JAMES LAWRENCE 313 retreated with his red coats, leaving the Indians to bear the brunt of the battle. Tecumseh had gone into the fight saying that he would be killed, and his predic- tion was verified. But how he died no one can say with certainty. No less than four Americans claimed the honor of having killed him. Among the slain, in that time of fierce pursuit and confusion, his body was not even identified. But there it was, on the banks of that quiet Canadian stream, some thirty-five miles from Detroit, that the greatest Indian in statecraft, diplomacy, devotion to his people, and in dignity of thought and intellectual gifts, found his unmarked grave. No one yet has written a biography of him that does full justice to his great abilities and lofty character. But his name is the most familiar of all Indian names, and he is the only Indian after whom Western fathers and mothers have ever named their sons. The late General of the United States Army, William Tecumseh Sherman, bore his name, as have hundreds of other boys bom in Ohio, Kentucky, and the great States that roll westward from them. JAMES LAWRENCE (1781-1813) C^ ' APTAiN James Lawrence was one of that band of chivalrous spirits who, concen- trating all their life in the work, with insuf- ficient means, in the face of powerful ene- mies, raised our infant navy in an instant, as it were, to an honored rank in the world. The force and energy of the free national development were felt in the spontaneous movement that placed so many ardent, cou- rageous spirits at the service of the country. These men, Barry, Barney, Decatur, Bain- bridge, Perry, Somers, and the rest the list is a long one were volunteers in the cause, fighting more for glory than for pay. Such spirits were not to be hired theirs was no mercenary service. It was limited by no prudential considerations. They went forth singly or united, the commis- sioned champions of the nation, with their lives in their hands, ready to sacrifice
