to distinction.  Bravery is a savage virtue, and the Shawanoes are a brave people:  too many of the American nation have ascertained this fact by experience.  His oratory speaks more for his genius.  It was the utterance of a great mind roused by the strongest motives of which human nature is susceptible; and developing a power and a labor of reason, which commanded the admiration of the civilized, as justly as the confidence and pride of the savage.”  There was one subject, far better calculated than all others, to call forth his intellectual energies, and exhibit the peculiar fascination of his oratory.  “When he spoke to his brethren on the glorious theme that animated all his actions, his fine countenance lighted up, his firm and erect frame swelled with deep emotion, which his own stern dignity could scarcely repress; every feature and gesture had its meaning, and language flowed tumultuously and swiftly, from the fountains of his soul.”

Another writer, Judge Hall, long resident in the west, and devoted to the study of aboriginal history, has thus summed up the character of this chief: 

“At this period the celebrated Tecumseh appeared upon the scene.  He was called the Napoleon of the west; and so far as that title was deserved by splendid genius, unwavering courage, untiring perseverance, boldness of conception and promptitude of action, it was fairly bestowed upon this accomplished savage.  He rose from obscurity to the command of a tribe to which he was alien by birth.  He was, by turns, the orator, the warrior and the politician; and in each of these capacities, towered above all with whom he came in contact.  As is often the case with great minds, one master passion filled his heart, prompted all his designs, and gave to his life its character.  This was hatred to the whites, and, like Hannibal, he had sworn that it should be perpetual.  He entertained the same vast project of uniting the scattered tribes of the west into one grand confederacy, which had been acted on by King Philip and Little Turtle.  He wished to extinguish all distinctions of tribe and language, to bury all feuds, and to combine the power and the prejudices of all, in defence of the rights and possessions of the whole, as the aboriginal occupants of the country.”

It may be truly said, that what Hannibal was to the Romans, Tecumseh became to the people of the United States.  From his boyhood to the hour when he fell, nobly battling for the rights of his people, he fostered an invincible hatred to the whites.  On one occasion, he was heard to declare, that he could not look upon the face of a white man, without feeling the flesh crawl upon his bones.  This hatred was not confined, however, to the Americans.  Circumstances made him the ally of the British, and induced him to fight under their standard, but he neither loved nor respected them.  He well understood their policy; they could not deceive his sagacious mind; he knew that their professions of regard for the Indians