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PREFACE
PREFACE
In presenting this book to the general public, it is the intention of the author to present a connected story of the winning of the Northwest, including the Indian wars during the presidency of General Washington, following this with an account of the Harrison-Tecumseh conflict in the early part of the nineteenth century, ending with the Battle of Tippecanoe. The story embraces all of the early efforts of the Republic of the United States to take possession of the Northwest Territory, acquired f
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CHAPTER I A BRIEF RETROSPECT
CHAPTER I A BRIEF RETROSPECT
— A general view of the Indian Wars of the Early Northwest. The memories of the early prairies, filled with vast stretches of waving grasses, made beautiful by an endless profusion of wild flowers, and dotted here and there with pleasant groves, are ineffaceable. For the boy who, barefooted and care-free, ranged over these plains, in search of adventure, they always possessed an inexpressible charm and attraction. These grassy savannas have now passed away forever. Glorious as they were, a great
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CHAPTER II WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US
CHAPTER II WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US
— A topographical description of the country north of the Ohio at the close of the Revolutionary War. In the early councils of the Republic the stalwart sons of Virginia exercised a preponderating influence. As men of broad national conceptions, who were unafraid to strike a decisive blow in the interests of freedom, they were unexcelled. Saratoga had already been won, but at the back door of the newborn states was a line of British posts in the valleys of the Wabash and Mississippi and at Detro
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CHAPTER III THE BEAVER TRADE
CHAPTER III THE BEAVER TRADE
— A description of the wealth in furs of this section at the close of the Revolutionary War and the reasons of the struggle for its control. Perhaps no country ever held forth greater allurement to savage huntsmen and French voyageurs than the territory acquired by Clark's conquest. Its rivers and lakes teemed with edible fish; its great forests abounded with deer, elk, bears and raccoons; its vast plains and prairies were filled with herds of buffalo that existed up almost to the close of the e
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CHAPTER IV THE PRAIRIE AND THE BUFFALO
CHAPTER IV THE PRAIRIE AND THE BUFFALO
— The buffalo as the main food supply of the Indians. To describe all the wonders in the interior of the northwest would be a serious, if not an impossible task. The Grand Prairie, however, stands alone. It was one of the marvels of creation, resembling the ocean as nothing else did, making men who saw, never forget. On Sunday, the third day of November, 1811, General Harrison's army, with scouts in front, and wagons lumbering along between the flanks, crossed the Big Vermilion river, in Vermili
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CHAPTER V THE WABASH AND THE MAUMEE
CHAPTER V THE WABASH AND THE MAUMEE
— Chief line of communication with the tribes of the Early Northwest. The heart of the Miami Country. To give a detailed description of the many beautiful rivers, valleys and forests of the northwest at the opening of the last century, would be difficult. It was, as before mentioned, a vast domain, well watered and fertile, and containing some of the best lands in the possession of the federal government. Two rivers, however, assume such historical importance, as to merit a more particular menti
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CHAPTER VI THE TRIBES OF THE NORTHWEST
CHAPTER VI THE TRIBES OF THE NORTHWEST
— A description of the seven tribes of savages who opposed the advance of settlement in the Northwest. Their location. Kekionga, the seat of Miami power. We have now to consider those Indian tribes and confederacies, which at the close of the Revolutionary war, inhabited the northwest territory. Chief among them were the Wyandots, Miamis, Shawnees, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawatomi. These were the seven tribes known in after years as the "western confederacy," who fought so long and b
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CHAPTER VII REAL SAVAGES
CHAPTER VII REAL SAVAGES
— The savage painted in his true colors from the standpoint of the frontiersman. The poets and philosophers who dwelt in security far from the frontier posts of danger, have been much disposed in the past to extol the virtues of the savage and bewail his misfortunes, at the expense of the rugged pioneer who had to face his tomahawk and furnish victims for his mad vengeance. They went into rhapsodies when speaking of the "poor Indian," assuming that in his primitive state, before he was corrupted
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CHAPTER VIII OUR INDIAN POLICY
CHAPTER VIII OUR INDIAN POLICY
—The Indian right of occupancy recognized through the liberal policy of Washington and Jefferson. By the terms of the definitive treaty of 1783, concluding the war of the revolution the territory northwest of the river Ohio passed forever from the jurisdiction of the British government, over to the new born states of the United States. By the first article of that treaty, the thirteen former colonies were acknowledged to be free, sovereign and independent powers, and Great Britain not only relin
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CHAPTER IX THE KENTUCKIANS
