fit to sell it; and what business had the Shawnese 
 to come from a distant country and undertake to 
 control them in the disposal of their own proper- 
 ty ? Here the governor stopped to give the inter- 
 preters an opportunity to explain to the Indians 
 what he had said. The interpreter to the Shaw- 
 nese had concluded, and the interpreter to the Po- 
 tawatomies was just about to begin, when Tecum- 
 the rose, interrupted the interpreter, and com- 
 
49 
 
 rnenced speaking in a very violent manner, and 
 with the most vehement gesticulations, declaring 
 that all the governor had said was false, and that 
 he and the United States had cheated and imposed 
 upon the Indians. He had spoken but a few words 
 when his warriors seized their arms, sprung upon 
 their feet, and began to brandish their tomahawks 
 and war-clubs, their eyes all fixed upon the gov- 
 ernor, who immediately rose from the arm-chair in 
 which he was sitting, and drew a sword which he 
 had by his side. The Chief Winnemack cocked 
 his pistol ; some of the officers drew their wea- 
 pons : and the unarmed cirizens caught up brick- 
 bats and other missiles, and stood upon the de- 
 fensive. During this singular scene, no one spoke, 
 till the guard came running up and were about to 
 fire, when the governor ordered them to stop. He 
 then demanded from the interpreter an explana- 
 tion of what had happened, and received from him 
 ah account of what Tecumthe had said. Turn- 
 incr then to Tecumthe, the governor told him that 
 he was a bad man, and that he would hold no fur- 
 ther communication with him. As he had come 
 under the protection of the council-fire, he might 
 depart in safqty, but he must instantly leave the 
 neighborhood. Thereupon the Council was im- 
 mediately broken up, and Tecumthe retired to his 
 camp. 
 
 That night the militia of Vincennes were all 
 under arms in expectation of an attack, but none 
 was made. Tecumthe, findino; that he had to do 
 with a man of firmness and sagacity, who could 
 not be disconcerted by his insolence, nor intimi- 
 dated by his violence, professed the next morning, 
 the greatest regret for the improprieties into which 
 he had been betrayed the day before, and requested 
 
 5 
 

 50 
 
 a second interview with the governor. The beha- 
 viour of TecLimthe at this second interview, was 
 very different from what it had been the day be- 
 fore. His deportment was dignified and collected, 
 and he showed not the least disposition to be inso- 
 lent. He denied any intention of attacking the 
 governor, but said he had been advised by white 
 people to take the course he had adopted. They 
 had told him, that half the whites were opposed to 
 the purchase ; and if he made a vigorous resist- 
 ance to the execution of the treaty of Fort Wayne, 
 the governor would soon be recalled and a good 
 man put in his place, who would give un the land. 
 Being asked by the governor if he intended to pre- 
 vent the survey of the new purchase, he replied, 
 that he and his friends were determined to adhere 
 to the old boundary. 
 
 After Tecumthe had finished, a Wyandol, a 
 Potowatomie, an Ottawa, a Kickapoo, and a Win- 
 ebago, severally spoke. They declared that their 
 tribes had entered into the Shawnese confederacy, 
 and that they would support the principles laid 
 down by Tecumthe, whom they had appointed 
 their leader. In conclusion the governor inform- 
 ed the Indians, that he would lay before the Presi- 
 dent, a statement of their pretensions to the land 
 in dispute ; but that he was well satisfied that the 
 President never would admit that they had any 
 thing to do with the sale by the Miamies, of lands 
 possessed and occupied by them, ever since the 
 country had been known to white men ; and that 
 the title of the United States to the land in ques- 
 tion, would be sustained, if need were, by force. 
 
 Very anxious to discover the real sentiments and 
 intentions of Tecumthe, the governor afterwards, 
 attended only by an interpreter, paid him a visit t 
 
51 
 
 his camp. He was very politely received, and 
 conversed a lon^ time with the chief. Being ques- 
 tioned on that point, Tecumthe declared that his 
 intentions were really soch as he had avowed in 
 the Council. He was very loath, he said, to go to 
 war with the United States, and if they would give 
 up the land in dispute, and agree never to make 
 another treaty without the consent of all the tribes, 
 he would be their ally, and assist them in their 
 wars with the British. He said he knew well that 
 the British were urging the Indians to make war 
 upon the Americans, not out of any regard they 
 had for the welfare of the Indians, but merely for 
 purposes of their own. Nevertheless, if the United 
 States would not comply with his terms, he should 
 be obliged to unite with the English. 
 
 The governor told him that he would inform the 
 President of his views ; but added, that there was 
 not the least probability of his terms being acceded 
 to. " Well," said Tecumthe, " as your great chief 
 is to determine this matter, I hope the Great Spirit 
 will put sense enough into his head, to make him 
 give up the land. It is true, he is so far off he 
 will not be injured by the war. He may sit in his 
 town and drink his wine, whilst you and I will 
 have to fight it out." 
 
 The following statement of the facts of the con- 
 troversy with the prophet and Tecumthe, growing 
 out of the treaty of Fort Wayne, is extracted from 
 the message of Governor Harrison to the territo- 
 rial Legislature of Indiana at its session during the 
 winter of 1810. It contains so clear and distinct 
 a view of the whole dispute, as to deserve an in- 
 sertion in this place. 
 
 " Presenting as we do, a very extended frontier to 
 numerous and warlike tribes of the aborigines, the stat© 
 
5S 
 
 of our relations with them must always form an import- 
 ant and interesting feature in our local politics. It is 
 with regret that I have to inform you that the harmony 
 and good understanding, which it is so much our inter- 
 est to cultivate with these our neighbors, have, for 
 some time past, experienced a considerable interrup- 
 tion, and that we have been threatened with hostilities 
 by a combination, formed under the auspices of a bold 
 adventurer, who pretends to act under the immediate 
 inspiration of the Deity. His character as a prophet 
 would not, however, have given him any very dange- 
 rous influence, if he had not been assisted by the 
 intrigues and advice of foreign agents, and other dis- 
 affected persons, who have for many years omitted no 
 opportunity of counteracting the measures of govern- 
 ment with regard to the Indians, and filling their 
 naturally jealous minds with suspicion of the justice 
 and integrity of our views towards them. The cir- 
 cumstance laid hold of to encourage disaffection on 
 the late occasion was, the treaty made by me at Fort 
 Wayne in the autumn of last year. Among the difli- 
 culties to be encountered in obtaining those extin- 
 guishments of title which have proved so beneficial 
 to the treasury of the United States, and so necessary 
 as the means of increasing the population of the 
 Territory, the most formidable was, that of ascertain- 
 ing the tribes to be admitt<d as parties to the cession. 
 The subject was accordingly discussed in a long cor- 
 respondence between the government and myself; 
 and the principles finally adopted were made as liberal 
 towards the Indians, as a due regard to the interests 
 of the United States would admit. Of the tribes 
 which had formed the confederacy in the war, which 
 was terminated by the peace of Greenville, some were 
 resident upon lands which had been in possession of 
 their forefathers at the time the first settlements were 
 made in America by white people ; whilst others, 
 emigrants from distant parts of the country, had no 
 other claim to the tracts they occupied, than what a 
 few years' residence, by the tacit consent of the real 
 owners, could give. Upon common and general 
 
53 
 
 principles, a transfer of the title of the former de- 
 scription, would have been sufficient to vest in the 
 purchaser, the lethal right to lands so situated. But 
 in all hs transactions with the Indians, our govern- 
 inunt have not been content vv. h doing that which 
 was just onl}'. Its savage neighbors have, on all occa- 
 sions, experienced its liberality and benevolence. 
 Upon this principle, in several of the treaties which 
 have been made, several tribes have been admitted to 
 a participation of their benefits, who had no title to 
 the lands ceded, merely because they have been 
 accustomed to hunt upon, and derive part of their 
 support from them. For this reason, and to prevent 
 the Miamies, who were the real owners of the land, 
 from experiencing any ill effects from their resent- 
 ment, in case they were excluded, the Delawares, 
 Potowatomies, and Kickapoos were made parties to 
 the late treaty of Fort Wayne. No other tribe was 
 admitted, because it had never been suggested that 
 any other could plead even the title of use and occu- 
 pancy of the lands, which at that time were conveyed 
 to the United States. It was not until eight months 
 after the conclusion of the treaty, and after his design 
 of forming a hostile combination against the United 
 States, had been discovered and defeated, that the 
 pretensions of the prophet, with regard to the lands 
 in question were made known. A furious clamor 
 was then raised by the foreign agents among us, and 
 other disaffected persons, against the policy which 
 had excluded from the treaty this great and influentiai 
 character as he was termed ; and the doing so was 
 expressly attributed to personal ill will on the part of 
 the negociator. No such ill will did, in fact, exist, f 
 accuse myself inc^eed of an error, in the patronage 
 and support which 1 afforded him, upon his first arri- 
 val on the Wabash, before his hostility to the United 
 States had been developed ; but upon no principle of 
 propriety or policy could he have been made a party 
 to the treaty. The personage called the prophet, is 
 not a chief of the tribe to \vhir,h he belongs, but an 
 outcast from it. rejected and hated by the real chiefs^ 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 the principal of whom was present at the treaty^ and 
 not only disclaimed upon the part of his tribe, any 
 title to the lands ceded, but used his personal influence 
 with the chiefs of the other tribes, to effect the cession. 
 As soon as I was informed that his dissatisfaction at 
 the treaty was assigned as the cause of the hostile ; 
 attitude which the prophet had assumed, I sent to j 
 inform him, that whatever claims he might have to | 
 the lands which had been purchased by the United li 
 States, were not in the least affected by that purchase ; ,, 
 that he might come forward and exhibit his preten- 
 sions, and if they were really found to be just or equit- 
 able, the lands would be restored, or an ample equiv-- 
 alent given for them. His brother was deputized and 
 sent to me for that purpose ; but far from being able 
 to show any color of claim, cither for himself or any 
 of his followers, his objections to the treaty were con- 
 fined to the assertion, that all the land upon the con- 
 tinent was the common property of all the tribes, and 
 that no sale of any part of it would be valid, without 
 the consent of all. A proposition so extremely ab- 
 surd, and which would forever prevent any further 
 purchase of lands by the United States, could receive 
 no countenance from any friend to his country. He 
 had, however, the insolence to declare, that by the 
 acknowledgment of that principle alone could the 
 effects of his resentment be avoided. JSo person who 
 is in the least acquainted with the history of Indian 
 affairs upon our northwestern frontier for some years 
 past, can be at any loss for the source of all this mis- 
 chief, or will hesitate to believe that the prophet is a 
 tool of British fears or British avarice, employed for 
 the purpose of forming a combination among the 
 Indians, which in case of war between that jiower 
 and the United States, may assist them in the defence 
 of Canada ; or at all events may be employed as a 
 means of keeping back our settlements, and by ren- | 
 dering us suspected and hated by the natives, secure I 
 themselves a continuance of the valuable fur trade, 
 which they have so long engrossed." 
 
65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Prosecution for Slander — Aggressions of ibe Propliet — Marcb 
 to Tippecanoe — Battle of Tippecanoe. 
 
 However acceptable to the people of the Ter- 
 ritory, was the conduct of the governor, both in 
 reference to its internal affairs, and to Indian rela- 
 tions, there was, as always happens in such cases, 
 a small but extremely active party, diligently em- 
 ployed in counteracting or embarrassing all his 
 measures. To the conduct and complaints of these 
 persons, there are several allusions in the extract 
 above given from the governor's message. In the 
 territory, where the character and motives of his 
 traducers were known, the reports which they 
 might put in circulation could do little mischief. 
 But as these calumnies began to be repeated in 
 distant parts of the country, and even found their 
 way into the halls of Congress, governor Harrison 
 considered it due, both to his own character and 
 to that of the general government, to bring the 
 matter to the test, and to procure an examination 
 of his conduct in relation to the treaty of Fort 
 Wayne, while the subject was still fresh, and the 
 proofs within reach. Believing an investigation 
 by a court of justice to be the most effectual 
 within his power, he commenced an action for 
 slander in the Supreme Court of the territory, 
 against one M'Intosh, a Scotchman, of large 
 pronerty at Vincennes, who had long been hostile 
 to him, and indeed was believed not to be very 
 warmly attached to the government of the United 
 States. This person had asserted that the gover- 
 nor had cheated the Indians in the treaty at Fort 
 
55 
 
 ayne; and for this slander the action was 
 brought. Every means was taken to ensure an 
 impartial trial. Of the three judges, one left the 
 bench because he was the personal friend of the 
 governor, and another because he was the personal 
 friend of the defendant ; and the trial was solely 
 conducted by the third judge, who had recently 
 arrived in the territory, and was but slightly ac- 
 quainted with either of the parties. To ensure an 
 impartial jury, the court appointed two persons, 
 who returned a panel of fortyeight jurors. From 
 this fortyeight the plaintiff and defendant each 
 struck twelve, and from the remaining tvventyfour 
 the jury was selected by lot. 
 
 Every person concerned in the Indian depart- 
 ment, or who could know anything of the circum- 
 stances attending the negotiation of the treaty of 
 Fort Wayne, was examined, and every latitude 
 was allowed the defendant in the examination. 
 Finding that they could make out nothing against 
 the treaty, the defendant's counsel began to ask 
 questions respecting the governor's civil adminis- 
 tration. To this the court objected, as being ir- 
 relevant to the point in issue ; but at the earnest 
 solicitation of the governor, the defendant was 
 permitted to pursue his own course, and to ask 
 questions on all points which he thought proper. 
 The examination of witnesses having closed, the 
 defendant's counsel abandoned all idea of justifi- 
 cation, and contended only for a mitigation of 
 damages. The jury returned a verdict of $4000 
 against the defendant, an immense verdict, in a 
 new country, where money was scarce, and where 
 damages given by juries, in general, are very small. 
 To satisfy this judgment, a large amount of the 
 defendant's lands were exposed to sale, and in the 
 
57 
 
 absence of the governor, in the command of the 
 army, the ensuing year, they were bought in by 
 his agent. Two thirds of this property the gov- 
 ernor afterwards returned to ?jriiitosh; and the 
 remainder lie distributed among the orplian chil- 
 dren of several distinguished citizens, who fell in 
 the service of their country, in the war of 18^2. 
 
 Tecumthe and the prophet still continued their 
 liostile preparations ; and the aggressions on the 
 ■whites, committed by |)ersons whom they encour- 
 aged and protected, became every day more ag- 
 gravated. Horses were stolen, houses were plun- 
 dered, families were murdered, and the whole 
 frontier was thrown into a state of agitation and 
 alarm. The governor sent a speech to the proph- 
 et, informing him of the terror which his proceed- 
 ings excited among the people of the Territory, 
 and assuring him that he must desist, otherwise 
 the United States would be beforehand with him 
 in commencing hostilities. This message pro- 
 duced a second visit from Tecumthe, who however 
 gave no satisfaction ; and who soon departed on a 
 journey to the South, in the hope of persuading 
 the southern Indians, to join in his confederacy. 
 His mother was a Creek, a circumstance on which 
 he placed much reliance ; and it is certain, that 
 some two years later, he induced the Creeks to 
 raise the hatchet ajjainst the United States. 
 
 Under these circumstances, greatly to his own 
 satisfaction, and that of the people of the Terri- 
 tory, the governor received instructions to move 
 towards the prophet's town with an armed force. 
 He was expressly required however to avoid hos- 
 tilities, " of any kind, or to any degree, not ab- 
 solutely necessary." These latter instructions 
 placed the governor in a very delicate position. 
 
58 
 
 and gave every advantage to those against whom 
 he was to act. He was to march upon the proph- 
 et's town, but was not to light unless obliged to. 
 This secured to the prophet the opportunity of 
 choosing the time and place of attack, of select- 
 ing his own ground, and strikintj the first blow. 
 
