TIPTON, John, senator, born in Sevier county, Tennessee, 14 Aug'., 1786; died in Logansport, Indiana, 5 April, 18:30. His father, Joshua, removed from Maryland to eastern Tennessee, where he was murdered by Indians on 18 April, 1793. The duty of supporting the family was thus thrown on John's shoulders at an age when he should have been at school. At the same time he began to be known as an Indian fighter, believing that to avenge his father's murder was a sacred duty. In 1807 he removed with his family to Indiana, settling on a farm of fifty acres on Brinley's Ferry, Harrison County, which he paid for out of money that he earned by splitting rails at fifty cents a hundred. The district was infested by counterfeiters and horse-thieves, but Tipton inspired them with such fear that they abandoned the neighborhood. In 1809 he joined the "Yellow Jackets," a military company commanded by Captain Spier Spencer, and soon afterward became ensign, serving through the campaign that terminated with the battle of Tippecanoe, 7 November, 1811. He kept a journal of his campaign of seventy-four days, which, notwithstanding its singular method of spelling, is said to be the fullest and most vivid narrative of those operations. The "Yellow Jackets" lost their captain and their two lieutenants at Tippecanoe, and Tipton took command of the company. After this he reached the rank of brigadier-general of militia. In 1815 he was elected sheriff of Harrison county, and held this office by re-election until 1819, when he was sent to the legislature. He was one of the commissioners that were appointed by that body in 1820 to select a site for a new capital for Indiana, and it was on his motion that Fall Creek was chosen. He wrote a journal describing minutely his trips to different points in search of a suitable locality, and it shows a marked advance in spelling and style over the one in which he relates Harrison's campaign. He was re-elected in 1821, and soon afterward appointed a commissioner to determine with another commissioner from Illinois the boundary-line between the two states. He was appointed United States Indian agent for the Pottawattamie and Miami tribes in March, 1823, and in 1826 made arrangements with them by which valuable public lands were thrown open to settlers. In 1831 he was elected United States senator, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of General James Noble, and he was reelected for a full term in 1833. Although his political opinions were, on the whole, similar to those of General Jackson, he was his strenuous opponent on the United States bank question. He was specially interested in the progress of Indiana, organized the Eel river seminary society at Logansport, raised money for teachers, built school-houses, and constructed mills. He made extensive purchases of land in Bartholomew county, sixty acres of which he gave for the erection of public buildings. The city of Columbus was built on this property, and for a time was called Tiptonia in his honor. It received its present name when his political opponents were elected to office in the county. General Tipton held high office in the Masonic fraternity, becoming finally grand-master.