War of 1812 Bicentennial

Chap. XVIII.

Gen. Harrison's engagements with the Indians During the late war with Great Britain. Gallant defence of Fort Meigs. Attack on Fort Stephenson. Battle of the Thames. Death of Tecumseh.

In the course of the late war which prevailed between America and Great Britain, the latter having engaged many of the savages in her cause, Gen. Harrison (who was appointed to the command of the volunteers and drafted militia of Ohio, &c.) held a council with a number of Indian chiefs who had pro­fessed neutral sentiments, to whom he made three propositions : "to take up arms in behalf of the United States—to remove within the lines and remain neutral—or, to go to the enemy and seek their protection." After a short consultation, many of them accepted the first, and made preparations to accompany him in the invasion of Canada.

After the surrender of Detroit to the British forces under Gen. Brock, the whole northwestern frontier became exposed to the inroads of the enemy. Gen Brock having been killed at the battle of Queenston, the command of the British army devolved upon Gen. Proctor, who had under him a large body of regular troops, with all the savages friendly to the English, who had joined him in great numbers, and were com­manded by the famous Tecumseh. Their head quarters were established at Malden; and frequent attacks were made by them upon the settlements on the frontiers of Ohio and Indiana.

Our government at this time adopted the most effi­cient measures in their power, not only to defend the frontier inhabitants from their savage enemies, but to recover what had been lost, by carrying the war into the enemy's country. Large bodies of volunteers were raised by the western states, who were ordered, with the drafted militia, immediately to join the western army, which was placed under the command of Gen Wm. H. Harrison.

The first of September, 1812, a considerable body of British and Indians proceeded from fort Malden to lay waste the frontiers of Ohio. A principal object appears to have been the capture of fort Wayne. They burnt several valuable buildings, and killed many of the inhabitants; among whom was a brother of Gov. Meigs.

On the 8th of November, a detachment of seven hundred men, commanded by Col. Campbell, left Franklinton, on an expedition against the Miami In­dians, residing at the head of the Wabash. On the 17th December, they reached one of their villages, killed eight warriors, and took thirty-six prisoners. They set fire to the village, and encamped a few miles therefrom. A little before the break of day, they were attacked by the exasperated savages in their camp, shouting and yelling horribly.

The Americans sustained the attack until day­light, when the Indians were charged and dispersed, with the loss of thirty-five killed. The loss of the American troops was eight killed and twenty-nine wounded.

On the 14th of January, 1813, Col. Lewis was des patched to attack a large body of Indians encamped near the river Raisin. On the 18th the attack com­menced. On the first onset the savages raised their accustomed yell, but the noise was drowned in the returning shouts of their dauntless assailants. They advanced boldly to the charge and drove them in all directions. On the first fire sixteen of the Indians fell. About forty were killed. Col. Lewis' party lost twelve killed and fifty-two wounded.

On the 18th, Gen. Winchester proceeded with a reinforcement of eight hundred men to the village of Frenchtown. On the 22d, they were attacked by a combined force of the enemy under the command of Tecumseh and Proctor. The American troops were in a moment ready for the reception of the enemy. The right wing sustained the attack for about thirty minutes, when, overpowered by numbers, they retreated over the river, and were met by a large body of Indians. The troops, finding their retreat cut off, resolved to sell their lives as dear as possible, and fought with despera­tion; but few of these brave fellows, however, escaped the tomahawk. The left wing with equal bravery maintained their ground within their pickets. The Indians and regulars made three different charges upon them, but the troops, with the most determined bravery and presence of mind, reserved their fire until the enemy advanced within point blank shot; they then opened a most galling fire upon them, and mowed down their ranks until they were compelled to retreat in confusion. The Americans lost nearly four hundred men, in killed, wounded, and missing. The courage of brave men was never more severely tested. The party that sought a retreat at the commencement of the action were closely pursued, surrounded, and literally cut to pieces by the savages. Not one escaped the scalping-knife!

