USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 36
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In 1811 the governor's military duties made it necessary for him to give up the house as a place of residence. and on leaving he installed his son John Cleves Symmes Harrison therein. The junior Harrison was a cour- teous and talented young fellow, and had gained a popularity almost equal to that of his illustrious father. He had just married General Pike's young daughter and only child, who was a vivacious and cultured woman and, like her devoted husband, loved the social whirl; and the old mansion during John Cleves Harrison's occupancy witnessed quite as many brilliant society events as when William Henry Harrison presided as its master. During the time the house was in charge of Cleves Harrison, the town library was kept there, which enabled many cultured and refined people to mingle with the charming host and hostess. When the junior Mr. Harrison took his departure for North Bend to establish himself on his father's estate, the citizens of the town tendered him a banquet and farewell reception, on which occasion the exchange of greetings between the guests of honor and those who had arranged the event was marked by cordiality and tokens of esteem. Not long after his withdrawal from Vincennes, young Mr. Harri-
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son sickened of typhoid fever and died at the home of his father at North Bend.
General James P. Drake, who was located here as receiver of public monies, became an occupant of the house on the departure of Cleves Har- rison, and resided there until his election as treasurer of state, when he removed to Indianapolis, where he died in 1850.
When Drake went out from tinder the roof of the old mansion, it was subjected to unkind treatment, especially at the hands of his immediate suc- cessor, General Jolin Myers, a grain dealer, who used it for storing wheat. After the old O. & M. Railroad was completed to St. Louis, James Gatton used it for hotel purposes. For a number of years it was occupied as a residence by the late WV. F. Pidgeon, who kept it in very good repair. After Mr. Pidgeon's death the property fell into the hands of his son Flavitis, who sold it to Edward Sheperd. Mr. Sheperd spent considerable money in an effort to restore the old home to its former condition, and occupied it for ten or twelve years. In 1909, he sold it, with the real estate belonging, to the Vincennes Water Supply Company. In 1907, while Mr. Sheperd was still its owner, he offered to sell the property for nearly four times the amount he paid for it. A bill was introduced in the senate of the gen- eral assembly of Indiana providing for the purchase of the Harrison home- stead by the state. The bill passed the senate, but was defeated in the house. In 1909 a similar bill was introduced in the house and defeated, on the ground that the price at which the owner held the property was too high.
The house, tintil the present tenant moved in, had no occupant for more than a year, during which time relic hunters played havoc with the interior arrangements, carrying away tiling, hardware, and even pieces of mantels and grates. The board of public works ( Messrs. Watson, Zuber and Bor- rowman) had planned to have the building removed to Harrison park,* and restored to its original state, and had about closed the contract for that purpose with a house-moving concern of St. Louis for $3,500, when their official terms expired. The board's successors repudiated this action, and thus averted a move to soften the tread of time and stay the hand of van- dalism against the ancient pile.
* The upper prairie survey, now in part occupied by Harrison Park, was covered over on the river front by many handsome brick residences. These remained as late as 1844, but have since entirely disappeared. The brick in these buildings were used in the construction of buildings in various parts of the city, and may be said to be the beginning of the erection of brick buildings in the city. The survey upon which these buildings stood on the failure of the Steam Mill Company was mortgaged to the United States for $100,000, and the title subject to the mortgage passed to Hall Neilson of Washington City. The United States was subjected to a long litigation to establish its claim, which was not finally settled until 1880, when the government claim was finally quitted. The government then had the survey sub-divided into lots and sold all the lots except that portion fronting on the river, which was donated to the city for a public park, and is now known as Harrison Park .- H. S. Cauthorn.
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The present owners of the old house, the Vincennes Water Supply Com- pany, have been asked to protect it against further decay and destruction. This appeal was made by the Daughters of the American Revolution, who are engaged in the laudable enterprise of raising funds for the purchase of the old historic mansion, with a view of preserving to the city one of the landmarks of territorial days and at the same time perpetuating the mem- ory of one of the great national characters in the history of that period.
On a lawn, studded with trees, directly in front of the southwest en- trance to the old mansion, Governor Harrison and the greatest of all In- dian chiefs, Tecumseh, held their thrilling and ever-memorable pow-wow. But before relating that particular event, it is pertinent to briefly cite the incidents which led up to it.
During the period between 1805 and 1810 the Indians were profuse as well as bitter in their complaints of the white man encroaching on the do- mains of the red man, invading their favorite hunting grounds and killing without justification many of their race. An old chieftain, who came to lay the troubles of his people before Governor Harrison, thus spake: "You call us your children ; why do you not make us as happy as our fathers, the French, did? They never took from us our land; indeed, they were in common between us. They planted where they pleased ; and they cut wood where they pleased ; and so did we. But now, if a poor Indian happens to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree as his own."
