he had predicted; and in louder and wilder strains than before, continued his inspiring song-commingled as it was with the sharp crack of the Ame rican rifle, and the shrill war-whoop of his brave but deluded followers.* The Indians were commanded by some daring chiefs, and although their spiritual leader was not actually in the battle, he did much to encourage his followers in their daring attack. Of the force of the Indians we have no certain account. There was probably eight hundred or a thousand. Besides Shawnees, there were the Kickapoos of the prairie, several bands of the Pottawatomies, from the Illinois river and Chicago, and the St. Josephs, of Lake Michigan.

The Indians left thirty-eight on the field; others were undoubtedly killed, and the number of wounded was unusually great.

Of the Americans, thirty-five were killed in the action, twenty-five died of their wounds afterward, and the whole number of killed and wounded was a hundred and eighty eight. Among the former was the much lamented Abraham Owen, and Major Joseph H. Davis.

Governor Harrison himself was slightly wounded. Both officers and men behaved with much coolness and bravery, and covered themselves with laurels.

Peace on the frontiers was among its happy results. The tribes which had already joined in the confederacy were dismayed, and those who had thus far been neutral were encouraged to persevere.

The prophet's town was immediately deserted, the houses were principally burnt, and the corn in its vicinity destroyed. On the 9th, the army commenced its return to Vincennes.

The defeated Indians were exasperated against the prophet; they reproached him in bitter terms for the calamity he had brought upon them, and accused him of the murder of their friends who had fallen in battle. One of the surviving Winnebagoes told him to his face, that "he was a liar." His sacred character was so far forfeited, that the Indians actually bound him with cords, and threatened to put him to death. With the battle of Tippecanoe he lost his popularity and favor; his magic wand was broken, and his mysterious charm dissipated for ever.

The prophet was rash, presumptuous, and deficient in judgment. He was no sooner left to act for himself, without the sagacious counsel and positive control of Tecumseh, the master spirit of the day, than he annihilated his own power, and crushed the grand confederacy, which had cost him and his brother years of toil, peril, and privation.

Tecumseh returned from the south, where it is believed he had made a strong and indelible impression, a few days after the disastrous battle of Tippecanoe; saw the dispersion of his followers, the disgrace of his brother, and the destruction of his long-cherished hopes. met the prophet, he reproached him in bitter terms, and the latter attempting to palliate his conduct, he seized him by the hair, and shaking him violently, threatened to take his life.

When he first

*Drake's life of Tecumseh.

Tecumseh immediately sent word to Governor Harrison, that he had returned from the south, and that he was ready to make the promised visit to the president. The governor gave him permission to go to Washington, but not as the leader of a party of Indians. The haughty chief, who had made his visit to Vincennes, attended by three or four hundred warriors completely armed, had no wish to appear before "his great father the president," stripped of his power. The proposed visit was therefore declined; and the amicable intercourse between the Shawnee chief and the governor thus terminated.

agent

In June following, (1812,) he sought an interview with the Indian at Fort Wayne; disavowed any intention to make war upon the United States, and reproached General Harrison for having marched against his people during his absence. The agent replied to this; Tecumseh listened with frigid indifference, and after making a few general remarks, with a haughty air left the council-house, and departed for Fort Malden in Upper Canada, where he joined the British standard.

NOTE I.

