Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet by Benjamin Drake

B >> Benjamin Drake >> Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

LIFE OF TECUMSEH, AND OF HIS BROTHER THE PROPHET;

With a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians

by

BENJAMIN DRAKE

Author of _The Life of Black Hawk_, _Tales from the Queen City_, &c. &c.

Cincinnati:
Printed and Published by E. Morgan & Co.
Stereotyped by J.A. James,
Cincinnati.

1841

PREFACE

Many years have elapsed since the author of this volume determined to
write the life of TECUMSEH and of his brother the PROPHET, and actually
commenced the collection of the materials for its accomplishment. From
various causes, the completion of the task has been postponed until the
present time. This delay, however, has probably proved beneficial to
the work, as many interesting incidents in the lives of these
individuals are now embraced in its pages, which could not have been
included had it been put to press at an earlier period.

In the preparation of this volume, the author's attention was drawn, to
some extent, to the history of the Shawanoe tribe of Indians: and he
has accordingly prefixed to the main work, a brief historical narrative
of this wandering and warlike nation, with biographical sketches of
several of its most distinguished chiefs.

The author is under lasting obligations to a number of gentlemen
residing in different sections of the country, for the substantial
assistance which they have kindly afforded him in the collection of the
matter embraced in this volume. Other sources of information have not,
however, been neglected. All the histories, magazines and journals
within the reach of the author, containing notices of the subjects of
this memoir, have been carefully consulted. By application at the
proper department at Washington, copies of the numerous letters written
by general Harrison to the Secretary of War in the years 1808, '9, '10,
'11, '12 and '13, were obtained, and have been found of much value in
the preparation of this work. As governor of Indiana territory,
superintendant of Indian affairs, and afterwards commander-in-chief of
the north-western army, the writer of those letters possessed
opportunities of knowing Tecumseh and the Prophet enjoyed by no other
individuals.

In addition to these several sources of information, the author has
personally, at different times, visited the frontiers of Ohio and
Indiana, for the purpose of conversing with the Indians and the
pioneers of that region, who happened to be acquainted with Tecumseh
and his brother; and by these visits, has been enabled to enrich his
narrative with some amusing and valuable anecdotes.

In the general accuracy of his work the author feels considerable
confidence: in its merit, as a literary production, very little. Every
line of it having been written while suffering under the depressing
influence of ill health, he has only aimed at a simple narrative style,
without any reference to the graces of a polished composition. B.D.

Cincinnati, 1841.

CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF THE SHAWANOE INDIANS

CATAHECASSA, or BLACK-HOOF

CORNSTALK

SPEMICA-LAWBA, the HIGH HORN; or, CAPTAIN LOGAN

THE LIFE OF TECUMSEH.

CHAPTER I.

Parentage of Tecumseh--his sister Tecumapease--his brother Cheeseekan,
Sauweeseekau, Nehasseemo, Tenskwautawa or the Prophet, and
Kumakauka

CHAPTER II.

Birth place of Tecumseh--destruction of the Piqua village--early habits
of Tecumseh--his first battle--effort to abolish the burning of
prisoners--visits the Cherokees in the south--engages in several
battles--returns to Ohio in the autumn of 1790

CHAPTER III.

Tecumseh attacked near Big Rock by some whites under Robert
M'Clelland--severe battle with some Kentuckians on the East Fork of the
Little Miami--attack upon Tecumseh in 1793, on the waters of Paint
creek--Tecumseh present at the attack on fort Recovery in
1794--participates in the battle of the Rapids of the Maumee, in
1794

CHAPTER IV.

Tecumseh's skill as a hunter--declines attending the treaty of
Greenville in 1796--in 1796 removed to Great Miami--in 1798 joined a
party of Delawares on White river, Indiana--in 1799 attended a council
between the whites and Indians near Urbana--another at Chillicothe in
1803--makes an able speech--removes with the Prophet to Greenville, in
1805--the latter commences prophecying--causes the death of Teteboxti,
Patterson, Coltos, and Joshua--governor Harrison's speech to the
Prophet to arrest these murderers--effort of Wells the U.S. Indian
agent to prevent Tecumseh and the Prophet from assembling the Indians
at Greenville--Tecumseh's speech in reply--he attends a council at
Chillicothe--speech on that occasion--council at Springfield--Tecumseh
principal speaker and actor

CHAPTER V.

