scarcity of provisions among the Indians-and their fear of killing the prisoners, combined to save the retiring troops from the pursuit and annoyance of about one hundred and thirty Miamis. At a place, about forty miles from Greenville, the suffering expedition was met, and furnished with supplies, by a detachment, consisting of ninety men, under the command of Major Adams. The numbers of men rendered unfit for duty, by being frost-bitten, on their arrival at Greenville, were-in Major Ball's squadron of dragoons, 107; in Colonel Simrall's regiment of dragoons, 138; and in the corps of infantry and riflemen, 58.

Lieutenant-colonel Campbell sent two messages to the Delawares, who lived on White river, and who had been previously directed and requested to abandon their towns on that river, and to remove into the State of Ohio. In these messages he expressed his "regret at unfortunately killing some of their people," and urged them to move to the Shawanee settlement on the Auglaize river. He "assured them that their people, in his power, would be compensated, by the government, for their losses, if found not to be hostile; and the friends of those killed satisfied by presents, if such satisfaction would be received."

About the middle of the eighteenth century the Delawares, whose old name was Lenni Lenape, began to remove, from the eastern side of the Allegheny mountains, to the country northwest of the river Ohio. In the spring of 1801 a few Christian Indians removed from the Delaware villages-which stood about the head waters of the Muskingum-to White river, in the Indiana territory, where they attempted to establish a mission for the instruction of the Delawares who lived on the borders of that river. This band of missionaries was composed of "the brethren Natuge and Luckenbach, from Bethlehem, together with three respectable families of Christian Indians, among whom was Joshua, a national chapel interpreter."* "It seems that the Delawares, on White river, were not much improved by the sincere labors of these missionaries; and the mission was broken up, before the close of the year 1806, by the machinations of the Shawanee prophet.

* Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 407.

Soon after the battle of Mississinewa, the main body of the Delawares, together with a small number of Miamis, moved into the State of Ohio, and placed themselves under the protection of the government of the United States. The Shawanee prophet, and some of the principal chiefs of the Miamis, retired from the borders of the Wabash; and, with their destitute and suffering bands, moved to Detroit, where they were received as the friends and allies of Great Britain. The British troops continued to occupy Detroit until the latter part of the month of September, 1813-when they dismantled the fort, burnt the public buildings, and evacuated the place, on the near approach of the army under the command of General Harrison. Detroit was again occupied by a detachment of the northwestern army; and while General Harrison was pursuing the retreating General Proctor, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattamies, Miamis, and Kickapoos, who were in the neighborhood of Detroit, finding themselves deserted by their British allies, began to sue for peace with the United States. "I have agreed," says Brigadier-general McArthur, in a letter of October 6, 1813, that hostilities should cease for the present, on the following conditions: They have agreed to take hold of the same tomahawk with us, and to strike all who are, or may be, enemies to the United States, whether British or Indians."†

* Addressed to the secretary of war.

The following was published in a Kentucky newspaper as the speech of the Indians who submitted to General McArthur:

"Father, we are now unarmed. We are at your mercy; do with us as you think proper. Our squaws and children are perishing. We ourselves are perishing. If you take us by the hand, we are willing to take up the tomahawk against any power, either white or red, that you may direct."SEE NILES' REGISTER, vol. v, p. 185.

CHAPTER XLII.

VIEWS OF ACTING-GOVERNOR GIBSON

TERRITORIAL LEGISLATION

EXPEDITIONS AGAINST HOSTILE INDIAN VILLAGES.

THE legislature of the Indiana territory was not convened in the year 1812; but, on the 18th of December, in that year, General John Gibson, the secretary and acting governor of the territory, issued a proclamation, in which he required the territorial legislature to meet, at Vincennes, on the 1st of February, 1813. The opinions which were entertained by Governor Gibson, on the subject of the war between the United States. and Great Britain, as well as his views in relation to the public affairs of the Indiana territory, were expressed, somewhat quaintly, in a message which he delivered to the legislative council and house of representatives, on the 2d of February, 1813. In this message General Gibson said: "The governor of the territory having been, for some time, absent from us, the gubernatorial functions consequently devolving upon, have been exercised by me. In my discharge of this important trust, I have been actuated by none other than a wish to preserve public rights and protect private property. If I have, at any time, failed in my official duties, or erred in my plans, you must attribute it to the head and not the heart. My address to you, gentlemen, shall be laconic, for I am not an orator, nor accustomed to set speeches; and did I possess the abilities of Cicero or Demosthenes, I could not portray, in more glowing colors, our foreign and domestic political situation than it is already experienced within our own breasts. The United States have been latterly compelled, by frequent acts of injustice, to declare war against England. I say compelled; for I am convinced, from the pacific and agricultural disposition of her citizens, that it must be a case of the last necessity that would induce such a measure. For the detailed causes of the war, I beg leave to refer you, gentlemen, to the message of his excellency, the president, to congress, at the commencement of the present session. It is highly worthy the serious perusal of the

