Tenskwatawa's War 1811

About 1808 Tecumseh settled in the area of present-day Indiana with his brother Tenskwatawa, called "the Prophet" because he claimed to have had a revelation from the "Master of Life." There the brothers sought to induce the Indians to discard white customs and goods and to abjure intertribal wars for unity against the white invader. The code of the Prophet had a mysticism that appealed to the Indians, and many became converts.

In 1811, while Tecumseh was in the South, William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, marched up the Wabash River and camped near the brothers' settlement. The Prophet unwisely attacked Harrison's camp and was so decisively defeated in the ensuing Battle of Tippecanoe that his followers dispersed, and he, having lost his prestige, fled to Canada and ceased to be a factor in Tecumseh's plans.

Battle of Tippecanoe, (Nov. 7, 1811), victory of a seasoned U.S. expeditionary force under Major General William Henry Harrison over Shawnee Indians led by Tecumseh's brother Laulewasikau (Tenskwatawa), known as the Prophet. The battle took place at Prophetstown, the Indian capital on the Tippecanoe River and the site of the present town of Battle Ground, near Lafayette, Ind. Harrison, who was on a mission to destroy the power of an intertribal defensive alliance being promoted by Tecumseh and his brother, repelled the Shawnee attack and burned the village. Discredited, Laulewasikau fled to Canada.

Although the two sides suffered equal losses, the battle was widely regarded as a U.S. victory and helped establish Harrison's national reputation. In the presidential election of 1840, he successfully used the slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!"

Tecumseh ([b. 1768, Old Piqua [modern Clark county, Ohio, U.S.]; d. Oct. 5, 1813, near Thames River, Upper Canada [now in Ontario, Can.]] also spelled TECUMTHE, TIKAMTHE, OR TECUMTHA) was a Shawnee Indian chief, orator, military leader, and advocate of intertribal Indian alliance who directed Indian resistance to white rule in the Ohio River valley. In the War of 1812 he joined British forces for the capture of Detroit and the invasion of Ohio. A decisive battle against William Henry Harrison's U.S. troops ended in Tecumseh's defeat and death.

References

How to Stop a War; Tecumseh; Battle of Tippecanoe.

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