“Brother, these are only a few words to let you know that I will be with you myself, and when I am with you I can inform you better.

“Brother, if I find that I can be with you in less time than eighteen days, I will send one of my young men before me, to let you know what time I will be with you.”

On the second of July, governor Harrison received information from the executive of Illinois, that several murders had been committed in that territory; and that there were good grounds for believing these crimes had been perpetrated by a party of Shawanoes.  The governor had been previously informed that it was the design of the Prophet to commence hostilities in Illinois, in order to cover his main object—­the attack on Vincennes.  Both territories were in a state of great alarm; and the Secretary of War was officially notified, that if the general government did not take measures to protect the inhabitants, they were determined to protect themselves.

In a letter under date of Vincennes, 10th July, 1811, governor Harrison writes as follows to the Secretary of War.

“Captain Wilson, the officer whom I sent to the Prophet’s town, returned on Sunday last.  He was well received, and treated with particular friendship by Tecumseh.  He obtained, however, no satisfaction.  The only answer given was, that in eighteen days Tecumseh would pay me a visit for the purpose of explaining his conduct.  Upon being told that I would not suffer him to come with so large a force, he promised to bring with him a few men only.  I shall not, however, depend upon this promise, but shall have the river well watched by a party of scouts after the descent of the chief, lest he should be followed by his warriors.  I do not think that this will be the case.  The detection of the hostile designs of an Indian is generally (for that time) to defeat them.  The hopes of an expedition, conducted through many hundred miles of toil and difficulty, are abandoned frequently, upon the slightest suspicion; their painful steps retraced, and a more favorable moment expected.  With them the surprise of an enemy bestows more eclat upon a warrior than the most brilliant success obtained by other means.  Tecumseh has taken for his model the celebrated Pontiac, and I am persuaded he will bear a favorable comparison, in every respect, with that far famed warrior.  If it is his object to begin with the surprise of this place, it is impossible that a more favorable situation could have been chosen, than the one he occupies:  it is just so far off as to be removed from immediate observation, and yet so near as to enable him to strike us, when the water is high, in twenty-four hours, and even when it is low, their light canoes will come fully as fast as the journey could be performed on horseback.  The situation is in other respects admirable for the purposes for which he has chosen it.  It is nearly central with regard to the tribes which he wishes to unite.