In the year 1812, a young United States of
America declared war on the British Empire, and launched a full-scale invasion of Canada. No one expected the poorly defended British
Colony to hold out against a much larger American foe, and yet, it did. Canada's salvation came arguably in the form
of one man: Tecumseh. He was fighting for his people, the indigenous
tribes of North America. His alliance with the British was out of convenience
alone, and his true goal was simple: to create a united Native nation across the American
frontier, and retake the land that had been lost. Welcome to our video on the life of Tecumseh. Shoutout to the Ridge Wallet for sponsoring
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code “KINGSANDGENERALS”! To tell Tecumseh’s story from the very beginning,
we must explain the world he was born into. Native tribes had inhabited North America
for over 12,000 years, but diseases brought upon them by Europeans had apocalyptic effects
on their society. By the time the first English pilgrims arrived
at Plymouth rock in 1620, a smallpox epidemic had killed 90% of the local population. By the 18th century, the Eastern Seaboard
was dominated by Britain’s Thirteen Colonies, with tribes like the Pequot, Powhatan and
Massachusetts all but wiped out and pushed out of their homes. Now peoples like the Odawas, Shawnees, Lenape
and the powerful Iroquois confederacy were on the border of this expansion. Further inland, the French Empire claimed
a vast swath of territory from Labrador to Louisiana. It was a sparsely populated land where native
tribes exercised full autonomy, and were more or less equal partners in the incredibly lucrative
fur trade. The French tended not to impose on Native
territory, and their presence provided a buffer against British expansion. This all changed in 1754, as when the Seven
Years’ War erupted in North America. England and France found themselves in a war
for dominance over the new world, and the natives were forced to pick sides. The six nations of the Iroquois declared for
England, but nearly all the other local tribes fought alongside the French. The French were ultimately defeated, and their
territory annexed. The British now ventured inland, occupying
formerly French forts along the Great Lakes and Ohio. It was well known that unlike the French,
the British did not come to trade furs, but to flatten and tame the land, and displace
the natives who hunted and gathered there. As settlers began to trickle westwards, and
British soldiers treated the locals with contempt, whispers of war began to spread amongst the
tribes of the old Northwest. In 1763, the Odawa Chieftain Pontiac created
an alliance of fourteen tribes, and proceeded to wage a bloody and vengeful war upon the
British. His native confederacy raised hell, capturing
eight forts along the Great Lakes, killing over 2,000 settlers and 400 soldiers. Pontiac’s fierce resistance forced the British
to pull back, and reaffirm an earlier treaty in which the thirteen colonies promised not
to settle land west of the Allegheny mountains. Peace was made in 1766, and the tide of the
expansion had been stemmed, for now, but war would soon come to native peoples once more. Two years later, the man fated to lead them
into battle entered the world. In March of 1768, Tecumseh was born to the
Shawnee people, in a village along the Ohio river. It is said that upon giving birth, his mother
looked to the heavens, and saw a comet blazing across the night sky. This is where the child got his name, Tecumseh
- the shooting star. The Shawnee had long been a wandering people,
beset by conflict with other tribes. In centuries past, the Iroquois had pushed
them eastward from their old territory. They had settled in many places before coming
to their present spot along the Ohio river, but turmoil and warfare would carry over into
Tecumseh’s childhood. In the same year he was born, the Iroquois
sold land in Kentucky and West Virginia to the British. These were plains the Shawnee depended on
for hunting, but when they voiced their protests, they were ignored by both the British and
the Iroquois. So, when continental settlers began pouring
westward into their newly purchased territory, Shawnee warriors prepared to defend their
lands. In 1774, a six-year-old Tecumseh watched his
father, Pukeshinwau and eldest brother Cheeseekau partake in a ritual war dance before heading
away to battle. They met their foe at Point Pleasant, a force
of Virginia militiamen - who the Natives called the “Big Knives” on account of the sabres
worn by the colonial officers. Outnumbered and outgunned, the native warriors
were driven back. As a result, the Shawnee were forced to relinquish
their hunting grounds, allowing the settlers to move westward with impunity. Tecumseh’s father was mortally wounded in
the battle. With his dying breath, he beseeched his firstborn
son to preserve the dignity of his family line, and one day lead his younger brothers
into battle. The news of Pukeshinwau’s death devastated
Tecumseh’s mother, who was pregnant with the last of his children. It was no less hard upon the boy himself. Fatherless at six years old, his family was
uprooted and forced to move west. That winter, his mother gave birth to triplets;
of the two that survived, one was named Lalawethika. Initially a useless layabout, the sickly boy
would later have a profound impact on Tecumseh’s life. A year later, the Thirteen Colonies declared
their independence from the British Empire, plunging the region into war, and imposing
a new threat upon native peoples. As the Revolutionary war raged between patriot
and loyalist, many native bands now joined the fray on the side of the British Crown. Among them were the Shawnee, who sought to
reclaim the lands lost to the now-rebellious frontiersmen. This invoked the ire of the Americans, who
responded wrathfully, sending soldiers into Shawnee lands. Before long, a large band of Kentucky militia
were advancing upon Tecumseh’s village. Still too young to fight, Tecumseh had fled
alongside the women and children to nearby bluffs, while the warriors of the village
tried to hold off the militia, to no avail. It was not the first time Tecumseh was forced
to move, but this time, he was there to see his village burn, witnessing with his own
eyes the destruction caused by the Big Knives. Never again would Tecumseh sit idly by while