Governor Harrison's address to the Shawanoe chiefs at Greenville--the
Prophet's reply--his influence felt among the remote tribes--he is
visited in 1808 by great numbers of Indians--Tecumseh and the Prophet
remove to Tippecanoe--the latter sends a speech to governor
Harrison--makes him a visit at Vincennes

CHAPTER VI.

Tecumseh visits the Wyandots--governor Harrison's letter about the
Prophet to the Secretary of War--British influence over the
Indians--Tecumseh burns governor Harrison's letter to the chiefs--great
alarm in Indiana, in consequence of the assemblage of the Indians at
Tippecanoe--death of Leatherlips, a Wyandot chief, on a charge of
witchcraft

CHAPTER VII.

Governor Harrison makes another effort to ascertain the designs of
Tecumseh and the Prophet--Tecumseh visits the governor at Vincennes,
attended by four hundred warriors--a council is held--Tecumseh becomes
deeply excited, and charges governor Harrison with falsehood--council
broken up in disorder--renewed the next day

CHAPTER VIII.

Alarm on the frontier continues--a Muskoe Indian killed at
Vincennes--governor Harrison sends a pacific speech to Tecumseh and the
Prophet--the former replies to it--in July Tecumseh visits governor
Harrison at Vincennes--disavows any intention of making war upon the
whites--explains his object in forming a union among the
tribes--governor Harrison's opinion of Tecumseh and the Prophet--murder
of the Deaf Chief--Tecumseh visits the southern Indians

CHAPTER IX.

Governor Harrison applies to the War Department for troops to maintain
peace on the frontiers--battle of Tippecanoe on the 7th of
November--its influence on the Prophet and his followers

CHAPTER X.

Tecumseh returns from the south--proposes to visit the President, but
declines, because not permitted to go to Washington at the head of a
party--attends a council at fort Wayne--proceeds to Malden and joins
the British--governor Harrison's letter to the War Department relative
to the north-west tribes

CHAPTER XI.

Tecumseh participates in the battle of Brownstown--commands the Indians
in the action near Maguaga--present at Hull's surrender--general Brock
presents him his military sash--attack on Chicago brought about by
Tecumseh

CHAPTER XII.

Siege of fort Meigs--Tecumseh commands the Indians--acts with
intrepidity--rescues the American prisoners from the tomahawk and
scalping knife, after Dudley's defeat--reported agreement between
Proctor and Tecumseh, that general Harrison, if taken prisoner, should
be delivered to the latter to be burned

CHAPTER XIII.

Tecumseh present at the second attack on fort Meigs--his stratagem of a
sham-battle to draw out general Clay--is posted in the Black Swamp with
two thousand warriors at the time of the attack on fort
Stephenson--from thence passes by land to Malden--compels general
Proctor to release an American prisoner--threatens to desert the
British cause--urges an attack upon the American fleet--opposes
Proctor's retreat from Malden--delivers a speech to him on that
occasion

CHAPTER XIV.

Retreat of the combined British and Indian army to the river
Thames--skirmish at Chatham with the troops under general
Harrison--Tecumseh slightly wounded in the arm--battle on the Thames on
the 5th of October--Tecumseh's death

CHAPTER XV.

Critical examination of the question "who killed Tecumseh?"--colonel
R.M. Johnson's claim considered

CHAPTER XVI.

Mr. Jefferson's opinion of the Prophet--brief sketch of his
character--anecdotes of Tecumseh--a review of the great principles of
his plan of union among the tribes--general summary of his life and
character

HISTORY

OF THE

SHAWANOE INDIANS.

There is a tradition among the Shawanoes, in regard to their origin,
which is said to be peculiar to that tribe. While most of the
aborigines of this country believe that their respective races came out
of holes in the earth at different places on this continent, the
Shawanoes alone claim, that their ancestors once inhabited a foreign
land; but having determined to leave it, they assembled their people
and marched to the sea shore. Here, under the guidance of a leader of
the Turtle tribe, one of their twelve original subdivisions, they
walked into the sea, the waters of which immediately parted, and they
passed in safety along the bottom of the ocean, until they reached this
island.[A]

[Footnote A: History of the Indian Tribes of North America, by James
Hall and J. L. McKinney, a valuable work, containing one hundred and
twenty richly colored portraits of Indian chiefs.]

