| Show tie of thames years ago ded career of a great grea red M man an ay V 0 harrisons Ham sons victory on october 5 1813 not only marked the passing tho the most extraordinary indian character in american hi history astory but also sed ed make col R M johnson reputed slayer of tecumseh Tecum soh vice president iho he united states ill 0 0 western warn newspaper union i 10 to SCOTT WATSON AN ali october day there died in rears ears ago a attle one of tile the great inns th the e american n nt has over ever known e was tecum tecumseh sch a n of t the he shawnee nd id the engagement in killed was the ie e was of the thames this is not nearly so well to io the average amerla ameria dozen 0 others of le less SS ortance but its after makes akes it C one ne of the interesting engage in the history of the states story of tecumseh be 1768 when the wife of of the shaw the indian village of pl the mad river near the site of springfield ohio ti th to twin sons one of as given tile the name of laka a referring to a dance dr pr some similar inspru later L r he would take the f meaning n door through which he ead his people to a new er life the whites wat would ild m as th the prophet whose dl alag ogue when com ith the statesmanship and genius of his hia brother e one of the most serious to white domination of dle die west that it had ever ther twin was given the f or Tecum tha one who springs and ig g that he belonged to the ethe the great medicine pan met meteor r so the shaw ew him as the crouching or the shooting star but would write him down as ell eh the twins were six years r father was killed in the f point pleasant W va adrew lewis and his vir defeated chief ik k and his ats Shawn shawnees ces aft young tecumseh was ader the care of an elder who taught him the ways lors ors until this older elder broth killed in battle with the in the tennessee frontier or 1789 fighting iler heritage altage this his fighting heritage te soon distinguished him warrior but one who ore re humane and chloal chival ward ivard tits his enemies than ninion among his tribes e fought in two great bat that period at the def defeat eat lair air and at fallen s in 1794 when mad an 4 41 1 4 wayne smashed the powe indian confederacy that n formed by little turtle ami ml loader leader onci veiled led to accepting pe peace ace s whites tecumseh re t take part in the treaty re enville and gathered him TO a band of yo young ung warno W roved over the tes of ohio and indiana finally ally se wing settling down on it river ive r i in n indiana about 1 e re remained there for a its s peacefully occupied g until the continued ment of the whites upon ads s guaranteed to the in b Y the treaty of green roused oyied him to action the ground d that the ohio country belonged to all 31 in common he denied llola t of a sin gle ble tribe to s sell ell as to thew the W whites when the govern mell ent t refused to principle ciple and began actions for the purchase of lan sni from the red men ed to form a great artion of f all the western 0 athern S tribes for the pur agthe holding the ohio river as ile ka two r boundary bo auntee anted by the tact fact that A fr erpf beg aw ak J P fearn nn an old wood wod eat cut the death of at the battle of th the e thames Pont lac the ottawa and little turtle the miami had failed in such a scheme the shawnee leader began visiting other tribes and enlisting their support no doubt lie he was doomed to failure just as the other indian leaders had failed but tile the chances are that his attempt to hold back the tide of white settlement would have come nearer realization than theirs had it not been for his brother the prophet tecumseh probably realized that the prophet was a charlatan but he was glad enough to have the aid of influence over the superstitious savages in forwarding his plan ile he could not foresee that tile the character of his twin brother broth dir might make him more of a liability than an asset to his cause for that was exactly what happened while tecumseh was attempting to enlist the southern tribes in his confederation the prophet on november 7 1811 precipitated the attack on the forces of gen william henry harrison at the tippecanoe Tippe conoe river which ended so disastrously for the indians not only was the prophet thoroughly discredited among tho the shawnees by that defeat but it dampened the ardor of other tribes for scheme and he saw his elaborate plans crash to the earth embittered by this disappointment and still to accepting american domination over his country tecumseh welcomed the outbreak of the war of 1812 and cast his lot with the british as a possibility of regaining control of his ancestral lands nearly all of the war chiefs followed his lead and tecumseh soon found himself the nominal head of more than shawnee warriors made blade a british general gen isaac brock commander ot of the british forces in the west immediately recognized the genius of tecumseh and made him a brigadier general thus the shawnee chieftain had the distinction of being one of two indians who ever held such high rank in a white mans army the other was gen ely S parker an iroquois who served on grants staff during the civil war there was a strong bond of friendship between brock and tecumseh which continued until brocks death at the battle of queenstown Queens town in october 1812 general proctor his successor suc cesso r lacked all of the qualities which had won the admi admira Won and respect of tecumseh for brock despite the aid of the shawnee leader and the 2000 warriors of the allied tribes which he placed at proctors disposal the british leader soon proved himself such a bungler if not actually a coward that tecumseh clearly foresaw fo re the ultimate triumph of the americans he covered proctors retreat before harrisons Harrl sons army after perrys decisive victory on lake erie until he became disgusted with the british commander and declining to retreat r farther forced proctor to make a stand on the thames river near the present site of chatham ontario even then he was not sure that proctor would fight if he could avoid it ills his low opinion of the british beitf sh commander was soon justified at the first attack by harrisons troops troop 9 proctor