his people’s land was ravaged. In the years that followed, Tecumseh began
training to become the warrior his father had wanted him to be. His eldest brother Cheeseekau took full responsibility
for his younger brother’s growth, obeying his dying father’s last wish. Tecumseh was taught how to hunt, how to fight,
and how to live as a Shawnee warrior should. When he entered adolescence, Cheeseekau blackened
Tecumseh’s face, and sent him alone into the woods to find his guardian spirit. Tecumseh fasted and meditated, and his spirit
came to him in a vision. He never revealed to anyone what form his
ethereal guardian took. Tecumseh soon matured into a strong, intelligent
young man. Allegedly, he once slew sixteen bison with
only a bow and a single quiver of arrows. He also drew no small amount of attention
from the opposite sex. The women of the Shawnee were very fond of
Tecumseh, but he did not indulge in their attention, often brushing off their advances. Tecumseh’s first taste of battle came in
1786. The young warrior confronted a host of Big
Knives alongside Cheeseekau and a host of Shawnee warriors at Mad River, Ohio. When the Americans fired a musket volley across
the river, Tecumseh’s nerve broke, and he panicked and ran. He had failed his first test as a warrior. He was disgusted with himself, and vowed never
to show cowardice again. The following years saw Tecumseh come into
his own as a capable warrior, albeit still in the shadow of his eldest brother. Continued conflict with the United States
seemed inevitable; the young nation was burgeoning and hungry for expansion. Many tribes were resolved to do whatever was
necessary to stop colonial encroachment onto their land. In 1785 this tension evolved into a prolonged
frontier conflict known to the Americans as the Northwest Indian war. Rarely able to take on the US army head on,
many native warbands resorted to hit and run tactics. By 1788, Tecumseh and Cheeseekau were involved
in more than their fair share of skirmishes. Initially camped on the Ohio River, the two
brothers and their band of warriors habitually raided the flatboats that traversed the busy
thoroughfare. These boats carried food, provisions and settlers,
and their waylaying discouraged many from entering native land. During this turbulent period of his life,
Tecumseh began to see the world in a new way. He was fighting alongside not just the Shawnee,
but also Cherokees, Mingoes and Delawares. He began to see himself as a native first,
and a Shawnee second, and realized that his people would never be free of the yoke of
colonialism unless they banded together as one. He began to detest the idea that any one tribe
could sell land to the whites, whatever the consequences it brought upon other tribes. Tecumseh came to the revelation that land
belonged to no one band, but to all native peoples, thus, he began to dream of a united
and independent nation, held together by a shared indigenous identity. In 1791, an alliance of tribes formed to push
the Americans back east of the Ohio river. Led by the Little Turtle of the Miami, and
Bluejacket of the Shawnee, they fell upon a force of 1,000 US Soldiers camped at the
Wabash river, and massacred them. It is to this day the single greatest victory
won alone by Native peoples against the Americans. Tecumseh was not at the battle at the Wabash,
but certainly took part in the increased back and forth raiding that followed in its wake. In September of 1792, Tecumseh and Cheeseekau
joined a war party of Cherokees and Creeks, and launched an assault upon Buchanan Station
in Tennessee. From inside a stockaded blockhouse, twenty
frontiersmen were able to hold off 300 native warriors. In this fateful battle, Cheeseekau was slain,
shot dead by an American soldier through a porthole, while Tecumseh managed to retreat
with his life. The loss of his older brother fell hard upon
the young Shawnee, but Cheeseekau had accomplished what his dying father had beseeched he do
all those years ago- he had groomed Tecumseh into a great warrior. Among many native groups, leadership was not
determined through formal appointment, but by earning the respect of one's peers. In the years that followed Cheeseekau’s
death, Tecumseh had become a fighter of great renown, and began to accumulate a small warband
loyal to him. By 1794, The Northwest Indian war was nearing
its climax. Tecumseh and his warriors joined forces with
the confederacy led by Little Turtle and Bluejacket, forming a combined army of 1,300 men. Fighting alongside them was a British-led
contingent of Canadian militias, who had a vested interest in undermining American influence
in the region. Together, they faced an army of 2,000 American
Soldiers on the banks of the Maumee river. In what would later be known as the Battle
of Fallen Timbers, the natives were overwhelmed by American gunfire, and attempted to retreat
behind the walls of the British held Fort Miami. The British would not let them in, not willing
to risk all out war with the US. Facing a massacre, the natives were forced
to scatter. The betrayal Tecumseh suffered at the hands
of the British was one he would not forget. The engagement at the Fallen Timbers ended
the ten-year frontier war, and the United States finally managed to impose their sovereignty
over the old Northwest. Native leaders were compelled to sign the
Treaty of Greenville, a document that forced them to recognize large chunks of Ohio and
the Great Lakes as American soil. Tecumseh was disgusted by this capitulation,
and stubbornly refused to sign the treaty. Instead, he retreated with his followers to
Buck Creek, where he founded a village. For the next ten years, Tecumseh bided his
time, waiting for the opportunity in which he could make his dream a reality, a dream
of a united, self-sufficient native nation. That opportunity would arrive in 1805, when
Tecumseh’s laggard of a younger brother received a vision from the great spirit. The idler known as Lalawethika would transform
into Tenskwatawa, the great Prophet, and lead a religious revival that would bring together
tribes from all corners of the American frontier. By the turn of the 19th century, it was clear
that the Americans’ hunger for territory had not been sated. The Louisiana Purchase, which saw a massive
stretch of land sold by the French to the United States, all but confirmed that further
ingress into Native inhabited lands was inevitable. In the aftermath of their victory in the Northwest
