The Road to Tippecanoe

by Mark J. Green
translated by Bill Hall (Hų̄ka)

William Hall, ca. 1895

The following translation has had its punctuation modified in accordance with contemporary standards.

(1) And then, they said to him, "Wearer of Deer Head," so, why did they call him this name? Then at one time it was at night as he slept, there, where he had come from, they had killed each other. She said to her father, "Father, they brought fire, carrying high in the air the fire." "My daughter I know it," and for four nights they moved the fire each night. All the time he knew it, he knew it all the time and there when it was four nights, it was four nights and they just left and went. That land, it seemed like it could never dry up. He went along too. "I am going to pour some tobacco. We are going to pour tobacco." They all moved there.

There he led them in a fight. They fought desperately in this battle. There was a man wearing a red victor's cap, who was to be captured. That man—[s]he saw the man, when [s]he saw him, there [s]he told him, "Tell it around, your brethren not to peek." [S]he spoke to your brethren instead. It is a woman who is saying this, it is why the woman came back there. And then they roasted some venison, they said. "They came there fast, I did not know." Just once did [s]he tell about [her]elf. Then they told about themselves. The woman was old, and she said, then just what did they mean, the woman was imitated.

(2) They had said, "We have lived all the time as we are," this he [too] said as he walked forward. This having been said, "They are saying you gave it to them. Then now, my brother-in-law, whenever they do this, then he used to see them as playing," [s]he said. They came toward him. "If you mean him, he is a borrowed boy. And now this, my brother-in-law at one time tried to marry me," she said, "I was not willing. But he did not have his right mind. I told him then of all the boys, not one of them amounted to anything." He was much loved.

They used to clip their hair, he went to get his hair cut. They are headed for this thing and they are crying. And then they headed back, and they ran for four nights and four days. They said this was "making the ghosts run". Then they came back. Sometime later, when they finished the fourth time, then there they named those who were to go on a deer hunt. Then, somewhere, [they] went out to hunt deer.

One whose name was "Stand", they named him, he went somewhere. On the way they laid it there for him. Grandfather took a knife, when he did this, they watched him. "My little brother, if there is some good in what they have done, you should be somewhere else, instead he got noisy. (3) In so many years, at that time, the one with the hat, what he took from us! If we can [only] regain it! How many are the heavens loaded with, some had heard. It was so, and how many are those who walk on the day. These and how many have found land. And all the four winds. And I do not know how many Indian men are there, they all will be chiefs. It was like this, and even the ground will move. And then this white man, meaning all white men, and if they came running to do something, it would be of no avail, whatever they do. They will leave their guns alone. They will not be able to move. And when it is like this, all that is to do is, strike them down. It will be like this, and when it is like this, we will move around on the land, we alone. If we have it this way, we will live a good life. This is the reason I came. If we should fail in this thing, in this case, whatever the size of the land, all of it, those we know as (with hat), will fill it all, when it is full, sometime later, we will not be able to camp anywhere. If we are going to camp somewhere, we will first have to get their permission. And when they tell us to camp, and when we are camped, we cannot cut down even a small stick except by their permission. This is as it is going to be. It is unbelievable, that the land can ever be filled, this land. It will be filled to overflowing, this is the way it will be."

(4) Having done this, then, early in the morning looking back often, he started back walking. He was looking for something for himself, he laughed to himself, now then, he was chased, he went faster. And the woman her nose felt something hot, so she felt her nose, and she found that it had been bitten off. Then when it was bitten off, then she found she was carrying a knife. She did not restrain her voice, how she felt. She took her knife and then she chased him, he ran across the river. There were many dwellings and they were Menominees, he was heading toward these, crouching as he went. Then he turned around, then as he turned around, he already got away. There was a long house there made of bark, into this he ran in, when he was inside, there they seized him. There were five men. At once they held him. There were two old men. He then took his knife and killed five of the Menominee men. He moved the bodies to near the path. Which of these was not marked. Wherever his friend was, there they started to talk loud. They talked to each other very much. There at a place, one came to see a daughter he had there, at a place nearby, one began to weep.

(5) This then, the white men knew about it, why this man was with the woman, the one who was of a different tribe. There they arrested them, when they were arrested, "Now we are arrested," the woman said. "'It is three years, they have gathered here,' this they are going to ask us, 'why do they gather here?', this they are going to ask you. Whatever they ask us, we must not tell them. You must say something else, and on one subject. The Indians should be as one. In time they may kill one another. There must not again at any time be any differences between them. The Indians must be the same as one. They will make themselves as one. This is what we are going to tell them. Do not tell anyone about this. They are asking us not to do this," the woman said, and those of different tribes having been arrested, they ask questions of the woman.

