The Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa  and His Warrior Brother Tecumseh

DURING the last years of the eighteenth century, defeat, disease, and death were the bitter lot of Native Americans living in the Northwest Territory. 

With the Revolutionary War over and the Iroquois divided, the opposition to American expansion into the Ohio River valley was carried on by a shifting alliance of nations: Shawnee, Canadian Iroquois, Wyandot, Mingo, Ottawa, Chickamauga, Miami, Kickapoo, Delaware, Ottawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Fox, Sauk, and Mascouten.  In the fall of 1787 the alliance agreed to draw the line against American expansion on the Ohio River.  Efforts at a peaceful settlement failed:

With 2,000 warriors led by the Miami war chief Little Turtle, the alliance soon proved it was very capable of defending itself, and the initial American moves against the alliance villages in northern Ohio ended in terrible defeats.  In October, 1790 Colonel Josiah Harmar's expedition was ambushed on the upper Wabash near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana.  A year later, Arthur St. Clair's army met an even greater disaster in western Ohio - 600 killed and 400 wounded, the worst defeat ever inflicted on an American army by Native Americans. (Lee Sulzman, "Shawnee History")

By 1791, however, the feeble American government of the Articles of Confederation had been replaced by the stronger national government of the Constitution, and the defeat of General St. Clair posed a challenge.  President Washington sent General "Mad Anthony" Wayne to counter the alliance.  Wayne first encamped at Fort Washington (at Cincinnati on the north bank of the Ohio), training his troops and constructing roads and a line of forts to support his methodical advance northward.  Wayne's slow, cautious advance created problems for the Alliance.  The Alliance had assembled a large force from over a wide area and had the fundamental logistical problem of feeding them.  They also faced a Hobson's choice with respect to their families: bring them along and worsen logistical problems or leave them by themselves and vulnerable to U.S. attack.  By the time the two forces engaged, the Alliance fielded only seven hundred warriors.  Moreover, the British had decided to withdraw from the Northwest, but had not told the Alliance.

In August, 1794, Wayne's Legion and the alliance faced each other at Fallen Timbers.  Driven from the field, the retreating warriors were refused refuge at the nearby British fort.  In November the Jay Treaty was signed between Great Britain and the United States, and the British withdrew their garrisons from American territory.  Abandoned, the alliance signed the Fort Greenville Treaty the following August ceding most of Ohio. [Lee Sultzman, Iroquois History]

In 1794 an American expeditionary force led by Major General "Mad" Anthony Wayne crushed an opposing Indian army at the Battle of Fallen Timbers near present-day Toledo, Ohio. This decisive victory eventually forced Native Americans to give up 25,000 square miles of land north of the Ohio River.

With the defeat at Fallen Timbers, the defection of the British, and the Treaty of Fort Greenville, the Alliance disintegrated.  However, within a dozen years a Shawnee chief was to attempt to resurrect the Alliance on a even larger scale, and challenge the American government under then President James Madison.  The chief was Tecumseh, one the most admired of all Native American leaders.

Tecumseh was born in 1768 into a family of six brothers and one sister.  His father, a Shawnee chief, was killed when Tecumseh was young, and Tecumseh's mother moved with her people to Northern Alabama.  Tecumseh was raised by older siblings and soon distinguished himself among the youth of the Shawnee.  He spent two years among the Cherokee and returned in 1790 to join the Alliance's war with the Americans.

Tecumseh fought against his great adversary, William Henry Harrison, for the first time at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.  Harrison, son of a signer of the Declaration of the Independence, was a young lieutenant, promoted to captain after the victory.  A Virginian, he was given his first commission by President George Washington.  It is doubtful that either Tecumseh or Harrison foresaw how much their two lives were to be intertwined.

