Show r A S K B y or OF THE editha CHIEFS L watson As aa he be was lighting his bis pipe a young shawnee suddenly went into a trance no one expected such a thing of him he was dull and glyen given to drinking to excess and trances were so rare that perhaps the shawnee in that village had never heard of them so they took it for granted that he be was dead lamented loudly after the fashion of their people and prepared for a funeral nothing was further from their thoughts than that the supposed corpse would revive and one may imagine their consternation when the indian spoke again however he be had that to tell which caused thern them to forget their fears 1 I have seen heaven call the nation together that I 1 may tell them what has appeared to met mel he announced that he be had bad been glyen given a wonderful new revelation from the master of life he had visited the spirit world and seen behind the vell veil of past and future ile he had found that evil Is punished and good rewarded a d there and he be also learned that the indians were not living a good life here he denounced witchcraft and strong drink and stated that those who continued to drink would have a fiery punishment hereafter the pain of burning would be theirs and flames would shoot from their mouths sorcery and medicine were al also 10 0 other wrong the prophet stated but other of the old indian customs were the right ones and should be reinstated the old should be respected and the infirm taken care of property should be owned in common ns as had been the case in ancient times white men should not be allowed to marry into the tribe and in fact civilization should be rejected entirely the shawnees shawnee s should return to the old ways of life as they were before the white men came and thus said the revelation happiness would come once a gain again to the red mans heart his indian hearers received these commands with considerable excitement the belief in a messiah was strong in every one of the vanquished race and this seemed to be a message of hope the strong personality of the prophet impressed them and although he was blind in one eye the other seemed to hold a magnetic power the name he now assumed was the open door and he be became known to the whites simply as the prophet it Is doubtful from his intrigues if he had any real belief in his trances he would have appeared more genuine if he had avoided politics however he adroitly directed suspicion of witchcraft against those who spoke in his disfavor and sometimes went too far in his big zeal thus harming his cause caum greenville ohio was the site chosen by the prophet for hla his headquarters here the campaign assumed a businesslike air indians from other tribes flocked to hear the vigorous speak ei and his representatives were sent from the blackfoot country to florida spreading the report of hla his marvelous supernatural messages an eclipse ilese of the sun gun occurred in 1800 had bad predicted this event and the fulfillment of his words served to stamp him as a true prophet the other tribes accepted him without further question and began to work along the lines he had bad planned there were two outstanding points about propaganda within four years he said some awful catastrophe would happen and only those who believed in the prophet would be safe this added to the numbers gathered around him then the northern tribes advanced the idea that a confederacy could be formed which would drive the white men back and this idea was eagerly adopted at the battle of tippecanoe in which more than a thousand converts to the prophets creed were engaged harrison won a decisive victory over the indians causing them a considerable loss As had bad claimed that he could avert death in battle this blow WEIS was a severe one and he lost hla big prestige on this account his work however had acquired too great an impetus to stop the war of 1812 brought this ferment to its height the british were quick to see bee the advantage of such an indian league on their side and made good use of the opportunity the creek war of 1813 was another result of the prophets teachings after the war of 18 1812 12 was given a pension by the british he lived for some years tn in canada finally busily returning to the united states state and died in kansas in november 1837 ilis his burbal place Is unknown D 1032 lal western union |