Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet | Page 5

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