A. Introduction
B. Early life
1. Birth and influences
2. American Events
C. Plan For an Indian Confederation
D. Forming the Confederation
1. Religious Support
2. Campaigning throughout the frontier
3. Treaty of Fort Wayne
E. Battle of Tippecanoe
F. Weakening of the Confederation
G. Looking for British support
H. War of 1812
1. Allying with the British
2. Asisiting the British war effort
3. Campaigning with the Upper Creeks
4. Retreating from the front and Tecumseh’s death
I. Conclusion
Throughout the comparatively recent history of the United States, there have been many obstacles that the relatively young nation has had to overcome. Even before the nation had obtained its independence from Britain, there were conflicts with the Natives of the new land. Then wars were fought for other countries benefit, on their own soil. Then, of course, there was the Revolutionary War, fought in the late 1770’s, in which British colonists rose up against their British fathers in order to gain economic, religious and political freedom. After the acquirement of their independence as a nation, there were still many conflicts that the fledgling country had to worry about. The continent of North America was still controlled by other European superpowers, not to mention the multitudes of Native Indians that populated the lands west of the Appalachians. In order to combat other world powers as well as increase their own wealth, trade, and influence, the Americans adopted an attitude of ‘Manifest Destiny’, in which westward expansion was priority and their right. This however, led to more troubles and conflicts with the Natives of the land. The Indians west of the Appalachian mountain range would not give up the land that their tribes had been living on for hundreds of years, at least not without a fight.
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And even though the Indians were much less advanced in technology and warfare, the American frontier-men found a major obstacle in the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh. Tecumseh wielded more power than any other North American Indian before him, and no other Indian after him would ever come close to his political domination. His power was not a military power, directly threatening the United States, but rather the potential to unite a large confederation of Indian tribes to resist against the westward growing nation. Tecumseh was a major obstruction in the American westward movement because not only did he attempt to establish a vast Indian Confederation, which could have stopped the push westward to the Pacific, but also because he became allies with the British in the War of 1812, which was also a core barrier in the American obtaining of frontier lands.
Tecumseh was born in 1768, and was the son of Puckeshinwau, a chief of the Kispapocoke or Kiskopoke clan and Methoataske, whom belonged to the Creek tribe. Tecumseh’s early life was full of mixed feelings towards the Americans. Puckeshinwau was usually friendly with the Americans; Thus, Tecumseh learned to act peaceful towards the new white settlers. However, when Puckeshinwau died at the hands of Americans, his view of the European colonists changed dramatically. After his father’s death, it is unclear who raised the young Shawnee, whether his brother, his mother, or Blackfish, another chief. Most likely all of them further influenced his views on the Americans.
Not only did Tecumseh have a mixed upbringing in his formative years, but his various encounters with the Americans were often extremely negative as well. After his father’s death, another one of his brothers died fighting Americans. The burning of two Shawnee villages, Piqua and Chillicothe, in 1780 by George Roger Clark did not improve
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his outlook towards the new colonists. Yet, Tecumseh seemed to have no real desire to fight the Americans. He simply wanted to stop the advance of the whites into Indian lands.
Tecumseh believed that Americans were weakening the Indians. He saw the problems that alcohol, brought by white traders, was causing among the Indians, and he knew first hand that the demand for furs in Europe was decreasing the number of animals in the forest. Trading posts were beginning to be established all the way across the continent to the Pacific. Tecumseh hated turning away from the Indian traditions, wanting the Natives to return to their previous way of existence, one of living off the land and not at the mercy of traders. Tecumseh, while recognizing the gunpowder and the rifle as powerful weapons, thought that the tomahawk and the bow were the rightful, traditional weapons of the Indians. Tecumseh knew that the Indians had no way to manufacture rifles or gunpowder, nor did he see a need to, he simply wanted isolation from the European Invaders in order to preserve the Native customs.
In order to counter the threat the Americans posed, Tecumseh formulated a plan that he would spend most of his life trying to fulfill. Although most Indian tribes agreed that a tribe was not bound by land cessions given to the whites through bribery, Tecumseh further developed the idea by saying that all the land belonged to all the Indians and that no tribe could sell a part of this common territory. Thus, Tecumseh sought to create a continental Indian confederation, covering a vast amount of tribes throughout the frontier; for he believed that if the Indians would unite in their primitive strength they would be able to hold their heritage.
