2023-03 HCA Auctions
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/8/2023
Complete and authentic volume of Niles Weekly Register (Sept. 11, 1811-March 1812, six months, 24 issues). Top news here is the "Battle on the Wabash," also known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. An initial report (Nov. 30, 1811, page 238) begins, "We have just received information that the governor has had a battle with the Indians-thirty men killed and about 100 wounded. The governor marched up to The Prophet's town in the evening, had a short conference with the Prophet, and it was agreed to hold a council the next morning. …The Indians commenced attack during the night…." A subsequent lengthy report on the "Battle on the Wabash" is told (Dec. 21, 1811, page 300-305) through a message from President James Madison (signed in type) and two letters from William Henry Harrison (signed in type) to the secretary of war on that "late engagement." The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on Nov. 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces led by then-Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (commonly known as "The Prophet"), leaders of a confederacy of various tribes who opposed European-American settlement of the American frontier. As tensions and violence increased, Governor Harrison marched with an army of about 1,000 men to attack the confederacy's headquarters at Prophetstown, near the confluence of the Tippecanoe River and the Wabash River. Tecumseh was not yet ready to oppose the United States by force and was away recruiting allies when Harrison's army arrived. Tenskwatawa was a spiritual leader but not a military man, and he was in charge. Harrison camped near Prophetstown on November 6 and arranged to meet with Tenskwatawa the following day. Early the next morning warriors from Prophetstown attacked Harrison's army. They took the army by surprise, but Harrison and his men stood their ground for more than two hours. After the battle, Harrison's men burned Prophetstown to the ground, destroying the food supplies stored for the winter. The soldiers then returned to their homes. Harrison accomplished his goal of destroying Prophetstown. The win proved decisive and garnered Harrison the nickname of "Tippecanoe". Meanwhile, the defeat dealt a fatal blow for Tecumseh's confederacy and, though comeback attempts were made, it never fully recovered. So popular was Harrison's nickname that the Whigs turned "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" into the slogan and a popular song for Harrison and his running mate John Tyler's 1840 presidential campaign. Another later report (Jan. 18, 1812, page 376) carried news that The Prophet had surrendered to Harrison, along with Tecumseh. 214 Indians are said to have been killed in the fight. Disagreements between Gov. Harrison and Tecumseh had been roiling well before the battle. Gov. Harrison had mustered his troops at Fort Knox 2, where Captain Zachary Taylor had been put in charge. Taylor arrived at the garrison following an "unfortunate occurrence" perpetuated by his predecessor, Captain Thornton Posey, in which Posey fatally shot Lieutenant Jesse Jennings as a result of a personal feud. Following the shooting, Captain Posey abandoned the fort and fled. That story is here also, (Sept. 28, 1811, page 72). In another report (Oct. 26, 1811) "The Character of an Indian Chief" tells of Opechancanough who was the paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in present-day Virginia from 1618 until his death. He had been a leader in the confederacy formed by his older brother Powhatan, from whom he inherited the paramountcy. A lengthy and dramatic report (Jan. 11, 1812) on The Richmond Theatre fire, which on Dec. 26, 1811, caused the deaths of more than seventy people, including the governor of Virginia. At the time it was the deadliest urban disaster in American history. There are also interesting reports on earthquakes (Jan. 4, 1812, page 335 and Jan. 25, 1812, page 392); a frog found in a solid rock (Jan. 4, 1812, page 323) and details of a duel (Jan. 4, 1812, page 335) Volume bound tight and rag pages in great condition.
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