On the 30th of January, Gen. Harrison despatched Capt. Lamor, Doctor M'Keenhan, and a Frenchman with a flag of truce to Malden. They encamped the first night near the rapids, and hoisted the white flag; but this was not respected. The Indians fired upon them while asleep, killed Lamor, wounded Doctor M'Keenhan, and took him and the Frenchman pris­oners.

Gen. Harrison, receiving information that a large body of Indians were collected on Presque Isle, near the Miami, on the 9th of February proceeded with a detachment to attack them. The enemy fled on the approach of the troops, who pursued them almost to the river Raisin, but without being able to overtake them. Such was their desire to come up with the foe that they marched sixty miles in twenty-four hours.

The hostile Indians continued to make inroads into the settlements, and committed many murders. An event took place, however, that served in some meas­ure to check the audacity of the Indians. As Col. Ball, with a small squadron, was descending the Sandusky, the foremost of his party were fired upon by a band of eighteen or twenty Indians, who had placed themselves in ambush for the purpose of intercepting the mail-carrier. The colonel instantly charged upon them, and drove them from their hiding-place. The ground was favorable for cavalry, and the savages, finding neither mercy nor the possibility of escape, whooped and shouted horribly, and fought desperately, till they were all, to a man, cut to pieces. Col. Ball was twice dismounted, and opposed in personal contest to an Indian of gigantic stature. It was a desperate and doubtful struggle; life was at stake; both exerted to the utmost. An officer rode up and rescued the colonel, by shooting the Indian through the head. Not an Indian after this ventured to cross the Sandusky in quest of plunder.

If the massacre of the river Raisin filled the West with sorrow, it also awakened there a sense of indig­nation and outrage, of which the effects were after­wards seen. Its immediate influence was prejudicial to the objects of the campaign. Winchester's own movement had been not only without the knowledge or consent of Harrison, but contrary to his views and plans for the conduct of the campaign. When he heard that the movement had been made, he and those about him felt that it was to the last degree imprudent, and looked for nothing less from it than the certain and inevitable destruction of the left wing of the army, which had thus thrown itself into the very jaws of the enemy, and away from the possibility of succor. On the evening of the 16th, being at Upper Sandusky, he received from Col. Perkins, at Lower Sandusky, intelli­gence, for the first time, that Winchester, having arrived at the Rapids, meditated some unknown movement against the enemy. Alarmed at this, and ignorant what it implied, Gen. Harrison gave orders for the advance of troops and artillery, and hastened to Lower Sandusky himself. Here he was met by information from the Rapids of the march of Col. Lewis to French­town. Fresh troops were immediately put in motion, by forced marches, for the Rapids; to which point he himself pushed with the utmost speed. All the dis­posable troops at the Rapids, and others as they came in, were ordered on with anxious expedition; but they were met on the road by the fugitives from the field of battle, and nothing remained but to protect them and the houseless people of Frenchtown. In short, all possible efforts were made to protect Winchester from the apprehended consequences of his own ill-advised acts.

After this, in expectation of an attack on the position at the Rapids, the army fell back to the portage, to admit of an expected reinforcement under Gen. Left­wich; on the arrival of which, the position at the Rapids, on the east bank of the Miami, was resumed, and strongly fortified, as the winter quarters of the army. It was called Camp Meigs, in honor of the governor of Ohio.

This position, being attacked by the British, became the scene of a brilliant triumph to the arms of the United States. So soon as it became known that the attack was contemplated, Gen. Harrison, having made arrangements for strong reinforcements to follow him, repaired to Camp Meigs, to conduct the defence of it in person. The enemy made his appearance on the 26th of April; consisting of a numerous force, British and Indians, commanded by Gen. Proctor; who, having ascended on the north side of the Miami in boats, landed at old fort Miami, and proceeded to construct three powerful batteries directly opposite the American camp. Meanwhile, our troops had thrown up a breast­work of earth, twelve feet in height, traversing the camp in rear of the tents, so that when the batteries of the enemy were completed and mounted, and his fire opened, the tents of the Americans, being struck and removed to the rear of the traverse, were completely sheltered and protected. A severe fire was now kept up on both sides until the 4th of May, when intelli­gence reached the camp of the approach of the expected reinforcements, composed of a brigade of Kentucky militia under Gen. Green Clay.

