, 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 balls 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 assault upon camp Meigs, entered upon it with no
sanguine hopes of success. His associate, 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 assign 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 Tecumseh,
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 Tecumseh,
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 Tecumseh, 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 Tecumseh, 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 Tecumseh in regard to general Harrison and those
who fought with him at Tippecanoe, it is hardly credible that this
chief had any intention of participating in an outrage of this kind,
upon the prisoners. Tecumseh may possibly have made such an arrangement
with Proctor, and announced it to the Indi