We know comparatively little of the military career of Red Jacket. It is certain that he fought with his tribe against the Americans during the Revolution, and was their enemy in the troublous times that followed in the West. He was never a great warrior or leader, and although he displayed bravery at times, he was surpassed in that respect by many of his people, who won less fame than he. It has even been charged more than once that the Seneca sachem showed a timidity amounting almost to cowardice,--a crime unpardonable with his race, and which would have brought disgrace to him but for his marvelous eloquence. Red Jacket's one ambition was to become the greatest orator of his race, and as has been already stated, he gained that honor. The poet Halleck declared he possessed: "The monarch mind--the mystery of commanding-- The godlike power--the art Napoleon, Of winning, fettering, moulding, wielding, banding, The heart of millions, till they move like one." As proof of the oratorical genius of the chief, an incident may be related. In the spring of 1821, an Indian, belonging to his tribe, died of a mysterious disease. Several circumstances were so strange that the woman who attended him in his last hours was accused of being a witch. According to the laws of the nation, she was doomed to death, just as was formerly the rule among the most civilized nations, and especially in New England. The chief appointed to execute her did so without hesitation. The whites were so outraged and indignant, that they arrested the man and threw him into prison. Among the witnesses was Red Jacket. Neither he nor the criminal himself denied the charge, but they pleaded that it was justified by a law in force from time immemorial. The chief had eyes of wonderfully piercing power. While on the witness stand, he suddenly called out in a voice that rang like a trumpet through the court room: [Illustration: A HURRIED FLIGHT] What! Do you denounce us as fools and bigots, because we still continue to believe that which you yourselves believed two centuries ago? Your divines have thundered this doctrine from the pulpit, your judges have pronounced it from the bench, your courts of justice have sanctioned it with the formalities of law, and you would now punish our unfortunate brother for adherence to the superstition of his fathers! "_Go to Salem!_ Look at the records of your government, and you will find hundreds executed for the very crime which has called forth the sentence of condemnation upon this woman, and drawn down the arm of vengeance on her. What have our brothers done more than the rulers of your people have done? And what crime has this man committed by executing, in a summary way, the laws of his country, and the commands of his God?" The prisoner was set free.