Gen. Harrison immediately determined to make a bold effort, by a sortie from the camp, combined with an attack of the enemy's lines by Gen. Clay, to raise the siege. Orders accordingly were despatched to Gen. Clay, requiring him that, instead of forming an immediate junction with the garrison, he should detach eight hundred of his men on the opposite side of the river, where two of the British batteries were, turn and take the batteries, spike the cannon, destroy the gun-carriages, and then regain the boats as speedily as pos­sible; while the remainder of the brigade should land and fight their way into the camp, so as to favor a sortie to be made by the garrison against the third and only remaining British battery. This plan was ably conceived, and promised the best results. Gen. Clay, after detaching Col. Dudley to land on the west side of the Miami, fought his way safely into the camp. A part of the garrison also, under Col. (now Gen.) Miller, consisting in part of regular troops and the residue militia and Kentucky volunteers, gallantly assaulted and carried the battery on the eastern bank, made a number of prisoners, and drove the British and Indians from their lines.

Meanwhile, Dudley had landed his men, and charged and carried the two batteries, without the loss of a man. Unhappily, these gallant citizens were not sufficiently aware of their exposed situation, and of the necessity of retreating to their boats, in punctual observance of their orders, so soon as they should have destroyed the enemy's artillery. Instead of this, they were, without due consideration, drawn into a fight with some strag­gling Indians, and so detained until Proctor had time to interpose a strong force between them and the means of retreat. The result was the destruction rather than defeat of the detachment, for three fourths of it were made captives or slain. The British arms were again dishonored by giving up the prisoners to be massacred by the Indians. Dudley and many of his companions were tomahawked at once. Others of the prisoners were put into fort Miami, for the Indians to stand on the ramparts and fire into the disarmed crowd. Those Indians who chose selected their victims, led them to the gateway, and there, under the eye of Gen. Proctor, and in the presence of the whole British army, mur­dered and scalped them. Not until Tecumseh came up from the batteries did the slaughter cease. "For shame! it is a disgrace to kill defenceless prisoners!" he exclaimed, thus displaying more of humanity than Proctor himself.

Unfortunate as this incident was, the events of the day satisfied Proctor that he could not continue the siege with any hope of success. He resolved to retreat, to cover which he sent in a flag of truce, requir­ing the immediate surrender of the American post and army, as "the only means left for saving the latter from the tomahawks and scalping-knives of the sav­ages." Considering this base and insolent message unworthy of any serious notice, Gen. Harrison simply admonished Proctor not to repeat it; with which manly and decided answer, Proctor, being perforce content, hastily broke up his camp, and retreated in disgrace and confusion towards Malden.

In May following, however, Proctor, thinking to surprise fort Meigs, made a second attack upon it with a large force of British regulars and Canadians, and several thousand Indians under Tecumseh, but was again obliged to retreat in disgrace.

