1811

 

BUILT in Pittsburgh, the steamboat New Orleans begins operations on the Mississippi River.

 

* 

The Battle of Tippecanoe. 

November 7: It is four o’clock in the morning… 

Stephen Mars, one of General Harrison’s sentinels, sees something in the grass. Crack! goes his rifle, and an Indian leaps into the air. Then comes the war-whoop, a flashing of guns, and a rush upon the camp. In an instant General Harrison is in his saddle. At the north-west corner of the camp Captain Joe Davis falls mortally wounded. At the south-west corner Captain Spencer is killed, and Lieutenant Warrick mortally wounded. The Indians are attacking on all sides.

           

“Hold your ground, we will beat them!” shouts General Harrison.

           

“Charge!”

 

The soldiers rushed upon the Indians with a yell, driving them from their hiding-places, chasing them like deer through the woods. General Harrison pushed on to the Prophet’s Town; but not an Indian was to be seen – all had fled. In a few minutes the flames licked up every hut and wigwam, and all the corn which had been stored for the winter. It was a defeat from which the Indians never recovered. 

 

With fighting raging, The Prophet, Tecumseh’s brother, watched, 

at a safe distance from danger, singing a war-song and performing some protracted religious mummeries. When he was told that his followers were falling before the bullets of the white men, he said, “Fight on; it will soon be as I told you.” When at last the warriors of many tribes – Shawnees, Wyandots, Kickapoos, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, Sacs and a few Miamis – fugitives from the battlefield – lost their faith and covered The Prophet with reproaches, he cunningly devised a lying excuse for his failure. He told them that his predictions had failed of fulfillment because, during his incantations, his wife touched the sacred vessels and broke the charm! His followers, though superstitious in the extreme, would not accept his explanation and they deserted him in such large numbers that he was compelled to take refuge with a small band of Wyandots, his town having been set on fire. The foe scattered in all directions, and hid themselves where the white man could not easily follow.

(These two selections, above, come from Andrews or McLaughlin. I failed to note the source and often get rid of books after I copy parts I want.)

NOTE TO TEACHERS: Tecumseh’s brother was probably jealous of his importance and fame. He told his followers that he could make the settlers’ bullets harmless. It has been said he bragged about himself and his deeds – and earned the nickname, “The Noise Maker.” 

It helped keep my students interested to point out that people never change.