Complaints of this character were generally based on facts; and in more instances than one the Indians seemed to be amply justified in going on the warpath. In 1805 the Shawnee warrior, Tecumseh, and his brother, La-le- was-i-kaw (Loud Voice), resided at one of the Deleware villages on the borders of the west fork of White river, within the present boundaries of Deleware County. Some time during that year La-le-was-i-kaw took upon himself the character of a prophet and reformer, assuming the name of Pems-quat-a-wah, which in the Shawnee's dialect signifies Open Door. Among the many evils he declaimed against as the sins of his time and his people, the chief prominence was given to witchcraft, the use of intoxicat- ing liquors by the Indians, the custom of Indian women intermarrying with white men, and the practice of selling Indian lands to the United States. He saw that the Indian tribes were rapidly deteriorating by contact and association with the whites, and in departing from their ancient spirit and customs, and fast being swept away by the white race; and his purpose was to bring about a reform; to unite them, and by infusing into them their ancient courage, virtue and endurance, make them equal to the task of re- sisting the encroachments of Americans upon their territory. Following out this trend of thought, he commenced exhorting his people, urging reforma- tion as to their personal behavior; and at the same time advocated a sort of a state policy, which he declared would make them a greater confederacy or nation. He avowed that the Great Spirit had inspired him and given
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him the power to cure all sorts of diseases, to confuse and confound his enemies, and to prevent the hand of death from striking his people on the field of battle. He was a good orator, and in presenting his doctrines and referring to the wonderful powers which had been bestowed on him, thrilled the savages with his eloquence. The Shawnees readily gathered about him as disciples and defenders, and with his loyal band he moved into the vi- cinity of Greenville, Ohio, toward the close of the year, where he remained, augmenting the number of his followers and causing consternation among the settlers, till the spring of 1808, when he settled on the banks of the Wabash, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, and established Prophet- town, a place which subsequently became widely known. At this time the prophet counted on one hundred and forty braves, of whom forty were Shawnees. As soon as the prophet's followers had gotten fairly settled in their new village, Governor Harrison sent John Conner, a pioneer settler of the Old Post, having wonderful power over the Indians, to the Shawnees with a message. It contained the following paragraph, probably not in- tended for the prophet's ears, but which he nevertheless heard: "My chil- dren, this business must be stopped. I will no longer suffer it. You have called a number of men from the most distant tribes to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the Great Spirit, but those of the devil and the British agents. My children, your conduet has much alarmed the white settlers. They desire that you will send away these people; and if they wish to have the imposter with them, they can carry him. Let him go to the lakes ; he can hear the British more distinctly."
Tecumseh meanwhile, who was a great organizer, was exerting himself in an effort to form all the tribes into one vast confederacy, and had re- peatedly called councils at which he openly and eloquently declared that the treaties made with the United States by the Indians for the cession of their lands were unfair and unjust to the latter and carried with them neither obligation nor binding force.
The cunning prophet attempted to throw Harrison off his guard by sending a deputation of Indians to Vincennes in the latter part of June, 1808, bearing a message of friendly greeting, in which he assured the gov- ernor that his followers had no other intention than to live in peace and harmony with the white people. Two months later he came in person, and in the course of an interview with the governor addressed him thus : "Father, it is three years since I first began with the system of religion which I practice. The white people and some of the Indians were against me; but I had no other intention than to introduce among the Indians those good principles of religion which the white people profess. The Great Spirit told me to tell the Indians that he had made them and made the world; that he had placed them on it to do good, and not evil. I told all the red- skins that the way they were in was not good, and that they ought to abandon it ; and that it is the cause of all the mischief the Indians suffer ; that we must always follow the directions of the Great Spirit, determined to listen
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to nothing that is bad. Do not take up the tomahawk should it be offered by the British or by the Long Knives. Do not mneddle with anything that does not belong to you, but mind your own business and cultivate the ground, that your women and children may have enough to live on. My Father, I have informed you what we mean to do, and I call the Great Spirit to witness the truth of my declaration."
The prophet and his followers were so profuse in their professions of good faith that the governor inclined to look on them with favor for a time and to consider their declarations for the maintenance of pacific relations to be sincere. This opinion, however, only lasted until the return of the prophet and his followers to Prophet town, from whence he frequently received reports that were convincing proof of his late visitors' hypocrisy and led him to conclude that the prophet and Tecumseh were both danger- ous characters to the peace and quiet of the country and to the security and happiness of the settlers.
Henceforth the governor kept a closer watch on the movements of the inhabitants of Prophet town, which was near the present boundaries of Lafayette, and frequently dispatched thereto, and to all the Indian villages throughout the territory, confidential messengers with assurances to villa- gers of the friendship and protection of the United States and warning them of the gravity of the offense and the great danger of encouraging the false prophet in any of his pretentions or claims. The tried and trusted mis- sionaries whom the governor generally sent out to the Indian settlements with messages of a pacificatory character were no lesser personages than Colonel Francis Vigo, Captain Toussaint Dubois, Joseph Barron, Pierre LaPlante, John Conner, M. Brouillet and William Prince.
