Part 27 (1/2)
Of the many Indian chiefs who distinguished themselves in the wars of the whites, Tec.u.mseh was undoubtedly the greatest since the days of Pontiac. Sir Isaac Brock has expressed his warm admiration of him, and it is well known that the feeling was mutual; but it is said that after the death of his friend and patron, Tec.u.mseh found no kindred spirit with whom to act. In early life he was addicted to inebriety, the prevailing vice of the Indians, but his good sense and resolution conquered the habit, and, in his later years, he was remarkable for temperance. Glory became his ruling pa.s.sion, and in its acquisition he was careless of wealth, as, although his presents and booty must have been of considerable value, he preserved little or nothing for himself.
In height he was five feet ten inches, well formed, and capable of enduring fatigue in an extraordinary degree. His carriage was erect and commanding, and there was an air of hauteur in his countenance, arising from an elevated pride of soul, which did not forsake it when life was extinct. He was habitually taciturn, but, when excited, his eloquence was nervous, concise, and figurative. His dress was plain, and he was never known to indulge in the gaudy decoration of his person, which is the common practice of the Indians. On the day of his death, he wore a dressed deer skin coat and pantaloons. He was present in almost every action against the Americans, from the period of Harmer's defeat to the battle of the Thames--was several times wounded--and always sought the hottest of the fire. On the 19th July, 1812, he pursued, near Sandwich, a detachment of the American army under Colonel M'Arthur, and fired on the rear guard. The colonel suddenly faced about his men and gave orders for a volley, when all the Indians fell flat on the ground with the exception of Tec.u.mseh, who stood firm on his feet, with apparent unconcern! After his fall, his lifeless corpse was viewed with great interest by the American officers, who declared that the contour of his features was majestic even in death. And notwithstanding, it is said by an American writer, that ”some of the Kentuckians disgraced themselves by committing indignities on his dead body. He was scalped, and _otherwise disfigured_.” He left a son, who fought by his side when he fell, and was then about seventeen years old. The prince regent, in 1814, as a mark of respect to the memory of the father, sent a handsome sword as a present to the son. A nephew of Tec.u.mseh and of the prophet, (their sister's son,) who was highly valued by the Americans, was slain in their service, in November, 1812, on the northern bank of the river Miami. Having been brought up by the American general, Logan, he had adopted that officer's name. He a.s.serted that Tec.u.mseh had in vain sought to engage him in the war on the side of the British.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 118: ”But General Sheaffe, like his superior, was a lover of armistices, and after the action he concluded one of his own with the American general, for which no reason, civil or military, was ever a.s.signed.”--_Quarterly Review,_ April and July, 1822; article, ”Campaigns in the Canadas.”]
[Footnote 119: From an American work,--Major-General James Wilkinson's ”Memoirs of my own Time,” published in 1816.--ED.]
[Footnote 120: ”But the most fatal and palpable error of the commander-in-chief was his neglect to preserve that ascendancy on Lakes Erie and Ontario which was actually enjoyed by the British at the opening of the contest. The command of these lakes is so evidently an object of primary consideration in the defence of the Canadas, that it is perfectly inconceivable how any man in Sir George Prevost's situation could have been so infatuated as to disregard the importance of maintaining his superiority!”--_Quarterly Review_.]
[Footnote 121: ”General Sheaffe has been much blamed, first for the injudicious position of the troops, by which the grenadier company of the 8th regiment, who behaved with great gallantry, were exposed to be cut to pieces in a wood, and again for not returning to the attack, after the explosion of a powder magazine had destroyed 250 of the enemy, and thrown them into confusion.”--_Quarterly Review_.]
[Footnote 122: Pictorial History of England.]
[Footnote 123: Extract from the Pictorial History of England.]
[Footnote 124: ”Sir George Prevost was beyond all doubt the immediate commander of this expedition. But he found it convenient not to appear in that character; and the only detail of operations was in the shape of a dispatch from his adjutant-general to himself, obligingly communicating what was already sufficiently known to him. By this ingenious device, he in some measure averted the exposure of miscarriage from himself, and generously yielded his laurels, such as they were, to his grateful and submissive follower.”--_Quarterly Review_.]