Tecumseh was aided in spreading his idea by his brother, Tenskwatawa the Prophet, who through trances, dreams and hallucinations developed a native religion which rapidly gained support throughout the tribes. “His Indian Deity had told him that the white Americans ‘grew from the scum of the great water, when it was troubled by an evil spirit and the froth was driven into the woods by a strong east wind… they have taken your lands, which were not made for them’” (Debo 106).
His religion taught that the Indians should give up all the white man’s corrupting influences- alcohol, domestic animals, traders’ products, and even guns and ammunition- and undergo a primitive revival of the old way of life. It was then said that the white men would be swept away by supernatural forces, and the Indians would yet again live ‘without corruption’.
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In 1808, the brothers built Prophet’s Town on the shores of the Tippecanoe Creek in present day Indiana, where the brothers’ followers lived by the old traditions peacefully. During the spring, the two brothers with several followers visited the tribes of the Old Northwest, winning followers of many tribes. The next year, he headed south to the Southern tribes, traveling as far as the Florida Seminoles, where he made friendly contacts; the Osages in Missouri, who were not that interested; and the Iroquois in New York, who totally rejected the message.
Meanwhile, in his absence, the Governor of the Indiana territory, Governor Harrison called some Indian chiefs to Fort Wayne, where, after “mellowing them” (Harrison) with alcohol, obtained their signatures on a treaty, ceding three million acres of land in Indiana, some of which belonged to tribes not present at the treaty (Tucker 25).
When Tecumseh returned from his campaign he fiercely condemned the treaty as fraud, and by the spring of 1810, he had one thousand warriors at the Prophet’s Town, ready to ward off any potential white settlers to the newly ‘acquired’ territories. His plan for peace and unity had not been strong enough to hold.
Because of this, Tecumseh took three hundred warriors with him to meet Harrison at Vincennes. There he gave a speech, presenting the Indian cause with such eloquence that the interpreter had a hard tome following him. “Sell a country… why not sell the are, the clouds the great sea as well as the earth? Did the Great Spirit make them all for the use of all his children?” he proclaimed. He then compared the United States as a prequel to the Indian Confederacy, stating “The States have set the example of forming a union among all the fires (the 17 fires were what he called the States)- why should they censure the Indians from following it?” (Tecumseh).
The council ended in an outbreak of anger from Tecumseh, stating that the Indians had been treated unfairly. It seemed a fight was imminent, however Harrison dismissed the council before any real trouble could arise.
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Tecumseh was now set on war and hoped for British support against the Americans. So he began another journey through the Northwest to recruit more supporters to his cause. He crossed into Canada to obtain support from the British, whom he met with at Fort Malden. However, at the time, the British were in no state to fight a war and so the declined any alliances. Harrison ,now frightened about the growing number of Indians congregating at Prophet’s Town, wanted an excuse to attack village while they lacked their powerful leader. It came in July when the Osawatomie killed some white men in Illinois (Debo 110).
Harrison said that the killers were followers of the Prophet and demanded that they be turned over to him. Tecumseh, now back from his campaign, declined Harrison’s request, but suggested a truce for the time being as he was about to visit the Southern Tribes.
As soon as Tecumseh was safely out of the way, Harrison raised a force of 1,000 men and marched to the Prophet’s Town, and on the night of November 6th , he set up camp outside the town. The Prophet and the other leaders held a council in the village. Tecumseh had left his brother with orders not to attack the Americans. He did not want to start a war with the American s since he was still trying to peacefully unite the Indians into a group that the Americans would have to deal with peacefully. However, a fighting tribe called the Winnebago’s urged a battle to be fought. The Prophet had no choice but to agree with the numerous Indians who wanted to fight since he was afraid that if he backed down, many of the Indians would leave the confederation on their own. The Prophet even went so far as to make bold predictions that the “Indians would be victorious and that bullets would bounce off their skin” (Website 1).
Early the next morning, November 7th ,1811, about 450 Indian warriors attacked Harrison’s camp before dawn. Although the Indians suffered fewer casualties than the Americans, they withdrew, leaving Harrison who promptly went and burned their town to the ground. This battle was named the Battle of Tippecanoe, after the river that it was fought near. Tecumseh was flung into war before he could construct a strong Indian union.