 The troops for this expedition were collected at 
 Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, about sixty miles 
 above Vincennes. They consisted of the Fourth 
 Eegiment of United States Infantry, under Col. 
 Boyd, 350 strong, and about 550 volunteer mi- 
 litia, including a squadron of dragoons, and three 
 companies of mounted riflemen. The volunteers 
 were principally from Indiana, but some sixty or 
 seventy were from Kentucky, including several 
 gentlemen of distinguished reputation in that 
 State, besides several young men, who after- 
 wards gained much credit by their services in the 
 subsequent war with Great Britain. 
 
 The Delawares still adhered to the interests of 
 the United States, and the governor had sent for 
 the chiefs to join him at Fort Harrison. He des- 
 patched some of them on a mission to the proph- 
 et, to induce him to lay aside his hostile designs. 
 This mission was unavailing. The Delawares on 
 their return, reported that they had been ill re- 
 ceived, ill treated, insulted, and finally dismissed 
 with the most contemptuous remarks upon them- 
 selves and the governor. 
 
 The army commenced its advance from Fort 
 Harrison, on the 28th of October, 1811, and the 
 whole march was conducted with great caution. 
 The troops were encamped every night, in order 
 of battle, and they marched always in two lines, 
 on each side the trail which served as a road, in 
 such order that by a single movement they could 
 
69 
 
 be formed into two lines, or thrown into a holIoxT 
 square, as circumstances might require. The 
 dragoons and mounted riflemen covered the front, 
 fKUiks, and rear, and exchanged positions with 
 each other as the ground varied, so as to ensure 
 to each that which was most favorable to its par- 
 ticular method of fighting. 
 
 At some distance above Fort Harrison, two 
 routes presented themselves ; one, which was the 
 shorter, along the south bank of the Wabash, but 
 which passed through a woody and uneven coun- 
 try ; while the other, on the opposite bank of the 
 river, led, for the most part, through level and 
 open prairies. To deceive the enemy, the gover- 
 nor advanced upon the south side of the river, for 
 some miles, when suddenly he changed his direc- 
 tion, crossed the stream, and pursued the northern 
 road. By this manoeuvre, the Indians were com- 
 pletely misled, and the troops advanced for sev- 
 eral days without seeing any traces of the enemy. 
 For the purpose of keeping himself informed of 
 the movements and proceedings of the prophet, 
 the governor employed a number of Indian scouts. 
 Hearing nothing from these scouts, and seeing 
 nothing of the enemy, the governor became alarm- 
 ed, lest the prophet might have passed the flanks 
 of the army and advanced toward the settlements. 
 This was a manosuvre perfectly practicable, 
 Vincennes was but an outpoot ; and the settle- 
 ments extending from it towards the falls of the 
 Ohio, formed a narrow line of little strength, and 
 ditiicult to be defended. Besides, a large propor- 
 tion of the able bodied men were present with the 
 army. Impressed with this danger, and desirous 
 at all events to save the settlements from the mis- 
 eries of Indian devastation, the governor dimin- 
 
62 
 
 goons, who occupied the centre, were kept as a 
 reserve, and were directed in case of attack, to 
 parade dismounted, and wait for orders. After 
 reconnoitreing the whole ground, the governor 
 called the officers together, and gave particular di- 
 rections to each how to draw up and dispose of 
 his men, in case of attack, and what measures to 
 take under all the circumstances which were like- 
 ly to occur. After receiving these orders the offi- 
 cers retired to rest, much dissatisfied at the pros- 
 pect of returning home without a battle. 
 
 Indeed, there was not a sinale individual in the 
 camp, who believed that an attack would be made 
 that night. The governor and those officers who 
 were best acquainted with the Indian mode of 
 fighting were the least apprehensive on this point. 
 They did not believe that the Indians would dare 
 to attack by night, an army so favorably posted ; 
 for in the dark they lose the peculiar advantage 
 they possess in the day time, from the accuracy of 
 their rifles, and their dexterity in covering them- 
 selves with trees, logs, and bushes. The muskets, 
 buck-shot, and bayonets of a body of firm and 
 disciplined troops, must in a night attack, always 
 prevail over the rifles of the Indians. The gov- 
 ernor indeed expected, that sooner or later, the 
 prophet would attack him by treachery or ambus- 
 cade ; but he supposed that some opportunity 
 would be selected more promising of success. 
 But whatever opinions were entertained as to the 
 likelihood of an attack, every possible precaution 
 was taken to be prepared for it. The camp 
 was surrounded by a chain of sentinels, posted at 
 such a distance as to give notice of the approach 
 of the enemy in time for the troops to take their 
 position, yet not so distant as to prevent their re- 
 
63 
 
 treat, if overpowered by numbers. In civilized 
 warfare, picquets or detached guards, are frequent- 
 ly posted at a considerable distance from the camp, 
 and on the roads leadinof to it. Ajjainst Indians 
 such guards are useless, for tliey do not require a 
 road on which to move, and these detached par- 
 lies would always be cut off by the enemy's supe- 
 rior adroitness. 
 
 In conformity to a general order, the troops 
 went to rest with their clothes and accoutrements 
 on, their muskets loaded by their sides, and their 
 bayonets fixed. The officers were ordered to sleep 
 in the same manner. It was the governor's con- 
 stant practice to be completely ready to mount 
 his horse at a moment's warning. The night 
 passed without any disturbance, and the governor 
 and his aids rose about a quarter of four, and were 
 sitting in conversation about the fire. The moon 
 had risen, but afforded little light, in consequence 
 of floating clouds, from which occasionally fell a 
 small drizzling rain. In a few minutes the sig- 
 nal would have been given for the troops to turn 
 out, when the Indian rifles were heard, and the at- 
 tack commenced. The Indian warriors had crept 
 up close to the sentries, with the design to rush 
 forward and despatch them before they could fire. 
 One of them however discovered an Indian creep- 
 ing towards him through the grass, and fired. 
 This was immediately followed by the Indian yell, 
 and a desperate charge upon the rear angle of the 
 left flank of the encampment. The firing at once 
 became very severe ; but as soon as the men could 
 be formed and posted, they returned it with spirit, 
 and maintained their ground with desperate valor. 
 All the camp fires were immediately extinguish- 
 ed, their light being more useful to the Indians 
 than to our men. 
 
62 
 
 goons, who occupied the centre, were kept as a 
 reserve, and were directed in case of attack, to 
 parade dismounted, and wait for orders. After 
 reconnoitreing the whole ground, the governor 
 called (he officers together, and gave particular di- 
 rections to each how to draw up and dispose of 
 his men, in case of attack, and what measures to 
 take under all the circumstances which were like- 
 ly to occur. After receivino; these orders the offi- 
 cers retired to rest, much dissatisfied at the pros- 
 pect of returning home without a battle. 
 
 Indeed, there was not a single individual in the 
 camp, who believed that an attack would be made 
 that night. The governor and those officers who 
 were best acquainted with the Indian mode of 
 fighting were the least apprehensive on this point. 
 They did not believe that the Indians would dare 
 to attack by night, an army so favorably posted ; 
 for in the dark they lose the peculiar advantage 
 they possess in the day time, from the accuracy of 
 their rifles, and their dexterity in covering them- 
 selves with trees, logs, and bushes. The muskets, 
 buck-shot, and bayonets of a body of firm and 
 disciplined troops, must in a night attack, always 
 prevail over the rifles of the Indians. The gov- 
 ernor indeed expected, that sooner or later, the 
 prophet would attack him by treachery or ambus- 
 cade ; but he supposed that some opportunity 
 would be selected more promising of success. 
 But whatever opinions were entertained as to the 
 likelihood of an attack, every possible precaution 
 was taken to be prepared for it- The camp 
 was surrounded by a chain of sentinels, posted at 
 such a distance as to give notice of the approach 
 of the enemy in time for the troops to take their 
 position, yet not so distant as to prevent their re- 
 
63 
 
 treat, if overpowered by numbers. In civilized 
 warfare, picquets or detached guards, are frequent- 
 ly posted at a considerable distance from the camp, 
 and on the roads leadinor to it. Against Indians 
 such guards are useless, for they do not require a 
 road on which to move, and these detached par- 
 ties would always be cut off by the enemy's supe- 
 rior adroitness. 
 
 In conformity to a general order, the troops 
 went to rest with their clothes and accoutrements 
 on, their muskets loaded by their sides, and their 
 bayonets fixed. The officers were ordered to sleep 
 in the same manner. It was the governor's con- 
 stant practice to be completely ready to mount 
 his horse at a moment's warning. The night 
 passed without any disturbance, and the governor 
 and his aids rose about a quarter of four, and were 
 sitting in conversation about the fire. The moon 
 had risen, but afforded little light, in consequence 
 of floating clouds, from which occasionally fell a 
 small drizzling rain. In a few minutes the sig- 
 nal would have been given for the troops to turn 
 out, when the Indian rifles were heard, and the at- 
 tack commenced. The Indian warriors had crept 
 up close to the sentries, with the design to rush 
 forward and despatch them before they could fire. 
 One of them however discovered an Indian creep- 
 ing towards him through the grass, and fired. 
 This was immediately followed by the Indian yell, 
 and a desperate charge upon the rear angle of the 
 left flank of the encampment. The firing at once 
 became very severe; but as soon as the men could 
 be formed and posted, they returned it with spirit, 
 and maintained their ground with desperate valor. 
 All the camp fires were immediately extinguish- 
 ed, their light being more useful to the Indians 
 than to our men. 
 
I- 
 
 64 
 
 The governor immediately mounted his horse 
 and proceeded to the point of attack, which he 
 strengthened by two companies drawn from the 
 centre of the rear line. A heavy fire now com- 
 menced all along the left flank, upon the whole 
 of the front and right flank, and upon a part of 
 the rear line. The Indians advanced arid re- 
 treated by a rattling noise made with deer's hoofs. 
 They fought with enthusiasm, and seemed deter- 
 mined upon victory. The governor employed him- 
 self in encouraging and supporting the men at 
 those points where they were hardest pressed. 
 He ordered several changes of position on the part 
 of particular corps, such as the circumstances of 
 the contest seemed to require, in all of which the 
 men were conducted and formed by himself As 
 daylight appeared, the left flank, which was the 
 most accessible part of the encampment, was 
 strenfjthened by troops drawn from the front and 
 rear line. The dragoons were now mounted, and, 
 covered by them, a successful charge was made 
 upon the enemy, by the troops on the left flank. 
 The Indians were driven into a swamp, through 
 which the cavalry could not penetrate. At the 
 same time a charge was made on the right flank, 
 and the Indians in that quarter put to flight ; after 
 which they disappeared from the field, and the bat- 
 tle ended. 
 
 The prophet, it was said, took no active part in 
 the fight, but remained secure on a neighboring 
 eminence, singing a war song. He had promised 
 his followers that the Great Spirit would charm the 
 bullets of the Americans, so that they would drop 
 harmless ; and that the Indians should have light, 
 while their opponents were involved in thick dark- 
 ness. Being told that his men were falling, he 
 
65 
 
 bade them fight on, and they would soon see the 
 fulfilment of his prophecies. Tecumthe was not 
 present at this engagement, being on a visit to the 
 soutiiern Indians, whom he hoped to engage in his 
 confederacy against the United States. 
 
 Governor Harrison's forces consisted of about 
 eight hundred men. The killed amounted to sixty- 
 one, and the wounded were about double that 
 number. Amoncr the killed were two or three dis- 
 tinguished citizens of Kentucky, who had volun- 
 teered for the expedition. The governor himself 
 had a narrow escape, the hair of his head being 
 cut by a rifle ball. The Indians, whose force was 
 supposed to be about eight hundred or a thousand, 
 left thirtyeight warriors dead upon the field, and 
 buried many in the town, who were removed du- 
 rincr the battle. Their loss was at least as great as 
 that of the Americans — a very unusual or rather 
 an unprecedented thing. It is the custom of the 
 Indians, always to avoid a close action, and from 
 their dexterity in hiding themselves, but few can 
 be killed in any battle. At St. Clair's defeat, it is 
 believed that not ten Indians were killed, and at 
 Braddock's, still fewer. Even in the decisive victory 
 gained by Gen. Wayne, but very i^ew of the In- 
 dians fell. At Tippecanoe, they displayed a pecu- 
 liar boldness — a conduct attributed to the confi- 
 dence with which the prophet had inspired them, 
 and to the distinguished bravery of the Winneba- 
 go warriors. 
 
 The battle of Tippecanoe, gave rise to an in- 
 finite deal of discussion, in the West, and through- 
 out the whole country. The conduct of the gov- 
 ernor in consenting to a cessation of hostilities, in 
 the selection of a camp, and in the conduct of the 
 battle, were criticised and canvassed in every form. 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 Some, from a desire to show their superior sagaci- 
 ty, after the affair was ended ; others instigated by 
 a hostility to the administration under whose or- 
 ders Governor Harrison had acted ; and others 
 who had lost friends in the action, and whose 
 ' judgment was perverted by their private grief, 
 blamed this, that, and the other point of the gov- 
 ernor's conduct; and Colonel Boyd, the comman- 
 der of the regiment of regular troops, made an at- 
 tempt to carry off all the honor of the victory — an 
 attempt, however, in which he was resisted by the 
 whole body of his own officers. 
 
 After all these discussions, the public mind set- 
 tled down into the opinion that the governor had 
 acted with the greatest energy, prudence, and sa- 
 gacity ; and that to his coolness and courage, the 
 defeat of the Indians was to be ascribed. The 
 Legislature of Indiana approved iiis conduct in the 
 highest terms; and the Legislature of Kentucky, 
 havina voted to so in mourning for the citizens of 
 that State slain in the battle, on the motion of 
 John J. Crittenden, now a distinoruished member of 
 the Senate of the United States, resolved, " That 
 in the late campaign against the Indians on the 
 Wabash, Governor W. H. Harrison, has, in the 
 opinion of this Legislature, behaved like a hero, a 
 patriot, and a general ; and that, for his cool, de- 
 liberate, skilful and gallant conduct in the late bat- 
 tle of Tippecanoe, he well deserves the warmest 
 thanks of the nation." 
 
 The battle was spoken of in President Madison's 
 message, communicating the official account of it 
 to Congress, as follows. " While it is deeply to 
 be lamented that so many valuable lives have been 
 lost in the action, Congress will see with satisfac- 
 tion, the dauntless spirit and fortitude, victoriously 
 
67 
 
 displayed by every description of troops engaged, 
 as well as the collected firmness which distin- 
 guished their commander on an occasion requiring 
 the utmost exertion of valor and discipline." 
 
 To these official attestations, let us here add the 
 testimony of a private soldier of the fourth regi- 
 ment. It is taken from a work published in 1816, 
 in Keene, New Hampshire, entitled, "A Journal 
 of two Campaigns of the fourth Regiment of 
 United States Infantry, by Adam Walker, a pri- 
 vate in the fourth Regiment." Mr Walker was a 
 person with whom Governor Harrison had no ac- 
 quaintance, and he may be supposed to express the 
 opinion of the common soldiers employed in that 
 expedition. On page 31, speaking of the battle 
 of Tippecanoe, he says, " General Harrison re- 
 ceived a shot through the rim of his hat. In the 
 heat of the action his voice was frequently heard 
 and easily distinguished, giving his orders in the 
 same calm, cool and collected manner, with which 
 we had been used to receive them on drill or pa- 
 rade. The confidence of the troops in the Gene- 
 ral, was unlimited," 
 
 Again, speaking of a small portion of the mili- 
 tia who had become dissatisfied, at being detained 
 from home longer than they expected, this writer 
 observes, " He, (i. e. General Harrison,) appeared 
 not disposed to detain any man against his inclina- 
 tion, being endowed by nature with a heart as hu- 
 mane as brave ; in his frequent addresses to the 
 militia, his eloquence was formed to persuade; ap- 
 peals were made to reason as well as feeling, and 
 never were made in vain." 
 
 The whole of the day of the battle, was spent in 
 taking care of the wounded, burying the dead, and 
 fortifying the camp. The next day the dragoons 
 
6B 
 
 and mounted riflemen were sent to reconnoitre the 
 town. They found it fortified with much care and 
 labor, but totally deserted. A great quantity of 
 corn was left behind, all the household utensils, 
 and even a few guns, and some ammunition. The 
 town liad evidently been abandoned in great haste. 
 Some dead were found in it, and quite a number 
 partially buried in the gullies adjacent. Every 
 thing that could l)e useful to the army was removed, 
 and the town was then burned. 
 
