action, nor
did he advance upon colonel Johnson. Mr. Brown cites no authorities for
his loose and general statements.

Garrett Wall testifies that he went to the spot where he was told
colonel Johnson had fought, and there questioned Anthony Shane about
the dead Indian before them. Shane remarked that he could tell better
whether it was Tecumseh, if the blood was washed from the face. It does
not appear that this was done, nor that Shane became satisfied as to
the identity of the dead Indian. Mr. Wall infers that Tecumseh fell by
a shot from colonel Johnson, because it was so reported, and because
they both led their warriors to the charge, and the desire of victory
brought them together. Mr. Wall cites no evidence to prove that the
body over which Shane was doubting, fell by the colonel--a link in the
chain of testimony, altogether important in making out his case.

The Rev. Obediah B. Brown, however, at Washington, is by far the most
precise in his statements, of all the witnesses. But it is proper,
before entering upon the examination of his testimony, to state that he
was not at the battle of the Thames; and that his letter, in regard to
Tecumseh's death, was written in 1834, more than twenty years after the
action was fought, and upon the eve of a political campaign, in which
his friend, colonel Johnson, was an aspirant for a high and honorable
office. Mr. Brown, it is further proper to add, derived his information
from "several persons," but he has inadvertently omitted the names of
all but one.

He commences by saying, that colonel Johnson saw an Indian known to be
a chief by his costume. Now it has been already shown that Tecumseh
entered the action dressed in the plain deer-skin garb of his tribe,
having nothing about him which would indicate his rank. The colonel
thought, continues Mr. B., that the fate of the day depended upon the
fall of this chief. The question might be asked whether the thoughts of
colonel Johnson, at this particular juncture, became known to the
witness by a logical process of ratiocination, or by a direct personal
communication from his distinguished friend? He states further, that
the colonel rode up within a few feet of the chief, received his fire,
and then shot him dead with his pistol. This act, says the witness,
caused the savages to retreat in consternation: now, the fact is well
established, that the Indians, at this very point, fought bravely for
twenty or twenty-five minute