"There is one question we are going to ask you. Answer it very true. Whatever it is that I am going to ask you, [if] you have full knowledge of it, you must tell it very straight, you must tell it honestly, if you so much as tell a lie, we will know it," they said to the woman. She said "yes" to them, "whatever it is that you mean and if I know it, I am going to tell you, you know it as you sit there." Then here are gathered Indians of many tribes. It is three years now that they have gathered here. Then [s]he said, "As we see some more game, that's the way it was." "Why are they doing this thing? I want to listen to why this is being done. I am hearing about it, but, this is why you are going to tell it straight to me," that is what he said to her. "All this, I know it all. I am going to tell you."

(6) And they began to ask the man some questions, "Then what I am going to ask you, you are going to give me straight answers. If you tell a lie I will know it. We are hearing all they are saying. We know it, but, I guess now so that we will know, if you should lie about what they are saying about this thing. If you make it appear that you do not know, tomorrow at noon, we will hang you." This is what they said to the man.

"And these old ones, and those Indians of many tribes, they are talking about me, this I know. But you are to tell the truth is why I said this to you." Then the whites said, this is what they said to him. Let me tell you what they are saying. "It has been three years, it was that long, it is you they are talking about. How many different languages of the naked Indians, that are gathered here, to them word was spread they are coming all the time. When they come, this is what they are told. When the date for this thing is here, they will call for action against you, it will be one more year or the fourth year. This will be the end of their talking to you. This is as it was to be. Then this coming Spring at this time, from then on, you will be attacked," and then (7) they told about this very much.

He had a gun with him, this man, when he got back, a woman was sitting and stooping down. He put his gun on top of her head and tried to shoot her, but the gun did not fire, in spite of the fact it was loaded, he tried again. He fumbled with it but it would not shoot when he tried it again. There was a man whose face was very wrinkled. He had a grandson who did this. He used to go and sit somewhere. Whenever they did something and when they were done, I used to think he was hateful. When he did this he would stop there and sit and do nothing. And then again the sun was low. Then his friend who is from where the Menominee chiefs live said, "My friend as you sit here, they might kill you. This would be very much to my dislike. The only thing we could do is run, shall we?" "Yes, yes," he answered. Then he tried to stand but could not: his knees were not as they should be. Then he laid down, then he started crawling, then he started yelling. Then he arrived home somehow. When he did get back, there was no fire in the place. There were two partially burned sticks in the fireplace, these were still burning, he put these at the bottom. When he thought the fire had not started, he tried to start it. But there was no wood anywhere, and he realized he could not make fire out of anything. 

(8) Four years they said it is, for many years they told all about it. All these men were told about it, and from where the winds blow, then at one time at night the star (moon) did not appear, they said. "Then at a future date, when I'll be coming, show yourselves, and your being well." As time went by, it was day, as daylight was appearing, there was the star, it was the fourth to appear, they said. They dried four corncobs, they set fire to one for him. Then he took the last of them, then his knife, then he made a fist with his hand. As dawn was appearing they left to go.

When it was morning and the sun rose and it was risen. As he was approaching, two men appeared. He ran to where it was clear in the woods, the boys then went the same way. There, when he saw nothing, he threw himself on his back. And as he lay thinking, they had chased him. Whatever his destination, he was saying, one time before he had returned there. Then at the second parting of the way, he went faster, and as he went faster, a buck deer appeared. It was certain it would cross at that place. He jumped over two logs there, he tied them together. He threw his clothes across the river, then crossed over. This is the way it was. The water was up to the back of the shoulder, only. He crossed, that's the way it was. When he had crossed and was on his way, he came to a turnout, the third such, when he had passed this, he saw that he was being pursued. He had a board and the buck with him. Then as they approached, he was going even faster, they could not keep up with him.

(9) And this having passed, this is what he thought, those pieces of wood had writing on them. He was going to give one to each of them. How many men are going to found a sacred war bundle? They are the ones he wants. This head of the war club, the war club of the Thunder Clan, it is said, [that] he gave them the materials they are going to be made of. They made them. And then, the supernatural spirits, however they are, all of them, he wrote down.