 On the morning of the 7th, the troops were put 
 in motion on their return. It required every wagon 
 to transport the wounded. The governor called 
 the officers together, explained to them the neces- 
 sity of destroying the baggage, and set the example 
 by ordering his own camp furniture to be broken 
 and burned. The army arrived without interrup- 
 tion at the block house on the Wabash, where the 
 wounded were embarked in boats, and the rest of 
 the troops continued on by land to Vincennes. 
 
 In December following, deputies from various 
 tribes arrived at Vincennes to endeavor to accom- 
 modate matters ; and in March there came another 
 delegation from all the late hostile tribes except the 
 Shawnese. It was represented that since the bat- 
 tle of Tippecanoe, the prophet had been a wan- 
 derer, attended by only a few followers, and that 
 his influence was very much diminished. Every 
 thing promised fair for a settlement of difliculties ; 
 but several circumstances conspired to prevent it. 
 The first was the return of Tecumthe from the 
 south, who again took the lead, and stirred up the 
 Indians to resistance. A second obstacle in the 
 way of a satisfactory arrangement was the with- 
 drawal of the regular toops which had been sta- 
 tioned at Vincennes, and whose presence had 
 
69 
 
 served as a check to the hostile tribes. But what 
 had the greatest influence of all, and tended 
 wholly to neutralize the advantages which might 
 otherwise have been derived from the victory of 
 Tippecanoe, was the commencement of the war 
 with Great Britain, by which mean- the Indians 
 were encouraged and enabled to renew hostilities, 
 and Tecumthe found an ally able and eager to 
 second all his plans. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 War with Great Britain — Circumstances which led to the ap- 
 
 poinlmeni of Harrison to command the Northwestern array — 
 Extent of his authority — DifficuUies to be encountered — Harri- 
 son's influence with the Militia — Anecdotes- Plan of the Cam- 
 paign — Obstacles in the way — Harrison recommends the con- 
 struction of a llat on Lake Erie — Battle of the River Raisin 
 — End of the Campaign — Expedition against the Indians. 
 
 Immediately after the declaration of war 
 against Great Britain, Governor Harrison deter- 
 mined to put the Indiana territory in the best pos- 
 ture of defence, which circumstances admitted ; 
 and he left Vincennes for the eastern part of the 
 territory, for the purpose of reviewing and disci- 
 plining the militia. During this absence from the 
 seat of government, he visited Cincinnati, where 
 his family then was : and while there he received 
 a letter from Governor Scott, of Kentucky, urging 
 him to come to Frankfort, in order to consult and 
 advise respecting the disposition of the Kentucky 
 volunteers, assembled for the protection of the 
 Northwestern frontier. He went accordingly, and 
 
70 
 
 was received at Frankfort with military honors, and 
 the greatest enthusiasm on the part of the people. 
 Soon after his arrival, orders were received from 
 the war department, placing a portion of the Ken- 
 tucky quota under his command for the protection 
 of the territory of which he was governor. The 
 remainder were ordered to concentrate at George- 
 town, for the purpose of marching from that place 
 to reinforce General Hull, who was already get- 
 ting into difficulty, and calling urgently for more 
 troops. 
 
 While the governor was employed in getting 
 ready the Kentucky troops which were to march 
 to Vincennes, letters were received from Detroit, 
 from several officers in the army, written a few | 
 days previous to the attack upon that place by the \ 
 British, statingr their entire want of confidence in ' 
 their commander, and their apprehension of some 
 fiital disaster from his miserable arrangements, and 
 apparent imbecility and cowardice. These letters 
 also declared it to be the common wish of the ar- 
 my that Governor Harrison should accompany the 
 expected reinforcements. 
 
 Governor Harrison was very popular in Kentuc- 
 ky, and the wish thus expressed by the officers of 
 Hull's army was warmly concurred in by the Ken- 
 tucky volunteers. But the authority he had re- 
 ceived from the President did not entitle him to 
 command any troops not intended to operate in the 
 territories of Indiana and Illinois. 
 
 The feeling however in favor of his appointment 
 to the command was very strong ; and there were 
 many inducements which weighed powerfully with 
 Governor Scott to confer it upon him. But there 
 were difficulties in the way, from the fact that he 
 was not a "citizen of Kentucky, and from other 
 
71 
 
 circumstances connected with the organization of 
 the troops. In this dilemma Governor Scott called 
 together a caucus of influential persons, composed 
 of Mr Shelby, the governor elect, Henry Clay, 
 speaker of the House of Representatives in Con- 
 gress, Thomas Todd, judge of the Federal Circuit 
 Court, and some others. Tliese persons, after 
 consultation, unanimously resolved to advise the 
 governor to give Harrison a brevet commission of 
 major general in the Kentucky militia, and to au- 
 thorise him to take command of the detachment 
 marching to Detroit. This was accordingly done. 
 The appointment was hailed with approbation by 
 the citizens generally, and especially by the volun- 
 teers, who had already arrived at Cincinnati on 
 their march to the north. The news of Hull's 
 surrender, which was received just at this time, 
 caused the appointment of Harrison to be regarded 
 with feelings of still warmer approbation. 
 
 General Harrison accepted the appointment, and 
 entered upon the duties of it with great zeal and 
 spirit. But his operations after a short time, were 
 interrupted by the receipt of letters from the war 
 department written in ignorance both of the sur- 
 render of Hull and of what had been done in 
 Kentucky, appointing General Winchester to take 
 command of the troops marching to Detroit. At 
 the same time Harrison received an appointment 
 of briaadier-ffeneral in the service of the United 
 States, which appointment, however, he declined 
 to accept, being desirous that the war department 
 should be first informed of the arrangements by 
 which he had been appointed to the command of 
 the Kentucky troops. In the meantime these 
 troops had marched to the Northwestern frontier 
 of Ohio, and General Harrison, — having first sue- 
 
72 
 
 ceeded in relieving Fort Wayne, which had been 
 besieged by the Indians, and in destroying the 
 Indian towns on the Wabash, — resigi^ed the com- 
 mand to General Winchester, who had arrived at 
 the camp. 
 
 General Winchester had been an officer in the 
 revolutionary army, and was now advanced in life. 
 He was a wealthy citizen of Tennessee, where he 
 had lived for many years in a style of elegant 
 luxury and ease, little calculated to season him 
 for a northern campaign in the woods. His arri- 
 val caused great uneasiness among the troops. 
 They had confidently expected that General Har- 
 rison would be confirmed in the command ; and 
 by this time his aQable and courteous address, and 
 his indefatitrable attention to the duties of his sta- 
 tion, had secured for him the confidence of every 
 soldier in the army. The volunteers especially, 
 were very loud in their expressions of dissatisfac- 
 tion at the chancre of command ; and General Har- 
 rison had to exert his utmost influence to reconcile 
 the army to it. At last the men consented to 
 march under Winchester, with a confident belief, 
 however, that as soon as the case was understood 
 by the war department, General Harrison would 
 be reinstated in command. 
 
 This expectation of the soldiers was soon real- 
 ized. In a short time General Harrison received a 
 despatch informing him that he had been aj)point- 
 ed by the President to the command of the North- 
 western army, with orders to protect the western 
 frontier, retake Detroit, destroy the British estab- 
 lisiiments at Tvlalden, and to penetrate as far as 
 possible into Canada, In a letter to Governor 
 Shelby, of Kentucky, from the Secretary of War, 
 of simultaneous date, it was stated, that to meet 
 
73 
 
 existing contingencies, " it had been determined 
 to vest the command of all the forces on the west- 
 ern and northwestern frontiers in an officer whose 
 military character and knowledge of the country 
 appear to be combined with the public confi- 
 dence. " General Harrison," adds the letter, 
 " has accordingly been appointed to the chief com- 
 mand, with authority to employ officers, and to 
 draw from the public stores, and every other prac- 
 ticable source, all the means of effisctuating the 
 object of his command." 
 
 The authority thus bestowed upon General Har- 
 rison, was more extensive than was ever entrusted 
 to any other officer in the military service of the 
 United States, Washington and Greene alone ex- 
 cepted. He was to provide for the safety of the 
 whole Northwestern Frontier, from the confines 
 of Pennsylvania and Ohio, to the territory of Mis- 
 souri ; and in addition he was to carry on offen- 
 sive operations against the enemy for the recov- 
 ery of the posts and territory which Hull had sur- 
 rendered into their hands, and for the conquest of 
 Maiden, their principal depot and head quarters in 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 Every circumstance almost conspired to sur- 
 round this command with the most formidable diffi- 
 culties. The troops with which the operations 
 were to be carried on, consisted almost entirely of 
 volunteers and militia from Kentucky and the oth- 
 er western States. These men were altogether 
 unused to military service of any kind, without the 
 slightest tincture of discipline, and wholly indis- 
 posed by all their feelings and habits, to that im- 
 plicit obedience so necessary in an army. The 
 enthusiasm which led them to volunteer, quickly 
 evaporated amid the extreme hardships and priva- 
 
 7 
 
74 
 
 tions to which they were exposed ; they were al- 
 ways more ready to give advice than to obey or- 
 ders ; and with the exception of their courage, 
 which was undeniable, and that personal hardi- 
 hood without which they never could have endur- 
 ed the hardships of that service, they possessed 
 but few military qualities, and furnished very in- 
 tractable materials for the formation of an army. 
 The officers were as ignorant of discipline as the 
 men ; and were wholly unacquainted with the 
 principles of military science. In the most deli- 
 cate and important parts of the service, they were 
 able to afford the commander-in-chief hardly any 
 assistance ; and indeed, throuofh io-norance or in- 
 attention, often placed him in the most embarrassing 
 situations. What aggravated all these difficulties 
 was, the extreme deficiency and confusion of those 
 departments of the service, of which it was the 
 business to furnish supplies of clothing and provis- 
 ions. There was a great deficiency even of arms 
 and military stores. Almost every thing for the 
 supply of the army, provisions excepted, had to be 
 transported from the Atlantic states ; and owing 
 to the limited means of transportation which 
 existed in those days, and the constant failure of 
 contractors to fulfil what they had undertaken, 
 there was almost always a deficiency, which often 
 became alarming. 
 
 The posts which General Harrison was ordered 
 to recover, were separated from the frontier settle- 
 ments by a swampy forest two hundred miles in 
 extent, without roads or inhabitants, and in many 
 places totally impassable by wagons. 
 
 The enemy he had to encounter consisted of 
 trained and disciplined British troops, well supplied 
 with every thing necessary, and aided by a large 
 
75 
 
 body of Indians, who were supported by British 
 rations, and commanded by a chief of the greatest 
 sagacity, energy and courage. The enemy also 
 had tlie double advantage of being concentrated 
 within a small compass, and of commanding Lake 
 Erie by means of a ileet ; while the vast extent of 
 the American frontier presented a great number 
 of points of attack, any of which the enemy could 
 select at pleasure, and by an harassing warfare, 
 distract the attention anddelav the advance of the 
 American force. 
 
 To any one who will take into consideration all 
 these circumstances, it will be sufficiently obvious 
 that the command to which General Harrison was 
 appointed, demanded energy, perseverance, and 
 indefatigable activity ; and that no man could suc- 
 ceed in it who did uot join to military talents of a 
 high order, a knowledge of men and things, and a 
 fertility of resource, far beyond what ordinarily 
 suffices for a military commander. He had an 
 army to discipline, and in fact to create ; this same 
 army he was obliged to clothe and feed ; and to 
 this was joined the still more difficult task of keep- 
 ing it obedient and contented in the midst of hard- 
 ships and sufferings of no ordinary character ; all 
 this he had to perform besides protecting the fron- 
 tier, fighting the enemy, and the ordinary duties of 
 a commanding general. 
 
 The authority conferred upon him was co-ex- 
 tensive with the difficulties of his position. He 
 was authorised to make appointments in all the va- 
 rious departments of the army, and the officers 
 whom he thus selected were confirmed by the pres- 
 ident. He was at liberty to draw on the govern- 
 ment for money to any amount, and to make any 
 contracts which he might deem expedient for the 
 
76 
 
 supply of his troops. These extraordinary pow- 
 ers he exercised with energy, but at the same time 
 with moderation and prudence; nor did he ever 
 transcend the respect he owed to the laws, or 
 abuse in any way the high trust thus confided to 
 him. 
 
 This appointment, it deserves to be remarked, 
 was obtained by General Harrison by means of no 
 party or personal influence. It was bestowed 
 upon him, in compliance with the spontaneous and 
 almost unanimous wishes of the western people, 
 and by a president, who as Secretary of State un 
 der Jefferson, had kept up a constant correspon- 
 dence with him in relation to the territorial affairs 
 of Indi-ana, and who had thus enjoyed an ample 
 opportunity of estimating his capacity and char- 
 acter. 
 
 The first grand object to be accomplished by 
 General Harrison was, to maintain that influence 
 over the troops to which he owed his appointment. 
 His good sense, as well as his experience, taught 
 him that militia — freemen serving voluntary out 
 of a spirit of patriotism — did not expect, nor de- 
 serve, nor would they submit to, the same kind of 
 treatment which is practised towards mercenary 
 troops. These volunteers consisted in general of 
 the most high-spirited young men from among a 
 free population ; they had talent, intelligence, and 
 feelings of the most sensitive kind ; and their lead- 
 ers were the popular men of the districts to which 
 they belonged. It would have shown a bad heart, 
 as well as a poor knowledge of human nature, to 
 have assumed towards such soldiers an arrogant 
 bearing, and to have attempted to compel their 
 obedience by severity and rigor. General Harri- 
 son proceeded in a different method. He observed 
 a strict military etiquette, and required a prompt 
 
77 
 
 and exact attention to his orders, from those un- 
 der his command, l)iit at the same time he always 
 treated his men with respect, coiisiderinof every 
 soldier as a patriot who was making sacrifices for 
 his country. It was his practice to win obedi- 
 ence by kindness, and to enforce the performance 
 of duty by appeals to reason and the feelings. 
 During the whole of his command he never suf- 
 fered a degrading punishment to be inflicted upon 
 a militia soldier. He had no occasion to shoot 
 deserters, or to floff the neorlis;ent. Like a father 
 among his children he often gave affectionate ad- 
 monitions in private, which precluded the necessi- 
 ty of a public exposure. When the misconduct 
 or discontent was not confined merely to individu- 
 als, but pervaded whole corps, he availed himself 
 of his remarkable talent for extemporaneous speak- 
 ing, and by a persuasive eloquence which acted at 
 once upon their heads and their hearts, he re- 
 called the troops to a sense of their duty, and a 
 determination to perform it. 
 
 A striking instance of the infiuence he was thus 
 able to exert, was exhibited shortly after he took 
 command of the army. Having arrived late at 
 night at the encampment at Fort Defiance, he was 
 waited upon by the officers of one of the Ken- 
 tucky regiments, who informed him that their 
 men, exhausted by the hardships of the service, 
 and disappointed in the expectation of an imme- 
 diate encrasement with the enemy, had resolved to 
 return home ; and that all the entreaties or argu- 
 ments of their officers could not avail to restrain 
 them. In fact their appeals had been answered 
 only by insult, and they called upon the general 
 to interfere at once, as the only officer likely to 
 bring back the mutineers to their duty. 
 
'« 
 
 78 
 
 The general declined to do anything that night, 
 but gave orders that the next morning the drums 
 should beat the alarm instead of the revcllie. 
 This brought all the troops to their arms ; and in 
 conformity to a previous order they were drawn 
 up in a hollow square. General Harrison now ap- 
 peared on parade, much to the surprise of the 
 troops, who were ignorant of his arrival. He pro- 
 ceeded to harangue them on the subject of the 
 campaign, and presently alluded to the difficul- 
 ties which existed in one of the Kentucky regi- 
 ments. It was fortunate, he said, that he had 
 found out this dissatisfaction thus early in the 
 campaign. It was now easy, without any injury 
 to the service, to dismiss those who were discon- 
 tented because while makincr war in the woods, 
 ihoy could not enjoy all the luxuries of peace and 
 home. They were at liberty to return, — he only 
 pitied them for the reception they would be likely 
 to meet with when they arrived in Kentucky ! 
 
