The Great Chief Tecumseh

Do you want to learn more about The Great Chief Tecumseh? then you have come to the right place.

Born into a time of danger and term oil, Tecumseh was the chief of the powerful Shawnee tribe in Ohio Vally.

A fighter until the very end of his last breath, he did many great things in his life and is often talked about in schools, books and even has numerous buildings, statues, and sculptures named after him.

Let’s find out more about The Great Chief Tecumseh.

Early Life.

Tecumseh (Panther That Jumps From One Mountain To Another) was born in an old Native American village north of present-day Xenia, Ohio around 1768.

He was very young his father was killed by whites in 1774. His mother, a Muskogee (Creek Confederacy), left him, when he was just seven years old, to join part of the tribe to Missouri and then passed into obscurity.

Tecumseh was raised by an elder sister, Tecumapease, who then trained him in the strict Shawnee code of honesty.

His elder brother, Cheeseekau, taught him about woodcraft and hunting. He was adopted by a Shawnee chief named Blackfish and grew to young manhood with several white foster brothers whom Blackfish had captured.

The Battle Of Fallen Timbers

Around the age of 26, Tecumseh was apart of what was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War that occurred on August 20. 1794,

The North-East Indian War was a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and their British allies, against the young United States for control of the Northwest Territory of the United States.

The short battle took place amid trees toppled by a tornado near the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio at the site of the present-day city of Maumee, Ohio.

In the end, the United States was victorious against a combined Native American effort of Shawnee warrior’s who were supposed to be allies of the Blue Jacket British.

On the way back to the British fort expecting refuge, Tecumseh and his people were refused entry into that fort. The British feared another war with the United States. Tecumseh and his people considered this another act of British betrayal.

The U.S. victory ended major hostilities in the region and brought an end to the North Eat Indian War and with it came the Treaty Of Greenville.

Treaty Of Greenville

The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous people of the now Midwestern United States including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, which redefined the boundary between indigenous peoples’ lands and all territory for European American settlement.

This treaty saw about 2/3 of the tribes lands taken away from them.

It was signed at Fort Greenville, which is now Greenville, Ohio, on August 3, 1795, following the loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers a year earlier. It ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio area, limited Indian Country to northwestern Ohio, and began the practice of annual payments following land concessions.

The people about of the treaty were a coalition of some Native American tribes known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States government represented by General Anthony Wayne and other local frontiersmen.

The treaty became known with the end of the frontier in the Northwest Territory.

There were many tribes and people who did not agree with this treaty and among them was the warrior Tecumseh.

Years Of Struggle

For many years after the signing of the Greenville treaty, Tecumseh, his people, and many other tribes suffered many great struggles like many other tribes at this time.

Some of these struggles included the lack of resources, sickness, loss of identity, displacement and constant dangers of white settlers or other tribes killing them.

During this time of all this pain and trauma, the tribes at this time we’re introduced to a new epidemic and that was alcoholism.

One of the people who fell prisoner to this firewater was Tecumseh’s brother Lalawethika.

Lalawethika (The Noise Maker) having failed many of his attempts to prove himself as a hunter or warrior slowly gave up hope and started to drink to numb his pain.

Lalawethika was often looked at a lazy bum who couldn’t provide for his family until late one night in a drunken stupor he fell and passed out on a fire.

The Shawnee Prophet.

On a cold summer night of 1805 as the universe continued to become unhinged for the Shawnee, a message of hope was brought to them from the least unlikely of places.

After falling into the fire everyone thought for sure that the drunken noise maker Lalawethika was for sure going to die.

Miraculously he survived and when he awoke he told the people a powerful vision he was given.

In this vision he was visited by “The Master Of Breathe” a powerful spirit in the Shawnee tradition.

The spirit should him the spirit world or what the many people refer to as heaven filled with animals, honey, and would be only be granted to those people who lived virtuously and traditionally.

From that day forth he denounced Euro-American settlers, calling them offspring of the Evil Spirit,. He led a life of purification and even changed his name to Tenskwatawa which means “the open door” to signify that he was the way towards a good afterlife.

He then spread this message of rebuking the colonial way across the tribes, including alcohol, and encouraged his followers to pursue traditional ways.

With this powerful message of renewal also of came an idea of unity to the mind of Tecumseh

Tecumseh’s Federation

Tecumseh used his brother’s influence to convince the tribes of the North West to put aside their traditional differences and unite together as one against the whites.

He also visited many tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River seeking additional support for his confederation. Tecumseh was a firm believer that more people translate into more power.

