ity
of the Prophet in his declaration of pacific intentions towards the
United States.[A] Four chiefs, Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, Sti-agh-ta, (or
Roundhead) and Panther, accompanied them to the seat of government, for
the purpose of holding a conference with the governor; and giving him
assurances that the Indians were not assembling at Greenville for the
purpose of making war upon the frontiers. These chiefs remained about a
week in Chillicothe, in the course of which a public council was held
between them and the governor. Stephen Ruddell acted as the
interpreter. Tecumseh was the principal speaker; and in the course of
the conference, made a speech which occupied three hours in the
delivery.

[Footnote A: See Report of Commissioners to governor Kirker, 22d Sept.
1807, published in the United States Gazette, for that year.]

His great object was to prove the nullity of the treaties under which
the whites claimed the country north and west of the Ohio. He seemed to
have a familiar knowledge of all the treaties made with the western
tribes; reviewed them in their order, and with the most intense
bitterness and scorn, denounced them as null and void. This speech is
described by one[A] who heard it, as possessing all the characteristics
of a high effort of oratory. The utterance of the speaker was rapid and
vehement; his manner bold and commanding; his gestures impassioned,
quick and violent, and his countenance indicating that there was
something more in his mind, struggling for utterance, than he deemed it
prudent to express. While he fearlessly denied the validity of these
_pretended_ treaties, and openly avowed his intention to resist the
further extension of the white settlements upon the Indian lands, he
disclaimed all intention of making war upon the United States. The
result was, a conviction on the part of the governor, that no immediate
danger was to be apprehended from the Indians, at Greenville and fort
Wayne; and, as a consequence, the militia which had been called into
service were ordered to be disbanded, and the chiefs returned to their
head quarters.

[Footnote A: John A. Fulton, formerly mayor of Chillicothe,
communicated by general James T. Worthington.]

In the autumn of this year, a white man by the name of Myers, was
killed a few miles west of where the town of Urbana now stands, by some
straggling Indians. This murder, taken in connection with the
assemblage of the Indians under Tecumseh and the Pr