USA > Texas > Border fights & fighters; stories of the pioneers between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi and in the Texan republic > Part 17
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The Americans, being ignorant of the country, the Ind- ians were requested to indicate a proper place for an en- campment. They pointed out a knoll about a mile and a half to the right. After it had been examined by officers and found suitable, Harrison moved his army there to pass the night.
The bench of land, or plateau, was in the form of a nar- row triangle, the apex being to the southeast and very acute. It rested upon a deep rivulet called Bennett's Creek, which protected the rear. The base of the trian- gle on a level with the surrounding country was open to attack. At the back of the hill the land rose steeply some twenty feet above the creek. It sloped gently toward the Prophet's town in front, and faced, after an abrupt descent of ten feet, a stretch of marshy prairie which extended for a long distance. The place was thickly wooded, the ground cumbered with underbrush and fallen timber. There was plenty of wood and water, two prime requi- sites, and the situation was fairly defensible, especially against regular troops.
The smallness of Harrison's force rendered it impossi- ble for him to occupy the whole of the plateau. He pitched his camp with the rear resting on the creek and the lines were roughly drawn in the form of a trapezoid, following the shape of the hill, but at some little distance from the edge, the front face occupying about seventy-
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five yards and the perimeter of the entire encampment being about two hundred and fifty.
Commencing with the northwest corner, the troops were posted in the following general order: The Ken- tuckians and one Indiana company occupied the left flank ;
FIRST ATTACKS!
C
BURNET'S CR
-
DEC
LO
SWET
PRAIRIE
THE
PROPHET'S TOWN
REGULARS
INDIANIANS.
KENTUCKIANS
CAVALRY.
Plan of the Battle of Tippecanoe.
one battalion of regulars and one of Indiana militia were posted in the centre of the front line; on the right flank were more Indiana militia, and Spencer's company occupying the point or narrow part of the line. The rear was allotted to the remainder of the militia and the second
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battalion of regulars which joined the Kentuckians on the northwest corner. The cavalry under Daviess and Park were posted in the rear of the northeast angle. The officers' tents, those of the regular troops, and the bag- gage train, were placed in the centre of the enclosure. On account of the length to be covered the men were posted in single rank fairly close together, and a thin line of humanity encircled the field.
The night was very cold. Rain fell at intervals, al- though toward morning the moon shone fitfully from time to time through the drifting clouds. Huge fires were kindled, without which it would not have been pos- sible for the troops to take any rest. A camp guard of over one hundred men under experienced officers, a large quota for so small a body, was carefully posted, and in- structions as to what should be done in case of a night at- tack were promulgated. The men were ordered to lie with their guns loaded and bayonets fixed. Only the regulars had tents, and in order to keep their pieces dry many of the militia wrapped their gun-locks in their coats or blankets and lay uncovered near the fires.
III. The Battle of Tippecanoe
Harrison's experience in Indian warfare had taught him that it was a wise precaution to awaken his men early in the morning, so as to be prepared for attacks which the Indians usually delivered shortly before sun- rise. He had just risen, therefore, at four o'clock on the morning of the 7th, from a few hours of troubled sleep, and was pulling on his boots preparatory to leaving his tent and giving the order calling the men to attention, when the stillness of the night was broken by the sound
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of a rifle shot which came out of the woodland to the northwest. It was instantly followed by a fusillade.
Corporal Stephen Mars of Kentucky, the sentry whose beat extended farthest in the woods to the northwest, had detected dark bodies creeping noiselessly through the underbrush toward his post. He fired upon them in- stantly and then turned and dashed for the camp, shouting in alarm as he ran. The Indians who had approached thus near the lines with wonderful skill, saw that conceal- ment was at an end. They shot Mars dead before he had gone a dozen paces, and then, shouting their war-cries, rushed upon the regulars and Kentuckians who were posted on either side of that angle. Almost before the startled men, so suddenly awakened, were aware of their situation, the red warriors burst upon them.
Seizing their weapons, after a single discharge of rifle or musket, there being no time for reloading, a desperate hand-to-hand conflict ensued, with rifle butt and bayonet against tomahawk and scalping knife. Such was the dash of the Indian attack that the two companies gave ground, as the savages in apparently countless numbers came leaping upon them out of the darkness.
