Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet | Page 2

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,