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their case to court, claiming that their contract for
the sale had been violated.
After 15 years of litigation, the Supreme Court
decides for the buyers, ruling that the original con-
tract is valid and binding. In its ruling, the Court
also determines that legally a state can sell land
occupied by Indians, whether or not the Indians ap-
prove of the sale. The decision will encourage states
to seize and sell Indian land without consulting the
Indians who live on it.
1811Summer
Tecumseh seeks the support of
southeastern tribes.
After years of traveling through Ohio, Michigan,
Indiana, and Illinois trying to recruit Indians to
“Accursed be the race that
has seized on our country and
made women of our warriors.
Our fathers from their tombs
reproach us as slaves and cow-
ards. I hear them now in the
wailing winds.... the spirits
of the mighty dead complain.
Their tears drop from the wail-
ing skies. Let the white race
perish. They seize your land,
they corrupt your women, they
trample on the ashes of your
dead! Back whence they came,
upon a trial of blood, they must
be driven.”
—Tecumseh to an Indian council
in present-day Alabamajoin his confederacy, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh
(see entries for 1808 and for SEPTEMBER 30, 1809)
heads south in the hope of convincing more war-
riors to join his cause. He wins the support of the
Creek but is unable to convince the Cherokee and
Choctaw, who are afraid of being drawn into a war
with the United States.November 7Tenskwatawa’s followers are defeated in the
Battle of Tippecanoe.
While Tecumseh travels through the South, Indiana
Territory governor William Henry Harrison (see
entry for SEPTEMBER 30, 1809) leads a 1,000-man
force of regular soldiers and militiamen toward his
Indian confederacy’s stronghold at Prophet’s Town
(see entry for 1808). Against the prior instructions
of Tecumseh, his brother, the prophet Tenskwa-
tawa, tells his people to make the first strike against
the advancing army at the Tippecanoe Creek.
Tenskwatawa’s decision proves to be a mistake;
the Indians are soundly defeated in the battle, and
Prophet’s Town is destroyed. The disaster discredits
Tenskwatawa in the eyes of many of his followers.
In the aftermath of the battle, Tecumseh finds sup-
port for his confederacy waning, leading him to rely
more heavily on support from his British allies. (See
also entry for 1840.)December 5An earthquake shakes the lower
Mississippi Valley.
A massive earthquake strikes the Mississippi Val-
ley in what is now southeastern Missouri. One
of the most violent earthquakes in the history of
North America, the disaster destroys the city of
New Madrid, Missouri, and its aftershocks are felt
as far away as Baltimore.
The earthquake also solidifies the Creek’s
support of Tecumseh (see entry for SUMMER
1811). When he left Creek territory in November,
he told the tribespeople that he would stomp the
ground when he had safely returned to Prophet’s