[Footnote A:  Chapman]

After the Shawanoes of Pennsylvania had fallen back upon the waters of the Ohio, they spread themselves from the Alleghenies as far westward as the Big Miami.  One of their villages was seventeen miles below Pittsburg:  it was called Log’s Town, and was visited by Croghan, in 1765.  Another, named Lowertown, also visited by the same traveler, stood just below the mouth of the Scioto.  It was subsequently carried away by a great flood in that river, which overflowed the site of the town, and compelled the Indians to escape in their canoes.  They afterwards built a new town on the opposite side of the river, but soon abandoned it, and removed to the plains of the Scioto and Paint creek, where they established themselves, on the north fork of the latter stream.  They had also several other villages of considerable size in the Miami valley.  One was “Chillicothe,” standing near the mouth of Massie’s creek, three miles north of Xenia.  Another, called Piqua, and memorable as the birth place of Tecumseh, the subject of our present narrative, stands upon the north-west side of Mad river, about seven miles below Springfield, in Clark county.  Both of these villages were destroyed in 1780, by an expedition from Kentucky, under the command of general George Rogers Clark.

After the peace of 1763, the Miamis having removed from the Big Miami river, a body of Shawanoes established themselves at Lower and Upper Piqua, in Miami county, which places, being near together, became their great head-quarters in Ohio.  Here they remained until driven off by the Kentuckians; when they crossed over to the St. Mary’s and to Wapakanotta.  The Upper Piqua is said to have contained, at one period, near four thousand Shawanoes.[A]

[Footnote A:  John Johnston.]

From the geographical location of the Shawanoes, it will be perceived that they were placed under circumstances which enabled them, with great facility, to annoy the early settlements in Kentucky; and to attack the emigrants descending the Ohio.  In this fierce border war, which was waged upon the whites for a number of years, and oftentimes with extreme cruelty, the Delawares, Wyandots, Mingoes and Miamis, united:  the Shawanoes, however, were by far the most warlike and troublesome.

The Shawanoes were originally divided into twelve tribes or bands, each of which was sub-divided into families, known as the Eagle, the Turtle, the Panther, &c., these animals constituting their totems.  Of these twelve, the names of but four tribes are preserved, the rest having become extinct, or incorporated with them.  They are, 1st. the Mequachake,—­2d. the Chillicothe,—­3d. the Kiskapocoke,—­4th. the Piqua.  When in council, one of these tribes is assigned to each of the four sides of the council-house, and during the continuance of the deliberations, the tribes retain their respective places.  They claim to have the power of distinguishing, at sight, to