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Cornell University Library 
 E 83.81.W75 
 
 Battle forest 
 
 3 1924 028 672 313 
 
The Batti,i; Forest : 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 John Augustine Wilstach, 
 
 Translator of Virgil and Dante. 
 
 DEDICATKn TO 
 
 Mrs. Benjamin Harrison. 
 
 IN SEVEN PARTS : 
 
 1. TIPPIKANAU. 2. ELSKWATAWA. 3. THE WAR CHIEFS. 4. THE GROTTO. 
 
 S. THE WAR SONG. 6. THE CAMP. 7. THE VICTORY. 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 
 
 JY THE MAIL AND EXPRESS, 
 
 1890. 
 
 /t 
 
CORNEL 
 
 AMERICAN BANK NOTE C O. 
 cNEwV&Fy^' 
 
 37tt9 
 
THE BATTLE FOREST. 
 
 TIPPIKANAU. 
 
 Muse, aid this story ot the forest wide; 
 
 As moves the theme, be thou my favoring 
 
 guide; 
 Here come in conflict races great of men; 
 Supply my memory slight, inspire my pen. 
 That men may sit attentiive to a song 
 That rolls all echoes of this land along! 
 
 The scout, the interpreter, the eflficient aid. 
 Well known to Harrison the place had made 
 Where stood the aboriginal force at bay, 
 At home, their Town, the shock of war to 
 
 stay; 
 And, as the day wore on, the Indians showed. 
 Once and again, the hate that in them glowed. 
 And followed, lowering, all the army's path. 
 Concealing scarce their deep, consuming 
 
 wrath: 
 But knew the White Chief well his mission 
 
 high, 
 And, as he came to their intrenchments nigh. 
 Fear seized them, and they said, "We are for 
 
 peace, 
 At least until to-morrow let war cease; 
 We would be friends and cruel bloodshed 
 
 save." 
 "Agreed," the General said, and from a brave, 
 A Shawnee hunter, whom the White Chief 
 
 knew. 
 Sought, as to camping, information true, 
 And what he asked obtained: "Westward and 
 
 south 
 A creek is, with sweet waters for the mouth, 
 And 'mongst the lofty trees along its side. 
 Oaks, maples, elms, your men may well 
 
 abide." 
 
 A halt the General called, and Dubois sent. 
 With Clarke and Taylor forward, aids intent 
 On prompt, intelligent service, to inspect 
 The ground the Indian mentioned, or select 
 Some other: "Here, meantime, stand we at 
 
 rest. 
 And soon will know if truthfully speaks our 
 
 guest. , , ^ 
 
 Keep watchful eyes about ye, and what news 
 From straggling red men comes, that not 
 
 1*6 fuss 
 
 And, Captain Prince, take you an escort, go 
 
 In that direction where distinctly show 
 
 The skirting woods the course the river wends. 
 
 The river Tippikanau, see if tends 
 
 Our prudent progress thither; it seems best 
 
 N ot on this Indian's word too much to rest." 
 
 When Prince returned, "Much marsh," ho 
 
 said, 
 "Toward the woods lies, and by springs is 
 
 fed." 
 
 Came soon the reconnoiterers; content 
 
 Was with their words and pleased expression 
 
 blent: 
 "Selected, General, as your aids, such grounds. 
 In this rare paradise of sights and sounds. 
 To seek, as may give rest, or strength, or war, 
 With haste, but care, we 've looked the coun- 
 try o'er. 
 And find, not far, the favorable field. 
 The Prophet has his savages near, concealed 
 Beyond a swamp adjacent to his Town, 
 Built firm with logs and palisades, whence 
 
 his frown 
 Is fixed portentous on the coming fight. 
 Around his head he claims a holy light 
 Rays from the Indian's God supreme, which 
 
 brings 
 Assurance full of victory, as he sings. 
 Yet little saw we of his Town or braves; 
 'Neath it the Wabash dashes murmuring 
 
 waves; 
 Our errand was to find fit place for camp. 
 Not rough, not steep, nor flat, nor drear, nor 
 
 damp. 
 It stands above the marsh a score of feet. 
 Is covered wivh a wood of monarchs meet 
 To save the Hicn from flying shaft on shaft; 
 It tapers to the south, and gayly waft 
 A dimpling creek's clear waves November's 
 
 leaves 
 Close on its west; its eastern side upheaves 
 Fair, fern-clad banks, turned to the marsh's 
 
 face. 
 The lofty trees of brush but little trace 
 Have left to grow. Hence, safe's the way; 
 
 there wains 
 
 And men, and stores, and our artillery trains 
 Will have good place and good position find 
 Should the red foe to battle be inclined. " 
 Such Dubois' words were, spoken for those 
 
 sent 
 By Harrison to find a camp where tent. 
 And steed, and wheel, and glowing hearts of 
 
 men 
 Might rest from warfare past, or meet the foe 
 
 again. 
 
 Then thus the tried commander. "It is well; 
 
 Let now the bugles' echoes rise and swell 
 
 Throughout the force, and through the cam- 
 paign round. 
 
 That all the stragglers may in rank be 
 found; 
 
And let the march begin, you in advance, 
 
 That this good field we may not miss by 
 chance! 
 
 There let the Almighty say whose right is 
 best, 
 
 Let hear the forest heights his name ad- 
 dressed!" 
 
 !5"ife, drum and trumpet thrilled the expect- 
 ant host, 
 
 Above them waved the flag, our country's 
 boast, 
 
 Came on in order, infantry, cannon, horse. 
 
 The army moved in its appointed course. 
 
 From Cedar Bluff, an outside sentinel's eye 
 Could Harrison's last night's bivouac fires 
 
 espy, 
 Where camped he lay, some miles from this 
 
 famed field — 
 This loofeout place could widespread surveys 
 
 yield. 
 
 Approached it was, first by canoe, which 
 
 drove 
 Three winding miles to where a lordly grove 
 O'erhung the river; tnence a mile of steep, 
 Moss-covered cliff, whence freshet torrents 
 
 leap. 
 By active climbing overcome must be; 
 And then a step led to the prospect free. 
 And, at this day, this dream of height and 
 
 vale 
 Bears, not in vain, its name, Tecumseh's 
 
 Trail. 
 Near where the sentry saw the curling blue 
 Ascend to heaven, now .'itands our famed 
 
 Purdue. 
 While now bestrides the limpid Wabash, 
 
 then 
 Remote and silent, far from haunts of men, 
 An iron bridge, which learning leads to 
 
 parks, 
 Belt railroads, factories, and that scheme of 
 
 Sparks 
 To make a Minnetonka here, and on 
 Its banks to show a rival of Boulogne. 
 
 Whence came the sentry's orders forth? The 
 
 town, 
 Whose stretch of cabins, on the airy crown 
 Of prairie, skirted far the Wabash — thence 
 Went orders forth for forays aud defense. 
 It's ruler was Tecumseh, when at home; 
 His absence gave the power in this his dome, 
 His citadel, his capital, unto one 
 Who claimed of prophecy gifts. Him so alone 
 Tecumseh would not trust, but left decree 
 That, in his absence, peace with whites should 
 
 be. 
 Injunction wise, spurned by the Prophet vain, 
 Who brought upon his people ruin's reign! 
 
 And why this town imperial loved he so? 
 Muse, tell us, of Tecumseh we would know! 
 It loved he that it meant the war he fought; 
 It built he for the advanrage that it brought; 
 Its site strategic threatened and combined; 
 Vincennes it threatened, and the Ohio, lined 
 With teeming farms; and here tribes near 
 
 and far 
 Might centralize for any destined war. 
 B^or 'neath its walla a limpid highway flowed 
 Which times primeval often gayly showed 
 Streamed o'er by rustic navies, which the 
 
 lakes 
 United with the gulf; the portage breaks, 
 Alone Maumee and Wabash 'twixt, that line 
 Whereon the North, the West and South com- 
 bine; 
 
 A place desired, the choice abode remote 
 Of pre-historic races; this denote 
 The tumuli, still seen upon the crest 
 Of bluffs that crown the Tippikanau, blest 
 With all associations that may count 
 To make them of all dreams the fairy fount. 
 Behind it, to the north, a country flat 
 A refuge furnished, if it might be that 
 Some Fabius might arise to win success, 
 To give some Hannibal untold distress. 
 In following through the swamps of Kanka- 
 kee 
 The foe unsearchable, who might with glee 
 See quicksands swallow cavalry up, and wains 
 Sink deeper down for all a Hercules' pains. 
 Upon this highway, moons not far away. 
 Went forth an armament rich and bright and 
 
 gay. 
 Four hundred youths in eighty stanch canoes, 
 Five warriors placed in each, of iron thews. 
 Ahl but to see them in their war paint, decked 
 In hues terrific, all with feathers flecked! 
 'Twas in the summer, and the natural brawn 
 Shown forth, and some had blankets on. 
 And some had hideous pelts with hideous 
 
 tints, 
 Some guns, some clubs, some arrows tipped 
 
 with flints 
 Or jasper heads, or agates polished gay, 
 Which they had brought from distant strait 
 
 or bay. 
 And all their tomahawks gleamed and scalp- 
 ing knives, 
 Threatening to faces pale and lilied lives; 
 And all the war-whoop sounded, often stirred 
 To this by mutual hint, or spoken word. 
 Or sign, or as a tokcw of their hope 
 That they might soon with other warriors 
 
 cope. 
 Their faces showed that steady, stolid pose. 
 Which on the boy by imitation grows. 
 At times they saw the river lashed by winds 
 All into foaming serpents; sometimes lines 
 Of silvery light the moon traced o'er its face; 
 Sometimes, by sun and calm's united grace, 
 Broke their swift keels the mirror of the 
 
 waves. 
 The mirror picturing bison, deer, birds, 
 
 braves. 
 The headlands painted and the azure skies. 
 The inverted bluffs with varying tints and 
 
 dyes. 
 And upturned forests shimmering in the 
 
 breeze 
 And trembling with their wealth of lordly 
 
 trees. 
 How plSyed the naiads with their shapely 
 
 guests 
 Within the billows pictured ! Songs and 
 
 jests 
 The u:^mphs could hear, as floated through 
 
 their realm 
 Rude music's notes from every gallant helm. 
 
 There is a beauty in the early prime 
 Of nature seen not in the later time; 
 There is a freshness then, a choice perfume 
 That civilization hastens to its doom. 
 And, doomed, it ne'er can be replaced, the 
 
 tint, 
 Mixed of the skies and earth's all-modest 
 
 glint 
 Fair nature wears no art cosmetic yields; 
 And culture robs us of those perfumed fields. 
 Simplicity in character has more 
 Attractiveness than all a bookworm's lore. 
 
 And aa the gallant navy stemmed the tide 
 And flung its waves far forth to either side. 
 
Shone in the midst Tecumseh, marvelous star 
 Of aboriginal history; braves from near andfar 
 Had heard his summons; he with pride 
 Surveyed his force: the privilege denied* 
 Made it more precious to his arrogant soul, 
 Gave solace to the mighty dreams of dole 
 His heart" held 'gainst a hated, insolent foe. 
 For to the Long Knifet v^ould this armament 
 
 show. 
 He deemed Ms wish no rule, no law for chiefs 
 Who sovereignty claimed aljove him, and who 
 
 griefs 
 Might show, by hint; if not in rapine wide. 
 At least by this armada on the tide 
 Of this great natural highway that must 
 
 here 
 In future float the Indian's bloody bier. 
 Or rise the theatre of his triumph; fear 
 Felt not his soul of all the future drear. 
 
 This quaint and antique navy came from 
 
 streams 
 North, south, and lakes of many legends' 
 
 themes, 
 'Twas walnut fired, or birch-bark sewed, or 
 
 lin'u 
 Carved out by lazy labor, while a fin 
 Of ash at times flashed forth its silvery pearls; 
 Then dimples Father Wabash shewed, as girls 
 When merry jests go round, or when is given 
 Some merited praise extols their worth to 
 
 heaven. 
 And where the God might seek to sink the 
 
 keel, 
 Was used the pine tree pitch the gaps to 
 
 heal. 
 Or wax from plenteous hives in tulip trees 
 Or gum one yet on varnished cherries sees. 
 On bends, round points, gave forth these for- 
 est tars, 
 In honor of their admiral, fierce huzzas, 
 Or rippling rapids woke with cheer on cheer 
 Which from their coverts roused the startled 
 
 deer. 
 
 Whence came the name of Tippikauau, word 
 To town and river given, and this day heard 
 As designation of a county? Whence 
 The idea that gave the seat of power immense 
 That was to be, this quite peculiar name 
 By war forever linked with honored fame? 
 'Twas thus, the bard declares; the buffalo 
 These early fields commanded; here would 
 
 flow , ^, . 
 
