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On the 7th of November three days after the assembling of Congress Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory encountered the Indians of Tecumseh's confederation at Tippecanoe and by a costly but decisive victory crushed the hopes of their chieftains.
The Governor was unable to secure the protection of the United States troops. Panic spread along the border; whole districts were unpeopled. Men, women, and children hastened to the forts or even to Kentucky for safety. There was fear that Vincennes would be overpowered. Had the Indians chosen this time to strike, they could have done terrible mischief. But Tecumseh's voice was still for peace.
About the time it would have taken him to reach Detroit, the great earthquake of 1810 shook the Seminoles with terror of the man whose arguments they had rejected. In fact, Tecumseh and the Prophet constantly played into each other's hands, but in one of Tecumseh's absences the Prophet made the mistake of attacking General Harrison at Tippecanoe, and the savages were severely beaten.
He himself would join, if he lived, in the country of the Winnebagos which was Wisconsin. Delawares, Senecas, Chief Crane's Wyandots and the majority of the Shawnees themselves refused to rise against the Americans. The other Indians waited for stronger signs. But they did not need to wait long. Tecumseh's star became fixed in the sky he won the first battle of the war and won it for the British.
Their pretended prophets began to stir them up, and throw fear into them. In 1802 the United States had bought from the Creeks a large tract of Georgia; the white people were determined to move into it. Alarmed, the Creeks met in council, after Tecumseh's visit, and voted to sell no more of their lands without the consent of every tribe in the nation.
The unusually large local attendance upon the sessions of the Conference had given some of the more guileless of visiting brethren a high notion of Tecumseh's piety; and perhaps even the most sophisticated stranger never quite realized how strictly it was to be explained by the anxiety to pick out a suitable champion for the fierce Presbyterian competition.
Shane was under the impression, on the evening of the action, that he had found the body of Tecumseh among the slain; but, as Mr. Wall testifies, expressed himself with caution. It was the uncertainty which prevailed, as to the fact of Tecumseh's being killed, that prevented any notice of it in his report.
He rode with General Proctor in a buggy, and suggested several places that looked good for making a stand. Once General Proctor agreed. It was indeed an excellent spot, where a large creek joined the Thames. "We will here defeat General Harrison or leave our bones," he declared. That was a talk right to Tecumseh's liking.
The Governor noticed Tecumseh's angry manner, but thought he was seeking to make some explanation, when his attention was directed to Winamac, who was cocking his pistol, and a moment later, General Gibson, who understood the Shawnee language, said to Lieutenant Jennings: "Those fellows intend mischief; you had better bring up the guard." In an instant all was confusion.
He knew that the treaty of Fort Wayne had been concluded under the instructions of government; that his dealings with the tribes had been open-handed and fair, even with the insignificant Weas of the lower waters; that the "unwarranted and unwarrantable" pretensions of Tecumseh were made largely for their effect upon the audience, and after Tecumseh's remarks had been openly interpreted by Barron, he arose without tremor or hesitation to deny the chief's assertions.
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