On the first day of August Gen. Proctor appeared with five hundred regulars, and about eight hundred Indians of the most ferocious kind, before fort Ste­phenson, twenty miles above the mouth of the river Sandusky. There were not more than one hundred and thirty-three effective men in the garrison, and the works covered one acre of ground; it was a mere out­post of little importance; and Gen. Harrison, acting with the unanimous advice of his council of war, had sent orders to Major Croghan, who commanded the garrison, to evacuate the fort, and make good his retreat to head quarters, provided the enemy should approach the place with artillery, and a retreat be practicable. But the first step taken by Proctor was to isolate the fort by a cordon of Indians, thus leaving to Major Croghan no choice but between resistance and submission. A messenger was sent to demand the surrender of the fort. He was met by Ensign Shipp, to whom the messenger observed that Gen. Proctor had a considerable body of regular troops, and a great many Indians, whom it was impossible to control, and if the fort was taken by force, he must expect that the mildest instruments made use of would be the tomahawk and scalping-knife! Shipp replied, that it was the commander s intention to defend the garrison or be buried in it, and that they might do their worst. The messenger, startled at the reply of Shipp, again addressed him : "You are a fine young man. I pity your situation. For God's sake surrender, and prevent the dreadful slaughter which must inevitably follow resistance!" The gallant Shipp turned from him with indignation, and was immediately seized by a frightful-looking savage, who attempted to wrest his sword from him, but the ensign was fortunately too quick for him, and buried the blade to the hilt in his body, and suc­ceeded in reaching the fort in safety. The attack now commenced. About four P. M. all the enemy s guns were concentrated against the northwestern angle of the fort, for the purpose of making a breach. To counteract the effect of their fire, the commander caused that point to be strengthened by means of bags of flour, sand, and other materials, in such a manner that the balls of the enemy did but little injury. But the enemy, supposing that their fire had sufficiently shat­tered the pickets, advanced to the number of six hundred to storm the place, the Indians shouting in their usual manner. As soon as the ditch was pretty well filled with the copper-colored assailants, the commander of the fort ordered a six-pounder, which had been masked in the block-house, to be discharged. It had been loaded with a double charge of musket-balls and slugs. The piece completely raked the ditch from end to end. The yell of the savages was at this instant horrible. The first fire levelled the one half in death; the second and third either killed or wounded all except eleven, who were covered by the dead bodies. The Ameri­cans had but one killed, and seven slightly wounded. Early the ensuing morning the few regulars and In­dians that survived retreated down the river, abandon­ing all their baggage.

The time was now at hand when Gen. Harrison and his army were to reach the full completion of all the contemplated objects of the expedition.

Among the earliest recommendations of Gen. Har­rison to the government the year before, and immedi­ately after he commenced operations, had been that of constructing and equipping a naval armament on the lakes. In one letter he says, "Admitting that Malden and Detroit are both taken, Mackinaw and St. Joseph will both remain in the hands of the enemy until we can create a force capable of contending with the ves­sels which the British have in lake Michigan," &c. And again, in another letter, "Should any offensive operation be suspended until spring, it is my decided opinion that the cheapest and most effectual plan will be to obtain command of lake Erie. This being once effected, every difficulty will be removed. An army of four thousand men, landed on the north side of the lake, below Malden, will reduce that place, retake Detroit, and, with the aid of the fleet, proceed down the lake to co-operate with the army from Niagara." These sagacious instructions, being repeatedly and strenuously urged by him, and reinforced also from other quarters, were adopted and acted upon by the government. Commodore Perry was commissioned to build, equip, and command the contemplated fleet; and, on the 10th of September, with an inferior force, he met the enemy, and gained the brilliant victory of Lake Erie.

Meanwhile, Col. Richard M. Johnson, then a mem­ber of Congress from Kentucky, had devised the organization of two regiments of mounted militia, which he was authorized by the government to raise, as well for service against the Indians, as to co-ope­rate with Harrison. Col. Johnson crossed the country of Lower Sandusky, where he received orders from the war department to proceed to Kaskaskia, to ope rate in that quarter; but, by the interference of Har rison, and at the urgent request of Col. Johnson,—who said, for himself and his men, that the first object of their hearts was to accompany Harrison to Detroit and Canada, and to partake in the danger and honor of that expedition, under an officer in whom they had confidence, and who had approved himself "to be wise, prudent, and brave,"—the orders of the depart­ment were countermanded, and Col. Johnson attained his wish.

Gen. Harrison now prepared to strike the great blow. Aided by the energetic efforts of Gov. Meigs, of Ohio, and Gov. Shelby, of Kentucky, he had ready on the southern shore of lake Erie, by the middle of September, a competent force, destined for the imme­diate invasion of Canada. Between the 16th and the 24th of September, the artillery, military stores, pro­visions, and troops, were gradually embarked, and on the 27th the whole army proceeded to the Canada shore. "Remember the river Raisin," said Gen. Harrison, in his address to the troops, "but remember it only whilst victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier cannot be gratified on a fallen enemy." The army landed in high spirits; but the enemy had aban­doned his strong-hold, and retreated to Sandwich, after dismantling Malden, burning the barracks and navy-yard, and stripping the adjacent country of horses and cattle. Gen. Harrison encamped that night on the ruins of Malden.