 Across the State his legions, and their course 
 Being changeless made them symbols true of 
 
 And in the river gleamed the buffalo-fish. 
 The tyrant of the watery depths, whose wish 
 His subject sturgeons, bass, pike, muscalunge 
 Obeyed, all heedful of his vehement plunge. 
 On either element thus the symbol held. 
 On both it conquered and all rivalry quelled. 
 The northern tribes a boat call a cheemaun 
 (A boat's a ship, a deer grows from a fawn), 
 The Sacs keneu the great War Kagle ca,ll, 
 The bird supreme in sovereignty over all. 
 Tippi's the fish, Kanau the buffalo; we 
 Tippecanoe the inadequate name decree. 
 
 II. 
 
 BLSKWATAWA. 
 
 Came shades of evening on, then night, the 
 
 The Shawnee power should know; the luck- 
 less cast 
 
 Was thrown, within the Prophet's brooding 
 
 mind 
 To prudence lost, to obvious warnings blind: 
 The law Tecumseh gave him he would break, 
 The dreary marsh his Rubicon he would 
 
 make. 
 Heedless of all, and he would storm the gates 
 Which held behind them good an d evil fates. 
 His choice was made, and now the high 
 
 priest, shrewd 
 And bold and eloquent, with care reviewed 
 The assembled army of his race, all glad 
 To do him reverent honor, and he bade 
 That, while the outside sentries kept remote 
 A vigilant watch, all should convene and 
 
 note 
 In council his instructions; then that all 
 Details of fight should to the war-chiefs fall. 
 
 Who was this lawless Prophet, placed in 
 
 power 
 Thus recklessly, and destined to bring sour 
 Defeat and overthrow to cautious plans? 
 The Tawa to^vns, the Mississinewan bands 
 Acknowledged him as leader; and the praise 
 His fellow-chieftains gave when he would 
 
 raise 
 His voice sonorous at the council-fire, 
 Took, in the way that personal traits inspire. 
 The form descriptive of a name, which said 
 This warrior has a voice of power and dread. 
 All this in Laulewasika was implied. 
 Then Penagashega, prophet honored, died. 
 And, as the Hebrew seer, who rose to heaven, 
 Transferred his mantle, so, divinely given, 
 The mantle of the Indian seer seemedTapt, 
 Albeit this seer no flaming chariot rapt. 
 For Laulewasika's shoulders. He new bore 
 The name of Elskwatawa, Open Door. 
 Why he thus changed, with change of oflice, 
 
 name 
 Seems on our Muse to have no idle claim: 
 Some counsels he had held with black-robed 
 
 priests. 
 Some sermons he had heard interpreted, in- 
 
 His scanty store of Scriptural knowledge; so 
 That, not through migbty winds, he knew, 
 
 nor glow 
 Of fire, nor quaking of the earth, the call 
 Came to the sacred seer, but still and small 
 The voice of Manitou descended soft, 
 Through zones empyreal, from calm realms 
 
 aloit. 
 From some such idea may have come tne 
 
 change. 
 Fantastic, vain, and beautiful as strange. 
 The loud, clear voice of wrangling in debate, 
 The sharp punctilio in affairs of state, 
 Had had, their use, their day, but now he 
 
 stood 
 The edifice, the temple of all good, 
 
 tThe Indians so called general offlcers in allu- 
 siou to their swords. . ,, ^ j 
 
 The dazzling palace wherein all was storett 
 That yet remained of all his race's hoard 
 Of skill and wisdom, and the door wide 
 
 thrown 
 Of that new union, which, if they would own. 
 There enterine they should strength and 
 
 courage find, 
 
 The dauntless will, the high heroic mind. 
 The assembled throng by one consent was 
 
 still, , . . .,, 
 
 Pleased to give homage to his sovereign will. 
 
 " *He was acting in disregard of the wishes of the 
 Governor. Gen. Harrison, in approaching Vm- 
 qennes -with so large a force. 
 
Not more sedate grim ranks at Shiloh shone, 
 Nor iron squadrons glittering on the stone. 
 A thrill, from deep, mysterious silence, ran 
 Throughout the throng, and then the sage 
 
 began, 
 Or, rather, stood in pose to speak, and slow 
 His words to form before their readier flow: 
 
 "Chieftains and fellow-warriors, not to-night 
 Have I to hold forth arguments for the fight; 
 I know your native ardor prompts you: vain, 
 i'erhaps, would be my efforts to restrain 
 Thai boiling mass of valor flaming high 
 I see in every cheek, in every eye. 
 Nol 'Tis but to remind you of the cause 
 For which you fight 1 speak; I beg you pause 
 But just enough to let the Long Knife fall 
 Into deep sleep before he hears the call 
 Of vengeance; then the Seventeen Fires* shall 
 
 know 
 What 'tis to have this army for a foe, 
 An army which the consummate flower is 
 
 known 
 Of princely worth such as should save a 
 
 throne. 
 And while we wait, let me in part employ 
 The time that must elapse before the joy 
 Of victory greets ye, to recall our claims. 
 Your claims and mine, and history, and the 
 
 aims 
 Our racs proposes to itself to try. 
 Beguiled by treaties oft and frauds, and why, 
 Before so many worthies of our race, 
 The tribe of Shawnees claims supremacy's 
 
 place. 
 Supremacy claim we even o'er the whites, 
 In their own methods even of claiming rights: 
 By journeying from a land beyond our lan4, 
 And sacred marriage joining hand to hand. 
 Approached the Shawnee ancestry from far. 
 Dim shores remote, where rests the sun his 
 
 car; 
 And afterward came from Californian coasts 
 To Georgian vales our aboriginal hosts. 
 All that claimed, voyagers Columbus, Penn, 
 Hudson and Raleigh, Plymouth's Alden, 
 
 when 
 They sought possession afterward, took too 
 
 late. 
 Usurping what we held of prior date. 
 A Georgian maid there was, the daughter fair 
 Of a high lord the King had given the chair 
 Of sovereignty o'er all that pleasant Fire. 
 She, when my warrior-ancestor her sire 
 Approached to treat of grievances long borne. 
 Felt all her soul with fiery passions torn 
 Of love for him the Shawnee chieftain; prayed 
 Much she her princely father; they were made 
 Husband and wife: my origin comes from 
 
 thence; 
 Marriage of princely lines gives no offense 
 To either line. No history can deny 
 That earlier settlement and that marriage tie. 
 The two, or either, make our rights supreme, 
 Rights which we hold as servants, tor we 
 
 deem 
 All honors held as held for you in trust. 
 To you we bow all humbly in the dust. 
 The heavy dutv's ours to guard your lives 
 From all that, natural, supernatural, strives 
 To work ye harm, the ambush and the charm. 
 The evil eye, and ghosts, a grisly swarm. 
 Ah, brethren, that which us most deeply 
 
 grieves 
 Is that you m ust expose your lives to thieves, 
 
 *The seventeen States at that time composing 
 the American Union, each State being regarded 
 by the Indians as a council fire. 
 
 Thieves who, instructed by the Seventeen 
 
 Fires, 
 Death's doom deserve, as traitors, murderers, 
 
 liars! 
 And, furthermore, let me some personal 
 
 things 
 Say, which, in this assemblage, will no 
 
 stings 
 Behind them leave, for here I only friends 
 Behold; to them no fault belongs, no sting 
 
 extends. 
 Me the Great Spirit grants to know the men 
 Who deal in magic— this I say again— 
 Me the Great Spirit grants to speak theix 
 
 names, 
 And you commands to purge their guilt in 
 
 flames. 
 With his own hand the ancient prophet slew 
 False prophets at the book: I look to you. 
 As executioners of my will, as well herein 
 As in all cases where is quest of sin. 
 So did ye with the chief who crossed my path. 
 Base Leatherlips, who fell beneath your 
 
 wrath. 
 I, armed with this great power, name none 
 
 else now, 
 To-morrow I shall read on each man's brow 
 Praise written or condemnation; so die first 
 By sacred wounds, ere by my thunders cursed. 
 But die we shall not, that same power divine 
 Has granted me to cast that spell of mine. 
 Taught me by dusky angels of his throne, 
 Around the paleface. It is I alone 
 Possess it of his prophets. I will sing the 
 
 themes 
 Taught me by voices heard by me in dreams, 
 Voices of heavenly hosts above the stars. 
 Whilst you attack. The foe have thunder 
 
 cars. 
 Guns great and little: none shall hurt ye; 
 
 svpords 
 In their hands held shall melt before my 
 
 words; 
 And horses' hoofs shall harm ye not, repelled, 
 Made vain by me,by my enchantments spelled. 
 Did I not, when the Long Knife called me 
 
 fool, 
 Ask Manitou for power the sun to rule? 
 Did not I, when it pleased me, gloom bring 
 
 down 
 Upon the world; bid cloudless nqon to frown, 
 And universal nature wrap in black. 
 Grieved that your prophet due respect should 
 
 lack? 
 Ah, 1 can bring the moon down from her 
 
 sphere. 
 Or rain of stars, fraught with abundant fear. 
 But these great prodigies would forests burn 
 And kill my people; I their love would earn. 
 Wakan our northern allies mystery call, 
 Which o'er weak minds appears to cast a pall! 
 Mystery divine; oa me no mystery preys. 
 Light, speech and power from heaven attend 
 
 my ways. 
 Saw ye not, but to-aay, an eagle wheel 
 Sedate aloft, while smote the thunder's peal 
 All summits of the forest and the heights? 
 The storm not moved him, nor its dazzling 
 
 lights; 
 The sun, the cyclone, felt he neither, fear 
 Touched not his tawny bosom; nor does here, 
 Within my bosom, lurk of fear one trace; 
 I am this Eagle, I, in pride of place 
 Sail thus aloft o'er all the red men's Fires 
 That gleam in council wheresoe'er aspires 
 Our race to claim its rights; the Long Knife'c 
 
 power 
 In fort or battle dies with this good hour," 
 
And then a look repressive of a noise 
 Applausive gave he, and made signs to boys 
 Recumbent on the ground, his acolytes, 
 'Twixt him and lads who held the pitch-pine 
 
 lights. 
 Up from their place they sprang; the sacred 
 
 wand 
 One held, the other, with a gesture fond, 
 Held t' wards the chief the enchanted skin 
 
 tattooed. 
 Whereon the sun and moon, in figures rude, 
 And stars, gave token of its use divine. 
 And, in due order set, curve, point and line. 
 Or dark or light, of mystic lore made sign 
 And heaven's interpretation and design. 
 That stern and staid impressiveness, like a 
 
 mask. 
 Wore they, as did their chief, but still the 
 
 task 
 Was pleasant, 'twas important, a high grace 
 Held firm upon their comely faces' place; 
 Great grandson, one, of Wa-pa-tha, the same 
 Who 'neath Penn's treaty tree gained worthy 
 
 fame; 
 The other scion was of Georgia's child, 
 Le-moy-a-tun-gha, ever free and wild. 
 Not Ganymede, when stood he 'fore Jove's 
 
 throne, 
 Kapt bv the eagle on from zone to zone, 
 More radiant stood, with boyish honors 
 
 bright. 
 While Irom him beauteous Hebe in despite 
 Turned her vexed eyes, what time the angry 
 
 air 
 Of stately Juno showed her grim despair 
 That her own daughter should be thought of 
 
 worth 
 Less on Olympus than a son of earth. 
 Than Wa-pa^tha's descendant stood impressed 
 With every charm that ever boyhood blest. 
 Not Polycletus, e'en, nor Phidias' self. 
 More Ceauty placed in goddess, fawn or elf 
 Than showed their swart limbs where might 
 
 fail to lap 
 The rabbit- robe, or frolic show a gap. 
 Not more devoted are the chosen sons 
 Of noble Roman houses 'neath the guns 
 Of famed Saint Angelo's fort on festal days. 
 When all its pomp and beauty Romedisplays, 
 Nor on the chapel's floor in Holy Week, 
 Before the pontiff prostrate, mild and meek. 
 Than were those scions of that native stock 
 Which thus serenely faced the battle's shock. 
 Bore cunning leers enough their merry cheeks; 
 Indeed, within the last half dozen weeks. 
 Much pork had these same pious acolytes 
 
 killed, 
 With all a Nimrod's high ambition filled. 
 Where flocks domestic roved in many a wood. 
 And boasted bears had furnished forth the 
 
 food; 
 Perhaps some inkling theirs of Moses' law, 
 Or that in Blackstone they were not too raw 
 To learn that on tame beasts one may not 
 
 prey. 
 But only on those ferce naturcB. 
 
 The skin was of the far-sought wapiti. 
 
