The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-07-10

tl.v suffered considerably before relief could DO
bought TO them. Some few Indians passed
ito the encampment. near the argie; and
eey were killed. / believe all Of the other com
nnies were under arms add toleraby formed,
hfore they were fired The morning was
ark and cloudy Our fires afforded partial
light. which. If it gave rs some opportunity or
hking our position. was still more advantageous
b the enemy-affordiEg them tho means OF tax
Ing sursr aim. They were. therefore. OK
tnguished as soon as possible
A LOCAL HISTORIANS RESEARCHES
Common consen. makes Chauncey Jones the
bcal authority on the history OF Tippecanoe
well. / lust disremember how that was. but
shauncey can tell you all about it. the villager
ays, when his memory fails him on some fact
bout the battle. '.If you want to get the
straight of it. go out and see Chauncey,' is an
..her way of putting it Mr.. Jones is one OF the
ichest farmers in the county. de lives a mile
IT so above tho battle-ground HIS handsome
arm house stands in the midst Of shrubbery and
fowsr-beds. His broad fields stretch away In
he distance to the Wabash river. There's an AR
" prosperity about the place. which Includes the
heat door plate. Mr.. Jones has lived IN lid
,ecsuoe county for fifty two years, and ne holds
he Office of County Commissioner SIS a testimo.
hal of the esteem In which his nsghbors hold
aim.
AS he sat in bis comfortable parlor to talk
i, my mind q. gathered il from listening to
tne survivors. We used 20 have GATHERINGS
here, and then those who had been IN the battle
would &c over the ground and give their recoi-
lections. Judge Naylor, OF Crawfordsvllle, Was
especially interesting in his "reminiscences he
WAS sixteen at the time of the battle. de would
70 from point to point and We would Follow him.
That is where 10 Daviess's company stood, be
would say, and Here il where my company
vas' He would take us down to the extreme
point of the battle ground and point TO where n
ravine zigzags the low ground and up into the
high ground. Now you see that hollow me-
andering through theref he would say; that IL
the place where We went out with the baggage
wagons carrying the wounded, after the battle
Naylor told Us he never felt so good In his lie
as he did that morning when they got the
through that ravine. The country wasn't
cleared up then, and IL was hard TO ind way
for the wagons The meandering hollow was
picked out the best route. and men had to be
sent on ahead TO clear out the plum bushes De-
fore the wagons could get through.
1.-The battle of Tippecanos just gave us this
whole great country clear on TO the lakes, Mr.
Jones continued. ''The Indians, under Tecum-
sehs lead. were contending We should never
come north OF the Ohio river. This battle was
to force them to give way and let as nave more
territory. Harrison was on his way to make the
Indians come TO some kind OF terms. His orders
were TO march into the heart or the Indian coun-
| try and make them treat. They had promised
| to meet him in the morning. and he had gone
| into camp on the point. Mark We, it was in No
vember cold and dreary. have heard the sur
| vivors tell how cold rain had set In and how
dark it was There was one soldier who used to
come down here from the upper part Of the
| State somewhere. His name was Lake He
always wore q red shirt at the gatherings or
| the survivors, because he said 1t carried him
| back to the cold wet night when he had on
| just such shirt and got so much comfort
| out of it. The old soldiers had it all down pat.
| They could take us to the very trees where the
outposts stood when the fighting began Mark
ys the plan of the Indians was to crawl up
| through willows aud tall grass. shoot down the
outposts with arrows and then rush in and use
| their guns. The fighting began about 3, and
lasted until daylight. History telle that
sixty-three OF Harrison's men were killed. The
( Indians were behind the banks on both sides of
the battle-ground and overshot. Otherwise the
loss would have been much greater. We were
dressing up the ground some time ago. and had
| occasion to cut down a tree in one corner. When
| we came to work it up we found an Indian bull
/ let in the wood full forty feet from the ground.
| showing how far the who fired il had mis-
calculated. 1t was one of the oldfashioned
| smooth-bore bullets. used in the En-
ans were armed. AS soon as daylight,
| came and the cavalry could ride down the sides
| of the battle-ground. they drove the In
| dans back into the swamp and dispersed them.
| Ii was never known how many Indians were
killed. Some bodies were found in the thick
sage grass at the bottom OF the slope, but most
| OF the dead were probably carried away. Tho
Prophet didn't stop long after the battle ended
| He and his followers crossed the river abandon
| ing Prophets Town, and marched ND the Other
side Of the Wabash until they met Tecumseh.
| The chief was very angry. He was the way
| with re-enforcements other tribes whom he hao
persuaded to join him, and he did not intend
| that there should be any fighting until he ar
| rived. have heard that ne had l.500 OF ] 600
| with him. If he had cot here Harrison would
have been whipped. The surroundings of tho
| battle ground were very different from what
| they are now Where you see fields OF wheat
| ripening and the corn tasseling to-day, there
WAS high grass and willows. through which the
| Indians could crawl unseen when they attacked,
| and into which they retreated when the cavalry
| charged them in the morning. i have heard
| that there were ten or twelve tribes represented
| in the attacking force"
Mr. Jouess recolections of the great gather
| ing the battle ground when Harrison wa,
| running for the presidency In 1910 is very fresh.
| de was sD active participant
| THAT was the largest assemblage in Indiana
| up to that time" said Mr.. Jones "We had no
railroads. but people came hundreds OF miles IN
their wagons. 1t was thought that at leas,
| fifteen thousand people were on the battle
ground. lot Of rs came ND from Lafayette q
| few days before, cut timber from the hill where
Prophets Rock is. and build big cabin on the
ground TO hold the provisiors which were deal,
| out free to everybody. We had an enormous
wagon built in Lafayette and on that we erected
| log cabin. There were coonskins nailed on
the outside, and there was o barrel of cider in
side. There also a printinR-press inside
and two or three men were kept busy running
| off Harrison songs. This wagon was drawn by
| half dozen teams of white horses, and as Il
was taken around through the crowds the
campaign songs were distributed. The
carcass of OK was roasted. and we
had terrible time. The biggest speakers
from all around were here / have heard Gen
| Breckenridge. Stephen A. Douglas and all the
| great public orators talk on Tippecanoe battle
ground. That has always been favorite gath
| ering place in political campaigns"
A few rods below where the line OF Mr. Jones,
farm strikes tho river is an interesting spot
| There. tradition has il. was located the post of
the French fur-traders. There they kept ;
| stock of such things good for barter
among the Indians. and barganed for pelts
The foundation logs of the houses could be scar
until . few years age. Now a clearing and the
stone corners mark the location. There is on,
other interesting rec-an apple tree
1T bears . small apple" said Mr.. jones. ssun
like anything that grows in this part of "a,
country, and, in fact. unlike any other apuls
ever tasted. The tree 10 old and can ouiy ae
count for its presence there on the suppositio,
that the Frsnchmen brought it from Canad
and planted it. The grass, too that grow
about the ruins is entirely different from an,
We have. and believe it was brought in by th
| fur traders"
Prophets Town extended along the river f.
some distance. One portion of it was near RI,
fur-trading post. An orchard considerably ma :
| its prime occupies a part of thu