204 TE-CUM-SEH.
" 'By whom are the savages led ? ' was the question, for many years, during the wars between the Americans and Indians. The name ' Te-cum-seh ! ' was itself a host on the side of the latter ; and the warrior chief, while he signalized himself in all, came oif victorious in most, of the many actions in which he had fought and bled. The American editors, superadded to a national dislike to the Indians, have some special reasons, which we shall develope presently, for blackening the character of Te-cum-seh. They say, that he neither gave nor accepted quarter. His inveterate hatred to the Americans, considering them, as he did, to have robbed his forefathers of their territory, -renders such a proceeding, in a savage, not improbable. European history, even of modern date, informs us, that the civilized soldier can go into battle with a similar determination. Mr. Thomson says of Te-cum-seh, that, ' when he undertook an expedition, accompanied by his tribe, he would relinquish to them the spoil, though he would never yield the privilege of destroying the victim.' And yet, it was from an American publication that we extracted the account of Te-cum-seh's killing a brother-chief, because the latter wanted to massacre an American prisoner. This trait in Te-cum-seh's character is corro- borated by all the British officers who have served with him. That it did not, however, proceed from any good-will towards the Ame- ricans, was made known, in an extraordinary manner, at the taking of Detroit. After the surrender of the American troops, General Brock desired Te-cum-seh not to allow the Indians under him to ill-treat the prisoners. Te-cum-seh promptly replied : ' I despise them too much to meddle with them.' Nor is there a single act of violence charged to the Indians on that occasion. As a proper contrast to this, an American editor, describing a battle between General Jackson and the Creek Indians, in March, 1814, says: ' Of about one thousand Creeks, only ten of the men are supposed to have escaped with life : sixteen of the Creeks, who had hid themselves, were killed the morning after the battle. The American commander said, in his despatch, that he was determined to extermi- nate the tribe ; of course,' proceeds the editor, ' no quarter was given, except to a few women and children.'
" Few officers in the United States' service were so able to com- mand in the field, as this famed Indian chief. He was an excel- lent judge of position ; and not only knew, but could point out, the localities of the whole country through which he had passed. To what extent he had travelled over the western part of the
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