[Footnote 125: ”The reader now sees the fatal consequences; first, of not having, in the autumn of 1812, destroyed the two or three schooners which were equipping at Buffaloe by Lieutenant Elliott; secondly, of not having, in the spring of 1813, secured the possession of Sackett's Harbour; thirdly, of not having, in the summer of the same year, captured or destroyed the whole American fleet, as it lay, unmanned, in Presqu'ile Harbour.”--_James' Military Occurrences_.]
[Footnote 126: The present Major-General Sir John Harvey, K.C.B.]
[Footnote 127: While the Americans retained Fort George, the graves of Sir Isaac Brock and Lieut.-Colonel M'Donell, in the cavalier bastion there, remained sacred, and were also respected.]
[Footnote 128: It strikes us as singular that Captain Roberts was not promoted to at least a brevet majority for the capture of this important post, although he had an overwhelming force, and took it without resistance. Was this promotion withheld because the capture was effected contrary to Sir George Prevost's orders?]
[Footnote 129: ”The land, in the centre of this island, is high, and its form somewhat resembles that of a turtle's back. Mackinac, or Mickinac, signifies a _turtle_, and _michi (mis.h.i.+)_, or _missi_, signifies _great_, as it does also, _several_, or _many_. The common interpretation of the word _Michilimakinac_, is the Great Turtle.”--_Henry's Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, between the years_ 1760 _and_ 1776.]
[Footnote 130: James' Military Occurrences.]
[Footnote 131: Pictorial History of England.]
[Footnote 132: John Grahame, of Claverhouse, was mortally wounded at the pa.s.s of Killicrankie, in 1689, and died the next day. With him expired the cause of James the Second in Scotland, as, although the war languished in the highlands for two years after, nothing of importance occurred. When William was urged to send more troops into Scotland, he replied: ”It is unnecessary, the war has ended with Dundee's life.”]
[Footnote 133: While these remarks-were in type, we heard accidentally of a large monument, in the cathedral at Winchester, to the memory of Sir George Prevost, with a laudatory inscription, for a copy of which we immediately wrote to a friend, and which we now transcribe without comment, as we respect the feelings of conjugal affection by which the epitaph was evidently dictated.
”Sacred to the memory of Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost, Baronet, of Belmont, in this County, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in North America; in which command, by his wise and energetic measures, and with a very inferior force, he preserved the Canadas to the British Crown from the repeated invasions of a powerful enemy. His const.i.tution at length sank under incessant mental and bodily exertion, in discharging the duties of that arduous station; and having returned to England, he died shortly afterwards in London, on the 5th of January, 1816, aged 48, thirty-four years of which had been devoted to the service of his Country.
He was intered near the remains of his father, Major-General Augustus Prevost, at East Barnet, in Hertfords.h.i.+re. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to evince in an especial manner the sense he entertained of his distinguished conduct and services during a long period of constant active employment, in stations of great trust, both Military and Civil, was pleased to ordain, as a lasting Memorial of His Majesty's Royal Favor, that the names of the Countries where his Courage and Abilities had been most signally displayed--the West Indies and Canada--should be inscribed on the Banners of the Supporters, granted to be borne by his Family and Descendants.
In testimony of his Private Worth, his Piety, Integrity and Benevolence, and all those tender, domestic virtues, which endeared him to his Family, his Children, his Friends, and his Dependants, as well as to prove her unfeigned Love, Grat.i.tude, and Respect, Catherine Anne Prevost, his afflicted Widow, caused this Monument to be Erected. Anno Domini 1819.”
[Footnote 134: Including the editor, ten; viz. two died young, of scarlet fever, and were buried in the same coffin; two drowned at different times; two slain; two died at sea, while pa.s.sengers on board his majesty's packets from Rio de Janeiro to Falmouth, on the same day of the same month (15th August) in different years, 1833 and 1837! and only two still survive.]
[Footnote 135: See pages 222, 223, 227, 238, 307, 339, 360, 364 and 366.]
CHAPTER XVI.
Thomas Porter, a faithful servant of Sir Isaac Brock, was sent to England with his effects, and at the request of the family, was discharged from the 49th regiment, in which he was borne as a soldier, and in which he had an only brother, their father having been killed, while also in the regiment, on board the Monarch, at Copenhagen. The Commander-in-chief readily sanctioned the discharge of Porter, ”as a small tribute to the memory of a most gallant and valuable officer.”