that these British officers were not, on the evening of the day on which the action was fought, in that part of the line where Tecumseh fell; and that early on the ensuing morning, they were taken to a house two miles below the battle ground, and from thence to Detroit, without returning to the scene of their defeat, Mr. James is, therefore, incorrect on this point, as he certainly is, in saying that commodore Perry and other American officers recognized the body of Tecumseh.  The commodore had never seen this chief prior to the afternoon of the battle in which he fell.  General Harrison, it is believed, was the only American officer in the engagement, who had a personal knowledge of Tecumseh.  The day after the battle, the general, attended by several of his officers, visited the battle ground.  The body of the Indian, supposed to be that of Tecumseh, was pointed out to him, but owing to its swollen condition, he was unable to say whether it was Tecumseh, or a Potawatamie chief, who usually visited Vincennes in company with him:  he felt confident it was one of the two, but further than this could not pronounce with certainty.  Mr. James and Anthony Shane are Mr. Brown’s chief witnesses.  The first states that Tecumseh was shot with a musket ball in the arm, and finally killed by a ball in the head from colonel Johnson’s pistol:  the second testifies that he fell by a ball and three buckshot which entered his left breast, and that he was wounded in no other part:  the former says that Tecumseh’s body was literally flayed—­the latter, that only a small piece of skin was cut from one of his thighs.[A] It remains for Mr. Brown to reconcile these glaring discrepancies in the testimony of his own witnesses.  If this dissection of Mr. Brown’s elaborated letter, presents him more in the light of the partizan advocate than that of the faithful historian, we are not responsible for it; and if he has failed to establish the fact that colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh, he must probably look for the reason of that failure in the weakness of his claims, rather than in any lack of zeal in advocating the colonel’s cause.

[Footnote A:  See James Military Occurrences, and Anthony Shane’s Narrative.]

Our analysis of the testimony which has at different times been brought before the public, tending to establish the supposition that Tecumseh fell by the hands of colonel Johnson, is now closed; and we think it will be admitted, in reviewing the case, that the claims of the colonel have not been satisfactorily established, either by direct or circumstantial evidence.  But we have further testimony to offer on this point.

It is proved by a number of witnesses, and among them several who are relied upon to establish the fact, that colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh, that upon the fall of this chief, the action ceased and the Indians fled.