686 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth.ann.H 



"It is true, he is so far off he will not be injured by the war. lie may 

 sit still in his town and drink his wine, while you and I will have to 

 tight it out." The governor then requested that in the event of an 

 Indian war Teeumtha would use his influence to prevent the practice 

 of cruelties on women and children and defenseless prisoners. To 

 this he readily agreed, and the promise was faithfully kept. (Brake, 

 Tecumseh, 4.) 



The conference had ended with a tacit understanding that war must 

 come, and both sides began to prepare for the struggle. Soon after it 

 was learned that the prophet had sent belts to the tribes west of the 

 Mississippi, inviting them to join in a war against the United States. 

 Outrages on the Indians by settlers intensified the hostile feeling, 

 and the Delawares refused to deliver up a murderer until some of the 

 whites who had killed their people were first punished. Harrison him- 

 self states that the Indians could rarely obtain satisfaction for the most 

 unprovoked wrongs. In another letter he says that Teeumtha " lias 

 taken for his model the celebrated Poutiac, and I am persuaded he 

 will bear a favorable comparison in every respect with that far tamed 

 warrior." 



In -luly, 1811, Teeumtha again visited Harrison at Yincennes. In 

 I lie course of his talk he said that the whites were unnecessarily 

 alarmed, as the Indians were only following the example set them by 

 the colonies in uniting for the furtherance of common interests. He 

 added that he was now on his way to the southern tribes to obtain 

 their adhesion also to the league, and that on his return in the spring 

 he intended to visit the President to explain his purposes fully and to 

 clear away all difficulties. In the meantime he expected that a large 

 number of Indians would join his colony on the Wabash during the 

 winter, and to avoid any danger of collision between them and the 

 whites, lie requested that no settlements should be made on the dis- 

 puted lands until he should have an opportunity to see the President. 

 To this Harrison replied that the President would never give up a 

 country which he had bought from its rightful owners, nor would he 

 suffer his [people to be injured with impunity. This closed the interview, 

 and the next day Teeumtha started with his party for the south to 

 visit the Greek and Choctaw. About the same time it was learned 

 that the British had sent a message to the prophet, telling him that 

 the time had now come for him to take up the hatchet, and inviting 

 him to send a party to their headquarters at Maiden (now Ainherst- 

 burg, Ontario) to receive the necessary supplies. In view of these 

 things Harrison suggested to tin' War Department that opportunity 

 be taken of Tecumtha's absence in the south to strike a blow against 

 his confederacy. Continuing in the same letter, he says of the great 

 Indian leader: 



Tho implicit obedience ami respect which the followers of TecumseL pay to him 

 is really astonishing, and more than any other circumstance bespeaks him one "I 



