USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
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ยท this point, the council proceeded; and the verdict was, that the murder was an individual affair, sanctioned by neither party-which brought the council to a close, with a reconciliation of both parties, and the sat- isfaction of the settlers.
But the protestations of Tecumseh and the Prophet could not allay the uneasiness of the settlements; and before the end of the fall Governor Harrison sent the following speech, by an Indian agent, to the Shawnees :
" MY CHILDREN :- Listen to me; I speak in the name of your father, the great chief of the Seventeen Fires.
" My children, it is now twelve years since the tomahawk, which you had seized by the advice of your father, the king of Great Britain, was turied at Greenville, in the presence of that great warrior, Gen. Wayne.
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" My children, you then promised, and the Great Spirit heard it, that you would in future live in peace and friendship with your brothers, the Americans. You made a treaty with your father, and one that con- tained a number of good things, equally beneficial to all the tribes of the red people, who were parties to it.
"My children, you promised in that treaty to acknowledge no other father than the chief of the Seventeen Fires; and never to listen to the proposition of any foreign nation. You promised never to lift up the tomahawk against any of your father's children, and to give him notice of any other tribe that intended it; your father also promised to do some- thing for you, particularly to deliver to you every year a certain quan- tity of goods; to prevent any white man from settling on your lands without your consent, or to do you any personal injury. He promised to run a line between your land and his, so that you might know your own; and you were to be permitted to live and hunt upon your father's land, as long as you behaved yourselves well. My children, which of these articles has your father broken? You know that he has observed them all with the utmost good faith. But, my children, have you done so? Have you not always had your ears open to receive bad advice from the white people beyond the lakes?
"My children, let us look back to times that are passed. It has been a long time since you called the king of Great Britain father. You know that it is the duty of a father to watch over his children, to give them good advice, and to do every thing in his power to make them happy. What has this father of yours done for you, during the long time that you have looked up to him for protection and advice ? Are you wiser and happier than you were before you knew him, or is your nation stronger or more respectable ? No, my children, he took you by the hand when you were a powerful tribe; you held him fast, supposing he was your friend, and he conducted you through paths filled with thorns and briers, which tore your flesh and shed your blood. Your strength was exhausted, and you could no longer follow him. Did he stay by you in your distress, and assist and comfort you ? No, he led you into danger and then abandoned you. He saw your blood flowing and he would give you no bandage to tie up your wounds. This was the conduct of the man who called himself your father. The Great Spirit opened your eyes; you heard the voice of the chief of the Seven- teen Fires speaking the words of peace. He called you to follow him; you came to him, and he once more put you on the right way, on the broad, smooth road that would have led to happiness. But the voice of your deceiver is again heard; and, forgetful of your former sufferings, you are again listening to him. My children, shut your ears and mind him not, or he will lead you to ruin and misery.
" My children, I have heard bad news. The sacred spot where the great council fire was kindled, around which the Seventeen Fires and ten tribes of their children smoked the pipe of peace - that very spot where the Great Spirit saw his red and white children encircle themselves with
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the chain of friendship -- that place has been selected for dark and bloody councils. My children, this business must be stopped. You have called in a number of men from the most distant tribes, to listen to a fool, who spake not the words of the Great Spirit, but those of the devil, and of the British agents. My children, your conduct has much alarmed the white settlers near you. They desire that you will send away those people, and if they wish to have the impostor with them, they can carry him. Let him go to the lakes; he can hear the British more distinctly."
The Prophet's reply was, that evil birds had sung in the governor's ears; and he denied any correspondence with the British, protesting that he had no intentions whatever of disturbing the settlements. Tecumseh continued to urge a confederacy and the Prophet's influence extended. Even the Ojibways, far up the lakes, and their neighbors, came down in great numbers, and exhausting their provisions, were fed at Fort Wayne by order of Gov. Harrison.
