USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 8
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"My guides and interpreters being still with the advanced guard, and taking the direction of the town, the army followed, and had advanced within about one hundred and fifty yards, when fifty or sixty Indians sallied out. and with loud acclamations called to the cavalry and to the militia infantry, which were on our right flank, to halt. I immediately advanced to the front, caused the army to halt, and directed an interpreter to request some of the chiefs to come to me.
"In a few moments, the man who had been with me before made his ap- pearance. I informed him that my object for the present was to procure a good piece of ground to encamp on, where we could get wood and water ; he informed me that there was a creek to the northwest, which he thought would suit our purpose. I immediately dispatched two officers to examine it. and they reported that the situation was excellent. I then took leave of the chief. and a mutual promise was again made for a suspension of hostilities until we could have an interview on the following day.
"I found the ground destined for the encampment not altogether such as I could wish it-it was, indeed, admirably calculated for the encampment of regular trooops that were opposed to regulars, but it afforded great facility to the approach of savages. It was a piece of dry oak land. rising about ten feet above the level of a marshy prairie in front ( toward the Indian town), and nearly twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear. through which, and near to this bank, ran a small stream, clothed with willows and brush- wood. Toward the left flank, this bench of high land widened considerably. but became gradually narrow in the opposite direction, and at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards from the right flank, terminated in an abrupt point.
"The two columns of infantry occupied the front and rear of this ground. at the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from each other on the left. and something more than half that distance on the right flank-these flanks were filled up. the first by two companies of mounted riflemen, amount- ing to about one hundred and twenty men, under the command of Major-
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General Wells, of the Kentucky militia, who served as a major : the other by Spencer's company of mounted riflemen, which amounted to eighty men.
"The front line was composed of one battalion of United States infantry. under the command of Major Floyd, flanked on the right by two companies of militia, and on the left by one company. The rear line was composed of a battalion of United States troops, under the command of Captain Baen, acting as major, and four companies of militia infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Decker.
"The regular troops of this line joined the mounted riflemen, under Gen- eral Wells, on the left flank, and Colonel Decker's battalion formed an angle with Spencer's company on the right.
"Two troops of dragoons, amounting to, in the aggregate, about sixty men, were encamped in the rear of the left flank, and Captain Parke's troop. which was larger than the other two, in the rear of the front line. Our order of encampment varied little from that above described. excepting when some peculiarity of the ground made it necessary.
"For a night attack, the order of encampment was the order of battle, and each man slept immediately opposite to his post in the line. In the forma- tion of my troops, I used a single rank, or what is called Indian file-because in Indian warfare, where there is no shock to resist, one rank is nearly as good as two, and in that kind of warfare, the extension of line is of the first importance. Raw troops also maneuver with much more facility in single than in double ranks.
"It was my constant custom to assemble all the field officers at my tent every evening by signal, to give them the watchword, and their instructions for the night-those given for the night of the 6th were, that each troop which formed a part of the exterior line of the encampment, should hold its own ground until relieved.
"The dragoons were ordered to parade in case of a night attack, with their pistols in their belts, and to act as a corps de reserve. The camp was defended by two captain's guards, consisting each of four non-commissioned officers and forty-two privates; and two subalterns' guards, of twenty non- commissioned officers and privates. The whole ( was) under the command of a field officer of the day. The troops were regularly called up an hour before day, and made to continue under arms until it was quite light.
"On the morning of the 7th, I had risen at a quarter after four o'clock, and the signal for calling out the men would have been given in two minutes, when the attack commenced. It began on our left flank-but a single gun was fired by the sentinels, or by the guard in that direction, which made not the
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least resistance, but abandoned their officer, and fled into camp, and the first notice which the troops of that flank had of the danger was from the yells of the savages within a short distance of the line-but even under those circum- stanees the men were not wanting to themselves or the occasion.
"Such of them as were awake, or were easily awakened, seized their arms and took their station ; others, which were more tardy, had to contend with the enemy in the doors of their tents. The storm first fell upon Captain Barton's company of the Fourth United States Regiment, and Captain Geiger's company of mounted riflemen, which formed the left angle of the rear line. The fire upon these was exceedingly severe and they suffered con- siderably before relief could be brought to them.
