USA > Texas > Border fights & fighters; stories of the pioneers between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi and in the Texan republic > Part 16
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VI. Forgotten !
Clark performed other services during the war; finding himself on one occasion in Virginia when Arnold invaded it, he joined Von Steuben as a volunteer, and fought gal- lantly under him. Virginia promoted him to be a briga-
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dier-general, and presented him with a sword, which, by the way, owing to the straitened finances caused by the war, was a second-hand one, although the best that could be procured at the time. Clark continued in the service of the state, headed several expeditions against the Ind- ians, got himself mixed up with the Spanish authorities and had his actions disavowed by the United States, and was finally dismissed the Virginia service, on the plea of poverty, which was true enough.
He had never enjoyed a commission in the Continental service, and the dismissal left him without employment. The remainder of his long life is a sad story of disappoint- ment and neglect. He was still a young man, and his years might have been filled with valuable service to his coun- try. His marvellous campaign had evidenced his quali- ties, but he became so embittered by the ungrateful treat- ment he had received that he fell into bad habits. He drank to excess. He had no wife or children, and lived alone for many years, hunting, fishing, and indulging his appetite with such of his old friends or comrades as chanced to visit his cabin, which was erected on a six- thousand-acre grant of land Virginia made to him when she ceded the northwest territory to the United States. He was land-poor and lonely.
Four years before he died he was stricken with paraly- sis. He was alone in his cabin at the time and fell into the fire, which so severely burned one leg that it had to be amputated. It is related that he desired a fife and a drum to be played outside the house while the operation was being performed. It was before the days of anæsthetics, and the grim old soldier sat in his chair and had his leg taken off without an expression of emotion, while mar- tial music was being dinned in his ears. He found a home in his last helpless years in the house of his sister, Mrs.
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Croghan, opposite Louisville, and there quietly slept away his life on February 13, 1818. He did much and suffered much-we may forgive him the rest.
There is a story that when his means were at last ex- hausted, and he could not obtain any settlement of his just claim against the state, he thrust the sword which Virginia had presented to him in the ground, broke it off at the hilt, and threw the pieces away with the bitter re- mark, “ When Virginia wanted a sword, I gave her mine. Now she sends me a toy. I want bread!" In his pa- ralysis, the state, leaving his claims still unsettled, seems to have sent him another sword !
Years after his death the tardy government of the United States settled his claim against it for the expenses incurred in his heroic campaigning, in which he had ex- hausted all his private fortune. It was not until 1877 that the claim of the heirs of Francis Vigo for a portion of the money which he had given to assist the northwest territory was allowed ! As Vigo left no wife or children the money was paid to collateral heirs. Even poor old Father Gibault, who had done such good service in secur- ing Vincennes and had given his own little property to Clark, in the endeavor to circulate the depreciated paper of the government, died in abject poverty, unrequited.
I do not know a more heroic achievement in our his- tory than Clark's capture of Vincennes. I do not know in our history of greater results from slenderer means than Clark's subjugation of the northwest. I do not know in our history a sadder picture than the broken, paralyzed old man, alone in his cabin; and lastly, I do not recall in any history a more moving example of national ingrat- itude than that experienced by the priest, the Spaniard, and the soldier.
PART V THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
II Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison
TECUMSEH AND WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON
I. The Greatest of the Indians
T O decide who is the greatest man of a race, a na- tion, or a period, is by no means easy; and any determination that may be arrived at, is likely to find as many opponents as advocates. Yet I am of the opinion that mature reflection will concede the fullest measure of greatness among the red men to Tecumseh.
In four centuries of American history, at least three, and possibly four, Indians may be called great, even when measured by civilized standards. Joseph Brandt, or Thayendenegea, the Iroquois, who is the possible fourth, but who would popularly be considered first, may not be taken as a fair representative of his race, for he was educated and his character formed by civilized influence, though the results of this influence-from the stand-point of civilization-were not always apparent. To be sure he was no worse than, in fact not half so bad as, many of his British contemporaries. But the three pure-blooded Indians who became what they were in the natural savage environment of their race and time, stand far above this veneered Iroquois in character, purpose, or achievement.