Indian war, over 600,000 American pioneers would settle in the newly established states
of Kentucky and Ohio, as well as the territory of Indiana, land once dominated by Native
Tribes. Disunited and outnumbered, the Natives of
the frontier were direly outmatched. Despite this, Tecumseh never gave up his grand
ambitions to retake Native territories. As fate would have it, it would actually be
his Brother who would spark the movement that would snowball into the creation of his great
confederacy. This man was “Lalawethika”, meaning “he
who makes a loud noise.” He had always been the black sheep of the
family, having never become a great warrior like his brothers. A freak accident had taken out his eye when
he was young, and he spent the majority of his youth as a perpetually drunk good-for-nothing. In the year 1805, everything changed. One day Lalawethika was smoking in his wigwam,
when suddenly, his body seized up, and he fell into a trance. His stupor was so deep that those around him
thought he had died, yet soon he awoke as a changed man: Lalawethika told everyone that
he had received a vision from the Great Spirit, in which he had seen his people led onto a
path of doom, and was now convinced that the Great Spirit had sent him on a mission to
purify Native culture for their salvation. He took on a new name, Tenskwatawa- “The
Open Door”. In time, he became known to his people as
The Prophet. The Prophet soon began spreading his teachings
amongst the Shawnee. He preached that his people were the Great
Spirits’ original creations. In contrast, the White people were children
of the evil spirit that grew from the scum of the great waters. As such, natives bore an innate responsibility
to keep their way of life pure of colonial influence. To this endeavor, he denounced intermarriage
between Natives and Whites, which had become commonplace in the last few decades. He spoke out against alcoholism and forbade
the evils of drink. He renounced European clothing, and other
such innovations brought to his lands since first contact, mandating his followers wear
the traditional garments of their people. In the winter of 1805, a familiar calamity
struck the old northwest. Native communities were once more afflicted
by an outbreak of smallpox, leaving many communities crippled, or entirely depopulated. Disease had sadly become old news to the Natives
by this point, who often coped by blaming their misfortune on “Witches”, who supposedly
were sinister herbalists capable of brewing malicious potions and spreading illness. Thus in the Spring of 1806, the Prophet became
a major ringleader in a witch hunt that spread across the old northwest, a hunt he used to
further spread the influence of his religious movement. Tenskwatawa hounded down all who denounced
him, and all who embraced the ways of the White Man. Under his watch, Christian Natives, and Chieftains
friendly to the Americans, were captured, tortured, and killed, all in the name of rooting
allegedly evil witches out of Native communities. The Prophet soon had a growing following not
just among the Shawnee, but many neighboring tribes as well. The growing unrest in the native northwest
began to make American settlers on the frontier uneasy. One such man was William Henry Harrison, Governor
of the Indiana territory. He had fought in the Northwest Indian wars
a decade earlier, and a religious uprising centered around resisting colonialism was
a threat to the settlers in his jurisdiction. Seeking to pacify the movement, Harrison denounced
Tenskwatawa to the Delawares with conviction, saying; “Who is this pretended prophet who
dares to speak in the name of the Great Creator? Is he more wise or virtuous than you are yourselves,
that he should convey to you the orders of your god?” To affirm his spiritual powers, the Prophet
told his followers of a day of black sun. He was correct. By accurately predicting a solar eclipse,
Tenskwatawa had proven his power in the eyes of his followers. In 1808, the Prophet joined forces with Tecumseh. Together, the two brothers founded a village
upon the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers. The Old Chieftain, Little Turtle, who had
fought at Fallen Timbers, warned Tecumseh that he was settling on the lands of the Miami,
to which Tecumseh replied devoutly that he was settling on Native lands. The brother’s village came to be known as
Prophetstown, and would serve as the staging point for their pan-Native resistance movement. In the following years, peoples from all over
the old Northwest filtered into Prophetstown, drawn to Tenskwatawa’s teachings and Tecumseh’s
reputation as a warrior. The community grew quickly from a small village
into a bustling multi-tribal township, a hub of Native American cultural and political
activity. In the end, it was Tecumseh who assumed the
ultimate chieftaincy of their budding community. Tecumseh soon set out from Prophetstown, on
a mission to convince the tribes of the old Northwest that resistance, not assimilation,
was the key to their survival, and to build a confederacy that stretched across the American
frontier. The Chieftain traveled from village to village,
dazzling people with his charismatic orations and legendary strength. Chieftains of the Ojibwe, Wyandots, Fox, Sauk,
Odawas, Kickapoos, Lenape, Miami, Seneca, Onondaga and Delawares all joined his cause,
as of course did the Shawnee. But Tecumseh was not all honeyed words; he
imposed himself harshly, threatening death to any chiefs who collaborated with the Americans. Meanwhile, as more tribes joined Tecumseh’s
cause, more and more natives migrated into Prophetstown, which had evolved into the centre
of the Native Confederacy, a swelling city-state that provided a powerful buffer against white
settlers’ westward expansion. The rapid growth of Tecumseh’s confederacy,
its active anti-Colonial rhetoric, and its existence within lands claimed by the United
States, put it on an inevitable collision course with the Americans. The catalyst of this confrontation came in
1809, when Governor Harrison of Indiana coerced select chieftains of the Delaware, Potawatomi
and Kickapoo to sign the Treaty of Fort Wayne, which ceded a 12,000 square km piece of land
along the Wabash river to the United States Government. This treaty infuriated Tecumseh, as it flew
right in the face of his core belief that land belonged collectively to all natives. He saw it as theft, a plain and simple attempt
