General Harrison hastened in pursuit of the enemy up the Thames river, and, on the 4th of October, encamped a few miles above the forks of the river, and erected a slight fortification. On the 5th, the memorable battle of the Thames was fought. General Proctor awaited the approach of the American forces at a place chosen by himself, near Moravian town, as presenting a favorable position for a stand. His forces, in regulars and Indians, rather outnumbered those of his opponents, being set down at two thousand eight hundred; the Americans numbered twenty-five hundred, mostly militia and volunteers. The British army was flanked, on the left, by the river Thames, and supported by artillery, and on the right by two extensive swamps, running nearly parallel to the river, and occupied by a strong body of Indians. The Indians were commanded by Tecumseh in person.' * The British line was broken by the first charge of Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment, and being thrown into irretrievable disorder, the troops were unable to rally, or oppose any further effective resistance. Nearly the whole army surrendered at discretion. Proctor, with a few companions, effected his escape. The Indians, protected by the covert where they were posted, were not so easily dislodged. They maintained their position until after the defeat of their English associates and the death of their brave leader. By whose hand Tecumseh fell, does not appear to be decisively settled; but, according to the ordinarily received account, he was rushing upon Colonel Johnson with his tomahawk, when the latter shot him dead with a pistol. This battle was, in effect, the conclusion of the northwestern Indian war. Deputations from various tribes appeared suing for peace; and during this and the ensuing year, when Generals Harrison and Cass, with Governor Shelby, were appointed commissioners to treat with the North-western tribes, important treaties were effected. Tecumseh was buried near the field of battle, and a mound still marks his grave. The British government, not unmindful of his services, granted a pension to his widow and family, as well as to the Prophet Elskwatawa. CHAPTER IV. ACQUISITION AND SALE, BY THE UNITED STATES, OF INDIAN LANDS IN ILLINOIS. BLACK-HAWK.- THE SACS REMOVED WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. - RETURN OF BLACK HAWK AND HIS FOLLOWERS. — DEFEAT OF MAJOR STILLMAN. —THE HOSTILE INDIANS PURSUED BY ATKINSON AND DODGE. THEIR DEFEAT ON THE BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI. — BLACK HAWK'S SURRENDER. HE IS TAKEN TO WASHINGTON. HIS SUBSEQUENT CAREER. WITH the rapid increase of a white population between the Lakes and the Mississippi, which followed the conclusion of hostilities with England and her Indian allies, new difficulties began to arise between the natives and the settlers. Illinois and Wisconsin were inhabited by various tribes of Indians, upon terms of bitter hostility among themselves, but united in their suspicions and apprehensions at the unprecedented inroads of emigrants from the east. The Winnebagos, dwelling in Wisconsin; the Pottawatomies, situated around the southern extremity of Lake Michigan; and the Sacs, (afterwards mingled with the Foxes, and usually coupled with that tribe,) of Illinois, principally located upon Rock river, were the most considerable of these north-western tribes. By various cessions, the United States acquired, in the early part of the present century, a title to extensive tracts of country, lying east of the Mississippi, and included in the present state of Illinois. The tribes who sold the land were divided in opinion; great numbers of the occupants of the soil were utterly opposed to its alienation, and denied the authority of the chiefs, by whose negotiation the sales or cessions were effected; and upon the parcelling out and the sale by the United States government of this public property to private individuals, conflicting claims soon led to serious disturbances. In July, of 1830, a treaty was formed at Prairie du Chien, between United States commissioners and the tribes of the Iowas, Sioux, Omawhas, Sacs and Foxes, &c., for the purpose of finally arranging the terms upon which the lands east of the Mississippi should be yielded up. The Sac chief, Keokuk, was present, and assenting to the arrangement in behalf of his people; but a strong party, headed by the celebrated Black-Hawk, utterly refused to abide by it. This chief was then between sixty and seventy years of age, and had been, from early youth, a noted warrior. He was born at some Indian settlement upon the Rock river, and retained through life a strong attachment to the place of his nativity and the stream upon whose banks he so long resided. He was a Pottawatomie, but his whole life was spent among the Sacs. To enforce the removal of the Sacs from their villages, on Rock river, General Gaines visited that locality in June, 1831. He proceeded up the river in a steamer, with several pieces of artillery and two companies of infantry. The general spoke of his visit as follows: "Their village is immediately on Rock river, and so situated that I could, from the steamboat, destroy all their bark houses, (the only kind of houses they have,) in a few minutes, with the force now with me, probably without the loss of a man. But I am resolved to abstain from firing a shot without some bloodshed, or some manifest attempt to shed blood, on the part of the Indians. I have already induced nearly |