The third in degree was the first in point of time. Met- acomet, the Wampanoag, known as King Philip, was the engineer of that formidable conspiracy which had as its object the sweeping of the English into the sea, and as its
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hope the clearing of the new land of those European in- vaders with whom the savage chief found himself en- gaged in a struggle of life or death to his race.
King Philip belonged to the Algonquin family. Near- ly a hundred years after his death in 1676, Pontiac, the great war-chief of the Ottawas, born a Catawba, and therefore of the Mobilian family, launched his formidable conspiracy upon the English posts from Fort Pitt to Michilimackinac in 1763. Although he captured eight forts out of the twelve attacked, and inaugurated a cam- paign of devastation and horror upon the borders of the northwest, he failed at Detroit, and in the end was assassi- nated by a hired traitor belonging to a petty Illinois tribe.
Tecumseh, the greatest of the trio and the man who stands higher than any Indian who ever lived, had a deep- er view of the situation. While perhaps not so romantic as King Philip, nor so bold and fierce as Pontiac, he was the one solitary Indian who had, in addition to the tra- ditional characteristics of a warrior, the qualities of a statesman. Philip fought to drive the English into the sea. Pontiac to restore the supremacy of the French in the land. With these two, war was the end and aim of their conspiracies. In the case of Tecumseh, it was the inevitable result of his endeavor, but it was not its pri- mary object.
With a discernment and prescience which would not have been out of place in a modern philosopher, Tecum- seh realized that the object of the struggle, as well as the advantage of the situation, lay in the possession of the land.
He declared that the land occupied by the different tribes of Indians belonged to them all in common; that they could only hold it in severalty as tenants; that each
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tribe had title to the land it actually occupied, only while it occupied it; and that no cession of territory of whatso- ever degree could be made to the white man by any tribe for any purpose, without the general consent of all the tribes! To enforce this profound and catholic princi- ple, and to make it operative, he formed a league of the Trans-Allegheny tribes, extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
He, and he alone, seems to have discerned the folly, from the Indian point of view, of the alienation by partic- ular tribes of vast bodies of land to the Americans. He saw that in a very short time there would be no foot of land owned by the Indian on the hither side of the Mis- sissippi, hence the league. This evidences his capacity, his genius, and his title to pre-eminence. Alone of all the Indians he entertained this idea and he came perilously near putting it into operation. Had he been a Greek, a Roman, a Frenchman, a German, or an Englishman he would have been called a patriot and a hero. James Par- ton says of him :
" Every race produces superior individuals, whose lives constitute its heroic ages. Investigation establishes that Tecumseh, though not the faultless ideal of a patriot prince that romantic story represents him, was all of a pa- triot, a hero, a MAN, that an Indian can be. If to con- ceive a grand, difficult, and unselfish project; to labor for many years with enthusiasm and prudence in attempting its execution; to enlist in it by the magnetism of personal influence great multitudes of various tribes; to contend for it with unfaltering valor longer than there was hope of success; and to die fighting for it to the last, falling for- ward toward the enemy covered with wounds, is to give proof of an heroic cast of character, then is the Shawnee
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chief, Tecumseh, in whose veins flowed no blood that was not Indian, entitled to rank among Heroes."
General William Henry Harrison adds this testimony to his character and abilities :
" He was one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions, and over- turn the established order of things. If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would, perhaps, be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico or Peru. No difficulties deter him. For four years he has been in constant motion. You see him to-day on the Wabash, and in a short time hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on the banks of the Missis- sippi; and wherever he goes he makes an impression favorable to his purposes."
Three boys were born at a single birth in the latter part of the eighteenth century, date uncertain, near where is now Springfield, Ohio. Their father was a Shawnee (Al- gonquin) and their mother a captive Creek (Mobilian). Thus they represented in their own persons the great eth- nic divisions of the Indian race, a fact of no little import- ance in their subsequent career.
