Such is the pleasant and artful story, narrated with solemn gravity by Laulewasikaw, to emblazon the family pedigree by connecting it with the governor of one of the provinces:  and here, for the present, we take our leave of the “Open Door.”

The band of Shawanoes with whom Puckeshinwau and his family emigrated to the Ohio, established themselves, in the first place, in the valley of the Scioto, from whence they subsequently removed to the waters of Mad River, one of the tributaries of the Great Miami.  After the death of Puckeshinwau, his wife Methoataaskee, returned to the south, where she died at an advanced age, among the Cherokees.  She belonged to the Turtle tribe of the Shawanoes, and her name signifies, a turtle laying eggs in the sand.  That she was a respectable woman, is the testimony of those who knew her personally:  that she was naturally a superior one, may be fairly inferred from the character of at least a part of her children.

With this brief account of an aboriginal family, highly reputable in itself, but on which the name of Tecumseh has conferred no small degree of distinction, we now proceed to the immediate subject of this memoir.

CHAPTER II.

Birth place of Tecumseh—­destruction of the Piqua village—­early habits of Tecumseh—­his first battle—­effort to abolish the burning of prisoners—­visits the Cherokees in the south—­engages in several battles—­returns to Ohio in the autumn of 1790.

Some diversity of opinion has prevailed as to the birth place of Tecumseh.  It is generally supposed, and indeed is stated by several historians to have been in the Scioto valley, near the place where Chillicothe now stands.  Such, however, is not the fact.  He was born in the valley of the Miamis, on the bank of Mad River, a few miles below Springfield, and within the limits of Clark county.  Of this there is the most satisfactory evidence.  In the year 1805, when the Indians were assembling at Greenville, as it was feared with some hostile intention against the frontiers, the governor of Ohio sent Duncan McArthur and Thomas Worthington to that place, to ascertain the object and disposition of these Indians.  Tecumseh and three other chiefs agreed to return with these messengers to Chillicothe, then the seat of government, for the purpose of holding a “talk” with the governor.  General McArthur, in a letter to the author of this work, under date of 19th November, 1821, says, “When on the way from Greenville to Chillicothe, Tecumseh pointed out to us the place where he was born.  It was in an old Shawanoe town, on the north-west side of Mad River, about six miles below Springfield.”  This fact is corroborated by Stephen Ruddell, the early and intimate associate of Tecumseh, who states that he was “born in the neighborhood of ‘old Chillicothe,’ in the year 1768.”  The “old Chillicothe” here spoken of was a Shawanoe village, situated on