, him, to decide. "As the great chief
is to determine the matter," responded the visitor grimly, "I hope the
Great Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct
you to give up this land. It is true he is so far off he will not be
injured by the war. He may sit still in his town, and drink his wine,
while you and I will have to fight it out."

Still the clash was averted. Once more, in the summer of 1811, Tecumseh
appeared at Vincennes, and again the deep issue between the two peoples
was threshed out as fruitlessly as before. Announcing his purpose to
visit the southern tribes to unite them with those of the North in a
peaceful confederacy, the chieftain asked that during his absence all
matters be left as they were, and promised that upon his return he would
go to see President Madison and "settle everything with him."

Naturally, no pledge of the kind was given, and no sooner had Tecumseh
and twenty of his warriors started southward on their mission to the
Creeks than Harrison began preparations to end the menace that had been
so long hanging over the western country. Troops were sent to Harrison;
and volunteers were called for. As fast as volunteers came in they
were sent up to the Wabash to take possession of the new purchase.
Reinforcements arrived from Pittsburgh and from Kentucky, and in a short
while the Governor was able to bring together at Fort Harrison, near
the site of the present city of Terre Haute, twenty-four companies
of regulars, militia, and Indians, aggregating about nine hundred
well-armed men.

Late in October this army, commanded by Harrison in person, set forth
for the destruction of the Tippecanoe rendezvous. On the way stray
redskins were encountered, but the advance was not resisted, and to his
surprise Harrison was enabled to lead his forces unmolested to within
a few hundred yards of the Prophet's headquarters. Emissaries now came
saying that the invasion was wholly unexpected, professing peaceful
intentions, and asking for a parley. Harrison had no idea that anything
could be settled by negotiation, but he preferred to wait until the next
day to make an attack; accordingly he agreed to a council, and the
army went into camp for the night on an oak-covered knoll about a mile
northwest of the village. No entrenchments were thrown up, but the
troops were arranged in a triangle to conform to the contour of the
hill, and a hundred sentinels under experienced officers were