One of the trio may be dismissed from consideration, since nothing is known of him but his name. The eldest of the triplets was called Tecumthe, at least this appears to be the approved orthography, but he has gone into history under the name of Tecumseh, and it is not now worth while to change it. His name means " the wild cat that leaps upon his prey." He is described as a tall, athletic, handsome man, of noble and commanding pres- ence. To his well-earned reputation as a warrior was added a fluent and persuasive oratory. Although he was not born a chief he easily raised himself to a position of
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general leadership by his talents. He was a formidable foeman indeed.
The second child was known as " the Prophet;" his Indian name being Elkswatawa, the word signifying " the man with the loud voice." It is probable that neither of these names was bestowed upon the boys until advancing years had given their elders some inkling of their charac- ters. Indeed, it is asserted that Elkswatawa was a drunk- en, dissolute vagabond in his early years, and for his ca- pacity for imbibing liquors was formerly known as " The Open Door." He had lost an eye in some drunken brawl which did not improve his sly and sinister cast of counte- nance. His brother, it is supposed, finally reformed him. That is, he outwardly reformed him. Elkswatawa quit drinking and abandoned his wicked courses, but the fund of lies with which he had been charged was got rid of so slowly that he never exhausted his stock. He had noth- ing whatever of the nobility of soul, the breadth of thought, or the depth of intellect of Tecumseh, yet he was shrewd, cunning, and in his way, capable.
He lent to the league the element of the supernatural. He gave to the plan of Tecumseh the sanction of religion. He posed as the prophet of the new undertaking of which Tecumseh was the leader. And because he was small in character and did not measure up to the greatness of his brother, by his folly he gave the opportunity by which the blow was dealt that broke up what was undoubtedly the most formidable savage confederacy with which the American border was ever menaced. It is, probable, in- deed, that he finally imposed upon himself, and believing in his own prophecies, was thereby "hoist by his own petard ! "
Exhibiting a remarkable degree of patience and self-
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restraint, for several years Tecumseh worked at his plans with indefatigable energy, travelling from one end of the country to the other and gradually organizing the tribes into his confederacy, and impressing upon them his great idea. The Indian character is not favorable to such con -. federacies or combinations, but had it not been for the precipitate action of the prophet it is possible that Te- cumseh might have met with so large a measure of success in his attempts as to have changed the history of the bor- der to a great degree.
II. The Protagonist of the League
It is a singular fact that the whole scheme tumbled to pieces like a house of cards, at a single bloody touch in the northwest, although in the south there was a long and hard-fought war, especially with the Creeks, which was entirely due to the efforts of the great Shawnee. The man who shrewdly took advantage of Tecumseh's absence and the folly of Elkswatawa, to break up the league, and finally to cause the death of the great chieftain, was Will- iam Henry Harrison. The history of three years was a sort of duel between the two, with the northwest territory as the reward of success; and, as is always the case, the white man won.
It is only of late that the reason for the importance in which the battles of Tippecanoe and the Thames have been held instinctively by the people of the central west has come to light. They were small affairs, as battles go, though gallantly fought on both sides, but their conse- quences were far-reaching ; the one broke up the scheme, the other removed the schemer!
If Tecumseh could have matured his plans without mo-
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lestation, if he had had time to have brought all the Ind- ians on this side of the Mississippi into subserviency to his will, and had thrown them upon the American border, in let us say, the war of 1812, as he did those whom he could influence, the situation would have been grave in- deed. The border would have been devastated, the fron- tier settlements wiped out, the war of 1812 would have been indefinitely prolonged with horrors indescribable. As it was, had it not been for him and his Indians, a large part of western Canada would have belonged to the United States by conquest.
Harrison was a Virginian. The west was explored, con- quered, and protected, generally speaking, by men from the south of Mason's and Dixon's line-a fact usually lost sight of in our histories. His ancestry, which included a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Virginia, could be traced back to one of Cromwell's indomitable Ironsides, and far beyond. After graduating from Hampden-Sydney College he secured a commission in the regular army, against the advice of Robert Morris, his guardian. His first military experience was enjoyed under the personal instruction of that splendid revolu- tionary and border campaigner, Anthony Wayne.
