CHAPTER XII.
Siege of fort Meigs--Tec.u.mseh commands the Indians--acts with intrepidity--rescues the American prisoners from the tomahawk and scalping knife, after Dudley"s defeat--reported agreement between Proctor and Tec.u.mseh, that general Harrison, if taken prisoner, should be delivered to the latter to be burned.
Fort Meigs, situated on the south-east side of the Miami of the lakes, and at the foot of the rapids of that stream, was an octagonal enclosure, with eight block houses, picketed with timber, and surrounded by ditches. It was two thousand five hundred yards in circ.u.mference, and required, to garrison it with efficiency, about two thousand men. It was constructed under the immediate superintendence of colonel E. D. Wood, of the corps of engineers, one of the most scientific and gallant officers of the late war. This post, which was established in the spring of 1813, was important not only for the protection of the frontiers, but as the depot for the artillery, military stores and provisions, necessary for the prosecution of the ensuing campaign. These circ.u.mstances could not fail to attract the attention of the enemy; and the commander of the American army was not disappointed in supposing that fort Meigs would be the first point of attack, upon the opening of the spring, by the combined forces of Proctor and Tec.u.mseh.
In the latter part of March, intelligence reached this post that Proctor had issued a general order for a.s.sembling the Canadian militia at Sandwich, on the 7th of April, to unite in an expedition against fort Meigs. This information gave a fresh impulse to the efforts then making to render the fort, which was still in an unfinished state, as strong as possible. On the 8th of April, colonel Ball arrived with two hundred dragoons; and on the 12th general Harrison reached the fort with three hundred men from the posts on the Auglaize and St. Mary"s.
Vigorous preparations were now made for the antic.i.p.ated siege. On the 19th, a scouting party returned from the river Raisin, with three Frenchmen, who stated that the British were still making arrangements for an attack on this post; and were a.s.sembling a very large Indian force. They informed general Harrison that Tec.u.mseh and the Prophet had reached Sandwich, with about six hundred Indians, collected in the country between lake Michigan and the Wabash. This intelligence removed the apprehension entertained by the general, that the Indians intended to fall upon the posts in his rear, while Proctor should attack fort Meigs. On the 26th, the advance of the enemy was discovered at the mouth of the bay; and on the 28th, the British and Indian forces were found to be within a few miles of the fort. At this time, only a part of the troops destined for the defence of the place, had arrived; but the remainder, under the command of general Green Clay, of Kentucky, were daily expected. So soon as the fort was actually invested by the Indians, an express was sent by the commander-in-chief, to inform general Clay of the fact, and direct his subsequent movements. This dangerous enterprise--for the Indians were already in considerable numbers around the fort--was undertaken and successfully executed by captain William Oliver,[A] a gallant young officer belonging to the commissary"s department, who, to a familiar acquaintance with the geography of the country, united much knowledge of Indian warfare.
Attended by a white man and a Delaware Indian, Oliver traversed the country to fort Findlay, thence to fort Amanda, and finally met with general Clay at fort Winchester, on the 2d of May, and communicated to him general Harrison"s instructions.
[Footnote A: Now Major William Oliver, of Cincinnati. It is but an act of justice to this gentleman to state that, for the voluntary performance of this service, he refused all pecuniary compensation.
General Harrison subsequently, in a letter to major Oliver, in relation to this service, says, "To prevent the possibility of these orders coming to the knowledge of the enemy, they could not be committed to writing, but must be communicated verbally, by a confidential officer.
The selection of one suited to the performance of this important trust was a matter of no little difficulty. To the qualities of undoubted patriotism, moral firmness, as well as active courage, sagacity and prudence, it was necessary that he should unite a thorough knowledge of the country through which the troops were to pa.s.s, and of all the localities of the position upon which they were advancing. Without the latter, the possession of the former would be useless, and the absence of either of the former might render the latter not only useless, but in the highest degree mischievous. Although there was no coincidence between the performance of this duty and those which appertained to the department of the staff in which you held an appointment, [the commissariat] I did not long hesitate in fixing on you for this service."]
