can inform you better.

"Brother, if I find that I can be with you in less time than eighteen
days, I will send one of my young men before me, to let you know what
time I will be with you."

On the second of July, governor Harrison received information from the
executive of Illinois, that several murders had been committed in that
territory; and that there were good grounds for believing these crimes
had been perpetrated by a party of Shawanoes. The governor had been
previously informed that it was the design of the Prophet to commence
hostilities in Illinois, in order to cover his main object--the attack
on Vincennes. Both territories were in a state of great alarm; and the
Secretary of War was officially notified, that if the general
government did not take measures to protect the inhabitants, they were
determined to protect themselves.

In a letter under date of Vincennes, 10th July, 1811, governor Harrison
writes as follows to the Secretary of War.

"Captain Wilson, the officer whom I sent to the Prophet's town,
returned on Sunday last. He was well received, and treated with
particular friendship by Tecumseh. He obtained, however, no
satisfaction. The only answer given was, that in eighteen days Tecumseh
would pay me a visit for the purpose of explaining his conduct. Upon
being told that I would not suffer him to come with so large a force,
he promised to bring with him a few men only. I shall not, however,
depend upon this promise, but shall have the river well watched by a
party of scouts after the descent of the chief, lest he should be
followed by his warriors. I do not think that this will be the case.
The detection of the hostile designs of an Indian is generally (for
that time) to defeat them. The hopes of an expedition, conducted
through many hundred miles of toil and difficulty, are abandoned
frequently, upon the slightest suspicion; their painful steps retraced,
and a more favorable moment expected. With them the surprise of an
enemy bestows more eclat upon a warrior than the most brilliant success
obtained by other means. Tecumseh has taken for his model the
celebrated Pontiac, and I am persuaded he will bear a favorable
comparison, in every respect, with that far famed warrior. If it is his
object to begin with the surprise of this place, it is impossible that
a more favorable situation could have been chosen, than the one he
occupies: it is just so far off as to be removed from immediate
observati