four o'clock in the morning
Some boys , awake with the bigness of the occasion , sat down near Johnny Appleseed , and gave him their frank attention . Each boy had his hair cut straight around below the ears , where his mother had measured it with an inverted bowl , and freshly trimmed him for life in the fort , and perhaps for the discomfiture of savages , if he came under the scalping knife . Open-mouthed or stern-jawed , according to temperament , the young pioneers listened to stories about Tecumseh , and surmises on the enemy 's march , and the likelihood of a night attack . `` Tippecanoe was fought at four o'clock in the morning , '' said a soldier . `` I was there , '' spoke out Johnny Appleseed . No other man could say as much . All looked at him as he stood on his cauterized feet , stretching his arms , lean and sun-cured , upward in the firelight .