And having done this, and now about the Prophet-Orator: whatever he tells, it could not be so. When they went to the hunting camp, he too, went along. And now, for three years the Indians of the many language have assembled in council. When he was on the way back, for the time, these animals, when they shoot them out of existence, this may be the last time we go to hunting camp. This may be the very last. There are these animals, they are killing some of them and bringing back the carcasses. This is why they went out to the hunting camp. When they went out like this, he went along too. This is the talk that comes to us. Then he said, "You women, how many supernatural spirits, above in the clouds there may be, this day, how many are here? And then, down here on the earth, how many, then under the earth? The four winds, all of them, as a whole will be in motion. This is what I came for, if it comes to pass, my purpose is realized. At last one year remains. In exactly four years, when you have come, they will be shooting each other. Then we will attack the white man. (10) When I have decided on a thing, I am going to do it at once," he said. "I am not going to wait here another year," this is what he said.

"You are telling about this, when you get back, tell this to them. I am going to get ready now. Then, they will advance to where they are," it was the white man saying this. This being said, they released them. And then, the man quarreled with his wife. And it was like this, the woman said, "Then what did you say,?" Then he told her, "Because he said he was hearing about it, I told him," he said. Then she scolded him. "Whatever they kept asking, they told us not to tell. This is told to you over and over again, I thought, what happened to your mind?" she said to him. "Well, he already heard about it. No matter how secret anything is said, he will hear it, they will tell him. The winds, the earth, they are hearing this. They will tell him. He knows it all, this he said, 'we heard it all'." "This is a no good thing you did, you will make this a failure. At last there is one more year, they are saying. Me, I said something else, they are trying to unite and be as one. This is what they are saying, they are not talking about you, I said. This is what I told you to say, but you did not do it. It is already said, it is the way it was."

And then the Prophet-Orator was there. He made an exclamation of sad surprise. (11) And when they were doing this, whatever he told already, the Prophet-Orator told this, they had heard. The married couple, when they had come, the woman said, "We were arrested and they were to ask us questions, they said. I coached him hard, but he told them. They are going to get ready at once." "They said they are going to wait a year, what have we to gain if we waited a year? Now if the warriors will say something, 'When I make things happen at once is when I am pleased'," the commander said. '"Perhaps about now they are coming," he said.

The soldiers arrived. The many men who went to the hunting camp, also had their weapons with them. And they were not back yet. Among these is the Prophet-Orator's brother. He went too and had not returned yet, so this is the way it was. By now the soldiers had arrived, they started to fight at once. Then, there they fought all that day. They fought desperately. When the sun was very low, they stopped the fighting abruptly. As was to be expected, the whites suffered very heavy losses, many were killed. But the Indians suffered great losses, many were killed.¹

Commentary

	© Accord Museum		S. W., Library of Congress
	Deer Headdress		Tecumseh

"Wearer of Deer Head" — in Hōcąk this should be Cāpáokąną́ka (Cā-pá-hokąną́k-ka) < cā, "deer"; pá, "head"; hokąną́k, "to wear on the head"; and -ka, a definite article typically used in personal names. However, this is a reference to Tecumseh (1768-1813), the famous chief of the Shawnee, who was noted for wearing a deer head headdress. This is the official description of that artifact:

David Ross Accord acquired this Iroquois headdress in the belief that it had been worn by the famous Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, born in 1768 and killed in 1813 at the Battle of Moraviantown. This rare headdress comprises a complete deer-head skin with antlers, eagle feathers, porcupine quills and red ochre. Though we cannot be certain that McCord's attribution is correct, numerous stylistic elements suggest that the headdress is indeed Iroquois. The form of the headband and cap resemble those of the 19th-century Iroquois man's headdress called a gostoweh. In Iroquois tradition, antlered headdresses are worn by chiefs.”²

The Iroquois practice of restricting the wearing of this magnificent headdress to chiefs, no doubt carried over to the Shawnee as well.

"they had killed each other" — as the developing context reveals, this is a reference to the Battle of Fallen Timbers, fought on 20 August 1794. The result of this battle was that the Shawnee and some allied tribes lost all of what is now the state of Ohio.

"carrying high in the air the fire" — the obvious interpretation would be that they carried the fire on torches, which would be held above their heads. After the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the Indian villages and crops were torched.³

"he knew it" — his precognition comes through visions or dreams. This establishes him as a man possessed of great blessings from the Spirits. There may be some confusion here between Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet.

