Shawnee Chief Tecumseh Created a Confederation to Oppose White Encroachment

While Tecumseh was ultimately unsuccessful, his principled stand made him a respected figure in both the Indian and white cultures.

It is believed that Tecumseh's mother fled westward, and Tecumseh and his brother were raised by an older sister. Tecumseh grew up to be a distinguished warrior in the Shawnee tribe.

He became a chief of the Shawnee tribe, and led his people to settle near the banks of the Wabash River.

Tecumseh and his brother founded a settlement (in present day Indiana) called Prophetstown (sometimes rendered as Prophet's Town). Addressing visiting Indians from other tribes, Tecumseh and The Prophet would urge them not to drink alcohol, not to trade on credit with whites, and to work at developing their own agricultural skills so they could live as farmers.

Frustrated and offended by Indian tribes that sold land to whites, Tecumseh proposed that the tribes stick together. He wanted to form a confederation that would refuse to sell land to whites unless all the tribes agreed.

Tecumseh's idea naturally brought him into conflict with the US government. The British in Canada, who were intent on thwarting American efforts to expand westward, gave support to Tecumseh's efforts at forming a confederacy of Indian tribes.

Something that raised Tecumseh's standing among the Indians is that he seemed able to predict events such as solar eclipses and earthquakes.

In August 1810 Tecumseh and Harrison met at what was called the Council of Vincennes, in Indiana. Tecumseh delivered an oration demanding Indian lands be returned, and what was to be a diplomatic meeting nearly turned violent.

While Tecumseh was absent, William Henry Harrison led an attack against Prophetstown, the major Shawnee village. The settlement was destroyed. The Shawnee were later defeated by Harrisons's forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811.

Decades later the name of the battle became part of the famous "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" slogan for Harrison's presidential campaign in the election of 1840.

Tecumseh was said to have saved some American prisoners at Detroit, and was generally respected by his American opponents as he did not believe in torturing captives and was known to keep his word.

The troops that killed Tecumseh were under the command of William Henry Harrison, who had been named a general and put in command of the Army of the Northwest during the war.

If Tecumseh's idea of organizing the various Indian tribes to resist white settlement had succeeded, it would have seriously changed the course of American history. His political skills and charismatic leadership made him a revered figure.

Countless tributes to Tecumseh have appeared over the past two centuries, including the naming of towns and US Navy ships for him. A noteworthy Union general in the US Civil War, William Tecumseh Sherman, was given his middle name in honor of Tecumseh because his father respected the Shawnee chief.

Tecumseh's Curse:

One quirk of history became known as "Tecumseh's curse." William Henry Harrison, whose life intertwined with Tecumseh, was elected president in 1840, caught a cold while delivering the longest inauguration address in history, and died a month later.

Superstition held that Tecumseh had cursed his old enemy Harrison, and people began to notice that since Harrison's demise every American president elected in a year with a zero eventually died in office. The supposed curse held up until the term of John F. Kennedy, who was elected in 1960, and, of course, was assassinated in 1963.

Acknowledgment: Illustration of Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections.