line to oppose the British.  They faultered a little, but very soon we perceived a large body of horse (Colonel Johnson’s regiment of mounted Kentuckians) preparing to charge upon us in the swamp.  They came bravely on, yet we never stirred until they were so close that we could see the flints in their guns, when Tecumthe springing to his feet, gave the Shawnee war cry, and discharged his rifle.  This was the signal for us to commence the fight; but it did not last long; the Americans answered the shout, returning our fire, and at the first discharge of their guns, I saw Tecumthe stagger forwards over a fallen tree near which he was standing, letting his rifle drop at his feet.  As soon as the Indians discovered he was killed, a sudden fear came over them, and thinking that the Great Spirit was displeased, they fought no longer, and were quickly put to flight.  That night we returned to bury our dead, and search for the body of Tecumthe.  He was found lying where he had first fallen; a bullet had struck him above the hip, and his skull had been broken by the butt end of the gun of some soldier, who had found him, perhaps, when life was not yet quite gone.  With the exception of these wounds, his body was untouched; lying near him, however, was a large, fine looking Potawattimie, who had been killed, decked off in his plumes and war paint, whom the Americans no doubt had taken for Tecumthe; for he was scalped, and every particle of skin flayed from his body.  Tecumthe himself, had no ornaments about his person save a British medal.  During the night we buried our dead, and brought off the body of Tecumthe, although we were within sight of the fires of the American camp.’

“This is somewhat different from the account which is commonly given of Tecumthe’s death, yet I believe it to be true; for after hearing Black Hawk relate it, I heard it corroborated by one of the Potawattimie chiefs, mentioned by him.  I asked him if he had ever fought against the whites after the death of Tecumthe.  He said not—­that he returned home to his village on the Mississippi, at the mouth of Rock River, and there he remained until driven away by the whites, in the year 1832.  The wish to hold possession of this village, was the cause of the war which he waged against the whites during that year.  He told me that he never wished to fight; that he was made to do so; that the whites killed his warriors when they went with a white flag to beg a parley, and that after this was done, he thought they intended to kill him at all events, and therefore he would die like a warrior.

“In speaking of his defeat, he said it was what he expected; that he did not mind it; but what hurt him more than any thing else, was our government degrading him in the eyes of his own people, and setting another chief (KEOKUK) over him.  This degradation he appeared to feel very sensibly, still he continued to possess all his native pride.  One instance that came under my observation, I recollect well, in which it