The Pottawatomies and Kickapoos having granted them a tract of land, Tecumseh and the Prophet, in the spring of 1808, removed to Tippecanoe, where he collected some Shawnees and about 100 from the northern tribes. The Miamis and Delawares, being friendly to the whites, were greatly opposed to their coming, and even sent a delega- tion to stop them. But Tecumseh boldly told the party they were not to be thwarted in their purposes to ameliorate the condition of their brethren.
In August, the Prophet, accompanied by several of his followers, visited Governor Harrison, at Vincennes, protesting, as formerly, that his purposes were peaceable. In the course of his speech he made these remarkably wise and just observations :
" 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. That we ought to consider ourselves as one man: but we ought to live agreeably to our several customs, the red people after their mode and the white people after theirs; particu- larly, that they should not drink whisky; that it was not made for them, but the white people, who alone knew how to use it; and that it is the cause of all the mischiefs which the Indians suffer; and that they must always follow the directions of the Great Spirit, and we must listen to him, as it was He that made us; determine to listen 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 meddle with anything that does not be- long to you, but mind your own business, and cultivate the ground, that your women and your children may have enough to live on.
"I now inform you that it is our intention to live in peace with our father and his people forever, and I call the Great Spirit to witness the truth of my declaration. The religion which I have established for the last three years, has been attended to by the different tribes of Indians in this part of the world. These Indians were once different people;
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they are now but one; they are all determined to practice what I have communicated to them, that has come immediately from the Great Spirit through me.
"I have listened to what you have said to us. You have promised to assist us. I now request you, in behalf of all the red people, to use your exertions to prevent the sale of liquor to us. We are all well pleased to hear you say that you will endeavor to promote our happiness. We give you every assurance that we will follow the dictates of the Great Spirit."
To test the influence of the Prophet over his followers, Gov. Harri- son held conversations with and offered them spirits, but they always re- fused, and he became almost convinced that the Indian was sincere in his professions, and had no other ambition than to ameliorate the condi- tion of his race.
During the following year Tecumseh and the Prophet sought quietly to add strength to their movement. Both were engaged in a deep game; and while the Prophet seemed the leading spirit, Tecumseh was yet the prime mover. The Prophet attempted but little without first getting the advice of his brother, though it is evident he was most headstrong in much that he undertook.
In the spring of 1809, Capt. Wells sent word to Gov. Harrison that many of the Indians were leaving the Prophet because of his requiring them to become parties to a scheme for the massacre of the inhabitants of Vincennes. The governor began the organization of two companies of militia, to garrison a post two miles from that town. But the Prophet's followers dispersed before the close of the summer.
On the 30th of September, 1809, Gov. Harrison concluded another treaty at Fort Wayne, in which the Delaware, Pottawatomie, Miami and Eel river tribes participated. According to this treaty, the Indians ceded about 2,900,000 acres of land, principally situated on the southeastern side of the river Wabash, and below the mouth of Raccoon creek, a little stream which empties into the Wabash, near what is now the boundary of Parke county. The chiefs of the Wea tribe, in the following month, having met Gov. Harrison at Vincennes, acknowledged the legality of this treaty; and by a treaty held at Vincennes on the 9th of December following, the Kickapoo tribe also confirmed the treaty. Up to this time, the land ceded to the United States by treaty stipulations between Governor Harrison and the different tribes of Indiana territory, amounted to 29,719,530 acres.
Having received, through a reliable source, information regarding an effort of Tecumseh and the Prophet to incite the Indians against the settlements, and that those who had left the ranks of the Prophet had again returned to his support; and further, that the British had their agents quietly at work among the tribes thus banded, and that the In- dians were boasting to American traders that they were getting their ammunition without cost, Gov. Harrison, through instructions from the secretary of war, in July, 1810, began to prepare for the protection of the frontier.
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As the summer of 1810 advanced, it became more and more evident to Governor Harrison that the true purpose of Tecumseh and the Prophet was to make war upon the whites. Early in June, Leatherlips, subsequently known as the "Doomed Warrior," a chief of the Wyandots, who held the " great belt," was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death, and the sentence was carried out by breaking his skull with a tomahawk. From the best information Governor Harrison could ob- tain, this charge of witchcraft was made by the Prophet, and its penalty inflicted only against and upon those friendly to the United States. A few weeks after the death of the Wyandot chief, he learned that a plot was nearly matured for the surprise and massacre of the garrisons at Fort Wayne, Detroit, Chicago, Vincennes and St. Louis. Tecumseh and the Prophet were moving secretly but surely to that end.