 The influence of this address was powerful and 
 instantaneous. Scott, the senior Kentucky colo- 
 nel, called out to his troops to show their attach- 
 ment to the service and their general by giving 
 ^hree cheers. To this appeal the regiment in- 
 stantly responded, as did the regiment of Colonel 
 Lewis to a similar call from him. Allen, the 
 commander of the discontented regiment, now 
 demanded of his men whether they would be be- 
 hind the rest of the Kentuckians in patriotism 
 and fortitude? They replied with the same 
 shout as the rest, and from that time, the project 
 of returning was heard of no more. 
 
 That the hardships which jtroduced these dis- 
 contents were by no means imaginary, will appear 
 from the following account of a night's encamp- 
 
79 
 
 nient during Harrison's march to Defiance, on 
 the occasion above alluded to. He had received 
 information — which proved however to be un- 
 founded — that the troops at Defiance were threat- 
 ened with an attack from a combined force of 
 British and Indians; and he proceeded in haste 
 from St. Mary's to their relief. The troops being 
 on a forced march, were not suflfered to halt till 
 dark. On the night referred to, they encamped on 
 the banks of the Au Glaise, in a level beach woods, 
 the ground nearly covered with water from the 
 rain which fell in torrents all night. They had 
 no axes, and could only procure such fuel as was 
 furnished by the dry limbs scattered on the 
 ground. Those who could find a dry log against 
 which to kindle a fire were fortunate indeed. 
 Many sat without fire, upon their saddles, leaning 
 against the trunks of trees, and endeavoring to 
 sleep. Beig separated from the baggage, few had 
 any thing to eat or drink. The men became 
 peevish, and were not sparing in complaints. To 
 check this bad feeling, and give an example of 
 cheerfulness, the general, who sat with his staff by 
 a small fire, wrapped in his cloak, and receiving 
 the rain as it fell, called on one of his officers to 
 sing a humorous Irish song. Another officer sang 
 a song, with the following chorus: 
 
 " Now's the time for mirth and glee, 
 Sinn- and lauah and dance with me !" 
 
 The ludicrous contrast of this song with their 
 actual situation, put the men into quite a good 
 humor. Indeed this chorus afterwards became 
 proverbial in the army, and was always raised upon 
 occasion of the greatest suffering and fatigue. 
 
 It was by means like these, that General Harri- 
 son always succeeded in controlling the feelings 
 
80 
 
 of his men, and inspiring them with a spirit of 
 cheerfulness and obedience ; and it is worthy of 
 remark, that although several detached expeditions 
 within the range of his command, were totally de- 
 feated by the insubordination of the men who com- 
 posed them, and their refusal to obey orders, 
 nothing of the kind ever occurred when he was 
 present. 
 
 It was late in September before General Harri- 
 son received his appointment. The administration 
 were exceedingly desirous that he should accom- 
 plish the chief objects of it, viz : the recapture of 
 Detroit, the conquest of Maiden, and the expulsion 
 of the British force from Upper Canada, — during 
 that campaign ; and the greatest efforts were made 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The army placed under his command consisted 
 nominally of ten thousand men ; but the effective 
 force never exceeded six thousand. It was com- 
 posed of the Kentucky regiments already in the 
 field, a body of Ohio militia also already under 
 arms, and two brigades of volunteers, which were 
 to be marched, one from Virginia, and the other 
 from Pennsylvania. A train of artillery was to be 
 supplied from Pittsburg. 
 
 The plan of the campaign formed by General 
 Harrison was as follows. He stationed the left 
 wing of the army, the command of which had been 
 entrusted to General Winchester,* and which con- 
 sisted principally of the Kentucky troops, at Defi- 
 ance. The right wing, which was to be composed 
 of the Virginia and Pennsylvania brigades, of 
 
 * When Harrison was appointed to the command of the 
 Northwestern army, Winchester had his choice to remain 
 with that army, or to join the forces on the Niagara frontier. 
 He chose to remain. 
 
81 
 
 which Harrison himself assumed the immediate 
 command, was to concentrate at Upper Sandusky. 
 The centre corps consisted of Ohio troops, com- 
 manded by General Tupper, and was stationed at 
 fort McArthur. At these several points supplies 
 of provisions and stores were to be accumulated ; 
 and from these points the army was to move to the 
 rapids of the Maumee, where all the corps were to 
 be united, and whence thev were to move forward 
 for ulterior operations against the British and In- 
 dian enemy. 
 
 Having made all the arrangements in his power 
 along the front of his position, the general now has- 
 tened into the rear to push forward the supplies 
 essential to the campaign. The Kentucky troops, 
 with characteristic thoughtlessness, had left home 
 in summer dresses ; few of them had any blankets ; 
 and all were unprovided with the clothing neces- 
 sary for a winter campaign. To supply this defi- 
 ciency was not easy. The articles needed were 
 not to be purchased without the greatest difficulty ; 
 and the general found himself under the necessity 
 of appealing to the patriotism of the Kentuckians 
 to contribute and forward these necessary supplies. 
 The appeal was not made in vain. But it was 
 vei7 late before the soldiers benefitted by it. 
 
 It soon became obvious that if the recovery of 
 Detroit was to be accomplished during that cam- 
 paign, it could only be by continuing operations 
 through the winte: , and taking advantage of the 
 frozen ground to forward supplies, and of the fro- 
 zen surface of the lake to cross over and attack 
 Maiden. Indeed the difficulties by which the ex- 
 pedition was surrounded seemed to increase every 
 day. The three points above mentioned, upon 
 which the supplies of the army were to be accu- 
 
82 
 
 mulated, viz. Defiance, fort McArthur, and Upper 
 Sandusky, were considerably advanced beyond the 
 line of settlements, and the roads by which alone 
 they could be approached, were in a most terrible 
 condition, which was aggravated by the excessive 
 rains of the season. The destruction of pack- 
 horses, and the waste and loss which occurred in 
 the transportation of stores, were enormous, and 
 though vast sums were spent, but little was accom- 
 plished. But to get forward the stores to these 
 points, was in fact only the commencement of dif- 
 ficulties. Those at Defiance might indeed be 
 transported to the rapids of the Maumee by a wa- 
 ter communication down the river ; but those ac- 
 cumulated at the other two depots, were to be 
 carried across the Mack swamp^ an almost impassa- 
 ble barrier which stretched along parallel to the 
 Maumee from the Au Glaise to lake Erie. This 
 terrible swamp, it seemed almost impossible to 
 cross, except when it was hardened by the frosts 
 of winter. 
 
 It soon occured to General Harrison, that the 
 best and most economical way to accomplish the 
 objects of the campaign was, to build a fleet on 
 lake Erie, and having obtained the command of 
 the lake, to be able to move the army and its 
 stores by water. The necessity of thus getting 
 the command of the lake, he early suggested in 
 his correspondence with the war department. " Ad- 
 mitting," he wrote, " that Maiden and Detroit are 
 both taken, Macinaw and St. Josephs will both re- 
 main in the hands of the enemy, until we can 
 create a force capable of contending with the ves- 
 sels which the British have on lake Erie, and 
 which they will be able to maintain, so long as the 
 canoe route by Grand River and lake Nipissin 
 
83 
 
 shall remain to them, and for six months longer." 
 Again, urging the economy of this mode of opera- 
 tion, he says, in the same letter, " I should not he- 
 sitate to say, that if a small proportion of the sums 
 which will be expended in the quartermaster's 
 department, in the active prosecution of the cam- 
 paign during the winter, was devoted to obtaining 
 the command of lake Erie, the wishes of the 
 government, to their utmost extent, could be ac- 
 complished without difficulty, in the months of 
 April and May. Maiden, Detroit, and Macinaw, 
 would fall in rapid succession." In a subsequent 
 letter he still urges this same idea. " Should our 
 offensive operations be suspended until spring, it is 
 my decided opinion that the most effectual and 
 cheapest plan will be, to obtain command of lake 
 Erie. This being once effected, every difficulty 
 will be removed. An army of four thousand men, 
 landed on the north side of the lake below Maiden, 
 will soon reduce that place, retake Detroit, and 
 with the aid of the fleet proceed down the lake to 
 co-operate with the army from Niagara." 
 
 Soon after, he writes again as follows. '* I have 
 no means of estimating correctly the cost of a na- 
 val armament, capable of effecting this object, but 
 from my knowledge of the cost of transporting sup- 
 plies through a swampy wilderness, I do believe 
 that the expense which will be incurred in six 
 weeks in the spring, in an attempt to transport the 
 provisions for the army along the road leading 
 from the Rapids to Detroit, would build and equip 
 the vessels for this purpose." 
 
 The Virginia brigade, which was to form a part 
 Harrison's army, did not approach the scene of ac- 
 tion till late in November ; and it was December 
 before the Pennsylvania troops arrived at Upper 
 
84 
 
 Sandusky. About the same time arrived the train 
 of artillery which had been promised, but in which 
 the general was much disappointed, many of the 
 guns being only six pounders, and the carriages of 
 the whole extremely defective, and hardly fit for 
 service. 
 
 Though Harrison was satisfied that the command 
 of the lake was essential to the entire success of 
 the enterprise in which he was engaged, yet as 
 the war department seemed to consider the reco- ' 
 very of Detroit that winter, an object of much im- 
 portance, he was resolved to persevere in the 
 attempt. Detroit he felt certain of taking at all 
 events, and if the frost should secure him a pas- > 
 sage across the lake, he expected to be able to gain | 
 possession of Maiden also. 
 
 Having now collected all the troops of the right ' 
 wing at Sandusky, the artillery having arrived, and 
 a large store of provisions being accumulated, or- 
 ders were sent to General Winchester to move 
 ' down from Defiance to the Rapids, to which point 
 it was designed that the whole army should shortly 
 march. This movement was accomplished by 
 Winchester on the 10th of January, 1813 ; but he < 
 took no proper means to inform General Harrison 
 of it. When he left the Rapids on the 30th of 
 December, he despatched a message with informa- 
 tion of the fact, which did not reach its destination 
 till the 11th of January. Orders were immedi- 
 ately issued for sending forward a part of the artil- 
 lery and a quantity of provisions. On the 16th of 
 January, the general learned, not directly from 
 Winchester, but indirectly from General Perkins, 
 who commanded a body of troops stationed at 
 Lower Sandusky, that Winchester had arrived at 
 the Rapids, and that he was meditating a movement 
 
85 
 
 against the enemy ^ for which purpose he solicited 
 a battalion from General Perkins. This informa- 
 tion alarmed Harrison greatly. He immediately 
 made every exertion to get forward the artillery, 
 stores and provisions, — a business, however, which 
 went on very slowly, on account of the extreme 
 badness of the roads. 
 
 In the meantime Winchester had undertaken an 
 enterprise which turned out very disastrously, and 
 which destroyed all hopes of reducing Detroit or 
 MaldeiTTIiat winter. 
 
 On the river Raisin, which empties into the head 
 of lake Erie, within the boundaries of Michigan, 
 was a small French settlement, the inhabitants of 
 which sent messengers to General Winchester at 
 the Rapids, requesting his protection against a 
 British and Indian force of about four hundred men, 
 from whom, now that their neighborhood was likely 
 to become the seat of war, they apprehended the 
 destruction of their town, its inhabitants being ge- 
 nerally favorable to the American cause. French- 
 town — for so the settlement was called, — was thirty- 
 miles from the Rapids, while it was only eighteen 
 miles from Maiden, the head-quarters of the 
 British, from which place it was easily accessible 
 over the frozen surface of the lake. 
 
 By the advice of a council of officers which 
 Winchester called together, he resolved to send on 
 a part of his troops to the river Raisin ; and on the 
 17ih of Januaiy, Colonels Lewis and Allen march- 
 ed at the head of about sLx hundred and sixty men. 
 The next day they reached Frenchtown, and after 
 a sharp action with the forces of the enemy, which 
 had possession of the place, they drove them out and 
 obtained possession of it. Colonel Lewis, flushed 
 with this success, resolved to hold the town, and he 
 8 
 
8'6 
 
 'despatched an express to Winchesser to inform him 
 of his intention. This news raised a great ferment in 
 Winchester's camp. It was evident that the situation 
 of Lewis was critical, on account? of his vicinity to 
 Maiden ; but all were eager for holding the town, 
 and all were anxious to march for the pur- 
 pose of reinforcing the advanced corps. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the evening of the 19th, Winchester 
 himself moved at the head of two hundred and fifty 
 men, which was all the disposable force which the 
 camp supplied, and arriving at Frenchtown on the 
 night of the 20th, he assumed the chief command. 
 
 The troops which Lewis had led, were encamped 
 among garden pickets, sufficient to afford them 
 some protection against musketry. The force 
 which arrived under Winchester took their station 
 in an open field, without any cover. During the 
 whole of the 21st, notwithstanding the dangerous 
 position of the troops, nothing whatever was done 
 towards fortifying the camp. General Winchester 
 was informed by a Frenchman from Maiden that a 
 strong force was about marching from that place 
 to attack him. He paid no attention to this infor- 
 mation, but took up his quarters in a house nearly 
 a mile from the camp, and on the opposite side of 
 the river. He even omitted to station any piquet 
 guard on the road leading to Maiden. 
 
 Just at day break, on the 22d, the British from 
 Maiden, who had approached the camp unper- 
 ceived, opened a heavy fire upon it from several 
 pieces of artillery loaded with grape shot, at a dis- 
 tance of three hundred yards. Though completely 
 surpised, Lewis's men on the right, who were pro- . 
 tected by the pickets about their encampment, 
 maintained their ground with much spirit. But 
 the detachment which had arrived under Winches- 
 ter, on the left, being totally without any barrier 
 
87 
 
 against the enemy, were soon thrown into confu- 
 sion, and fled in disorder across the river, carrying 
 with them a strong detachment from the right 
 which had been sent to their aid. All attempts to 
 rally the fugitives proved vain ; and the Indians 
 who had gained their flank and rear, pursued and 
 tonrxhawked them without mercy. Some few, 
 among whom was General Winchester, were taken 
 prisoners, and carried to the British camp. 
 
 In the mean time the men behind the pickets 
 maintained their position with much firmness, till 
 at length the commander of the British force pro- 
 cured an order from Winchester^ commanding 
 them to surrender. As their ammunition was 
 nearly exhausted, and as they had no hopes of be- 
 ing reinforced, they thought it best to obey. They 
 surrendered, however, on express condition of 
 being protected against the fury of the Indians. 
 
 The prisoners who were able to march, were 
 taken off to Maiden ; the wounded were left be- 
 hind in the houses of the village, with reiterated 
 promises that the next day sleds should be sent for 
 their removal, and that, in the mean time, they 
 need apprehend no danger. The next morning, 
 however, instead of the promised sleds, came a 
 party of Indians, who murdered all these wounded 
 prisoners in cold blood ! 
 
 The defeat and massacre at the river Raisin 
 producd an extraordinary sensation throughout the 
 west, and particularly in Kentucky. The volun- 
 teers were, many of them, persons of note ; as it 
 was a long time before the surviving prisoners 
 » were heard from, it was long uncertain who had 
 escaped ; and there was scarcely a family in the 
 state which had not a relative to mourn for. 
 
 Some persons undertook to cast the blame of 
 •• this affair upon General Harrison ; but without the 
 
88 
 
 slightest foundation. It appears from what has 
 been related, that the expedition was undertaken 
 totally without his consent or knowledge. We 
 will now proceed to state the steps which he 
 took, so soon as he heard of the movement, to re- 
 inforce General Winchester, and so to prevent the 
 disastrous result above recounted. 
 
