Complete Content List

1. • Full Citation: William Henry Harrison, "General Orders for the Militia," Indiana Magazine of History 2, no. 4 (December 1906): 185-186.
   • Home: Knox County (Vincennes)
   • Year: 1812
   • Abstract: This circular of April 16, 1812, in a private collection, was issued by Territorial Governor Harrison, to the Indiana militia. He wrote that future battles with the Indians were inevitable, and therefore that all military units should be actively prepared for service. Harrison recommended that citizens in and around Knox County should build blocked houses or picketed forts. According to Harrison, the Indians were not trustworthy and were not to be let into settlements.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "As the late murders upon the frontiers of this and the neighboring Territories leave us little to hope of our being able to avoid a war with the neigboring tribes of Indians, the commander-in-chief directs that the colonels and other commandants of corps should take immediate measures to put their commands in the best possible state for active service."(p. 185)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841.
     2. Indiana. Militia
     
     
     
2. • Full Citation: John P. Hedges, "Early Recollections of John P. Hedges," Indiana Magazine of History 8, no. 4 (December 1912): 171-173.
   • Home: Allen County
   • Year: 1812
   • Abstract: John Hedges (b. 1790) published a brief memoir of his experiences originally in the Fort Wayne Sentinel in 1875. He arrived at Fort Meigs, Ohio in 1812, and went to Fort Wayne to assess the latter's provisional needs. He and members of three army regiments go to Cincinnati to purchase the supplies (bacon, flour, whiskey, salt, cattle), and drop them off at Fort Wayne Sept. 10, 1812. He returns to find the fort under seige, and with the other army members he helps break the seige and destroys Shawnee villages. After the last battle with Tecumseh Hedges traveled throughout the Old Northwest and Canada and saw Tecumseh's remains.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "After the battle, I was inforned that the soldiers mutilated the body of Tecumseh, by cutting several strips of his skin for the purpose of using as razor strops. Whether true or not, it was charged by a half-bred Indian interpreter by the name of Anthony Shaw, who was inclined to take considerable umbrage at that kind of warfare, comparing it to that of savages." (p. 172-173)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. War of 1812
     2. Fort Meigs (Ohio) Siege, 1813
     3. Tecumseh, Shawnee Chief, 1768-1813
     
     
     
3. • Full Citation: John Jackson, "'We Just Lay There Doing Nothing': John Jackson's Recollection of the War of 1812," Indiana Magazine of History 88, no. 2 (June 1992): 111-131.
   • Home: Elkhart County
   • Year: 1812-1813
   • Abstract: Jackson (1790-1873) was a member of the Ohio militia from August 1812-February 1813 and July-August 1813. Under Philip McNemar, he assisted in lifting the seige on Fort Wayne and participated in the burning of Indian villages. He was stationed at Fort Meigs in the winter of 1812-1813 and the summer of 1813. He later moved to Elkhart County and served in a variety of public offices. His memoir was originally published in a series in the Goshen Democrat January- April 1872.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "I did not get to know fairly whether I would make a good soldier or not, but I always supposed that I would make about as good a soldier as the dutchman, when he got into battle, he was heard to say 'plut for plut, I would shoost so soon lif as tie.'" (p. 127)
     2. "One day, whilst a number of us were sliding on the ice on the river, one of the boys in camp loaded the cannon and fired at a shanty on the opposite side of the river, while Maumee city now stands. The ball went whizzing over the boys heads, on the ice, and they knowing nothing about the camp of the shooting came scampering off of the river in quick time, being very much frightened." (p. 128-129)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. War of 1812
     2. Fort Wayne (Ind.) History.
     
     
     