Meanwhile the whole camp had sprung to arms. The men stood in line, peering out into the black dark woods surrounding them, awaiting the next development, which was not long in coming, for presently along the whole front and extending around the right flank the crackle of rifles and muskets was heard, so that the entire camp, save for the space protected by the creek, was simultaneously assailed.
Up in the northwest corner the condition of affairs was indeed critical. In spite of the heroic efforts of the troops, the Indians effected an entrance in the camp, and if they
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could maintain their position the lines would be taken in the rear while they were attacked in the front, and the re- sult would be annihilation. Major Baen of the regulars was mortally hurt, Captain Geiger of the Kentuckians wounded, and many other officers and men were killed or wounded, and the line was giving away in great confusion. Some of the Indians who had broken through stopped to plunder the tents. It had all happened in a few moments.
Harrison was equal to the emergency, however. He acted with true military promptness. Not stopping for anything he had run from his tent at the first shot. The horses were plunging wildly at their halters in the excite- ment and confusion. Just as the general reached them, his own horse, a white stallion, broke his halter and es- caped in the darkness. Harrison sprang to the back of the next one, which happened to be a dark bay, and to this fortunate circumstance he probably owed his life. His principal aide, Major Owen, was mounted upon a white horse, his own. The Indians had marked Harri- son's white horse at the meeting of the evening before, and as the general and his aide galloped to the northwest corner, the savage marksmen singled out the man on the white horse conspicuous in the firelight. He was shot and instantly killed.
Harrison arrived at the angle just as the regulars and Kentuckians broke. He ordered Peters' regular .and Cooke's Indiana militia companies up from the rear, the only face unassailed, formed them across the gap, and charged forward with them with great spirit and success, the shaken troops rallying upon them and reoccupying their old places. Not an Indian who had entered the lines was left alive when the lines were re-established. The first dash had failed, but the Indian fire was kept up
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with unabated vigor and the camp was furiously assailed everywhere.
Meanwhile Jo : Daviess with the cavalry in the opposite angle was greatly desirous of distinguishing himself. As the fighting continued and the enemy drew closer he sent a messenger to Harrison requesting permission to charge. The general, in the thick of the fray at the time, directed Daviess to be patient, that he would give him opportunity enough to distinguish himself before the battle was over. Patience, however, was not one of Daviess' qualities. He sent a second time, and received the same answer, and finally a third time, whereupon Harrison replied, " Tell Major Daviess he has had my opinion twice. He may now use his own discretion."
Daviess instantly gave the order to charge. Instead of going out in line abreast he led his force through his own lines in single file, and made a rush for the woods. According to some accounts he was on horseback, at any rate he was conspicuous from a white blanket coat which he wore.' He was shot through the body before he had gone ten paces, and his men retreated carrying him with them. The Indians attempted a countercharge, but the dragoons rallied and the attack was easily beaten off.
The plateau was now encircled with fire. The troops standing near the edge were plainly visible to the Indians by the light cast by the remains of the huge fires back of them, while the savages could not be seen by the Ameri- cans, who could only fire at the flashes in the darkness. Every assailable point was hotly attacked again and again.
Harrison rode up and down the lines freely exposing himself, his clothing torn by bullets, heartening and cheering the men, throwing a little reserve now here, now there, to re-enforce a weak spot, doing everything that a
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brave and efficient officer could do to insure success. The steadiness of the militia was marvellous. They stood in the darkness after a time and fought like heroes, for the fires were extinguished by Harrison's orders as soon as the exigency permitted. Men fell on every side, yet there was no thought of retreat or giving back.
After the failure to break the line on the left flank, the attack was concentrated on the narrow side of the right flank. Colonel Bartholomew was wounded, Lieutenant- Colonel Decker was next struck down, Captain Warrick, acting major, was then shot through the body. He was taken to the fire, his wound dressed, and as he was able to move, though his injuries were mortal, he went back to the line and fought with his men until he died.
