The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock eBook

Ferdinand Brock Tupper
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 433 pages of information about The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock.

The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock eBook

Ferdinand Brock Tupper
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 433 pages of information about The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock.
and I will repose on her bosom.”  He then threw himself on the ground.  When the governor, who was seated in front of the dragoons, commenced his address, Tecumseh declared that he could not hear him, and requested him to remove his seat to an open space near himself, The governor complied, and in his speech complained of the constant depredations and murders which were committed by the Indians of Tippecanoe; of the refusal on their part to give up the criminals; and of the increasing accumulation of force in that quarter, for the avowed purpose of compelling the United States to relinquish lands, which they had fairly purchased of the rightful owners.  Tecumseh, in his answer, denied that he had afforded protection to the guilty, but manfully admitted his design of forming a confederacy of all the red nations of that continent.  He observed, that “the system, which the United States pursued of purchasing lands from the Indians, he viewed as a mighty water, ready to overflow his people, and that the confederacy which he was forming among the tribes, to prevent any tribe from selling land without the consent of the others, was the dam he was erecting, to resist this mighty water.”  And he added, “your great father, the president, may sit over the mountains and drink his wine, but if he continue this policy, you and I will have to meet on the battle field.”  He also admitted, that he was then on his way to the Creek nation, for the purpose he had just avowed, and he continued his journey two days after, with twelve or fifteen of his warriors.  Having visited the Creek and other southern tribes, he crossed the Mississippi, and continued a northern course as far as the river Demoins, whence he returned to the Wabash by land.  But a sad reverse of fortune awaited his return; he found his town consumed, his bravest warriors slain, and a large deposit of provisions destroyed.  On his departure, the settlement at Tippecanoe was left in charge of his brother, the prophet, with strict injunctions to prevent all hostile incursions, as they might lead to extremities before his plans were matured.  The prophet, however, wanted either the inclination or the authority to follow these injunctions; and the Americans assert, that murder and rapine occurred now so frequently, that they were compelled, in their own defence, to punish the delinquents.  Accordingly, General Harrison proceeded with nearly 1,000 men to Tippecanoe, and on his approach, in November, 1811, was met by about 600 warriors; a battle ensued, in which the Indians, deprived by the absence of their chief of his counsel and example, were defeated, but with nearly equal loss on both sides.  Assured by the prophet that the American bullets would not injure them, they rushed on the bayonets with their war clubs, and exposed their persons with a fatal fearlessness.  But the prophet himself remained during the battle in security on an adjacent eminence; he was chaunting a war song, when information was brought to him that his men were falling.  “Let them fight on, for my prediction will soon be verified,” was the substance of his reply, and he resumed his song in a louder key!

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The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.