4. • Full Citation: Walter K. Jordan, "A New Letter about the Massacre at Fort Dearborn," ed. John D. Barnhart, Indiana Magazine of History 41, no. 2 (June 1945): 187-199.
   • Home: Pennsylvania
   • Year: 1812
   • Abstract: Barnhart reviewed the sources for the massacre at Fort Dearborn, 1812, including letters by the soldier Walter K. Jordan (1783-1814), on Oct. 12 and Oct. 19, which may or may not have been the same letter to his wife Betcy. He decides that the letters were written on both days and that there were no forgeries involved. Jordan also wrote a longer letter on Dec. 17, 1812 when he had more time to reflect on his experience. Jordan was a member of the Fort Wayne garrison who traveled with William Wells to Ft. Dearborn to rescue the beseiged whites, and he was present at the massacre where 130 people were killed. He was captured by the Winnabagos and Kickapoos, but escaped.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "My old Chief told that if I would Stay and not run away that I Should be a Chief But if atempted to run away tha would Catch me and Burn me alive I told him a fine Story So th[ey] did not ty me that nite as for the particulars I havent room to write them but I made my escape on the 19" (Oct. 12, 1812, p. 192)
     2. "I was apoined Sargant Last July I asst the Comisary some and that keps me in pockey mony one Request is to try to find out how the Childern is Comeing on and dont rite anythn about them if you dont now it to Be true" (Dec. 17, 1812, p. 194)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Wells, William, 1770-1812.
     2. Fort Dearborn Massacre, Chicago, Ill., 1812
     
     
     
5. • Full Citation: Charles Larrabee, "Lieutenant Charles Larrabee's Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811," ed. Florence G. Watts, Indiana Magazine of History 57, no. 3 (September 1961): 225-247.
   • Home: Pennsylvania
   • Year: 1811-1812
   • Abstract: Charles Larrabee (1782-1862) was a member of the 4th Army Regiment who wrote 5 letters to his cousin Adam Larrabee (d. 1869), a 2nd Lt. Charles had been stationed in Pittsburgh when he was transferred to Indiana Territory and traveled to Prophetstown under Col. Boyd. His letters span Sept. 5, 1811- Feb. 7, 1812. He writes about the Battle of Tippecanoe itself as well as details about soldiers' lives and travel throughout the Old Northwest Territory. In his last letter, he mentions the New Madrid earthquakes and how he enjoys the dances in Vincennes. The letters are now at the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "as to the Girls in this part of the wourld, of which you call of me to mention one of the Capt of the army got leave of absence from the expedition at Fort Harrison on account of Cowardice, and returned to Vincennes [T]he Girls offered to exchange dress with him and take his sword and fill his place in the army" (Dec. 11, 1811, p. 234)
     2. "the army where in such high sperrits, that a few inspireing words from their able commander was sufficient to enspire the troops above all difficulties that was posible to meet them [T]he contractor has considerable fault found with him, but in taking into consideration he has to transport most of the provisions 600 miles, it is some justification for partial failures" (Feb. 5, 1812, p. 240)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Larrabee, Charles, 1782-1863
     2. Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811
     3. United States. Army. 4th Infantry. Press.
     
     
     
6. • Full Citation: Issac Naylor, "The Battle of Tippecanoe," Indiana Magazine of History 2, no. 4 (December 1906): 163-169.
   • Home: Clark County (Jeffersonvile)
   • Year: 1811
   • Abstract: Naylor's (1790-1873) memoir was printed in the *Lafayette Morning Journal* in June 1906. Naylor was born in Virginia, then moved to Indiana from Kentucky. After Tippecanoe, in which both he and his brother fought, he became a circuit judge, and then retired to Crawfordsville. He was a rifleman in the Indiana militia, who marched to Vincennes, then Fort Harrison, and arrived near Prophetstown with the rest of the American military on Nov. 6, 1811. Naylor goes into extensive detail about the battle, describing how the Shawnees attacked around 4am, the deaths of his fellow soldiers, scalping on both sides, and the battle's end about 7am. After the Shawnees departed, Prophetstown was burned the next day.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "The death of Owen, and the fact that Davies was mortally wounded, with the remembrance also that a large portion of Kentucky's best blood has been shed by the Indians, must be their apology for this barbarous conduct. Such conduct will be excused by all who witnessed the treachery of the Indians, and saw the bloody scenes of this battle." (p. 168)
     2. "On the next day the dragoons went to Prophet's town, which they found deserted by all the Indians, except an old squaw, whom they brought into the camp and left her with the wounded chief before mentioned. The dragoons set fire to the town and it was all consumed, casting up a brilliant light amid the darkness of the ensuing night." (p. 169)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811
     
     
     