Kevin1776 • CC 4.0

[Enlarge]

"they just left and went" — meaning his whole village picked up and migrated (in order to escape the invaders, the ones who were carrying fire). In 1808 they moved again, founding Prophetstown in what is now Indiana. The actual sequence of moves over the years is masterfully displayed on a map by "Kevin1776".

	Danielle Shively, Instagram forever_captured_by_dms
	The Prophetstown Fen

"it could never dry up" — this refers to the Prophetstown fen.

This preserve consists of one of the largest and highest quality fens known in Central Indiana. Other natural communities found within this preserve include sedge meadow, wet prairie, and Wabash Valley bluff dry-upland forests. Harrison Creek, named for William Henry Harrison, is a permanent, high quality seepage-fed stream that runs through much of the preserve. Harrison Creek arises within the fen and meanders through a peatland scattered with boulders left by glacial ice. Noteworthy species found in this preserve include Riddell’s goldenrod (Solidago riddellii), and Obedient-plant (Physostegia virginiana).⁴

Tecumseh and Tenskatawa deliberately founded Prophetstown in a wetland to make it more defensible against enemy assaults.

"pour tobacco" — Hall says parenthetically, "This is done as it was believed it would appease the spirits." In this context it should be pointed out that it was considered by Hōcągara in any case to be almost essential when crossing any body of water to make a tobacco offering to the Waterspirit (Wakjexi) who reigned over it.

"he led them in a fight" — this would imply that Tecumseh was at this time a war chief. The reference to a fight in which he was a chief that occurred after the founding of Prophetstown could only have been in the War of 1812, in which he was killed in 1813. The only battle fought after the founding of Prophetstown (1808) was the Battle of Tippecanoe, from which Tecumseh was absent. That battle is referenced below, and will have occurred after the battle mentioned here. As is frequently the case, the raconteur of this story is confused about the historical sequence of events. The only battle in which Tecumseh could have been a chief was the Battle of Fallen Timbers. At that time it was Blue Jacket who was the primary chief of the Shawnee. However, Tecumseh, then 26 years old, was certainly a chief of some kind, since history records that he refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville after the defeat of the Indian confederacy. A person of no prominence would not have been asked to sign the treaty in the first place. So the battle being referred to here is the Battle of Fallen Timbers, fought on August 20, 1794. Two years later it is recorded that Tecumseh was both the civil and war chief of a Kispoko band of about 250 people, 50 of whom were warriors.⁵

	H. Charles McBarron
	The American Soldier

"there was a man wearing a red victor's cap, who was to be captured" — this too is probably garbled. The Battle of Fallen Timbers did involve an important captive. The Indian allies captured a scout on 18 May 1794, a William May, who was under William Wells, commander of the Legion's ranger detachment. May was a former British sailor who had once before been captured by the Indians, but was rescued by a renegade named Simon Girty before he could be killed.⁶ His luck ran out:

Two or three days after we arrived at the rapids, Wayne's spies came right into camp among us. I afterwards saw the survivors. Their names were Miller, McClelland, May, Wells, Mahaffy, and one other whose name I forget. They came into the camp boldly and fired on the Indians. Miller got wounded in the shoulder. May was chased by the Indians to the smooth rock in the bed of the river, where his horse fell. He was taken prisoner and the rest escaped. They then took May to camp. They knew him; he had formerly been a prisoner among them, and ran away from them. They told him: ‘We know you; you speak Indian language; you not content to live with us. To-morrow we take you to that tree; (pointing to a very large bur oak at the edge of the clearing, which was near the British Fort,) we will tie you up and make a mark on your breast, and we will try what Indian can shoot nearest it.’

It so turned out. The next day, the very day before the battle, they tied him up, made a mark on his breast, and riddled his body with bullets, shooting at least fifty into him. Thus ended poor May.⁷

Before dispatching him, they were able to discover the circumstances under which Mad Anthony Wayne was going to attack them.⁸ These scouts were properly termed "spies" at time, as often disguised themselves as Indians and boldly rode into their encampments. Now, as it happened, Wayne's "Legion" consisted of four "Sublegions," each Sublegion having distinctive colors for cap ornaments and uniform facings: white for the First Sublegion, red for the Second, yellow for the Third, and green for the Fourth. In the painting at the right, a red patch of the Second Legion is seen on the hat and trim of a soldier standing behind Gen. Wayne. The problem is that May belonged to the First Legion,^9* whose color was white. However, the scouts, then reorganized under Wells appear to have been an independent organization. Given that they typically disguised themselves as Indians, it may well be that May had an Indian style red "victory cap" when he was captured.

