The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-19
TECUMSEH'S CONSPIRACY
THE CONFERENCES BETWEEN THE
GREAT CHIEF AND GEN. HARRISON.
They Met Several Times, but Failed to
Agree, and the Issue Was Finally
Settled at TippecanOe.

There is no name among the great Indian
| chiefs of the old Northwest Territory, and,
| in fact, very few in the history of our coun-
| try, that shines with greater luster than
| that of the famous Shawnee chief, Tecum-
sch. And thinking. perhaps, that some
| thing concerning this brave and ambitious
| leader of the red men may be welcome
reading to those who have no more than be-
come familiar with his name while remain
| ing ignorant of his life and deeds, the fol-
lowing account was written. 1t may be re-
! lied upon one of the most accurate recit-
| ais of Tecumseh's conspiracy, as the au-
thorities that were used in it's preparation
were authentic and were written and pub
lished at the time and at the place where
Tecumseh held his councils with the Gov
ernor and against which place his princi-
pal attack to be made.
| 1t may be best to first obtain a general
idea of the locality and of the population
and character of the people where Tecum-
sch laid the plans of the conspiracy which
bears his name and which was the scene of
his operations. The old Confederate Con-
| gress passed, in 1887 the act which became
| famous as the ordinance of 1887. This sought
| to organize all the vast territory to the
west which belonged to the United States
and to provide laws and courts to carry out
it's powers. This region became known and
styled 1.-The territory of the United States
northwest of the River Ohio" 1t embraced
all what is now the States of Ohio, Indiana
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The capi-
| tai was Marietta, in Ohio.
Congress divided the Northwest Territory
by an act passed May z, $780, providing that
on and after July 4, 1900 the part now
| called Ohio, the eastern portion of what is
now Indiana and the eastern portion of
what is now Michigan, were to retain the
name Northwest Territory while the re-
mainder was to be known and styled In
diana Territory" In 1902, when Ohio be-
came State, the remainder of the North
west Territory was added to Indiana Ter
ritory.
In 1900 Indiana Territory had population
of 1880, with only three organized counties
Knox, in Indiana ST. Clair and Randolph,
in Illinois But three settlements of any
note were found in it's whole domain-Vin-
cennes, in Knox; Kaskaskia, in Randolph
and Cahokia, in st. Clair. The governor OF
the territory was William Henry Harrison,
and the capital was Vincennes. Vincennes
was a small place the east bank of the
Wabash river. The population was COM
posed mostly of French and creoles, but
when it became the capital of the territory,
which it did in 1900, a great many Ameri-
cans became numbered among its citizens.
! Accordingly new life was infused into the
old French town. and it began to thrive
as it never had before.
TECUMSEH AND HIS BROTHER.
Tecumseh. the son of Pucheshinwa and
Methoataske, was born probably about the
year 1885, at a place near where the Mad
/ in
| children-six boys and one girl-he was the
fourth, and the most famous of them all.
His father was of the Kiscopoke tribe,
| while his mother was of the Shawnees. His
! father was a prominent actor in the bat
| tie of Kanawha in 1774, in which engage
| ment he lost his life while fighting valiant
! ly for his tribe After his fathers death the
| young warrior was taken in charge by his
| eldest brother, Chusukan, who constantly
| sought to inculcate into his mind great and
| noble qualities, and which afterwards dis
| tinguished Tecumseh when he entered on
! his career as a leader among his people
| The ambition of Tecumseh was for war.
| Very early in life, when but seventeen years
| of age, he had taken part in an expedition
| and distinguished himself in it. But his
ambition was not so much in the active
carrying on Of war as in the planning and
conceiving of how to carry it on. But when
it came to actual fighting Tecumseh was no
coward
Tecumseh had younger brother called
! the Prophet, whose name was Lawlewasika,
meaning the loud voice, but which name he
! afterwards changed so as to mean the open
door. The Prophet was born probably about
the year 1771, near Piqua, o. In the year
1906 he became possessed of the idea that
| ba had md hot iuoo
he was known the Prophet.
In the spring of 1903 Tecumseh and the
! Prophet, together with their followers came
into the Wabash country and settled. They
had been granted large tract of land,
| which was given them by the Pottawatomie
and KickapOo tribes. A town was built on
! the Tippecanoe, a tributary of the Wabash,
| and was called the Prophets Town. Here
was fought in November, 1911, the famous
| battle between Harrison and the Prophet
| and called in history the battle of Tippe-
| canoe.
In the spring of the year 1910 feeling Of
| alarm began to manifest itself among the
| inhabitants of Indiana Territory, which was
occasioned by the rumors of Indian in
trigues and their hostility towards the
whites. This feeling, as the days of spring
| grew to a close, began to increase, and
| soon the alarm became general. Governor
| Harrison had early been appraised of the
causes of this alarm, which he possessed
through communications transmitted to
him by Indian traders and by Indians
friendly to the whites and loyal to the
United States. This information was to
the effect that the Shawnee Prophet was
instgating and agitating the various tribes
Of the territory to war against the whites,
and it is stated as fact that all the tribes
west of the wabash river had agreed to
manifest their hostile intentions against
the United States
INDIAN PREPARATIONS.
Governor Harrison, as commandant Of In
dian affairs, deemed it his duty to inform
the general government of this, and accord
ingly did so, and troops were sent to be
ready for any emergency The Delawares,
in order to show their loyalty towards the
United States, sent a solemn embassy to the
Western tribes for the purpose of warning
them against joining their forces with those
of the Prophet, and adnonishing them OF
the wrath of the United States that would
surely visit them if they did so.
From the 10th day of June to that of the
18th of the same month Governor Harrison