Informed that Proctor and Tecumseh were flying eastward toward
the Moravian town on the river Thames, or La Tranche, as the French
called the stream, eighty miles from Detroit, the American forces, about
thirty-five hundred strong, on October 2, 1813, began pursuit. Johnson's
mounted riflemen led the van, while General Selby, a hero of King's
Mountain, followed with his Kentuckians, eager to avenge the slaughter
of their friends at River Raisin. For three days the pursuit continued.
At last, on the morning of the 5th of October, the army came up with
Proctor. Fernando was with the advance guard when they came on a small
party of Indians. The sharp crack of their rifles warned the armies to
prepare for action, and both began to form.
The victory which followed properly belonged to Johnson and his mounted
Kentuckians, though, as historians seldom know any one save the heads of
armies, it has been accorded to Harrison.
Fernando galloped back to Colonel Johnson and informed him that the
enemy was posted on a narrow strip of dry land, with the river Thames on
the left, and a swamp on the right. Tecumseh, with about twelve hundred
savages, occupied the extreme right on the eastern margin of the swamp.
The infantry, eight hundred in number, were posted between the river and
swamp, the men drawn up in open order. They waited for Harrison's orders
to attack.
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