"not to peek" — this is really more in the nature of a taunt since the captive William May was what in that time was called a "spy." Today we would call him a "scout."

"[s]he" — a subsequent sentence makes it explicit that a woman is speaking. The pronoun equivalent to "he" is e, which can mean, "he, she, it, or they." Stella Stacy, who retold some of the Chandler material in Hōcąk, would on occasion, in an English translation, use "he" as a pronoun for a woman.

"imitated" — by "imitated" does he mean "widely quoted?" Or does it mean that she was a role model?

The Shawnee Prophet

"we have lived all the time as we are" — given the context of this story with its central character being the Shawnee Prophet (Tenskatawa), the missing context for this remark is the basic doctrine of the Prophet's teaching, which is that the Indian generally must return to the old ways before the whites introduced corrupting luxuries such as metal cookware, and most of all, whiskey. As the context makes subsequently clear, the person whom they are addressing is the Shawnee Prophet, so they wish to make it clear that they have kept the faith. He himself repeats the dictum that they are chanting.

"my brother-in-law" — Hall adds parenthetically, "a woman addressing." This would be her hišik’é (woman speaking). Since she is the sister-in-law of Tenskatawa, she must have been the wife of one of his brothers, most likely Tecumseh.

"a borrowed boy" — this seems to suggest that he was adopted, but the literature on Tenskatawa does not seem to support this claim.

"he did not have his right mind" — as a young man Tenskatawa was a ne’er-do-well, drinking, carousing, and fighting. During a drunken binge, he managed to shoot himself in his right eye, which cost him the eye. Later in life he radically reformed.

"making the ghosts run" — this sounds more like a warparty. One wonders whether the passage about hair cuts was not originally an elusion to scalping. Why would a returning warparty make the ghosts run? Originally, instead of scalps, the whole head was taken. The life soul was associated with the brain and marrow, so possession of the head drew the soul with it. Hence the idea that the conquered enemy's soul was a slave to the victor. It was believed as a logical consequence, that the soul followed after the detached head. Sometimes it would cause the fleeing conqueror to trip as a petty act of vengeance. So when a warparty begins its run back to the home village, the ghosts of those whose heads they have taken followed after them. Consequently, the returning warparty causes the ghosts to run.

J. O. Lewis
Hojinažiga (Spotted Arm)

"Stand" — this would be Nąžį́ga in Hōcąk. Might this not be Hojinąžįga, "He Stands to Strike," one of Spotted Arm's names? It is also possible that the name is translated from the Shawnee.

"grandfather took a knife" — in other words, Stand left a knife where Tenskatawa ("grandfather") would likely run across it. This did happen as planned, and he took up the knife. No doubt the knife symbolizes war. The word for weapon is wapahí, which means "sharp thing." So the sharp knife can stand for weapons generally. Stand's actions here resemble the practice of leaving an offering in the wilderness to the Spirits. If an individual happens to accidentally run across such an offering, he may keep it for himself. When the Shawnee Prophet picks up the knife, he picks up an exemplar of weapons generally, here presented in a context that suggests an "appeal to Heaven" that there might be a successful war. By accepting it, he is symbolically affirming his commitment to taking up arms against the whites. He is, in Anglo parlance, "taking up the sword."

	US Dept. of Defense
	Army Hat

"the one with the hat" — Hall adds parenthetically, "Term used to designate the white man." This term is fitting enough, especially considering the typical headgear of the Army of this period. However, such a term for white men in general has not been attested before.

"here" — this would be Prophetstown, founded in 1808 on the banks of the Tippecanoe River in Indiana. After the Battle of Tippecanoe on 7 November 1811, it was put to the torch.

"they arrested them" — arresting an Indian couple to try to extract intelligence from them may represent another instance of confusing the Battle of Tippecanoe with the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Just before the latter:

When Wayne prepared for a final push down the Maumee Valley that summer, the general was desperate for fresh intelligence and, as usual, assigned Wells the difficult mission of seizing a prisoner. On August 11, Wells and five of his men captured a Shawnee warrior and his wife. While returning with their captives, Wells spotted an Indian campsite and remarkably decided to press his luck. Brazenly riding into the Delaware camp, he struck up small talk with the Indians, who were initially oblivious to the identity of the newcomers. When the scouts were finally recognized as American spies, bedlam erupted. Both sides opened fire and dashed for cover; in the confusion, the Americans escaped.¹⁰

It is not clear what happened to the couple that they had seized. At some point, they would have been released, and in this case, they probably escaped not long after they were captured. This incident was sufficiently notorious that it could well have entered the lore of tribes in this region.