 The morning after General Harrison heard that 
 Winchester contemplated a movement against the 
 €nemy, after sending forward the artillery and sup- 
 phes, as above mentioned, he started for Lower 
 Sandusky, having first despatched an express to 
 the Rapids for information. This was the 17th. 
 Arrived at Lower Sandusky, he found that Gene- 
 ral Perkins had prepared a battalion, with a piece 
 of artillery, in conformity with Winchester's re- 
 quest, and the next day, the 18th, this corps 
 marched under Major Cotgrove, for the rapids. 
 Harrison determined to follow it, and to have a 
 personal interview with Winchester, of the nature 
 of whose intended movement against the enemy he 
 was as yet entirely ignorant. Before he starte :, 
 however, early on the morning of the 19th, he re- 
 ceived a letter from Winchester informing him of 
 the advance of Colonel Lewis upon Frenchtown. 
 He thereupon ordered all the remaining disposable 
 troops at Upper Sandusky to march for the Rapids 
 as soon and as expeditiously as possible, and im- 
 mediately proceeded thither himself. He started 
 in a sleigh with General Perkins to overtake the 
 battalion under Cotgrove, attended by a single ser- 
 vant. As the sleigh went very slowly, from the 
 roughness of the road, he took the horse of his 
 servant and pushed on alone. Night came upon 
 him in the midst of the swamp, which was so im- 
 perfectly frozen that the horse sunk to his belly at 
 every step. He had no recoui'se but to dismount 
 
99 
 
 and lead his horse, jumping from one sod to ano- 
 ther. Finally, with the assistance of a stragglinjj 
 soldier whom he fortunately met, he succeeded in 
 getting his horse through the swamp, and in 
 reaching the camp of Cotgrove's battalion. 
 
 Pushing on, he arrived at the Rapids early on 
 the morning of the 20th, which place General Win- 
 chester had left on the preceding evening, with all 
 his disposable force. Nothing could now be done 
 but to await the arrival of the troops on their march 
 for the Rapids. As soon as the battalion under Cot- 
 grove arrived, it was hurried forward to reinforce 
 Winchester ; and upon the arrival of the remain- 
 der of the troops from Upper Sandusky, on the 
 evening of the 21st, the remainder of the Ken- 
 tuckians, to the number of three hundred, whom 
 Winchester had left behind to garrison his camp, 
 were ordered to march for Frenchtown, which they 
 did the next morning. On the forenoon of the 
 22nd, information reached the Rapids of the attack 
 on Winchester's camp. General Harrison imme- 
 diately ordered all the remaining troops at the 
 Rapids to march with all possible expedition, and 
 himself hastened forward to overtake the Kentuck- 
 ians who had marched the day before. This de- 
 tachment was soon met by fugitives from the 
 battle, from whom the total defeat of Winchester's 
 forces were ascertained. A council of general and 
 field officers was then held, by whom it was deci- 
 ded that it would be imprudent and unnecessary to 
 proceed further. Parties of the most active and 
 enterprising men were sent forward to assist in 
 bringing in those who might escape, and the rest 
 ■ of the reinforcement returned to the Rapids. 
 
 It thus appears that everything possible was done 
 by General Harrison towards reinforcing Winches- 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 ter in the dangerous position he had assumed at 
 the river Raisin. The movement to that place was 
 highly imprudent ; but its disastrous result seems 
 to have been principally owing to the total negli- 
 gence of Winchester and his officers, in taking 
 those ordinary precautions which the nature of 
 their position demanded. Had the camp been for- 
 tified, as it might and ought to have been, the 
 result of the battle would have been very different. 
 At all events the troops might easily have held out 
 till the arrival of succor from the Rapids. In this 
 disastrous affair the Americans lost about nine hun- 
 dred men in killed and prisoners. 
 
 The troops at the Rapids, after Winchester's de- 
 feat, amounted to less than nine hundred men. A 
 <:ouncil of war unanimously recommended that this 
 corps should fall back to Portage river, to cover the 
 convoys which were advancing in that direction, 
 and which had in charge all the artillery and much 
 of the ammunition intended for the campaign. 
 The position at the Rapids, which Winchester had 
 chosen, was very objectionable. It was on the 
 north bank of the river, and thus separated by a 
 wide, swift, and sometimes impassable stream, 
 from the road by which the convoys were approach- 
 ing ; and what was still worse, the fortifications by 
 which it was defended were constructed upon an 
 extremely injudicious plan. 
 
 Having removed his camp to Portage river. Ge- 
 neral Harrison sent back expresses to hasten the 
 advance of the troops, artillery and stores. But a 
 violent rain which now commenced, and which 
 continued till the frost was entirely out of the 
 ground, greatly retarded all these operations. On 
 the 30th of January, however. General Leftwich 
 and the Virginia brigade with a part of the artillery 
 ■^^'-'S had been taken off the carriages and plac d 
 
91 
 
 upon sleds, arrived at Portage river. The artil- 
 lery had been sent off from Upper Sandusky on the 
 17[h. It thus took fourteen days for only a pait of 
 it to reach Portage river, a distance of fifty miles. 
 The ammunition wagons were nearly all left be- 
 hind, their wheels and axletrees being broken, or 
 their teams exhausted. The road, for nearly the 
 whole distance, was strewed with broken v/agons, 
 dead or dying horses and oxen, and with small 
 groups of militia, who having exhausted their 
 strength in wading through the mud and water, 
 had stopped and kindled fires on the few spots 
 where they would burn. 
 
 By the arrival of General Leftwich, the force at 
 Portage river was increased to one thousand eight 
 hundred men. But of these a great many were ill 
 with pleurisies and other disorders of a similar 
 I kind ; which indeed was not to be wondered at, for 
 { the greater part of the encampment was absolutely 
 inundated by the rain. The troops bore their situ- 
 ation with great patience, to which they were 
 jl induced by the example of their commander. The 
 f general's tent, placed in the centre, happened to be 
 , in one of the lowest spots of the encampment. His 
 ' officers urged him to change it ; but he refused ta 
 do so, observing that it was necessary that every 
 military man should be content with the situation,. 
 J which in the course of his duty fell to his lot. 
 
 The following is an account of the hardships 
 j which the soldiers of Leftwich encountered on their 
 inarch to Portage river, extracted from a letter of 
 one of the Petersburg volunteers. 
 
 "In the best of the road it took us over the knees,, 
 and often to the middle. The rain was incessant^ 
 The Black swamp, (four miles from Portage river, and 
 four in extent,) would have been considered impassa- 
 ble by all but men determined to surmount ever^ diffi- 
 
)2 
 
 *culty. In this swamp the water was about six inches 
 deep on the ice, which was very rotten, often breaking 
 through to the depth of four or five feet. 
 
 " We encamped on wet ground in the midst of the 
 rain. It was with difficuly we could raise fires. We 
 had no tents, our clothes were wet, no axes, nothing 
 to cook with, and very little to eat. When we went 
 to sleep, it was on two logs laid close together to keep 
 our bodies from the wet ground. Good God ! what a 
 pliant being is man in adversitiy. The loftiest spirit 
 that ever inhabited the human breast would have 
 been tamed amid the difficulties that surrounded us." 
 
 On the 1st of February, the forces at Portage 
 river advanced again to the Rapids, — General Har- 
 rison still entertaining a hope that he might yet be 
 able to execute the great objects of the campaign 
 the present winter. This was the season, in com- 
 mon years, when the most intense frosts prevailed 
 in this country, by which its lakes and swamps 
 were rendered perfectly firm and secure for any 
 kind of conveyance ; yet the weather still continued 
 so warm and rainy, that the roads were entirely 
 broken up, and travelling on the ice rendered alto- 
 gether unsafe. The troops in the rear, and the 
 necessary supplies were unable to reach the Ra- 
 pids. The roads, indeed, had become absolutely 
 impassable for any kind of carriage, and it was 
 with the greatest difficulty that they could be tra- 
 versed in any way. Under these circumstances 
 General Harrison felt himself constrained to aban- 
 don all thoughts of advancing against Maiden 
 during the winter ; and he accordingly prepared 
 to go into winter quarters at the Rapids. For this 
 purpose an encampment was chosen on the south 
 side of the river, which was strongly fortified, and 
 called Ca7np Meigs, in honor of the patriotic go- 
 x^ernor of Ohio. 
 
 This determination was indeed rendered abso- 
 
93 
 
 lutely necessary by the approaching expiration of 
 the term of service of the Kentucky and Ohio 
 troops. In a short time, only the Pennsylvania 
 and Virginia forces remained, they having been en- 
 gaged to serve till spring. 
 
 It may be proper to mention here, that while 
 employed in the various and arduous services to- 
 wards the main object of the campaign, above 
 briefly recounted, General Harrison organised no 
 less than three distinct expeditions against the In- 
 dian towns, rendered necessary for the protection of 
 the frontier, and to keep the Indians in check. 
 Two of these expeditions, one under Colonel 
 Trimble, and the other under General Hopkins,, 
 failed entirely, owing to the total insubordination 
 of the troops ; the third under Colonel Campbell^ 
 of the regular army, was more successful. 
 
 About this time General Harrison received the 
 appointment of major general in the array of the 
 United Stages. Singular as it may appear, though 
 exercising the most important command in the 
 power of the Federal government to bestow, he 
 had hitherto acted under the Kentucky commis- 
 sion which he received when he first took the field. 
 The delay in this appointment had created much 
 uneasiness in the West ; and it being suggested 
 that General Harrison might resign at the close of 
 the campaign, public meetings were called, and ad- 
 dresses sent to the President, requesting him to con- 
 fer the rank of major general, and urging Harrison 
 to accept. This demonstration of public opinion 
 had its effect ; and the commission was presently 
 forthcoming. 
 
94 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Second campaign of the Northwestern Army— Seige and defence 
 of fort Meigs — Second seige of fort Meigs — Seige of fort Ste- 
 venson — Perry's victory — Embarkation of the Army — Battle of 
 the Thames — End of the campaign — Harrison resigns his com- 
 mission. 
 
 In reply to his letters announcing the surspen- 
 sion of hostile operations, General Harrison receiv- 
 ed answers from the Secretary of War, declaring 
 his conviction of the necessity of that course, and 
 stating the intentions of the administration with 
 respect to the second campaign. 
 
 The plan so often and so strongly urged by 
 General Harrison, of obtaining command of Lake 
 Erie, had been adopted ; and captain Perry had 
 been ordered to Presque Isle, (now Erie) to super- 
 intend the construction of a fleet, which it was 
 supposed would be ready for service by the middle 
 of May. The land forces destined to form the 
 Northwestern army, were to consist of the 24th 
 regiment of regular troops, then on its march 
 from Tennessee, of the 17th and 19th regi- 
 ments, which at that time had but few men enlist- 
 ed, and of three regiments of twelve months' vol- 
 unteers to be raised in Ohio and Kentucky. It 
 was announced that in the opinion of the Secreta- 
 ry the recruits who would be enlisted for the new 
 regiments, would be able to protect the posts until 
 offensive operations should commence. The em- 
 ployment of militia was not to be resorted to till 
 after it was ascertained that the regular troops 
 could not be raised. 
 
 It is evident, from this statement, that the ad- 
 ministration had passed suddenly from the height 
 
! 95 
 
 of profusion to an ill judged parsimony. With 
 the merely nominal forces above mentioned, the 
 general was required to maintain the Northwestern 
 forts, with the provisions and military stores now 
 accumulated in them ; to protect the frontier 
 againsi the Indians ; and to keep the British at 
 Maiden in check. Fortunately, before he had re- 
 ceived these instructions, he had called for rein- 
 forcements of militia both from Kentucky and 
 Ohio ; and more fortunately yet, notwithstanding 
 it was known that the call was disapproved of by 
 the Secretary of War, the troops, nevertheless, 
 were furnished. The whole number called for, 
 however, was hardly sufficient to garrison the forts. 
 As the period for which the remaining troops at 
 fort Meigs had enlisted was now about expiring^ 
 General Harrison felt great anxiety for the safety 
 of that place, especially as he had heard from Gov- 
 ernor Meigs that the Secretary of War had disap- 
 proved his call for militia, though he had not abso- 
 lutely countermanded it. To get together, if pos- 
 sible, troops enough to garrison fort Meigs, Gene- 
 ral Harrison hastened into the interior, and arrived 
 at Cincinnati on the 22d of March. He left the 
 command of fort Meigs to General Leftwich, the 
 senior officer of the Virginia brigade,- having first 
 ascertained that the breaches in the ice of Lake 
 Erie would prevent an attack from fort Maiden 
 during his absence. On the SQth, however, he re- 
 ceived an express informing him that the ice of the 
 lake was so far broken up that it would soon be- 
 come navigable. Having long expected that the 
 British would attack fort Meigs as soon as the 
 navigation was open, he returned with all expedi- 
 tion to the Rapids, collecting on the way all such 
 detachments of troops as he could find, and leaving- 
 
96 
 
 orders for the rest to follow as speedily as possible. 
 He reached fort Meigs on the 10th of April, with 
 a small body of troops, to the great joy of the gar- 
 rison, which was now exceedingly reduced. Gen- 
 eral Leftwich with his brigade were all gone, — the 
 period of their enlistment having expired, — -and the 
 fort was held by a few regulars, and a small body 
 of Peansylvanians, who, notwithstanding the expi- 
 ration of their term of enlistment, had volunteered 
 to remain until the expected reinforcement should 
 arrive. 
 
 Every effort was now made to complete the de- 
 fences of the fort; and the general looked with 
 great anxiety for the arrival of the Kentucky mili- 
 tia under General Clay, whose march, however, 
 was greatly impeded by the terrible state of the 
 Toads. In a short time, the scouts and advanced 
 parties of the enemy began to make their appear- 
 ance ; and on the 28th of April, the main body of 
 the British troops was discovered, ascending the 
 river in vessels and boats, the Indians approaching 
 at the same time by land. 
 
 The assailants immediately commenced the 
 erection of batteries on the north side of the river, 
 opposite the fort, while their main body was en- 
 camped at old fort Miami, about a mile and a half 
 below. To avoid the effect of these batteries, a 
 traverse twelve feet high was constructed across 
 the camp, the erection of which was concealed by 
 the tents, and as soon as the batteries began to 
 play, the troops were withdrawn behind the tra- 
 verse, which afforded them a complete protection. 
 The batteries, however, kept up a very heavy fire, 
 which was sparingly returned from the fort, on ac- 
 count of the scarcity of shot. The guns of the fort 
 were twelve and eighteen pounders. Twelve pound 
 
97 
 
 sliot were plentifully enough supplied from the 
 guns of the enemy ; but they furnished no eight- 
 eens, — all their large guns being twentyfours. 
 Finding that little impression was to be made upon 
 the fort from the north side of the river, the enemy 
 established several batteries on the south side. But 
 in the mean time, works had been erected to guard 
 against this event, and the siege went on with no 
 better success than before. 
 
 On the night of the 4th of May a message was 
 received bringing the information that General 
 Clay, with his forces in boats, was just above the 
 Rapids, and would arrive at the fort by three or 
 four o'clock in the morning. General Harrison 
 immediately resolved upon a vigorous effort to 
 raise the seige by a simultaneous attack upon the 
 enemy's works on both sides of the river. The 
 attack of the batteries on the left was committed to 
 to a part of General Clay's forces. An officer was 
 despatched to him with orders to land six or eight 
 hundred men on the left bank of the river, about a 
 mile above the fort, who were to march with de- 
 spatch and secrecy against the British batteries, 
 carry them, spike the cannon, cut down the car- 
 riages, and then hasten to their boats and cross 
 over to the fort. Preparations in the mean time 
 were made in the fort for a sortie against the bat- 
 teries on the right bank. 
 
