a pistol shot from a
field officer, or a rifle ball from a private soldier, however
interesting as a matter of personal history, is certainly not one of
national importance. Nevertheless, the question by whose hands he fell,
has engaged public attention to some considerable extent ever since the
memorable battle of the Thames. Its discussion has not been confined to
the immediate friends of the several aspirants for the honor of having
slain this distinguished warrior; it has enlivened the political
canvass, and the halls of legislation; occupied the columns of journals
and magazines, and filled no inconsiderable space on the pages of
American and British histories. Under such circumstances, and as
directly connected with the present biography, a fair presentation of
all the testimony bearing on the case will now be attempted. It may at
least gratify the public curiosity, if it do not definitively settle
the long pending question in relation to the actual _slayer of
Tecumseh_.

M'Affee, in his History of the Late War, says, Tecumseh "was found
among the dead, at the point where colonel Johnson had charged upon the
enemy, in person, and it is generally believed, that this celebrated
chief fell by the hand of the colonel. It is certain that the latter
killed the Indian with his pistol, who shot him through his hand, at
the very spot where Tecumseh lay; but another dead body lay at the same
place, and Mr. King, a soldier in captain Davidson's company, had the
honor of killing one of them."

Brown, in his history of the same war, says, that "colonel Johnson,
after receiving four wounds, perceived the daring Tecumseh commanding
and attempting to rally his savage force; when he instantly put his
horse towards him, and was shot by Tecumseh in the hand, as he
approached him. Tecumseh advanced with a drawn weapon, a sword or
tomahawk, at which instant the colonel, having reserved his fire, shot
his ferocious antagonist dead at his feet; and that too, at the moment
he was almost fainting with the loss of blood and the anguish of five
wounds."

The statement of Shawbeneh, a Potawatamie chief, lately published in
the "Chicago Democrat," goes to prove that Tecumseh was wounded in the
neck; and telling his warriors that he must die, rushed forward to kill
colonel Johnson. Shawbeneh saw him fall, having been shot by the
colonel, just as his arm had reached the necessary height to strike the
fatal blow. Shawbeneh says that colonel