ations
with the country beyond Lake Erie. To effect this object he sent
out a force of six hundred men under Colonel James Miller, with
cavalry and artillery. At this time Tecumseh was at Brownstown with
about two hundred warriors, and Major Muir of the British Army, in
command of about one hundred and sixty regulars and militia, was
also stationed there. On the morning of August 9 some Indians
emerged from the forest and reported that the American troops under
Miller were about eight miles distant, and, on account of the
difficulty of transporting the guns over the heavy roads, were
making but slow progress. It was evident that they could not reach
Brownstown before night, and Major Muir, after a hasty consultation
with Tecumseh, decided to meet the enemy at Maguaga, a small Indian
village between Brownstown and Detroit. The Indians in their scant
habiliments of war, their dark bodies grotesquely painted in varied
colours, strode silently by the side of the British soldiers. The
allies rapidly pushed their way along the muddy road, past the
scene of the recent attack, where carcasses of men and horses still
lay by the roadside. A halt was called within a quarter of a mile
of Maguaga, at a place favourable for an ambuscade, and preparations
were made for battle. The British took up a position behind a
slightly rising bit of ground. Tecumseh disposed his men in a
meadow, about six hundred yards in extent, which bordered the road
along which the Americans were advancing. The wild grass grew rank
and high and afforded sufficient concealment. The Indians threw
themselves down to await the enemy, and their example was followed
by the British. Tecumseh and his men, peering from their covert,
soon distinguished the main body of the enemy marching in two lines,
slowly and steadily. As they came within range a single shot rang
out--the signal for battle. The Indians fired one deadly volley,
and, with the blood-curdling cry that the Americans had learned to
dread, burst wildly from their hiding-place. The enemy replied with
a crackling fire and, as Tecumseh and his men sprang bravely forward,
followed it up with a bayonet charge.

The bright uniforms of the British now revealed their position,
and the action became general. Unknown to the regulars, a body of
Indians had been posted at the extremity of a neighbouring wood,
and; being subjected to a hot fire and unable to endure the hail
of bullets, they endeavoured to gain the B