sage and the patriot. It does honor to the head and heart of Mr. Madison. Although I am not an admirer of wars in the general, yet, as we are now engaged in a necessary and justifiable one, I can exultingly say that I am happy to see, in my advanced days,* our little but inimitable navy riding triumphant on the seas; but chagrined to find that our armies by land are so little successful. The spirit of '76 appears to have fled from our continent; or, if not fled, is at least asleep, for it appears not to pervade our armies generally. On the contrary, lassitude-and, too often, schisms-have crept in and usurped the place of patriotic ardor.

"At your last assemblage, gentlemen, our political horizon seemed clear; our infant territory bid fair for rapid and rising grandeur; our population was highly flattering; our citizens were becoming prosperous and happy; and security dwelt every where, even on our frontiers. But, alas! the scene has changed; and whether this change, as it respects our territory, has been owing to an over anxiety in us to extend our dominions, or to a wish for retaliation by our foes, or to a foreign influence, I shall not pretend to decide. But that there is a change, and that, too, a distressing one, is evident. For the Aborigines, our former neighbors and friends, have become our most inveterate foes. They have drawn the scalping knife, and raised the tomahawk; and shouts of savage fury are heard at our thresholds. Our former frontiers are now our wilds, and our inner settlements have become frontiers. Some of our best citizens, and old men worn down with age, and helpless women, and innocent babes, have fallen victims to savage cruelty. Our citizens, even in our towns, have frequent alarms and constant apprehensions as to their preservation. I have not been inattentive to my duty, gentlemen; but have hitherto, and shall continue to exert every nerve to afford to our citizens all possible protection; and it is to be hoped that the all-wise and powerful Creator and Governor of the Universe will not forget his people, but cover us from our savage and sanguinary foe by his benign interposition."

At this period, there were, pressing upon the legislature, numerous complaints of the defects of the militia law of the

* General Gibson was born in 1740, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

territory. Governor Gibson, however, was inclined to attribute the defects of which the people complained, not to any inherent imperfection of the law, but to the incapacity of officers, and the imperfect manner in which the law was administered. He says "To me it seems that the principal defect is owing to the execution, not to the law. It is an old and, I believe, a correct adage, that "good officers make good soldiers." This evil having taken root, I do not know how it can be eradicated; but it may be remedied. In place of men searching after, and accepting of commissions, before they are even tolerably qualified, thereby subjecting themselves to ridicule, and their country to ruin, barely for the name of the thing, I think may be remedied by a previous examination. This, however, among other important territorial concerns, rests with the legislature."

Between the 1st of February and the 12th of March, 1813, the territorial legislature of Indiana passed thirty-two laws. The more important provisions of these laws were designed to improve the navigation of White Water-to fix the seats of justice in new counties-to organize the counties of Warrick and Gibson-to fix the times of holding courts in the territory -to regulate taverns-to open and improve roads and highways to regulate the granting of divorces-to "help poor persons in their suits"-to regulate the inspection of flour, beef, and pork-to provide for a permanent revenue-to remove the seat of the territorial government from the town of Vincennes to the town of Corydon, in Harrison county, etc. The following clauses are copied from the second section of the "Act to reduce into one the several acts establishing a permanent revenue:"-" The following taxes shall be paid annually for one hundred acres, and so on in proportion for a greater or less quantity-of first rate land, seventy-five cents; second rate, fifty cents; third rate, twenty-five cents. For every slave or servant of color, above twelve years of age, two dollars. *** For every retail store, twenty dollars. Town lots are subject to a tax in the proportion of fifty cents on every hundred dollars of their value, which is estimated by the commissioner, including the improvement, and if the owner thinks himself aggrieved by such appraisement, he has the right of appeal to the next court of common pleas, who can alter the assessment to what they may think just. For every