There was still much opposition to the proposed union and war, and such chiefs as Winnemac, and various civil chiefs, remained friendly to Gen. Harrison. From one of the Iowas Harrison learned that a British agent had recently visited the Prophet, and encouraged the latter to continue in his efforts to unite the tribes, but to await a signal from the British before carrying out their designs against the Americans.
Finding that the most constant watchfulness was necessary, Gov. Har- rison dispatched two agents to Tecumseh and his brother to ascertain, if possible, their real designs. Receiving the agents very courteously, in reply to the inquiries made, the Prophet told the agents that the assem- bling of the Indians upon that spot was by the explicit command of the Great Spirit.
The agent told him that his movements had excited so much alarm that the troops of Kentucky and Indiana were being called out, and preparations were being made for trouble.
In answer to the questions of the agents as to the cause of his com- plaints against the United States, the Prophet replied that his people had been cheated of their lands. Though told that his complaints would readily be listened to by Gov. Harrison, at Vincennes, the Prophet re- fused to go, saying that while there upon a former occasion he was badly treated.
Receiving this information, the governor at once wrote to the secre- tary, stating the cause, and telling him that all this caviling was merely a pretext on the part of Tecumseh and the Prophet; that he had been as liberal in the conclusion of treaties as his understanding of the views and opinions of the government would permit, and that none of the tribes had just cause for complaint.
Having heard, in July, that the Sacs and Foxes had formed an alliance with the Prophet, and were ready and willing to strike the Amer- icans at any time, Governor Harrison sent the following address to the Prophet by a confidential interpreter :
" Notwithstanding the improper language which you have used toward me, I will endeavor to open your eyes to your true interests. Notwithstanding what bad white men have told you, I am not your per-
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sonal enemy. You ought to know this from the manner in which I received and treated you on your visit to this place.
" Although I must say that you are an enemy to the Seventeen Fires, and that you have used the greatest exertions with other tribes to lead them astray. In this, you have been in some measure successful; as I am told they are ready to raise the tomahawk against their father; yet their father, notwithstanding his anger at their folly, is full of goodness, and is always ready to receive into his arms those of his children who are willing to repent, acknowledge their fault, and ask for his forgiveness.
" There is yet but little harm done, which may easily be repaired. The chain of friendship which united the whites with the Indians may be renewed, and be as strong as ever. A great deal of that work de- pends upon you - the destiny of those who are under you, depends upon the choice you may make of the two roads which are before you. The one is large, open and pleasant, and leads to peace, security and happiness; the other, on the contrary, is narrow and crooked, and leads to misery and ruin. Don't deceive yourselves; ao not believe that all the nations of Indians united are able to resist the force of the Seven- teen Fires. I know your warriors are brave, but ours are not less so; but what can a few brave warriors do against the innumerable warriors of the Seventeen Fires ? Our blue-coats are more numerous than you can count; our hunters are like the leaves of the forest, or the grains of sand on the Wabash.
" Do not think that the red-coats can protect you; they are not able to protect themselves. They do not think of going to war with us. If they did, you would, in a few months, see our flag wave over all the forts of Canada.
" What reason have you to complain of the Seventeen Fires ? Have they taken any thing from you ? Have they ever violated the treaties made with the red-men ? You say that they have purchased lands from them who had no right to sell them; show that this is true, and the land will be instantly restored. Show us the rightful owners of those lands which have been purchased -let them present themselves. The ears of your father will be open to your complaints, and if the lands have been purchased of those who did not own them, they will be re- stored to their rightful owners. I have full power to arrange this busi- ness; but if you would rather carry your complaints before your great father, the president, you shall be indulged. I will immediately take means to send you, with those chiefs which you may choose, to the city where your father lives. Every thing necessary shall be prepared for your journey, and means taken for your safe return."