 The large red deer which feeds in pastures 
 
 tree 
 Beyond Missouri's gates, where mountains 
 
 rise 
 Whose rocks to skillfuUest hunters brmg 
 
 surprise; 
 And, once the skin's prepared, it e'er remains 
 A flexible pelt, though wet with myriad rains. 
 The WandT was iron-wood, tipped at either 
 
 ead 
 
 With gold refined, gold which the tribes 
 
 pretend 
 Comes from Peruvian mines, or missions 
 
 taught 
 Far in the West, with every wonder fraught. 
 The prophet took the enchanted wand, and 
 
 threw 
 Sands from far western mines, diverse in hue. 
 Upon the sign-wrought skin the boys upheld. 
 And in the sand traced with the wand, as 
 
 spelled. 
 Mysterious figures, hieroglyphs, designs. 
 Contrived to have much force with ignorant 
 
 minds; 
 Then, all intent, the fateful markings read 
 In words half said, half sung, then solemnly 
 
 said: 
 "The will of heaven is evident; the cause 
 Divine we fight for will not let us pause. 
 Not here to-night will I still further signs, 
 Well known, repeat; form ye your battle lines; 
 To-morrow will be need of prophecy none; 
 Ye shall the proof see with the rising sun. 
 Respond not oy the war whoop to my speech, 
 Let sacred silence reign, lest noise might 
 
 reach 
 As far as to the sentries the Long Knife 
 Has posted far towards our lines: the strife 
 Expired, then shall we have good cause 
 For joy, congratulation and applause." 
 
 He ended, and so fixed the habit was 
 Of rendering answer as a warrior does 
 That went to hundred lips a hundred hands 
 To form the challenge, but his warlike bands 
 Th' heroic chief kept awed by strict control. 
 And gave the example of his lofty soul. 
 
 III. 
 THE WAR CHIEFS. 
 
 The war chiefs then withdrew to council, 
 
 proud 
 That unto them was duty such allowed, 
 The rules to fix, the measure of delay, 
 And methods best of mingling in the fray. 
 And when, combined, should launch their 
 
 warlike force 
 All 'gainst the encampment; they must fix 
 
 the course 
 Each band should take, what chieftain each 
 
 should lead, . 
 What countersign, what signals, all should 
 
 heed. 
 The front, rear, center, spaces and reserves. 
 The approach direct or on the flanks in curves. 
 What with the wounded must be done and 
 
 dead 
 No thought they gave, so ruled their Prophet 
 
 dread. 
 
 Around they passed the sacred calumet, 
 Which tribes unite in friendly council met. 
 Which warlike leagues confirm 'mongst 
 
 allies sworn. 
 Here heralding peace, and there denouncing 
 
 scorn. 
 
 And 'mongst the chieftains was of pomp no 
 
 lack. 
 There were White Loon, Stone-Eater, Win- 
 
 nemac. 
 Chiefs of renown; they were the leaders tried 
 Who, in the field would guide the battle's 
 
 tide. 
 
 Not few the auxiliaries were the Shawnees 
 
 had. 
 With various arms, in various costumes, clad. 
 
6 
 
 There Sacs were.Kickapoahs, Ottawas, 
 Pottawatamies, Chippewas bred to wars, 
 And Winnebagoes, Wyandots, Miamis. 
 And under chiefs of no mean grade were these. 
 The lofty Shawnee warrior, orator, chief, 
 Tecumseh would my lines have lent relief 
 Had he been present, but the absent brave 
 Sought with rash counsels the lost cause to 
 
 save. 
 And distant, midst the Southern groves of 
 
 pine, 
 Urged tribes remote to join his battle line. 
 'Mongsc the Sac warriors were Tepankee, 
 
 grim, 
 AndUnondaki; what was hoped of him 
 Comes from his name. Destroy Town; and 
 
 were sent. 
 That might the Sacs his name well supple- 
 ment, 
 With these, Sag-wa-na-te-kwish-u (a name 
 Which means,' if here a' trope may privilege 
 
 claim. 
 In our own plain United States, unfurled, 
 The-Thunder-that-is-heard-around-the-world, 
 And Ha-hah-kus-ka, the White Elk; and 
 
 came 
 From Kickapoan lodges braves of fame 
 Wide-flaming; there Bout^sa-ca-ho-ka was. 
 The Wolf, and Paca Kinqua; and uprose. 
 For war vehement, Ottawau names: 
 Tho-wo-na-wa, amongst them, was in flames 
 For instant battle; and the mighty bulk 
 Of Tauplnibeh's slowly sailing hulk 
 Launched war by Pottawataman zeal; and 
 
 led 
 Onoxa's plumes this festival of the dead. 
 The Chippewau bands claimed Waubanoosa 
 
 tall 
 And Shamanetoo haughty ('twould appall 
 Ears pious to know this God Almighty 
 
 means. 
 But blasphemy's the homage given by 
 
 fiends); 
 And, too, the Devil Standing (name profane) 
 Mlntongaboit; and in red war's train 
 Strode the old warrior Wassachum — affrights 
 His rendered name: 'tis First-to-start-the- 
 
 Whites— 
 The Winnebagoan hero. Sent the Wyandots 
 Tyanumka, Terhataw, Tarhe; lots 
 Cast late by valiant hands Miamian brought, 
 Him whom prompt victory crowned, where'er 
 
 he fought, 
 Masiiepesheewingqua, or Tiger's Face, 
 Into the lists; and Cantanquar; a grace 
 This aboriginal prince our beadroU lends: 
 His name's the Sky; much glory therewith 
 
 blends. 
 He claimed, like Wattawamat, that the levin 
 His father was, which, from a stormy heaven 
 Crashed on an oak tree, on a mountain's 
 
 height, 
 Amidst the appalling darkness of the niglit, 
 And from the riven oak the hero sprang 
 All at a bound, while fierce his weapoiSs rang. 
 
 In ermine wrapped, with treaties' transcripts 
 
 rolled, 
 Safe in some woodland sanctuary old. 
 Some grotto whereto comes no restless wind, 
 And nature's to the hidden treasure kind, 
 With chiefs Wyandot, had been given in 
 
 guard 
 The Great Belt of the Union, that not marred 
 Upon it might be one sole hieroglyph. 
 One bead, one course of wampum, for belief 
 In this their symbol had a sacred hold 
 Upon their consciences, it was their flag, 
 
 each fold 
 
 Of which of ancient lineage spoke and dates 
 
 remote: 
 But vain with them as with the Epirote 
 Were his loved symbols, when the hosts of 
 
 Rome 
 Whelmed in"disaster banner, host and home. 
 Two braves had sought concealment in the 
 
 camp; 
 The crime the same that gave Ulysses stamp 
 Of strategy and valor. None deny 
 This to a Greek; but, to a red man, spy 
 Would be the weakest word our tongnes 
 
 could use, 
 Unchivalrous, thus, the fallen .to abuse; 
 Their Trojan horse a clump of alders mie d 
 With pawpaw bushes and the sniceo od; 
 
 fixed 
 Their backs against a lin'n and beach, two 
 
 trees 
 Whose shadow aided them; they were Shaw- 
 
 nees: 
 One Larshapahe was, the Tranquil Chief, 
 The other Tamenatha, Arrow-Sheaf. 
 Sour greeting they with honeyed greeting met. 
 Said they were guests of their white brethren, 
 
 yet 
 A grave surmise the General had that here 
 His Brutus was and Cassius, and severe 
 His countenance was; his horse they had 
 
 observed. 
 The General's height and size, they sure 
 
 deserved 
 Snort shrift, a rope or guns, but times of 
 
 truce 
 Counseled the affair be treated as a ruse 
 Unpunished, and the humbled brave allowed 
 To seek their own camp with vexation bowed. 
 
 And braves were there from many a western 
 
 vale, 
 From many a mount, and many a charming 
 
 dale, 
 From tracks Canadian, where a mighty king 
 Sought on defenseless homesteads -war to 
 
 bring; 
 From Salute Marie and shores Chequamegan; 
 From where, o'er mines Gogebic, deer herds 
 
 ran; 
 From Pepin's Lake and Straits of Macinac, 
 And where the Chippewau hears his foes 
 
 Haha.» 
 There were they met upon the forest's verge. 
 Met what they claimed their God-given rights 
 
 to urge. 
 Met to contest the mastery of a world. 
 Think what high torce on Harrison's camp 
 
 was hurled! 
 Think how, sublime, with heavenly armor 
 
 dight 
 And weapon earthly, they had sought the 
 
 fight! 
 Ah, why begrudge this spray of asphodel 
 Planted upon their graves? They sufl'ering 
 
 fell 
 For what they deemed their sacred rights, not 
 
 less 
 Were sainted heroes ancient songs caress 
 Sincere in all the battles where they bled. 
 For these to native land were dearly wed. 
 An ancestry was theirs of no far strand, 
 Yet them invaded pilgrim band on band. 
 And soon the invaders' masters were, and 
 
 heaven 
 Seemed upon them to pour but limpid levin. 
 
 *The Falls of Minnehaha, within the territory 
 of the Dacotahs or Sioux, the hereditary eaemlea 
 of the Chippewas, and near the boundary line, the 
 Mississippi River. 
 
Suppose they did not use the soil, that waste 
 Laid tracts primeval whereon beasts were 
 
 chased ? 
 May I not with my own do what I will 
 May I not nature love, each tree and rill? 
 May I not have of lengthening leagues a lawn. 
 And pasture there the bison, bear and fawn? 
 
 And when I praise the warrior, I praise not 
 Wild license, rapine, lawless scheme and plot. 
 May poet none Columbia claims as bard 
 Mourn States controlled by power's Pretorlan 
 
 Guard, 
 But may free, un bought voter, free, noble 
 
 speech. 
 Be the rich heritage of all and each! 
 What is our civilization? Is't that scope 
 For malice may be given to murderers, Swope 
 And Goodloe? Or that hot Kincaid may find 
 In Taulbee's blood help for his anger blind? 
 
 AH whites these were of station high and tone 
 Exalted, yet the first sad pair must own 
 They carried each for each the gun and knife 
 Nor place nor time was heeded; and the strife 
 Came, with the last pair, while our statesmen 
 
 laws 
 Were framing in the Capitol, and the cause 
 Of Christian civilization in its home 
 The insult felt, beneath Columbia's dome. 
 
 Used to the horse the Indian is, the lance 
 Is his to use, with trappings of romance. 
 But suffered not the marsh, the night, the 
 
 trees. 
 This friend of man his battle-rage to ease. 
 And corralled stood the neighing chargers, 
 
 drawn 
 Forth from the lines, until the day should 
 
 dawn 
 With joyful tidings to be sent with speed. 
 Or grievous dole which no dispatch would 
 
 need; 
 And ordered were their riders in reserve 
 To aid the line should e'er the footmen 
 
 swerve. 
 
 Few in that throng of fighting men lacked 
 
 dl*6SS 
 
 The season mild made them content with 
 
 Than claims the rigorous winter, but parade 
 Of taste and acquisitions many made 
 Fastidious, and the occasion gave them cause 
 liong in their savage toilets to make pause. 
 •Stripped to the waist were many, breast, 
 
 arms, nude, , . ^ j 
 
 And painted thick with horrid pigments rude, 
 While on their backs and sides were spaces 
 
 strewed 
 With guns, bows, horses, arrows, there tat- 
 tooed. 
 All o'er the warlike cheeks and necks was 
 
 spread 
 A background of vermilion's brilliant red. 
 And stripes alternate, sepia, yellow, green. 
 To aid their barbarous guise, thereon were 
 
 The hunting shirt of doeskin, leggjns oft, 
 And moccasins frequent, of the buckskin 
 
 soft, ^, 
 
 Blankets some wore, and some the savage 
 
 hide , ^, J! J. 
 
 Stripped from some denizen of the forest 
 
 wide, . . 
 
 Or roamer of the endless prairie's range; 
 And, in costume exceeding weird and strange, 
 Some helmets wore of the red fox, and xree 
 The pelt fell o'er the shoulders to the knee. 
 