He was one of Wayne's aides in the war in the north- west which culminated in the victory of Fallen Timbers; where, by the way, Tecumseh is alleged to have distin- guished himself on the Indian side. He was a close stu- dent of military matters, and his native talents as a soldier enabled him, a boy of nineteen, to prepare an order of march for the army as it advanced through the country of the hostile Indians, which was adopted unanimously by Wayne and the veteran officers to whom it was submitted.
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Harrison was the incarnation of personal daring and romantic gallantry. He married his wife in opposition to the wishes of her father, a certain Judge Symmes, uncle of the man who originated the absurd " Symmes Hole " theory of the North Pole.
" Well, sir," sternly said the old judge to the young captain when he learned of the wedding, " I understand that you have married Anna."
" Yes, sir."
" How do you expect to support her?"
" By my sword and by my right arm," was the doughty reply. And it may be said that no woman ever depended upon two more reliable things than those.
At the age of twenty-four he resigned the army, was made secretary of, then delegate to Congress from, the northwest territory; and was subsequently (1801) ap- pointed the governor of the newly erected Indiana Terri- tory, which owes much to his fostering care and judicious administration.
By the summer of 1811 Tecumseh's league had become so formidable that he ventured formally to protest against a treaty which had been signed at Fort Wayne in 1809, by some of the tribes, ceding some three million acres of Indiana land to the United States for some eight thou- sand dollars and annuities aggregating less than twenty- four hundred dollars !
This tribal action was in opposition to his communal principle, and a council was appointed to discuss the matter. In violation of agreement Tecumseh came to Vincennes with four hundred armed Indians. The pro- ceedings of the council were interrupted by the threaten- ing attitude of the Indians. Harrison at one time drew his sword and rallied his small company of guards about
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" Messengers brought letters appealing for vengeance or protection."
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him, fearing he would have to fight the angry Indians at once. Only his courage and coolness prevented a serious and bloody rupture then and there .*
Matters were patched up, however; time was not ripe for Tecumseh's revolt yet, and it was finally agreed that the matter should be referred to the President of the United States. As it would take some time to hear from this referee, whose decision might easily be imagined, Te- cumseh, who had been merely playing for time, left the northwest and hastened south for a final appeal to the Indians of that section, leaving the charge of affairs of the northwest to the Prophet, with strict instructions to per- mit no rupture during his absence. His departure was fatal to his hopes, a mistake which caused the downfall of the confederacy. The Prophet's control of the Indians was not nearly so complete as that of his brother, and a series of petty forays, farm-burnings, murderings, and so forth, exasperated and irritated the settlers almost beyond endurance. Messengers brought letters to the Governor from all parts of the territory appealing for vengeance or protection. They had been hot for a punitive expedition from the first, indeed it is likely that one would have been undertaken if the Indians had remained quiet, so splendid a chance being afforded the Americans by Tecumseh's absence in the south. It was therefore soon determined that Harrison should march into the disputed territory
*Tecumseh refused to go under a roof to hold this council.
"Houses," he said haughtily, "were built for you to hold councils in ; Indians hold theirs in the open air." After he had finished his speech one of Harrison's aides pointed to a chair, saying, "Your father requests you to take a seat by his side." "My father!" replied the chief scornfully, as he stood erect before them; "the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother. On her bosom I will recline," he added, as he sat down upon the ground.
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and make a demonstration in force which should at least compel the Prophet and his followers to observe the status quo until the President had been heard from, and which, if opportunity served, might do more serious work. As usual in our Indian difficulties, there was black treach- ery on both sides.