After hearing this speech, the Prophet told the interpreter that, as his brother intended to pay Governor Harrison a visit in a few weeks, he would let him carry the reply to the governor's message. Receiv- ing this information, Governor Harrison sent a message to Tecumseh, requesting him to bring but a small body of his followers, as it was in- convenient for him to receive many. To this Tecumseh paid no regard,
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and on the 12th of August, 1810, with four hundred warriors, all armed with tomahawks, war-clubs, and "painted in the most terrific manner," he began to descend the Wabash. Arriving near Vincennes, on the morning of the 15th, attended by about fifteen or twenty of his warriors, Tecumseh approached the house of the governor, who, in company with the judges of the supreme court, several army officers, a sergeant and a dozen men, besides a large number of citizens, waited upon the portico of his house to receive the chief.
During the milder season of the year, to hold a council other than in a grove, with logs or turf to sit upon, was distasteful to the Indians, and to the invitation to come forward and take seats upon the portico, he objected, signifying that it was not a fit place to hold a council, and at his request the governor and his attendants took seats beneath a grove of trees before the house.
With a firm and elastic step and with a proud and somewhat defiant look, Tecumseh advanced to the place where the governor and those who had been invited to attend the conference were sitting. This place had been fenced in to prevent the crowd from encroaching upon the coun- cil. As he stepped forward he seemed to scan the preparations which had been made for his reception, particularly the military part of it, with an eye of suspicion - by no means, however, with fear. As he came in front of the dias, an elevated portion of the place upon which the gover- nor and the officers of the territory were seated, the governor invited him, through the interpreter, to take a seat with him and his counselors, premising the invitation by saying that it was the wish of their "great father," the president of the United States, that he should do so. Paus- ing for a moment, at the utterance of these words by the interpreter, and extending his tall figure to its greatest height, he looked upon the troops and then upon the crowd about him. Thus, for a moment, with keen, piercing eyes fixed upon Gov. Harrison, and then upward to the sky, he raised his sinewy arm toward the heavens, with a tone and gesture ex- pressive of supreme contempt for the paternity assigned him, and in a clear, loud, full voice, exclaimed :
" My Father ?- The sun is my father-the earth is my mother - and on her bosom I will recline." Having finished, he stretched himself with his warriors on the green sward. The effect is said to have been electrical - for some moments there was a perfect silence throughout the assembly.
Gov. Harrison said to Tecumseh through the interpreter, that he had understood he had complaints to make, and redress to ask for certain wrongs which he, Tecumseh, supposed had been done his tribe, as well as the others; that he felt disposed to listen to the one, and make satis- faction for the other, if it was proper he should do so. That in all his intercourse and negotiations with the Indians, he had endeavored to act justly and honorably with them, and believed he had done so, and had heard of no complaint of his conduct until he learned that Tecumseh was endeavoring to create dissatisfaction toward the government, not
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only among the Shawnees, but among the other tribes dwelling on the Wabash and Illinois; and had, in so doing, produced a great deal of mis- chief and trouble between them and the whites, by averring that the tribes, whose land the government had lately purchased, had no right to so sell, nor their chiefs any authority to convey. That the governor had invited hin to attend the council with a view of learning from his own lips whether there was any truth in the reports, and to learn from him whether he, or his tribe, had any cause of complaint. against the whites; and if so, as a man and a warrior, openly and boldly to avow it. That, as between himself and as great a warrior as Tecumseh, there should be no concealment-all should be done by them under a clear sky, and in an open path, and with these feelings on his own part, he was glad to meet him in council.