The Shawanoes have been known by different names. The Iroquois,
according to Colden's history of the "Five Nations," gave them the
appellation of Satanas. The Delawares, says Gallatin, in his synopsis
of the Indian tribes, call them Shawaneu, which means _southern_. The
French writers mention them under the name of Chaouanons; and
occasionally they are denominated Massawomees.

The orthography of the word by which they are generally designated, is
not very well settled. It has been written Shawanos, Sawanos, Shawaneu,
Shawnees and Shawanoes, which last method of spelling the word, will be
followed in the pages of this work.

The original seats of the Shawanoes have been placed in different
sections of the country. This has doubtless been owing to their very
erratic disposition. Of their history, prior to the year 1680, but
little is known. The earliest mention of them by any writer whose work
has fallen under our observation, was in the beginning of the
seventeenth century. Mr. Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," says
that when captain John Smith first arrived in America a fierce war was
raging against the allied Mohicans, residing on Long Island, and the
Shawanoes on the Susquehanna, and to the westward of that river, by the
Iroquois. Captain Smith first landed on this continent in April, 1607.
In the following year, 1608, he penetrated down the Susquehanna to the
mouth of it, where he met six or seven of their canoes, filled with
warriors, about to attack their enemy in the rear. De Laet, in 1632, in
his enumeration of the different tribes, on either side of the Delaware
river, mentions the Shawanoes.--Charlevoix speaks of them under the
name of Chaouanons, as neighbors and allies in 1672, of the Andastes,
an Iroquois tribe, living south of the Senecas. Whether any of the
Shawanoes were present at the treaty[A] made in 1682, under the
celebrated Kensington elm, between William Penn and the Indians, does
not positively appear from any authorities before us; that such,
however, was the fact, may be fairly inferred, from the circumstance
that at a conference between the Indians and governor Keith, in 1722,
the Shawanoes exhibited a copy of this treaty written on parchment.

[Footnote A: "This treaty," says Voltaire, "was the first made between
those people (the Indians) and the Christians, that was not ratified
with an oath, and that was never broken."]

To the succeeding one made at Philadelphia, in February, 1701, the
Shawanoes were parties, being represented on that occasion, by their
chiefs, Wopatha, Lemoytungh and Pemoyajagh.[A] More than fifty years
afterward, a manuscript copy of this treaty of commerce and friendship,
was in the possession of the Shawanoes of Ohio, and was exhibited by
them. In 1684, the Iroquois, when complained of by the French for
having attacked the Miamis, justified their conduct on the-ground, that
they had invited the Santanas (Shawanoes) into the country, for the
purpose of making war upon them.[B] The Sauks and Foxes, whose
residence was originally on the St. Lawrence, claim the Shawanoes as
belonging to the same stock with themselves, and retain traditional
accounts of their emigration to the south.[C] In the "History of the
Indian Tribes of North America," when speaking of the Shawanoes, the
authors say, "their manners, customs and language indicate a northern
origin; and, upwards of two centuries ago, they held the country south
of Lake Erie. They were the first tribe which felt the force and
yielded to the superiority of the Iroquois. Conquered by these, they
migrated to the south, and from fear or favor, were allowed to take
possession of a region upon the Savannah river; but what part of that
stream, whether in Georgia or Florida, is not known; it is presumed the
former." Mr. Gallatin speaks of the final defeat of the Shawanoes and
their allies, in a war with the Five Nations, as having taken place in
the year 1672. This same writer, who has carefully studied the language
of the aborigines, considers the Shawanoes as belonging to the Lenape
tribes of the north. From these various authorities, it is apparent
that the Shawanoes belonged originally to the Algonkin-Lenape nation;
and that during the three first quarters of the seventeenth century,
they were found in eastern Pennsylvania, on the St. Lawrence, and the
southern shore of Lake Erie; and generally at war with some of the
neighboring tribes. Whether their dispersion, which is supposed to have
taken place about the year 1672, drove them all to the south side of
the Ohio, does not very satisfactorily appear.

[Footnote A: Proud's History of Pennsylvania.]

[Footnote B: Colden.]

[Footnote C: Morse's Report.]