 Or yellow wolf -skin, drawn on as a hood, 
 As if within a beast a hero stood. 
 So Aventinus, friend of Turuus, came 
 Tricked to the war (that war Ansonia's fame 
 Fixed changelessly) in shaggy vesture dread 
 A panther's full pelt furnished; o'er his head 
 The panther's face rose horrible, and shone 
 The white teeth of the beast above his own; 
 More hideous gear than Roland wore, or 
 
 masks 
 By white-capped white men worn, when law- 
 less tasks 
 Employ them 'gainst their neighbors, and the 
 
 night 
 Is soiled with civilized crime against the right. 
 Of trinkets, rings, chains, amulets, some were 
 
 seen; 
 The exquisite) or wild, or cultured, glean 
 Will from the fertile fields of fashion brass, 
 Gold, silver, copper, chalcedony, glass; 
 And medals graced at time a lordly breast, 
 Some sacred, secular some, and worn to attest 
 Regard for him that gave them, king or 
 
 priest. 
 Great father, trader, sachem, west or east. 
 The tomahawk, the rifle for the strife, 
 Some had, and hung and belted was the knife; 
 But others, wanting rifles, war clubs held. 
 Whereby was many a doughty f oeman felled. 
 The bow and arrow found their famed ex- 
 perts, 
 Skilled to inflict with these arms mortal 
 
 hurts. 
 Most richly were the three great chieftains 
 
 dressed, 
 As of control supreme in right possessed; 
 Therein priority was given them, since 
 Costume must always indicate the jirince. 
 Shirt, leggins, moccasins fine, with beads 
 
 were trimmed 
 Of larger size, with ruddier tintage; rimmed 
 All the edges were with brilliant red; and 
 
 flashed 
 Pistols and dirks from leather belts, while 
 
 sashed 
 Superbly were these chieftains, nor denied 
 Each one the polished rifle at his side. 
 Their tomahawks with new-given sharpness 
 
 shone. 
 Glistened their medals large, full weird the 
 
 tone 
 The little silver bells gave forth, which hung 
 One following each gray eagle feathers strung 
 Along the beaded leggins, snugly dight 
 With thongs of wolf-skin for this flnal fight. 
 Knives round their necks in scabbards hung 
 of hide, . , J 
 
 Wherein their wives or daughters loved had 
 
 vied 
 Effect to give with hedgehog quills and beads 
 And tinted glasses meet for bloody deeds. 
 Full-feathered were they, beautifully gay: 
 Upon their heads the eagle's honors play; 
 Each round red dot upon the feathers dread 
 Worn by a warrioj means an enemy dead, 
 Or man or woman, means a herald sent 
 Before to the Valhalla, with intent 
 That there the record may be kept as here. 
 Grim rubric read of strife and force and fear! 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE GEOTTO. 
 
 Stood forth the face of rock in rugged lines. 
 Whereon from trees above came clustering 
 
 Grape-loaded in their season, mixed with hues 
 That come from tribute given of early dews. 
 
8 
 
 The varied glow May brings, and mosses, 
 
 ferns 
 And simple flowers the year advancing earns. 
 Such was the grotto's lace when nature 
 
 smiled, 
 A pleasina; nook, and ne'er severely wild. 
 The praise of Daphnis Roman' sheoherds 
 
 sung. 
 In their Sicilian grotto, from the tongue 
 Of loyalty came never freer forth 
 Than hence in vain came praise of prostrate 
 
 worth. 
 
 Thither, when closed the hearing, and began 
 The chiefs to counsel o'er their battle-plan. 
 Went forth the Prophet and his nieces twain. 
 Their chosen place of rendezvous to gain. 
 Their devious, dim and secret way to wend. 
 While threatened mists the starlight's reign 
 
 to end. 
 Westward It was from where the encampment 
 
 slept. 
 Or feigned to sleep, so near that if but stept 
 A sentry's foot oiT twig or bark that cracked, 
 The noise was easily by the hearing tracked. 
 Across a flat and marshy space the view 
 Took in the encampment's point, the red, 
 
 white, blue. 
 And all the numerous fires that lit the skies 
 To render warmth and guard against sur- 
 prise. 
 
 The grotto was not lofty; rose a bluff 
 
 Not steep, and half way up its face, enough 
 
 Had nature excavated of a space 
 
 To make a niche or cozy tarrying-place, 
 
 A niche made broad where might sit three or 
 
 four 
 And, sheltered, hear winds roar, see torrents 
 
 pour. 
 The floor was highly pitched against the 
 
 back, 
 In front it had enough of level's lack 
 To make it quite convenient as a seat. 
 Whence forward fell the rested sitter's feet. 
 Thither has shaggy bison robes been brought 
 By menials apt, zealous to think of aught 
 That should be done, and mantles soft of 
 
 mink 
 Invited tired limbs therein to sink. 
 
 Not unknown to the nieces was this cave. 
 Oft they it trusted their fatigues to save; 
 Distant not far from the imperial seat. 
 For strolling friends or lovers a retreat. 
 Oft thither they had walked, and there had sat 
 To pass the pleasant time injpleasant chat, 
 Or rest within its grateful, cool recess, ^ 
 Their subjects such as many a vrhite princess 
 Has often interested, gossip, dress. 
 Ambitions which all women alike possess, 
 The latest hunting party, or the dance. 
 Or some toray, deteat, retreat, advance. 
 War none the less had interest for these 
 
 dames 
 Than for our veterans, or their wives, or 
 
 flames. 
 Modest they vyere and graceful; Indian lore 
 Of heroes of this race has precious store; 
 Prized women, too, were theirs,' and peerless 
 
 those 
 Whose fame now haunts our verse, and 
 
 therein grows. 
 They Tawala and Tawalara were, 
 Descendant one of Puc-ke-che-no, fair 
 Historic name in Georgia's legends wrought; 
 The other child of Chee-see-ah-qua; sought 
 In all ill fates Tecumseh him, until 
 Death's bolt him sent a hero's grave to fill. 
 
 Mothers they lost in earlier years, reclined 
 Their hopes upon their uncle's manners kind; 
 The youngest, Chee-see-ah-qua's child, more 
 
 care 
 He seemed to give, but loved alike the pair. 
 There sat the three within the grotto's 
 
 The middle place the Prophet's, and arrayed 
 On either side the maidens were, and placed 
 So that Tawala his good right hand graced. 
 Clad simply in a robe of beaver pelts 
 The Prophet was, beneath y.-hich little else 
 Marked his costume than the accustomed 
 
 guise 
 Of tunic, leggins held by feathered ties, 
 And moccasins beaded; on his head he wore 
 A turban of rich stuffs, velvet and satin, gore 
 By gore, a present from a captain high 
 Canadian, who it sent with words to imply 
 That he should wear it as a king his crown. 
 So were his courteous compliments written 
 
 down. 
 Rose from the midst an eagle feather broad, 
 That thereby more might be the observer 
 
 awed. 
 Hung from his neck his medals wide, three, 
 
 four, 
 Perhaps the beaver robe hid several more. 
 No wand of sovereignty he held, or mace. 
 Or staff; into his hands with dainty grace 
 ■Tawala placed his pipe, an heirloom come 
 From times ancestral, and her little thumb 
 Charged it with fragrant sumach, and by 
 
 dint 
 Of catching sparks on punk 'twixt steel and 
 
 flint, 
 Put fire upon the charge; but yet he held 
 The pige not to his lips, but sat as spelled. 
 And quietly by him sat each lovely aid, 
 Content to rest; since early morn had weighed 
 Upon their minds the public business; haste 
 Had given them scarce of rest a moment's 
 
 taste; 
 And now a vigil long before them rose. 
 Cut off from friends, in face of powerful foes. 
 Dressed were they with unusual height of 
 
 care; 
 Their uncle dreaded for them the night air, 
 And hints had given jupons to wear and 
 
 skirts 
 Such as might save them from the .season's 
 
 hurts. 
 The softest fawnskins fitted to their forms. 
 And all that paraphernalia that protects and 
 
 warms. 
 Short were their dresses both, but leggins 
 
 meet 
 Gave them continuations to their feet; 
 To walk, to romp, to mount the pony's back. 
 Required their dresses length should some- 
 what lack. I 
 A neat embroidery fair of beaded work 
 Leggins and moccasins had, nor failed to lurk 
 Within the needlework hints of Indian lays. 
 Which moonlight sung and birds and flowers 
 
 and fays. 
 A scarlet vest the younger wore, there wound 
 Three onyx buttonrows sent from Puget's 
 
 Sound. 
 Earrings were theirs, and necklaces, of gold; 
 Bracelets on wrist and upper arm; a fold 
 Superb of beaded wampum made the belt 
 Envy thereof by all maids might be felt; 
 Would reach each string thereof a length 
 Might well of envy's rage excite the strength. 
 And unto other Indian maidens show, 
 As does among white dames the diamonds 
 
 glow 
 
9 
 
 A disposition costly things to wear, 
 
 With father, uncle, spouse, the expense to 
 
 bear. 
 The elder cousin's costume sympathy knew 
 With something told a crisis onward drew. 
 She wore, this night, a cross of silver given 
 By a black gown, who gesture made to 
 
 heaven; 
 A benediction bore the cross, laid on 
 By lofty hands Italian; she was drawn, 
 In deep, long musings to recall the time 
 And those glad Easter bells with chime on 
 
 chime. 
 This sj'mbol of an alien faith she pressed 
 Often upon the throbbings of her breast. 
 And high prayers muttered, with her eyes up- 
 
 tiirued. 
 From priest, interpiieter or prophet learned. 
 For ribbons had the elder girl slight care. 
 But England's present showed the younger's 
 
 hair. 
 Far down her back her glossy tresses flowed. 
 And through the waves bright knots of color 
 
 glowed. ' 
 
 Else headgear none was theirs, except a 
 
 plume 
 Of snow-white swan's down fastened by a 
 
 comb 
 Of tortoise-shell danced Tawalara o'er. 
 And one rich ornament her cousin wore. 
 A flexible coronet of gold held bound 
 The abundant hair her comely temples round. 
 The abundant hair whose rippling waves 
 
 deserved 
 To be the Crown's betwixt and Leo's lights 
 
 observed. 
 Drousset's young gift, a souvenir of the dance. 
 It had adorned the unfortunate Queen of 
 
 France, 
 To history known by Rohan's necklace given. 
 Fair Antoinette, by murder sent to heaven. 
 A cedar spray the elder maiden held; 
 Placed midst the feast it gives delight, and 
 
 quelled 
 Are evil spirits when 'tis burned, by rise 
 Of its sweet incense upward to the skies. 
 A cloak the youngest wore with ermine 
 
 fringed 
 And made of tails of foxes purple tinged; 
 A turkey-feather fan within her lap 
 Hung from her belt, thereby held from mis- 
 hap. 
 The elder cousin boasted ermine full, 
 WJiereof the white flecks shone like whitest 
 
 wool. 
 
 With all, far, near, they general favorites 
 
 S66IU6Q 
 
 It had been noted Harrison them esteemed, 
 And had at Fort Vincennes them presents 
 
 made , . , , ^ , 
 
 Which them it pleased at high feasts to 
 
 r\fft T*ll n^ 
 
 Not only were they social stars, but well 
 At home they stood, nor on them censure fell 
 That they reserved their pretty, taking airs 
 For company, and, outside of that, were bears. 
 
 The ladies of the fort had given them gay 
 Things pranked with lace and things to make 
 
 crochet. _ , . , ^ 
 
 These looked they on with female smirks ot 
 
 grace, 
 But laid them by in one or other place; 
 Not consonant were these things with their 
 
 staid ways, , , , 
 
 Nor fell they into this and that dress craze; 
 And deemed they angular these ladies fair. 
 
 Nor liked their shades of eyes and face and 
 
 hair. 
 And when these fair ones came into their 
 
 dreams 
 They ne'er forgot their effeminate little 
 
 screams. 
 Demure they were, these maidens of the wild. 
 With looks, of course, constrained, and seldom 
 
 smiled. 
 I do not speak of spikenard and ginseng, 
 Of sassafras bark and slippery elm, the bang. 
 And other similar frivolous things the sex 
 The gallant verse to pass unnamed expects; 
 But know I well that many a pale-faced maid 
 Helps the petroleum and the tolu trade. 
 
 These princesses claimed half a globe to own, 
 And yet the imagination sees them thrown 
 All day 'mongst dirty pelts or forest leaves. 
 And sad neglect which every housewife 
 
 grieves: 
 Domestic lives they led serene, and care 
 Their cabin showed, 'twas not a lynx's lair. 
 Not Muses e'er upon Olympus' slopes 
 By whatsoever poet sung, in tropes 
 All musical and resonant, e'er were seen 
 To dip their radiant limbs in Hippocrene 
 With more of grace, with more of modesty, 
 
 clad 
 Than were these natives of the woodland, 
 
 glad 
 To seek in Tippikanau's waves delight. 
 And take the place of Naiads turned to flight. 
 
 Much they discoursed, much hath the legend 
 
 lost, 
 Hope, joy were with them at the first, but 
 
 tost 
 At last were they upon a troubled sea. 
 An angry flood, and nowhere seen the lea. 
 Dread came as waned the murky, lingering 
 
 night. 
 Then hurtling horror's clang, and trembling 
 
 fright; 
 As heard they cries of pain, despair and death 
 To breathe they scarcely dared, or think of 
 
 breath. 
 
 The Prophet, when a boy, the chief had 
 
 seen 
 Of chiefs, great Washington; and with his 
 
 keen. 
 Swift glance, that son renowned of Gaul 
 
 adored. 
 The hero of two worlds, he whose true sword 
 Flashed radiance far o'er fields historic red 
 With patriot blood on Freedom's altar shed. 
 Of these he talked; of these and Shawnees 
 
 famed. 
 Much Madison he, the ruling Father, blamed: 
 "The paleface thinks no longer comes a war; 
 Bookmen and lawyers now rule nations— awe 
 Will rule their souls when rise the native 
 
 bands. 
 And, midst red slaughter, seize our plundered 
 
 1 finds ' ' 
 His nieces, too, while h? his pipe enjoyed; 
 With all the misty future's happenings toyed, 
 Their e;ames, pranks, journeyings and ex- 
 change of gifts. 
 As struggled clouds in heavy, thickening 
 
 rifts, ,, , ^ J.. 
 
