2
THE
CHEMAWA
AM ERICAN
the rifle; know ledge of the forest, the trail and the art of Indian w ar
fare; th e silent m arch, the stealthy attack , the hidden am buscade,
M oreover Tecum seh was gifted w ith powers of oratory, w ith incom par
able tactfulness in diplom acy, and above all else his accom plishm ents
were crow ned w ith a sense of honor, a nobility of character, unequaled
in any of th e heroes of his race.
N either history nor rom ance h ath a m ore th rillin g story than is pre
sented by the recital of the m ere facts of T ecu m seh ’s life. But we may
not relate them here. D u rin g the period of the A m erican R evolution,
Ohio was the g reat battle ground of the contest between the W estern
pioneers and the Indian allies of the B ritish. T h e valleys of the Scioto,
the S andusky, the M aumee and the M iam is were the tram p in g ground
of th e C anadian-B ritish and their savage cohorts. F or tw enty years
from the Battle of Point Pleasant (1774) to the Battle of Fallen T im
bers (1794) the revolution raged in the Ohio co u n try .
In such a school of ceaseless war and continued bloodshed. T ecum seh
w as educated in the art of savage w arfare and hardened in his hatred of
the w hites. A fter the close of the revolution in New E n g lan d , w here the
contest lasted but seven years, the scarred and poverty-stricken veterans
of th e C ontinental A rm y sought new homes and an o th er lease of life in
th e prom ised land of O hio. T ecum seh w ith a prophet soul saw the
final extin ctio n of his people if th e W estern tide of w hite im m igration
were not im peded. B eginning in 1787 for three years he traveled amid
the W estern and S outhern tribes of his race. It was a w onderful
jo u rn ey , ex tending from th e M issouri and M ississippi, to the tribal
centers of A labam a, G eorgia and F lorida.
In the Fall of 1790 he retu rn ed io his Ohio haunts, famous am ong all
his people from the gulf to the G reat Lakes. H is Ohio country was
still in the throes of deadly w arfare. T he R evolution was still being
continued and the In d ian tribes, urged on by British agents, were
stealthily follow ing the forest trails. T he darkness of nig h t was made
lurid by the flames of the b u rn in g cabin and th e solitude of the forest
was broken by the rifle crack of th e ap p roaching savage, the groans of
the dying frontiersm an and the shrieks of his homeless and defenseless
wife and children.
L ittle T u rtle, th e M iami, was the g u id in g genius of th e tribesm en
and rallied his w arrior hosts to resist the invading arm ies of H arm ar,
St. Clair and W ayne.
lecu m seh became the lieu ten an t and m ainstay
of the Miami chieftain, and at th e battle of Fallen T im bers (A u g u st,
1794) led the Shaw nee co n tin g en t and refused to give way to the ad
vancing lines of W’ayne, w hen L ittle T u rtle, Blue Jacket and other
chieftains sought safety in retreat. But the bravery of T ecum seh was
unavailing. T he victory of Mad A nthony W’avne, the “ T o ro n a d o ,”