Soon after Oliver had started on this enterprise, the gunboats of the enemy approached the site of old fort Miami, on the opposite side of the river, about two miles below fort Meigs. In the course of the ensuing night they commenced the erection of three batteries, opposite the fort on a high bank, about three hundred yards from the river, the intermediate s.p.a.ce of ground being open and partly covered with water.
Two of them were gun batteries, with four embrasures, and were situated higher up the river than the fort; the third was a bomb battery, placed a short distance below. Early the next morning, a fire was opened upon them from the fort, which, to some extent, impeded the progress of the works. On the morning of the 30th, the enemy, under a heavy and somewhat fatal fire from the guns of the fort, raised and adjusted their cannon, while at the same time, a number of boats filled with Indians were seen crossing to the south-eastern side of the river.
On the morning of the first of May, the British batteries were completed; and about ten o"clock, the enemy appeared to be adjusting their guns on certain objects in the fort. "By this time our troops had completed a grand traverse, about twelve feet high, upon a base of twenty feet, three hundred yards long, on the most elevated ground through the middle of the camp, calculated to ward off the shot of the enemy"s batteries. Orders were given for all the tents in front to be instantly removed into its rear, which was effected in a few minutes, and that beautiful prospect of cannonading and bombarding our lines, which but a few moments before had excited the skill and energy of the British engineer, was now entirely fled; and in its place nothing was to be seen but an immense shield of earth, which entirely obscured the whole army. Not a tent nor a single person was to be seen. Those canvas houses, which had concealed the growth of the traverse from the view of the enemy, were now protected and hid in their turn. The prospect of _smoking us out,_ was now at best but very faint. But as neither general Proctor nor his officers were yet convinced of the folly and futility of their laborious preparations, their batteries were opened, and five days were spent in arduous cannonading and bombarding, to bring them to this salutary conviction. A tremendous cannonading was kept up all the rest of the day, and sh.e.l.ls were thrown until 11 o"clock at night. Very little damage, however, was done in the camp; one or two were killed, and three or four wounded; among the latter was major Amos Stoddard, of the first regiment of artillery, a survivor of the revolution, and an officer of much merit. He was wounded slightly with a piece of sh.e.l.l, and about ten days afterwards died with the lock-jaw.
"The fire of the enemy was returned from the fort with one eighteen pounder with some effect, though but sparingly, for the stock of eighteen pound shot was but small, there being but three hundred and sixty of that size in the fort when the siege commenced; and about the same number for the twelve pounders."[A]
[Footnote A: M"Affee.]
Throughout the whole of the second day the firing was continued with great spirit, but without doing much damage on either side. General Harrison, in antic.i.p.ation of a transfer of the enemy"s guns to the other side of the river, and the establishment of batteries to play upon the centre or flanks of the camp, had directed the construction of works calculated to resist such an attack; and they were in a state of considerable forwardness on the morning of the third, when, from the bushes on the left of the fort, three field pieces and a howitzer were suddenly opened upon the camp by the enemy. The fire was returned with such effect, that general Proctor was soon compelled to change his position. His batteries were again opened on the camp from another point, but without doing much injury. On the fourth, the fire of the enemy was renewed, but with less energy than on the previous days, the result, it is supposed, of a belief that their efforts to reduce the fort would fail. General Harrison was waiting the arrival of general Clay with his reinforcements. Late in the night of the fourth, captain Oliver, accompanied by majors David Trimble and ---- Taylor, with fifteen Ohio militia, having left general Clay above the rapids, started in a boat for the fort, that the commanding general, by knowing the position of the reinforcements, might form his plans for the ensuing day. The effort to reach the fort under the existing circ.u.mstances was extremely dangerous. Captain Leslie Combs had already attempted it, and failed. He had been sent by colonel Dudley, upon his arrival at Defiance, to inform general Harrison of the fact. With five men, the captain approached within a mile of the fort, when he was attacked by the Indians, and compelled to retreat after a gallant resistance, in which nearly all his companions were killed. When Oliver drew near the fort, the night was extremely dark, and he was only enabled to discover the spot by the spreading branches of a solitary oak tree, standing within the fortification. The boat was fired upon by the sentinels of the fort, but on their being hailed by captain Oliver, no further alarm was given. After landing and wading over a ravine filled with water, the party groped their way to one of the gates, and were admitted. Tec.u.mseh and his Indians were extremely vigilant, and, at night, usually came close to the ramparts for the purpose of annoying our troops, as opportunity might offer. So soon as general Harrison had received the information brought by captain Oliver and his companions, he made his arrangements for the ensuing day. Captain Hamilton, attended by a subaltern, was immediately despatched up the river in a canoe with orders to general Clay. The captain met him at daylight five miles above the fort, the boats conveying the reinforcements having been delayed by the darkness of the night.
