Show wh AM MIN at til it A vo omit IV U r 1 11 N W ul 41 TV M X do 2 M A j tj 5 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON OCTOBER 5 Is the anant of a battle not nearly so well known to the average american as a dozen others of less les 5 importance but characterized by a number of unusual features which make it one of the roost interesting engagements in american history it Is the battle of the thames fought in canada on october 5 1813 when american troops led by gen william henry harrison defeated the allied british and indian forces led by general proctor and chief tecumseh the victory so BO added to the military prestige of liar risen as to aid materially in his election to the presidency by the whig party in 1840 in that same year the democratic candidate for vice president was col richard at john son eon who had fought under harrison at the battle of the thames and the chief factor in his securing the democratic nomination had been the claim made for him by his friends that he be had slain tecumseh with bis awn band at the battle of the thames rhames thus more illan quarter of a century after the death of the great shawnee leader ills his name was heard in a political campaign curiously enough it was heard in that thai connection again half a century later at a meeting of the republican national committee in washington to select a city in which to hold a presidential nominating convention one committeeman during an eloquent plea for the selection of detroit promised to tale lake the visitors thirty miles over into canada to view the spot where tecum sell ieh tile the greatest indian the american continent ever knew was slain that last quotation affords the best reason why the battle of the thames is notable for the committeeman had the authority of more than one historian for his characterization of tecumseh trumbull declared unqualifiedly that he was the most extraordinary tra ordinary indian that has ever appeared in history in 1768 there was wag born to chief of the shawnees at the shawnee village of liqua alqua on oil the abad river near the present site of springfield ohio a son who was given the name of or Tecum tha meaning crouching panther or shooting star when the boy was six years old his fits fattier was killed la in the famous battle of point pleasant W va before he had bad reached his majority he had distinguished himself as a fearless warrior but one who was more humane end and chivalrous towards tits ills enemies thau than was common among the indians of that period tecumseh fought in two great battles of that period against the whites the st claire defeat and the battle of fallen timbers where mad anthony wayne crushed the tribes of nf the oldo ohio valley the young shawnee refused to take part in the treaty of greenville and gathering about him a band of warriors he spent several years roving about before accepting an invitation from the delawarek Dela wares and settled on the white river in indiana this was in 1708 1798 and for the next few years tecumseh remained there peacefully occupied in hunting more farseeing than most indians of ills his time tecumseh early in life realized that the red man was doomed to go down before the greater numbers of the whites unless they were stopped so he undertook the formation of a great confederacy of all the western and southern tribes for the purpose of making the ohio river the permanent boundary between the two races dream of an indian con was not a new one king philip the pontiac Pont lac the ottawa and little turtle the miami had tried the same scheme and all had failed so perhaps tecumseh tile the was doomed to failure from the start but the chances cli ances tire are that ill his attempt to hold back the tide of white settlement would have come nearer realization than any of these others had it not been for his brother the prophet the prophet a vain boastful charlatan had bad little of the alie greatness of tecumseh in his bis makeup make up but he was a clever demagogue and through his self belf powers as a prophet exerted considerable influence over the superstitious savages it was rn en influence which tecumseh although he must have realized reali sed that his hia brother was a faler faker was glad to use in his grand scheme for uniting the tribes the only tiling thing which lie he could not foresee was that the character of ills his brother might make him a liability as well as an asset to his cause causa and this was exactly what happened while tecumseh was absent among the southern tribes organizing film the prophet precipitated tile the battle of tippecanoe november 7 1811 anti and his forces were disastrously defeated by ginneral harrison after that historic engagement the influx ence of the prophet was gone forever more than that it dampened the ardor of most of the trill s for the cause in which they had enlisted and tecumseh saw his elaborate plans crash to earth when tile the war of 1812 broke out tecumseh joined tile english army in canada nearly nil all of the war chiefs followed his 1119 lead and the shawnee found himself the nominal head of more than warriors the value of these allies and especially when tit dl erected by the genius of tecumseh tecumsa eh was immediately recognized by b gen cral cial brock commander of the british forces force and tile friendship of tile two men based upon mutual respect and admiration continued until the death of general brock at the battle of queenston queenstown Queen Queens stow town n proctor brocks successor was a very different sort from brock and lacked tilt nil of the qualities which had won the high regard of the indian leader for the former british corn com ni ander despite the old eld of tecum seh and the 2000 warriors of the file nl at tied lied tribes under tits his command proctor proved himself such a bungler bunder if not actually a coward that the indian leader for foresaw esaw the eventual triumph of the americans Amt ricans tecumseh covered proctors retreat after perrys decisive victory on lake prie erle until disgusted chief eagle feather of the chero kees salutes the historic flag with which the british covered the body of the great shawnee chief tecumseh during the military funeral ceremony after the battle of the thames during the war of 1812 2 tecumseh held tile the rank of brigadier general in the brit lh ish army after the military funeral the indians took the body down th thames river and burled buried it in a secret place the flig flag la Is now owned by P W A fitzsimmons of detroit with the british lender leader and declining to retreat farther lie he forced to make a stand on oil the thames rivet river near the present chatham ontario Ontarl ro even then tecumseh wa was not sure burc that proctor would fight if he could help it and for that reason the indian leader took his position at the junction of the british all and indian lines so BO as to have a near all and direct corn coin muni cation with the british tender leader his low opinion of proctor wits tin immediately med lately justified for at tile first onset of harrisons Harrl sons troops proctor fled in tits his carriage with his personal nal stair staff a few dragoons and some mounted indians As the american cavalry broke the british line proe iroc tors fors soldiers surrendered as fast at as they could throw down their antni and within alve minutes after the first shot was fired the whole british forc of tile men n was N a S ile beaten at en a and n 1 most 0 I 1 them were prisoners A more sever engagement took place when the foret forc of mounted kentucky riflemen the indians and who was in the thick of the light fight was shot down according to one tradition teburn sen sell had wounded colonel To linsor with a rifle bullet and was springing forward to finish tits his work with hit bit tomahawk awk when ft lien tile the officer drew 0 pistol and shot the indian through the head lien during tilt thy political poil cam laign when johnson was a candidate for vice president his friends revived the story and made much of this supposed fen feat t johnson himself never affirmed or denied the story it il Is true that he killed an indian under such circumstances and after the battle battie two indians one of whom was bo be lieveld to be tecumseh was fount foun dead there some of the kentuckians Kentuck lana ians us as savage by nature and training as their enemies believing that one ome of these indians indiana was tecumseh clayed flayed most of tile skin from the boily body and made it into razor strops this fad Is vouched couched for by reputable historians j but it la Is nl also 0 pretty definitely established that the victim of tills this example exil triple of brutality by the white man was not the great shawnee leader with a presentiment of death before the battle tecumseh had discarded tits his generals I 1 uniform and dressed him self in ills his indian d PC r 8 k 1 n S so 0 tj there wre e was nothing in his appearance to distinguish him film from any of the other warrior dead chief blackhawk I 1 of the sacs and foxes who was present at the battle of tile the thames later declared that body wais carried from tile field by his followers but where lie he was burled no one ever learned to tills this day the site of ills grave Is one of the unsolved mysteries of american history |