When Tecumseh returned from his travels in the spring of 1812, he was furious at what had happened while he was away. The majority of the habitants of Prophet’s Town were gone, and the growth of his confederation had been delayed. Many of the tribes whose warriors had been killed at Tippecanoe began to attack white settlements. Many settlers were killed, and their homes and farms destroyed. Hundreds of the frontier-men fled their lands to get away from the Indian raids. In retaliation, the Americans built forts all the way across the new frontier. However, even these new fortifications did not prevent the random attacks from the natives.
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Even though the Battle of Tippecanoe diminished much of the power that Tecumseh and his brother once held. It destroyed the integrity of the Prophet, whom Tecumseh banished, and it frightened some Indians into neutrality. But there was still a chance for Tecumseh’s plan to succeed: the coming war between Britain and The United States. If he could bring what was left of his confederation into an alliance with the British, together they might win. On the 17th of May, 1812, Tecumseh headed towards Malden. There he told the British that he did not want a war with the Americans, he only wanted them to stop settling in the native’s land.
Then, on June 18th, the United States declared war against Britain. Both sides quickly sent agents to the frontiers to enlist Indians. The Americans only wanted the Indians to remain neutral. However, the British, “realizing the lack of manpower in Upper Canada at the time, saw the Indians as a definite force multiplier” (Blodget).
Tecumseh decided to side with the British and he took command of the Indians whom joined the British side. The American General Hull then suggested a council for the Indian tribes. There several chiefs spoke in favor of joining the Americans. Tecumseh argued passionately against it. “Here is a chance… such as will never occur again- for us Indians of North America to form ourselves into one great combination” (Tecumseh).
Angry at the Indians lack of support, he gathered a large war party and sent out warriors to harass the American army, and they engaged in many skirmishes. Thus, it was an Indian, Tecumseh, who began the fighting in the War of 1812. Soon afterwards, the British General Isaac Brock arrived with many reinforcements and Tecumseh aided the capturing of Detroit and the entire American army in August of that year.
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In fall of 1812, he yet again went and visited the Southern Tribes, particularly the Upper Creeks. He told them that the Americans would make them give up their traditions so they had to fight back. He also told them that the British were their allies and that they would aid them in fighting the Americans. In fact, the British forces soon arrived at Pensacola gave guns and ammo to the tribe. Although the Upper Creeks had earlier ignored his plans for the Indian Confederation, they now joined him in his fight against the Americans. After he left them, they attacked Fort Mims, starting a whole new front on the battlefield, and making the war harder for the American enemy.
The War was pretty evenly matched between the Natives, the British, and the Americans, until September 10th, 1813, when Commodore Perry of the American navy gained control of Lake Erie, cutting off the British supply route from the east. The British General, Proctor, abandoned the Detroit area and, with Tecumseh protesting every step of the way, started to retreat along the north shore of Lake Erie. Eventually near the River Thames, Tecumseh persuaded Proctor to stand his ground and make a defense against the on-coming Americans. On October 5th, 1813, Harrison’s army, which was far larger than the British army, caught up to Proctor and fought at the Battle of the Thames. In this battle, an unidentified American killed the great Native leader, Tecumseh, and with him went the dream of a united Indian confederation as well as organized Indian support to the British in the frontier.
Tecumseh was the greatest Indian leader of his era, almost succeeding in stopping the American westward movement into Indian territory by creating a united Indian front, and later assisting the British in the war of 1812. He was one of the few Indians whom attempted to protect their, heritage in a peaceful manner. Unfortunately, the plan was unsuccessful, and with the death of Tecumseh came the end of any unity between the Indian tribes. He was unsuccessful because each Indian tribe had their own agenda and there was often a lasting hatred between tribes. After Tecumseh, the Indians of the Great Plains had no chance of stopping the expanding nation. Tecumseh was the natives’ last chance at fully preserving the Indian culture, and if he would have succeeded, the scarcity of natives today may not have come into being.
Works Cited
Bearcroft, BW. The Last Fighting Indians of the American West. 1 ed. Harlow: aaaaaLongman Group Ltd, 1976.
Blodget, Brian. “Tecumseh: His Role in the Cause and Conduct of the War of aaaaa1812”. The History Ring. 2 Jan. 2005. aaaaa.
Coit, Margaret. The Growing Years: The LIFE history of the United States. Rev. ed. New York: Time-Life Books, 1974.
Debo, Angie. A History of the Indians of the United States. 6th ed. Norman: aaaaaUniversity of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
Sugden, John. Tecumseh’s Last Stand. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.
Tucker, Glenn. Tecumseh: Vision of Glory. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1956.