 "Ah, uncle," said the younger, "what a time 
 We'll h ive at the Four Lakes! And when we 
 
 climb ^ _ ^ , 
 
 The rocks at Mackinac! Or Pictured Portals 
 
 On them in vain big storms their angers 
 wreak! 
 
10 
 
 Then the Dacotahs, too, their Thousand Lakes 
 May us invite to visit, there vehere breaks 
 The Father of Waters into cascades fair, 
 Which fill with rainbows all the brilliant air! 
 I well remember now that pretty song, 
 Which once relieved a tedious Journey long. 
 Trilled by a maid from Waves Sky Tinted; so 
 Upon the moonlight from her lips 'twould 
 flow: 
 
 I will be the belle of Minnehaha! 
 
 I will be the belle of Minnetonka! 
 
 L,bt me sail upon thy waves, White Bear! 
 
 Let me breathe thine Island's sacred air! 
 
 Dance and music, ye are joys divine! 
 
 Friends and summer, be ye always mine! 
 
 In musings died away the charming voice. 
 Musings were times which were to her of 
 
 choice. 
 The seer smoked on, his thoughts were with 
 
 the past 
 And future; rolls a ship without a mast; 
 The silver cover fastened with a click 
 To hold another charge of killikinick; 
 Tobacco oft sent him a Southern friend. 
 But lest it might his niece's nerves offend. 
 He seldom used it; he that would be great 
 Must yield at times in small things sans de- 
 bate. 
 
 And then the elder cousin sighed, and said. 
 The while she held impatiently her head, 
 And patted restlessly upon the floor. 
 And glanced upon the Sombre Open Door: 
 "This afternoon, as I my usual stroll 
 Took, past where waves on our loved islands 
 
 roll, 
 With me Cakimi sent her restless boys; 
 What pleased me wearied her, their ceaseless 
 
 noise; 
 No quail, no squirrel, their quick eyes escaped. 
 Nor towering tree with hanging grapevines 
 
 draped. 
 Above a patch of flowering water-flag, 
 A kingfisher I saw all easily drag 
 From their sweet circuits tawny butterflies. 
 Herein, O uncle, is it danger lies 
 And threatening to our cause!" Or may it be 
 The flies are they, the happy birds are we?" 
 
 THE WAR SONG. 
 
 "Hist! do I hear the charge? . . . No! Wait! 
 The time has not yet come to unlock our 
 
 hate; 
 Yes, 'twas but some sly fox or wolf, which 
 
 draws 
 The enemy's line of fire-heaps, or has cause 
 In some wild wings above us changing skies. 
 Or could it be from heaven some meteor flies. 
 Or comet madly whirling in its sphere? 
 Ah, crazed am I with joy and racked with 
 
 fear. 
 
 At this high moment, and sustained by hope 
 That now at last we with the paleface cope. 
 Go on." "Yes, uncle; know you, ran my mind 
 On Uncle Tecumseh, ever good and kind? 
 A glorious day it was when he returned 
 From a long tour whence he had honor 
 
 earned, 
 Plumed forth for war, as you remember well. 
 And we closed round to hear what he would 
 
 tell; 
 And, first, before him set the wild rice, fish, 
 And tempting things delicious dish on dish. 
 
 And buffalo marrow, and rich pemican. 
 And we, sure, deemed him rather God than 
 
 man." 
 "Yes, .child," the Prophet kindled at her 
 
 speech, 
 "Tecumseh's merits had the loftiest reach. 
 You know De Chouset said, the interpreter. 
 He who the Long Knives said could never err. 
 He had no easy task to follow forth 
 Things full of force and philosophical worth. 
 And lofty flights of eloquence divine. 
 And golden truths f rora every gleaming mine, 
 Tecumseh's mouth would utter; deep and 
 
 wide 
 The interpreter's learning was, but like the 
 
 tide 
 The Father of Waters sends when deep snows 
 
 melt. 
 Were forceful words Tecumseh's, treasured, 
 
 felt. 
 As should be words of those the heavens 
 
 endow. 
 Ah, this is sweet, my darlings, victory now. 
 While speaks Tecumseh in Tulaura's groves, 
 (I sometimes think of men as beasts in droves). 
 He, by my couriers, will the victory learn, 
 And we proud wreaths illustrious here shall 
 
 earn. 
 Ah, Tawalara, you will flnd it true. 
 What I have preached, that in the beginning 
 
 grew 
 All Indian tribes from ours; for ages knew. 
 In his unbounded ken all nature through. 
 The Great Spirit only the Shawnees; his brain 
 Their ancestor produced, of Godlike strain; 
 From him we are all descended; gavS to birth 
 The French and English, following us in 
 
 worth. 
 The breast of Manitou; while from his feet 
 The German race came forth, as seemed most 
 
 meet. 
 The Master of Life is with us at this hour; 
 He will, this night, display his sovereign 
 
 power. 
 To-night the Union is established; here 
 Shall meet it.i parliament, called from far and 
 
 near; 
 Here shall the center be of all debates. 
 Hence shall go forth laws unto all our States. 
 Here we will found an empire fixed and free; 
 Here Shall Tecumseh rule, sustained by me; 
 The white race, with their fripperies and 
 
 their smirks. 
 Smiles ^acious, wherein rueful danger lurks. 
 Shall, like the white waves, rocks impending 
 
 spurn, 
 Dash into spray, and not like waves return. 
 Back, back, beyond the memory of old chiefs, 
 Or old tradition, rests our title; griefs 
 
 Wrongs, murders, lies, all have not quenched 
 
 our love 
 For this dear land; the reigning stars above, 
 Kehaukee, Pauwan, Talauree, declare 
 The crisis come, the dawn's deliverence hear. 
 Yes, stars in which our foes affirm their faith, 
 And then deny; a God with them's a wraith. 
 And what a race of hypocrites they are! 
 They have their days for groaning, and they 
 
 mar 
 E'en these with silly laughter and gay routs; 
 They have their days for laughter, wherein 
 
 spouts 
 Blood from the veins of furious rioters, dazed 
 With long-drawn games, and all confused and 
 
 crazed 
 With fire-water, which they drink and drink 
 Till ceases heart to feel or mind to think. 
 
11 
 
 3orrupting, horrible, debasing vicel 
 
 To drag us there's their faTorito, deep device. 
 
 Ihey preach the things we need no preaching 
 
 for; 
 They practice what they please; an open door 
 Is ever ready for the approaching lie. 
 One o£ their Black Gowns heard I, who could 
 
 vie, 
 Whene'er to his red children he would 
 
 preach, 
 E'en with Tecumseh in felicitous speech, 
 Open the book he carries, written in heaven. 
 And show the dangerous fire-water should be 
 
 driven 
 Forth from the world; he had his secret flask. 
 And, in tlie same discourse he said: "Each 
 
 mask 
 Ye give the soul discard; 'tis plainly shown 
 Herein ye should not laugh, nor dance, nor 
 
 groan; 
 Reverent, not joyful, thoughtful be, not sad; 
 An ancient king said, 'Laughter and mirth 
 
 are mad 
 And sorrow vain;' he heard his friend was 
 
 dead 
 And shook the forest with his moanings dread. 
 Him gave I from my herd my finest horse: 
 He let the reigns of merriment have their 
 
 course." 
 
 Hurled from his coveted heights imperial 
 
 down 
 To bear the red man's contumely, the frown 
 Of chiefs fed full with envy, aud their lies. 
 Sowed broadcast, and his suffering people's 
 
 cries, . 
 He's not the first whom black ambition's lure 
 Led to betray a. cause past hope of cure; 
 He's not the first whom mad vainglory drove 
 To try the thunderbolts of jealous Jove; 
 He's not alone 'mongst leaders of the church 
 Who saintly purity with statecraft smirch; 
 Judge him just as he was, a spiritual lord. 
 With crozier armed, and miter, crown and 
 
 sword. 
 
 Xow ceased the talk, nor cast down nor en- 
 thused 
 The Prophet sat, and o'er this idea mused: 
 The idea that whatever man may feel, 
 He should the emotion steadfastly conceal. 
 This idea governed all the tribes, east, west, 
 North, south; on all their minds 'twas 
 
 pressed. , ,, , 
 
 "Ye all," the God Hay-o-kah said, "should 
 
 Calmlives, like mine, lives undemonstrative," 
 
 The Apollo he, who from the earliest days, 
 
 Wore midst the Muses aboriginal bays. 
 
 A dispensation 'twas of gracious Fate- 
 
 They felt no rising of delight elate 
 
 At sight of this fair land around them spread. 
 
 They felt no sorrow when their hopes were 
 
 dead, . * ,i 
 
 At least they gave expression none to all; 
 Each thwarted joy, nor would be sorrow s 
 
 thrall. , , . , ^, t,i 
 
 Somewhat alike to this is the high thought, 
 With old. romance and antique feeling 
 
 fraught. 
 Whereon is based the finest art of Greece 
 (And shall in this her rulership ever cease?) 
 The thought which gives their Gods a high 
 
 repose. 
 No Grecian God emotion's traces shows. 
 No Grecian God is thus made Fortune s toy, 
 Nor chain confesses of or grief or joy. 
 Thus is the aboriginal native free. 
 The highest type is his of liberty. 
 
 Free as the Gods, thus his ideal high 
 Mounts radiant planes, e'en climbs Olympui' 
 
 sky. 
 Emotion? Yes, the fire is burning there, 
 But unacknowledged; when a Hecla's glare 
 Lights the horizon^ then, in sullen wrath. 
 Volcanic fires assail the white man's path. 
 And now the elder princess, pondering still 
 Ancestral state, of silence broke the thrill: 
 "Rich hues shall have our totem!" For no 
 
 ears 
 By mighty families old, recalling scars 
 In strifes JEnean with the Rutuli, ' 
 Or later, gained with Nelson on the sea, 
 Or given by infidels rash in some crusade, 
 Godfrey or Cceur de Lion famous made. 
 With feeling greater or more lofty 's viewed 
 Than by these red men were the legends rude 
 That held them to the past. "Ah, t'will be 
 
 sweet 
 To see you, uncle, every honor meetl" 
 Ah, dear, dear girl, the sapphire-crested 
 
 throne. 
 The diamond crown, are not for thee to own. 
 But meet thy jubilant hopes sat muttering 
 
 Fates, 
 And bark Defeat sits at thy future's gates! 
 
 Then in a voice caressing, low and mild, 
 The Prophet spoke: "Ah, list to me, dear 
 
 child, 
 You women spoil the prophets; through the 
 
 town 
 You sing their ceaseless praises up and down, 
 Until mere tyrants they become, and prone 
 To say and do things better let alone. 
 Hereafter I would hear but just the truth. 
 This I expect from you not lacking youth; 
 Yes, let detestable flattery come from men 
 Uncandid, and from tottering dames, and 
 
 when 
 This bitter war is over, praise me not. 
 Praise I eschew, 'tis oft so overwrought. 
 Let us now think of all the risks of war. 
 Wounds, stress, resistance, watchings, strag- 
 glings sore. 
 For my part, were I wounded, death outright 
 Would be my prayer, or else a wound that's 
 
 slight. 
 A slight wound honor brings, renown and 
 
 frienris, 
 A wound severe to lingering tortures tends." 
 "But, uncle, you assured them none should 
 
 die; 
 Then your philosophy will scarce apply." 
 "Yes, so t did, the heavens have so declared. 
 But that Long Knife who leads our foes has 
 
 marred. 
 Perhaps, Ijy magic, all my sovereign plans. 
 Putting the right beneath his wrongful bans, 
 This to correct, to disenchant my men. 
 Soon as the signal's seen, sounds in the glen 
 That song I practiced oft on Georgian streams 
 And in that fair Ohio's vale where gleams 
 The Auglaize, that bright and rippling river, 
 
 near -nr i. ^ 
 
 Where leaps, a fountain there, the Wabash 
 
 here, . 
 
 And on the heights we oft have climbed, we 
 
 Our Cedar Cliff, romantic, wild and free. 
 Oft Taupinibeh, Pottavrataman King, 
 In speech profound, but e'er untaught to sing, 
 The ruler of this realm and other realms. 
 Whom justly every earthly honor whelms, 
 He whom De Chouset called Latinus, oft 
 Nodding to me as to .aSneas, soft 
 Flattery, too. my brother giving, when 
 Him he declared Achilles chief of men; 
 
12 
 
 Oft TaUDinibeh would his peace-pipe take, 
 Brought' from the Red-stone Quarry by the 
 
 Lake,* 
 A source that gives its color to the flood 
 That northward pours its foaming gouts of 
 
 blood, 
 A souvenir of the time he tarried there 
 As umpire of debates that taxed his care, 
 And me another give Dacotahs sent 
 In kind return for hospitality lent, 
 And say 'Come prophet-king, dismiss delay. 
 Enough has been our waiting, let's survey 
 Prom heights Janiculan ('twas De Chouset's 
 
 word) 
 The maze of valley, forest, prairie, bird. 
 