to extort weak chieftains whose lands had been made poor by white settlers. In August of 1810, Tecumseh met with Harrison
face to face outside the Governors’ colonial estate, and the two engaged in a heated parley. Tecumseh insisted that Native land could not
be bought or sold, unless done so collectively by all the tribes acting as one, and that
the land ceded to the Americans in the recent treaties still rightfully belonged to the
Natives. Harrison replied that individual tribes were
free to make treaties with the United States, but Tecumseh’s confederacy was not recognized,
nor did the local tribes welcome his interference in their affairs. The back and forth debate inspired a passionate
reply from Tecumseh, and his most iconic quote: “Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well
as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for
the use of his children?” Tensions soon grew between the two parties. Harrison was quick to point out that the Shawnee
themselves had taken land from the Miamis, so what right had they to dictate the affairs
of other tribes? If the tribes were all one nation as Tecumseh
claimed, why did the Great Spirit not have them all speak one language? Tecumseh lost his temper, declaring that everything
Harrison said was a lie, and that the Americans had cheated the Native peoples. He brandished his tomahawk at the governor,
prompting Harrison to draw his sabre and point it at Tecumseh. A tense standoff ensued, but neither side
attacked. Harrison brought the meeting to an end, and
demanded Tecumseh and his followers leave. Tecumseh soon realized he had been wrong to
threaten Harrison, and the two met once more the following day, this time at the Shawnee’s
camp. This time, Tecumseh opted for a more diplomatic
route, he offered the United States alliance against Britain, if only they would renounce
their claim to Native lands purchased in recent treaties. Harrison replied cordially, saying he would
present Tecumseh’s terms to the President, but did not expect the Natives’ conditions
to be met. To this, Tecumseh replied regretfully, “I
hope the Great Chief will give up this land. He is so far off, he may sit still and drink
his wine, whilst you and I will have to fight it out.” Harrison was impressed by the integrity of
his enemy. He remarked that “If it were not for the
vicinity of the United States, he would, perhaps, be the founder of an empire.” In 1811, Tecumseh travelled southwards to
present day Alabama. The natives of that region were known to the
Americans as the “five civilized tribes”, due to their more positive predisposition
to adopting European practices. Tecumseh’s goal was to extend his alliance
along the entirety of the American frontier, but he met fierce resistance in the south. The tribes there rejected his calls for unity
more often than not, instead preferring to abide by the treaties they had signed with
the United States. This is exemplified in an exchange between
Tecumseh and Pushmataha, a chieftain of the Choctaws. Pushmataha stood firm against Tecumseh, delivering
a pithy statement: “These white Americans give us fair exchange, their cloth, their
guns, their tools, implements, and other things which the Choctaws need but do not make. It will be seen that the whites and Indians
in this section are living on friendly and mutually beneficial terms.” Tecumseh delivered a vehement reply. “Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mochican,
the Pocanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and
oppression of the white man ... Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws ... Will
not the bones of our dead be plowed up, and their graves turned into plowed fields?” Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears,
and the Choctaws refused to join his cause. Nevertheless, Tecumseh did find limited success
in the South. In September, he rode into the Muscogee town
of Tuckabatchee. There, he delivered another impassioned speech
about the unity of Natives, and resistance against the White Man. Thousands of warriors raised their tomahawks
and cheered, but one old chieftain remained silent. One story claims that Tecumseh stalked over
to this chieftain, and declared that he would march to Fort Detroit, stamp his foot unto
the earth, and shake down every house in Tuckabatchee to prove that he had been chosen by the Great
Spirit. Tecumseh then ventured back northwards, and
sure enough, on December 16th, 1811, the New Madrid Earthquake rocked the southern United
States, and every house in Tuckabatchee was shaken to its foundations. Many interpreted this as the coming of Tecumseh's’
prophecy, and proof they should join his confederacy. Henceforth a significant amount of Muscogees
declared themselves for Tecumseh, a faction which became known as the Red Sticks. Meanwhile in Indiana, Governor Harrison was
aware that Tecumseh was away from Prophetstown, which was currently under the administration
of Tenskwatawa. Harrison knew that Tecumseh was the main military
power in the Native Confederacy, and his absence made this the right time to strike. Harrison’s goal was to conquer Prophetstown,
thereby ripping the heart out of the growing confederacy and eliminating the threat of
a Native invasion of Indiana before it could begin. Harrison sent the Prophet an ultimatum: All
Potawatomis, Kickapoos and Winnebagoes were to be expelled from Prophetstown; all warriors
who had launched raids upon United States citizens had to be surrendered; and all goods
and horses stolen from settlers had to be returned. These terms served to effectively disband
the Native Confederacy and unsurprisingly, were unilaterally rejected. On September 20th, 1811, Harrison marched
northwards with an army of 1000 men. Comprising this force were 325 army regulars,
and 625 volunteers, largely from Kentucky and the Indiana Territory. The militia was made up primarily of infantrymen,
but also featured mounted sharpshooters and dragoons. The principal weapon used by this expeditionary
force was the model 1795 Springfield Flintlock Musket, a firearm capable of discharging three
rounds per minute. The army stopped at present day Terre Haute,
Indiana, and constructed a stockade, named Fort Harrison, which would be a staging point
for their upcoming assault. Within their town, the Prophet’s warriors
numbered anywhere between 500 to 700, divided into tribal contingents of Winnebagoes, Kickapoos,
