ny treachery on the part
of the red men, and computations, have been made to show that the room
would accommodate that number of infantry, but this story must be
regarded with suspicion.

Tecumseh and his party seem to have arrived at the place of rendezvous
in canoes and by way of the river. He appeared on the scene with a
retinue of forty warriors accoutered in the elaborate costume of the
ceremonial, with painted bodies and feathered headdress, and fully armed
with war clubs and tomahawks. The chief himself, invariably wore a
simple dress of Indian tanned buckskin, with a mantle of the same
material thrown over the left shoulder. In his belt he carried an
elegant silver mounted tomahawk and a hunting knife in a leathern case.
"Tall, athletic and manly, dignified, but graceful," he stood as the
chosen exponent of his people's wrongs, ready to voice their plaints in
the "musical and euphonious" accents of the Shawnee tongue.

A close observer of the savages of that day has stated that, "those who
have been familiar with the Indians of the northwest, when they were
Indians, and took sufficient interest in them as a race to study with
care their customs, laws and usages, are aware that when attending
councils with other nations or tribes, or with our agents, that they
were always acting a part, a kind of diplomatic drama." To Tecumseh the
moment appeared propitious. The time had arrived to put the youthful
Governor of thirty-seven years to the test. Harrison was attended by the
judges of the supreme court; General Gibson, the secretary; Major G. R.
Floyd, and other officers of the regular army, and a guard of twelve men
from the garrison under the command of Lieutenant Jennings; there was
also a large assemblage of citizens present, who had been invited
thither to hear what Tecumseh had to present. The stage was well set,
and the bold and insolent heart of the savage rose high. "As he came in
front of the dais, an elevated portion of the place upon which the
Governor and the officers of the territory were seated, the Governor
invited him, through his interpreter, to come forward and take a seat
with him and his counsellors, premising the invitation by saying 'That
it was the wish of the Great Father, the President of the United States,
that he should do so'. The chief paused for a moment, as the words were
uttered and the sentence finished, and raising his tall form to its
greatest height, surveyed the troops and the cr