Portrait of Tecumseh

Tecumseh (c.1768 – October 5, 1813), whose given name might be more accurately rendered as Tecumtha or Tekamthi, was a famous Shawnee leader. He spent much of his life attempting to rally disparate Native American tribes in a mutual defense of their lands, which eventually culminated in his death in the War of 1812. Tecumseh was greatly admired in his day. He remains a respected icon for Native Americans and is considered a national hero in Canada. Even his longtime adversary William Henry Harrison considered Tecumseh to be "one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things."

Early years

The exact year of Tecumseh's birth is unknown; 1768 is the generally accepted estimate. He was born in the Ohio Country, probably in one of the Shawnee towns along the Scioto River. Nineteenth century traditions (and current Ohio historical markers) placed his birthplace further west, along the Little Miami River, although the Shawnee towns there were not settled until after Tecumseh's birth. Tecumseh's name (which has been translated in a number of ways, including "I Cross the Way" or "A Panther Crouching for His Prey") was a reference to his family clan (or phratry), and not to a passing comet as later traditions claimed. Shawnee children inherited a clan affiliation from their fathers; Tecumseh belonged to the panther clan.

In addition to clans, the Shawnee had five traditional divisions, membership in which was also inherited from the father. Tecumseh's father Pukeshinwah (and thus Tecumseh also) belonged to the Kispoko division. Most traditions state that Tecumseh's mother Methoataaskee was Creek or Cherokee, but biographer John Sugden believes that she was a Shawnee of the Pekowi (Piqua) division. Some of the confusion results from the fact that some Creeks and Cherokees were eager to claim the famous Tecumseh as one of their own; many Creeks named children after him.

Warfare between whites and Indians loomed large in Tecumseh's youth. Pukeshinwah was killed in Lord Dunmore's War at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. In the American Revolutionary War, many Shawnee villages were destroyed by American frontiersmen, including what was likely Tecumseh's boyhood home in the Battle of Piqua in 1780. Tecumseh was raised in part by his older brother Cheeseekau, an important war leader whom Tecumseh probably accompanied in skirmishes against whites in Kentucky and Ohio.

In early 1789, Tecumseh traveled south with Cheeseekau to live among (and fight alongside) the Chickamauga Cherokee. The two were accompanied by twelve Shawnee warriors, and stayed at Running Water (in Marion County, Tennessee}, because that was where the wife and daughter whom Cheeseekau had not seen in years lived. There Tecumseh met the famous leader Dragging Canoe, who was leading a resistance movement against U.S. expansion. Cheeseekau was killed while leading a raid, and Tecumseh assumed leadership of the small Shawnee band. Tecumseh returned to Ohio in late 1790, having fathered, according to Cherokee legend, a Cherokee daughter before leaving.

Back in the Ohio Country, Tecumseh took part in the war to resist further expansion into the Ohio Country by the United States, which ended unsuccessfully at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Tecumseh refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville, which ended the war.

"Tecumseh's War"

At Vincennes in 1810, Tecumseh lost his temper when William Henry Harrison refused to rescind the Treaty of Fort Wayne.Tecumseh settled in Greenville with his younger brother Tenskwatawa (which means He Opens the Door). In 1805, a nativist religious revival led by Tenskwatawa emerged. Tenskwatawa urged natives to reject the ways of the whites, and to refrain from ceding any more lands to the United States. Opposing Tenskwatawa was the Shawnee leader Black Hoof, who was working to maintain a peaceful relationship with the United States. By 1808, tensions with whites and Black Hoof's Shawnees compelled Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh to remove further northwest and establish the village of Prophetstown near the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers.

Tenskwatawa's religious teachings became widely known, and he attracted Native American followers from many different nations. Although Tecumseh would eventually emerge as the leader of this confederation, it was built upon a foundation established by the religious appeal of his younger brother. Relatively few of these followers were Shawnees; although Tecumseh is often portrayed as the leader of the Shawnees, most Shawnees in fact had little involvement with Tecumseh or the Prophet, and chose instead to move further west or to remain at peace with the United States.