Tecumseh boycotted the negotiations leading to the 1795 Treaty of Greenville and refused to accept its provisions.  His absence was portentous, but he was a minor chief and his absence was unnoted by his adversaries. Tecumseh recognized the nature of the threat posed by the settlers pouring into the Ohio Valley.  He developed the doctrine that the Native Americans were all "children of the same parents" and all owned the land in common.  Thus any sale or treaty cessation of land was invalid unless all agreed.  Tecumseh recognized that an alliance of Ohio Nations could not block the U.S. advance; he determined to develop an alliance of Nations both North and South and traveled widely for years to building the Alliance.

It is difficult to feel greatness after a lapse of 200 years, but Tecumseh truly seems admirable.  He was noble in his speech and behavior, adamant in his opposition to U.S. expansion, farsighted in his policies, brave in battle, yet merciful and protective toward captives.  William Henry Harrison was to say:

"If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would perhaps be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico or Peru.  No difficulties deter him.  For four years he has been in constant motion.  You see him today on the Wabash, and in a short time hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on the banks of the Mississippi, and wherever he goes he makes an impression favorable to his purpose."  (From Reed Beard, Battle of Tippecanoe, 1911)

Forty-five thousand land-hungry white settlers poured into the Ohio Country during the next six years. They spread a variety of killer diseases, including smallpox, influenza, and measles, in their wake. Whole villages succumbed, and hundreds of natives died. 

High Indian mortality rates did not bother the intruding whites, who also considered the arbitrary "murdering of the Indians in the highest degree meritorious," according to William Henry Harrison, the territorial governor and future president of the United States. Aggressive frontier settlers likewise infringed on Indian hunting grounds and rapidly killed off wild game that provided the natives with basic sustenance. 

Deprived of their ancestral homelands, faced with severe food shortages, and enduring a drastic loss of population, Native Americans in the Old Northwest saw the fabric of their society coming apart. Tribal unity eroded, villages broke apart, and violent disputes became widespread. To escape from their problems, some natives turned to alcohol for the mind-numbing relief it provided them.

One of the Native Americans who suffered from the breakdown of Indian society was a Shawnee youth named Laulewasika. A few months before he was born in 1774, white frontiersmen—they had crossed into the Ohio Country in violation of a recent treaty—killed his father, a respected Shawnee warrior chief. Shortly thereafter, his despondent mother, a Creek, fled westward, leaving behind her children to be raised by relatives.

As a young man Laulewasika lacked direction. He became a dissolute, drunken idler, known only for the handkerchief he wore to cover up the facial disfigurement he suffered when he lost an eye during an accident. Then in 1805 in the midst of a frightening epidemic, Laulewasika underwent a powerful transformation. Overcome by images of his own wickedness, he fell into a deep trance during which he met the Indian Master of Life. On the basis of this mystical experience, Laulewasika embarked on a crusade "to reclaim the Indians from bad habits." 

Adopting the name Tenskwatawa, meaning "the open door," he first called upon Indians everywhere to stop drinking the white traders' alcohol. He soon broadened his appeals. Like other Native-American revitalization prophets before and after him, Tenskwatawa vigorously demanded an end to intertribal fighting, a return to ancestral ways, and a complete rejection of all aspects of white civilization. His central message was native unity as the key to blocking further white encroachments on ancient tribal lands.

Tenskwatawa's reputation reached a high point in 1806 after Governor William Henry Harrison demanded the performance of a miracle. "If he is a prophet," an almost mocking Harrison said to some Indians, "ask him to cause the sun to stand still, the moon to alter its course, . . . or the dead to rise from their graves. If he does these things, you may then believe he has been sent from God." Tenskwatawa obliged. Most likely learning from the British about an upcoming solar eclipse, he pronounced that he would make the sun disappear on the morning of June 16. When the shadow of the moon darkened the rays of the sun that day, the prophet's fame and message of unity spread far and wide among Native Americans.