An extraordinary instance of this is related by Chapman, in his account of the Moravian mission in Pennsylvania. In 1742, Count Zwinzendorff, of Saxony, came to America on a religious mission, in connection with the Moravians. Having heard of the Shawanoes of Wyoming, a branch of the tribe from whence Tecumseh derived his origin, he resolved to establish a mission among them. The Shawanoes, supposing that the missionary was in pursuit of their lands, determined to assassinate him; and fearing that by so doing, they should excite other Indians to hostility, they resolved to do it privately. The attempt however was, apparently by accident, defeated, and the account given of it by Chapman, is as follows: Zwinzendorff was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds, which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary for his comfort and convenience. A curtain, formed of a blanket, and hung upon pins, was the only guard to his tent. The heat of his fire had aroused a large rattlesnake which lay in the weeds not far from it, and the reptile, to enjoy it more effectually, had crawled slowly into the tent, and passed over one of his legs, undiscovered. Without, all was still and quiet, except the gentle murmur of the river at the rapids about a mile below. At this moment, the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and slightly removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts, to notice either their approach, or the snake, which lay before him. At a sight like this, even the hearts of the savages shrunk from the idea of committing so horrid an act ; and quitting the spot, they hastily returned to the town, and informed their companions that the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his degs without attempting to injure him. This circumstance, together with the arrival soon afterward of Coonrod Weizer, the interpreter, induced some of them to embrace Christianity."

NOTE II.

Drake, in his life of Tecumseh, relates the following astonishing fact. We report it, without vouching for its authenticity.

"On his return from Florida, he was among the Creeks in Alabama, urging them to unite with the Seminoles. Arriving at Tuckhabatchee, a Creek town on the Tallapoosa

river, he made his way to the lodge of the chief called the Big Warrior. He explained his object, delivered his war talk, presented a bundle of sticks, gave him a piece of wam. pur and a hatchet, all of which the Big Warrior took; when Tecumseh, reading the intentions and spirit of the Big Warrior, looked him in the eye, and pointing his finger toward his face, said: "Your blood is white-you have taken my talk, and the sticks, and the wampum, and the hatchet, but you do not mean to fight. I know the reason: you do not believe that the Great Spirit has sent me. You shall know. I leave Tuckhabatchee directly, and shall go straight to Detroit. When I arrive there, I will stamp on the ground with my foot, and shake down every house in Tuckhabatchee.' So saying, he turned and left the Big Warrior in utter astonishment, at both his manner and threat, and pursued his journey. The Indians were struck no less with his conduct, than was the Big Warrior, and began to dread the arrival of the day, when the threatened calamity would befall them. They met often, and talked over this matter, and watched the day carefully, to know the time when Tecumseh would reach Detroit. The morning they had fixed upon, as the period for his arrival, at last came. A mighty rumbling was heard. The Indians all ran out of their houses. The earth began to shake, when at last, sure enough, every house in Tuckhabatchee was shaken down. The exclamation was in every mouth, Te. cumseh has got to Detroit.' The effect was electrical. The message he had delivered to the Big Warrior was believed, and many of the Indians took their rifles and prepared for

war."

The reader will not be surprised to learn, that an earthquake produced all this; but he will be, doubtless, that it should happen on the very day in which Tecumseh arrived at Detroit, and in exact fulfilment of his threat. It was the famous earthquake of NewMadrid, on the Mississippi.

CHAPTER XV.

Franklin's opinion of the peace of 1783-The United States a commercial rival of Great Britain-England attempts to cripple their growth by renewing an obsolete rule of 1756-Impressment of seamen-Americans sensitive upon the subject-Its manner of execution-The doctrine that "a ship on the high seas is inviolable," denied by England-Certificates of nativity or "protections" given-Are disregarded -Our relations with France not the most friendly-Embargo-Non-intercourseAttack upon the Chesapeake-War, June 18, 1812-Intelligence of it received diffe. rently in different places-American army did not exceed five thousand men-Unprepared for war-Canada also unprepared-General Hull-Governor of MichiganAfterward commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Army-Repairs to Ohio in April, 1812-Leaves Ohio for Detroit, June 1, 1812-Reaches the Miami of the lakes in the latter part of June-July 1st., sends a vessel to Detroit with invalids, baggage, etc.— July 2nd., 1812, hears of the Declaration of War-Intelligence thereof received in Canada before-Vessel captured-General Hull reaches Detroit, July 5th, 1812July 6th, receives orders to commence offensive operations-July 12th, he crosses the Niagara-Issues a proclamation to the Inhabitants of Canada--Its effect-Malden-Attacks and defeats an advanced guard—A panic produced in the British garrison-Recrosses the river and evacuates Canada, August 8th, 1812-Mackinaw taken by the British, July 17, 1812-Intelligence thereof received by General Hull, July 26th-Captain Brush arrives on the River Raisin with supplies-Major Van Horne sent to his relief-The latter defeated-Colonel Miller sent afterwardBattle of Brownstown, August 9th, 1812, in which Colonel Miller defeats the British and Indians-Armistice between General Sir George Provost and General Dearborn, August 8th, 1812-General Brock reaches Malden with reinforcements, August 14th, 1812-Goes to Sandwich, opposite Detroit, on the following day-Demands the surrender of Detroit-Letter to General Hull-General Hull's answer-British cross the Niagara-Approach Detroit-Detroit surrenders-Its effect.