 Star, cloud and sunshine that proud height 
 
 afiEords, 
 O'er lands where a new Troy shall claim us 
 
 lords.' " 
 
 The words scarce spoken were, the signal 
 
 came, 
 A brand whirled circling, spitting sparks of 
 
 flame. 
 As from the monks of Irenarion's shrine 
 Who, sleepless, sung the unceasing chant di- 
 vine. 
 So rolled upon the night that voice which erst 
 Had made its owner honored as the first. 
 The best, of his tribe's orators; alas. 
 That honors must be lost, and praises pass 
 Far forth to others! Rolled the song and grew 
 Full and more full, nor trace of weakness 
 knew: 
 
 Strike, brethren, strike! Strike, braves! 
 
 Strike, strike, with anger warm! 
 Drive, drive your foes as waves 
 
 Drive swift the midnight storm! . 
 
 Forth, brethren, forth to war. 
 The war of right 'gainst might! 
 
 Smite, smite the pale-face sore, 
 O'erwhelm them in the night! 
 
 O, not Tecumseh's fame 
 
 A prouder wreath shall bear 
 Than shall your every name 
 
 When men tell what ye dare! 
 
 Watch, watch, from rook and bush, 
 
 The foe that watches you! 
 With vigor onward push! 
 
 Ye are many, they are few! 
 
 Stand, stand, for all your race! 
 
 Stand for the young and old! 
 Meet, meet them face to face, 
 
 O warriors true and bold. 
 
 Soak, soak the field in blood! 
 
 Drive club and axe and knife; 
 Let bullets pour a flood 
 
 Of death upon the strife! 
 
 And came, in regular turn, as interlude. 
 Between each stanza of the strain, the rude, 
 Emphatic, earnest refrain rising high 
 And rolled along the weird and darkling sky: 
 
 Strike, brethren, strike! Be brave! 
 Strike, strike! The good cause save! 
 
 From time to time came messengers to give 
 
 news. 
 At first all roseate were the announcements; 
 
 hues 
 
 *In the C6teau des Prairies, just beyond Lake 
 Travers. Lake Travers is the source of the iled 
 River of the North. 
 
 Of dole come rarely at the first, but grow 
 The lingering clouds, then comes the crash oi 
 
 woe. 
 One of these messengers was Teewalah, vowed 
 Unto the younger of our maidens; proud 
 His record was 'mongst Ottowan warriors; 
 
 grace 
 Ruled all his limbs, and dignity his face. 
 Not more intent was Peleus, when he saw 
 The Centaur bringing to the coast, when bore 
 The Argo past his isle, the beauteous boy, 
 To give sad fates one moment's gleam of joy. 
 Than was the Prophet whe n this brave came 
 
 near. 
 Brave by fond woman loved and sacred seer; 
 For here was Elskwatawa's venture, here. 
 For his craved Golden Fleece he sought the 
 
 mere; 
 Here shipwreck was before him, and beyond 
 Would hide him fate's contempt and folly's 
 
 frond. 
 A glance passed 'twixt the lovers, ah, how 
 I sad! 
 
 j And sad the words, in semblance only glad! 
 1 Their mutual loves erst pledged, would fail 
 I forlorn 
 Beneath the white man's burdening weight 
 
 of scorn! 
 Home, city, empire lost, and prestige gone! 
 Would bring all this, alas, the hastening 
 
 dawn! 
 Or, rather, let us think calamity naught 
 Changed in their souls with mutual homage 
 
 fraught. 
 Their mutual faith an amaranth's fadeless 
 
 flowers 
 Retaining all their bloom neath sorrow's 
 
 showers. 
 
 And spoke her elder cousin: "Ah, how strong 
 The sulphur-smoke! Uncle, will it be long 
 Before our braves announce the battle won? 
 See, there are signs the night's long race is 
 
 run." 
 Ah, sorrowing child of fate and sport of woe. 
 The morning dawns, but not for thee its glow! 
 For thee is no nepenthe's balm, dethroned 
 Thy lite hath lost the queenly state it owned! 
 
 Loud o'er the forest rung the bugle's notes; 
 Loud o'er the strife cheer followed cheer, as 
 
 floats 
 Wave after wave, when dash upon the shore 
 The jubilant billovrs crested o'er and o'er. 
 Those notes, those cheers, they knew their 
 
 meaning well. 
 And heavy on their hearts their music fell. 
 
 Then came a messenger running, 'twas Twa- 
 
 lee. 
 Betrothed to Tawalara. "Flee, ohflee!" 
 His first words were, and then his voice es- 
 sayed 
 To tell the fight was over; that arrayed 
 In glittering harness steeds sent down from 
 
 heaven. 
 Mounted by giant riders wielding levin, 
 Had driven the red men back, and that defeat 
 Was ucter, and all bands in full retreat. 
 Bui, not one word .... sobs only came 
 From lips hot with the battle's smothering 
 
 flame. 
 And whips of furies seemed to sting his soul 
 Burdened with love and sunk 'neath destiny's 
 
 dole. 
 Naught said he, but the three him under- 
 stood. 
 They asked no speech from him in that pained 
 mood; 
 
13 
 
 He dashed sad tears from out his eyes, sad 
 
 sweat 
 From off his brow; dismayed their eyes had 
 
 met 
 His and his loved ones: he had not the power 
 The Prophet's eye to meet in that dread hour, 
 And, as the messenger left, his head inclined 
 Deeply towards the girl in gesture, 
 
 And "Nenemoosha, sweetheart," said his lips. 
 With somewhat else which from the legend 
 
 slips. 
 Alas! It was their latest greeting, sped 
 Through that true heart a trooper's charge of 
 
 leadl 
 
 VI. 
 THE CAMP. 
 
 Then was this Battle Forest nature's child, 
 'Twas nature's paradise, and not a wild. 
 There blows a breeze incessant from the vale. 
 But rises never to a dangerous gale. 
 Strike, where the Prophet's ancient capital 
 
 rose, 
 Frosts from Pike's Peakt, and hail the north 
 
 wind knows, 
 But where the dead are gathered 'neath the 
 
 shade 
 Of sheltering oaks, the heavens repose; in- 
 vade 
 Their peace no storms by battle's besoms 
 
 brought. 
 By mediation are those green mounds sought. 
 But still aggressive warfare there its ranks 
 Displays, deploys, for now on Burnett's 
 
 banks 
 Faith has its citadel, religion's cause 
 Supplies with prayer the battle's loud huz- 
 zas. 
 The snares of Satan and the attacks of sin 
 Here warriors meet; the din's a sacred din; 
 And earnest pleaders, zealous for the Life, 
 The Way, the Truth, preach near the field of 
 
 strife. 
 The field of strife remains intact, its fates 
 Opened to all God's civilization's gates. 
 There, close beyond, the village rises too. 
 And but a few miles southward come in view 
 Domes, spires and turrets, shovidng where 
 
 Lafayette 
 Shines like a gem in precious bordering set. 
 
 No eucalyptus there in torrid heats 
 Xieaps to the skies, nor rank Sequoia meets 
 The wandering eye, but lusk rich branches 
 
 reach 
 From noble growths, the sugar, oak and 
 
 beech. 
 And hickory, symbol of unyielding will; 
 From walnuts of both hues fays fruitage 
 
 spill; 
 And, in the valley, limns the graceful plane 
 Upon the view its tintage not in vain; 
 And climbs the lofty poplar heights divine. 
 Caressed, like Virgil's elms, by ♦flower and 
 
 vine. 
 Yes, growths are there for which the borrow- 
 ing tongue 
 Of England has no name, which must be sung 
 In tones Algonquin whereto Hesiod dear 
 And loved Theocritus might lend an ear. 
 
 +The principal force of the Paoiflo and Pike's 
 Peak current, traceable through a series of val- 
 leys, the Columbia, Snake, Salt Lake, Grand, 
 Arkansas. Osage, Missouri, Wabash, is directed 
 upon the site of the Prophet's Town, by the con- 
 formation of the Valley, and by the same con- 
 formation is diverted from the Battlefield, 
 
 A plane tree by the prattling brook stood; 
 
 vast 
 It was in burly bulk and hollow; cast 
 Thereon contented looks the troooers oft. 
 For saw they there a swarm of bees aloft, 
 And rightly judged that this wild colony's 
 
 home 
 Would rich stores yield of well-filled honey- 
 comb. 
 
 Surprised the Dryads watched the unusual 
 
 scene, 
 Meek, modest maids, midst sprays of eglan- 
 tine. 
 Remote, beyond the din of war's array. 
 Beyond the grotto's ribs of mossy gray. 
 Satyrs and fawns, the sons divine of Pan, 
 Fled trembling from the military plume, and 
 
 Dan 
 Silenus lost his leering, laughing looks, 
 And himself changed to echoes soft of 
 
 brooks; 
 Fays, fairies, all the sylvan troop, dismayed 
 The hint their sturdier brethren gave, obeyed; 
 I know not whether Bacchus left the scene. 
 Perhaps could tell some contraband canteen! 
 Full well I know that Pan was there himself. 
 Friend, one would think, of every woodland 
 
 elf. 
 And heard his terrible voice those native men 
 Them drive in flight confused through fog 
 
 and fen. 
 Oft thrills of sympathy the embowering 
 
 trees 
 Expressed in moanings to the midnight 
 
 breeze. 
 Some aboriginal Phaethusas there. 
 Or Dryopes, niight stir the midnight air. 
 
 Take now the map Columbia shows, and pass 
 From Wabash banks, beyond where mount- 
 ains mass. 
 To California's strands and Oregon's wilds. 
 Aye, climb Tacoma's heights and seek deflles 
 That lead to Saint Ellas' peak, and there 
 See Asian seas whose shores our standards 
 
 bear! 
 How many thousand millions does it add. 
 With mines, with vines, with emerald herbage 
 
 glad, 
 To our resources wide, to our domain 
 Of acres bearing all all lands attain? 
 How many hundred millions will it rear. 
 Trained man to love and God alone to fear." 
 So many acres has this forest camp 
 Gained to our flag; so brightly burns the 
 
 lamp 
 Of knowledge, faith and labor in the souls. 
 More rich, more wise, than any 'twixt the 
 
 poles; 
 So much renown ne'er haughty Argonauts 
 
 nerved 
 'Gainst royal Thebes, where victory they de- 
 served. 
 
 Plodded the weary sentinels on, and heard 
 Only by dusky wolves the silence stirred, 
 The dusky wolf at times a covering pelt 
 'Neatli which a spying Indian crept and knelt. 
 The white-tailed deers' eyes , glistened in the 
 
 glare 
 The watch fires cast upon a background, bare 
 Of aught but ghostly tents and foliage black 
 And starlight mixed with cloudy rack on 
 
 rack. 
 The migratory birds who sought the balm 
 Of southern skies startled the scented calm 
 With clang on clang aerial, as obeyed ' 
 Their ranks their captains' orders on them 
 
 laid. 
 
14 
 
 ^ot in the open field the Indian fights, 
 
 He plans surprises, ambuscades; when nights 
 
 With dubious moons are found, then lurks 
 
 his craft; 
 Or, by a sudden, swift movement, he will 
 
 waft 
 His force round to a point not jsuarded; truce 
 With him means stealthy opportunity; loose 
 Is his regard to promises made a foe; 
 Not Punic faith could strategy's windings 
 
 know 
 More intricate than knew the Shawnees, 
 
 shrewd 
 To feign, to lull, to hesitate, to delude. 
 But history joys to tell that no tribe more 
 Than did the Shawnees intellectual power 
 Possess, and statesmanship and eloquence 
 
 rare. 
 Of these Chief Cornstalk's an example fair, 
 And eminently Tecumseh is, whose bright 
 Exalted mind enjoyed superior light. 
 
 The night capricious was; at times seemed 
 
 near 
 The brilliant winter orbs, distinct and clear. 
 At times withdrawn; and when tne General 
 
 stood 
 Consulting with his aids, the musing mood 
 Came on him, when the sky all radiant 
 
 beamed. 
 And in their might the constellations gleamed. 
 "See, there," he said, "yon oak an opening 
 
 fair 
 Gives to observe the miracles vast of air! 
 Through its broad leafen branches may be 
 
 seen. 
 And through that walnut's, all the Giant's 
 
 sheen! 
 Mark belt and sword! Stand here again! 
 
