DULL. 30] 



TIPITIWITCHET TIPPECANOE 



759 



ft apart around the circle. The doorway 

 faced the e., the usual door heing a 

 piece of dressed skin stretched over a 

 rectangular or elliptical frame, frequently 

 decorated with porcupine quilln or other 

 ornaments. The dressed skin of a pan- 

 ther, coyote, or buffalo calf, with the 

 hairy side outward, was sometimes used. 

 The tire-pit was directly in the center, 

 and the smoke escaped through the open- 

 ing in the top, at the crossing of the poles. 

 By means of movable skin flaps on each 

 side of the smoke hole, the course of the 

 smoke c<juld be regulated as the wind 

 shifted, the flaps being kei)t in place by 

 2 poles on the outside of the tipi. There 

 were commonly 3 beds or seats, one at 

 each side and one at the back of the tipi, 

 each consisting of along platform covered 

 with a sort of mat of light willow rods, 

 over which were thrown buffalo robes or 

 blankets. The head end of the mat 

 usually hung from a tripod in hammock 

 fashion. Decorated cuitains above the 

 beds kept off the drops of water which 

 came through the smoke hole in rainy 

 weather. The ground was the floor, the 

 part nearest the beds being sometimes 

 cut off from the open space by means of 

 a circular border of interwoven twigs. 

 In warm weather the lower part of the 

 tipi cover was raised to allow the breeze 

 to pass through. In cold weather the 

 open space around the bottom was 

 chinked with grass. The tipi was re- 

 newed every one or two years, its com- 

 pletion being the occasion of a dedicatory 

 ceremony, and those of prominent fami- 

 lies decorated with heraldic paintings 

 and other ornaments. On account of its 

 exact adaptability to the necessities of 

 prairie life, the tipi was taken by Gen. 

 Sibley as the model for the tent which 

 bears his name. Owing to the smaller 

 number of ponies available for dragging 

 the poles, the tipis of the northern tribes 

 were usually fewer in projtortion and 

 larger in size than among the southern 

 tribes. According to Grinnell, the Black- 

 feet in ancient times had a sort of large 

 triple tipi, with 3 fireplaces. See Habi- 

 lalio7is, iSkin and Shin-dreKsing. (.i. m. ) 



Tipitiwitchet. A former popular name 

 for Dionxa musciptda, tiie Venus's fly- 

 trap, or hog-eye, a North Carolina plant, 

 now nearly extinct, noted for the extraor- 

 dinary irritability of its leaves, which, 

 when touched by an insect, collapse 

 with a sudden spring and imprison the 

 intruder. The woi'd is from Renape 

 (Virginia A Igonquian) tUljnwltshik, 'they 

 ( leaves ) which wind around ( or in- 

 volve)', (w. R. G.) 



Tiposies. A hostile tribe, probably Mo- 

 quelumnan, living n. and e. of San Joa- 

 quin r., among the foothills of the Sierra 

 Nevada, on the headwaters of Tuolumne, 



Merced, and Mariposa rs., Cal. — Barbour 

 et al. (1851) in Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, 32d 

 Cong., spec, sess., 61, 1853. 



Tipoti. Mentioned by Onate in 1598 

 (Doc. Ined., xvi, 102, 1871) as a pueblo 

 of New Mexico, in connection with others, 

 apparently belonging to Keresan Indians. 



Tipoy. An unidentified village visited 

 by La Salle in 1686 on his first journey 

 from Ft St Louis, on Matagorda bay, 

 Texas, to search overland for the ]\Iissis- 

 sippi. An Indian from the tribe guided 

 him to the friendly Anami, whom he 

 reacjied the following day. See Cavelier 

 de la Salle in Shea, Early Voy., 40, 1861. 



Tippecanoe (properly Kitapkivanunk or 

 Kitapkwanunka, 'buffalo-fish place,' the 

 Miami name for the stream at that point, 

 from kitdpkiixtn, 'buffalo-fish.' The cor- 

 responding Potawatomi form, accordingto 

 McCoy, is Kc-tap'-L-kun. Trumbull's in- 

 terpretation of 'at the great clearing' is 

 probably based on a misconception of the 

 Delaware form, which seems to contain 

 the prefix kehtl, 'great.' — J. P. Dunn). 

 A noted village site on the w. Ijank of the 

 Wabash, just below the mouth of Tippe- 

 canoe r., in Tippecanoe co., Ind. It was 

 originally occupied by the Miami, the 

 earliest known occupants of the region, 

 and later by the Shawnee, who were in 

 possession when it was attacked and de- 

 stroyed by the Americans under Wilkin- 

 son in 1791, at which time it contained 

 120 houses. It was soon after rebuilt and 

 occupied by the Potawatomi, and finally 

 on their invitation became in 1808 the 

 headquartersof Tecumseh and his brother, 

 the Prophet, with their followers, whence 

 the name Prophetstown. Their attitude 

 becoming threatening. Gen. William 

 Henry Harrison marched with 900 troops 

 against the town, which was defended by 

 about the same number of warriors re- 

 cruited from all the neighboring tribes. 

 When near the town, at daybreak of 

 Nov. 7, 1811, his army was attacked by 

 the Indians, under command of the 

 Prophet, Tecumseh liimself being then 

 absent in the S. The desperate engage- 

 ment that followed, known in history as 

 the Battle of Tippecanoe, resulted in the 

 complete defeat and dispersion of the 

 Indians, with a loss on each side of from 

 50 to 60 killed and a very large proportion 

 of wounded. The site was reoccupied for 

 a short time a few years later. From this 

 victory Harrison was properly and affec- 

 tionately styled "Old Tippecanoe," and 

 in his presidential campaign in 1848 a 

 song with the refrain ot "Tippecanoe and 

 Tyler too" became the rallying cry of 

 his supporters. Consult Mooney, Ghost 

 Dance, 14th Rep. B. A. E. , 1896. (j. m. ) 

 Eatbtippecamunk. — Brown, West. Gaz., 72, 1817. 

 Ketapekon.— Dunn, True Indian Stories, 307, 1908 

 ("Ketapekon town, or place": given as meaning 

 of Tippecanoe). Ke-tap'-e-k6n-n6ng.— Ibid, (full 



