Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/211

 Miami of the Lake runs about a half mile west of the Fort; and the river is here about one third of a mile wide.

I have understood, of late, that the courage and conduct of General Harrison, who commanded at Fort Meigs in the course of the last war, was questionable. I shall take the liberty to express a few ideas upon this topic, because it is natural for one to advocate the cause of a brave man, whose courage has been denied, and that too, perhaps, by the most contemptible combination of cowardice and envy.

The spirit of detraction is at once malignant and cowardly. It possesses the capacity to injure, and at the same time the means of shielding itself from detection. A single breath may tarnish the brightest character; the world, therefore, for its own sake, as well as for the sake of justice and humanity, should listen with a jealous ear to the tongue of slander.

I never had the honour of seeing General Harrison; but what, I ask, are the grounds of the charge against him? General Harrison was a fellow soldier and disciple of the wary and energetic General Wayne. His knowledge of military tactics is very extensive, and his courage, for ought I can see, is of a high order. Up to the time of the bloody battle of Tippecanoe, the government, no doubt, thought him brave; and here he was truly so. At Fort Meigs too, he undauntedly maintained {106} his position, in the midst of a wilderness, surrounded by hordes of savages, headed by Tecumseh, and supported by regular troops commanded by the blood-thirsty Proctor. Afterwards he met and defeated the enemy at the River Thames.

Probably his courage was questioned, because he did not, whilst unprepared, press on to Detroit, and expose his forces to that destruction which befel those of Winches