On the second of October the army arrived at Terre Haute or "high land," said to be the scene of a bloody battle between the ancient tribe of the Illinois and the Iroquois. The place was designated by the old French traders and settlers as "Bataille des Illinois." A few old apple and peach trees still marked the site of an ancient Indian village. About two miles from this location was a town of the Weas. Harrison immediately began the erection of a quadrangular stockaded fort, with a blockhouse at three of the angles. This fortification, amid much celebrating, was, on Sunday, the twenty-seventh of October, christened as Fort Harrison. An oration was delivered on the occasion by Joseph Hamilton Davis. [Illustration: The Line of Harrison's March to Tippecanoe and the New Purchase of 1809. Drawing by Heaton] All doubt of the Prophet's hostility was now dispelled. He had committed open acts of war on the United States. While the army was on the march to Terre Haute a party of the Prophet's raiders, in open daylight, took eight horses from a settlement in the Illinois Territory about thirty miles above Vincennes. At eight o'clock, on the evening of the tenth of October, a sentinel belonging to the Fourth United States Regiment was fired on and badly wounded by savages prowling about the camp. "The army was immediately turned out," says Harrison, "and formed in excellent order in a very few minutes. Patrols were dispatched in every direction, but the darkness was such that pursuit was impracticable. Other alarms took place in the course of the night, probably without good cause, but the troops manifested an alertness in taking their positions which was highly gratifying to me." On the evening of the eleventh, John Conner and four of the Delaware chiefs came into camp. Before leaving Vincennes, Harrison had sent a request that some of their chiefs might meet him on the march, for the purpose of undertaking embassies of peace to the different tribes. On the sixth of October, many of them had set out from their towns, but were met on the way by a deputation from the Prophet's Town. This deputation declared that the followers of the Prophet had taken up the tomahawk against the United States, "and that they would lay it down only with their lives." They were confident of victory and required a categorical answer from the Delawares to the question of whether they would or would not join them in the coming war. Conner and the four chiefs were immediately sent to report to Harrison, and another party ordered forward to Tippecanoe to remonstrate with the Prophet. On the twenty-seventh the latter party reported to the Governor at Fort Harrison. They had been insulted and badly treated by the Prophet and were dismissed with contempt. During their stay with the Shawnee leader, the warriors arrived who had fired on the sentinel at Terre Haute. They were Shawnees and the Prophet's nearest friends.