It was in the spring of 1910 that an incident occurred at Prophet town, which showed clearly that the prophet's professions of a desire for peace were not sincere, and which exasperated the governor not a little. Some boatmen who had gone to the village to deliver to the Indians their annuity of salt were received with such terms as "American dogs," "American rob- bers," etc. As a further display of bad temper, the Indians refused to receive the salt. Soon after the occurrence, Governor Harrison sent the prophet a letter, reproving him for his conduct on this occasion, stating that it was the sheerest folly for him to attempt to make war upon the United States, all of which seemed to have made but little impression on him. Mr. Barron, who was the bearer of the letter, was ushered into the august presence of the prophet, who was seated, surrounded by a group of his followers, and left standing at a distance of eight or ten feet from the great oracle of wisdom and power. The prophet for several minutes kept his eyes centered on Mr. Barron without saying a word or giving any sign of recognition. Unable to longer contain himself he finally broke the silence by demanding of the messenger, "For what purpose do you come here? Brouillet was here; he was a spy; Dubois was here; he was a spy ; now you have come; you, too, are a spy. There is your grave; look
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on it"-pointing with his bony finger to the ground where Barron was standing. His face wore a look of injured pride and terror; but he was acting, and put on such a front for the purpose of terrorizing Barron, who was ill at ease to say the least. At the moment he was nerving him- self in a final effort to look undisturbed, Tecumseh stepped out from one of the lodges and assured him that his life would not be taken, but that it would be necessary for him to explain the object of his visit. Barron ex- plained his presence in a satisfactory manner to the big chief, who informed him that within a few days he would visit Vincennes in person to talk over the situation with the governor.
According to promise, Tecumseh put in an appearance at the Old Post on August 12th, accompanied by seventy-five of his most attractive warriors as a bodyguard, and from that date until August 22d, the governor spent much of his time in conference with the haughty chieftain. In one of these meetings, the chief, addressing the executive, said: "Brother: Since the treaty of Greenville you have killed some of the Shawnees, Winnebagoes, Delewares and Miamis, and you have taken our lands from ns; and I do not see how we can remain at peace with you if you continue to do so. You try to force the red people to do some injury. It is you that are pushing them on to do mischief. You endeavor to make distinctions. You wish to prevent the Indians from doing as we wish them-to unite and let them consider their lands as the common property of the whole. You take tribes aside and advise them not to come into this measure ; and until our design is accomplished, we do not wish to accept of your invitation to go and see the President. . If the land is not restored to us, you will see when we return to our homes how it is settled. We shall have a great council at which all the tribes shall be present, when we shall show to those who sold that they had no right to the claim they set up; and we shall see what will be done to those chiefs who did sell the land to you. I am not alone in this determination. It is the determination of all the warriors and red people who listen to me."
Preceding the foregoing speech, which was delivered on August 20, 1810, Governor Harrison, who was seated with his officers beneath the spreading branches of a giant maple tree which cast their inviting shades over the beautiful lawn, in front of his house, invited Tecumseh to take a seat on the bench beside him, supplementing the invitation with the remark that it was the desire of the Great Father that he should do so. Tecumseh, with folded arms, cast a glance at the soldiers, who were drawn up in line, and then fixing his gaze intently on Harrison for a moment, he lifted his expressive eyes toward the skies, and, pointing his finger heavenward, in a voice full of dramatic force, exclaimed : "My Father! The sun is my father : the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline!" And, suiting his actions to his words, he flung his magnificent form upon na+ ture's grassy carpet, where he was joined by all his braves.
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During the delivery of his speech Tecumseh allowed himself to become wrought up to a pitch of intense excitement ; and when Governor Harrison began his reply, and had reached a stage in the course of his remarks where he bitterly assailed the mighty Shawnee for charging the United States with acting in bad faith respecting the treatment of the Indians, and denouncing the statement of the big chief as false, there were several moments of pro- found silence. The governor declared that he had always been the friend of the red man, and in his treatment toward him his honor had never been hitherto questioned. The governor's remarks thus far had been translated to the Shawnees by Joseph Barron, the interpreter, who was just in the act of interpreting the same to the Miamis and Pottawattomies, who formed a part of the delegation, when Tecumseh sprang to his feet-his warriors following the example, brandishing their war clubs and tomahawks-and calling loudly, said to Barron, "Tell him he lies!" Barron, having a pro- found respect for his superior, as well as a reverence for the government he was serving, began a diplomatic interpretation of the language to which the enraged chief had given expression, and was apparently laboring to shore the term used of its harshiness when Tecunisch, who had but limited knowledge of English, perceived, from the embarrassment and hesitancy of the interpreter, he was not giving a literal translation of the words, again interrupted Barron with: "No; tell him he lies!" With dark scowls on their faces, the Indians bowed their heads and gave gutteral grunts, ex- pressive of their approval of the term employed and the sentiment contained in the language to which their chief had given utterance.
