among
the tribes; and this was the very foundation of the grand confederacy,
to which he and Tecumseh were zealously devoting the energies of their
minds.

After the premature and, to the Indians, disastrous battle of
Tippecanoe, the Prophet began to fall into obscurity. The result of
that action materially diminished the wide spread influence which he
had attained over his countrymen. The incantations, by means of which
he had played upon their imaginations, and swayed their conduct, lost
their potency. The inspired messenger of the Great Spirit, as he openly
proclaimed himself, had boldly promised his followers an easy victory
over their enemies. A battle was fought--the Indians were defeated--and
the gory form of many a gallant, but credulous "brave," attested that
the renowned Prophet had lost, amid the carnage of that nocturnal
conflict, his office and his power.

At the time when this battle was fought, Tecumseh was on a mission to
the southern Indians, with the view of extending his warlike
confederacy. He had left instructions with the Prophet, to avoid any
hostile collision with the whites; and from the deference which the
latter usually paid to the wishes of the former, it is not probable
that the battle would have occurred, had not extraneous influence been
brought to bear upon the leader. The reason assigned by the Prophet to
his brother, for this attack upon the army under general Harrison, is
not known; but some of the Indians who were in this engagement,
subsequently stated that the Winnebagoes forced on the battle contrary
to the wishes of the Prophet. This is not improbable; yet, admitting it
to be true, if he had taken a bold and decided stand against the
measure, it might, in all probability, have been prevented. The
influence of the Prophet, however, even at this time, was manifestly on
the wane, and some of his followers were beginning to leave his camp.
He doubtless felt that it was necessary to do something to sustain
himself: a signal victory over the whites would accomplish this end;
and hence he consented the more readily, to the wishes of the
Winnebagoes, that an attack should be made, in the hope that it would
prove successful.

Within a few months after this battle, war was declared against England
by the United States. Tecumseh and the Prophet, discouraged in regard
to their union of the tribes, decided on joining the British standard.
The love of fighting, however, was not a remarkabl