7. • Full Citation: Shabonier, "Shabonee's Account of Tippecanoe," Indiana Magazine of History 17, no. 4 (December 1921): 353-363.
   • Home: unknown
   • Year: 1811
   • Abstract: Shabonier (1775-1859), a grand-nephew of Pontiac, was an Ottawa Indian who later became a Potawatomi chief. This article is an excerpt of a book by Solon Robinson, Me-Won-I-Toc: A Tale of Frontier Life & Indian Character (New York: New York News Co., 1864). Shabonier was one of Tecumseh's lieutenants, became the "white man's friend"- warning white settlers of imminent attacks in Winnebago and Black Hawk wars. He thought that Shawnee Prophet goaded the warriors into the early-morning attack on Nov. 7, 1811, and that Tecumseh would have wanted to wait to attack Harrison's troops. Shabonier felt that with the Shawnee's defeat, the Great Spirit was on the side of the whites.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "[Our warriors] did not appreciate the great strength of the white men. I knew their great war chief [Willam H. Harrison], and some of his young men. He was a good man, very soft in his words to his red children, as he called us; and that made some of our men with hot heads mad." (p. 354)
     2. "...[T]he hundred braves were to rush in and shoot the 'Big chief on a white horse,' and then fall back to a safer place. This order was fully obeyed, but we soon found to our terrible dismay that the 'Big chief on a white horse' that was killed was not General Harrison. He had mounted a dark horse." (p. 359)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811
     2. Shabonee, Potawatomi Chief, 1775?-1859.
     
     
     
8. • Full Citation: John Tipton, "John Tipton's Tippecanoe Journal," Indiana Magazine of History 2, no. 4 (December 1906): 170-184.
   • Home: Harrison County (Corydon)
   • Year: 1811
   • Abstract: John Tipton's journal was originally published in the Indianapolis News on May 5, 1879. The journal covers the period Sept. 23, 1811-Nov. 24, 1811. Tipton was a member of the Indiana militia, in a company led by Captains Spencer and Heath. The company marched from Corydon to Vincennes, then to a garrison on the Vermillion River, then to Prophetstown. The Shawnees came to their camp to ask for peace on Nov. 6, but the battle nonetheless happened on Nov. 7. Tipton's horse gets shot out from under him. After the soldiers raid and burn the town, they return to their garrison, and then are mustered out on Nov. 21. Tipton returned to Corydon Nov. 24.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "came to the camp in our rout we found too of the Delaware chiefs they had Came to Camp the day Before to join us we brought them to Camp one spoke good English Plaid Cards with our men and informed that thirty of his young men was comeing to join us." (Oct. 12, 1811, p. 175)
     2. "Last night we ware awakened by the firing of guns and and the Shawnies Braking into our tents a blood[y] Combat Took Place at Precisely 15 minutes before 5 in the morning which last two hours and 20 minutes of a continewel firing while many times mixed among the Indians so that we Could not tell the indians and our men apart." (Nov. 7, 1811, p. 180-181)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811
     2. Indiana. Militia
     
     
     
9. • Full Citation: Henry Vanderburg and John Johnson et al., "The Conduct of the Militia at Tippecanoe: Elihu Stout and Colonel Boyd," ed. Robert S. Lambert, Indiana Magazine of History 51, no. 3 (September 1955): 237-250.
   • Home: Knox County (Vincennes)
   • Year: 1811-1812
   • Abstract: This collection of documents highlights the internal conflicts between the 4th Army Regulars, Kentucky volunteers and Indiana militia at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Colonel John Boyd was in charge of the Regulars, and William Henry Harrison had led all the soldiers with the volunteers and militia reporting to him directly. The editor of the Vincennes Western Sun, Elihu Stout, favored the governor and the volunteers/militia, and after Boyd tried to injure Stout, he faced an inquiry about his behavior and eventual dismissal from the Army.
   • Sample Text:
     1. "...[A]nd those brave regulars, expressions repeated without enthusiasm by that spirited but untutored militia, who witnessed and emulated your COOL intrepidity, evince at once the importance of the service you have rendered, and the warmth of their gratitude." (Henry Vanderburg and John Johnson, Nov. 25, 1811, p. 238)
     2. "The Colonel- 'brim full of wrath and cabbage,' in an authoritative tone, demanded the author of the piece- the Printer with mildness and a smile natural to him, answered, 'you may consider me as the author.' Now began the dreadful conflict! The Colonel having a stick in his hand, made the first pass at the Printer who was sitting on the table." (Elihu Stout, Jan. 25, 1812, p. 243-244)
   • LC Subject Headings:
     1. Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811
     2. Boyd, John Parker, 1764-1830
     3. Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841.
     4. United States. Army. 4th Infantry. Press.

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Abstracts by Elizabeth Sloan.