to return with the deputation from Chillicothe, that he might in person, give similar assurances to the people of that place.  He did so, and a day was fixed on, when he should make an address upon the subject.  A white man, raised among the Indians, acted as interpreter.  Governor Tiffin opened the conference.  “When Tecumseh rose to speak,” says an eyewitness, “as he cast his gaze over the vast multitude, which the interesting occasion had drawn together, he appeared one of the most dignified men I ever beheld.  While this orator of nature was speaking, the vast crowd preserved the most profound silence.  From the confident manner in which he spoke of the intention of the Indians to adhere to the treaty of Greenville, and live in peace and friendship with their white brethren, he dispelled, as if by magic, the apprehensions of the whites—­the settlers returned to their deserted farms, and business generally was resumed throughout that region."[A] This incident is of value, in forming an estimate of the character of this chief:  it exhibits the confidence reposed in him by he white inhabitants on the frontier.  The declaration of no other Indian could thus have dissipated the fears of a border war, which then pervaded the settlement.

[Footnote A:  Colonel John M’Donald.]

Some time during this year, a stout Kentuckian came to Ohio, for the purpose of exploring the lands on Mad River, and lodged one night at the house of captain Abner Barrett, residing on the head waters of Buck creek.  In the course of the evening, he learned with apparent alarm, that there were some Indians encamped within a short distance of the house.  Shortly after hearing this unwelcome intelligence, the door of captain Barrett’s dwelling was suddenly opened, and Tecumseh entered with his usual stately air:  he paused in silence, and looked around, until at length his eye was fixed upon the stranger, who was manifesting symptoms of alarm, and did not venture to look the stern savage in the face.  Tecumseh turned to his host, and pointing to the agitated Kentuckian, exclaimed, “a big baby! a big baby!” He then stepped up to him, and gently slapping him on the shoulder several times, repeated with a contemptuous manner, the phrase “big baby! big baby!” to the great alarm of the astonished man, and to the amusement of all present.[A]

[Footnote A:  James Galloway.]

In the early part of the year 1805, a portion of the Shawanoe nation, residing at the Tawa towns on the headwaters of the Auglaize river, wishing to re-assemble their scattered people, sent a deputation to Tecumseh and his party, (then living on White river,) and also to a body of the same tribe upon the Mississiniway, another tributary of the Wabash, inviting them to remove to the Tawa towns, and join their brethren at that place.  To this proposition both parties assented; and the two bands met at Greenville, on their way thither.  There, through the influence of Laulewasikaw, they concluded to establish themselves;