Battle Of Tippecanoe

A System of Modern Geography:.... [1843]

A Peaceful Passage Of The Army

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The Kentucky Volunteers returned home [after the Battle of Tippecanoe].  The 4th U. S. regiment was stationed at Fort Harrison and Vincennes until the month of May, 1812, when it marched for Ohio, and joined the north-western army, then fully organized, and having moved forward from the plains of Mad River, was encamped at Urbana, Champaign county, and the commanding officer was holding a council with the chiefs of the Wyandott, Ottoway, Miami, and other Indian tribes living within the boundaries of the State of Ohio, for a peaceful passage of the army through the Indian territory, commencing a few miles north of Urbana, and extending with few exceptions to Detroit. [Source]

Little Turtle's Last Speech

Little Turtle (Me-she-kin-no-quah): the great chief of the Miami Indian ...:

Battle-Scarred Oak

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March Against Prophet's Town

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Tecumseh was assisted in his enterprise by his brother, who was known by the name of the Prophet.
Some great movement against the whites was obviously in preparation. Determined to take the initiative, the United States assembled a force of regulars and militia in 1811, and placing it under the command of Harrison, directed him to march against the Prophet's town of Tippecanoe and demand the restoration of such property as had been carried off by the Indians. If his request was refused, he was to proceed and enforce the claim.

Accordingly Harrison, losing no time in delay, arrived before the town on the 6th of November. Here he was met by messengers from the Prophet, deprecating hostilities and promising that all differences should be adjusted on the morrow. Relying in part on this stipulation, yet alive to [possible] treachery...Harrison was perplexed what to do... .

 He resolved finally to encamp for the night on...a position affording the best means of defence in the vicinity. His mistrust of the enemy was so great, however, that he encamped his men in order of battle, and directed them to rest on their arms, hence if attacked in the night, they would be ready instantaneously for the contest.

They were attacked and there was a battle.

Mr. And Mrs. Bacon

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Historic Vincennes

A synopsis of Mrs. Lydia Bacon's story was found at the Central Michigan Library's Clarke Library's website (see excerpt below with added link):

Lydia Bacon (1786-1853) accompanied her husband, Josiah, a quartermaster, to his military assignment. She waited at Vincennes...for him to return from the Tippecanoe campaign along the Wabash, then left on horseback to go with her husband's regiment to Detroit. 

From The Detroit News:  

"Mrs. Bacon carried in a bag on the pommel of her saddle a Bible, a copy of Homer's "Iliad," and a "huge Spunge cake." She wrote letters to her 15-year-old sister Abby, her mother and friends in Boston, which later she collected as a memoir of her experiences during the War of 1812."

Major Robert Sturgis

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From the Indiana Authors And Their Books website:  Fort Harrison on the banks of the Wabash, 1812-1912:

Major Robert Sturgis. Appointed Ensign of the Second Infantry, September 28, 1812. Promoted to First Lieutenant March 9, 1814, and resigned February 10, 1818. He had served as a volunteer private in Captain Benj. Parks' troop of light dragoons, in the Tippecanoe campaign, and so was a builder of Fort Harrison. From many legends, he was so interesting a character, 'tis a pity more is not known of his history. He never married. He died in Terre Haute about 1828.

He was Treasurer of Vigo County 1823-1824, and Sheriff 1825-1826. Probably Fort Harrison ceased to be a military post about the time Major Sturgis resigned.

From the History of Terre Haute:
Poor Bob was a universal favorite; he would keep people laughing all the time he talked, and he talked about all the time. Ostensibly he was clerk in somebody's store, but his most constant occupation was drinking whisky.

Major Larrabee

General Harrison At Tippecanoe 

"Major Charles Larrabee commanded a company under General Harrison at Tippecanoe, receiving his commander's special notice for his good service in that notable engagement with the Indians...

Bullets Embedded At Brownstown 

...and at the battle of Brownstown, in August, 1812, he lost an arm while managing the artillery." [Source]

Description of a letter written by Major Larrabee's wife in the inventory at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Harrison's Line Of March

From Fort Harrison on the banks.. General Harrison's Line Of March From Vincennes To Prophet's Town In 1811.

Lyon's Creek

Josiah Snelling, Jr. ....early developed a military taste and became a distinguished officer in the United States Army taking a prominent part in the battles of Tippecanoe, Brownstown, and Lyon's Creek.

This snippet from the Historical Society of Wisconsin [Draper] gave us the name of Captain Snelling's commanding officer:
"Captain [Snelling]...distinguished in the affair at Lyon's Creek under Gen Bissell... ." 

The Great River Road website [St. Louis area] featured an article on the General Daniel Bissell house that included the following:

"With the onset of the War of 1812...Bissell was...given command of the 5th Infantry and in 1814 he given a brevet promotion to brigadier-general and assigned a brigade in Izard's Right Division at Plattsburgh. He commanded this brigade throughout 1814 and won a tactical draw at the small action fought at Lyon's Creek or Cooks' Mills, Canada, on October 19, 1814."

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A Canadian perspective:

"That the enemy does not intend to leave the frontier is evident from the events of this day 18th when a large force was reported to be moving up Black Creek in the direction of Cook's Mills on Lyon's Creek. Sent the Glengarry Light Infantry and seven companies of the 82nd and on being informed that the enemy had passed Cook's Mills, sent the remaining three companies of the 82nd and the 100th regiment with orders to Myers to feel the enemy closely which he shall attack if not too strong."