Captain Hamilton delivered the following order to general Clay. "You must detach about eight hundred men from your brigade, and land them at a point I will show you about a mile or a mile and a half above camp Meigs. I will then conduct the detachment to the British batteries on the left bank of the river. The batteries must be taken, the cannon spiked, and the carriages cut down; and the troops must then return to their boats and cross over to the fort. The balance of your men must land on the fort-side of the river, opposite the first landing, and fight their way into the fort through the Indians. The route they must take will be pointed out by a subaltern officer how with me, who will land the canoe on the right bank of the river to point out the landing for the boats."[A] As soon as these orders were received by general Clay, who was in the thirteenth boat from the front, he directed captain Hamilton to go to colonel Dudley, with orders to take the twelve front boats and execute the plan of the commanding general on the left bank of the river; and to post the subaltern with the canoe on the right bank, at the point where the remainder of the reinforcement was directed to land. It was the design of general Harrison while the troops under Dudley were destroying the enemy"s batteries on the north-west side of the river, and general Clay was fighting the Indians above the fort on the south-east side, to send out a detachment to take and spike the British guns on the south side.
[Footnote A: M"Affee.]
General Clay ordered the five remaining boats to fall behind the one occupied by him; but in attempting to do so, they were driven on sh.o.r.e, and thus thrown half a mile into the rear. The general kept close to the right bank, intending to land opposite to the detachment under Dudley, but finding no guide there, and the Indians having commenced a brisk fire on his boat, he attempted to cross to the detachment. The current, however, was so swift, that it soon carried him too far down for that project; he therefore turned back, and landed on the right bank further down. Captain Peter Dudley, with a part of his company, was in this boat, making in the whole upwards of fifty men, who now marched into camp without loss, amidst a shower of grape from the British batteries and the fire of some Indians. The boat with their baggage and four sick soldiers, was left, as the general supposed, in the care of two men who met him at his landing, and by whom he expected she would be brought down under the guns of the fort. In a few minutes, however, she fell into the hands of the Indians. The attempt which he had made to cross the river, induced colonel Boswell, with the rear boats, to land on the opposite side; but as soon as captain Hamilton discovered the error under which he was acting, he instructed him to cross over and fight his way into camp. When he arrived at the south side, he was annoyed on landing by the Indians; and as soon as his men were on sh.o.r.e, he formed them and returned the fire of the enemy; at the same time he was directed by captain Shaw, from the commanding general, to march in open order, through the plain, to the fort. As there was now a large body of Indians on his flank, general Harrison determined to send out a reinforcement from the garrison to enable him to beat them. Accordingly, Alexander"s brigade, a part of Johnson"s battalion, and the companies of captains Nearing and Dudley, were ordered to prepare for this duty. When the Kentuckians reached the gates of the fort, these troops were ready to join them. Having formed in order--colonel Boswell being on the right,--they marched against the Indians, who were superior to them in numbers, and at the point of the bayonet, forced them into the woods to the distance of half a mile or more. Such was the ardor of our troops, in the pursuit, that it was difficult, especially for the Kentucky officers, to induce their men to return.