Most tribes listened to Tecumseh’s idea but many also rejected it. This was especially true of tribes in modern-day Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi.

Many of the Prophet’s followers embraced white products and customs. They did not want to lose access to these goods. Tecumseh had more success in Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana Territory, areas that white settlers had been attempting to settle since before the French and Indian War.

With this sudden uprise of tribes, many white settlers began to become uneasy and report that the displaced tribes might be planning to unify to form some sort of Indian rebellion.

With their number of followers on the rise and the continuous eyes of white’s watching, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa decided to move their base of operations to the heart of Indiana much closer to tribes of that area who were beginning to take interest in their cause.

This place was then called Prophets Town which is on the North West corner of Indiana.

The Treaty Of Fort Wayne

In the fall of 1809, the Treaty of Fort Wayne is signed and with it, 3 million acres of land is lost and taken over by the Americans

With the pressure of the United States and settlers moving closer north towards Prophets Town, there was suddenly a need for a major political movement to try to save the Indian land base.

Springing into action and rallying as many warriors as he could he had the idea of creating a country within a country.

His plan was to create a Unified Confederation with the great lakes to the north, the Mississippi river to the west, and The Ohio river to the south and east.

A United Indian States Of America Within The United States Of America.

Over the new few years, Tecumseh then starts a tour to meet with the surrounding tribes to tell of his idea to unite everyone under one nation.

Also to stock up on weapons and supplies for an armed conflict that he knew was going to happen.

This proved to be a lot easier said than done having many obstacles to overcome to even begin to have the tribes consider joining him.

First was the language barrier many of the tribes did not know each other’s language so a lot of the time an interrupter was needed.

The second was that no one really listened to the chiefs anymore and many acted for their own self-interest.

For this Tecumseh planned to talk powerfully to the warriors into fighting and he it certainly worked.

Tecumseh ends up bringing together at least 20 different tribes into one common goal.

Confrontation at Grouseland

By August 1810 the number of followers in prophets town had risen to well over a thousand strong.

Fearing major bloodshed, Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison ordered federal troops to reinforce the territory of the town, Vincennes.

Harrison also sent a messenger to Prophets Town urging Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa to come to the South Eastern Indiana Town Of Vincennes to discuss the Treaty Of Fort Wayne.

Tecumseh then told the messenger he would come to Vincennes personally to meet with Harrison.

Tecumseh and 400 armed warriors traveled down the Wabash River to meet with Harrison.

The 400 warriors were all wearing war paint, and their sudden appearance frightened the soldiers at Vincennes. The leaders of the group were escorted to Grouseland, where they met Harrison.

Tecumseh had insisted that the Fort Wayne treaty was unsanctioned; he asked Harrison to revoke it and warned that Americans should not attempt to settle the lands sold in the unfair treaty.

Tecumseh acknowledged to Harrison that he had threatened to kill all the chiefs who signed the treaty if they carried out its terms and that his confederation was rapidly growing.

Harrison responded to Tecumseh that the Miami were the owners of the land and could sell it if they so chose.

Harrison also rejected Tecumseh’s claim that all the Indians formed one nation, and each nation could have separate relations with the United States. As proof, Harrison told Tecumseh that the Great Spirit would have made all the tribes to speak one language if they were to be one nation.

Tecumseh then began a passionate repute, but Harrison was unable to understand his language.

A Shawnee who was friendly to Governor Harrison cocked his pistol from the sidelines to alert Harrison that Tecumseh’s speech was leading to trouble.

Finally, an army lieutenant who could speak Tecumseh’s Shawnee language warned Harrison that he was encouraging the warriors with him to kill Harrison. Many of the warriors began to pull their weapons and then Harrison pulled his sword.

At the time, the entire town’s population was only 1,000 and Tecumseh’s men could have easily massacred the town, but once the few officers pulled their guns to defend Harrison, the warriors then backed down.

Chief Winnemac, who was friendly to Governor Harrison, countered Tecumseh’s arguments to the warriors and instructed them that because they had come in peace, they should return in peace and live to fight another day.

But Before leaving, Tecumseh informed Harrison that unless the treaty was nullified, he would seek an alliance with the British.

Trying To Grow More Numbers

After the meeting, Tecumseh decides to go south to try to persuade the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes to join their cause but before he goes he leaves his brother Tenskwatawa in charge and tells him to do whatever he can to not engage in armed conflict with the United States army.

After the Confrontation at Grouseland over 1000 troops march towards Prophets Town and arrive within a month.

Tenskwatawa having seen the large number of troops coming towards the land base is faced with a difficult decision either to respond fighting or to talk with peace.