Potawatomis, Wyandots and Shawnees, each numbering about 125 men. Most of the Natives were armed with British
“Brown Bess” muskets, and carried knives, tomahawks and war clubs. By November 6th, the Americans had advanced
out of Fort Harrison and made camp on a high ridge around a thousand yards west of Prophetstown. Before he had headed south, Tecumseh had warned
his brother not to engage in combat, for he did not want open war before his confederacy
was fully mobilized. Despite this, he was not present, and the
warriors of Prophetstown looked to Tenskwatawa for guidance. The Prophet had made overtures for peace that
afternoon, but this was a fruitless endeavor, as Harrison could not accept any terms short
of the abandonment of Prophetstown and the dispersal of its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Natives had become deeply uneased
by the army at their doorstep, and many itched for confrontation. The most popular story claims the Winnebago
faction denounced any attempt at peace, and demanded Tenskwatawa send them into battle. Thus, the Prophet sought a vision with the
Great Spirit, and returned to his warriors with a plan: to Assassinate Governor Harrison,
thereby beheading the American Army and making them unable to fight. The Winnebagoes demanded that the attack had
to be that night. Thus, Tenskwatawa invoked his shamanic powers
to confer with the Great spirit, promising that the elimination of Harrison could be
carried out via a night-time assault upon the American camp. Thus, at 4am on the morning of November 7th,
the War Chiefs began their attack, having been given the blessing of their Prophet. They advanced upon the American Camp in a
crescent formation. The right horn was made up of Kickapoos, led
by Chief Mengoatowa, the left made up of Winnebagos led by Chief Waweapakoosa, and the center
made up of Potawatomis led by Roundhead and Wabaunsee. The plan was to have the Kickapoos infiltrate
the Camp’s Northwestern corner and slay Harrison under cover of darkness, at which
point they would signal for the rest of the Warriors and massacre the US Soldiers. This would not come to pass, for Harrison
was a shrewd commander and knew well not to underestimate his Native foes. Remembering all too well how 1,000 U.S Soldiers
had been massacred by Ambush at the Wabash back in 1791, he had ordered the tents in
his camp to be set up in a crescent formation, and for his men to sleep on top of their muskets,
which were to be loaded with their bayonets affixed. The Kickapoos reached the American Camp ahead
of the other Native Contingents, crawling on the flats of their stomachs. At around 4:30 AM, they encountered an advance
watchman, who managed to fire off a shot before being killed. The crack of the rifle caused the Americans
to grow alert, with Harrison himself being awoken by 5:30, by which point the Kickapoos
had reached the Northwestern edge of the camp. At precisely 5:50, one Corporal Stephen Mars
managed to train his sights on a Kickapoo warrior and shoot him dead. The presence of the natives was now known,
and they had precious little time before the entire American stockade was alerted. Realizing that an assassination of Harrison
was now impossible, the Kickapoos raised their weapons, and charged, beginning the battle
in earnest. For roughly fifteen minutes, the Kickapoos
kept the American’s northwest flank in a state of chaos, killing a handful of soldiers
and forcing the 4th Infantry Regiment and Kentucky Riflemen to retreat deeper into their
Camp. However, Harrisons foresight had paid off,
as by 6AM, all hands in the American camp were alerted and had been assembled into battle
positions around the perimeter. It was around this time that the rest of the
Native warriors arrived on the scene, with the Potawatomis launching an assault on the
northwest. The battle had devolved into a slugfest, a
contest decided by numbers and firepower; in this, the Natives were outmatched. As the hour progressed, the tides began to
turn. A company under one Captain Snelling had driven
the Potawatomis from the woods, who regrouped and assaulted the northern center, causing
a company led by Captain Robb to collapse and fall back, only to have Snelling’s contingent
fall in and beat back the ensuing Potawatomi advance. Meanwhile, the Winnebagoes struck from the
south, engaging in a fierce shootout with the companies of Captain Spencer and Warrick. This too was futile, as Robb’s reformed
unit arrived to reinforce their compatriots and drive off their enemy. By 7AM, the sun was beginning to rise, and
the Natives realized they were outnumbered two to one. Heavily demoralized, they began retreating
back to Prophetstown. Here, the Americans launched a counterattack,
fully mobilized and invigorated after repelling an attack, they encircled and charged the
fleeing Natives, slaying a handful more before the warriors made it back behind the fortifications
of Prophetstown. Upon their return, many warriors were outraged
at the Prophet, for he had promised them that the Great Spirit had ensured him of victory. The powerful shaman was called out for being
a fraud, many renounced their loyalty to him and deserted Prophetstown. Tenskwatawa made desperate pleas to have them
stand and fight, but they fell upon deaf ears. The next morning, the American troops marched
into Prophetstown to find it had been abandoned, and burned it to the ground. The prophet, who had laid the groundwork of
Tecumseh’s confederacy, had lost almost all his influence. The town that served as the heart of Native
unity had been burned down. This was a harsh blow to the Native resistance,
but it was not the end. Tecumseh himself still had power, for chieftains
of many tribes were still loyal to him. In the face of this setback, he was forced
to turn to an old ally against the American threat, the British Empire. On June 17th, 1812, The United States Senate
voted narrowly in favour of armed conflict with Great Britain. This war had been a long time coming. As a certain Napoleon Bonaparte had been conquering
across Europe, the British had imposed themselves upon U.S. sovereignty, embargoing American
trade with France and her allies, while kidnapping sailors off American ships to supplement the
Royal Navy’s perpetual need for manpower. But these were not the real causes of the
war. For decades, the British Empire had been empowering
