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Lieutenant Charles Larrabee's Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811

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Lieutenant Charles Larrabee's Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811 Lieutenant Charles Larrabee’s Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811 Contributed and edited by Florence G. Watts* The sesquicentennial of the Battle of Tippecanoe oc- curring this year lends special interest to a hitherto un- published account of General William Henry Harrison’s ex- pedition against the Indians and the resulting battle. Because of widespread publicity given to the expedition’s commander, General Harrison, in his successful campaign for the presi- dency in 1840, few battles have received more popular notice. The slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler TOO”was broadcast over the country through vast quantities of broadsides, newspapers, songs, badges, and circulars. Even pieces of china were ornamented with log cabin and hard cider m0tifs.l The Battle of Tippecanoe loomed large in the minds of the Indiana pioneers. In his The Battle of Tippecanoe Alfred Pirtle noted that ten Indiana counties are named after partici- pants in the battle : Harrison, Spencer, Tipton, Bartholomew, Daviess, Floyd, Parke, Randolph, Warrick, and Dubois.* (Pirtle correctly notes, however, that Harrison County was organized before the battle.) Still another county was named Tippecanoe. The framers of Indiana’s constitution of 1851, who met about the time the pioneer era ended, included in that docu- ment a section which stated: “It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, to provide for the permanent enclosure and preservation of the Tippecanoe Battle Gro~nd.”~No other battle site received similar consideration from the authors of the constitution of 1851. * Mrs. Watts is a former president of the Indiana Historical Society and a long-time student of Indiana history with particular interest in the Vincennes area. 1 Examples of such articles are preserved in the William Henry Harrison Mansion, Vincennes, Indiana. 2 Alfred Pirtle, The Battle of Tippecanoe (Filson Club Publications, No. 15; Louisville, Ky., 1900), 78. 3 Charles Kettleborough (ed.), Constitution Making in Indiana: A Source Book of Constitutional Documents with Historical Introduction and Critical Notes (3 vols., Indiana Historical Collections, Vols. I, 11, XVII; Indianapolis, Ind., 1916-1930), I, 367. 226 Indiana Magazine of History In general, peace prevailed between Indians and settlers of the Old Northwest from the Battle of Fallen Timbers, 1794, until the Battle of Tippecanoe. Nevertheless, both whites and Indians suffered occasional loss of life and some theft or destruction of property during this period. Between 1803 and 1809 Governor Harrison and his associates obtained several cessions of land from the tribesmen. These cessions, principally located in southern Indiana and in southern and central Illinois, amounted to an area roughly equal to that of the present state of Indiana. Such loss of territory was alone sufficient cause for Indian alarm and resistance. The Indians had continued to be debauched by the white man’s liquor and diseases. They were also the victims of a double standard by which Indians received scant justice from whites, while the latter at times trespassed on Indian territory or committed crimes against red men with impunity. In commenting upon the situation, Professor John D. Barnhart has concluded: “Ample cause for war had been given the Indians by the people of the United States.”’ On the other hand, Governor Harrison, and apparently a majority of the settlers of Indiana Territory as well, believed that the Indians had given just provocation for a military campaign against them. Indiana Territory had a population of nearly twenty-five thousand in 1810, which showed promise of rapid increase in the years immediately ahead. Much the greater portion of central Indiana and virtually all of northern Indiana, however, yet belonged to the Indians. Harrison and other political leaders considered it essential that the area occupied by the Indians be contracted so that Indiana could soon develop into a new member of the Union. Moreover, there were continued complaints of Indian depreda- tions against whites and frequent charges that the British were supporting and instigating the Indians. As friction and hostility grew, insecurity increased among the settlers. *John D. Barnhart and Donald F. Carmony, Indiana: From FTontier to Industrial Commonwealth (4 vols., New York, 1954), I, 121. Barnhart gives a concise general account of the Tippecanoe campaign and its background in ibid., 120-134. Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe 227 No further cessions were obtained from the Indians following the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809 until after the War of 1812. Following the Treaty of Fort Wayne, however, Harrison requested authorization from the federal govern- ment to obtain additional land and also asked for permission to erect a new fort to guard Vincennes from Indian attack. President Madison and Secretary of War William Eustis exercised a restraining hand on Harrison concerning these and related objectives.6 Governor Harrison was in frequent communication with the Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, for several years preceding the Battle of Tippecanoe through letters, messengers, and conferences. The Prophet conferred with Harrison at Vincennes in 1808 and 1809, while Tecumseh met with him in 1810 and 1811, but these "summit" conferences failed to preserve the peace. During July of 1811 Secretary Eustis ordered the Fourth United States Infantry Regiment to proceed down the Ohio from Pittsburgh. The regiment was placed under Harrison's command, and the governor was authorized to attack if the Indians commenced hostilities. The Secretary of War, however, urged moderation and ex- pressed the hope that the regiment would not be needed in Indiana." During late July and early August, Tecumseh was in Vincennes for his second annual conference with Harrison. On August 5 he left Vincennes for the South, apparently to seek aid from southern Indians. On September 26 Harrison's expedition marched northward. The army spent most of October building Fort Harrison, then proceeded up the Wabash to Prophetstown, where the Battle of Tippecanoe ensued on November 7. The five letters which follow recount military prepara- tions and the movement of troops during the Tippecanoe campaign. They were written by Lieutenant Charles Lar- rabee during or soon after the campaign. They were probably based on a journal or daily notes, in view of their detailed content. The initial letter, written at Vincennes under date of September 20, 1811, indicates that preparations for the 6 Zbid., 127-128. Relevant letters are available in Logan Esarey (ed.), Governors Messages and Letters (3 vols., Indiana Historical Collections, Vols. VII, IX, XII; Indianapolis, Ind., 1922-1924), I, passzm. 6 Esarey, Govmws Messages and Letters, I, 535-537. 228 Indiana Magazine of History expedition were then virtually completed. The second letter, dated at Fort Knox, “3 miles from Vincennes,” December 11, 1811, is mainly devoted to a discussion of the difficulties and perils of fighting Indians. These letters are generous in their praise of General Harrison. A third, possibly written in December of 1811 or January of 1812, is quite brief and largely personal in its content. The fourth, written at Fort Knox under date of February 5, 1812, is the longest and most informative of the letters. It describes the movement of the Fourth United States Infantry under Colonel John P. Boyd7 from Pittsburgh down the Ohio and thence up the Wabash to Vincennes during August and September, 1811. It offers a detailed account of the Tippecanoe expedition with emphasis on the erection of Fort Harrison, and then recounts the circumstances pre- ceding, during, and following the actual battle. In general, it is matter-of-fact, describing rather than evaluating what happened. The final letter notes the controversy, pro and con, regarding the campaign and battle-especially with respect to Harrison’s role therein-but it asks that the writer not be involved in that controversy.* An ominous remark in 7 John Parker Boyd, of Massachusetts, became a colonel in the Fourth United States Infantry, October 7, 1808. He became brigadier general during the War of 1812 and was honorably discharged from the army in 1815. Boyd died in 1830. Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, from Its Organiza- tion, Septembsr 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903 (2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1903), I, 236. In this and subsequent notes in which Heitman alone is cited, information given is taken exclusively from Heitman. 8The conduct of the Battle of Tippecanoe was a topic of much discussion at Vincennes and elsewhere. Generous commendation of Harrison was mingled with vigorous criticism of him. Harrison’s critics were inclined to give much credit to Colonel Boyd and the regulars under his immediate direction for the “victory” at Tippecanoe. Boyd criticized the militia, which was staunchly defended by Editor Elihu Stout, of the Vincennes Western Sun. Before the controversy subsided, Boyd attacked Stout in the latter’s newspaper office. Comments, docu- ments, and citations in Robert S. Lambert, “The Conduct of the Militia at Tippecanoe: Elihu Stout’s Controversy with Colonel John P. Boyd, January, 1812,” Indiana Magazine of Hzstoqt, LI (September, 1955), 237-250, emphasizes the role and status of Boyd in this discussion. Larrabee, a lieutenant in the Fourth United States Infantry under Boyd’s command, significantly expresses neither approval nor disap- proval of Colonel Boyd in the letters published below. Larrabee does, however, express admiration of Harrison in some of these letters as well as in a letter to Moses Dawson, in which he commends Harrison’s train- ing, discipline, and handling of the troo s on the way to and at the battle. See Larrabee to [Moses] Dawson, Octoier 13, 1823, in Esarey, Governors Messages and Letters, I, 713-714. Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe 229 the concluding letter suggests that the author expected to proceed to Detroit by spring. The opening portion of the fifth letter indicates that it and the fourth were apparently mailed together.
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