Battle of Tippecanoe

“ Captain Franklin, the promise of an Indian is absolutely worthless, as you must know by this time. Since the troubles on the Wabash, the general trend of feeling toward us has been hostile. Their tomahawks are bad enough—they don't need our own weapons. When I got as far as De Charme's, last Fall, on my way to Detroit, and heard of the battle of Tippecanoe, I turned back immediately to Fort Dearborn and sent messengers to the outer trading posts with positive orders to furnish neither ammunition nor liquor to the Indians. ”

“ Go bring the braves to view the
Mystic Torch
And belt of Sacred Beans grown from my flesh
One touch of it makes them invulnerable
Then creep, like stealthy panthers, on the foe!
SCENE SIXTH.—MORNING. THE FIELD OF TIPPECANOE AFTER THE BATTLE. THE GROUND STREWN WITH DEAD SOLDIERS AND WARRIORS. Enter HARRISON, officers and soldiers and BARRON.
HARRISON. A costly triumph reckoned by our slain!
Look how some lie still clenched with savages
In all-embracing death, their bloody hands
Glued in each other's hair! ”

“ Of his personal courage in the presence of great danger and peril, there can be no question. Judge Law says: "William Henry Harrison was as brave a man as ever lived." At Tippecanoe, after the first savage yell, he mounted on horseback and rode from line to line encouraging his men, although he knew that he was at all times a conspicuous mark for Indian bullets. One leaden missile came so close as to pass through the rim of his hat, and Colonel Abraham Owen, Thomas Randolph and others were killed at his side. ”

“ One thing had, however, been rendered certain by the Tippecanoe campaign: sooner or later the Americans must renew the attack upon the Indians; and a war with the British would bring an Indian war also upon the Northwest. ”

“ Until our enemies are no more we must be as one man, under one chief, whose name is—Death!... I have spoken."
Tecumseh, it should be known, bore a personal grudge against the Americans, especially against the 4th Regiment, then in garrison at Detroit, the "heroes of Tippecanoe." This was a terrible misnomer, for under General Harrison, with 1,000 soldiers, less than a year before, they had taken part in the slaughter of Tecumseh's half-armed band of 600 men and women on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, during that chief's absence with many of his warriors, and had laid waste his village. ”

“ In the new war against England, after Hull's pusillanimous
surrender of Detroit, the West loudly and at length with success
demanded "Tippecanoe" as commander for the army about to advance into
Canada. Their estimate of Harrison proved just. Overcoming many
difficulties and aided by Perry's flotilla on Lake Erie, he pursued
Proctor, his retreating British antagonist, up the River Thames to a
point beyond Sandwich. Here the British made a stand, but a gallant
charge of Harrison's Kentucky cavalry irreparably broke their lines. ”

“ We informed the idlers that there would soon be a mighty uprising of Kentuckians in favor of the Southern cause, but professed ignorance of the movements of Mitchel's army. In return we received the first vague reports of the battle of Pittsburg Landing. It was the impression that the Union army was totally destroyed, thousands of men being slain, and innumerable cannon captured. One countryman assured me that five hundred Yankee gunboats had been sunk! I ventured to suggest a doubt as to the Yankees having so many, but was not able to shake his faith. ”

“ This error, grave at any time, in those who sought to extend the influence of their name and arms throughout that fertile region which has now, within little more than a quarter of a century, become the very head of American commerce and navigation, was especially so at this particular epoch, when the Indian spirit, stirred to action by the great chief who had so recently measured his strength with his hated enemies at Tippecanoe, was likely to be aroused on all occasions where facility of conquest seemed to present itself. ”

“ Then, as the restless pioneers crept southward and westward, was the carnage of Tippecanoe; the stalwart campaigning in the trackless forest of the Illinois; the battling in the land of Weatherford, the Creek conspirator; and the long-continued campaign in the dark and dismal gloom of the Florida Everglades. It was a time which put men upon their mettle, and in which no shirker or weakling could hope to have a place of responsibility. ”