General Harrison had now taken a position on one of the batteries of the fort, that he might see the various movements which at this moment claimed his attention. He soon perceived a detachment of British and Indians pa.s.sing along the edge of the woods, with a view to reach the left and rear of the corps under Boswell: he forthwith despatched his volunteer aid, John T. Johnston, to recall the troops under Boswell from the pursuit. Johnston"s horse having been killed before he delivered this order, it was repeated through major Graham, and a retreat was commenced: the Indians promptly rallied and boldly pursued them for some distance, killing and wounding a number of our troops. So soon as the commanding general perceived that colonel Dudley and his detachment had reached the batteries on the northern bank of the river, and entered successfully upon the execution of the duty a.s.signed them, he ordered colonel John Miller of the regulars to make a sortie from the fort, against the batteries which the enemy had erected on the south side of the river. The detachment a.s.signed to colonel Miller, amounted to about three hundred and fifty men, composed of the companies and parts of companies of captains Langham, Croghan, Bradford, Nearing, Elliott, and lieutenants Gwynne and Campbell of the regular troops; the volunteers of Alexander"s battalion; and captain Sebree"s company of Kentucky militia. Colonel Miller and his men charged upon, the enemy, and drove them from their position; spiked the cannon at their batteries, and secured forty-one prisoners. The force of the enemy, thus driven and defeated, consisted of two hundred British regulars, one hundred and fifty Canadians and about five hundred Indians, under the immediate command of Tec.u.mseh, in all more than double the force of the detachment under colonel Miller. In this sortie, captain Sebree"s company of militia, was particularly distinguished. With the intrepid bravery and reckless ardor for which the Kentucky troops are noted, they plunged into the thickest ranks of the enemy, and were for a time surrounded by the Indians, who gallantly pressed upon them; but they maintained their ground, until lieutenant Gwynne,[A] of the 19th regiment, perceiving their imminent peril, boldly charged upon the Indians, with a portion of captain Elliott"s company, and released captain Sebree and his men from their dangerous situation. Had the force of colonel Miller been something stronger, he would probably have captured the whole of the enemy, then on the south side of the river. The British and Indians suffered severely, being finally driven back and thrown into confusion. As colonel Miller commenced his return to the fort, the enemy rallied and pressed with great bravery upon his rear, until he arrived near the breast-works. A considerable number of our soldiers were left dead on the field, and several officers were wounded.
[Footnote A: Major David Gwynne, now of Cincinnati.]
Colonel Dudley"s movements on the north side of the river, are now to be noticed. A landing was effected by his detachment, which was immediately marched off, through an open plain, to a hill clothed with timber. Here the troops were formed into three columns, colonel Dudley placing himself at the head of the right, major Shelby leading the left, and captain Morrison, acting as major, the centre. The distance from the place where the detachment was formed in order, to the point to be attacked, was near two miles. The batteries were engaged in cannonading camp Meigs, when the column led by major Shelby, being a few hundred yards in advance of the others, rushed at full speed upon those having charge of the guns, and carried them without the loss of a single man. When the British flag was cut down, the garrison of fort Meigs shouted for joy. The grand object of the enterprise having been achieved, the general, who was watching the movements of the detachment, made signs to them to retreat to their boats; but to his great surprise, and in express disobedience of the orders transmitted through colonel Hamilton, our troops remained at the batteries, quietly looking around, without spiking the cannon, cutting down the carriages or destroying the magazines. This delay proved fatal to them. The general, alarmed for their safety, now offered a very high reward to any individual who would bear fresh orders to colonel Dudley and his men, to return to their boats and cross over the river to the fort. The service was undertaken by lieutenant Campbell. "About the time when the batteries were taken a body of Indians, lying in ambush, had fired on a party of spies under captain Combs, who had marched down on the extreme left of the detachment. Presently colonel Dudley gave orders to reinforce the spies, and the greater part of the right and centre columns rushed into the woods in confusion, with their colonel among them--to fight the Indians, whom they routed and pursued near two miles. The left column remained in possession of the batteries, till the fugitive artillerists returned with a reinforcement from the main British camp, and attacked them. Some of them were then made prisoners, others fled to the boats, and a part, who were rallied by the exertions of their major, marched to the aid of colonel Dudley. The Indians had also been reinforced, and the confusion in which major Shelby found the men under Dudley, was so great as to amount to a cessation of resistance; while the savages, skulking around them, continued the work of destruction in safety. At last a retreat commenced in disorder, but the greater part of the men were captured by the Indians, or surrendered to the British at the batteries. The gallant but unfortunate colonel Dudley, after being wounded, was overtaken and despatched with the tomahawk. The number of those who escaped and got into the fort, out of the whole detachment, was considerably below two hundred. Had the orders which colonel Dudley received, been duly regarded, or a proper degree of judgment exercised on the occasion, the day would certainly have been an important one for the country, and a glorious one for the army. Every thing might have been accomplished agreeably to the wishes and intentions of the general, with the loss of but few men. When the approach of the detachment under Dudley was reported to Proctor, he supposed it to be the main force of the American army, from which he was apprehensive that he might sustain a total defeat: he therefore recalled a large portion of his British and Indians from the opposite sh.o.r.e. They did not arrive, however, in time to partake in the contest on the north side."[A]
[Footnote A: M"Affee.]