"the naked Indians" — Hall adds parenthetically, "an old name, out of use."

"this coming Spring" — this remark is designed to expose their dishonesty. In fact, it was not in spring of 1812 that they attacked, but in the fall of 1811.

"the star (moon) did not appear" — the word for star is wiragóšge. Hall is parenthetically stating that the star in question was the moon, which isn't ordinarily referred to as a wiragóšge. Shortly thereafter, it is said to be the fourth of four stars, making it improbable that it is the moon to which this story refers.

StarryNight Software

The Sky at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, at Sunrise, 6 November 1811

"there was the star, it was the fourth to appear" — here it is said to be the last one of four stars, so it is probably a star or planet rather than the moon. It had set with the sun, then after a time, rose just before the sun, which is the normal cycle of non-circumpolar stars. Since this is a regular cycle, it can be used to measure the passing of a year. As it happens, it is relatively easy to identify these four stars. On the table below we see them sequentially rise with the Sun:

All four of these stars are conspicuously bright: Arcturus (α Boötis): magnitude -0.05 (4th brightest star in the night sky); Vega (α Lyrae): magnitude 0.03 (5th brightest star); Spica (α Virginis): magnitude 0.97 (16th brightest star); Deneb (α Cygni): magnitude 1.25 (19th brightest star). They are clustered around the rising sun of late autumn and winter. At that latitude, the four stars make their heliacal risings in this order: Arcturus, Oct. 3; Spica, Oct. 17; Vega, Oct. 31. However, Deneb presents an unusual case. It first heliacally sets on Oct. 13, then not long after, heliacally rises on Nov. 6, in the year 1811.

This table was made from data generated from various sites of Hōcąk villages in the early XIXᵀᴴ Century. The data show that there is a narrow band of latitude from about 43.5 N to 43.7 N from which one can see all four stars rise so that the last, Deneb, does so on the very day of the battle. So in this band of latitude in the Wazija, the rise of Deneb with the sun will always mark the anniversary of the fateful Battle of Tippecanoe. However, it does so only at latitudes found in the Wazija, not at Prophetstown. There, at this lower latitude, it occurs a couple of days later. So this means that the astronomical marking is not from the Shawnees, but from Hōcągara.

StarryNight Software

The Cygnus Rift in the Milky Way

The star Deneb has a special significance in relation to the Road of Life and Death. As it happens, there is a break in the Milky Way at the star Deneb called "the Cygnus Rift," which divides the galaxy in two. In the work of George Lankford, this break in the Milky Way has been singled out as an important feature in the celestial aspects of many North American Indian religions.¹¹ Where the Milky Way is the pathway of the departed souls, this spot represents the bifurcation of the trail, one branch of which leads to oblivion or the Bad Spirit's domain, and the other to Spiritland. The short road at Deneb is a dead end to the realm of the Devil, Herešgúnina. When Deneb rises, so does the wrong road of the dead. The Prophet's blunder at Tippecanoe sent many a warrior on the stellar path of the dead. Deneb, and its associations with the Devil's wrong course, is a subtle way to suggest that, in this case, the Prophet may have been tricked by Herešgúnina into taking the wrong course himself.

The Thunderbird Warclub

"the war club of the Thunder Clan" — this kind of warclub, exclusive to the Upper Moiety, differs from that of the Lower Moiety primarily by the ball carved into the head of the club. Creating such a sphere must have taken a great deal of skill and patience.

"he wrote down" — it is not likely that he is "writing" script, but symbolic pictures. For an example of this, see the Lower Moiety warclub in the Gallery of Artifacts.

"Prophet-Orator" — the title being given to Tenskatawa, the Shawnee Prophet.

"in exactly four years, when you have come, they will be shooting each other" — this is set in the year 1808, and the Shawnee Prophet is then predicting, according to this account, that in 1812 the Anglos would be in a shooting war with one another. This, of course, came to pass with the War of 1812.

