172 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



On the banks of the beautiful Ohio, Atwater found a 

 resting place to his rambling; and at length, after having 

 acquired an ample fortune, he again joined his hand with 

 one of the beautiful daughters of Virginia. A few weeks 

 only after the event, Atwater, in company with a friend 

 who I shall call Scott, started on an exploring expedition 

 still farther west, and as has been stated, arrived at Vin- 

 cennes a short time before the battle of Tippecanoe. 

 Fired with the enthusiasm that pervaded all classes, and 

 perhaps urged by the commander-in-chief, to whom he 

 had a letter of introduction, Atwater proposed to his 

 friend to join the army as volunteers for the campaign 

 that was to bring peace to the then border of civiliva- 

 tion. The proposal was readily accepted, and two more 

 brave hearts were added to the little band of gathering 

 heroes. Their spirits remained in the highest state of 

 exhileration during the preparation and march, until the 

 evening before that battle where so much blood of true 

 heroism was spilled. Then, amid the hopes, fears, and 

 natural excitement as to what the morrow might disclose 

 of the policy and intention of the Indians who professed 

 so much friendship for their "Great White Father," and 

 surprise that he should come in battle array among his 

 red friends, a cloud suddenly came over the serene hori- 

 zon of their minds. 



With a dispatch sent forward to the General, came a 

 letter to Atwater from his much loved wife, in answer 

 to one he had written to her announcing his present in- 

 tention. It was evidently written under the oppression 

 of a gloomy foreboding that her husband was destined 

 to meet the same horrid death from the tomahawk of a 

 savage warrior, that had been dealt upon her father 

 and two brothers. But with that noble, chivalrous feel- 

 ing, so common to the fair daughters of America, she 

 offered him, dear as he was to her young heart, with a 

 pure invocation to the God of battles, a willing sacrifice 

 to his country's honor, for his country's good. Much 

 would I like to copy that letter here, but there are those 



