royed corn-fields, and were as unrelenting and barbarous in their
revenge as their savage foes.

Tecumseh was born about 1776, and in 1780 the village of Piqua was
attacked by a party of 1,000 Kentuckians, who, after a fierce battle,
drove out the Indians and destroyed the place. It was amid such scenes
that the Indian boy grew to manhood. In that wild time, war was the
only science, and butchery the only trade that an Indian could follow.
One of the favorite Indian pursuits of the day was the capture of
parties of emigrants and traders who came floating down the Ohio in
canoes or "broadhorns." For miles the Indians would secretly follow
such a party, and then when their opportunity came would strike their
deadly blow. When a boy of seventeen Tecumseh was in a party making an
attack on some boats near the present site of Maysville, Ky. The boats
were captured and all the people in them slaughtered on the spot
except one person, who was spared and later burnt alive. The horror of
the spectacle so impressed Tecumseh that he then and there said he
would never again be guilty of such cruelty, and the vigorous manner
in which he protested against it so moved his companions that they
agreed with him to not repeat the act. This resolution Tecumseh never
altered; time and time again he protected women and children from his
infuriated followers. At the battle of Fort Meigs a party of Americans
was captured by the British and Indians. Though they had surrendered
as prisoners of war, yet the savages were firing into them
promiscuously, or selecting such as they chose to tomahawk in cold
blood. This dreadful scene was interrupted by Tecumseh, who came
spurring up and, springing from his horse to the ground, dashed aside
two Indians who were about to murder an American, threatening to slay
anyone who would dare to injure another prisoner. Turning to the
British General, Proctor, he asked why such a massacre had been
permitted. "Sir," said Proctor, "your Indians cannot be commanded."
"Begone," was the angry reply of the outraged Tecumseh, "you are unfit
to command. Go, put on petticoats." This was only one incident of many
showing how far he was above the ordinary Indian in magnanimity of
character. At the already mentioned Vincennes conference Tecumseh
agreed with General William Henry Harrison--his unrelenting foe and
who judged him as harshly as any of the frontiersmen who feared and
hated him--that in case of an outbreak of hosti