ve to meet on the battle field."
He also admitted, that he was then on his way to the Creek nation, for
the purpose he had just avowed, and he continued his journey two days
after, with twelve or fifteen of his warriors. Having visited the Creek
and other southern tribes, he crossed the Mississippi, and continued a
northern course as far as the river Demoins, whence he returned to the
Wabash by land. But a sad reverse of fortune awaited his return; he
found his town consumed, his bravest warriors slain, and a large deposit
of provisions destroyed. On his departure, the settlement at Tippecanoe
was left in charge of his brother, the prophet, with strict injunctions
to prevent all hostile incursions, as they might lead to extremities
before his plans were matured. The prophet, however, wanted either the
inclination or the authority to follow these injunctions; and the
Americans assert, that murder and rapine occurred now so frequently,
that they were compelled, in their own defence, to punish the
delinquents. Accordingly, General Harrison proceeded with nearly 1,000
men to Tippecanoe, and on his approach, in November, 1811, was met by
about 600 warriors; a battle ensued, in which the Indians, deprived by
the absence of their chief of his counsel and example, were defeated,
but with nearly equal loss on both sides. Assured by the prophet that
the American bullets would not injure them, they rushed on the bayonets
with their war clubs, and exposed their persons with a fatal
fearlessness. But the prophet himself remained during the battle in
security on an adjacent eminence; he was chaunting a war song, when
information was brought to him that his men were falling. "Let them
fight on, for my prediction will soon be verified," was the substance of
his reply, and he resumed his song in a louder key!

The hostility of Tecumseh to those whom he had ever considered as the
spoilers of his country, was, if possible, redoubled by this severe act
of retaliation. General Harrison, in particular, incurred his personal
enmity, and he declared openly that he would seek for vengeance. Nor
was he backward in putting his threats into execution. Early in 1812,
the Indians renewed their hostile incursions, but they were now treated
with unusual forbearance, in the hope that they would remain neutral in
the war with Great Britain, which the American government well knew was
near at hand. On its declaration in June, however, Tecumseh eagerly
em