 Clay detached colonel Dudley with eight hun- 
 dred men for the attack upon the British batteries, 
 and descending the river with the rest of his 
 forces, though much annoyed by the Indians from 
 the banks, he reached the fort in safety. Mean- 
 while Dudley's corps landed, and rushing unex- 
 pectedly upon the British batteries carried them 
 without difficulty. This achievement was seen 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 from the fort, and the entire success of this enter- 
 prise seemed certain. The enmey in their camp 
 a mile and a half below, were indeed seen to take 
 the alarm, and to run to arms: but their distance 
 was such that our troops might easily have em- 
 barked and crossed to the fort without any impedi- 
 ment. Presently, however, the general saw with 
 feelings of indescribable anguish, — for he was 
 watching the whole proceeding through his spy- 
 glass, — that the British troops were in full march, 
 while not the smallest appearance was discernable, 
 on the part of our men, of any arrangements either 
 to retreat or to fight. In fact they neither saw, 
 heard, nor thought of the enemy ; their attention 
 being entirely taken up with the novelty of their 
 situation, or in skirmishing with a few Indians con- 
 cealed in the bushes. An attempt was made by 
 the general to call to them across the river, but 
 that proved ineffectual. He then offered a thou- 
 sand dollars to any one who would swim across 
 and apprise Dudley of his danger. This was un- 
 dertaken, but before it could be accomplished, the 
 enemy had arrived. Forty or fifty of the Kentuck- 
 ians were slain, and five hundred and fifty taken 
 prisoners. About two hundred who were on the 
 extreme left escaped to the boats, and succeeded in 
 reaching the fort. Never was there a more strik- 
 ing instance of an easy victory converted by igno- 
 rance and thoughtlessness into a lamentable defeat! 
 
 In the mean time, the batteries on the right 
 bank were attacked by a detachment from the fort, 
 and though defended by a strong body of troops, 
 were all carried. Their batteries thus rendered 
 useless, the enemy despaired of success, and a few 
 days after raised the seige, and retired to Maiden. 
 
 The season had now arrived for active opera- 
 
tions. But the enlistment of the regiments which 
 were to constitute the Northwestern army was not 
 yet completed. Leaving General Clay in com- 
 mand of fort Meigs, General Harrison hastened 
 into the interior to send forward the recruits and 
 hasten the enlistments. The construction of the 
 fleet at Presque Isle had not proceeded with the 
 rapidity that had been anticipated. Early in July, 
 however, the general received such information 
 from commodore Perry, as satisfied him of the ne- 
 cessity of concentrating his forces, and preparing 
 for action. On the 25th of the same month he re- 
 ceived from the war department the authority he 
 had earnestly solicited and long expected, to call 
 upon the governors of Kentucky and Ohio for a 
 militia force ; and he immediately despatched one 
 of his aids to the Governor of Kentucky for that 
 purpose. 
 
 In the mean time the forces of the enemy again 
 made their appearance before camp Meigs. Gen- 
 eral Harrison was at Lower Sandusky with a small 
 body of regular troops. He immediately strength- 
 ened the garrison of Fort Stephenson at that place, 
 and having entrusted the command of it to Major 
 Croghan, with the remainder of his troops he fell 
 back to Seneca, nine miles above, — a position con- 
 venient for assembling the forces marching from 
 the interior, and whence succors might be sent to 
 fort Meigs, while it covered the important point of 
 Upper Sandusky, where the principal magazines 
 of the army were accumulated. 
 
 Word was sent to General Clay, that in case the 
 enemy opened batteries against fort Meigs, every 
 effort would be made to relieve it. But the British 
 and Indians remained before that place only a few 
 days. On the 28th the British troops were em- 
 
100 
 
 ^! 
 
 barked and sailed round to Sandusky Bay, while 
 the Indians marched through the swamps of Por- 
 tage river, with the apparent intention of attacking 
 Lower Sandusky. An examination of the heights 
 around fort Stephenson had been made sometime 
 previous by General Harrison, Major Croghan, 
 and some other officers. It was found to be com- 
 manded by a hill at no great distance, and the offi- : 
 cers all agreed that it could not be defended against J 
 heavy artillery. Orders were accordingly left with 
 Major Croghan, that if British troops with cannon 
 approached the place, and he discovered them in , 
 time, he should abandon the fort and effect a re- 
 treat ; but against a force merely of Indians, he 
 was to maintain his position, as the fort was im- 
 pregnable to them, and an attempt to retreat in ■ 
 their presence would be ineffectual. j 
 
 On the evening of the 29th the general received i 
 information that the siege of fort Meigs had been : 
 raised ; and from the number of Indians that in- 
 fested the woods in the vicinity of his camp, he 
 had no doubt that an immediate attack was intend- 
 ed by the combined British and Indians, either 
 upon his own position at Seneca, or on fort Ste- 
 phenson. A council of war was assembled, which 
 gave a unanimous opinion, that as fort Stephenson 
 was untenable against heavy artillery, — any quan- 
 tity of which, by means of water transportation, 
 the enemy might bring against it, — and as it was 
 an unimportant post, it had better be abandoned, 
 and the garrison withdrawn. Additional reasons 
 lor this advice were to be found in the fact of the 
 very small force under the general's immediate 
 command ; and in the necessity of concentrating 
 all the troops within his reach, for the protection of 
 Upper Sandusky, which was a point of the utmost 
 
101 
 
 importance. Orders were accordingly despatched 
 to Major Crogan to set fire to the fort, and to re- 
 j)air with his command to head-quarters. But 
 these orders did not arrive till the fort was already 
 surrounded by Indians ; and after consulting with 
 his officers, who deemed a retreat unsafe, and that 
 the post might be maintained, at least till further 
 instructions could be received from head-quarters, 
 Major Croghan returned the following answer : — 
 " Sir, I have just received yours of yesterday, 10 
 o'clock, P. M., ordering me to destroy this place 
 and make good my retreat, which was received too 
 late to be carried into execution. We have deter- 
 mined to maintain this place, and by heavens we 
 can." As Major Croghan expected that this note 
 would fall into the hands of the enemy, he ex- 
 pressed himself in much stronger language than 
 would otherwise have been consistent with propri- 
 ety. However, it reached the general the same 
 day. Not understanding the circumstances and 
 motives which had produced it, and looking upon 
 the style of the letter as a breach of military eti- 
 quette, he immediately despatched Colonel Willis, 
 escorted by a corps of dragoons, with a letter to 
 Major Croghan, requiring him to give up the com- 
 mand of the fort to Colonel Willis, and to repair to 
 head-quarters. He did so ; and having explained 
 his motives in writing the offensive note, the ex- 
 planations were deemed satisfactory, and the next 
 morning he was permitted to return to his com- 
 mand, with written orders similar to those which 
 had originally been given him. 
 
 On the 1st of August, the British and Indians 
 appeared before the fort, and demanded its surren- 
 der. This being refused, a cannonade was opened 
 from the enemy's gun-boats, but as their guns were 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 only sis pounders, they did but little damage. On the 
 evening of the 2d, they attempted an assault ; but 
 being received by a galling fire of musketry, and 
 their column being raked by a six pounder, the 
 only piece of artilery in the fort, they were repulsed 
 with great loss, and that same night they made a 
 hasty and disorderly retreat. 
 
 The gallant defence of fort Stephenson gained 
 Croghan a high reputation ; and some of the ene- 
 mies of General Harrison made it the occasion of 
 severe attacks npon him. In these attacks, how- 
 ever, Croghan himself refused to join. In a letter 
 on this subject published soon after, he says, — *' It 
 would be insincere to say that I am not flattered by 
 the many handsome things which have been said 
 about the defence which was made by the troops 
 under my command ; but I desire no plaudits 
 which are bestowed upon me at the expense of. 
 General Harrison. 
 
 " I have at all times enjoyed his confidence as 
 far as ray rank in the army entitled me to it ; and 
 on proper occasions received his marked attentions. 
 I have felt the warmest attachment for him as a 
 man, and my confidence in him as an able com- 
 mander remains unshaken. I feel every assurance 
 that he will at all times do me ample justice ; and 
 nothing could give me more pain than to see his 
 enemies seize upon this occasion to deal out their 
 unfriendly feeling and accrimonious dislike; and 
 as long as he continues, (as in my humble opinion 
 he has hitherto done,) to make the wisest arrange- 
 ments and the most judicious disposition, which 
 the forces under his command will justify, I shall 
 not hesitate to unite with the army in bestowing 
 upon him that confidence which he so richly mer- 
 its, and which has on no occasion been withheld." 
 
, 103 
 
 It is proper to add, — as this subject has been 
 much harped upon by General Harrison's enemies, 
 that in consequence of certain publications in the 
 newspapers, all the general and field officers of the 
 army united in signing a paper, by which the ge- 
 neral's conduct in this affair was cordially approved. 
 
 About the 18th of August, commodore Perry 
 with his fleet, arrived off Sandusky Bay. General 
 Harrison immediately went on board to consult as 
 to future operations. It was agreed that the com- 
 modore should go immediately in pursuit of the 
 enemy before incumbering his ships with the land 
 forces ; but as the fleet was still deficient in men, 
 the general agreed to furnish one hundred and 
 fifty, to be selected from the w^hole army. This 
 being done, Perry sailed immediately for Maiden, 
 where the British fleet was at anchor. He lay for 
 some days before that place ; but finding that the 
 enemy showed no disposition to come out, he 
 returned to the anchorage at Put-in Bay, at that 
 time the only harbor on our side of the lake. After 
 waiting there for some time, he was gratified on 
 the 10th of September by the appearance of the 
 enemy ; and the same day was fought that cele- 
 brated action, by which Perry gained so much 
 honor, and which resulted in the capture of the 
 enemy's whole fleet. 
 
 In the meantime General Harrison had drawn 
 together all the regular troops belonging to his 
 army — so many of them at least as had been en- 
 listed,— and a day or two after Perry's victory, he 
 was joined by a strong corps of militia from Ken- 
 tucky, commanded by Governor Shelby in person. 
 The troops at fort Meigs joined the main army at 
 the mouth of Portage river, except the mounted 
 regiment under Colonel Johnson, which had orders 
 
104 
 
 to advance by way of the river Raisin. On tbe 
 20th of September the general embarked with two 
 brigades for Bass Island ; and on the two suc- 
 ceeding days the rest of the troops arrived there. 
 On the 25th the whole array passed over to the 
 Middle Sister. These islands were found very 
 convenient in the passage of the lake, as the men 
 were thus enabled to avoid sea-sickness, and to se- 
 cure their baggage against any ordinary storm. 
 On the 26th, General Harrison sailed with Com- 
 modore Perry in the Ariel, to reconnoitre Maiden, 
 and select a point of debarkation. On his return 
 he issued a general order prescribing the course to 
 be pursued by the troops in landing and forming in 
 order of battle, a paper drawn up with that clear 
 and accurate minuteness, so necessary with troops, 
 most of whose officers were v/holly without experi- 
 ence, and entirely unacquainted with such ma- 
 noeuvres. 
 
 On the 27th, the army was embarked and sailed 
 for the Canada shore. Just previous to landing, 
 the general circulated among the troops a short but 
 spirited address, which concluded as follows : — 
 " Kentuckians ! remember the river Raisin, but 
 remember it only whilst the victory is suspended. 
 The revenge of a soldier cannot be gratified upon 
 a fallen enemy." The army landed in high spirits 
 and good order, and contrary to expectation, with- 
 out resistance. General Proctor, the British com- 
 mander, had burned the fort, navy-yard, barracks, 
 and public store-houses, and had retreated to Sand- 
 wich. The army encamped that night on the 
 ruins of Maiden, and the next day entered Sand- 
 wich, which by this time had also been evacuated 
 by Proctor. General McArthur's brigade crossed 
 over and took possession of Detroit; and the same 
 
105 
 
 evening General Harrison issued a proclamation 
 re-establishing the civil government of the territory 
 of Michigan. On the 1st of October, Colonel 
 Johnson with his mounted regiment joined the 
 army at Sandwich, and the pursuit of Proctor was 
 immediately commenced. He had retreated up 
 the river Thames, and after a severe pursuit, was 
 overtaken on the 5th, near the Moravian towns. 
 He was strongly posted in an open wood, with his 
 left resting on the river, and supported by artillery, 
 and his right extending to a swamp which stretch- 
 ed along for a great distance, parallel to the river. 
 This swamp was occupied by a strong body of In- 
 dians under the celebrated Tecumthe. 
 
 General Harrison drew up his infantry, one di- 
 vision, extending in a double line from the river to 
 the swamp, opposite Proctor's troops ; and the 
 other division at right angles to the first, with its 
 front extending along the swamp, with the view of 
 preventing the Indians from turning his flank and 
 getting into the rear. 
 
 Johnson's mounted regiment which led in the 
 pursuit, was still in front of the infantry, and the 
 general was somewhat at a loss how to dispose of 
 it to advantage. But learning that the British re- 
 gulars, in order to occupy all the ground between 
 the river and the swamp, had been formed in open 
 files, he resolved to try what effect upon them a 
 charge by the mounted men would have. The 
 regiment was accordingly drawn up in close column, 
 and charging through the enemy's ranks, threw 
 them into confusion, formed in their rear, and so 
 far as the regulars were concerned, ended the bat- 
 tle almost in a moment. The British officers 
 seeing no hopes of rallying their men, surrendered 
 at once. Proctor with a few attendants, escaped 
 by the fleetness of their horses. 
 
106 
 
 The contest with the Indians on the left, was 
 more severe. They advanced and poured in a 
 galling fire not only upon the left of the mounted 
 men, but also upon the infantry, and for a moment 
 made some impression upon the left flank. Addi- 
 tional troops, however, were brought up, and being 
 received with a severe fire in front, while a part of 
 Johnson's regiment in the mean time had gained 
 their rear, the Indians retreated with much precipi^ 
 tation, and severe loss. 
 
 In this battle fell Tecumthe, the celebrated Indian 
 chief, who, ever since the commencement of the 
 war, had been zealously employed on behalf of the 
 British. The British government, sensible of the 
 services he had rendered, granted a pension to his 
 widow and children, who after the war resided for 
 some time in the vicinity of Maiden. The prophet 
 lived also at the same place, supported in like man- 
 ner by a British pension. After his brother's 
 death, his communications with the Great Spirit 
 came to an end ; and he no longer possessed any 
 influence or consequence among the Indians. 
 
 All the stores and artillery of the British army, 
 as well as a great quantity of small arms, fell into 
 the hands of the victorious troops. Among the ar- 
 tillery were three brass pieces, trophies of the 
 revolutionary war, taken at Saratoga and York- 
 town, which had been surrendered by General 
 Hull. 
 
 It v/as always a rule with General Harrison on 
 all occasions, to favor himself in nothing, but to 
 share equally with the common soldiers the fa- 
 tigues and hardships of the service. Upon the 
 expedition up the Thames in pursuit of General 
 Proctor, all his baggage was contained in a valise, 
 while his bedding consisted of a single blanket 
 
107 
 
 fastened over his saddle, and even this he gave to 
 Colonel Evans, a British officer, who was wounded 
 and taken prisoner. On the night after the hattle 
 he had thirty-five British officers, prisoners of war, 
 to sup with him. All the fare he was able to ffive 
 them, was fresh beef roasted before the fire, with- 
 out either bread or salt. This had been the sub- 
 sistence of the army during the pursuit, and the 
 rations of the general were exactly those of the 
 soldiers. Indeed he made it a point on every oc- 
 casion, to set an example of fortitude and patience 
 to his men, and to share with them every hard- 
 ship, difficulty and danger. Whether marching or 
 in- camp, the whole army was regularly under 
 arms at day-break ; and however severe the wea- 
 ther, the general never failed to be out himself, 
 and indeed was generally the first officer on horse- 
 back in the whole army. 
 
 The troops, on their return, arriving at Sand- 
 wich on the 10th, were transported across the 
 strait to Detroit, where the Kentucky volunteers 
 were dismissed. The Indian tribes, now that 
 their British allies could support them no longer, 
 sent in to the general to ask for peace. An armis- 
 tice was granted them, and the subject of a final 
 arrangement was referred to the government at 
 Washington. 
 