After the fighting had ceased on the fifth, the British general sent a flag to the fort by major Chambers, and his introduction to general Harrison was succeeded by the following significant dialogue:
"_Major Chambers._ General Proctor has directed me to demand the surrender of this post. He wishes to spare the effusion of blood.
"_General Harrison._ The demand, under present circ.u.mstances, is a most extraordinary one. As general Proctor did not send me a summons to surrender on his first arrival, I had supposed that he believed me determined to do my duty. His present message indicates an opinion of me that I am at a loss to account for.
"_Major Chambers._ General Proctor could never think of saying anything to wound your feelings, sir. The character of general Harrison, as an officer, is well known. General Proctor"s force is very respectable, and there is with him a larger body of Indians than has ever before been embodied.
"_General Harrison._ I believe I have a very correct idea of general Proctor"s force; it is not such as to create the least apprehension for the result of the contest, whatever shape he may be pleased hereafter to give it. a.s.sure the general, however, that he will never have this post _surrendered_ to him upon any terms. Should it fall into his hands, it will be in a manner calculated to do him more honor, and to give him larger claims upon the grat.i.tude of his government than any capitulation could possibly do."
The siege was continued, but without any very active efforts against the fort, until the morning of the 9th of May, when the enemy retreated down the bay, leaving behind them a quant.i.ty of cannon b.a.l.l.s, and other valuable articles.
The force under general Proctor amounted, as nearly as could be ascertained, to six hundred regulars, eight hundred Canadian militia, and about eighteen hundred Indians. The number of troops under general Harrison, including those which arrived on the morning of the fifth, under general Clay, was about twelve hundred in all. The number fit for duty did not, perhaps, equal eleven hundred.
The number of the American troops killed and ma.s.sacred on the north side of the river, was upwards of seventy. One hundred and eighty-nine were wounded, and eighty-one killed, in the two sorties from the fort.
The loss of the British and Indians, in killed and wounded, could never be satisfactorily ascertained. That it was very considerable, there can be no doubt.
The enemy brought against fort Meigs a combined army of near three thousand men, under Proctor, Elliott and Tec.u.mseh, and prepared, by a train of artillery, for vigorous operations. These were prosecuted with skill and energy. The Indians, led on by the daring Tec.u.mseh, fought with uncommon bravery, and contributed largely to swell the list of our killed and wounded. It is said, that the sagacious leader of the Indian forces did not enter upon this siege with any strong hopes of ultimate success; but having embarked in it, he stood manfully in the post of danger, and took an active, if not a leading part, in planning and executing the various movements which were made against the fort. The spirit with which these were prosecuted may be in part inferred from the fact, that during the first five days of the siege, the enemy fired upon the fort with their cannon, fifteen hundred times,[A] many of their b.a.l.l.s and bombs being red-hot, and directed specially at the two block houses containing the ammunition. These shots made no decided impression upon the picketing of the fort, but killed or wounded about eighty of the garrison.
[Footnote A: Brown"s History of the Late War.]