On the 2d of October, arrangements were made for pursuing the retreating enemy up the Thames. The army was put in motion on the morning of the 4th. Gen. Harrison accompanied Col. Johnson, and was followed by Gov. Shelby with the infantry. Having passed the ground where the enemy had encamped the night before, the general directed the advance of Col. Johnson's regiment to accelerate their march, for the purpose of ascertaining the distance of the enemy.

The troops had now advanced within three miles of the Moravian town, and within one mile of the enemy. Across a narrow strip of land, near an Indian village, the enemy were drawn up in a line of battle, to prevent the advance of the American troops. The British troops amounted to six hundred, the Indians to more than twelve hundred. About one hundred and fifty regulars, under Col. Ball, were ordered to advance and amuse the enemy, and, should a favorable oppor­tunity present, to seize his cannon. A small party of friendly Indians were directed to move under the bank. The regiment of Col. Johnson was drawn up in close column, with its right a few yards distant from the road. Gen. Desha's division covered the left of John­son's regiment. Gen. Cass and Commodore Perry volunteered as aids to Gen. Harrison.

On the 5th, the enemy was discovered in a position skilfully chosen, in relation as well to local circum­stances as to the character of his troops. A narrow strip of dry land, flanked by the river Thames on the left and by a swamp on the right, was occupied by his regular infantry and artillery, while on the right flank lay Tecumseh and his followers, on the eastern mar­gin of the swamp. But, notwithstanding the judicious choice of the ground, Proctor had committed the error of forming his infantry in open order. Availing him­self of this fact, and aware that troops so disposed could not resist a charge of mounted men, he directed Col. Johnson to dash through the enemy's line in column. The movement was made with brilliant suc­cess. The mounted men charged with promptitude and vigor, broke through the line of the enemy, formed in the rear, and assailed the broken line with a success seldom equalled, for nearly the whole of the British regular force was either killed, wounded, or taken.

On the left the contest was much more serious. Col. Johnson's regiment, being there stationed, re­ceived a galling fire from the Indians, who seemed not disposed to give ground. The colonel gallantly led his men into the midst of them, and was personally attacked by a chief, whom he despatched with his cut­lass at the moment the former was aiming a blow at him with his tomahawk. The savages, finding the fire of the troops too warm for them, fled across the hills and attempted to seek shelter in a piece of woods on the left, where they were closely pursued by the cav­alry. At the margin of the wood Tecumseh stationed himself, armed with a spear, tomahawk, &c., endea­voring to rally and persuade his men to return to the attack. At this point a considerable body of Indians had collected; but this brave savage saw that the for­tune of the day was against him, and the battle was lost. Proctor had cowardly fled from the field, and left him and his warriors alone to sustain themselves against a far superior force; and he knew that there was no chance of contending with any hope of success. He therefore stood, like a true hero, disdaining to fly, and was, with many of his bravest warriors around him, shot down by the Kentucky riflemen. It has been published to the world, and by many believed, that this distinguished warrior was killed by a pistol-shot from Col. Johnson; but this is undoubtedly a mistake, which probably originated from the circum­stance of the colonel's having killed a chief by whom he was attacked, as has before been related. That he fell by a rifle-shot, there can be no doubt; but by whom fired, it was not certainly known, or probably never can be satisfactorily proved. No less than six of the riflemen and twenty-two Indians fell within twenty-five yards of the spot where Tecumseh was killed.

The Indians continued a brisk fire from the margin of the wood until a fresh regiment was called into action to oppose them. A company of cavalry having crossed the hills and gained the rear of the savages, the rout became general. They fought bravely, and sus­tained a heavy loss in killed and wounded. The death of their leader, Tecumseh, was an irreparable loss to them.

