The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-18
TEcUMsEH.

TECUMsEH.
 | (By Mrs. Mary D. Hopper of the Mobile Chapter)
 | Tn August of the year 1911, the great | Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh, inspired
 with righteous indignation against the | encroaching white men, came down l from Vincennes in gorgeous war-paint. | and, surrounded by armed and mounted warriors, to rouse the Southern tribes I to a sense of their wrongs and weak acquiescence in the claims of English. | French and Spanish to their best hunt
 ing grounds along the great rivers. What a brilliant picture he and his | brawny bronze warriors must have | made as he rode under the dark pines
 and great oaks through the fiickering
 shadows and golden sunshine, clad in
 buckskin hunting clothes, profusely
 below their knees. Their hair was | plaited in long cue of three plaits | hanging down between the shoulders, while the temples were closely shaven. | The heads of all except Tecumseh, were
 adorned with plumes of hawk and eagle feathers. Tecumseh wore fastened at | the crown of his head two. long crane feathers, one white, the other dyed a brilliant red. The white feather was an emblem of peace-peace among all ] the Indian tribes. The red feather was a war emblem-war to their enemiSs. They wore silver bands on each arm, one around the wrist, one above and
 one below the elbow. and a few wore glittering silver gorgets hung from
 their necks.
 Around the forehead of each. encir-
 cling the head was a silver band above
 one of brightest scarlet. Streaks of read war paint were drawn under the eyes extending outward on the cheek bone. A small red spot was painted
 on each temple and a large round red
 spot on the centre of the breast. Te- cumseh and his train stopped first at
 the villages of the Creeks. and at his
 request the noted chiefs of the Choc- jaws and Creeks and Mingoes of the Southeast and Northeast met him in council and listened gravely while he told them of the bad conduct of the
 white men. how they were seizing the
 Indian lands and reducing them to
 poverty and urged them to join him in
 general war against the oppressors.
 He urged too the duty of living at peace
 with other tribes. He also spoke of
 the impending war with Great Britain.
 and the advisability of all the tribes
 uniting against the common enemy and
 alIying themselves with Great Britain.
 Also he spoke very earnestly against the Indian custom of killing women and children in war. Born savage though
 he was the great Shawnee had innate humanity. He was at this time one of the most splendid specimens of his tribe, celebrated for their physical proportions and fine forms. He Is described as having been tall, athletic
 and manly, dignified and graceful. IL
 Is significant that in an old Alabama State paper he Is called "a man of truth" and when he was with Proctor. the British general was the more
 savage, bloody man of the two. In
 spite of his vehement arguments and
 savage eloquence the Creeks refused
 to act with him, replying that the
 Americans were their good friends and
 when he persisted in talking, counoiling
 war in every village they became angry
 and threatened to kill him. and appoint
 ed a committee to put him across the
 river. Even after war had been de-
 clared the Creeks refused to interfere
 in the wars of white people" Leav-
 ing Alabama, Tecumseh went to Florl- de and persuaded the Seminoles and
 Muscogees to attack the whites on two
 occasions. giving them a bundle of red
 sticks, one to be thrown away each day to show when the first attack should be made.
 Instead of returning as he had pro- posed to the GEOpHel tOWn, dnQ m the spring of 1912 going to Washington to see the President and settle all diff faculties, he found on his return to Indiana in December, that the Prophet had gone contrary to his instructions, had fought and lost the battle of Tip pecanoe November 7th. that the Pro phet's famous town had been destroyed, that his great confederacy was break Ing up. and he appeared that same month npnaDahpr 11fb af where he asked for ammunition and when 1t was denied him, asserted he would go to his British father
 In the spring of 1872, the Indians be- gan active hostility. When they did fight-Waldo says-under the dou- ble influence of British gold and fur ious fanasticism. the savages fought in a manner scarcely to be credited. He calls the Creeks the most warlike tribe of barbarians in the universe And calls the Creek war, the most sanguinary war which savage ven- geance. aided by British gold and Span is perfidy, ever prosecuted"
 In May. 1872. Tecumseh attended a council at Mississinaway, thirty miles below Fort Wayne. In June he vis- ited Fort Wayne, then went to Nal den. In July he was again at Maiden with his warriors ready for the war and was in the summer aiding General Brock in the region of Detroit. In August he led the attack of the Indians at Brownsville in the first action af- ter the formal declaration of the war of 1912.
 August the 18th when Detroit was captured he was at the head Of the Indians. In August of this year he was appointed a British brigadier gen eral In September ne began to assem- ble his forces to reduce Forts Wayne and Harrison.
 Tecumseh continued actively enS gagged in the north, and in December, 1872, with six hundred warriors he was near the Misslninaway towns. It Is quite certain he was not far away when Frenchtown was taken January 3rd. 1913. Tn April he was at Fort Meigs. And led two thousand warriors in the second attack on Fort Meigs in July He was killed October 5. 1913, l at the battle of the Thames called also | tbA battle of the Moraviap tAS~NA-