It has been already stated that the distinguished leader of the Indians, in this a.s.sault upon camp Meigs, entered upon it with no sanguine hopes of success. His a.s.sociate, general Proctor, however, is said to have entertained a different opinion, and flattered himself and his troops with the prospect of splendid success and rich rewards. In case of the reduction of the fort and the capture of its garrison, the British general intended to a.s.sign the Michigan territory to the Prophet and his followers, as a compensation for their services; and general Harrison was to have been delivered into the hands of Tec.u.mseh, to be disposed of at the pleasure of that chief.[A]
[Footnote A: M"Affee.]
One of the public journals of the day[A] states that this proposition originated with Proctor, and was held out as an inducement to Tec.u.mseh, to join in the siege. General Harrison subsequently understood, that in case he had fallen into Proctor"s hands, he was to have been delivered to Tec.u.mseh, to be treated as that warrior might think proper: and in a note to Dawson"s Historical Narrative, the author of that work says, "There is no doubt that when Proctor made the arrangement for the attack on fort Meigs with Tec.u.mseh, the latter insisted and the former agreed, that general Harrison and all who fought at Tippecanoe, should be given up to the Indians to be burned. Major Ball of the dragoons ascertained this fact from prisoners, deserters and Indians, all of whom agreed to its truth." Whatever may have been the actual agreement between Proctor and Tec.u.mseh in regard to general Harrison and those who fought with him at Tippecanoe, it is hardly credible that this chief had any intention of partic.i.p.ating in an outrage of this kind, upon the prisoners. Tec.u.mseh may possibly have made such an arrangement with Proctor, and announced it to the Indians, for the purpose of exciting them to activity and perseverance, in carrying on the siege; but that this chief seriously meditated any such outrage, either against general Harrison or his a.s.sociates, is not to be credited but on the best authority. It will be recollected that Tec.u.mseh, when but a youth, succeeded by his personal influence, in putting an end to the custom of burning prisoners, then common among a branch of the Shawanoes. In 1810, at a conference with general Harrison, in Vincennes, he made an agreement that prisoners and women and children, in the event of hostilities between the whites and the Indians, should be protected; and there is no evidence that this compact was ever violated by him; or indeed, that through the whole course of his eventful life, he ever committed violence upon a prisoner, or suffered others to do so without promptly interfering for the captive. To suppose, then, that he really intended to permit general Harrison, or those who fought with him on the Wabash, to be burned, would have been at variance with the whole tenor of his life; and particularly with his manly and magnanimous conduct at the close of the a.s.sault upon fort Meigs.
[Footnote A: The Chillicothe Fredonian.]
The prisoners captured on the fifth, were, taken down to Proctor"s head-quarters and confined in fort Miami, where the Indians were permitted to amuse, themselves by firing at the crowd, or at any particular individual. Those whose taste led them to inflict a more cruel and savage death, led their victims to the gateway, where, under the eye of general Proctor and his officers, they were coolly tomahawked and scalped. Upwards of twenty prisoners were thus, in the course of two hours, ma.s.sacred in cold blood, by those to whom they had voluntarily surrendered. At the same time, the chiefs of the different tribe were holding a council to determine the fate of the remaining captives, when Tec.u.mseh and colonel Elliott came down from the batteries to the scene of carnage.
A detailed account of the n.o.ble conduct of the former in regard to these captives is contained in the following extract from a letter,[A]
upon the accuracy of which reliance may be placed. The writer, after contrasting the brave and humane Tec.u.mseh with the cruel and reckless Proctor, says:
"The most unfortunate event of that contest, I presume you will admit to have been the defeat of colonel Dudley. I will give you a statement made to me by a British officer who was present. He states, that when colonel Dudley landed his troops, Tec.u.mseh, the brave but unfortunate commander, was on the south side of the river, annoying the American garrison with his Indians; and that Proctor, with a part of his troops and a few Indians, remained on the opposite side at the batteries.
Dudley attacked him, and pursued him two miles. During this time, Harrison had sent out a detachment to engage Tec.u.mseh; and that the contest with him continued a considerable length of time, before he was informed of what was doing on the opposite side. He immediately retreated, swam over the river and fell in the rear of Dudley, and attacked him with great fury. Being thus surrounded and their commander killed, the troops marched up to the British line and surrendered.