 

"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.  Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.  Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.  Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.  Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.  Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place.  Show respect to all people and grovel to none.  When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.  If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.  Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.  When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.  Sing your death song and die like a hero going home." Tecumseh, from Lee Sulzman, Shawnee History

The doctrines of Tenskwatawa were not solely his own. His older brother, the famed Shawnee war chief Tecumseh (1768-1813), had come to recognize the futility of fighting piecemeal against the whites. He also emerged as a firm advocate of a broad-based Indian alliance. In conjunction with the Shawnee Prophet, he struggled to convince Native Americans as far north as Wisconsin, as far west as Arkansas, and as far south as Florida to join together in blocking white expansion.

Besides working to build an alliance, Tecumseh's immediate goal was to save Indiana territory, or "the country of Indians," for the native populace. In 1808 he and Tenskwatawa relocated their tribal village in northwestern Indiana along the shoreline of the Tippecanoe River where it flowed into the Wabash River. 

William Henry Harrison was now Governor of the Indiana Territory and viewed these developments warily.  (Harrison was originally appointed Governor by President John Adams and reappointed by Jefferson and then Madison.)  A meeting with Tenskwatawa did little to assuage the Governor as he anticipated the coming war with England and feared that Tecumseh's Alliance would make common cause with the English.

The presence of the so-called Prophet's Town greatly worried Governor Harrison, since it served as a mecca for Indian unification. In reaction Harrison directly challenged the growing influence of the Shawnee brothers. He conducted negotiations with friendly local chiefs and plied them with alcohol until they turned over title to 3 million acres in Indiana for the paltry sum of $7000 and an annuity of $1750. This precipitous act put Harrison on a collision course with Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa.

In 1809, while Tecumseh was away, Harrison negotiated treaties with Delaware, Miami, Kaskaskia, and Potawatomi in which the U.S. gained three million acres of southern Indiana and Illinois.  This, of course, only intensified Tecumseh's anger, and he voiced his doctrine that the cessation was invalid in an eloquent letter to Harrison.

Tecumseh Letter to Governor Harrison

Harrison eventually held a meeting with the outraged Shawnee brothers. The governor told them they could surely place their faith in treaties with the United States, but not before Tecumseh, a spellbinding orator, had queried: "How can we have confidence in the white people? When Jesus Christ came upon the earth, you killed Him and nailed Him to a cross. You thought He was dead, but you were mistaken." 

Harrison did not miss the point. Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa intended to revitalize Native Americans so that they too would regain life as a united nation of peoples and put an end to legalized land grabbing as provided for in such treaties as the one recently negotiated by Harrison.

Tecumseh needed time to build his alliance, and he soon set off on another of his journeys to convince his native brethren to put aside their petty tribal squabbles and prepare to rise up as one to resist the whites. 

 In November 1811, while Tecumseh was away in the south attempting to rally support, Harrison approached the Prophet's Town with an army of nearly 1000 men. Tenskwatawa rose to the bait and allowed some 450 warriors to attack the Americans. What followed was a rout. As the battle raged, the prophet called upon the Master of Life to protect his native fighters. His prayer failed. Harrison's troops drove off the warriors and then sacked and burned the village. In so doing, they destroyed the prophet's credibility and prestige. They also inadvertently gave Harrison the kind of impressive military victory that helped him successfully secure the presidency of the United States in 1840. "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" was Harrison's catchy electioneering slogan.

He warned Tenskwatawa to avoid any conflict with Harrison, but the prophet did not listen. U.S. fears of War with England and the Alliance had intensified, however.  In July, 1811, President James Madison gave Governor Harrison the command of U.S. regulars, the Fourth Regiment of mounted infantry, with orders to avoid a general conflict if possible.  Harrison determined to attempt to overawe the Nations with a show of force.  Failing that, he would provoke a conflict in Tecumseh's absence and before Tecumseh could return with additional recruits.  Harrison marched carefully on Tippecanoe with a force of about 1,000, including volunteers and the Fourth Regiment regulars.  He camped on a wooded hill near Tippecanoe November 6, 1811.