“ Reinforcements of savage Kickapoos and Potawatomi from the Illinois river were beating down the great trails on the way to Tippecanoe. The constant and continued influence of the British, the "ridiculous and superstitious pranks" of the Shawnee impostor, and the natural fear and jealousy of all the tribesmen, on account of their lands, had at last cemented the savage union. The young men and braves of all the clans were ranged in either open or secret hostility against the United States. ”

“ Tippoo’s infantry were tolerably drilled—his artillery were respectable—and though his numerous horse were quite unequal to meet and repel the combined charge of British cavalry, still, as irregulars, they were excellent; alike dangerous to an enemy from their rapid movement, the audacity with which their sudden assault was made, and the celerity, when repulsed, with which their retreat was effected. ”

“ Said Amos Kendall, after witnessing a temporary muster in Kentucky in the summer of 1814: "The soldiers are under no- 204 - more restraint than a herd of swine. Reasoning, remonstrating, threatening, and ridiculing their officers, they show their sense of equality, and their total want of subordination." [544] Even so popular and experienced a frontiersman as Harrison, leading the citizens of his own territory in defense of their own homes, found great difficulty in controlling the militia in the short Tippecanoe campaign. ”

“ Tecumseh's pride was hurt and he refused to go unless he could travel in a style suited to the dignity of a great chief, the leader of the red men. [Pg 169]
Harrison soon learned that the brothers were again at Tippecanoe, with their loyal followers, rebuilding the village and strengthening their forces.
In April, 1812, a succession of horrible murders on the frontier alarmed the settlers. A general uprising of the Indians was expected daily. The militiamen refused to leave their families unprotected. The Governor was unable to secure the protection of the United States troops. ”

“ On the 5th of March, the army of the Carnatic crossed the frontier and carried some hill forts with trifling opposition,4 while the corps under Stuart marched direct on Seringapatam. Ascertaining that his capital was threatened, Tippoo broke up from his cantonments, intending to attack the army of the Carnatic; but suddenly changing his plans, he hurried with the élite of his infantry to meet the division from Cannanore.
Never was the field taken with deadlier animosity to an enemy than that with which Tippoo regarded his antagonists. ”

“ The check, however, was only temporary, and as soon as troops arrived to protect his exposed flank, Picton rapidly pushed the enemy from his positions, forced him to abandon his guns, and drove him in confusion beyond the city of Vittoria, until darkness intervened to protect his disorderly flight. The third division was the most severely and permanently engaged of any part of the allied army, and sustained a loss of nearly eighteen hundred men in killed and wounded, which was more than a third of the total loss of the army in this battle. ”

“ It was the coming of the cannon that inaugurated the modern period. But before telling of battles in which artillery played the chief part, we must tell of a decisive battle that was a link between old and new. Lepanto—the battle that broke the Turkish power in the Mediterranean—saw, like the sea-fights of later days, artillery in action, and at the same time oar-driven galleys fighting with the tactics that had been employed at Salamis and Actium, and knights in armour storming the enemy's ships like Erik Jarl at Svold and King Edward at Sluys. ”

“ One Tipperary man was hanging between heaven and earth, with his foot in a bucket; a second was letting him down the shaft. So that there were four Tipperary men left to confront, and if necessary do battle with, twenty-two Chinamen. Long odds: but the Tipperary men did not seem to think so, did not seem even to consider that there was the slightest danger. ”

“ On our side, the hired barber armed himself with a razor and served out the others to us; on their side, Tryphaena’s retainers prepared to battle with their bare fists, nor was the scolding of female warriors unheard in the battle-line. The pilot was neutral, but he declared that unless this madness, stirred up by the lechery of a couple of vagabonds, died down, he would let go the helm! The fury of the combatants continued to rage none the less fiercely, nevertheless, they fighting for revenge, we for life. ”

“ The enterprise was most difficult, for it was certain that, as soon as the British arrived on the table-land of Mysore, Tippoo would draw a ring of devastation about them, destroying all food and forage. With enormous difficulty Cornwallis reached Seringapatam, Tippoo's capital city, and laid siege to it; but, strive as he would, he could not provide transport for more than twenty days' supplies, and [170] he could only bring forward his ammunition by paying the women and boys among the followers to carry each a cannon-shot or two. ”

