1811.

EARTHQUAKE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

847

would probably bad been the place, if the usual route had not been abandoned, and a crossing made higher up; that the attack made on our sentinels at Fort Harrison, was intended to shut the door against accommodation ; that the Winnebagoes bad forty warriors killed in the action, and the Kickapoos eleven, and ten wounded. They have never heard how many of the Pottawattamies and other tribes were killed; that the Pottawattamie chief left by me on the battle ground, is since dead of his wounds, but that he faithfully delivered my speech to the different tribes, and warmly urged them to abandon the Prophet, and submit to my terms.'

" I cannot say, sir, how much of the above may he depended on. I believe, however, that the statement made by the chiefs is gener-erally correct, particularly with regard to the present disposition of the Indians. It is certain that our frontiers have never enjoyed more profound tranquillity than at this time. No injury of any kind, that I can hear of, has been done, either to the persons or property of our citizens. Before the expedition, not a fortnight passed over, without some vexatious depredations being committed.

" The Kiekapoo chiefs certainly tell an untruth, when they say that there were but eleven of their tribe killed, and ten wounded; it is impossible to believe that fewer were wounded than killed. They acknowledge, however, that the Indians have never sustained so severe a defeat since their acquaintance with the white people."

During this year two events took place, beside the battle of Tippecanoe, which make it especially noticeable in the history of the West; the one was, the building of the steamer New Orleans, the first boat built beyond the Alleghenies; the other was the series of earthquakes which destroyed New Madrid, and affected the whole valley. Of the latter event, the following description is from the pen of Dr. Hildreth :*

" The first shock was felt in the night of the 16th of December, 1811, and was repeated at intervals, with decreasing violence, into February following. New Madrid, haviug suffered more than any other town on the Mississippi from its effects, was considered as situated near the focus from whence the undulations proceeded. The center of its violence was thought to be near the Little Prairie, twenty-five or thirty miles below New Madrid; the vibrations from which were felt all over the valley of the Ohio, as high up as Pittsburgh.

* Dawson, 204 to 208.   McAfee's History of the War, 18 to 38.