Drummond to Prevost 20th October. Report of the retreat of the force from Cook's Mills without destroying the mills which might have been done on public grounds. The commanding officer (Bissell) has been very cautious about burning or plundering, probably admonished by the retaliation at Washington and on the coast.

Battle Of Tippecanoe Illustration

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Commandant At Fort Harrison

Major John T. Chunn was a Commandant at Fort Harrison.  His biography can be found here, at Fort Harrison on the banks of the Wabash, 1812-1912, online courtesy of Indiana University:

MAJOR JOHN T. CHUNN [was] issued an order May 10, 1816, transferring Major Chunn from Fort Knox, and placing him in command at Fort Harrison. This order instructed Major Chunn to remove government property from Fort Knox to Fort Harrison. This apparently was the end of Fort Knox as a government post.

From Sign At Fort Knox II, Near Vincennes, Indiana

Major Chunn had helped to build the Fort at the time of the Harrison campaign to Tippecanoe. He was then a Lieutenant in one of the companies of that army. He was appointed Captain of the Nineteenth Regiment of the U. S. Infantry, April 14, 1812. He was transferred to the Third Regiment on May 17, 1815. He resigned from the army June 12, 1821, after a long and honorable service. He returned to Terre Haute to spend the rest of his life, and leave a long list of descendants to honor his name.

Josiah Snelling

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General Harrison left Snelling in charge of Fort Harrison (11 November 1811 to May 1812) as a reward for his actions at Tippecanoe.

He was recognized for his performance at the Battle of Tippecanoe, and was assigned to command Fort Harrison during the winter of 1811–12.[1] on the Wabash River at the present site of Terre Haute, Indiana. During the War of 1812, he received the rank of Captain and was sent to Fort Detroit, where he met and married Abigail Hunt.

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Snelling's activities before Hull surrendered Detroit.

A post about the Josiah Snelling papers here.

Captain Spier Spencer

From a Pre-War letter from Vincennes, dated 22 Sept. 1811:

"Captain Spencer's Company of Volunteers will act as a detached Corps and he will receive his orders from the Commander in Chief.  They are received as a Company of Volunteers."

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 Capt. Spier Spencer was killed in action Nov. 7th, 1811.  He commanded a company of mounted riflemen of Indiana militia in the battle.  They were called "Spencer's Yellow Jackets" because of their uniforms.

He had a brother who was killed in the same battle.

Capt. Spencer's small son went on the expedition with him and was Harrison's special care after his father's death.

Battle Of Tippecanoe From Sign At Fort Knox (II) (in the Vincennes, Indiana, area)

When she (Spencer's wife) was a child, she and her mother Delilah Tyler, and other children of the family, were stolen by the Indians and taken from Kentucky to Detroit, where they were ransomed by Major DePeyster, upon learning that Charles Polk (father of Elizabeth Polk, who was Spencer's wife) was a Mason.  The family was reunited.

Information about Captain Spier Spencer from Wikipedia:

In 1818, Spencer County, Indiana, was named for him, as was in 1820 the town of Spencer, Indiana in Owen County. Spencer County, Kentucky was created and named for him in 1824.  Spencer's widow continued operating The Green Leaf Tavern. When she married William Boone, she changed the name to the "Billy Boone Tavern". However, the marriage was short lived and she divorced Boone in 1829.

Documenting Tippecanoe

From A journal of two campaigns of the Fourth Regiment of U. S. Infantry : in the Michigan and Indiana territories, under the command of Col. John P. Boyd, and Lt. Col. James Miller, during the years 1811 & 12, the Battle of Tippecanoe:

"The dreadful attack was first received by a Company of regulars, under the command of Capt. Barton, and a Company of Militia, commanded by Capt. Geiger, — their men had not the least notice of the approach of the Indians until they were aroused by a horrid yell and a discharge of rifles at the very door of their tents ; considerable confusion ensued in these two companies, before they could be formed in any regular order ; but notwithstanding the disorder this sudden attack created, the men were not wanting in their duty — they sprang from their tents and discharged their pieces upon the enemy, with great execution, and kept their ground good until relief could be brought them."

[Partial] List of killed and wounded of the 4th Regiment U.S. Infantry, in the battle of Tippecanoe:

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Prelude To Tippecanoe

Order of March:

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27th September [1811]— The army was embodied, consisting of between ten and twelve hundred men ; and under the immediate command of Gov. Harrison, we took up our line of march from Vincennes....

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in November, 1811.

Tippecanoe And Tecumseh, Too

Battle Of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811

In 1811 Stricken Down...

...In The Performance Of Duty

In tribute to

Major Joseph Hamilton Daviess,

Grand Master of Masons in Kentucky,

who fell in battle here, and

to the many Freemasons

of General Harrison's command

whose valor is held

in grateful remembrance.

Joseph Daviess died November 6/7, 1811 ...(he) lived nine hours after the action... 

Outline Of General Harrison's Life

Outline of the life and public services, civil and military, of William Henry Harrison, of Ohio (Google eBook) Printed at the Daily and Sentinel Office, 1840 

Colonel Joseph Hamilton Daviess

The Colonel as an Aide-de-Camp to General William H. Harrison, as well as a Major commanding Indiana Dragoons.  He was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

[Source: Filson Club publications]

Also from the Filson Club, "Daviess remonstrated and every officer supported him.  Harrison then pleaded the danger of further advance."