Spencer's " Yellow Jackets " bore the brunt of the fight at the point. The Indians were in front and on both sides of these brave men. Captain Spencer was shot in the head and severely wounded, but refused to leave his post, and continued to encourage his men. A few mo- ments after he received his first wound he was shot through the thighs and fell to the ground. Still he would not permit himself to be carried to the rear, but was being lifted up to cheer his soldiers, when he was shot in the heart and fell dead where he had fought.
All the field officers of the Indiana militia at this point were killed or wounded, and most of the company officers also. There is a story told that Harrison, riding furiously up to the imperilled point, found the troops under the command of a mere boy, whose face was begrimed with powder and stained with blood from a wound in his fore- head.
" Young man," said the general in great anxiety, not recognizing him in such a case, " where is your colonel? "
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" Dead, sir," was the answer.
" Your major? "
" Dead, sir."
" Your captain?"
" Dead, sir."
" Who commands the regiment? "
" I do, sir. Ensign Tipton, Fourth Indiana, sir."
The story may well be true; it is certain that the boy went into the campaign a private, and that night of bat- tle made him the captain of his company.
Harrison had one company still in reserve, Robb's Ken- tucky riflemen. He at once led them to the support of the right flank. They numbered thirty-five men, and sev- enteen of them were killed or wounded before the day broke. The men behaved with the greatest gallantry. Many of them had never been in action before, yet they coolly stood to their guns, and when it came to hand-to- hand fighting they displayed high courage.
Captain Geiger of the Kentuckians narrowly escaped death at the knife of an Indian who had broken into the camp, whom he killed with his own hands. The flint of a soldier's piece slipped out of place. The man deliber- ately walked over to the remains of the fire in spite of ex- postulation, sat down by it and remained until he had fixed his musket, although the bullets fell around him like hail. Other men sprang upon the Indians crawling tow- ard the line and killed them with knife or hatchet, or were killed themselves in the struggle.
Two hours the battle raged, but as day broke the regu- lars and Kentuckians on the left flank led by Major Wells moved out and by a spirited bayonet charge drove the savages in headlong rout, which extended all along the line. At six o'clock the fierce little battle was over.
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Harrison's loss in killed and wounded is usually given as one hundred and eighty-eight men, but the returns upon which this statement is made apparently do not in- clude some of the casualties among the officers, so that I am of the opinion that there were nearly two hundred casualties out of the one thousand engaged, or about twenty per cent., a fearful proportion indeed. Daviess died of his wounds during the day and with the other dead was interred upon the field.
Harrison sent a detachment to burn the Prophet's town, which was found deserted, and to lay waste the sur- rounding country. Then destroying his private baggage and putting the wounded in the baggage-wagons, he re- traced his steps to Fort Harrison. The sufferings of the wounded upon this rough wagon journey were indescrib- able.
The casualties among the Indians have never been learned with accuracy, but it is likely that they were at least as great as those sustained by the Americans. . The Indians, who were from a number of tribes, were led by three chiefs named White Loon, Stone Eater, and Win- nemac. The Prophet, who had, after the manner of his kind, promised immunity from the American bullets to his followers, had witnessed the battle from a situation back of the creek; also, after the manner of his kind, tak- ing care to be well out of range. When he was re- proached by the surviving Indians for having misled them with pretended immunities, he stated that his wife had touched the pot in which he had brewed his incanta- tions that night, and the charm had been broken by her profane hand! A child of Adam he, indeed. He was not believed, of course, but there was nothing to be done then.
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Alas for the Indians, more than the charm was broken on this occasion, for the whole confederacy, at least so far as the northwest was concerned, went to pieces in the face of the crushing defeat. The many warriors from so many different tribes carried the news everywhere, the Prophet was discredited, and Tecumseh in his absence was desert- ed by all but his own tribe. The Creek war with its awful massacres and bloody battles ensued in the south, but the spirit of the northern Indians was broken.
When Tecumseh returned and found his careful plans, his far-seeing statesmanship frustrated by the signal abil- ity with which Harrison had taken advantage of his ab- sence and the folly. of the Prophet, he was heartbroken, too. The war of 1812 opening soon after, he naturally cast his lot with the British, bringing many of the north- west Indians with him. Appreciating his influence and ability they made him a major-general, and he rendered brilliant and effective service against the Americans in all the campaigns of the war.
