Garrett Wall testifies that he went to the spot where he was told colonel Johnson had fought, and there questioned Anthony Shane about the dead Indian before them.  Shane remarked that he could tell better whether it was Tecumseh, if the blood was washed from the face.  It does not appear that this was done, nor that Shane became satisfied as to the identity of the dead Indian.  Mr. Wall infers that Tecumseh fell by a shot from colonel Johnson, because it was so reported, and because they both led their warriors to the charge, and the desire of victory brought them together.  Mr. Wall cites no evidence to prove that the body over which Shane was doubting, fell by the colonel—­a link in the chain of testimony, altogether important in making out his case.

The Rev. Obediah B. Brown, however, at Washington, is by far the most precise in his statements, of all the witnesses.  But it is proper, before entering upon the examination of his testimony, to state that he was not at the battle of the Thames; and that his letter, in regard to Tecumseh’s death, was written in 1834, more than twenty years after the action was fought, and upon the eve of a political campaign, in which his friend, colonel Johnson, was an aspirant for a high and honorable office.  Mr. Brown, it is further proper to add, derived his information from “several persons,” but he has inadvertently omitted the names of all but one.

He commences by saying, that colonel Johnson saw an Indian known to be a chief by his costume.  Now it has been already shown that Tecumseh entered the action dressed in the plain deer-skin garb of his tribe, having nothing about him which would indicate his rank.  The colonel thought, continues Mr. B., that the fate of the day depended upon the fall of this chief.  The question might be asked whether the thoughts of colonel Johnson, at this particular juncture, became known to the witness by a logical process of ratiocination, or by a direct personal communication from his distinguished friend?  He states further, that the colonel rode up within a few feet of the chief, received his fire, and then shot him dead with his pistol.  This act, says the witness, caused the savages to retreat in consternation:  now, the fact is well established, that the Indians, at this very point, fought bravely for twenty or twenty-five minutes after colonel Johnson was compelled, by his wounds, to leave the scene of action:  it is further stated by Mr. B. that before the colonel was so far recovered from his wounds, as to be able to speak, it ran through the army that he had killed Tecumseh.  Mr. Wall, who was in the action, says, that after colonel Johnson had retired from the contest, and was lifted from his horse, he said to those around him, “my brave men, the battle continues, leave me, and do not return until you bring me an account of the victory.”  Thus it would seem that the colonel, within a few minutes after receiving his last wound, was giving