General Blue Jacket
was our commander. After dark he called all the chiefs around him to listen to
what he had to say. Our fathers, he said, used to do as we do; our tribes used
to fight other tribes; they could trust to their own strength and their
numbers, but in this conflict we have no such reliance. Our power and our
numbers bear no comparison to those of our enemy, and we can do nothing,
unless assisted by our Great Father above. I pray now, continued Blue Jacket,
raising his eyes to heaven, that he will be with us tonight and (it was now
snowing) that tomorrow he will cause the sun to shine out clear upon us and we
will take it as a token of good and we shall conquer. Blue Jacket appears to
have been a priest, as well as a warrior.
About an hour before
day orders were given for every man to be ready to march. On examination, it
was found that three firs or camps, consisting of fifty Pottawattomies, had
deserted us. We marched until we got within sight of the fires of St. Clair;
then General Blue Jacket begin to talk and to sing a hymn, as Indians sing
hymns. Here the narrator mentioned some ceremony that I did not well
understand. The fight commenced, and continued for an hour or more, when the
Indians retreated. As they were leaving the ground, a chief, by the name of
Black Fish, ran in among them, and in the voice of thunder, asked them what
they were doing, where they were going, and who had given the orders to
retreat? This called a halt and he proceeded in a strain of the most
impassioned eloquence, to exhort them to courage and to deeds of daring and
concluded with saying that whatever the determination of others might be, he
knew not, but for
himself, his determination was to conquer or die! You who are like minded,
follow me, and they raised a war hoop, which was “we conquer or die”.
To be continued in
the next issue …
***
Mike Kesterson
1932 – 2001
Mike was a great
Grandson of George Washington Kesterson who was a son of Alfred and Martha
(Beatty) Kesterson. Alfred was killed at the Battle of Perryville Kentucky in
1862. His Grandfather (several times removed) fought with General Anthony
Wayne against the Shawnee chief Tecumseh and their British allies.