"I am not going to wait here another year" — here the account attempts to rationalize the Prophet's precipitous action at Tippecanoe in 1811.

"they released them" — this is referring back to the couple who had been arrested and interrogated.

"Prophet-Orator's brother" — Hall adds parenthetically, "Tecumseh?" This is clearly correct. What is being described here are the circumstances that led up to the Battle of Tippecanoe, which the Prophet prematurely precipitated while his brother Tecumseh was away on a mission.

"there they fought all that day" — this is the Battle of Tippecanoe, fought on 7 November 1811. The thesis of this story is that the Prophet had planned to attack the whites in the year 1812. This was a secret widely known among the Indians, but unknown to the whites. A man and his wife were captured and interrogated, and the man told them of the fourth year plan because he thought they already knew of it. When the whites learned of this, they decided to attack immediately, rather than in the spring, as they had formerly planned. In the absence of his brother Tecumseh, the Prophet was in command. He decided to take the initiative and attack the whites first. This proved to be catastrophic and led to Prophetstown being burned to the ground, and the Indian Confederacy scattered.

"very heavy losses" — the U.S. Army suffered 88 casualties: 37 killed in action, 25 of which were mortally wounded, with 126 sustaining non-fatal wounds.¹²

"the Indians suffered great losses" — these losses are difficult to estimate, but it is believed that around 50 were killed and about 70 to 80 were wounded.¹³

Comparative Material. ...

Links: Waterspirits.

Stories: about the Shawnee Prophet: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Shawnee Prophet Predicts a Solar Eclipse, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, Winnebagos Go to See the Prophet, A Prophecy About the End Time, The Journey of the Prophet’s Acolyte, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers; about seers: The Seer, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, Witches, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, A Prophecy About the End Time, A Prophecy, Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches, The Shawnee Prophet Predicts a Solar Eclipse, A Prophecy About the First School, Winnebagos Go to See the Prophet, The Journey of the Prophet’s Acolyte, The Claw Shooter, Waruką́ną, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Diving Contest; mentioning Tecumseh: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Tecumseh's Bulletproof Skin; mentioning the Battle of Tippecanoe: The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, Great Walker's Medicine; mentioning the Shawnee: The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Tecumseh's Bulletproof Skin, The Road to Tippecanoe; mentioning the Big Knives (white Americans): The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Fate of Native America: a Prophecy, Brawl in Omro, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka, Little Priest's Game, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, A Prophecy, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, The First Fox and Sauk War, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Road to Tippecanoe ("Hats"), The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, The Hocągara Migrate South, Neenah, Run for Your Life, The Glory of the Morning, First Contact, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Migistéga’s Magic, Yellow Thunder and the Lore of Lost Canyon, Mighty Thunder, The Beginning of the Winnebago, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, Digging a Trench and White Strategy; mentioning the Thunderbird Warclub: The Thunderbird Warclub, Waruǧábᵉra, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, cf. Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.

Themes: a seer makes true predictions down to unusual details: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Witches, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Fox-Hocąk War, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, A Prophecy, The Shawnee Prophet Predicts a Solar Eclipse, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Claw Shooter, Waruką́ną, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, The Journey of the Prophet’s Acolyte; red as a symbolic color: The Journey to Spiritland (hill, willows, reeds, smoke, stones, haze), The Gottschall Head (mouth), The Chief of the Heroka (clouds, side of Forked Man), The Red Man (face, sky, body, hill), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (neck, nose, painted stone), Redhorn's Father (leggings, stone sphere, hair), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (hair, body paint, arrows), Wears White Feather on His Head (man), The Birth of the Twins (turkey bladder headdresses), The Two Boys (elk bladder headdresses), Trickster and the Mothers (sky), Rich Man, Boy, and Horse (sky), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Spirit), Bluehorn Rescues His Sister (buffalo head), Wazųka (buffalo head headdress), The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (horn), The Brown Squirrel (protruding horn), Bear Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Hawk Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Deer Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (stick at grave), Pigeon Clan Origins (Thunderbird lightning), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (eyes), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (scalp, woman's hair), The Race for the Chief's Daughter (hair), The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (hair), Redhorn Contests the Giants (hair), Redhorn's Sons (hair), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (hair), A Wife for Knowledge (hair), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (hair), The Hocągara Contest the Giants (hair of Giantess), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf hair), The Red Feather (plumage), The Man who was Blessed by the Sun (body of Sun), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (body of the Warrior Clan Chief), Red Bear, Eagle Clan Origin Myth (eagle), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (Waterspirit armpits), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Waterspirits), The Roaster (body paint), The Man who Defied Disease Giver (red spot on forehead), The Wild Rose (rose), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (warclub), Įcorúšika and His Brothers (ax & packing strap), Hare Kills Flint (flint), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (edges of flint knives), The Nannyberry Picker (leggings), The Road to Tippecanoe (the red hat of victory), The Seduction of Redhorn's Son (cloth), Yųgiwi (blanket); a man wears a deer head headdress: Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches; someone is abducted and led off into captivity: The Captive Boys, A Man's Revenge, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Lost Child, Wears White Feather on His Head, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bladder and His Brothers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Black Otter's Warpath, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Green Man, Brave Man, The Chief of the Heroka, Šųgepaga, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, Hare Gets Swallowed, Hare Acquires His Arrows, The Raccoon Coat, Wojijé, Wolves and Humans, The Woman Who Became an Ant, Thunderbird and White Horse, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Traveler and the Thunderbird War (v. 5), The Boy who Flew, Testing the Slave, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One.

