Lafayette Daily Courier
Thursday, November 10, 1859
OLD SETTLERS
"South of Tippecanoe River, on the borders of the Pretty Prairie, there
was a settlement in early times, composed of the following families,
viz: WILLIAM KENDALL, MOSES RUSH, MOOTS, PHILLIP RUNNELS, BEEKER,
MARQUIS, and SAMUEL STARRET. Further south, between Pretty Prairie and
Prophets Town lived JAMES SHAW, JOHN BURGET, PELEG BABCOCK, JOHN SHAW,
JOHN ROBERTS, JOHN S. FORGEY, THOMAS WATSON and FLEMINGS. North of
these thinly settled neighborhoods, there was a wide, unbroken
wilderness-- "Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey, Or men as fierce
and wild as they."
It would be a culpable omission on my part to leave this locality
without alluding to the Battle of Tippecanoe, which was fought on the
morning of the 7th of November, 1811, between Gen. Wm. H. Harrison, then
Governor of the Indiana Territory, and the Shawnee Prophet, who
commanded the Indians in the sanguinary engagement.
For several years previous to this battle, the renowned Shawnee chief,
Tecumseh, and his brother, Law-le-was-i-kaw (loud voice), had been
stirring up the various tribes of Indians for several hundred miles
around to resist the encroachment of the whites--advising them to make
no more treaties with the pale-faces and prevent them surveying those
tracts of land already ceded to the whites; averring that all treaties
made with isolated tribes, were utterly void--and that a valid treaty
could not be made without the joint consent and concurrence of all the
various tribes, who were but fractional portions of the one great
Aboriginal Family.
The eloquent harangues of Tecumseh, backed by the religious sanctions of
the Prophet, fomented feelings of enmity between the whites and Indians,
which ultimately brought about a state of open hostility. The most
ardent and restless of the different tribes flocked to the standard of
Tecumseh and the Prophet, who laid deep plans for a wide and
simultaneous outbreak of the Indians upon the frontier settlers of
Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.
The Prophet's forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe consisted of warriors
from among the Shawnees, Wyandotts, Ottowas, Chippewas, Kickapoos,
Winnebagoes, Sacs, Miamis, and Pottowatomies.
When Harrison arrived with his forces (consisting of about nine hundred
men) within a few miles of Prophet's Town, the Indians manifested much
alarm, feigned friendship, and expressed great surprise that their
amicable feelings for the whites should be for a moment doubted.
But their friendly protestations did not prevent the Governor from using
every precautionary measure to prevent a surprise. Guards, and picket
guards were stationed around the well selected encampment the evening
before the battle, and orders were given that the soldiers should sleep
on their arms, with fixed bayonets, and their clothes on.
About two hours before daylight, the Indians made an attack by picking
off sentinels with arrows, and then rushing with hideous yells through
the lines into the tents of the sleeping soldiers, many of whom awoke to
receive the stroke of the uplifted knife and murderous tomahawk.
Harrison and his brave soldiers met their foes, which were considered in
point of numbers about equal to their own, with a firm and determined
valor. Again and again were the desperate savages repulsed, in each
fierce onset. Amidst the roar and blaze of musketry, and the rattle of
small arms, the furious combatants were seen to grapple in the deadly
conflict. Victory awhile seemed poised, then vacillating as if in doubt
on which side to alight. But with the early beams of morning the
savages were driven from the field, and the almost breathless victors
looked after their wounded, and buried their dead comrades. In this
battle about 37 whites were killed, and 151 wounded, of whom 25
afterwards died of their wounds. It is reported that 38 Indians were
killed on the battlefield, and full as many if not more wounded, than
there were of the whites. Among the killed of our gallant band, was
DAVIESS, SPENCER, OWEN, WARWICK, RANDOLPH, BAEN, and WHITE, while
heading their heroic soldiers on the gory [sic] field, besides others,
whose names and deeds embalmed in the hearts of a grateful people. And
why not? They poured out their life blood like water to protect your
cradle and mine from the tomahawk of the savages. Peace to their ashes.
A few of the survivors of this glorious battle still linger among us.
Let us cherish them, and the memories of the valiant dead, whose bones
lay bleaching on the battlefield for many years--being disinterred by
the enemy--and were gathered together and buried again by the early
settlers of Tippecanoe and the surrounding counties, assisted by the
inhabitants of Terre Haute, Vincennes, and perhaps some other points, in
the year 1827 or 1828.
Gen'l Tipton, who was a soldier in the battle, bought the land on which
the battle was fought, and donated about thirteen acres of the ground
where the main part of the battle was fought, to the State of Indiana,
as a burying place for his fallen comrades.
The battle ground is now enclosed with a good plank fence, and it is in
contemplation to erect a suitable monument to commemorate the names and
the actions of those who fell on the consecrated battlefield of
Tippecanoe." INCOG