Secretary Gibson, who had acquired a fair knowledge of the Shawnee language, was by no means a listless spectator of the exciting scenes and incidents of this impromptu drama. He had been notified during the prog- ress of the play to be ready with a guard of twelve men, under command of Lieutenant Jesse Jennings, and the guard was brought forth instanter. For a time a fight between the troops and Indians seemed imminent, but it did not occur.
After a literal interpretation of Tecumseh's entire speech had been given by Barron to the governor, the latter directed the interpreter to say to him that the interview was at an end; that the council fires would be extinguished, and that no further communications would be held with the Indians. Harrison, however, later consented to hold another interview with Tecumseh provided he would make reparation for his misconduct and apologize for his outrageous language of the preceding day. And, accord- ingly, on the 21st of August, the council fires were rekindled. Tecumseh appeared promptly, suffering seemingly from humiliation for his actions. and deported himself in the most respectful and dignified manner. At this conference when Tecumseh was asked to state plainly whether or not the surveyors who might be sent to survey the lands ceded by the treaty of Fort Wayne would be molested by the Indians, and whether or not the Kickapoos would receive their annuities, he replied: "Brother, when you
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speak of annuities to me I look at the land and pity the women and chil- dren. I am authorized to say that they will not receive them. Brother, we want to save that piece of land. We do not want you to take it. It is small enough for our purpose. If you do take it, you must blame yourself as the cause of the trouble between us and the tribes who sold it to you. I want the present boundary line to continue. Should you cross it, I assure you it will be productive of bad consequences." When Governor Harrison informed him that neither his "claims or pretentions would be recognized by the President of the United States," Tecumseh reflectively responded : "Well, as the great chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up the land. It is true, he is so far off he will not be injured by the war. He may sit still in his own town and drink his wine while you and I will have to fight it out."
A survey was made in the fall of the year of tSto of the boundary line made necessary by the land acquired through the Fort Wayne treaty, by a Mr. McDonald, whom Governor Harrison had detailed for the work. Its establishment heightened the discontent of the Indians growing out of the original cession of the land, which both Tecumseh and the prophet held was neither regular or obligatory .*
The British agent of Indian affairs in Canada, believing that a war be- tween Great Britain and the United States was imminent, in the early part of the year 1811 inaugurated a policy by which he hoped to secure for Great Britain the sympathy and friendship of all the northwestern tribes of In- dians. The President of the United States in the meantime had instructed Governor Harrison to persist in his efforts to conciliate and pacify the In- dians. The governor had determined on breaking up the confederacy at the prophet's town, which was daily becoming more powerful and menacing, and began plans for the construction of forts in different parts of the ter- ritory to check any hostile advances (which had been threatened) of the savages on the white settlements. During the summer of this year Indian outrages became both frequent and hostile, and foray parties became com-
* In the year 1811 a law suit in which Governor Harrison was plaintiff and a cer- tain William McIntosh was defendant was determined in the supreme court of the territory at Vincennes. The jury in the case found a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and assessed his damages at the sum of four thousand dollars. The defendant, Mr. McIntosh, was a wealthy resident of Vincennes, a native of Scotland, well educated, and a man of considerable influence among those who were opposed to the treaty- making policy which had distinguished the administration of Governor Harrison. The suit at law was instituted against McIntosh for asserting "that Governor Harrison had cheated the Indians out of their lands; and that, by his conduct in so doing, he had made them enemies of the United States." To satisfy the verdict of the jury in this case a large quantity of land owned by the defendant was sold, in the absence of Governor Harrison. The Governor some time afterward caused about two-thirds of the property to be restored to Mr. McIntosh, and the remainder was given to some orphan children .- Goodrich & Tuttle, Illustrated History of Indiana, p. 154.
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mon, committing depredations of every character. The surveyors were driven out of the country, and others were killed in their tracks. While boats from Vincennes were conveying "annuity salt" to the Indian villages up the Wabash, a party of redskins at the prophet's town seized the boats, confiscated the salt and appropriated it to their own tise. The prophet at- tempted to justify this act by sending back word to the governor by one of the boatmen, requesting his excellency "not to be angry at his seizing the salt, as he had got none last year and had more than two thousand men to feed."
Harrison's treatment toward the Indians was always considerate, hu- mane and honorable, and, whenever it were possible to avert it, he never shed savage blood nor seized property of the savages. On June 24, 1811, he detailed Capt. Walter Wilson to go to the prophet's town and carry a speech addressed to the prophet and Tecumseh, which read as follows:
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