"Some few Indians passed into the encampment near the angle, and one or two penetrated to some distance before they were killed. I believe all the other companies were under arms and tolerably formed before they were fired on.
"The morning was dark and cloudy; our fires afforded a partial light, which, if it gave us some opportunity of taking our positions, was still more advantageous to the enemy, affording them the means of taking a surer aim; they were, therefore, extinguished. Under all these discouraging circum- stances, the troops ( nineteen-twentieths of which had never been in action before) behaved in a manner that can never be too much applauded. They took their places without noise and less confusion than could have been expected from veterans placed in the same situation.
"As soon as I could mount my horse, I rode to the angle that was at- tacked-I found that Barton's company had suffered severely and the left of Guiger's entirely broken. I immediately ordered Cook's company and the late Captain Wentworth's, under Lieutenant Peters, to be brought from the center of the rear line, where the ground was much more defensible and formed across the angle in support of Barton's and Geiger's.
"My attention was then engaged by a heavy firing upon the left of the front line. where were stationed the small company of United States riflemen (then, however, armed with muskets) and the companies of Baen, Snelling and Prescott, of the Fourth Regiment. I found Major Daviess forming the dragoons in the rear of those companies, and, understanding that the heaviest part of the enemy's fire proceeded from some trees about fifteen or twenty paces in front of those companies. I directed the Major to dislodge them with a part of the dragoons.
"Unfortunately, the Major's gallantry determined him to execute the order with a smaller force than was sufficient, which enabled the enemy to
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avoid him in front and attack his flanks. The Major was mortally wounded and his party driven back. The Indians were, however, immediately and gallantly dislodged by Captain Snelling at the head of his company.
"In the course of a few minutes after the commencement of the attack, the fire extended along the left flank. the whole of the front, the right flank and part of the rear line. Upon Spencer's mounted ritlemen, and the right of Warrick's company, which was posted on the rear of the right line, it was excessively severe. Captain Spencer and his first and second lieutenants were killed, and Captain Warrick was mortally wounded-those companies. however, still bravely maintained their posts. but Spencer had suffered so severely, and, having originally too much ground to occupy. I reinforced them with Robb's company of riflemen, which had been driven back. or by mistake ordered from their position on the left flank, toward the center of the camp, and filled the vacancy that had been occupied by Robb with Pres- cott's company of the Fourth United States Regiment.
"My great object was to keep the lines entire, to prevent the enemy from breaking into the camp until daylight, which should enable me to make a general and effectual charge. With this view, I had reinforced every part of the line that had suffered much : and as soon as the approach of the morn- ing had discovered itself, I withdrew from the front line Snelling's. Posey's (under Lieutenant Albright ) and Scott's, and from the rear line Wilson's companies, and drew them up upon the left flank, and at the same time I ordered Cook's and Baen's companies, the former from the rear and the latter from the front line, to reinforce the right flank : foreseeing that at these points the enemy would make their last efforts.
"Major Wells, who commanded on the left flank, not knowing my in- tention precisely, had taken command of these companies and charged the enemy before I had formed the body of dragoons, with which I had meant to support the infantry: a small detachment of these were, however. ready, and proved amply sufficient for the purpose.
"The Indians were driven by the infantry at the point of the bayonet. and the dragoons pursued and forced them into a marsh, where they could not be followed. Captain Cook and Lieutenant Larrabee had, agreeable to my order, marched their companies to the right flank, had formed them under the fire of the enemy, and, being then joined by the riflemen of that flank, had charged the Indians, killed a number and put the rest to precipitate flight. A favorable opportunity was here offered to pursue the enemy with dragoons, but, being engaged at that time on the other flank, 1 did not observe it until it was too late.