Native Tribes on the U.S. frontier to resist American expansion. Indeed, most of the muskets used by Tecumseh’s
warriors were British-manufactured. For the Warhawks in Washington, this provided
the excuse needed to pursue American territorial expansion, first by annexing British Canada,
then by expanding deeper into the lands of the Native tribes on their western frontier. One of the main obstacles preventing American
expansionism was still alive and well. Tecumseh had never stopped preparing for war. He had no love for the British, but realized
it was only through their manpower and resources that the reconquest of Native lands annexed
by America, and the establishment of an independent pan-Tribal Native state, was possible. To this end, he mobilized his warriors for
battle. It was the general consensus that if the United
States launched an invasion into Canada, the territory would fall quickly. The ongoing war with Napoleon kept the majority
of Britain’s armies in Europe, and the local Canadian Colonials were unlikely to be willing
to fight against a far superior foe. On July the 12th, 1812, the United States
began their invasion when Brigadier General William Hull marched across into old Sandwich
town in present day Ontario, occupying it without a fight. He offered peace to the locals should they
become Americans, but to those who fought alongside the British or their native allies,
he had a much darker promise: “The first stroke of the Tomahawk, the first attempt
with the scalping knife, will be the signal for one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the side of
an Indian will be taken prisoner. Instant destruction will be his lot.” However, Hull proved to be an ineffective
general. The main British garrison in the region was
isolated in nearby Fort Malden, but Hull refused to strike, instead holding position in Sandwich
town while obsessing over his supply lines across the Detroit river. On July 17th, 700 native warriors of the Great
Lakes nations arrived at Fort St. Joseph on the shores of the Huron to join the British
cause. The local British Commander had only 50 redcoats
under his charge, but empowered by his new allies, he swooped down into Michigan, and
besieged nearby Fort Mackinac. Unaware that the war had been declared, the
American Garrison surrendered without a fight. As Tecumseh’s warriors took arms, the Great
Chieftain himself was heading north to join the fray. At Brownstown Creek, he fell fiercely upon
a supply convoy of 200 U.S. soldiers, scattering them with only 25 warriors at his side. Following this string of humiliating defeats,
Hull’s nerve broke, and on August 7th, he retreated back into American territory to
garrison in Fort Detroit, having accomplished little to nothing. Back in Washington, Thomas Jefferson famously
asserted that “The acquisition of Canada this year will be a mere matter of marching”,
but this was no longer the reality. Tecumseh and his natives had delivered the
British a fighting chance, and with that, the inspiration for the local Canadians to
resist the conquest. But in truth, the war had just begun; there
was much to do before Tecumseh’s dream could be realized. It was at this point that the Shawnee Chieftain’s
greatest ally enters the story. Major-General Isaac Brock was a career soldier,
and a loyal British subject. In 1802, he was appointed a station in lower
Canada, where he eventually became head of the Colonial army. Modern Canadians consider him a national hero,
but in truth, he resented his outpost. In comparison with the Napoleonic War, Canada
was a sleepy and irrelevant sideshow. Nevertheless, Brock did his duty well. He reformed the Provincial militia and bolstered
the defenses of forts on the American border. A few months before the war’s outbreak,
Brock was offered a posting in Europe. Despite his personal desires, he refused,
believing he now had a duty to defend Canada against the invasion he knew was soon to come. On the night of August 13th, 1812, Brock arrived
at Fort Malden aboard a Flotilla of ships, by way of lake Erie. Tecumseh was there waiting for him, and the
two men were eager to see one another. Both had heard of the other’s deeds, and
both knew that they needed each other. Brock could not defend Canada without Tecumseh’s
aid, nor could Tecumseh retake his people’s lands without British support. The two leaders soon met face to face, and
quickly developed a mutual respect. They agreed that only through a quick and
decisive offense could they hope to win this war. To that end, they resolved to attack Fort
Detroit, the place where the bulk of American forces in the Northwest were stationed. It was risky, since the allies knew they would
be outnumbered two to one. Most of Brock’s officers were against it,
yet the Major-General would not relent. Tecumseh was impressed by his new partner’s
resolve, famously saying: “This is a man! A more sagacious and a more gallant Warrior
does not I believe exist.” On the morning of the 15th of August, an allied
force of Canadian Militias, Redcoats and Natives made camp in Sandwich town, opposite the river
to the American-held Fort Detroit. Major-General Brock commanded a force about
700 strong, while Tecumseh and his warriors numbered around 600. Meanwhile, General Hull had 2,500 men garrisoned
inside his well-fortified walls, double the number of his opponent. Brock wrote a letter to his American adversary,
demanding his immediate surrender, saying: “It is far from my inclination to join in
a war of extermination, but you must be aware, that the numerous body of Indians who have
attached themselves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment the contest commences.” In truth, Tecumseh was no butcher, and in
fact abhorred unnecessary killing, but through captured intelligence, he and Brock both knew
that General Hull was terrified of Natives warriors, and that the fear of a savage massacre
may be enough to break him. Yet still, no surrender came. The following night, Brock began to ferry
his troops across the river. The British opened fire with their three heavy
cannons and two mortars to cover the crossing. Hull ordered his 24-pounders to return fire. Neither side managed to inflict much damage
upon the other, but on the morning of the 16th, a cannon ball struck the Fort’s mess
hall and killed two Americans. Upon crossing the river, Brock organized his
