Tecumseh (c.1768–October 5, 1813), whose given name might be more accurately rendered as Tecumtha or Tekamthi, was a famous leader of the Shawnee people, who spent much of his life attempting to rally disparate Native American tribes in a mutual defense of Indian lands, which culminated in his death in the War of 1812. Chief Tecumseh was greatly admired in his day, remains a respected icon for Native Americans, and is considered a national hero in Canada. Even his longtime adversary William Henry Harrison considered Tecumseh to be "one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things."
Youth
The exact date of Tecumseh's birth is impossible to verify; 1768 is the generally accepted estimate. He was born in the Ohio Country, probably in one of the Shawnee towns along the Scioto River. Tecumseh's name (which translates as "I Cross the Way" or "A Panther Crouching for His Prey") was a reference to his family clan (or phratry). Shawnee children inherited a clan affiliation from their fathers; Tecumseh belonged to the panther clan, one of a dozen exogamous Shawnee clans.2
In addition to clans, the Shawnee had five divisions, membership in which was also inherited from the father. Tecumseh's father Pukeshinwah (and thus Tecumseh also) belonged to the Kispoko division. Some traditions state that Tecumseh's mother Methoataaskee was Creek or Cherokee, but biographer John Sugden believes that she was a Shawnee of the Pekowi (Piqua) division.3 Some of the confusion results from the fact that Creeks and Cherokees were eager to claim the famous Chief Tecumseh as one of their own; many Creeks named children after him.4 The details are sketchy, but some traditions suggest that Tecumseh's paternal grandfather (Pukeshinwah's father) may have been British.5
Warfare between whites and Indians loomed large in Tecumseh's youth. Pukeshinwah was killed in Lord Dunmore's War at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. In the American Revolutionary War, many Shawnee villages were destroyed by Americans, including what was likely Tecumseh's boyhood home in the Battle of Piqua in 1780.
Alliance
In the late 1780s and together with his brother (Elskwatawa or Tenskwatawa, called the Prophet) Chief Tecumseh attempted to form an alliance of the Native inhabitants of the upper Midwest and Ohio River valley and Great Lakes area against the expansion of white settlers of the United States of America. The alliance had a number of membership changes, but at one time or another it included representatives from the Shawnee, Canadian Iroquois, Wyandot, Mingo, Ottawa, Chickamauga, Miami, Kickapoo, Lenni Lenape, Ojibway, Potawatomi, Fox, Sauk, and Mascouten nations. Tecumseh's alliance had its capital at Prophets Town, just a few miles north of Lafayette, Indiana near the present-day town of Battle Ground.
Battle of Tippecanoe
In 1811, Chief Tecumseh left Tippecanoe leaving his brother in charge, while he journeyed south to meet with representatives of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations to enlist them in his alliance of native tribes. On November 7, 1811, a U.S. force under the command of future President William Henry Harrison attacked Elskwatawa at the Battle of Tippecanoe, wiping out the Native camp and putting an end to Tecumseh's hope of a broad Native alliance. Tension was mounting between the United States and Britain, and the War of 1812 broke out early the following year. Tecumseh took a force of Natives north, where they enlisted as British allies.
Detroit surrender
Chief Tecumseh joined British Major-General Sir Isaac Brock to force the surrender of Detroit in August 1812, a major victory for the British. However, Commander Oliver Hazard Perry's victory on Lake Erie, late in the summer of 1813, cut British supply lines and prompted them to withdraw along the Thames Valley. The British burned the public buildings in Detroit and retreated into Upper Canada. Chief Tecumseh followed, fighting rearguard actions to slow the American advance.
Later years and death
The next British commander, Major-General Henry Proctor did not have the same working relationship with Tecumseh as the latter had with Brock. Proctor failed to appear at Chatham as expected by the Natives. Harrison crossed into Upper Canada in October, 1813 and won a victory over the British and Natives at the Battle of the Thames near Chatham, Ontario. Tecumseh was killed in the battle and, shortly after, the tribes of his confederacy surrendered to Harrison in Detroit.
Miscellaneous Tributes
In June 1930, a bronze replica of the figurehead of ship-of-the-line USS Delaware was presented by the Class of 1891 to the United States Naval Academy. This bust, one of the most famous relics on the campus, has been widely identified as Tecumseh. However, when it adorned the American man-of-war, it commemorated not Tecumseh but Tamanend, the revered Delaware chief who welcomed William Penn to America when he arrived in Delaware country on 2 October 1682.
Despite his defeat, Chief Tecumseh is honoured in Canada as a tragic hero who was a brilliant war chief who, along with Brock, saved Canada from American invasion when all seemed hopeless, but could not save his own people. Amoung the tributes is his placing in the The Greatest Canadian list where Tecumseh is ranked #37, the only full blood Native American so honoured.
Namings
Tecumseh, Michigan, Tecumseh, Nebraska, Tecumseh, Oklahoma, Tecumseh, Ontario, the ballistic missile submarine USS Tecumseh (SSBN-628), and the Union US Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman were all named after him. Tecumseh Power Company is a manufacturer of small gasoline engines and transmissions.
Chief Tecumseh in fiction
Tecumseh is one of the major characters in Orson Scott Card's alternate history fantasy series of novels The Tales of Alvin Maker (especially the second book, Red Prophet). In those books he is called Ta-Kumsaw.
Quotations
"Then listen to the voice of duty, of honour, of nature and of your endangered country. Let us form one body, one head and defend to the last warrior our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers." -- Tecumseh, circa 1813
"A more ... gallant Warrior does not, I believe, exist." -- Major-General Sir Isaac Brock
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tecumseh"