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Subject : Shawnee Chief Tecumseh
Date/Time : 10/19/2012 10:35:52 AM

Tecumseh was born among the Shawnees in Ohio around the year 1768. He and his brother, Tenskwatawa (also called the Prophet) rose to prominence for their efforts to promote Native American culture and their resistance to the encroachment of American settlers onto native lands.

As a young man, Tecumseh participated in the defeat of St. Clair's army in 1791 and the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The brothers' influence spread rapidly after 1805, when the Prophet began a religious revival, and Tecumseh turned to organizing a coalition of Indian nations with British support.

Tensions grew until they reached the boiling point in 1811. On November 7, William Henry Harrison defeated the Indians and destroyed Prophet's Town on the Tippecanoe River in Indiana. Tecumseh, who was absent on a recruiting mission in the South, returned to rebuild his confederacy. By the time the United States declared war against Great Britain in 1812, Tecumseh's forces had already joined the British at Fort Malden in Amherstburg.

As allies of the British, Tecumseh's warriors performed valuable services in the Detroit campaign, the Battles of Brownstown, Monguagon, and the River Raisin, and the Sieges of Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson. They made the northwest frontier insecure for American troops and settlers.

Unfortunately, their activities also invited American retaliation against native villages. Many villages were burned or forced to relocate deeper into British or American controlled territory where they could find protection and food or maintain some sort of neutrality. Those opposed to Tecumseh, including some members of his own tribe, even provided scouts and warriors to fight for the Americans.

Personally, Tecumseh was greatly respected by both his friends and his enemies. He prevented the killing of prisoners after Dudley's defeat during the Siege of Fort Meigs, and he probably would have done the same had he been present at the River Raisin.

After Commodore Perry's capture of the British fleet on Lake Erie in September of 1813, the British under Colonel Procter abandoned Amherstburg and Detroit, retreating into the interior of Upper Canada. Rather than abandon his homeland, Tecumseh urged Procter to stay and fight. At the Battle of the Thames in October, the British and Indians were defeated, and Tecumseh killed. His brother Tenskwatawa survived the war and died in Kansas in 1836.

~ by Ralph Naveaux

Subject : Sale of a negrees, 1765
Date/Time : 10/2/2012 10:38:23 AM

Sale of a negrees at New Orleans, 1765

Ce jourdhui 31mo jour de Juliet 1765 je sous signé declare avoir vendre et liveré a Monsieur Bebecart une Newgreese nommée Pegué agée de vingt cing ans ou environ pour el pris et somme de dix sept cent livres en letres de change a moy en main payees et don’t je tiens quite mondit Sieur a la Nouvelle Orleans jour et an que dessus

~ Joseph Chalon

[translation]
This, the 31st day of July 1765, I the undersigned declare that I have sold and delivered to Mr. Bebecart a negrees named Peggy, age 25 years or about that, for the sum of seventeen hundred livres [between $310 and $340} in letters of exchange in hand paid and for liability for which the above mentioned Sieur is released at New Orleans day and year aforesaid.

~ Joseph Chalon

Subject : Advertisement for stolen boy
Date/Time : 10/1/2012 11:13:12 AM

Clarksville, Indiana April 26 1783

Was taken from this place about the 18th of February Last a boy names John Scroggan about Eight years and one half of age of fair Complexion pitted with the Small-pox he had Short fair hair Suposed to be taken by the Kickabouse or Windots if said boy be found a Reasonable reward Shall be paid by me

Tohmas Scroggan.

Subject : Ojibway prayer
Date/Time : 9/24/2012 10:05:08 AM

Grandfather,
Look at our brokenness,
We know that in all creation
Only the human family
Has strayed from the sacred way.
We know that we are the ones
Who divided
And we are the ones
Who must come back together
To walk in the sacred way
Grandfather,
Sacred One,
Teach us love, compassion, honor
That we may heal the earth
And heal each other.

Subject : The Old Chisholm Trail
Date/Time : 9/17/2012 7:59:24 AM

Well come along boys and listen to my tale,
I'll tell you my troubles on the old Chisholm Trail.

On a ten dollar horse and a forty dollar saddle,
I started out to punchin' then longhorn cattle.

I started up the trail October twenty-third,
I started up the trail with the 2U herd.

I'm up in the morning before daylight,
And before I sleep the moon shines bright.

It's bacon and beans most every day,
We'll soon be a-eatin' prairie hay.

With my seat in the saddle and my hand on the horn,
I'm the best damned cowboy that ever was born.

It's cloudy in the west and a-lookin' like rain,
And my damned old slicker's in the wagon again.

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