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"The whole of the infantry formed a small brigade under the immediate orders of Colonel Boyd. The Colonel throughout the action manifested equal zeal and bravery in carrying into execution my orders, in keeping the men to their posts, and exhorting them to fight with valor. His Brigade-Major Clarke and his Vid-de-Camp George Croghan, Esq., were also very serviceably employed. Col. Joseph Bartholomew. a very valuable officer, commanded, under Colonel Boyd, the militia infantry. He was wounded early in the action and his services lost to me. Maj. G. R. C. Floyd, the senior officer of the Fourth United States Regiment, commanded immediately the battalion of that regiment, which was in the front line. His conduct during the action was entirely to my satisfaction. Lieutenant-Colonel Decker, who commanded the battalion of militia on the right of the rear line. preserved his command in good order. He was, however, but partially attacked. I
have before mentioned to you that Major-General Wells. of the Fourth Divi- sion of Kentucky Militia, acted under my command as major at the head of two companies of mounted volunteers. The General maintained the fame which he had already acquired in almost every campaign and in almost every battle which has been fought with the Indians since the settlement of Ken- tucky. Of the several corps, the Fourth United States Regiment and the two small companies attached to it were certainly most conspicuous for un- daunted valor. The companies commanded by Captains Cook. Snelling and Barton, Lieutenants Larrabee. Peters and Hawkins were placed in situations where they could render most service, and encounter most danger : and those officers eminently distinguished themselves. Captains Prescott and Brown performed their duty also entirely to my satisfaction, as did Posey's com- pany of the Seventh Regiment headed by Lieutenant Albright. In short, sir. they supported the fame of American regulars; and I have never heard that a single individual was out of the line of his duty.
"Several of the militia companies were in nowise inferior to the regulars. Spencer's and Guiger's and Warrick's maintained their posts amid a mon- strous carnage-as, indeed. did Robb's, after it was posted on the right flank. Its loss of men (seventeen killed and wounded ) and keeping its ground is sufficient evidence of its firmness. Wilson's and Scott's companies charged with the regular troops and proved themselves worthy of doing so. Norris's company also behaved well. Hargrove's and Wilson's were placed in posi- tion where they had no opportunity of distinguishing themselves, or I am satisfied they would have done it. This was the case with the squadron of dragoons also. After Major Daviess had received his wound, knowing it to be mortal. I promoted Captain Parke to the majority, than whom there is no
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better officer. My two aids-de-camp, Majors Hurst and Taylor, with Lieu- tenant Adams, of the Fourth Regiment, the adjutant of the troops, afforded me the most essential aid-as well in the action as throughout the campaign. "The arrangements of Captain Piatt in the quartermaster's department were highly judicious; and his exertion on all occasions-particularly in bringing off the wounded-deserves my warmest thanks. But in giving merited praise to the living, let me not forget the gallant dead. Colonel Abraham Owen, commandant of the Eighteenth Kentucky Regiment, joined me a few days before the action, as a private, in Captain Guiger's company. He accepted the appointment of volunteer aid-de-camp to me. He fell early in the action. The representative of his state will inform you that she possessed not a better citizen, nor a braver man.
"Major J. H. Daviess was known as an able lawyer and a great orator. He joined as a private volunteer ; and on the recommendation of the officers of that corps was appointed to command the three troops of dragoons. His conduct in that capacity justified their choice. Never was there an officer possessed of more ardor and zeal to discharge his duties with propriety ; and never one who would have encountered greater danger to purchase military fame. Captain Baen, of the Fourth United States Regiment, was killed (mortally wounded ) early in the action. He was unquestionably a good officer and valiant soldier. Captains Spencer and Warrick and Lieutenants MeMahon and Berry were all my particular friends. I have ever had the utmost confidence in their valor; and 1 was not deceived. Spencer was wounded in the head. He exhorted his men to fight valiantly. He was shot through both thighs, and fell; still continuing to encourage them, he was raised up, and received a ball through his body, which put an immediate end to his existence. Warrick was shot immediately through the body. Being taken to the surgery to be dressed, as soon as it was over (being a man of great bodily vigor and able to walk) he insisted on going back to head his company, although it was evident he had but a few hours to live." ( He died at Io o'clock. )
"I have thus, sir, given yon the particulars of an action which was certainly maintained with the greatest obstinacy and perseverance by both parties. The Indians manifested a ferocity uncommon even with them- to their savage fury our troops opposed that cool and deliberate valor which is characteristic of the Christian soldier."