Shortly afterwards, commenced the scene of horrors which I dare say is yet fresh in your memory; but I shall recall it to your recollection for reasons I will hereafter state. They (the American troops) were huddled together in an old British garrison, with the Indians around them, selecting such as their fancy dictated, to glut their savage thirst for murder. And although they had surrendered themselves prisoners of war, yet, in violation of the customs of war, the inhuman Proctor did not yield them the least protection, nor attempt to screen them from the tomahawk of the Indians. Whilst this blood-thirsty carnage was raging, a thundering voice was heard in the rear, in the Indian tongue, when, turning round, he saw Tec.u.mseh coming with all the rapidity his horse could carry him, until he drew near to where two Indians had an American, and were in the act of killing him. He sprang from his horse, caught one by the throat and the other by the breast, and threw them to the ground; drawing his tomahawk and scalping knife, he ran in between the Americans and Indians, brandishing them with the fury of a mad man, and daring any one of the hundreds that surrounded him, to attempt to murder another American. They all appeared confounded, and immediately desisted. His mind appeared rent with pa.s.sion, and he exclaimed almost with tears in his eyes, "Oh! what will become of my Indians." He then demanded in an authoritative tone, where Proctor was; but casting his eye upon him at a small distance, sternly enquired why he had not put a stop to the inhuman ma.s.sacre. "Sir," said Proctor, "your Indians cannot be commanded." "Begone" retorted Tec.u.mseh, with the greatest disdain, "you are unfit to command; go and put on petticoats.""
[Footnote A: This letter is from Mr. Wm. G. Ewing, formerly of Piqua, O., and is addressed, under date of May 2d, 1818, to John H. James, Esq. now of Urbana.]
This was not the only occasion on which Tec.u.mseh openly manifested the contempt which he felt for the character and conduct of general Proctor. Among other instances, it is stated by an officer of the United States" army, in a letter, under date of 28th September, 1813,[A] that in a conversation between these two commanders of the allied British army, Tec.u.mseh said to Proctor, "I conquer to save, and you to murder;"--an expression founded in truth, and worthy of the magnanimous hero from whose lips it fell.
[Footnote A: Niles" Register.]
There is another incident connected with the defeat of Dudley, which justice to the character of Tec.u.mseh requires should be recorded.
Shortly after he had put a stop to the horrid ma.s.sacre of the prisoners, his attention was called to a small group of Indians occupied in looking at some object in their midst. Colonel Elliott observed to him, "Yonder are four of your nation who have been taken prisoners; you may take charge of them, and dispose of them as you think proper." Tec.u.mseh walked up to the crowd, where he found four Shawanoes, two brothers by the name of Perry, Big Jim, and the Soldier.
"Friends," said he, "colonel Elliott has placed you under my charge, and I will send you back to your nation with a talk to our people." He accordingly took them on with the army as far as the river Raisin, from which point their return home would be less dangerous, and then appointed two of his followers to accompany them, with some friendly messages to the chiefs of the Shawanoe nation. They were thus discharged under their parole, not to fight against the British during the war.
CHAPTER XIII.
Tec.u.mseh present at the second attack on fort Meigs--his stratagem of a sham-battle to draw out general Clay--is posted in the Black swamp with two thousand warriors at the time of the attack on fort Stephenson--from thence pa.s.ses by land to Malden--compels general Proctor to release an American prisoner--threatens to desert the British cause--urges an attack upon the American fleet--opposes Proctor"s retreat from Malden--delivers a speech to him on that occasion.
After abandoning the siege of fort Meigs, general Proctor and Tec.u.mseh returned to Malden, where the Canadian militia were disbanded, and the Indians, who had not already left the army, for their respective villages, were stationed at different cantonments. The Chippewas preferred going home; the Potawatamies were placed six miles up the river Rouge; the Miamis and Wyandots at Brownstown and up the Detroit river, as far as Maguaga. They were successively employed by the British commander as scouts, a party being sent regularly, once a week, to reconnoiter fort Meigs, and other points in that vicinity. They planted no corn and hunted but little, being regularly supplied with provisions from Detroit and Malden.