On the night of November 6, 1811, Tenskwatawa and others talked about what to do. Tenskwatawa is besieged by in western Algonquian allies who want to strike to the army unexpectedly in the morning. Against his brothers wishes he has no choice but to agree.

Battle of Tippecanoe

On the morning of November 7, 1811, Early the next morning warriors from Prophets town attacked Harrison’s army. They took the army by surprise, but Harrison and his men stood their ground for more than two hours.

As the sun begins to rise Harrison’s men can now see that there are not that much of the warriors and that the warriors are running low on ammo.

Having been overwhelmed, the warriors then retreated and abandoned Prophets Town.

The next day on November 8, 1811, Harrison’s men burned it to the ground, destroying the food supplies stored for the winter. The soldiers then returned to their homes.

After Tippecanoe

Upon his return Tecumseh his filled with rage and first blames his brother for the foolish decision to fight the American’s.

The battle, however, did not end the Indians’ resistance to the Americans. Despite the loss at Prophetstown, Tecumseh continued his role as the military leader of the pan-Indian alliance and began to rebuild its membership. However, many of the tribes lost faith and his great plan to establish a stronger Indian alliance was never fulfilled.

The battle was also a severe blow for his brother’s Tenskwatawa’s. He lost his influence among the Indians, as well as the confidence of his brother. The Prophet became an outcast and eventually moved to Canada.

It was then that American declared war on the British in 1812.

The War Of 1812

When the Americans went to war with the British in 1812, Tecumseh’s War then became a part of that struggle. 

Having regained his followers and men, the British at this time were in need of Man Power which Tecumseh was willing to give in hopes of acquiring land for them to form the United Tribe he dreamed about.

Tecumseh’s fantastic way of words gained him favor with the British and his skills as a military leader further cemented his legacy as one of the greatest military leaders of all time.

Siege of Detroit

Tecumseh rallied his confederacy and joined British Major-General Sir Isaac Brock in the Siege of Detroit, helping to force the city’s surrender in August 1812. The victory was of great strategic value to the British allies.

Tecumseh was made a brigadier general in the British army as the commander in chief of its Indian allies.

To honor Tecumseh for his help during the siege, Major-General Henry Procter, the next British commander in the region at the time, awarded him a sash, but Tecumseh returned it “with respectful contempt”.

The victory at Detroit, however, was reversed a little over a year later when Americans’ victory on Lake Erie in the summer of 1813 cut the British’s much-needed supply lines.

With William Henry Harrison’s successful defense of Fort Meigs, which created a staging area for the recapture of Fort Detroit, the British found themselves in an indefensible position and had to withdraw from the city.

The British burned all public buildings in Detroit and retreated into Upper Canada along the Thames Valley.

Tecumseh sought continued British support in order to defend tribal lands against the Americans. However, a much reinforced Harrison led an invasion of Canada.

Battle of the Thames

Major-General Procter did not have the same working relationship with Tecumseh as his predecessor Isaac Brock.

Tecumseh and Proctor often disagreed over tactics. While Procter favored withdrawal into Canada to avoid further battles, leaving the Americans to suffer through the hardships of the cold winter, Tecumseh was more eager to launch an immediate and decisive action to defeat the Americans and allow his warriors to retake their homelands in the northwest.

Meanwhile, Harrison pursued the retreating British and allied tribes. When Procter’s forces failed to appear at Chatham in Upper Canada (although he had promised Tecumseh that he would make a stand there against the Americans), Tecumseh reluctantly moved all his men to meet up with Procter’s troops near Moraviantown.

Tecumseh informed Procter that he would withdraw no farther and announced that if the British wanted his continued help, they needed to wait for the arrival of Harrison’s army and fight. At the conclusion of an impassioned speech, Tecumseh said:

“Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it be his will, we wish to leave our bones upon them.”

The Death Of Tecumseh

On October 5, 1813, Harrison began his assault on both Tecumseh and Major-General Procter.

In one last betrayal, The Major- General and the British abandoned Tecumseh and his men to fend for themselves on the field of battle.

Sadly, the Americans attacked and won a victory over the British and Native Americans at the Battle of the Thames, near Moraviantown.

Tecumseh was killed in battle surrounded by his commands. With him goes the dream of a united nation of tribes under one power.

After the battle the American’s mutilated his body so bad that no one can could tell who he was.

The rest of the Indian confederacy surrendered to Harrison at Detroit and returned to their homes.

Never signing a treaty, never surrendering, and fighting until the very end, the death of Tecumseh immortalizes his name in history as a true Native American hero and will forever be remember as The Great Chief Tecumseh

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