 How wins 
 The Hexagon's beauty on one! There the 
 
 Twins 
 Are, and Cajjella! One can easily scan 
 Procyon, Sirius, Rigel, Aldebaran, 
 All radiant round the Martial Star, a dream 
 Of starry splendor in the night supreme! 
 Just when we reached camp I the planet saw 
 Far west toward the sun; peculiar awe 
 Surrounds that heavenly orb; Tecumseh's 
 
 gaze, 
 Whicn seems alert as well of nights as days. 
 One evening at the garrison, when it shone. 
 Just after a rich sunset, all alone 
 Upon the sky, watched its entrancing rays. 
 Then thoughtfully said — that man has pious 
 
 ways— 
 "Ah, on the robe of Manitou a bead 
 Of wampum 'tisl" and bade me give it heed. 
 Who can forget the singular threat he made 
 'To Tustinugee — Thlucco if delayed 
 Should be that chief's adhesion to the league. 
 If, as we say at cards, he should renege ? 
 The threat was, and he made it good, that, 
 
 day 
 And date he gave, he, in Detroit away. 
 Would stamp upon the earth, and thereby 
 
 make 
 The Creek chief's capitaLToockabatcha, shake 
 To its foundations; this he reallv did. 
 Helped by that earthquake called of N«w 
 
 Madrid.* 
 Tecumseh inspirations had of the divine. 
 Mind I right well his lordly presence fine 
 
 *A slight anachronism, but one of only a few 
 weeks. The date of the battle of Tippecanoe is 
 November 7, 1811; the date of the earthquake 
 shocks callea of New Madrid is of tie suooeedini? 
 month, December. 
 
 And air superb, when him I once besought 
 To seat himself in council: "No," he said. 
 
 "is brought 
 My life from him, my father, yonder sun; 
 From this my mother, earth, my life was 
 
 won, 
 Upon my mother's bosom it were best 
 I should repose! "And, it must be confessed 
 That, on the velvet grass there, he a pose 
 Of grace insuperable took; and rose 
 Acutely in my mind that learning old 
 Whereby in myths heroic we are told 
 How giants of primeval times on earth 
 To Coeliis and to Terra owed their birth." 
 
 Responded Clarke, who envied much the 
 
 name 
 Tecumseh had of special power with game: 
 "A mighty hunter, too, ne is; they say 
 He has shot down his thirty deer a day." 
 
 "The night grows darkling, soon the Pleiades 
 
 seven 
 May rain or mist send from this glorious 
 
 heaven. 
 You've heard that story of Alcmena's breasts'- 
 Don't let the cavalry, boys, forget their crests: 
 The galaxy is so-called from galax. 
 Out in the brush there's one of those damned 
 
 Sacs I 
 Through yonder hackberry I just caught his 
 
 eye! 
 Go, try to take him, he's a dirty spy!" 
 
 Deem not the bard absurd if here he note 
 Movements the army would not know by rote. 
 For knew their leader much of learning old. 
 Of pages rich with poesy's bright gold; 
 And, by the light of science, Virgil scanned, 
 Homer and Milton, nor kept Dante banned 
 From his thronged shelves. And after him 
 
 came a war. 
 Which made of hearts so many sadly sore, 
 Whereby.the Union of our States was saved 
 Intact by those who Mars' red thunders 
 
 braved; 
 And he who merited the most in strife 
 Knew, best of all, this bright, ethereal life, 
 This wondrous maze of world on world piled 
 
 hijjh. 
 Their ways, their names, their laws, the how 
 
 and why 
 Of all their being: Mitchel was his name. 
 Name which among the darlings ranks of 
 
 fame. 
 The secret march he knevf, the charge, the 
 
 dash. 
 The levin that sends from a clear sky its 
 
 crash. 
 Heroes he taught renowned, at Huntsville's 
 
 walls. 
 How to redeem a nation's million thralls. 
 How to cut foes in twain and peace compel. 
 How fields to win and heaven to search as 
 
 well. 
 Alas, he lived not till the victor/ came! 
 Heroic, chivalrous, bright with every flame 
 Of learning and of eloquence! Came the pest, 
 The yellow Southern plague, and took the 
 
 best 
 Commander of that army up to heaven. 
 May often such to our loved land be givenl 
 
 VII. 
 THE VICTORY. 
 Then thus kept on the General to his aids 
 And other omcers of various grades: 
 
15 
 
 "The approaching winter sets the birds to 
 
 flight: 
 They travel southward now; 'tis plain, to- 
 night, 
 The noise their clattering pinions make. The 
 
 brant, 
 Pishnekuh, I am sure I hear; and can't 
 We almost see the green-heads, keen of eye. 
 The mallard ducks? Ah, but these birds are 
 
 shy! 
 Say, Waller, might their traveling not sug- 
 gest 
 To our red friends to lose their usual rest? 
 The robins, surely, and the bluebirds, too. 
 Are almost near enough to be in view. 
 And there's the plover, with his 'Dee, dee, dee, 
 Kildeel' He seems to say 'Kill ye, ye, ye!' 
 Or is't an augury 'gainst those rascally reds. 
 Who deem it brave to kill men in their beds? 
 What do they call the robin? Opechee? 
 And bluebird? Owaissa? I mind the glee 
 With which that pretty niece of Elskwata — 
 Wa's, one time at the fort, showed when she 
 
 saw 
 The birds come to be fed on the parade. 
 Yes, what attention then her uncle paid, 
 The solemn savage, both those artless girls! 
 'Twas when I gave them, Wal', those Roman 
 
 pearls. 
 But ah. to-morrow we may other wings 
 Not only see but hear; the owi now sings, 
 To-morrow vultures may seek you or me; 
 But pray to-night, boys; prayer will make us 
 
 free 
 From hesitation in our country's cause; 
 For God will not desert her arms and laws." 
 
 A p ause ensued, the words had touched the 
 
 souls 
 Of those brave men: at times communion 
 
 holds 
 The man aroused with God, while' nature 
 
 priest 
 Is in her forest temples. Talking ceased. 
 Until the stanch commander speech renewed, 
 While round him stood his officers thought 
 
 imbued: 
 "An Indian deems it right to gain by fraud. 
 Ne'er by a qualm of conscience is he awed. 
 Well I recall the fights of ninety-four, 
 Their ways on the Miami, how they tore 
 All compacts all to pieces, 'Watch them 
 
 boys,' 
 Mad Anthony always said, 'They make no 
 
 noise 
 More than a snake does, and like it will strike, 
 So trust alone to musket, sword and pike.' 
 And then our force and discipline stun his 
 
 mind. 
 An this to offset are his lies designed." 
 The night was far advanced, the ,yigil long 
 Led back the General to that hero strong. 
 The barrier of the West, the frantic foe 
 Whose heat in battle rose to furnace-glow. 
 But then this hero, though in battle great. 
 Failed to allow a reason having weight, 
 A reason urged by all Tecumseh's strength 
 Of genius and of eloquence, that the length 
 And breadth of all this continent was one 
 
 land. 
 Flawless as broad, and permanent as grand, 
 One land inhabited by tribes diverse. 
 Therefore, Tecumseh, censured as perverse, 
 Labored to effect a union of these bands, 
 Labored to show the whites how many hands 
 Held title and aominion over all. . , , , 
 
 The States' rights theory, covered with the 
 
 pall ■ . ., 
 
 Of dire defeat in our late qivu vcar, 
 
 However much it had been praised before, 
 Tecumseh deemed pernicious, and maintained 
 The whites could hold no land unless 'twere 
 
 gained 
 By universal cession: every tribe 
 Must have its share of the dishonoring bribe 
 And put its seal of sanction to the deed. 
 Strange that his reasoning white men safely 
 
 plead. 
 Reasoning which stood the storm in time of 
 
 need. 
 And which a war's dread sanctions made all 
 
 heed. 
 Should, 'mongst the Indians, have met fail- 
 ure; sad 
 That fate tre3,ds nation's dovrat, and clad 
 In teirors supernatural are the fields 
 Where nation, tribe, State, every faculty, 
 
 yields 
 Before divine necessity! Holy Writ, 
 In simple terms, for truths celestial fit. 
 Records that Jacob's heritage spoiled their 
 
 foes; 
 Came miracle after miracle aiding those 
 Who sought from lands long settled forth to 
 
 drive 
 Their former owners; heaven has seemed to 
 
 strive 
 At Plymouth and at Yorktown to extend 
 To invading chiefs all favors of a friend. 
 From unseen sources unseen floods of power 
 Come down to deluge battlefields, and lower 
 Dull clouds of doom, with storm and horror 
 
 black. 
 O'er hosts by Gideons driven with feigned 
 
 attack. 
 Yes, we had taken these rich Wabash plains. 
 Part of the Indian national domains, 
 Prom out the jurisdiction of their chiefs. 
 This was the ground of all Tecumseh's griefs, 
 Of all Tecumseh's sorrow; tribes but few, 
 The Kickapoahs, Weas, one or two. 
 Had signed the compact; they, remote, alone; 
 These little States illegally thus the throne 
 Usurped, and gave great spreading tracks 
 
 away. 
 Which not to them belonged: the hastenine 
 
 day 
 Of retribution with Tecumseh came. 
 With twanging bowstring, stealthy deaths 
 
 and flame. 
 Great tracks the whites claimed where the 
 
 Wabash curves 
 Through wooded bluffs, and where tracks 
 
 called reserves* 
 IShow that the Pottawatamies' and the Shaw- 
 
 nees' guard 
 Gave to them gifts, and sought thus to retard 
 The ultimate absorption of their parks. 
 Great natural gardens, through which log- 
 wrought barks 
 Made easy voyages, with flsh below. 
 And, near, wild turkeys, bison, buck and doe. 
 Nibbling the fat things that the valleys know. 
 Where cresses, berries, grapes and pawpaws 
 
 grow. 
 Now came the alarm; successive shots were 
 
 heard; 
 
 ' By the treaty of Saint Mary's, October 2, 1818, 
 the land on which the Prophet's Town was situ- 
 ated was reserved to the Indians. The entire 
 reservation is a strip six miles long, from the 
 mouth of the Tippecanoe southward along the 
 Wabash, and in width an average of a mile. It is 
 Icnown as the Burnett Reservation, the Burnetts 
 having been the descendants of Oakimi, an Indian 
 princess, sister of Taupinibeh, principal chief of 
 the Pottawatamies, and wife of a French trader. 
 Indian Treaties, 1878 to 1837, p. 353. 
 
16 
 
 The camp at once with fevered frenzy stirred; 
 
 As signal dread of danger, the long roll 
 
 The startled air shook, shook the startled 
 
 soul; 
 The tents were emptied, men took place in 
 
 rarfk; 
 Sounds of command came through the vapors 
 
 danlu 
 "Attention, battalion, form ranks, form 
 
 ranks, dress!" 
 And: "Hurry there, men, take arms, take 
 
 arms, press 
 The line full forward." "Look oiit on the 
 
 flank!" 
 "Here on the front, hug the bank, hug the 
 
 bank!" 
 And "Form the new alignment, march!" 
 
 "Receive 
 The enemy in front in two lines!" "Relieve 
 That corner witii fixed bayonets!" "Stand, 
 
 men, stand! ' 
 "Music to the center, fife and drum and 
 
 band!" 
 "Attention, company, to the right wheel, 
 
 march!" 
 A wheel the army formed, its tire an arch. 
 "Platoon, attention, ready, take aim, fire!" 
 A stream of death came from the smoking 
 
 tire. 
 The exigency some men brought half dressed. 
 With half-oped eyes, and dreaming slumbers 
 
 pressed. • 
 
 Forbes, like the classic hero, in his shirt 
 Sought his command, and Orcus fed ungirt. 
 Ana rose the Long Knife's orders on the 
 
 breeze, 
 While flashed gun, sword and epaulet 'mongst 
 
 the trees: 
 "Close up, my brave boys, we can whip 
 
 them!" "Mark, 
 The red devils hope to break our ranks 
 
 there!" "Parke, 
 Drive now with all your force!" "Taylor, at- 
 tend! 
 Go, Spencer tell, down at the field's far end. 
 To hold his Yellow Jackets t well in hand." 
 "Go, Hurst, and tell Wells I want him to 
 
 stand 
 Till freezes over hell, and he shall save 
 His company, the bravest of the brave. 
 And all now here; else, Hurst, boy, we are 
 
 gone. 
 He, I and Floyd and Daviess, Owen and 
 
 Croghan!" 
 "Ho, Tipton, run there quickly, quench those 
 
 fires! 
 From Decker and Baen take what the work 
 
 requires. 
 Get water from the creek, and throw a guard 
 Well forward, you will find the service hard. ' ' 
 "If Boyd his customary coolness keeps. 
 And that his valor caution not o'erleaps, 
 He'll throw an avalanche upon them, sure, 
 To give their appetite for fight a cure." 
 "There Barton and Geiger must hold firm as 
 
 fate; 
 Their rifles' aim is wonderfully straight; 
 Their horses, too, are brave Kentucky stock, 
 Like men they stand, firm as a mountain 
 
 rock. 
 "The line keep, Cook and Peters! Push those 
 
 reds!" 
 "What from the creek? The Indian line, see, 
 
 spreads!" 
 