CHAPTER IX THE KENTUCKIANS
— The first men to break through the mountain barriers to face the British and the Indians. While the government of the United States was thus shaping its policy toward the Indian tribes, a new empire was building on the western waters, that was to wield a more powerful influence in the development of the western country, than all other forces combined. That empire was Kentucky. The waters of the Ohio "moving majestically along, noiseless as the foot of time, and as resistless," sweep from the j
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CHAPTER X THE BRITISH POLICIES
CHAPTER X THE BRITISH POLICIES
—The British reluctant to surrender the control of the Northwest—their tampering with the Indian tribes. The seventh article of the definitive treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain in 1783, provided that "His Britannic Majesty," should, with all convenient speed, "withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets from the said United States, and from every port, place and harbour within the same," but when demand was made upon General Frederick Haldimand, the British governor
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CHAPTER XI JOSIAH HARMAR
CHAPTER XI JOSIAH HARMAR
— The first military invasion of the Northwest by the Federal Government after the Revolution. The treaty of Fort Harmar, on January 9th, 1789, so far as the Wabash tribes were concerned, was unavailing. The raids of the Miamis and the Shawnees continued. Murders south of the Ohio were of almost daily occurrence. For six or seven hundred miles along that river the inhabitants were kept in a perpetual state of alarm. In Kentucky, killings and depredations took place in almost every direction; at
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CHAPTER XII SCOTT AND WILKINSON
CHAPTER XII SCOTT AND WILKINSON
— The Kentucky raids on the Miami country along the Wabash in 1791. The effects of Harmar's campaign were soon apparent. In the closing months of 1790, the citizens of Ohio, Monongahela, Harrison, Randolph, Kanawha, Green-Briar, Montgomery, and Russel counties, in western Virginia, sent an appeal for immediate aid to the governor of that state, stating that their frontier on a line of nearly four hundred miles along the Ohio, was continually exposed to Indian attack; that the efforts of the gove
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CHAPTER XIII ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT
CHAPTER XIII ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT
—The first great disaster to the Federal armies brought about by the Miamis. The objectives of General St. Clair have already been mentioned. He was now to take the village of Kekionga, establish a garrison there, and erect a chain of posts stretching from the new establishment to Fort Washington at Cincinnati. The army with which St. Clair was expected to accomplish this task consisted of "two small regiments of regulars, two of six months' levies, a number of Kentucky militia, a few cavalry, a
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CHAPTER XIV WAYNE AND FALLEN TIMBERS
CHAPTER XIV WAYNE AND FALLEN TIMBERS
— Final triumph of the Government over Indians and British. The great soul of Washington was sorely tried, but he did not falter. The first thing to do was to raise an efficient army, and that was done. Early in the year 1792, the forces of the United States were put on a new footing. The military establishment was now to consist of "five thousand one hundred and sixty-eight non-commissioned officers, privates and musicians." Enlistments were to be made for a period of three years, and the pay o
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CHAPTER XV THE TREATY OF GREENVILLE
CHAPTER XV THE TREATY OF GREENVILLE
— The surrender of the Ohio lands of the Miamis and their final submission to the Government. Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, Joseph Brant and Alexander McKee did all that lay within their power to stem the tide of savage defection. Simcoe advised the tribes not to listen to any American overtures of peace, but to simply propose a truce and make ready for further hostilities. He tried to secure a deed of trust for the Indian lands from each nation, promising them that England would guarantee the lan
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CHAPTER XVI GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE TREATY
CHAPTER XVI GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE TREATY
— Purchase of the Miami lands known as the New Purchase which led to the strengthening of Tecumseh's Confederacy—the final struggle at Tippecanoe. In the year 1800, William Henry Harrison was appointed by President John Adams as Governor of Indiana Territory, and he arrived at Vincennes on the tenth day of January, 1801, and immediately entered upon the discharge of his duties. At that time he was twenty-eight years of age, but notwithstanding his youth he had seen hard duty as a soldier and off
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CHAPTER XVII RESULTS OF THE TREATY
CHAPTER XVII RESULTS OF THE TREATY
—Harrison's political enemies at Vincennes rally against him in the open, and are defeated in the courts. The Treaty of Fort Wayne having been consummated and certain disputes relative to horse-stealing and other depredations having been arranged between the two races, the Governor, on the fourth of October, 1809, set out on his return to Vincennes. He travelled on horseback, accompanied by his secretary and interpreter, passing through the Indian villages at the forks of the Wabash and striking