fled in his carriage accompanied by his personal staff a few dragoons and some mounted indians when the american cc cavalry broke the british line proctors Proc torb soldiers immediately threw down their arms and surrendered within five pi minutes after the first p h hot ot was fired the british force was beat en and most of them were prisoners very different was the situation when the kentucky cavalry men struck the indians before the battle tecumseh with a presentiment of disaster had told his friends that lie ho would never leave the battlefield alive so he lind had laid aside his british generals so uniform and gone into action dressed in his native costume under his leadership the indians stoutly resisted the onslaught of col richard M johnsons mounted men and it was not until tecumseh fell that the savages ages Is at last gave way who killed hilled tecumseh the slayer of the shawnee chieftain la Is unknown since there was nothing in his dress to distinguish him from any other warrior WA no one on tho the american side knew when he fell or whose bullet it was that killed him but that did not prevent several americans from claiming that 41 honor in fact the question who killed tecumseh became a famous one in american political history when col richard M John johnson sofi was a candidate for vice president in 1836 his partisans who hailed him as the hero of the thames claimed that he was the slayer of the shawnee chieftain because in those days success as an indian fighter was a strong recommendation for political preferment the claim of johnsons followers was based upon the fact that during the battle of the thames he had killed an indian supposed to be a chief who had wounded him and was advancing upon him with upraised tomahawk when the kentuckian shot the indian with his pistol they asserted that this chief was tecumseh johnson claims corroborated more than halt half a century later what appears to be a corroboration of the claims of the johnson partisans appeared in tile the century magazine in a letter to the editor of the century benjmin benjamin B griswold of carroll md asserted that in 1842 he was present w when hen johnson gave an account of the incident and ire remarked that for some time a doubt had existed whether the indian killed was really the formidable chief or not but he added in terms entirely unqualified that recently developed circumstances had removed all dainty as to this fact he gave no information showing what circumstances cum stances had determined his question but simply spoke with on tho the subject this resulted in another letter written by D B cook editor of the niles mich mirror telling u ol 01 an interview he had had with noon day chief of the ot tawas in 1838 1833 he said noon day had told him that he was near tecumseh w when hen he was slain and had helped carry his body from the field later when noon day was taken to washing ton by gen lewis coss cass to see the great white father president van B buren uren and was introduced to vice president johnson he recognized him immediately as the man he had seen shoot tecumseh at the thames so it seems entire probable that johnson was the slayer of the great shawnee leader indicative of the greatness of 0 tecumseh Is tho the fact that despite pioneer prejudice against tho the indian tie ho was tho the subject of a 0 poetic tribute by ono one of chios early bards charles A jones 1815 1851 was the author of where ro rolls its the dark and turbid thames ills his consecrated wave along sleeps ono one than whose few are arc the names more worthy of tho the lyre and song yet oer whose spot of lone repose N no 0 pilgrim eyes are seen to weep and no memorial marble throws its shadows where tits hla ashes sleep stop s stran t gerl there lies behold the lowly resting place of all that of the hero dies tho the caesar tully of ill his Is race whose arm of strength and flery fiery tongue have won him an immortal name and from the mouths of millions wrung reluctant tribute to ills his tame fame stop for itis glory claims thy tearl true worth belongs to all mani kind and ho he whose ashes slumber h here ere though man in form was god in mind what matter he was not like these in race and color this the soul that marks mans true divinity then lot let not shame thy ear control art thou a patriot so was hot hel ills his breast was freedoms hollest shrine and as thou bendert there thy knee ills his spirit will unite with thine all that a man can give he gave his life the country of his sires from the oppressors grasp to save in vain quenched are the na eions fires art thou a soldier dost thou not oer deeds chivalric love to muse here stay thy steps what better spot thou tor for contemplation choose the earth beneath is holy ground it holds a thousand valiant braves tread lightly oer each little mound for they are no ignoble graves thermopylae and marathon though classic earth can boast no more of deeds heroic than yon sun once saw upon this lonely shore when in a gallant nations last and deadliest struggle for its own flery fiery spirit passa in blood and sought its fathers throne oh softly fall the summer dews dew the tears of heaven upon his sod for he in life and death was true both to his colu country and tits his god for oh it if god to man has gi given ven from his bright home beyond the skies one feeling akin to heaven he who for his country dies rest warrior resti though not a dirge Is thine beside the wailing blast time cannot in oblivion merge the light thy star of glory cast while heave yon alg high hills to tho the sky while rolls yon dark and turbid river thy name and tame fame can never dle die whom freedom loves will live forever discounting the sentimentality of that poem so characteristic of the period in american illera k yf W k zean Ze cn ture in which it was written it Is not an overestimate over estimate of the man it honors for as james jamea mooney says in his sketch of tecumseh in the H handbook of american indians published by the bureau of american ethnology of the smithsonian institution F from rom a all 11 that la IS said C of f tecumseh in contemporary record there is no reason to doubt the of that he was the most in than dian character in united states history |