SOON after the peace of 1783, a person in conversation with Dr. Franklin observed, that he was glad "the war of Independence was over." "You mean, sir," said the doctor, "the war of the Revolution-the war of independence is yet to come." Those to whom the events of the late contest with England are familiar, can appreciate the above remark; strangers, however, to its origin and events, must read and reflect a little before they can appreciate its value.

An attempt on the part of England, without right, to exercise power over the United Colonies, first broke the ties of dependence, and severed the British empire; her illiberal policy toward the United States, weakened, afterward, the influence of affinity which true wisdom would have taught her to cherish, and rendered a people, attached to "their fatherland" by a thousand ties, alien for ever.

England, until the late war, never renounced entirely her views of subjugation. Force having been resorted to in vain, recourse was now had to policy. For several years subsequent to the peace of 1783, our affairs were unpromising. The confederation was too feeble to keep the States in unison. England saw the difficulty, and, influenced by her wishes, hoped, ere long, to see us divided and conquered. The seeds of dissension were sown, but gathered up by patriots before they had taken root; the elements of civil disorder were let loose, but hushed by a master-spirit to repose. England, having thus lost an opportunity to tamper with individual States, to foment difficulties, and govern by division, now changed her policy, and sought to repress the growth of our Republic, by throwing obstacles in her way.

The expansive power of freedom exalted, in a short time, the United States into a commercial rival of England; and the French Revolution made her, as such rival, formidable. England, to arrest American competition, revived a rule of 1756, considered by the whole of Europe a violation of the law of nations—a rule which prevented a neutral from enjoying any commerce which could not, at the same time, be open to the belligerent. In other words, an order "to permit no neutrals." Her proceedings in council of the 8th of January, 1793, became a source of great vexation; and her orders of the 6th of November, authorizing her cruizers to capture "all vessels on the high seas, laden with the produce of any of the colonies of France, or carrying provisions or supplies to or from said colonies," swept the greater part of our commerce from the ocean. The American merchants, without distinction of party, gave vent to their feelings in the strongest terms; the act was regarded as wicked as well as treacherous. The war of the Revolution had not been forgotten; that with the savages still raged, and the western posts were pertinaciously retained. Commercial restrictions, therefore, of the kind we have mentioned, in the then state of the public mind, were not calculated to engender harmony. Washington, however, was at the helm; he desired to stand aloof from European politics, and the influence of his name and character preserved us from the vortex to which we were tending. Jay's treaty, in 1794, sanctioned with reluctance, prolonged the truce, and averted, for a while, an appeal to arms.

The same abuses, however, were still continued; remonstrance after remonstrance was sent forth; and neither Washington, with all his fame, nor the elder Adams, with all his skill, could produce a change in her principles or her policy.

The violation of our commercial and maritime rights, was also accompanied by another subject of complaint, more vexatious than either; one on which the Americans have justly been sensitive. I allude now to the impressment of American seamen.

As England is "the only modern nation within the pale of civilization, at least of those who recognize the general maritime law, who does not consider the flag as protecting the person who sails under it, and as we