Shawnee leader, who fought against United States expansion into the Midwest in the early 19th century.

Born in what is now Ohio, he was the son of a Shawnee chief who was killed fighting white settlers in the Battle of Point Pleasant (1774).

In 1794 Tecumseh took part in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in which a coalition of tribes was defeated by the U.S. general Anthony Wayne.

Tecumseh became known for his opposition to any surrender of Native American land to whites, holding that a cession of land by any one tribe was illegal without the consent of all the others.

He and his brother Tenskwatawa, a religious visionary known as The Prophet, preached against Native American adoption of white customs-especially the use of liquor.

In 1808 they were forced out of Ohio and moved to Indiana, where they tried to form a broad alliance of Native American tribes with help from the British in Canada.

Their plans were thwarted when Tenskwatawa was defeated by U.S. forces under William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

Tecumseh fought on the British side in the War of 1812 and was killed in the Battle of the Thames, near Thamesville, Ontario, on October 5, 1813.

"Tecumseh," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Tecumseh

The name Tecumseh means "Panther Crossing." About the time of Tecumseh's birth in 1768, there was a meteor and the Shawnee believed that Tecumseh was going to become important. Tecumseh's father was a Shawnee chief and Tecumseh was one of eight children. His father was killed in battle fighting the Americans when Tecumseh was young and his older siblings raised him. The loss of his father at a young age shaped Tecumseh's attitudes towards the Americans and he strongly disliked the Americans.

By his early twenties, Tecumseh was a leader of the Shawnee. He had fought against the armies of Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair. He was also present at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. After the Battle of Fallen Timbers, many of the Indian leaders signed the Treaty of Greenville. The treaty forced the Indians into northwest Ohio. Tecumseh did not sign the treaty.

Tecumseh believed that the land belonged to all Indians and that signing a treaty with the Americans would mean giving up the Indian way of life. Tecumseh believed that he and other Indians had an obligation to keep settlers from moving onto the land. Tecumseh wanted all of the Indians to work together to fight the Americans as one untied group instead of fighting in smaller groups. Tecumseh dreamed of an Indian nation stretching from the Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico.

By 1808, Ohio was a state and more and more Americans were moving into Ohio. Tecumseh, and his brother, The Prophet, left Ohio and started a town in Indiana called Prophetstown. Indians from the different tribes who had the same belief as Tecumseh and the Prophet came to live there. Tecumseh traveled as far away as Iowa and the Gulf of Mexico to gain the support of the Indians.

The Americans watched Prophetstown grow. The Americans were concerned that an Indian uprising was being planned. In 1811, while Tecumseh was away on a trip, William Henry Harrison stationed his troops close to the Indians living in Prophetstown. Tecumseh had warned his brother not to fight the Americans while he was away, but his brother did not listen. The Prophet believed that he had powers that would protect warriors in battle and led the Indians against Harrison's troops. When the Indians realized that the Prophet had no special powers to protect them, they retreated into the woods. Prophetstown was left unguarded. Harrison's troops easily over ran Prophetstown and burned everything.

Although the Battle of Tippecanoe was a minor one for the Americans, it was a crushing blow to Tecumseh and his dream. With all of his supplies gone and his brother exposed as a fake, no one was left to follow him.

During the War of 1812, Tecumseh supported the British in battle. He hoped that if the British won, they would reward the Indians and return their homeland to them. During the Battle of the Thames, near Detroit, Tecumseh was killed at the age of 44.

Text & pic from the Ohio Historical Society Site, for much more information, please visit their site!

Tecumseh's Confederacy

Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) were Shawnee Indians who opposed the purchase by the United States of more and more Indian lands. They did not believe the United States had the legal right to buy land from any single tribe. Tecumseh believed the land belonged to all the Indian tribes together.

In 1808 Tecumseh and his brother began to try to unite the Indian tribes. Their goal was to make the Ohio River the permanent boundary between the United States and Indian lands. Tecumseh visited almost every tribe from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. He was a great leader and many Indians agreed to join the confederacy. But, while Tecumseh was away on one of his trips to the south, his brother the Prophet led an attack on the army of General William Henry Harrison. The Indian forces were not yet ready for a major battle. Defeat in the Battle of Tippecanoe discouraged Tecumseh's followers and ended his hopes for a great Indian Confederacy.

"... the only way to stop this evil, is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land as it was at first, and should be now -- for it never was divided, but belongs to all. ... Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds and the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?"

- Tecumseh to William Henry Harrison 1810 -

Text from the Ohio Historical Society Site, for much more information, please visit their site!