s across plain and
prairie, through forests and across rivers, they suddenly swooped down
on some isolated frontier cabin, perhaps murdering its helpless and
defenseless inmates, taking away a child or a young girl, killing cattle
or riding away the horses and disappearing in the wilderness as suddenly
as they emerged from it. In the later days of Tecumseh's time, these
parties of marauders generally consisted of from four or five, to
twenty. They were still striking the white settlements of Kentucky, and
even penetrated as far west as the outposts on the Missouri river.
Their retreat after attack was made with the swiftness of the wind.
Pursuit, if not made immediately, was futile. Traveling day and night,
the murderous riders were lost in the great prairies and wildernesses of
the north, and the Prophet was a sure protector. The savage chief,
Turkey Foot, for whom two groves were named, in Benton and Newton
Counties, Indiana, stealing horses in far away Missouri, murdered three
or four of his pursuers and made good his escape to the great plains and
swamps between the Wabash and Lake Michigan.

There was nothing romantic about the Potawatomi. They were real savages,
and known to the French-Canadians as "Les Poux," or those who have lice,
from which it may be inferred that they were not generally of cleanly
habits. In general appearance they did not compare favorably with the
Kickapoos of the Vermilion river. The Kickapoo warriors were generally
tall and sinewy, while the Potawatomi were shorter and more thickly set,
very dark and squalid. Numbers of the women of the Kickapoos were
described as being lithe, "and many of them by no means lacking in
beauty." The Potawatomi women were inclined to greasiness and obesity.
The Potawatomi had little regard for their women. Polygamy was common
among them when visited by the early missionaries. The warriors were
always gamblers, playing heavily at their moccasin games and lacrosse.

Nothing, however, revealed their savage nature so well as their rapid
decline under the influence of whiskey. As we shall see hereafter, one
of the great motives that impelled their attacks on the flat boats of
the Ohio river, was their desire not only for plunder, but for rum. The
boats generally contained a liberal supply. Nothing was more common than
drunkenness after the greedy and avaricious traders of the Wabash got
into their midst and bartered them brandy for their most valuable
peltries. P