Troops had already been assembled at Vincennes, the territorial capital. They were few in number but high in quality, the nucleus of the force being the Fourth U. S. Infantry, ordered from Pittsburg, under the command of Colonel John P. Boyd. Boyd was a Yankee soldier of fortune. After three years' service in the regular army he resigned his commission and went to India, where he took service under the Nizam of Hyderabad. He came back, after a sojourn of nine years, with substantial evi- dences of the favor of the Indian potentate, and was at once appointed colonel of the Fourth Infantry. Around this force had assembled a considerable body of the Indi- ana militia with two companies of Kentucky riflemen. These troops Harrison had trained and disciplined with the most painstaking care and they proved themselves fully the equals of any American soldiers who ever fought. They were in no sense the disorderly militiamen, or trained bands, which had brought the name of militia into such disrepute in the first half of the century. They were soldiers.
Among those who repaired to his standard in answer to his call were a number of men of the highest consider- ation. Abraham Owen and Jo: Daviess of Kentucky, Randolph of Indiana, young George Croghan from Louis- ville, and many others. Daviess was the most noted character. Tales of his extraordinary courage, his won- derful oratorical power, his striking eccentricities, still
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remain. He was the attorney, by the way, who prose- cuted Aaron Burr. When he went to Washington on one occasion, he had a suit made of red broadcloth! " How else," he remarked when he was questioned as to the reason for this marvellous costume, " would anybody know that Jo: Daviess was in town?" Daviess was in- tensely ambitious of distinction and had evidently deter- mined to let no opportunity of advancing himself escape him in the coming campaign.
The most noted body of militia was Captain Spier Spen- cer's company of mounted riflemen who were attached to the Fourth regiment of Indiana infantry. The men were uniformed in short coatees of yellow and were known as Spencer's " Yellow Jackets."
As fast as the different bodies assembled at Vincennes they were sent up the Wabash. Boats carried the major portion of supplies up the river until the site of what is now Terre Haute, at the head of navigation, was reached. The force comprised nine companies of regulars, thirteen of Indians and two of Kentucky militia; of which seven companies, aggregating some two hundred and fifty men, were mounted. Here they built a fort to protect the boats which it was necessary to leave behind. The stockade was called Fort Harrison, and was garrisoned by Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, the famous " I'll try, sir," officer of Lundy's Lane. On October 28th, 1811, the army numbering about a thousand men set forth for the Prophet's town, which was situated at the confluence of Tippecanoe Creek and the Wabash. The word Tippe- canoe is a corruption of the Indian word " Keh-tip-a-quo- wonk," meaning the " Great Clearing."
The shortest way to the town would have been by the east bank, but as it was thickly wooded and convenient
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for Indian ambuscades, Harrison chose to take the longer way around the bend of the river upon the west bank. A few miles brought the troops for the first time to the vast prairies which stretched far westward through Illinois, and the chroniclers report the surprise and admiration with which they regarded the unwonted landscape. They marched rapidly forward until on the 6th of November, 18II, they came to a thick patch of woodland abound- ing in ravines and extending some miles to the west- ward of the river. They proceeded through this with the greatest caution, Harrison again adopting the ar- rangement and order of march which he had suggested in Wayne's campaign, to guard against ambush and surprise.
In the late afternoon they were met by messengers from the Prophet, who professed to be very much sur- prised at the proximity of this formidable force. The Prophet's messengers asked for a council. They said that other messengers had been sent down the east bank to intercept the army, which they had expected would come that way. After some discussion Harrison ap- pointed a council for the next morning.
Meanwhile the American soldiers had been marching up the river. Toward five o'clock they had approached within two hundred yards of the Prophet's town. The Indians massed themselves in front of the town, and a bat- tle appeared imminent. Harrison, however, did not think it advisable to attack the fortified town in daylight, so he halted his men. The representations of the Prophet's envoys that Elkswatawa was peaceably inclined and that all differences would be adjusted at the council, induced Harrison to encamp for the night. He did not expect the council to bring about any results, but he intended to
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hold it, and then attack the town on the following night. The Prophet merely anticipated him by a night. Elks- watawa should have abandoned the town and led his peo- ple in flight until the Americans were no longer able to pursue. The Indian plans were not yet ripe for battle, and should war begin in the absence of Tecumseh the chance of savage success would be slight.
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