“ Dashing at the enemy, he had let fly a round of grape and canister, then boarded in the smoke and confusion. But his boat struck that of the enemy with such force as to recoil; and Trippe, who had sprung into the enemy's rigging, found himself left with but nine of his people, to confront nearly twoscore Tripolitans. The Americans formed in a solid phalanx, and held their ground bravely. Again the two commanders singled each other out, and a fierce combat ensued. The Turk was armed with a cutlass, while Trippe fought with a short boarding-pike. ”

“ It is thus seen that in case of an attack the picket force finds itself maintaining a fight possibly against the whole opposing army, or whatever the attacking force may be. Fight it must, cost whatever it may, so that time may be gained to sound the "long roll" and assemble the army. Many of our picket fights were so saucy and stubborn that the attacks were nipped in the bud, the enemy believing the army was there opposing them. In the mean time, mounted orderlies would be despatched to army head-quarters with such information of the attack as the officer of the day was able to give. ”

“ The Tepanec army was splendidly caparisoned and equipped, and, as it marched across the country with its gorgeous banners flapping in the breeze, and the glittering armor and other belongings of its warriors scintillating in the sun's refulgent rays, left behind it the impression that it was an invincible force. The people, whose hearts beat in sympathy with those who were to oppose the mighty aggregation, despaired of its defeat as they looked upon its dazzling splendor. ”

“ Having passed the island, as related, on the night of the 4th, the Carondelet on the 6th made a reconnoissance down the river as far as Tiptonville, with General Granger on board, exchanging shots with the Confederate batteries, at one of which a landing was made and the guns spiked. That night the Pittsburg also passed the island, and at 6.30 A.M. of the 7th the Carondelet got under way, in concert with Pope's operations, went down the river, followed after an interval by the Pittsburg, and engaged the enemy's batteries, beginning with the lowest. ”

“ It happened once in the battle fought by the Corinthians against the forces of Argos and Cleonae, that Timoleon served among the infantry, when Timophanes, commanding their cavalry, was brought into extreme danger; as his horse being wounded fell forward, and threw him headlong amidst the enemies, while part of his companions dispersed at once in a panic, and the small number that remained, bearing up against a great multitude, had much ado to maintain any resistance. ”

“ A SQUADRON UNDER RICHARD DALE SENT TO THE MEDITERRANEAN—THE DEY OF ALGIERS BECAME FRIENDLY, BUT THE BASHAW OF TRIPOLI SHOWED FIGHT—FIERCE BATTLE BETWEEN THE SCHOONER ENTERPRISE AND THE TREACHEROUS CREW OF THE POLACRE TRIPOLI—SLAUGHTER OF THE PIRATES—TRIPOLI BLOCKADED—GROUNDING AND LOSS OF THE PHILADELPHIA.
The story of the first conflict with the pirates of the Mediterranean Sea follows that of the small war with France. ”

“ Kincaide; we'll drop Tipene through the trap."
Correy hurried the prisoner away, and I ordered the trap in the bottom of the Ertak's hull to be opened.
"Now," I informed Tipene, "we'll let you down and you will establish communication with the Aranians. Tell them you have brought back, not tribute, but an enemy powerful enough to blast their entire city out of existence. It will be a simple matter for you to picture what an atomic grenade or one of the ship's rays will do. We'll arrange a little demonstration, if they're not convinced. ”

“ Beginning at 1 o’clock they engaged in an artillery duel of nearly 2 hours with the powerful Union batteries on this ridge. Then 15,000 men, in a battle line a mile in length, and spearheaded by Pickett’s division, started from the Confederate lines across the open fields, with the Copse of Trees as their guide. When they reached the Emmitsburg Road 300 yards away, the men charged. Canister from Union artillery and concentrated infantry fire from the Union men at the stone walls soon cut wide gaps in the Confederate line. ”