A survey of the battlefield, as soon as the smoke had cleared away and the soldiers could realize that the battle for a moment was over, presented
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a scene that had never before been beheld on Indiana soil. All over the field lay dead, dying and wounded men, thirty-seven cold in death and one hundred and fifty-one mortally, severely or slightly wounded. All over the ground, too. lay dead horses-and all about. others wounded and bleeding. The beef cattle had been stampeded during the battle. Besides these, thirty- eight dead Indian warriors were lying on the field. some within the lines and the others near by. There was no hospital corps, no modern hospital ap- pliances, only an ordinary number of surgeons and no women. The cold ground was a hospital bed, and a cold November sky a tent canopy. None of the soldiers save those of the regular army had tents ; and the army was in the wilderness, far from the homes of civilized men. This picture cannot be painted in all its darkness and discomforts, to say nothing of its over- shadowing clouds of uncertainty, torturing suspense and fearful anxiety. No one knew how complete the victory was, or whether the wild horde. rein- forced by barbarous confederates, would not return for battle again. It was fully believed that Tecumseh could not be far off. and if coming he would not be alone. There is even a well-sustained tradition that a large body of Potta- watomies reached the Prophet's Town after midnight, having run their ponies much of the way from their great town on the Iroquois, below Rensselaer, and that this accession to the Prophet's forces changed his plans and precipitated the battle. It was a dark day, but a busy one. It was spent in caring for the wounded. burying the dead and fortifying the camp. When we consider that the dead and wounded were one out of every five, the great task and stress is more vividly seen. The whole camp was fortified with a block house at each of the four corners and temporary breastworks along the entire lines. The dead were buried. finally, in nine graves, and fires burnt over them to hide them from the depredations of the Indians after the army was gone. But all day long brave and gallant men were lingering in the throes of death. The brave Captain Warrick, who was shot through the body, and told at the surgery that his wound was mortal, still strong of body, walked back to his post at the head of his company and held his place till morning and victory came, and died at ten o'clock. The gallant Maj. Joseph Hamilton Daviess, whose breast had been pierced by three rifle balls. either of which would have proven fatal, lay all day under a large sycamore tree, conscious all the time, and as the sun went down his gallant spirit fled. Capt. William C. Baen, acting as major in command of the battalion of the Fourth Regulars, who fought on the rear line, was mortally wounded early in the action and lay on the ground through the whole conflict, lingered on through that day and the next, and died on the third-the 9th. The other
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officers who fell, either died instantly or during the day of the battle. Of the non-commissioned officers and privates, of whom thirty-three were killed in action, twenty-three were mortally wound- ed and one hundred and seventeen severely or slightly wounded. one should be specially mentioned-Corporal Stephen Mars of Captain Guiger's mounted riflemen. He was on sentinel duty and stationed in line near the northwest corner of the present camp meeting association's tabernacle. He saw in the darkness something creeping toward him, look- ing and grunting like a hog. He challenged, but no answer ; he fired and a large Indian warrior with a wild whoop sprang high in the air, severely if not mortal- ly wounded. This was followed by a war ery that was terrific and girdled all the camp. The sentinels all tled, pursued by the Indians. Mars was later killed during the action. One other incident is worthy of mention. It shows the reckless, almost frenzied daring of the Indians in their charges on the lines of our army. It is told by Captain Snelling. It will be remembered that it was the bayonet charge of Captain Snelling's company that drove the Indians who occupied the position at the east of the left of the front line. "A large Indian rushed onto one of my company, seized with his left hand the soldier's musket by the bayonet, wrenched it aside and with the stroke of a war club cleft the soldier's skull down to his chin." This war club had at its end a long triangular piece of iron, which made it a deadly weapon in a close fight. The soldier's name was Joseph Tibbetts.
The army was in battle line all the day of the 7th, and kept a sleepless vigil all that night. Cold, weary and hungry, no meat that day but horse flesh. they held their post with sentinels on their continual beat inside the lines. The night was more trying than the battle of the morning. But it passed without attack. Morning came, but no hostile savage was in sight. Upon the General and the army their great victory began to dawn. General Wells, one of the most noted Indian fighters of Kentucky, was sent by Gov- ernor Harrison, with a strong detachment of dragoons and mounted riflemen. to reconnoiter the Prophet's Town and its surroundings. There his practiced eye soon discovered how complete the defeat of the Indians had been. Not a living soul was found but one wounded Indian, who had been left. Five dead warriors were found unburied, a number of British muskets in the original cases, a large number of camp kettles, still unpacked: a quantity of powder, recognized as British by its triple glaze; a large quantity of corn in the houses and much in the field. The town had many houses and. Colonel Wells declares, was fortified more completely than any Indian village that in all his experience he had ever seen. They also found pigs and chickens,
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which they took back with them for the wounded soldiers, and as much corn as they could carry. The balance they destroyed, and burned the town and its fortifications and returned to camp with the joyful news of how complete the defeat of the Indians had been the morning before.