 +A volunteer force, commanded by Spencer, was 
 so called from the color of their coats, a light 
 drab. The name sometimes given to a wasp or 
 hornet. 
 
 "Baen, Prescott, forward! Firm! Hold the left 
 
 flank! 
 Red devils see in force now mount the bank! 
 Down on them! Have a care!" There on tho 
 
 left 
 Blaze Warwick's rifles, suffering and bereft 
 Of their fine leader; and there Spencer's dead. 
 And his lieutenants both. O time of dread! 
 "Robb, from the centre come thou, and give 
 
 aid, 
 Let be by slaughter slaughters dire repaid!" 
 "Take, Prescott, of the Fourth United States, 
 The place by Robb made vacant and his 
 
 mates. " 
 "Poor Owen is fatally wounded, and is rash 
 Jo Daviess to excess; the man has dash 
 And zeal to put great Lucifer's self to flight. 
 But he the lines mu.st keep, or die this night. " 
 "The Prophet I don't see." "No, he is 
 
 perched 
 Upon a bluff near, like a woman churched. 
 The infamous old rascal's singing songs 
 He says will soon redress the Indians' 
 
 wrongs." 
 "Well, let him trust that horrid twang; a lull; 
 Yes, I can hear its harsh monotony dull. 
 It mu.st these pious red men much console." 
 "Take care, there's Dirk; that darky's soul 
 Is stained with treason, but he's pinioned 
 
 there, 
 Like Caiaphas' self nailed on hell's pavement 
 
 bare. 
 As shows the Inferno we at Greenville read, 
 (List to that Prophet with his dronings dread.) 
 But Dirk would move e'en Satan with those 
 
 eyes. 
 And I'll forgive his treason and his lies." 
 "A gap now in the sky Andromeda shows. 
 Midst constellations mirroring boreal snows; 
 And Perseus; he white, she black (by the bye, 
 The fates at last have spread a clouded sky). 
 He saved the girl from Juno's wrath, and 
 
 drove 
 The dragon back and broke her chains, and 
 
 love 
 So wrought on him he married her; I doubt 
 If this be so. From these old stories out 
 Must half be stricken before you have the 
 
 truth." 
 "Yes, the court martial, when his tender 
 
 youth 
 Is taken, into the account, should free the 
 
 boy— 
 I know a cabin where 'twill make much joy. 
 Yes, Snelling, I am glad you speak for Dirk, 
 He's wild, but still all right if kept at work.'' 
 
 "Well, General, are you safe yet?" asked an 
 
 aid. 
 The while the hero, ever undismayed, 
 Heard roar and crash, and saw, in ceaseless 
 
 flood, 
 All round him flow the boiling, mutual, 
 
 blood. 
 "Why, no; but — only a mere scratch, my coat 
 A bullet hole has; so has my hat; just note 
 How near to Charon's ferry I; and here. 
 Take Taylor's mare, she's wounded, brine me 
 
 Deer." 
 "Here, here, they come! Strike, Wilson, that 
 
 snake down!" 
 "Ah, thank you for that service. Ensign 
 
 Brown!" 
 "He gave me that same look once at Vin- 
 
 cennes. 
 The time Tecumseh gave us trouble." 
 
 "Friends, 
 
17 
 
 Let's all be steady." "Close up there, brave 
 
 men!" 
 "I see the dawn, and with it, peace again." 
 "Go see if they are sirong enough there, 
 
 Clarke!' ' 
 "Those slumbering logs again are kindling!" 
 
 "Hark!" 
 And close beyond the encampment's east line, 
 
 "Charge!" 
 Was heara along the entire embankment's 
 
 marge. 
 "I hear their jangling deer hoofs, 'tis their 
 
 sign. 
 To charge along their whole demoniac line. 
 Those Yankee plowboys surely will stand firm, 
 For bravery's, in their home, no idle term." 
 Wheeling they come, with gallant swing, the 
 
 same 
 That throws, on holiday scenes, from fire- 
 works flame. 
 Flaming they wheel; flame, wheel, the order 
 
 made 
 To be o'er all the field as law obeyed. 
 The bayonets of the infantiy drive back. 
 At last, the riotous fiends, and quell attack; 
 The irresistible dragoons the marsh 
 Fill with the bands that fly that tempest 
 
 harsh. 
 The exultation of the White Chief voice 
 Sometimes attained; was sometimes mute by 
 
 choice. 
 "Ah, those are brave men!" "There's Bar- 
 tholomew!" "Fame, 
 Blow thou through all thy trumpets name on 
 
 name!" 
 "Hargrave and Wilson! Barton! Brilliant 
 
 Scott!" 
 "If braver men exist 1 know It not!" 
 
 Yes, there are victories sung in olden lays 
 That were not won with greater claim to 
 
 praise, 
 Caesar none prouder for his cohort claimed. 
 The first cohort of his tenth legion famed. 
 Nor Frederick when, in wild despair, he saw 
 His favorite regiment slaughtered at Torgau. 
 And here were men, among the national 
 
 troops. 
 Whose fathers fired between the fences' loops 
 At Lexington, and on the hill of Breed 
 Met glorious wounds, rejoicing there to bleed 
 With Warren, and at Bennington shed lives. 
 And Saratoga, for our babes and wives. 
 
 But how depict the battle! If the day. 
 Midst sulphur fumes and dust of the affray. 
 Lends terror to a scene of mutual strife. 
 What must the murky night produce when 
 
 life 
 Hangs on the uncertain edge of troubled 
 
 When deep-prized sleep is broken by the 
 
 screams 
 Of maddened demons; when the secret ping 
 Of the chewed bullet, and the deadly ring 
 The poisoned arrow gives, come to the soul. 
 The while sounds ominous forth the dread 
 
 long roll 
 For all to spring to arms, and comes a ram 
 Of orders from the leaders (some profane). 
 The task is idle: this e'en Homer tried 
 In vain; he gives, instead, one homicide 
 Upon another, tells how many slew 
 His hero Hector, how Achilles flew 
 Here, there, intent, in mourned Patrocles' 
 
 cause, ,, , 
 
 To make his list of dead his friend's applause. 
 Words cannot paint the scene, the deep, in- 
 tense 
 
 Reality no speech can compass; fence 
 Is here to genius, here it flnds its bound. 
 E'en colors can't paint fire, and this is found 
 On art's own easel, this Van Schendel knew. 
 Most skilled of all e'er light on canvas 
 threw. 
 
 Only the poet can the evening's scene 
 And morning's paint, the mighty sheen 
 Of arms reposing or preparing, smiles 
 That wait the coming battle, or sad miles 
 Of wounded stragglers, groans suppressed or 
 
 given. 
 And prayers for death or water thrown to 
 
 heaven. 
 The deepest things and highest all outgo 
 Whatever flight of song, whatever moan of 
 
 woe. 
 
 Rose o'er the field the voice of conflict dire. 
 Mixed rifle, hatchet, sword and knife and fire. 
 Club smote on musket, musket smote on club. 
 Smoked hot the wheel of fight, tire, spoke and 
 
 hub. 
 Yell answered yell, the bbubllng war whoop 
 
 wild 
 Defiance bore from every forest child. 
 And screams defiant gave foes, teeth to teeth. 
 While victory yet gasped in her sulphur 
 
 wreath. 
 The death-groan startled all that horrid air, 
 Aloft the red fiend fiung the trophied hair. 
 His tawny brethren grim the bloody ground 
 At full length struck with dull and sickening 
 
 sound. 
 Was thickly strewn the ground with feathered 
 
 chiefs. 
 Ah! who can tell the weight of that night's 
 
 griefs? 
 
 Griefs, joys, in war or peace, contrasted stand, 
 And joys awaited now that conctuering band. 
 The struggle's fierce contention held them 
 
 yet 
 The rapture, and the frenzy, and the sweat. 
 They could not, at the first, be made to know 
 That, in the cause all-glorious, such a blow 
 By them had been dealt out, by them was 
 
 fixed; 
 Doubt yet was with their pride of battle 
 
 mixed. 
 The regulars stood, machines of death, all 
 
 cool 
 To deal out slaughters still by prescribed rule. 
 The volunteers, ecstatic and all nerve, 
 Burned to rush forward, nor could yet observe 
 Upon the General's face his high repose, 
 Repose vouchsafed to him who duty knows. 
 And knows the victory come, and clamor 
 
 hears 
 
 Of plaudits given down through the lengthen- 
 ing years. 
 So Harrison felt, such things he saw, foresaw, 
 And knew himself a rallying cry of power. 
 At first he had no voice; the event had come, 
 It found its chosen hero meekly dumb. 
 The bugles sounded, waked the regular up 
 To drink of peace the rich, abundant cup, 
 Relaxed fixed duty's forms, and bade the heat 
 In boiling veins of raw recruits retreat. 
 And bade the leaders of the fray provide 
 For wounds, for death, and for their glory 
 wide. 
 
 What are the vestiges of this hard-fought 
 
 field? 
 What yet remains by time still unconcealed? 
 
18 
 
 Where are the veterans? Eighty years have 
 
 Save one, and over all the stirring scene is 
 
 cast 
 The glamour of romance. But we may pause, 
 And ask the rise, the spring, the philosophical 
 
 cause 
 Of that event: Whence came it? Whereto 
 
 tend 
 Did it? Does it instruction's wisdom lend 
 To themes of nations? Was it force? Or 
 
 law? 
 May moralists thence a healthy inference 
 
 draw? 
 Was it ordained by Mars from olden times? 
 Or from the mist came it to deck these 
 
 rhymes? 
 A few old men the veterans are, then youths; 
 A line of graves marks history's steps; the 
 
 truths 
 Divine contended for remain; the new 
 Baee brought in conflict with the old; renew 
 Herein their meaning the repeated signs 
 Of given ascendency; the pleasant lines 
 Kept for the one, and for the other woes. 
 Contempt, oppression, ribaldry, lies and 
 
 blows. 
 
 Great battles are the pivots whereon turn 
 
 The points of destiny; the sepulchral urn. 
 
 Vine wreathed, and spread with sweet 
 memorial flowers 
 
 Has brought in arts of peace; the haughtier 
 powers 
 
 Fought down with sacred force, and crushed 
 the strong. 
 
 And saved the weak from many a hideous 
 wrong; 
 
 Has served to inaugurate the reign of law. 
 
 And tribes of men from brutal ignorance 
 draw. 
 
 There was the Milvian Bridge, by which in- 
 crease 
 
 Was given of glory to the Prince of Peace! 
 
 There was Soissons, which drove imperial 
 Rome 
 
 Forth from fair France, of rising art the 
 home; 
 
 There was proud Waterloo, which peace re- 
 stored 
 
 To Europe, slave of an aspiring lord; 
 
 There was our Yorktown's siege, whose bugles 
 blew 
 
 Far forth fair fame to patriots tried and true; 
 
 There was our HuntsviUe's capture, which in 
 twain 
 
 Cut armed rebellion, impious, rash and vam. 
 
 The highest consecration is of blood. 
 The highest sacrifice, the richest good; 
 So history all, remote and recent, shows; 
 This through the plan of man's redemption 
 
 flows. 
 The best blood of our land has soaked this 
 
 soil. 
 It sealed the record of unselfish toll. 
 There is a feeling which controls the man 
 More than all creeds, opinions, interests can; 
 It is the feeling that tne patriot calls 
 To duty's ranks, and cheers him when he 
 
 falls. 
 With reverence, then, tread we these sylvan 
 
 shades! 
 With reverence cast our glance along the 
 
 glades 
 Which, in the battle, heard the hot huzza. 
 The rush, the crash, the struggle heard, and 
 
 ah! 
 Heard cries of pain from wounded men, and 
 
 deep, , 
 
 Soul-sicliening sobs that led to icy sleep! 
 Yes, this is consecrated ground; to it 
 We owe all forms of ceremonial fit; 
 We owe the polished shaft that seeks the sky. 
 Ornate with praise to meet the expectant eye. 
 There let the laurel and the cypress twine, 
 And mortal memories mix with thoughts 
 
 divine! 
 
'E2'^^:RJi^TJL.. 
 
 Page '4. Begin "stone" with capital S; and for "book" read 
 
 brook. 
 Page 5. B^or "fawn," read faun. 
 Page 11. For "ears," read lars. 
 Page 13. After "gesture" supply Icind. 
 Page 14. For "leaf en," read leailess. 
 Page 15. For "them. gifts," read their gifts. 
 Page 18. For "healthy," read heaMxful , 
 Other errors will suggest themselves to the intelligent reader. 
 The errors arose from the failure of the printer to submit re- 
 vises to the author. 
 
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