Tecumseh was the most extraordinary Indian that has ever appeared in history. He was by birth a Shawanese, and would have been a great man in any age or nation. Independent of the most consummate courage and skill as a warrior, and all the character­istic acuteness of his race, he was endowed by nature with the attributes of mind necessary for great political combinations. His acute understanding, very early in life, informed him that his countrymen had lost their importance; that they were gradually yielding to the whites, who were acquiring an imposing influence over them. Instigated by these considerations, and, per­haps, by his natural ferocity and attachment to war, he became a decided enemy to the whites, and imbibed an invincible determination (he surrendered it with his life) to regain for his country the proud independence he supposed she had lost. For a number of years he was foremost in every act of hostility committed against those he conceived the oppressors of his coun­trymen, and was equally remarkable for intrepidity as skill, in many combats that took place under his banner. Aware, at length, of the extent, number, and power of the United States, he became fully convinced of the futility of any single nation of red men attempting to cope with them. He formed, therefore, the grand scheme of uniting all the tribes east of the Mississippi into hostility against the United States. This was a field worthy of his great and enterprising genius. He commenced in the year 1809; and in the execution of his project he displayed an unequalled adroitness, elo­quence, and courage. He insinuated himself into every tribe from Michilimackinack to Georgia, and was invariably successful in his attempts to bring them over to his views. He played upon all their feelings, but principally upon their superstition, and sometimes assumed the character of a prophet, and carried with him a red stick, to which he attached certain mystical properties, and the acceptance of which was considered as the joining of his party; hence the name of Red Sticks applied to all Indians hostile to the United States. Unfortunately for Tecumseh, but happily for the United States, was it, that, before his plan had become matured, before his arrangements for general hostility were perfected, before, in fact, he had brought into the field any of his forces, his brother made a pre­mature attack upon the forces of the United States under the command of Gen. Harrison, in the summer of 1811, at Tippecanoe, in which he suffered a signal defeat.

This disaster marred the prospects of the gallant Tecumseh. His own soul was unshaken; but it damped the ardor of his associates; and although many continued firm in their warlike attitude, nor shrunk from a contest that had commenced with defeat, all the efforts of Tecumseh were unavailing to supply the links thus broken in his chain of operations. The war against England, declared soon after this event by the United States, opened new views to the talents of Tecumseh. His merits were duly appreciated by the British government, and they made him a brigadier general in their service. At the head of his formidable warriors, he more than once turned the scale of victory against the Americans, and laid down his life for the cause he had espoused. Tecumseh had fought during the first year of the war under Gen. Brock, to whom he gave great praise, not only for his bravery, but for his kindness and gentle­manly treatment to him and the warriors under his command. They had been remarkably successful in all their operations during the campaigns in which they fought together. But in Gen. Proctor he had no con­fidence, and they never agreed in the plans that were adopted in prosecuting the war. A few days before the last battle, in a talk he had with him at a council, he expressed in the strongest manner his entire disap­probation of all his measures. Being in company with some British officers, he was asked his opinion of Gen. Brock, in comparison with the merits of their present general. He answered—"Gen. Brock very brave man, great general. He say, Tecumseh, come, we go. Gen. Proctor say, Tecumseh, you go. Proctor no Brock."

The day after the battle, the American troops took possession of the Moravian towns, where they found great quantities of such provisions as were very accept­able to the troops. Among the trophies of the day, captured from the British, were six brass field-pieces that had been surrendered by Hull, on two of which was the motto—"Surrendered by Burgoyne at Sara­toga." The town was found deserted, and so panic-struck were some of the squaws in their flight, that they are said to have thrown their papooses into the river, to prevent their being butchered by the Ameri­cans! The Indians who inhabited this town had been very active in committing depredations upon the fron­tiers, massacring the inhabitants, &c., for which reason the town was destroyed by the troops previous to their leaving it.

Soon after the return of Gen. Harrison to Detroit, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamis, and Kickapoos, proposed a suspension of hostilities, and agreed to "take hold of the same tomahawk with the Americans, and to strike all who were or might be enemies of the United States." They offered their women and children as hostages. Walk-in-the-water, a distinguished chief who had taken an active part in the late engagement, waited upon the general in person to implore peace. The white flag which he bore in his hand attracted a great crowd, who were struck with admiration at the firmness with which this distin­guished warrior passed through the ranks of the American troops, whom he so gallantly opposed but a few days before; yet his adverse fortune was calcu­lated to depress his spirits and produce humility. Al­most all the other chiefs had been killed, or had sur­rendered themselves prisoners, and he was without the means of living or resisting.