In appearance, Tecumseh was accounted one of the most splendid specimens of his tribe-who claimed that they were the first created and most perfect of men. Tall, athletic and manly, dignified and grace- ful, he was the beau ideal of an Indian chieftain. In a voice, at first low, but distinct, Tecumseh replied, stating at length his objections to the treaty at Fort Wayne, made by Gov. Harrison in the previous year; and in the course of his speech, boldly avowed the principle of his party to be that of resistance to every cession of land, unless made by all the tribes, which he contended, formed but one nation. He admitted that he threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the treaty of Fort Wayne; and that it was his fixed determination not to permit the village chiefs, in future, to manage their affairs, but to place the power with which they had been heretofore invested, in the hands of the war chiefs. The Americans, he said, had driven the Indians from the sea-coast, and would soon push them into the lakes; and while he disclaimed all intention of making war upon the United States, he declared it to be his unalterable resolution to make a stand, and resolutely oppose the further intrusion of the whites upon the Indian lands. He concluded with a brief but impassioned recital of the various wrongs and aggressions upon the Indians from the commencement of the revolutionary war.
The governor rose in reply, and in examining the right of Tecumseh and his party to make objections to the treaty of Fort Wayne, took occasion to say, that the Indians were not one nation, having a common property in the lands. The Miamis, he contended, were the real owners of the tract on the Wabash, ceded by the late treaty, and the Shawnees had no right to interfere in the case; that upon the arrival of the whites on this continent, they had found the Miamis in possession of this land, the Shawnees being then residents of Georgia, from which they had been driven by the Creeks, and that it was ridiculous to assert that the red men constituted but one nation; for, if such had been the intention of the Great Spirit, he would not have put different tongues in their heads, but have taught them all to speak the same language.
The governor having taken his seat, the interpreter commenced ex- plaining the speech to Tecumseh, who, after listening to a portion of it,
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sprang to his feet, and began to speak with great vehemence of manner. The governor was surprised at his violent gestures, but as he did not understand him, he thought he was making some explanation, and suf- fered his attention to be drawn toward Winnemac, a friendly Indian ly- ing on the grass before him, who was renewing the priming of his pistol, which he had kept concealed from the other Indians, but in full view of the governor. His attention, however, was again attracted toward Tecumseh, by hearing Gen. Gibson, who was intimately acquainted with the Shawnee language, say to Lieut. Jennings, " Those fellows intend mischief; you had better bring up the guard." At that moment, the followers of Tecumseh seized their tomahawks and war-clubs, and sprang upon their feet, their eyes turned upon the governor. As soon as he could disengage himself from the arm-chair in which he sat, he rose, drew a small sword which he had by his side, and stood on the de- fensive, Capt. G. R. Floyd who stood near him, drew a dirk, and the chief Winnemac cocked his pistol. The citizens present were more nu- merous than the Indians, but were unarmed; some of them procured clubs and brick-bats, and also stood on the defensive. The Rev. Mr. Winans, of the Methodist church, ran to the governor's house, got a gun, and posted himself at the door to defend the family. During this singular scene, no one spoke, until the guard came running up, and ap- peared to be in the act of firing, when the governor ordered then not to do so. He then demanded of the interpreter an explanation of what had happened, who replied that Tecumseh had interrupted him, declar- ing that all the governor had said was false; and that he and the Seven- teen Fires had cheated and imposed on the Indians.
The governor then told Tecumseh that he was a bad man, and that he would hold no further communication with him; that as he had come to Vincennes under the protection of a council-fire, he might return in safety, but he must immediately leave the village. Here the council terminated. During the night, two companies of militia were brought in from the country, and that belonging to the town was also called out. Next morning Tecumseh requested the governor to afford him an op- portunity of explaining his conduct on the previous day - declaring that he did not intend to attack the governor, and that he had acted under the advice of some of the white people. The governor consented to another interview, it being understood that each party should have the same armed force as on the previous day. On this occasion the deport- ment of Tecumseh was respectful and dignified. He again denied hav- ing any intention to make an attack upon the governor, and declared that he had been stimulated to the course he had taken, by two white men, who assured him that one-half the citizens were opposed to the governor, and willing to restore the land in question; that the governor would soon be put out of office, and a good man sent to fill his place, who would give up the land to the Indians. When asked by the gov- ernor whether he intended to resist the survey of these lands, Tecumseh replied that he and his followers were resolutely determined to insist
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