In September 1809, William Henry Harrison, governor of the newly formed Indiana Territory, negotiated the Treaty of Fort Wayne in which various American Indian leaders sold about 2,500,000 acres to the United States. Tecumseh's opposition to this treaty marked his emergence as a prominent leader. Although Tecumseh and the Shawnees had no claims on the land sold, he was alarmed by the massive sale. Tecumseh revived an idea advocated in previous years by the Shawnee leader Blue Jacket and the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, which stated that Native American land was owned in common by all tribes, and thus no land could be sold without agreement by all. Not yet ready to confront the United States directly, Tecumseh's primary adversaries were initially the Native American leaders who had signed the treaty. An impressive orator, Tecumseh began to travel widely, urging warriors to abandon accommodationist chiefs and to join the resistance at Prophetstown. Tecumseh insisted that the Fort Wayne treaty was illegitimate; he asked Harrison to nullify it, and warned that Americans should not attempt to settle the lands sold in the treaty.

In August 1811, Tecumseh met with Harrison at Vincennes, assuring him that the Shawnee brothers meant to remain at peace with the United States. Tecumseh then traveled to the south, on a mission to recruit allies among the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes." Most of the southern nations rejected his appeals, but a faction among the Creeks, who came to be known as the Red Sticks, answered his call to arms, leading to the Creek War.

While Tecumseh was in the south, Governor Harrison marched up the Wabash River from Vincennes with more than 1,000 men, on an expedition to intimidate the Prophet and his followers. On November 6, 1811, Harrison's army arrived outside Prophetstown. Tenskwatawa sent out his warriors against the American encampment that night. In the Battle of Tippecanoe, Harrison's men held their ground, and the Natives withdrew from the village after the battle. The victorious Americans burned the town and returned to Vincennes.

The Battle of Tippecanoe was a severe blow for Tenskwatawa, who lost prestige and the confidence of his brother. Although it was a significant setback, Tecumseh began to secretly rebuild his alliance upon his return from the south. Now that the Americans were also at war with the British in the War of 1812, "Tecumseh's War" became a part of that struggle. The American effort to neutralize potential British-Native cooperation had backfired, instead making Tecumseh and his followers more fully committed to an alliance with the British.

War of 1812

Tecumseh joined British Major-General Sir Isaac Brock to force the surrender of Detroit in August 1812, a major victory for the British. Tecumseh's shrewdness in warfare was evident in this engagement. As Brock advanced to a point just out of range of Detroit's guns, Tecumseh had his warriors parade out from a nearby wood and circle around to repeat the maneuver, making it appear that there were many more than was actually the case. The fort commander, Brigadier General William Hull, surrendered in fear of massacre should he refuse.

This victory was reversed a little over a year later, however, as Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's victory on Lake Erie, late in the summer of 1813, cut British supply lines and prompted them to withdraw. The British burned the public buildings in Detroit and retreated into Upper Canada along the Thames Valley. Tecumseh followed, fighting rearguard actions to slow the US advance.

The next British commander, Major-General Henry Procter did not have the same working relationship with Tecumseh as his predecessor. Procter failed to appear at Chatham, Ontario as expected by the Native Americans. Harrison crossed into Upper Canada in October, 1813 and won a victory over the British and the Native Americans at the Battle of the Thames near Chatham. Tecumseh was killed in the battle and, shortly after, the tribes of his confederacy surrendered to Harrison at Detroit. Certain eye-witness sources state that Tecumseh was killed by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, future vice-president of the United States under Martin Van Buren, although it has not been proven.

Quotations

Then listen to the voice of duty, of honor, of nature and of your endangered country. Let us form one body, one head, and defend to the last warrior, our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers. — Tecumseh, circa 1813

A more ... gallant Warrior does not, I believe, exist. — Major-General Sir Isaac Brock

Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself. — Tecumseh

Source

Dowd, Gregory Evans. "A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815." Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press (1992)

Edmunds, R. David. "Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership." Boston: Little Brown (1984)

Gilbert, Bil. "God Gave Us this Country: Tekamthi and The First American Civil War." Atheneum (1989)

Sugden, John. "Tecumseh: A Life." New York: Holt (1997)