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CHAPTER XVIII THE SHAWNEE BROTHERS
CHAPTER XVIII THE SHAWNEE BROTHERS
— The Prophet as an Indian Priest and Tecumseh as a political organizer—The episode of the eclipse of 1806—Tecumseh's personal appearance described. The confederacy of Tecumseh was established upon a priesthood. Let us regard the priest. He was a character remarkable enough to invite the attention of all the leading men of that day, including Jefferson. He was subtle and crafty enough to delude Harrison into the belief that he might be a friend instead of a foe. The account related by Simon Kent
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CHAPTER XIX PROPHET'S TOWN
CHAPTER XIX PROPHET'S TOWN
— The capital of the Shawnee Confederacy in the heart of the Miami country. Before entering upon the final details of the struggle between Harrison and Tecumseh, it may not be uninteresting to recur to a point of time just before the Treaty of Fort Wayne, when the two Indian leaders removed from the neighborhood of the white settlements at Greenville, Ohio, and established the Prophet's Town on the Wabash river in the month of June, 1808. This was to be the spot from whence should emanate all th
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CHAPTER XX HARRISON'S VIGILANCE
CHAPTER XX HARRISON'S VIGILANCE
— His personal courage and activities save the frontier capital. The spring of 1810 opened with peril to Vincennes. The eternal vigilance of Harrison alone saved the day. The fall before had witnessed the making of the Treaty of Fort Wayne and the acquisition of the New Purchase; this had strengthened the claims of the Prophet and Tecumseh for a closer union of the tribes, and had given added force to their argument in favor of a communistic ownership of all the land. What right had the old vill
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CHAPTER XXI THE COUNCIL AT VINCENNES
CHAPTER XXI THE COUNCIL AT VINCENNES
— The dramatic meeting between Harrison and Tecumseh.—Tecumseh announces his doctrine of the common ownership of the Indian lands. The great house of the Governor at Vincennes is situated inland from the Wabash river about six hundred feet, and there formerly stood in front of this house and next to the river a grove of walnut trees which afforded a gracious shade. It was here, that on a bright, sunshiny day in August, the dramatic meeting occurred between the Shawnee chief and Governor Harrison
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CHAPTER XXII THE SECOND AND LAST COUNCIL
CHAPTER XXII THE SECOND AND LAST COUNCIL
— The last meeting between the two leaders before Harrison marched into the Indian country. What strange fatality directed the minds of the Shawnee brothers to repel all friendly advances on the part of the American government, and to listen to the poisonous council of Matthew Elliott and the other British agents who had so often deceived their race, may not easily be divined. Brant had been bribed, Little Turtle and the Blue Jacket basely deserted in the hour of defeat, and two English treaties
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CHAPTER XXIII THE MUSTER AND THE MARCH
CHAPTER XXIII THE MUSTER AND THE MARCH
— The rally of the Kentuckians and their clansmen in southern Indiana, to Harrison's support—The coming of the support of the Fourth United States Regiment—The march to the Tippecanoe battlefield. In the summer and early autumn of the year 1811, the British were again distributing arms and ammunition among the tribes of the northwest and rallying them for that second and final struggle with the United States. In August of that year a Potawatomi chief informed Harrison that he was present when a
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CHAPTER XXIV THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE
CHAPTER XXIV THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE
—The night attack on Harrison's forces.—The destruction of Tecumseh's Confederacy. An inverted flatiron pointing to the east of south—that is the battle ground of Tippecanoe. The western edge is the sheer bank of Burnet's Creek. A savage would have some difficulty in climbing there. Back of the creek is a low marsh, filled with cat-tails and long grass. The surface of the flatiron is a sandy plain with scattering oaks, and sloping towards the east. At the north the plain widens, but comes to an
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CHAPTER XXV NAYLOR'S NARRATIVE
CHAPTER XXV NAYLOR'S NARRATIVE
—A description, of the battle by one of the volunteers. An excellent portrait of Judge Isaac Naylor now hangs in the court room at Williamsport, Indiana. He was one of the first judges of the Montgomery circuit which formerly embraced both Warren and Benton. Naylor was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1790, and removed to Clark county, Indiana, in 1805. In 1810 he made a journey to New Orleans on a flatboat. While preparing for college the Tippecanoe campaign came on, and he joined Harris
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BIBLIOGRAPHY.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1. Ade, John. Newton County 1853-1911. (Indiana State Library.) 2. Albach, James E. Annals of the West. 1857. A valuable book on western history. (Indiana State Library.) 3. American State Papers. Indian Affairs. Vol. I. A vast store-house of knowledge of early Indian affairs, embracing reports of officers and agents of the government, instructions to Indian commissioners, etc., messages of the early Presidents to Congress, reports of the Secretary of War on Indian affairs, treaties with various
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