troops into two rows a mile out from the fortress walls, boldly placing himself at the front
of the line. An officer pleaded that he not expose himself
so plainly, to which he replied: “Many here follow me from a feeling of personal regard. I will not ask them to go where I will not
lead them.” When news arrived that a force of 400 Ohio
militiamen were arriving from his rear, Brock doubled down and marched his troops to the
far-side of the fort, opposite to the river. Meanwhile, Tecumseh and his warriors had quietly
made the river crossing five miles south, filtering his men into a forest within view
of the Fort. Ingeniously, he paraded his men in circles,
repeatedly having them pass through a gap in the tree line within view of the Americans,
delivering ferocious war-cries all the while. This created the illusion that there were
far more natives at Detroit’s gates than there actually were, and made the weight of
an Indian massacre all the more real. By now, General Hull had been psychologically
broken, with contemporary reports claiming he sat in a muted daze, saliva and tobacco
dripping limply from his chin. Within his fort there were women and children,
including his very own daughter and grandchild. The man had never had the will of a soldier,
and the mind games of Brock and Tecumseh had broken him. After only a few hours of siege, the gates
opened, and Hull’s own son rode out, bearing a white flag. Fort Detroit had surrendered. It was a stunning defeat for the Americans. The largest garrison in the northern United
States had surrendered without a fight. 2493 soldiers were taken captive by a force
barely half their number. Tecumseh had done his part, and delivered
the British a great victory. Now it was time for his Imperial allies to
help him push deeper into American territory, and help him establish a homeland for his
people. Unfortunately for him, this would never come
to pass. The United States was determined to avenge
their humiliation at Detroit, and thus launched an offensive upon Queenston Heights, managing
to capture the town. This provoked Brock to rally a force of militiamen
from nearby York and some native Mohawk allies to once more drive the Americans from Canadian
soil. It was in this engagement where the Major-General
met his end. He charged up the heights with his men, wearing
a silk sash given to him by Tecumseh. This made him a conspicuous target, and as
he ran up the hill, he was shot fatally through the chest. 300 Mohawk warriors jumped into the fray,
holding off a much larger American army until British reinforcements arrived. Queenston was retaken, and nearly 1,000 Americans
were captured or killed. Despite this, with Brock dead, the Native
confederacy had now lost its only reliable ally. Meanwhile, an old foe of Tecumseh had come
to assume command of the American forces in the northwest: none other than William Henry
Harrison, the conqueror of Prophetstown. Unlike his predecessor Hull, Harrison was
a natural leader and a decisive soldier. His first act was to construct a bastion along
the Maumee river, which he called Fort Meigs. From here, he planned to strike upwards and
retake Detroit. Meanwhile, the Governor-General of Canada
had promoted an officer by the name of Henry Procter to lead the British army due to Isaac
Brock’s untimely death. Procter and Tecumseh went on the southwards
offensive. In January of 1813, the Native-British forces
encountered an expeditionary platoon of mounted Kentucky riflemen sallying north from Fort
Meigs. They clashed on a battlefield outside the
borough of Frenchtown. For once, the Americans were outnumbered,
and suffered a resounding defeat. Nearly 500 Kentuckians were killed in the
fighting, the highest American casualty count of any battle in the war, and yet another
500 were captured. The American prisoners were put on a forced
march back to Fort Malden for detainment. Native warriors began taking liberties with
their captives, robbing and killing the injured, and cutting down any who would not keep pace
with the slog. Tecumseh himself had left before the battle’s
end, and was not present to see the massacre. He abhorred needless death, so when he caught
wind of the prisoners’ fate, he was outraged. Confronting Proctor, he demanded to know why
the British General would allow such a thing, to which Proctor snidely replied that Tecumseh’s
natives were impossible to control. At this, the Chieftain replied temprously:
“Begone! You are unfit to command! Go and put on petticoats!” From there, cracks continued to form in Tecumseh’s
tenuous alliance with the British. With Brock, the chieftain had built a strong
rapport, but he had no such respect for Procter, who refused to fight the war on the Native’s
terms, as Brock had. Meanwhile, the Americans would remember the
massacre at Frenchtown, their slain prisoners would become martyrs, and the event became
a rallying cry for the rest of the war. Sure enough, the tides began to turn. In the Spring of 1813, Tecumseh convinced
a begrudging Procter into launching a joint assault upon Fort Meigs. Twice, a force of 1200 natives and 900 British
soldiers laid siege to the fort, but twice, Harrison managed to repel them, despite suffering
heavy casualties. As more Americans fell into British captivity
during these battles, Tecumseh continued to prevent massacres he much as he could. It is because of this that many Americans
to this day regard him with the respect befitting a noble foe. The failing relationship between Tecumseh
and his allies was further exacerbated when the United States won a decisive naval engagement
in September of 1813. The battle of Put-In-Bay put the entirety
of Lake Erie in American hands, and cut off British supply lines, forcing them to abandon
Fort Malden and Fort Detroit, thereby erasing all the victories won by Tecumseh and Brock
a year earlier. With winter looming, General Procter retreated
eastward, banking on the fact that Harrison would not pursue him through the winter snows. This enraged Tecumseh, for the Shawnee chieftain
still wanted to go on the offensive. He felt betrayed. After all, he had delivered the British several
victories in their war, only to receive no aid in return for his. As it turned out, Procter’s gamble was incorrect. Harrison was all too willing to risk a winter
campaign to press his advantage. After retaking Fort Detroit, the American
general marched eastwards to pursue the British forces. Still, Procter continued to withdraw, much