When Indians leave their dead on the battlefield, it marks a sore defeat ; when they leave them unburied after carrying them a mile from the battle- field, it marks the wildness of the panic after their defeat. They had fled precipitately, leaving thirty-eight warriors dead on the battlefield and five unburied after they had brought them to the town. On the 9th, the army prepared to resume its homeward journey. So many of the horses had been killed in the battle, and the severely wounded were so many, and the wagons so few, that it seemed impossible to provide transportation for them. The least wounded, who could not walk, were mounted on the horses. All of the camp equipage and furniture the Governor ordered to be broken and burned. He set the example by destroying all of his but his military chest. They began their homeward march at ten o'clock, encamped the first night on Little Pine, where they had camped the last night on the outward march, and so each night they occupied the okl camp until they reached the one at the Big Vermillion, on the night of the 12th. Here. at the block house, where their canoes, pirogues and keel boats were moored, they secured a supply of food of which they were in sore need, and here they embarked the wounded and the sick on the boats, making a happy exchange for them from the clumsy wagons over rough roads to the quiet boats on the placid Wabash. Here also they buried three more of the wounded soldiers who had died that day. Among them, George Spencer, brother of the gallant Spiers Spencer, who fell in battle and was buried on the field. This embarkation was at the block house three miles below the mouth of the Big Vermillion, not at Fort Har- rison, as a distinguished historian has recently recorded. On the morning of the 13th the army resumed its march, reaching Fort Harrison on the evening of the 14th and the crossing of Bossoron creek on the 18th, where the army, except the United States troops, were disbanded and went directly to their homes.
There is one other incident of this battle worthy of record. It is from the journal of Adam Walker, a private in this battle, published in Keene, New Hampshire. He says two voices were distinctly heard during the battle, the one of the Prophet, sitting on a nearby eminence, chanting a war song ; and the other of Governor Harrison, giving his orders, "in the same calm, cool and collected manner as he was accustomed to give them on parade." He personally led every corps into action on the field until the final charge. This coolness and collected manner was a characteristic of the Harrisons.
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This campaign, begun on the 26th of September and ended on the 18th of November, a period of fifty-four days, accomplished marvelous results. It organized and disciplined an army which marched three hundred miles, built a substantial fort on the way, fought a battle in the darkness of an early rainy morning, defeated a foe made up of the most fierce and warlike of the Indian tribes of the Northwest, broke the power of the false Prophet, crushed and forever scattered the confederacy which the wonderful skill, courage and per- severing patience of the unsurpassed leader, Tecumseh, had almost consoli- dated. Had his work been carried through and his confederacy fully per- fected, the war with Great Britain the coming year would have marked ap- palling disasters, which were thus averted. With the Indians, south, west and north thoroughly united and confederated, and led by Tecumseh and his lieu- tenants, all as allies of Great Britain, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and much of Kentucky would have been wiped off the map amid carnage, blood and flames, surpassing any description of the historic pen. But this wise, saga- cious leader, Governor Harrison, knew where and when to strike, and his gallant army knew how to strike: "how to do and dare and die" for their homes and loved ones. But the tardy government at Washington delayed and dallied till it was almost too late. Had they given Governor Harrison a free hand the battle would have been fought on the afternoon of the 6th of November, in daylight, instead of darkness, and this army in "home-spun" would have directed their bullets with that unerring certainty that would have told the savages a story that could never be wiped from savage memory. But in darkness and uncertainty, the lines of battle were maintained. "Oh! for night, or Blucher," was the almost despairing ery of Wellington at Waterloo. "Oh, for daylight," the prayer of this salvation army of the Northwest. girdled by savage foes whose horrid yells would almost chill the stoutest heart. Daylight and victory came joyously together: the battle was won: their homes were safe; their kindred saved.
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