THE
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AM ERICAN
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w as decisive. As Logan, the M ingo, had refused to take p art in the
conciliatio n ” of Lord D unm ore, in 1774, so T ecum seh, beaten but not
conquered, refused to lake p art in the G reenville T reaty ( 1795) w hich
secured to the frontiersm en the largest portion of the Ohio co u n try .
T ecum seh refused to bow in subm ission to his vanquishers
H e ever
bated and ignored the G reenville T reaty , m ain tain in g th a t the Ohio
R iver was the boundary line between the red and w hite peoples and the
latter m ust retire L ast of the A lleghany m ountains. T ecum seh chafed
u n d er th e tam e excitem ents of th e chase and, w ith the aid of his b ro th
er, the fam ous p ro p h e t,” never ceased to advocate hostility to the
w hites and was charged w ith in stig atin g outb reak s of the tribesm en.
A t a council near 1 rbana 0 7 9 9 ) and a more im p o rtan t one at C hilli
cothe (1803) T ecum seh was called upon by the governm ent authorities
to explain Ins hostile conduct. A t each of these m eetings he displayed
Ins superb powers of oratory, pleading w ith an eloquence lofty and p er
suasive, th e rig h ts of his people and boldly den o u n cin g th e injustice of
th e w hites.
At G reenville (1807)*, T ecum seh and the P rophet established head
q u arte rs of th e W estern tribes, h u n d red s of whose m em bers they su c
ceeded in ro u sin g to the highest pitch of excitem ent and resentm ent to-
w aid the encroaching w hites. T hey were com pelled to remove from
G reenville to T ippecanoe, Indiana, w here an o th er great confederacy
was to m ake its capital. T ecum seh still dream ed of a universal union
of all the W estern and S outhern tribes; a union th at should become ir
resistible and sweep back th e tide of w hite civilization. Lor two years
the undau n ted hero and m atchless orator traversed th e N orthw est,
\ \ est and S outh, visiting every tribe, addressing th eir assembled w airiors,
and seeking w ith all the potency of his eloquence to stir them to united
action against their common enem y.
T ecum seh, in his indefatigable efforts to arouse and unite his people
to common action , though a savage of th e forest, evidenced in his c h a r
acter a rare com bination of Italian craft, Spanish revengefulness, G er
man patience and A nglo-Saxon bravery and fortitude. H is plans were
favorably received by most of the tribes he visited and to whom he a p
pealed.
The m ost pronounced opposition came from T arlie, the chief
of the Ohio \\ yandots, the first chief to sign the G reenville T reaty and
who regarded th a t T reaty as sacred and for the interests of the Ohio
tribes. H arriso n , territorial governor of In d ian a, know ing the plot
ot the tribes, assembled at T ippecanoe, and having indisputable evi
dence of the co-operation of th e B ritish, sum m oned U nited States troops
to Ins q u arters at V incennes and at the sam e tim e requested T ecum seh
to appear before him for a “ ta lk ” on the situation. In A ugust (1810)
the Shaw nee chief, accom panied by three h u n d red of his chosen