that time on, Tecumseh
expressed an undying ha-
tred for whites and joined
numerous raiding parties
beginning at the age of
- The colonists retali-
ated in kind, and in 1780
militia under George
Rogers Clark played
havoc on the Shawnee
settlements. The success-
ful conclusion of the
American Revolution only
increased the tempo of
westward migration and
other wars resulted. In
1790 and 1791, Tecumseh
gained renown as a scout
and warrior under Blue
Jacket, and he distin-
guished himself in the defeats of Josiah Har-
mar and Arthur St. Clair. Three years later, he
was present when Blue Jacket was defeated
by Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers, but he
refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville in - With a small group of followers, Tecum-
seh left Ohio for the relative safety of the Indi-
ana Territory and removed himself from fur-
ther dealings with whites.
After a decade of relative peace, Tecum-
seh’s calm was shattered by a new series of
land acquisitions. In 1804, the territorial gov-
ernor of Indiana, William Henry Harrison,
managed to convince several older chiefs to
cede the United States several million acres
through some questionable treaties. Enraged
by the prospect of losing additional hunting
grounds, Tecumseh established himself as a
forceful opponent of further land sales. He
went from tribe to tribe, arguing that since the
land in question belonged to all Native Ameri-
cans, none could be sold without the consent
of all. His argument was backed by the teach-
ings of his brother, Tenskwatawa, or The
Prophet, who invoked Indian religion to coun-
teract the destructive effects of white culture.
The unique combination of intertribal diplo-
macy and mystic revivalism promoted a sur-
prising degree of unity in
the Old Northwest tribes,
and they began resisting
white overtures. Harrison
parleyed unsuccessfully
with Tecumseh in 1809
but walked away very im-
pressed by his intelli-
gence, bearing, and re-
solve. He described the
chief to Secretary of War
William Eustis as “one of
those uncommon ge-
niuses, which spring up
occasionally to produce
revolutions and overturn
the established order of
things.” The Shawnees,
wishing to expand his
idea of confederation,
next traveled extensively as far west as Iowa
and as far south as Florida to recruit new
members. In Mississippi, the noted Choctaw
Chief Pushmahata rebuffed his stance with
equal eloquence, but the Creek nation of Al-
abama, then in the throes of its own religious
revival, listened closely and began preparing
for war with the whites.
However, in Tecumseh’s absence Harrison
resolved to deal the Indians a blow from
which they might not recover. Since 1809,
Tenskwatawa had established and maintained
a village at Tippecanoe Creek, on lands previ-
ously sold to whites. Intent on removing this
symbol of Native American resistance, Harri-
son in November 1811 took a small army up
the Wabash River in an attempt to force the
Indians to move. They responded by attacking
his camp on the night of November 7 and
were defeated after a hard struggle. Tensk-
watawa acted in defiance of Tecumseh’s or-
ders not to provoke a fight before the coali-
tion was solvent, and his work began
unraveling. Furthermore, the setback forced
Tecumseh into a greater reliance on the
British in Canada for arms and supplies.
Clearly, the British did not want to be impli-
cated in a war between the United States andTECUMSEH
Tecumseh
Library of Congress