[Footnote: The Prophet had assured them that the Americans would not be
successful. That their bullets would not hurt the Indians, who would have
light while their enemies would be in darkness.--Life and Times of Wm. H.
Harrison.]
Tecumseh was absent when the battle was fought, being engaged in
forwarding his designs among the Indian tribes at the South. He was
disappointed and grieved with the result, regarding the battle as
premature, and tending very much to thwart the purposes he had in view.
He awaited a more favorable turn in the wheel of fortune, and thought this
would come with the war anticipated between England and the United States.
Difficulties, growing out of the right assumed by the former, of boarding
American vessels, to discover and remove any English sailors belonging to
the crew, which frequently resulted in seizing American seamen and forcing
them into the British navy, had now assumed so formidable an aspect, as to
call forth from our government a proclamation of war against England,
issued on the 19th of June, 1812.
In anticipation of this event, as well as after it, means were employed by
the agents of Britain, to secure the services of the Indians during this
contest. The opportunity was gladly welcomed by the Miamis, Shawnees and
other Indian tribes, who had recently been severely chastised by General
Harrison. The Mohawks and other Indians in Canada were also induced to
take up the hatchet, and efforts were made to influence such of the Six
Nations, as resided within the state of New York, to take sides with the
British in this war, but they were not successful.
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