to the disgust of Tecumseh, who now realized that his unreliable ally could not be further
removed from the gallantry and bravery of Brock. Reluctantly, the Shawnee took his warriors
joined the British retreat. But soon he had had enough. Realizing there was no end to Procter’s
timidity, Tecumseh stood before the General and put his foot in the earth, issuing him
an ultimatum: The British would withdraw no further, or the alliance between them and
his Native Confederacy was over. In declaring this, Tecumseh had said choice
words that would go down in history: “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.” With his hand being forced, Procter agreed
to face Harrison’s army. He chose to make his stand on the banks of
the Canadian River Thames, near Moraviantown, a village of Christian Delawares. Procter’s 900 men lined themselves in rows
perpendicular to the River. Exhausted and starving from their forced march,
the Redcoats were in no state to fight. Tecumseh stationed his warriors in a black
ash swamp to the British right, where they would have ample cover, and could flank the
approaching American army. The emboldened Grand Chieftain personally
shook the hand of each British officer, before rejoining his men. Before long, the Americans were in sight. Harrison’s force was imposing, nearly 4,000
strong; they more than doubled the numbers of the British and Natives combined. Procter had made no attempt to build earthworks
to fortify his position, so the plains between him and the Americans remained entirely uncontested. Harrison knew that the best way to break his
enemy was to move fast and strike hard, much like he had done at Prophetstown two years
earlier. The American general kept the bulk of his
militia and infantry in reserve, and organized a center column of mounted Kentucky riflemen
to barrel down towards the British line. Tecumseh and his warriors opened fire from
the swamp, but were unable to stop the cavalry from thundering into their Redcoat allies. This devastating charge broke the British
morale. Gripped by panic, they broke formation and
scattered, offering only a token resistance through disorganized and scattered gunfire. General Procter fled the field with 250 of
his men, while the remaining 600 British soldiers were either captured or cut down. When Tecumseh was young, he had taken an oath:
to never again flee in the face of battle. Even now, with his allies abandoning him,
and outnumbered eight to one by his enemy, he would uphold that oath. Entrenched deep in the swamps, the Natives
fought on without British aid. Harrison ordered his Kentucky cavalrymen to
break their lines, but their initial charge was cut down by a fusillade of Native gunfire. From there, the battle devolved into a drawn
out shootout, with both sides trading fire amidst the cover of the swampy thicket. It is here, in a battlefield of smoky air
and muddy mire that the story of Tecumseh ends. As the chaotic shootout continued, an American
soldier managed to train his sights on the proud Shawnee Chieftain, and shoot him through
the chest. Tecumseh was killed immediately upon the impact. It didn’t take long for news of Tecumseh’s
death to spread among the Native warriors. Deeply demoralized by this, and afeard by
the rest of Harrison’s army descending upon them, they fled the battlefield and scattered. The Battle of the Thames was a decisive victory
for the Americans, and spelled the end of the Great Native Coalition. Tecumseh had been the glue that bound them
together; no other warrior among them had as much respect from so many diverse tribes. After the engagement at Moraviantown, many
individual chieftains surrendered to Governor Harrison and returned to their homes, beholden
to the will of the United States. There would be no more united Native front,
and no more attempts to form a unified indigenous nation on North American soil. The confederacy that Tecumseh had spent so
many years building in life, inevitably dissolved with his death. The war of 1812 would rage on for another
two years after Tecumseh’s passing, but Native Warriors no longer played a major role. Both British and American armies scored later
victories, with the British sacking the capital of Washington, and the Americans winning an
iconic engagement at New Orleans. The war ended in stalemate; the British had
successfully defended their territory, while the Americans had asserted their sovereignty. Canada would not be annexed, and America would
no longer have their economic and territorial interests imposed upon. In the end, the only true losers of the war
of 1812 were the indigenous tribes of the continent. During peace talks, the British had originally
negotiated to establish a Native Nation, albeit only to create a buffer state to block further
American expansion. Naturally, the Americans outright denied this
proposal. Realizing they did not have the leverage to
enforce such a thing, the British quickly abandoned the notion. When the treaty of Ghent was signed in December
of 1814, no provisions existed to stem the tide of American westward expansion, and expand
they did. Without a strong leader like Tecumseh to bind
them, the indigenous peoples of the American continent were largely helpless to combat
the flood of settlers that came to take their lands. The Red Stick Muskogees who had declared for
Tecumseh fought on for a time, engaging the Americans in the deep south. But they too were eventually defeated by future-President
Andrew Jackson in a massacre at Horseshoe bend. In the end, the story of Tecumseh is a tragic
tale. A man of remarkable charisma, integrity, bravery
and strength, who spent his whole life fighting for independence and unity, only to have it
all taken away upon his death. Even his greatest foe in William Henry Harrison
had remarked that this brave warrior had the makings of an Emperor, and it is easy to wonder
what great things he could have done, if only he had lived a little longer. Nevertheless, Tecumseh’s memory is alive
and well today. To the Americans, he was a noble opponent. To Canadians, the saviour of their nation. But to the indigenous peoples of North America,
he is and always will be above all things, an icon of resistance. We always have more stories to tell, so make
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we will catch you on the next one.
oh what a great country the native country would’ve been