 As the Northwestern frontier had now assumed 
 a peaceful aspect, and as it was too late in the sea- 
 son to send an expedition against the posts on the 
 upper lakes, which were still held by the British, 
 General Harrison determined to take a part of 
 the troops to the Niagara frontier, to assist in the 
 operations going on in that quarter. General Cass 
 was left, with his brigade, to protect the territory 
 of Michigan, and that part of Upper Canada which 
 
108 
 
 had submitted to the American arms. The rest of 
 the troops, to the number of fifteen hundred men, 
 were embarked on board the fleet, and arrived at 
 Buffalo on the 24th of October. Thence General 
 Harrison marched to Newark, a village on the Ca- 
 nadian side, near the outlet of the Niagara river, at 
 that time held by the Americans. He was prepa- 
 ring for an attack on the British forces at Burling- 
 ton Heights, when he received orders from the war 
 department to send his troops to Sackett's harbor 
 for the defence of that place. He accompanied the 
 troops thither, and then proceeded to Washington 
 by the way of New York, Philadelphia and Balti- 
 more. In all those cities he was received with the 
 highest honors, and most distinguished respect. 
 He remained in Washington but a few days, when 
 he departed for Ohio, at the urgent request of the 
 president, who considered his presence there of 
 importance, both as regarded the peace of the fron- 
 tier, and towards the filling up of the regiments 
 intended to be raised in the Western States. 
 
 General John Armstrong was at that time the 
 Secretary of War, — a person principally known for 
 his attempts to stir up a mutiny in the revolution- 
 ary army, when it was about to be disbanded after 
 the peace of 1783. He seems from the beginning 
 to have conceived some prejudice against General 
 Harrison, and the plan of the campaign, for 1814, 
 as submitted by him to the president, authorized 
 the inference that Harrison would not be employed 
 in any active service, but would be restricted to the 
 command of the eighth military district, inclndiMg 
 Ohio, Indiana, and other Western States. The 
 Secretary also interfered during the winter, more 
 than once, with the internal arrangements of the 
 district which Harrison commanded, in a manner 
 
109 
 
 contrary to all military etiquette. Under these 
 circumstances, General Harrison determined to 
 resign his commission. It would indeed have been 
 very convenient for him to have enjoyed the rank 
 and emoluments of a major general, residing too at 
 Cincinnati, where his family were ; but under the 
 circumstances, he felt that it would be a degrada- 
 tion to continue to hold his commission. He had 
 no inclination for a nominal command, or to re- 
 ceive pay for services which he did not perform. 
 Accordingly he addressed a letter of resignation to 
 the Secretary, and a notification of it to the Presi- 
 dent. As soon as Governor Shelby heard of this 
 afTair, he sent a letter of remonstrance to the presi- 
 dent against the acceptance of Harrison's resigna- 
 tion. But the president was away on a visit to 
 Virginia, and in his absence, and without consult- 
 ing with him, the secretary saw fit to accept the 
 resignation. The president expressed his great 
 regret that the letter of Governor Shelby had not 
 been received earlier, as in that case the valuable 
 services of General Harrison might have been pre- 
 served to the country for the ensuing campaign. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Harrison appointed a commissioner to treat with the Indians— Is 
 elected to Congress — He demands an investigation of his con- 
 ■ duct as commander of the Northwestern army — His militia bill 
 — Pensions — General Jackson and the Seminole War — He is 
 elected to the Senate of Ohio— Is chosen a Senator of the Uni- 
 ted States — Is appointed Minister to Colombia. 
 
 Though General Harrison had retired from the 
 army, he still continued to be employed in the ser- 
 vice of his country. In the summer of 1814, in 
 conjunction with Governor Shelby and General 
 10 
 
no 
 
 Cass, he was appointed to treat with the Indian 
 tribes on the Northwestern frontier, who had been 
 engaged in hostilities against the United States. 
 The commissioners succeeded in concluding a 
 treaty at Greenville, by which most of these tribes, 
 — whom it was found impossible to keep neutral 
 while a war was going on in their neighborhood, — 
 agreed to take up arms in favor of the United States. 
 
 In 1815, after the peace with Great Britain, it 
 became necessary in conformity with one of the 
 articles of the treaty of Ghent, to offer to the sev- 
 eral tribes who had taken part with the enemy, the 
 restoration of the territories from which they had 
 been expelled in consequence of the successful op- 
 erations of General Harrison's army. General 
 Harrison was placed at the head of the commission 
 appointed for that purpose, and a treaty with the 
 tribes interested, was made the same year at Detroit. 
 
 In 1816, General Harrison was elected from 
 Ohio a member of the House of Eepresentatives of 
 the United States, to fill a vacancy, and also for 
 the succeeding two years. 
 
 It has been observed, — and the truth of the ob- 
 servation is amply verified in the present case, — 
 that in proportion to the merits and services of a 
 public man, are the envy, malice and hatred with 
 which, on the part of certain persons, he is always 
 pursued. In the command of the Northwestern 
 army, General Harrison was obliged to make 
 many enemies. It was impossible for him to re- 
 tain the good will of those government contractors 
 whose outrageous frauds he detected and exposed ; 
 and he naturally fell under the displeasure of cer- 
 tain officers of the militia, whose total ignorance 
 and incompetency frequently subjected them to the 
 notice of the commander-in-chief. Add to this the 
 
Ill 
 
 effect of that disposition, always so prevalent, to as- 
 sume the part of a critic and a censor, and to detract 
 even from the just merits of those whose reputation 
 overshadows us ; and allow further for the bitter 
 party spirit which prevailed at that time, and 
 which led those who were opposed to the war to 
 circulate, if not to invent, the most unfounded cal- 
 umnies against all those who were engaged in its 
 prosecution ; — take all these things into considera- 
 tion and it will not be thought remarkable that, 
 with all the popularity which General Harrison so 
 justly enjoyed, there was a counter current of zeal- 
 ous and bitter dislike. 
 
 Some time previous to his election to Congress 
 one of the army contractors, whose unjust gains 
 had been diminished by General Harrison's vigi- 
 lance, undertook to insinuate that his conduct had 
 been partial and unjust, if not corrupt, with respect 
 to the commissariat of the army. He had no soon- 
 er taken his seat in the House, than he resolved 
 that this charge thus specifically made, should be 
 forthwith investigated ; and for that purpose, he 
 asked for a committee. A committee of seven 
 was accordingly appointed, of which Richard M. 
 Johnson, (now Vice President of the United 
 Sttates,) was chairman. Afier a thorough inquiry 
 into the whole subject, and the examination of 
 many witnesses, the committee made a unanimous 
 report, in which they exculpated General Harrison 
 in the fullest manner from all the charges brought 
 against him, and paid a high compliment to his 
 patriotism, disinterestedness, and devotion to the 
 public service. 
 
 This calumny, and some others circulated at the 
 same time, had produced a serious injury to Gen- 
 eral Harrison. They had caused the postpone- 
 
112 
 
 ment of a resolution introduced into the United 
 States Senate, for giving him the gold medal, and 
 the thanks of Congress. As these calumnies were 
 now silenced, the resolution was again called up. 
 It passed the Senate unanimously, and was con- 
 curred in by the House, with but a single dissent- 
 ing vote. 
 
 There were two great political objects which 
 General Harrison had much at heart, and which 
 he hoped his seat in the House might aid him in 
 accomplishing. One was, a reform of the militia 
 system ; and the other, the relief of the veteran 
 soldiers who had served in the revolutionary ar- 
 mies, as well as of those who had been wounded 
 or otherwise disabled in the late war. 
 
 With respect to the existing militia system, no 
 one had lately had greater experience than General 
 Harrison of its total inefficiency. He was appoint- 
 ed chairman of a committee to take the subject into 
 consideration, and subsequently brought in a bill, 
 accompanied with an explanatory report, in which 
 he maintained the following points : — 1st, that a 
 government constituted like ours should rely upon 
 its militia for its defence, rather than on a standing 
 army ; 2d, that the militia, to be available, must 
 be disciplined ; and 3dly, that discipline can only 
 be attained by a regular system of military instruc- 
 tion. The bill, the provisions of which were 
 founded upon these general principles, was sub- 
 mitted to the executive, and was highly approved 
 by all the heads of departments. It was supported 
 by General Harrison in an eloquent speech. But 
 Congress has always displayed a great aversion 
 for any legislation on the subject of the militia. 
 At this time, just escaped frcm a war, and weary 
 of military details of whici ew of the members 
 
113 
 
 had any personal knowledge, the subject was par- 
 ticularly unpalatable ; and General Harrison's 
 bill, after being postponed from session to session, 
 was finally dropped for want of some one to sustain 
 it, after he had left Congress. 
 
 In his other object he was more successful. His 
 efforts joined with those of several other members, 
 succeeded in procuring the passage of a law, by 
 which the first step was taken toward rescuing the 
 aged heroes of the revolution from the poverty and 
 distress under which they had so long suffered. 
 By his exertions also, the pensions of many inva- 
 lids who had been severely wounded in the last 
 war, were increased ; and he introduced, sustained 
 by an eloquent speech, and carried through the 
 House, under very unfavorable circumstances, and 
 in spite of a vigorous opposition, a bill for extend- 
 ing the pensions of the widows and orphans of 
 those who had been killed in the service. 
 
 The question of acknowledging the indepen- 
 dence of the South American Republics coming up 
 while he was a member of the House, he warmly 
 supported that measure. There also occurred dur- 
 ing his membership that celebrated debate on the 
 Seminole war, upon which subject he delivered an 
 eloquent speech. He supported the resolutions of 
 censure upon General Jackson's conduct in invad- 
 ing Florida, on the ground that a republican gov- 
 ernment should make no distinction between men ; 
 and should allow no man to say that he could do 
 that with impunity which another could not. •* No 
 one," he added, in a spirit somewhat prophetic, 
 " no one can tell how soon the example of such 
 a censure may be beneficial." But while he sus- 
 tained the resolutions of censure, he refused to join 
 in the indiscriminate abuse which was levelled at 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 their object. He defended such of Jackson's acts 
 as he thought right, and gave him credit for pat- 
 riotic motives. The speech was moderate, manly 
 and candid ; but General Jackson never forgot, nor 
 forgave it. 
 
 In 1S19, General Harrison was elected a member 
 of the State Senate of Ohio, an office which he held 
 for two years. In 1S24, he was elected to the 
 Senate of the United States ; and was ap- 
 pointed chairman of the military committe in place 
 of General Jackson, who had resigned his seat. 
 
 As chairman of that committee he introduced a 
 bill for preventing desertion from the army, which 
 object he proposed to effect, not by an increase of 
 punishment, but by elevating the moral character 
 of the troops, — by raising the rank and increasing 
 the pay of the non-commissioned officer, thus giv- 
 ing him consequence and respectability in his own 
 eyes; and by holding out to the soldier additional 
 inducements and motives for a faithful performance 
 of his duty. This bill he supported in a well con- 
 sidered and animated speech. He also gave much 
 time and attention to the consolidarion of the pen- 
 sion acts, and the passage of a uniform law to em- 
 brace the cases of all who should be deserving of 
 that sort of justice from their country. 
 
 In 1828, General Harrison was appointed min- 
 ister plenipotentiary to the Republic of Colombia. 
 He proceeded immediately upon his mission ; 
 landed at Maracaybo on the 22d December, and 
 from that place repaired to Bogota, the capital of 
 Colombia. He was received there with the most 
 flattering demonstrations of respect ; but his repub- 
 lican ideas, and the plain simplicity of his dress 
 and manners, contrasted somewhat too strongly 
 with the arbitrary opiniuns and the ostentatious 
 
115 
 
 display which prevailed at the court of Bolivar, to 
 be altogether agreeable to those who at that time 
 had engrossed the powers of the Colombian gov- 
 ernment. Thoy suspected him of favoring the op- 
 posite party in the state, and commenced a series 
 of petty persecutions which rendered his situation 
 extremely irksome, but against which he sustained 
 himself with his usual gallantry and prudence. 
 He was soon relieved, however from all embarrass- 
 ments on this score ; for one of the first acts of 
 Jackson's administration was the recall of General 
 Harrison from Columbia. His speech on the Sem- 
 inole war had not been forgotten. 
 
 Before leaving the country, however, he address- 
 ed a letter to Bolivar, which has been much and 
 deservedly celebrated. The Republic of Colombia 
 was formed by the union of Venezuela, New Gre- 
 nada, and a part of the old vice-royalty of Peru, 
 (now called Equador,) provinces which have since 
 separated and formed independent governments. 
 There were two great parties in the state, one 
 composed principally of the military and the 
 priests, who were in favor of a strong and splendid 
 government, with a plentiful infusion of aristocrati- 
 cal principles. The other party, which has ,ulti- 
 mately prevailed in all the states of which Colom- 
 bia was composed, was much more democratic in 
 its ideas, and made the institutions of the United 
 States their model. Bolivar, the president of Co- 
 lombia, was strongly inclined to think and act with 
 the first described of these two parties, and was 
 much flattered by those who composed it. In con- 
 sequence of some disturbances in Venezuela, he 
 had been clothed with extraordinary powers, which 
 he still continued to exercise, notwithstanding the 
 disturbances were entirely suppressed ; and a pro- 
 
116 
 
 ject was set on foot to put the constitution aside 
 altogether, and raise Bolivar to a dictatorship. 
 This project originated with the members of the 
 aristocratical party, who flattered themselves that 
 as the officers, agents, and servants of a despotic 
 executive, they might exercise much more power, 
 and enjoy many more privileges, than they ever 
 could hope for under a free constitution. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Employments of General Harrison since his recall from Colombia 
 — His person and character — He is nominated for the Presi- 
 dency — His letter to Harnaar Denny. 
 
 Since General Harrison's return from Colombia 
 he has taken no active part in public life or politi- 
 cal affairs, but has lived retired upon his form at 
 North Bend, on the Ohio, some miles below Cincin- 
 nati. Having never been rich, he was'induced, as 
 a means of providing for those dependent upon 
 him, and supporting that plain but ample hospi- 
 tality in which he has ever indulged, to accept the 
 office of clerk of the courts for the county in which 
 he resides, which office he still continues to hold. 
 Those who acquire splendid fortunes by specula- 
 tions on the public treasury, and those who regard 
 as a mark of greatness, an indolent dependence on 
 the contributions of private or political friends, may 
 ridicule the man who secures for himself comfort 
 ^nd independence by the acceptance of a county 
 clerkship ; but no true republican, certainly, will 
 ever think it a matter of reproach, that after pass- 
 ing so many years in the public service, and 
 
117 
 
 enjoying so many opportunities to enrich himself, 
 General Harrison should still remain poor ; and 
 still less will it be regarded as derogatory to his 
 character, that he chooses to supply the deficien- 
 cies of his fortune by the honest exertion of his 
 talents and industry in a useful and respectable 
 employment. 
 
 But although General Harrison has never suf- 
 fered a feeling of false pride to influence his con- 
 duct, he has ever exhibited whether in public or 
 private life, the utmost delicacy of honor in all his 
 pecuniary transactions. 
 
 Some years ago, it was ascertained that a large 
 tract of land, near Cincinnati, which had been sold 
 long before for a mere trifle, under an execution 
 against the original proprietor, could not be held 
 under that sale on account of some informality in 
 the proceedings. The legal title was in General 
 Harrison, and another gentleman who were the* 
 heirs at law. The value of this land had risen 
 greatly, and was sufficient to form princely estates 
 for these heirs, had they chosen to insist upon their 
 legal rights. But under the circumstances, and as 
 against the present holders. General Harrison did 
 not think it just to insist upon his legal claim, and 
 he induced his coheir to join with him in executing 
 deeds of quit-claim to the land, without demanding 
 any other consideration except a few hundred dol- 
 lars, being the difference between the price for 
 which the land sold under the execution, and its 
 actual value at the time of that sale. There were, 
 however, included in the tract, twelve acres, which 
 were General Harrison's private property, by do- 
 nation from his father-in-law, and which were 
 improperly included in the sale made by the sheriff 
 under the execution. This land he might have 
 
118 
 
 reclaimed both legally and equitably; but such 
 was his nice feeling of honor, and scrupulous re- 
 gard for the rights of others, that he suffered this 
 to go with the rest, receiving only the difference 
 between ths amount for which this land sold and 
 its actual value at the time of the sale. These 
 twelve acres thus relinquished are said to be now 
 worth one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 For his services as commander of the expedition 
 to Tippecanoe, General Harrison never asked nor 
 received any compensation; and the expenses 
 which he was obliged to incur, as commander of 
 the Northwestern army, so far exceeded his pay, 
 that he found it necessary to sell a fine tract of 
 land in order to meet them. Thus, during those 
 campaigns, he not only risked his life, and gave 
 the labor of his days and nights to the public ser- 
 vice, but he contributed also a considerable portion 
 of the small estate to sustain his country in that 
 hour of peril. 
 
