Stickney’s attitude provoked Harrison a great deal. The governor immediately dispatched a lengthy letter to the Secretary of War in which he brought up the entire question of his authority over the Indian agents in Indiana Territory, and he urged the War Department to correct any misconceptions relating to it. Reference was made by Harrison to the incident of Wells acting independently in 1803 and the vindication of Harrison’s authority over Wells at that time. Finally, Harrison caustically observed that “it has been reserved for the ‘Common sense’ of Mr. Stickney to discover that no such obligation existed because he derived his appointment immediately from you.”[24] Truly the situation did call for the utmost vigilance from the members of the Indian department and demanded harmony and concert in their measures. If Stickney would have been permitted to stand upon ground independent of the governor, their plans could have resulted in contradiction that would have produced a discord fatal to the interests of the nation. Harrison had directed Stickney to correspond regularly with him concerning the trend of events at Fort Wayne and to send copies of all such correspondence to the War Department in order that it might be fully and immediately informed of the important happenings at Fort Wayne. Harrison had also ordered Wells to send any messages directed to him through Stickney. However, Wells naturally disregarded these instructions whenever he wrote to Harrison concerning Stickney’s actions. Stickney was the subject matter of Wells’ last two letters to the Governor. On July 22, Wells reported that the Prophet with one hundred of his followers had been at Fort Wayne for ten days and planned to leave that day. During this interval Major Stickney appeared to have been completely beguiled by the Prophet’s declarations of neutrality. Despite Tippecanoe and the fact that Tecumseh was already allied with the British, Stickney allowed the Prophet to take the lead in the councils with Indians and freely gave the Prophet ammunition and supplies. On July 19, the Prophet received word from Tecumseh to send the women and children west of the Mississippi and to unite the warriors for a blow at Vincennes. In order to make better time the Prophet’s men stole two riding horses from Wells’ farm and proceeded westward. To make sure that Stickney would suspect nothing, the Prophet informed him of the theft of the horses and dispatched two men on foot, supposedly to find the thieves. According to Wells, Stickney swallowed this bait and congratulated the Prophet on his honesty.[25]