The Col. and Tecumseh

abamerica1776
May 28, 2021
6 min read

Updated: Jan 6

In our great annals of American history Richard Mentor Johnson is a name unknown to millions of Americans. But had you been alive in the early 19th century and paid attention to politics, you would have been familiar with him, especially if you were from the state of Kentucky. Born October 17, 1780, in Beargrass on the outskirts of frontier Louisville, Johnson rose through the political class to become the country’s 9th vice-president under President Martin Van Buren. Like most men of the time who served in the federal congress, Johnson’s career began in 1802 with a brief two-year term in the Kentucky legislature followed by his election in 1804 as a representative to Congress, where he continued to serve for the next twenty years. It was during the middle point of this twenty-year stint that his name became cemented, erroneously mind you, in America’s military history. During President James Madison’s first term, 1809-1813, the United States was dealing with an obtuse British government that was determined to do whatever it pleased in terms of trade, aiding Indians with military supplies that were threatening and dispatching settlers with impunity in the Northwest territory, impressing sailors into service, and rankling at America’s westward expansion into fertile and bountiful lands. For some members of Congress (it was sharply divided), they were incensed at the effrontery to the United States. They began to beat the war drum and these war hawks (many of them were young and hailed from western and southern states) gained the support of President Madison, who, in turn, submitted a declaration of war to the Congress, which passed (the vote, too, was sharply divided) in June 1812 and with it, war came again to the young country. Richard Johnson, guided by a sense of duty and service to his country, along with being in support of the war, volunteered for service in the war (his volunteer status allowed him to keep his congressional seat). Johnson returned to the Bluegrass and offered his services to future-president and then governor of Indiana territory Gen. William Henry Harrison, conferred the brevet rank of Major-General by Kentucky Governor Isaac Shelby, who accepted. In short order, Johnson, by now a colonel, busied himself with garnering support and rounding up volunteers and raised a volunteer corps of mounted men. With his corps of mounted men, Col. Johnson divided them into three companies, and set off under Maj Gen. Harrison into the Northwest Territory. Col. Johnson was a competent Indian fighter and was well versed in the tactics necessary to protect him and his men from the assured destruction by superior Indian warriors who were also well versed in tactics and hand and hand to combat. In October 1813, the forces of Maj. Gen. Harrison, around 3500 men, met the forces of British Brig. Gen. Henry A. Proctor, around 1600, in Moraviantown on the banks of the Thames River, north of Lake Erie and south of Lake Huron. Proctor’s forces were made up of 600 regular troops and 1000 Indian fighters under famed Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Known as the Battle of the Thames, it was decidedly won by Harrison’s forces. Besides the military implications for the British war effort, the battle gave life to a monumental claim to fame that Johnson was the man who killed Tecumseh during the battle, although he himself never made the claim. After his death on November 19, 1850, some newspaper obituaries presented him as being the man who “achieved a brilliant reputation by his conquest and destruction of the noted chief Tecumseh, who was probably killed by his hand[s].” While other obituaries were a bit more cautious with this military claim, stating “his friends have not been able to establish beyond dispute,” “but the glory of the act has other claimants and it is not quite certain who took the life of that savage.” An obituary from the Springfield Republican noted “At the battle of the Thames he achieved the honor, which has been sung in many a song of killing Tecumseh.” His “killing” of Tecumseh did create positive publicity for his future political endeavors and gaining him support in Democrat circles. In fact, a lithograph of Johnson killing Tecumseh was circulated during the 1836 presidential campaign. This begs the question: what is the real series of events at the Battle of the Thames or, specifically, who was the man who killed Tecumseh? To begin, it’s not an easy question to answer. Complicating matters are the forty-five or more accounts of who killed Tecumseh. Over time, the death of Tecumseh and the name of the man who did it has grown into a legend of its own. Political campaigns, tavern story-telling, and sensationalized accounts have all added to the legend, making the detective work all the more complicated. Fortunately for us, in 1859 a detailed and accurate letter appeared in the Louisville Journal written by Capt. James Davidson who served in Col. Johnson’s regiment during the Battle of the Thames, detailing the death of Tecumseh and aftermath. In his detailed account, Capt. Davidson, not more than ten yards from Col. Johnson, stated that shortly after engagement with the enemy line, he saw Col. Johnson was “badly wounded” after the first round of musket fire, and was riding his horse from the field of battle. For Col. Johnson to have killed Tecumseh, one Indian of a thousand, in the short period between the start of battle and when Capt. Davidson saw Col. Johnson riding past would have been “a most fortunate chance.” Dr. Theobald, who witnessed Col. Johnson’s injury and escorted him from the field of battle, withdrew Col. Johnson’s two unfired musekts from his saddlebow. So, it is highly improbable Col. Johnson was the man who fired the fatal shot(s) at Tecumseh. Capt. Davidson goes onto explain that from his account of the battle it was private David King who brought an end to the life of the illustrious Indian leader Tecumseh. In the heat of battle, as Capt. Davidson and his men, among them a private David King, waited for another enemy charge, Priv. King loaded a ball into his musket pistol but failed to first add the powder. In a panic, Priv. King told Capt. Davidson of his dilemma. Capt. Davidson told him to retrieve the musket of fallen Col. Whitley. Priv. King crawled along the ground to Col. Whitley’s body, retrieved the musket, and then hid behind a tree, protecting him from a steady stream of Indian musket fire peppering the bark and ground around him. Moments later, Priv. King and several comrades, sensing the Indians might flank the company line, were permitted by Capt. Davidson to move down the right of the line. However, they were moving faster than the left of the line and Capt. Davidson proceeded to warn them to slow down their movement to prevent them from being cut off. As Capt. Davidson neared the halfway point to the left of the company line, a man by the name of Clarke shouted, “Look out, King! An Indian is aiming at you!” At this moment, the Indian turned towards Clarke, took aim, and exposed his left breast. Seconds later, Priv. King leveled his musket at the Indian and fired (it was customary for Col. Whitley to load two balls into his musket). The Indian dropped to the ground. King then shouted out, “I’ve killed one damned yaller Indian booger!” In the evening after the battle, Capt. Davidson, who received three bullet wounds from the engagement, was lying on the field when he was approached by Priv. King who, (he was joined by other men) wanted to see the remains of the Indian he killed in battle and with the hope of claiming any knives left on the Indian’s body. Capt. Davidson consented and with Priv. King they walked to a dead tree fifty yards distant and found the Indian lying on the ground, face down, with two bullet wounds a half inch below the left nipple. He was described as simply dressed, like other Indians in the battle, but he was wearing a marvelous wampum belt. The next day, Capt. Davidson’s brother, Mike, and another man by the name of Charles A. Wickliffe, walked to the dead tree to look at the dead Indian. While they stood over the body, they were soon joined by two British officers, accompanied by Maj. Gen. Harrison. The British officers confirmed it was famed Shawnee Indian leader Tecumseh. With his remains identified, the next logical question is: how did Col. Johnson receive credit for claiming the life of Tecumseh? Well, the answer is simple. Since Col. Johnson’s company was responsible for killing Tecumseh, although he, himself, didn’t kill Tecumseh, he was given the credit. And this credit stayed with Col. Johnson for the remainder of his life and was literally etched into his gravesite memorial, a bas relief of him, mounted on his horse, firing his musket pistol point blank at Tecumseh.