 In person, General Harrison is tall and slender. 
 Although he never had the appearance of posses- 
 sing a robust constitution, yet such have been the 
 effects of habitual activity and temperance, that 
 few men at his age enjoy so much bodily vigor. 
 He has a fine dark eye, remarkable for its keen- 
 ness, fire, and intelligence, and his face is strongly 
 expressive of the vivacity of his mind, and the be- 
 nevolence of his character. 
 
 The most remarkable traits of General Harrison, 
 and those by which he has been distinguished 
 throughout his whole career, are his disinterested- 
 ness, his regard for the comforts and the rights of 
 others, his generous disposition, his mild and for- 
 bearing temper, his plain, easy and unostentatious 
 manners. Though warm in his attachments, he 
 
119 
 
 lias never been violent or vindictive in his enmi- 
 ties. In a long life spent on the utmost frontier, 
 and in constant collision with men, fierce, turbulent, 
 and ungovernable, his moderation, and the reason- 
 ableness and justice of his conduct, have prevented 
 him from being involved in any way in duels, or 
 personal rencontres so common in those regions. 
 He has always been able to guard his rights and 
 sustain his position, without having recourse to 
 pistols or dirks. In the exercise of that almost 
 unlimited authority which was at times conferred 
 upon him, he displayed his moderation by con- 
 forming himself to a rigid observance of existing 
 statutes and the rights of the citizens ; nor did he 
 ever find it necessary, in the course of his military 
 career, to set at defiance either the law of nations, 
 or the civil laws of the state. 
 
 General Harrison never has been much con- 
 nected with political parties. He never has become 
 the favorite leader of a faction, upon whom the 
 most elaborate flatteries are exhausted by a body 
 of devoted partizans. His services have not been 
 services to a party but services to the country. He 
 stands free and untrammelled, ready, and able 
 to serve his country again. Where can be found 
 a man whose patriotism has been so thoroughly 
 tried and proved — whose integrity, moderation and 
 attachment to the interests of the people, are so 
 unquestionable, or who is so well able to concen- 
 trate about him the great mass of honest and intel- 
 ligent citizens, and with th,eir aid and support, to 
 rescue the constitution, so much endangered of 
 late by party violence, and executive usurpation 1 
 
 As General Harrison obtained the civil and mi- 
 litary promotion which he has at times enjoyed, 
 not by any party arrangements or system of under- 
 
120 
 
 hand maticeuvres, but through the spontaneous 
 confidence and voluntary choice of his fellow citi- 
 zens, so the circumstances under which he has 
 become a candidate for the presidency are of the 
 same character. The partisans and politicians have 
 all been against him. It is nothing but the confi* 
 dence and love of the people which caused him to 
 be selected as a candidate. The principles upon 
 which he would be likely to administ'^r the govern- 
 ment, should he ever enjoy the opportunity, may be 
 judged of from the following letter of his to Harmar 
 Denny in reply to a letter of that gentleman, in- 
 forming him of the doings of the antirnasonic con- 
 vention assembled at Philadelphia : — 
 
 " North Bend, 2d Dec, 1838. 
 
 "Dear Sir: — As it is probable that you have by 
 this time returned to Pittsburg, I do myself the honor 
 to acknowledge the receipt of your letter from Phila- 
 delphia, containing the proceedings of the national 
 democratic antirnasonic convention, which lately 
 convened in that city. With feelings of the 
 deepest gratitude, I read the resolution unanimously 
 adopted, nominating me as a candidate for the 
 President of the United State. This is the sec- 
 ond time that I have received from that patriotic 
 party, of which you yourself are a distinguished mem- 
 ber, the highest evidence of confidence that can be 
 given to a citizen of our Republic. I would attempt 
 to describe my sense of the obligations I owe them, if 
 I were not convinced that any language which 1 could 
 command wuuld fall short of what I really feel. If, 
 however, the wishes of the convention should be re- 
 alized, and if I should second their efforts, I shall have 
 it in my power to manifest my gratitude in a manner 
 more acceptable to those whom you represent, than 
 by any professions of it which I could at this time 
 make ; I mean by exerting my utmost efforts to carry 
 out the principles set forth in their resolutions, by ar- 
 
121 
 
 resthrg the progress of the measures '^destructive to* 
 the prosperity of the peoplcy and tending to the sub- 
 version of their liberties," and substituting for them 
 those sound democratic republican doctrines, upon 
 which the adininistratiou of Jefferson and Madison- 
 were conducted. 
 
 "Atnong the principles proper to be adopted by 
 any Executive sincerely desirous to restore the admin- 
 istration to its origiiial simplicity and purity, I deem 
 the following to be of jjromincnt importance. 
 
 " I. To confine his service to a single tenii, 
 
 " IL To disclaim all right of control over the pub- 
 lic treasure, with the exception of such part of it as 
 may be appropriated by law, to carry on the public 
 services, and that to be applied precisely as the law 
 may direct, and drawn from tiie treasury agreeably to 
 the long established forms of that department. 
 
 " III. Th.it he should never attempt to influence th&- 
 eleotionSj either by the people orthe state legislatures, 
 or suffer the federal officers under his control to take 
 any other part in tFjem than by giving their own vote 
 then they ])0S5ess the right of voting.] 
 
 " IV, That in the exercise of the veto power, he 
 should limit his rejection of bills to: 1st. Such as are 
 in his opinion unconstitutional. 2d. Such as tend to 
 ei:!croach on the rights of the states or individuals^ 
 Sd, Such as involving deep interests., may in his opin- 
 ion require more mature deliberation or reference to 
 the will of the people, to be ascertained at the suc- 
 ceedino- elections. 
 
 "V. That he should never suffer the influence of 
 his office to l>€ used for purposes of a purely party 
 character. 
 
 "VI. That m removals from office of those who 
 hwld their appointments during the pleasure of the 
 E-xecutive, the cause of such removal should always 
 be communicated to the person removed, and if re- 
 quested to the SenatCy at the time the nomination of a 
 successor is made, 
 
 '* And last, but not least in importance, 
 
 " VIL That he should not suffer the Executive de- 
 li 
 
122 
 
 |5artiKent of the government lo become the source of 
 legislation ; but leave the whole business of making 
 laws for rlie Union to the department to which the 
 Constitution has exclusively assigned it, until they 
 have assumed that perfected shape, where and when 
 alone the opinions of the Executive may be heard. A 
 community of power in the preparation of the laws 
 between the legislative and executive departments, 
 must necessarily lead to dangerous conjbinations, 
 greatly to the advantage of a president desirous of ex- 
 tending his power. Such a construction of the con- 
 stitution could never have been contemplated by those 
 who tVamed it. They well knew that those who pro- 
 pose the bills, will always take care of themselves, or 
 the interests of their constituents, and hence the pro- 
 vision in the Constitution, borrowed fron} that of Ling- 
 land, restricting the originating of revenue bills to the 
 immediate representatives af the people. So far from 
 agreeing in oj>inion with the distinguished character 
 who lately retired from the presidency, tiiat congress 
 should have applied to him lor a project of a banking 
 jsystem, 1 think that such an application would have 
 manifested not only great subserviency u])on the part 
 of that body, but an unpardonable ignorance of tho 
 chief danger to be apprehended trom such an institu- 
 tion. That danger unquestionably consists in a union 
 of interests between the executive and the bank. 
 Would an ambitious incumbent otthe executive chair 
 iieglect so favorable an opportunity as the preparing 
 of the law would give him, to insert in it provisions 
 •to secure his intiuence overit? In the autiiority given 
 to the president by the Constitution " to recommend 
 to congress such measures as ho shall judge necessary 
 and expedient," it wus certainly never intended that 
 the measures he reconsmended should be presented in 
 -a shape suited for the injmediaie decision of the legis- 
 lature. The sages who nmde the Constitution, too 
 well knew the advantages which the crown of Eng- 
 land derives from the exercise of thjs power by its 
 ministers, to have intended it to be used by our chief 
 tnagistrale, or the heads of departments under his 
 
us 
 
 control. The boasted principles of the English Con-^ 
 stitution, that the consent of the democratic branch is 
 not tMily necessary to draw money from the people, 
 but that it is its inviohibhj prerogative also to origi- 
 nate all the bills for that purpose, is trae in the-* 
 oryy btit rendered utterly false and nugatory in 
 effect, by the participation of the ministers of the 
 crown in the details of lei^islatjon. Indeed the in- 
 fliience thev derive from sittin*^ as nrrembers of the 
 House of Commons, atid from wielding the immense 
 patronage of the crown (constitutional or usurped,) 
 giv^es them a power over that body, that renders 
 plausible, at least, the flattery, or ;is it is more |)roba- 
 ble, the intended sarcasm of Sir Walter Raleigh, in 
 an address to James J., that the demand of the sover- 
 eign upon the Connnons for |)ecuniary aid, wr$ re- 
 quired only ' that the tax might seem to come from 
 themselves.' 
 
 " Having thus given you my opinion of somethings 
 "which miijbt be done, and others which should not be 
 done, by a President coming into power by the support 
 of those of the people who are opposed to the prin- 
 ciples upon which the present administration is con- 
 ducted, you will see that I have omitted one, which 
 is deemed by many of as much importance as any 
 other, I allude to the appointment of members of 
 Congress to office by the President, The Constitu- 
 tion contains no prohibition of such appointments, no 
 doubt because; its authors could not believe in its ne- 
 cessity, from the purity of character which was mani- 
 fested by those who possessed the confidence of the 
 people at that [)eriod. It is, however, an opinion very 
 generally entertained by the opposition party, that the 
 country would have escaped much of the evil under 
 which >t has suffered for some years past, if the Con- 
 stitution had contained a provision of that kind. 
 Having had no opportunity of personal observation 
 on the conduct of the administration for the last ten 
 years, I am unable to decide upon the truth or error 
 of this opinion. 13ut I should be very willing that the^ 
 Iknown subserviency of the Legislature to the Execu- 
 
124 
 
 ^ive, in several memorable instanoes, should be ac- 
 counted for in a way somewhat less injurious to the 
 character of the country, and of republicanism itself, 
 than by the admission that the fathers of the land, the 
 trusted servants of a virtuous people, could be sedu- 
 ced from the path of duty and honor, by the paltry 
 trappings and emoluments of dependent offices. But 
 if the evil really exists, and if there be good reasou to 
 believe that its source is to be found in the corrupti- 
 bility of members of the Legislature, an effectual 
 remedy cannot be too soon applied. And it happens 
 in this instance that there is a choice of remedies. 
 One of those, however, is in my opinion free from the 
 objections which might be offered to the other. The 
 one to which I object is, that which the late President 
 htis been so loudly called upon to adopt, in conse- 
 quence of a promise made at the commencement of 
 his administration, viz. that the Executive under no 
 circumstances should appoint to office a member of 
 cither branch of the National Legislature. There 
 are, in my mind, several weighty reasons against the 
 adoption of this principle, i will detain you with the 
 mention of but two of them, because f believe that 
 you will agree with me, that the alternative 1 shall 
 present, while it would be equally effectual, contains 
 no feature to which a reasonable objection could be 
 made. 
 
 " As the Constitution contains no provision to pre- 
 vent the ap[)ointment of members of Congress to 
 otlice by the Executive, could the Executive with a 
 •due regard to delicacy and justice, without usurping 
 power from th« people, declare a disqualification 
 which they had not thought necessary ? And whfTd 
 is the American citizen who regards the honor of his 
 country, the character of its people, or who believe* 
 in the superiority of a republican form of government, 
 who would be willing to proclaim to the world, that 
 the youthful nation which has attracted so much of 
 its attention, which it has so much admired for its 
 gigantic strength, its undaunted courage, its high at- 
 tain menls in literature and the arts, and the extenial 
 
125 
 
 beauty of its institutions, was, within, a mass of mean-' 
 ness and corruption? That even the chosen servants 
 of the people, were ever ready for a paltry consider- 
 ation, to abandon their allegiance to their lawful sov- 
 ereigns and to become the servants of a servant. 
 
 Tlie alternative to this degrading course, is to be 
 found in depriving the Executive of all motive for ac- 
 quiring an impro})er influence over the Legislature. 
 
 " To effect this, nothing in my opinion i» necessary 
 but to re-establish the principles upon which the ad- 
 ministration was once conducted with a single addi^ 
 tion of limiting the service of the president to one termc 
 A condensed enumeration of whtit I conceive these 
 principles to have been, is given above. And I think 
 no one can doubt, that, if faithfully carried out, they 
 would be effectual in securing the independence of 
 the Legislature, and confining the connection between 
 it and the Executive, to that alone which is warranted 
 by a fair construction of the Constitution. } can con- 
 ceive of but two motives which could induce a presi- 
 dent of the United States to endeavor to procure a 
 controlling influence over the Legislative body, viz. — 
 to perpetuate his power by passing laws to increase 
 his patronage— or to gratify his vanity, by obtaining 
 their sanction to his schemes and projects for the gov- 
 ernment of the country ; and thus assimilating his 
 situation to that of the limited monarchs of Europe. 
 The principles above suggested, would effectually 
 destroy any disposition of the person elected by the 
 combined votes of the opposition, to place himself in 
 either attitude. Retiring at the end of four years to 
 private life, with no wish or prospect of any ''son of 
 his succeeding,'' legitimate or adopted, he would 
 leave the government as prosperous and pure in it& 
 administration, as when it j)assed from the hands of 
 the great "Apostle of Democracy," to the Father of 
 our Constitution. 
 
 "To the duties which I have enamerated, so pro- 
 per in !ny opinion to be performed by a President, 
 elected by the opposition to the present administra- 
 tion, (and which are, as I believe, to be of constitu- 
 12 
 
126 
 
 tional obligation,) I will add another which I beliefc 
 also to be of much importance. I mean the observ- 
 ance of the most conciliatory conduct towards our po- 
 litical opponents. After the censure which our friends 
 have so freely and justly bestowed upon the present 
 Chief Magistrate, for having, in no inconsiderable 
 degree, disfranchised the whole body of his political 
 opponents, I am certain that no oppositionist, true to 
 the principles he professes, would approve a similar 
 course of conduct in the person whom his vote has 
 contributed to elect. In a Republic, one of the surest 
 tests of a healthy state of its institutions, is to b<". 
 found in the immunity with which every citizen may, 
 upon all occasions, express his political opinions an<l 
 ■even his prejudices, in the discharge of his duty as an 
 elector. 
 
 " The question may perhaps be asked of me, what 
 security I have in my power to offer, if the majority 
 of the American people should select me for their 
 Chief Magistrate, that I would adopt the principles 
 which I have herein laid down as those upon which my 
 aflministration would be conducted. I could only an- 
 swer, by referring to my conduct, and the disposition 
 manifested in the discharge of the duties of several 
 important offices, which have heretofore been confer- 
 red upon me. If the power placed in my hands has, 
 on even a single occasion, been used for any j)urposft 
 other than that for which it was given, or retained 
 longer than was necessary to accomplish the objects 
 designated by those from whom the trusts were re- 
 ceived, I will acknowledge that either will constitute 
 a sufficient reason for discrediting any promise I may 
 make, under the circumstances in which 1 am now 
 placed, 
 
 " I am, dear sir, truly yours, 
 
 " W. H. HARRISON. 
 
 *' To the Hon. Harmar DK>fKy." 
 
LIFE OF HARRISON. 
 
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 T5"S2'=35TTDDD 
 
 II II