Notes

¹ Archives of Traditional Music (ATM) Indiana University, Mark J. Green, recorded by Milford G. Chandler ca. 1926. Translations by William Hall. Archive Tape Library (ATL) no. (Accession number): 523.1-11, 8742.2-12, tr. 1; Collection number (collection identifier): 54-176F (retold to Gerd Fraenkel in 1959). Transcription of original tapes, 1.SCY 1763-10.SCY 1773, by Mark Green, Black River Falls, before 1920.

² “Headdress,” Tecumseh Material Culture (electronic text, viewed June 19, 2026).

³ William Hogeland, Autumn of the Black Snake: the Creation of the U.S. Army and the Invasion that Opened the West (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017) 351; U.S. Army Center of Military History (August 20, 2025): "20 August 1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers."

⁴ Prophetstown Fen Nature Preserve (electronic text, viewed: 6.19.2026).

⁵ John Sugden, Tecumseh: A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994) 94.

⁶ George G. McClellan, Perilous Paths. The Story of Robert McClellan: Indian Fighter, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, and Member of the John J. Astor Fur Company (Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse, Inc., 2012).

⁷ John Bricknell, “John Bricknell’s Captivity Among the Delaware,” American Pioneer, 52, largely reprinted in William T. Martin, History of Franklin County, A Collection of Reminiscences of the Early Settlement of the County: with Biographical Sketches and a Complete History of the County to the Present Time (Columbus: Follett, Foster & Co., 1858) - Chapter IX. "John Bricknell, His Captivity, Etc.," 116; Paul A. Hutton, "William Wells: Frontier Scout and Indian Agent," Indiana Magazine of History (September 1978): 198. and Milo M. Quaife, ed., “General James Wilkinson’s Narrative of the Fallen Timbers Campaign,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XVI (June, 1929) 83. 

⁸ Wiley Sword, President Washington's Indian War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790–1795 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003 [1985]) 296.

^9* William Wells' Scouts appear to have reported to Gen. Wayne directly. Alan D. Gaff, Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne's Legion in the Old Northwest (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press: 2004) 172-173.The idea that May was in the First Sublegion may have derived from an official report made by May back in 1791 where it was stated that "May was a private in Capt. John Armstrong's company 'of the late first regiment'." Department Relating to Indian Affairs, Military Pensions, and Fortifications, 1791-1797, Records of the Office of the Secretary of War Record Group 107: 113-117. This First Regiment was part of the Army before it was reorganized under Gen. Wayne.

¹⁰ Joshua Shepherd, "William Wells," Military Heritage, Volume 17, No. 5 (2016): unpaginated. 

¹¹ George E. Lankford, Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2007) 224-225. See also, Arnold Lebeuf, "The Milky Way, a path of the souls," in Astronomical Traditions in Past Cultures, edd. Vesselina Koleva and Dimiter Kolev. Proceedings of the First Annual General Meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture, Smolyan, Bulgaria, 31 August - 2 September 1993 (Sofia: Institute of Astronomy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, National Astronomical Observatory, Rozhen, 1996) 148-161 [151].

¹² H. D. Tunnell, IV, To Compel with Armed Force: A Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Tippecanoe (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1998) 134.

¹³ Robert M. Owens, Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007) 218; A. J. Langguth, Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006) 169.