Ignoring his brother's instructions, Tenskwatawa launched a surprise attack just before daybreak on the 7th.  However, Harrison was suspicious and had prepared.  As the battle raged, the prophet called upon the Master of Life to protect his native fighters. His prayer failed.

By all accounts the battle was indecisive, a draw, and Harrison fortified his camp expecting a renewed attack on the 8th.  A draw was disastrous for the Alliance, however, since Tenskwatawa had promised his followers invulnerability, a victory.  The dead warriors and the indecisive battle gave the lie to his words, and the outraged allies dispersed.  When no attack came on the 8th, Harrison's men cautiously approached Tippecanoe and found it abandoned.

What had been a draw on November 7th had become a U.S. victory on the 8th.  President Madison commended Harrison and his troops in a message to Congress that December:

"While it is deeply to be lamented that so many valuable lives have been lost in the action which took place on the 7th ult., Congress will see with satisfaction the dauntless spirit and fortitude victoriously displayed by every description of troops engaged, as well as the collected firmness which distinguished their commander, on the occasion requiring the utmost exertion of valor and discipline."

Tecumseh returned home from his trip a few months later. He was in an optimistic frame of mind, believing the grand native alliance could yet become reality. Then he saw the devastated village. Shocked and enraged that his brother had challenged Harrison's force, he angrily denounced Tenskwatawa and sent him packing westward into obscurity. 

In frustration Tecumseh likewise abandoned his dream of a pan-Indian alliance, since he now doubted whether his native brethren had the patience to plan and work together. Then, in his own words, he "swore . . . eternal hatred—the hatred of an avenger" against white settlers everywhere. He would rally what warriors he could and fight with all his strength in the name of his way of life until death relieved him of the anguish he felt for the collapsing world of his native brethren.

Battle of Tippecanoe Copyrighted 1889 by Kurz and Allison,Art Publishers, Chicago,USA. 

Nonetheless, the War of 1812 was impending and Tecumseh still commanded immense respect.  When the American general, William Hull, invaded Canada in June, Tecumseh fielded 800 warriors in support of the British.  The U.S. invasion turned into a disaster when Hull retreated to Detroit and then surrendered Detroit without a fight.

In September, William Henry Harrison, Tecumseh's nemesis, was given command of U.S. forces in the Northwest.  By August 1813 Harrison had assembled an army of 8,000, and when Oliver Hazard Perry's ships destroyed the British fleet on Lake Erie, the British had to abandon Detroit.  Harrison pursued the retreating British and Native American forces into Canada, and the Battle of the Thames was joined on October 5, 1813.   Tecumseh was killed; his supporters scattered; and the war in the Northwest was over.

The day before the climactic encounter, Tecumseh told his native followers: "Brother warriors, we are about to enter an engagement from which I shall not return. My body will remain on the field of battle." Tecumseh's premonition was correct. The next afternoon he died from multiple wounds in combat. The British commander and his staff abandoned the field, but Tecumseh and his warriors fought on.  With his demise the vision of pan-Indian resistance to white encroachment on native lands in the Middle West also perished.

Tecumseh's dream of a grand Indian alliance ended with his death in 1813. This illustration of the warrior's final engagement at the Battle of the Thames originally appeared as the frontispiece for History of the Indian Wars. by Henry Trumbull.  Like many other writers of his generation, Trumbull presents a version of American history preoccupied with "the sufferings of the inhabitants of frontier settlements by the Savages."

Col. Richard Johnson, who may have fired the fatal shot, takes center stage in the illustration. Tecumseh is depicted at far right, armed with a spear and encouraging his warriors to attack. Johnson parlayed his reputation as a fearless slayer of Indians into a political career. Adopting the nickname "Old Tecumseh," he successfully campaigned for the vice-presidency in 1816 as Martin Van Buren's running mate using the slogan: "Rumpsey dumpsey, rumpsey dumpsey/ Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh!" William Henry Harrison, victor in the Battle of Tippecanoe, was elected president in 1840 on the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."