Proctor, the English commander, was greatly inferior to the Indian both in military talents and in personal char- acter, and anything that was accomplished by the allies was due to the genius of the savage rather than to the ef- forts of the Briton. He and Harrison faced each other many times in many hard-fought battles until the end came on the 5th of October, 1813, near the Moravian Town on the River Thames in the Province of Ontario, Canada.
IV. The Battle of the Thames
After the stupendous victory of Perry on Lake Erie the British, utterly disheartened, abandoned their posi- tions and fled precipitately to the northwest, closely pur-
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sued by Harrison and Governor Shelby of Kentucky, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, thirty-three years be- fore, in command of a fine force of three thousand regu- lars and Indiana and Kentucky troops, of whom the aged Shelby was not the least ardent-" Old King's Moun- tain " they called him from his share in the famous victory. They greatly outnumbered the allies, who comprised some seven hundred regulars and about one thousand two hun- dred Indians under the command of Tecumseh.
Bitterly protesting against flight and earnestly pleading with the British commander to give battle, Tecumseh at . last induced him to await the American attack at a place peculiarly well adapted for defence. With the left flank protected by the river Thames, here high banked and un- fordable, and his right flank resting upon an almost im- passable swamp, Proctor finally resolved to make a stand. Between the river and the large swamp a smaller swamp, or marsh, divided the allies into two parts. The ground was thickly wooded with huge trees with but little under- growth. Proctor with the British regulars took the left of the line, Tecumseh with his Indians the right.
Harrison, coming upon them late in the afternoon, de- termined to assault them in regular fashion by advancing his infantry under cover of skirmishers, and after the battle had been joined throwing in his cavalry, of which he had a very fine regiment of Kentuckians, commanded by Col- onel Richard Mentor Johnson. But upon learning that the British troops, through some unaccountable blunder, were drawn up in open order, Harrison changed his plan and began the battle by launching a furious cavalry charge upon both sides of the small swamp. At the same time he deployed a portion of his army to the left to attack the Ind- ians, who had extended on his flank in the large swamp.
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Old General Shelby had charge of this portion of the ad- vance. The cavalry, upon the word, charged with the ut- most gallantry on both sides of the small swamp. Colo- nel Johnson led the attack on the Indians, and his brother and Lieutenant-Colonel on the British. The Johnsons were a family of fighters, for two sons of the lieutenant- colonel, one only a boy, accompanied him in the charge.
After two volleys and some irregular firing, the British, overridden by the impetuous horsemen, who were closely followed by the infantry, threw down their arms and sur- rendered, Proctor fleeing like the coward he was from the field which he had failed to defend. He was afterward court-martialed and severely censured for his lack of con- duct. On the Indian side of the swamp, however, the battle was more fiercely contested. All the loss the Amer- ican army sustained practically occurred here. The en- gagement was general for perhaps ten minutes, when Te- cumseh was shot and the Indians at last gave way in all directions before the steady advance of the American sol- diers. The American loss was about fifteen killed and thirty wounded; the British loss, about eighteen killed, twenty-six wounded, and six hundred prisoners. Thirty- three dead Indians were left on the field, many were wounded but escaped, and their total loss was probably heavy.
Who shot Tecumseh is one of the unsolved and un- solvable mysteries of history. Colonel Johnson, who was wounded no less than five times in the fight, did shoot with a pistol a prominent Indian who had already wounded him and was making toward him to finish him. It was alleged that this Indian was Tecumseh. Johnson, who was afterward Vice-President of the United States, never made the claim himself that it was, although his
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political partisans did so for him. Volumes have been written to discover the fact, but it remains as far from solution as ever. Of one thing is there assurance, and that is, that the great chief fell in this battle, which was after all scarcely more than a skirmish. There are grew- some stories about his skin being flayed from his body for razor-strops, but they are not well authenticated. Indeed, the identification of his body after the battle is by no means complete. That he died there, however, appears to be certain.