Subsequently to this period, the Shawanoes were found on the Ohio river
below the Wabash, in Kentucky, Georgia and the Carolinas. Lawson, in
his history of Carolina in 1708, speaks of the Savanoes, removing from
the Mississippi to one of the rivers of South Carolina. Gallatin quotes
an authority which sustains Lawson, and which establishes the fact that
at a very early period in the history of the south, there was a
Shawanoe settlement on the head waters of the Catawba or Santee, and
probably of the Yadkin. From another authority it appears, that for a
time the Shawanoes had a station on the Savannah river, above Augusta;
and Adair, who refers to the war between the Shawanoes and Cherokees,
saw a body of the former in the wilderness, who, after having wandered
for some time in the woods, were then returning to the Creek country.
According to John Johnston,[A] a large party of the Shawanoes, who
originally lived north of the Ohio, had for some cause emigrated as far
south as the Suwanoe river, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. From
thence they returned, under the direction of a chief named Black Hoof,
about the middle of the last century, to Ohio. It is supposed that this
tribe gave name to the Suwanoe river, in 1750, by which name the
Cumberland was also known, when Doctor Walker, (of Virginia) visited
Kentucky.

[Footnote A: I Vol. Trans. Amer. Antiquarian Society.]

Of the causes which led the Shawanoes to abandon the south, but little
is known beyond what may be gleaned from their traditions. Heckewelder,
in his contributions to the American Philosophical Society, says, "they
were a restless people, delighting in wars, in which they were
constantly engaged with some of the surrounding nations. At last their
neighbors, tired of being continually harassed by them, formed a league
for their destruction. The Shawanoes finding themselves thus
dangerously situated, asked to be permitted to leave the country, which
was granted to them; and they immediately removed to the Ohio. Here
their main body settled, and then sent messengers to their elder
brother,[A] the Mohicans, requesting them to intercede for them with
their grandfather, the Lenni Lenape, to take them under his protection.
This the Mohicans willingly did, and even sent a body of their own
people to conduct their younger brother into the country of the
Delawares. The Shawanoes finding themselves safe under the protection
of their grandfather, did not choose to proceed to the eastward, but
many of them remained on the Ohio, some of whom settled as far up that
river as the long island, above which the French afterwards built fort
Duquesne, on the spot where Pittsburg now stands. Those who proceeded
farther, were accompanied by their chief, named Gachgawatschiqua, and
settled principally at and about the forks of the Delaware, between
that and the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill; and some, even
on the spot where Philadelphia now stands; others were conducted by the
Mohicans into their own country, where they intermarried with them and
became one people. When those settled near the Delaware had multiplied,
they returned to Wyoming on the Susquehannah, where they resided for a
great number of years."

[Footnote A: The Shawanoes call the Mohicans their _elder brother_, and
the Delawares their _grandfather_.]

Chapman, in his history of Wyoming, states, that after the Shawanoes
were driven from Georgia and Florida, they built a town at the mouth of
the Wabash, and established themselves in it. They then applied to the
Delawares for some territory on which to reside. When granted, a
council was held to consider the propriety of accepting the offer of
the Delawares. On this question the Shawanoes divided--part of them
remained on the Wabash,--the others, composing chiefly the Piqua tribe,
formed a settlement in the forks of the Delaware. Alter a time, a
disagreement arose between them and the Delawares, which induced the
former to remove to the valley of the Wyoming, on the Susquehannah, on
the west bank of which they built a town, and lived in repose many
years. Subsequently to the treaty held at Philadelphia, in 1742,
between the governor and the Six Nations, the Delawares were driven
from that part of Pennsylvania; and a portion of them also removed to
the Wyoming valley, then in possession of the Shawanoes, and secured
the quiet occupancy of a part of it; built a town on the east bank of
the river, which they called Waughwauwame, where they lived for some
time, on terms of amity with their new neighbors.

During the summer of 1742, count Zinzendorf of Saxony, came to America
on a religious mission, connected with the ancient church of the United
Brethren. Having heard of the Shawanoes at Wyoming, he determined to
make an effort to introduce Christianity among them. He accordingly
made them a visit, but did not meet with a cordial reception. The
Shawanoes supposed that the missionary was in pursuit of their lands;
and a party of them determined to assassinate him privately, for fear
of exciting other Indians to hostility. The attempt upon his life was
made, but strangely defeated. Chapman relates the manner of it, which
he obtained from a companion of the count, who did not publish it in
his memoirs, lest the United Brethren might suppose that the subsequent
conversion of the Shawanoes was the result of their superstition. It is
as follows:

"Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds,
which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins
approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the
cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary for his
comfort and convenience. A curtain, formed of a blanket, and hung upon
pins, was the only guard to his tent. The heat of this small fire had
aroused a large rattlesnake, which lay in the weeds not far from it;
and the reptile, to enjoy it the more effectually, had crawled slowly
into the tent, and passed over one of his legs, undiscovered. Without,
all was still and quiet, except the gentle murmur of the river, at the
rapids about a mile below. At this moment, the Indians softly
approached the door of his tent and slightly removing the curtain,
contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of
his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay
before him. At a sight like this, even the heart of the savages shrunk
from the idea of committing so horrid an act; and, quitting the spot,
they hastily returned to the town, and informed their companions, that
the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they had found him with
no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his
legs without attempting to injure him. This circumstance, together with
the arrival soon afterwards of Conrad Weizer, the interpreter, procured
the count the friendship of the Indians, and probably induced some of
them to embrace Christianity."

When the war between the French and the English occurred in 1754, the
Shawanoes on the Ohio took sides with the former; but the appeal to
those residing at Wyoming to do the same, was ineffectual. The
influence of the count's missionary efforts had made them averse to
war. But an event which happened soon afterward, disturbed the peace of
their settlement, and finally led to their removal from the valley.
Occasional difficulties of a transient nature, had arisen between the
Delawares and the Shawanoes at Wyoming. An unkind feeling, produced by
trifling local causes, had grown up between the two tribes. At length a
childish dispute about the possession of a harmless grasshopper,
brought on a bloody battle; and a final separation of the two parties
soon followed. One day, while most of the Delaware men were absent on a
hunting excursion, the women of that tribe went out to gather wild
fruits on the margin of the river, below their village. Here they met a
number of Shawanoe women and their children, who had crossed the stream
in their canoes, and were similarly engaged. One of the Shawanoe
children having caught a large grasshopper, a dispute arose with some
of the Delaware children, in regard to the possession of it. In this
quarrel, as was natural, the mothers soon became involved. The Delaware
women contended for the possession of the grasshopper on the ground
that the Shawanoes possessed no privileges on that side of the river. A
resort to violence ensued, and the Shawanoe women being in the
minority, were speedily driven to their canoes, and compelled to seek
safety by flight to their own bank of the stream. Here the matter
rested until the return of the hunters, when the Shawanoes, in order to
avenge the indignity offered to their women, armed themselves for
battle. When they attempted to cross the river, they found the
Delawares duly prepared to receive them and oppose their landing. The
battle commenced while the Shawanoes were still in their canoes, but
they at length effected a landing, which was followed by a general and
destructive engagement. The Shawanoes having lost a number of their
warriors before reaching the shore, were too much weakened to sustain
the battle for any length of time. After the loss of nearly one half
their party, they were compelled to fly to their own side of the river.
Many of the Delawares were killed. Shortly after this disastrous
contest, the Shawanoes quietly abandoned their village, and removed
westward to the banks of the Ohio.[A]

[Footnote A: Chapman]

After the Shawanoes of Pennsylvania had fallen back upon the waters of
the Ohio, they spread themselves from the Alleghenies as far westward
as the Big Miami. One of their villages was seventeen miles below
Pittsburg: it was called Log's Town, and was visited by Croghan, in
1765. Another, named Lowertown, also visited by the same traveler,
stood just below the mouth of the Scioto. It was subsequently carried
away by a great flood in that river, which overflowed the site of the
town, and compelled the Indians to escape in their canoes. They
afterwards built a new town on the opposite side of the river, but soon
abandoned it, and removed to the plains of the Scioto and Paint creek,
where they established themselves, on the north fork of the latter
stream. They had also several other villages of considerable size in
the Miami valley. One was "Chillicothe," standing near the mouth of
Massie's creek, three miles north of Xenia. Another, called Piqua, and
memorable as the birth place of TECUMSEH, the subject of our present
narrative, stands upon the north-west side of Mad river, about seven
miles below Springfield, in Clark county. Both of these villages were
destroyed in 1780, by an expedition from Kentucky, under the command of
general George Rogers Clark.

After the peace of 1763, the Miamis having removed from the Big Miami
river, a body of Shawanoes established themselves at Lower and Upper
Piqua, in Miami county, which places, being near together, became their
great head-quarters in Ohio. Here they remained until driven off by the
Kentuckians; when they crossed over to the St. Mary's and to
Wapakanotta. The Upper Piqua is said to have contained, at one period,
near four thousand Shawanoes.[A]

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19