e sun under my feet, and what white man can do this?" With this
self-glorification, the council terminated.

The excitement continued to increase, and at the close of May, it was
estimated by the agent at fort Wayne, that not less than fifteen
hundred Indians, had within a short time, passed and repassed that
fort, in making visits to the Prophet. Many of these were from distant
points on the lakes. Councils were assembled, runners with pipes and
belts of wampum, went from tribe to tribe, and strong evidence of some
uncommon movement among the Indians became quite apparent. The British
agents were active in fomenting this excitement, and in extending the
influence of Tecumseh and his brother, whose ulterior objects were
carefully concealed from the agents of the United States, and such
Indian chiefs as were known to be friendly to our government.

In the month of August, on the testimony of several persons familiar
with Indian affairs, then residing in the north-western portions of the
state, the Indians at fort Wayne and at Greenville, who were supposed
to be under the influence of the Prophet, amounted to between seven and
eight hundred, most of them equipped with new rifles. These facts being
communicated to the governor of Ohio, he directed his attention to the
subject, and, in the early part of September, despatched Thomas
Worthington and Duncan McArthur, to Greenville, for the purpose of
holding a conference with the Prophet and Tecumseh, and ascertaining
the object of their assembling so large a body of Indians, within the
limits of the cession of land made by them at the treaty of 1795. These
commissioners left Chillicothe on the 8th of September, and reached
Greenville on the 12th, where they were courteously received by the
Indians. They were fortunate in securing the services of Stephen
Ruddell, as their interpreter, who had resided for seventeen years
among the Indians, and was familiar with the Shawanoe language. On the
day of their arrival, the commissioners were invited to a general
council of the Indians, at which the letter of the governor was read,
and interpreted to the Shawanoes, Potawatamies and Chippewas. This was
followed by an address from the commissioners, referring to the past
relations between the United States and the Indians, the policy pursued
towards the latter by Great Britain, and the importance of their
remaining neutral, in case of a war between that country and the United
States. On