A petty ending to all his great ideas, his brilliant plan- ning, his splendid courage, his noble dream of a Red Men's Republic! He was beyond his time, and beyond his people. So his life was wasted. Let it be said of him that he was a merciful Indian in accordance with his lights, that he permitted no burning of prisoners nor other torturing, that the massacre of the Raisin River was not due to him, and that he observed in large meas- ure what are called the rules of civilized warfare.
It is significant, too, that before this last battle of which the baffled, disappointed man saw the inevitable end, he had communicated to his friends his resolve never to leave the field alive, and he had stripped off his British uniform and gone into the action attired in the savage simplicity of his ancient forefathers.
Harrison, with Perry, who had been present at the bat- tle, and General Shelby and Colonel Johnson were the heroes of the hour. The national significance in our early development of the battle of Tippecanoe, to which the victory of the Thames called renewed attention, has been pointed out. It had an interesting personal significance to the American commander as well, for it undoubtedly called the public attention to Harrison in such a way that,
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when it was coupled with his brilliant campaigning in the subsequent war, it finally made him the foremost man of the Republic and at last the President of the United States. Men yet live who remember the stirring slogan of his political campaign, which joined his name with that of his running mate in these words: "Old Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
As the industrious and indefatigable Lossing says of the battle :
" History, art, and song made that event the theme of pen, pencil, and voice; and when, thirty years afterward, the leader of the fray was a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, he was everywhere known by the familiar title of ' Old Tippecanoe.' His partisans erected log cabins in towns and cities, and in them sang in chorus :
'Hurrah for the father of all the great west, For the Buckeye who followed the plow; The foeman in terror his valor confessed, And we'll honor the conqueror now. His country assailed in the darkest of days, To her rescue impatient he flew,
The war whoop's fell blast, and the rifle's red blaze, But awakened Old Tippecanoe.'"
And Tecumseh's name reappears in history in the mon- itor which was sunk in Mobile Bay by the Confederate torpedoes off Fort Morgan, and in the cognomen of that great modern warrior, William Tecumseh Sherman.
PART V THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY III The Massacre on the River Raisin
THE MASSACRE ON THE RIVER RAISIN
" Woe, and woe, and lamentation! What a piteous cry was there! Widows, maidens, mothers, children, Shrieking, sobbing in despair.
" Woe to us, ah, woe Kentucky! O, our sons, our sons and men! Surely some have 'scaped the Indian, Surely some will come again!
" Till the oak that fell last winter Shall uprear its shattered stem- Wives and mothers of Kentucky- Ye may look in vain for them!" -Adapted from Aytoun.
I. The Army of the West
I N the early part of 1813 tidings of an appalling dis- aster to our arms came blowing down the winter wind from the far northwest. Although there were no telegraph lines, nor railroads, nor other means of quickly diffusing intelligence, rumors of a bloody battle fought and lost, and succeeded by a ruthless massacre, spread with incredible swiftness in ever-widening circles of apprehension and alarm. The news carried dismay and desolation and anguish to the people of Kentucky. Win- chester's detachment had been cut off, it was reported, and every man of them slain. Later and authentic in- formation mitigated the first impression of the calamity,
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but the tidings were bad enough at best and they needed no exaggeration to send a wave of grief and rage throughout Kentucky primarily and the United States generally.
It is difficult to overestimate the important part played by Kentucky in the War of 1812. Because she was a trans-Allegheny state and most of the campaigns in which her soldiers took part occurred in the northwest- ern territories, their achievements, except in the case of William Henry Harrison, have been somewhat lost sight of. Yet the best blood of the new state responded with spontaneous enthusiasm to the demands of the govern- ment; and not only in the regular army of the United States but in the regiments of volunteers with which our greater wars have usually been fought, her citizens dis- played an alacrity and self-sacrifice which set the pace and established the mark for older communities.
The best men in the state did not disdain to fill the sta- tions of subalterns, and numbers of them were even found in the ranks. Many of these volunteers were killed or wounded, and the regiments of which they made up the principal quota participated in some of the hardest of the little fights with which the war abounded.
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