Rouge, where they would be
furnished with their winter's clothing and the necessary supplies of
food. To this proposition, Tecumseh yielded a reluctant assent;
doubting, as he did, the truth of the statement. When they were about
to start, he observed to young Jim Blue-Jacket, "we are now going to
follow the British, and I feel well assured, that we shall never
return." When they arrived at McGee's, Tecumseh found that there were
no stores provided for them, as had been represented. Proctor made
excuses; and again pledged himself to the Indians, that if they would
go with him to the Thames, they would there find an abundance of every
thing needful to supply their wants; besides a reinforcement of British
troops, and a fort ready for their reception.[A]

[Footnote A: Anthony Shane.]

The retreat was continued towards the Thames. On the second of October,
when the army had reached Dalson's farm, Proctor and Tecumseh, attended
by a small guard, returned to examine the ground at a place called
Chatham, where a deep, unfordable creek falls into the Thames. They
were riding together in a gig, and after making the necessary
examination, the ground was approved of; and general Proctor remarked,
upon that spot they would either defeat general Harrison or there lay
their bones. With this determination Tecumseh was highly pleased, and
said, "it was a good place, and when he should look at the two streams,
they would remind him of the Wabash and the Tippecanoe." Perhaps no
better position could have been chosen for meeting the American army
than this place presented. The allied force of British and Indians, had
they made a stand upon it, would have been protected in front by a deep
unfordable stream, while their right flank would have been covered by
the Thames, and their left by a swamp. But general Proctor changed his
mind; and leaving Tecumseh with a body of Indians to defend the passage
of the stream, moved forward with the main army. Tecumseh made a prompt
and judicious arrangement of his forces; but it is said that his
Indians, in the skirmish which ensued, did not sustain their previous
reputation as warriors. It is probable, however, that their leader did
not intend to make any decided resistance to the American troops at
this point, not being willing that general Proctor and his army should
escape a meeting with the enemy. In this action Tecumseh was slightly
wounded in the arm by a ball. General Harrison, in his official