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| Tecumseh by � moon_grace Across a September night sky in 1768, there came a shooting star known as the Panther. The story tells of a male Shawanese child born that night beneath the trail of that shooting star. He would be named �Panther crossing the Sky.� He would be called Tecumseh. In his lifetime and after, his untiring efforts and unyielding strength in his convictions would attract the respect of friend and foe alike. Tecumseh spent the early years of his life in the company of his family of six brothers and one sister. They were of the Kispotho sept of the Shawnee. Shawnee septs were independent self-governing branches of the Shawnee tribe. Each sept performed a different function for the benefit of the entire tribe. At the time of Tecumseh�s birth, white settlers were moving into the territories of Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap and others were crossing the Appalachians into West Virginia. These areas were heretofore Shawanese lands. When the Shawanese attempted to discourage settlers and send them back, conflicts arose. Tecumseh�s father, Puckenshinwa, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant. Shortly afterwards, his mother, Methoataske migrated to a different area with a group of Shawnee. His older sister Tecumpease raised him. In his youth, he began to accompany his older brother, Chiksika, on raids against white settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee. Even after the victory of battle, there was only so far that Tecumseh would go. He would not be party and part to the torture of the captured. On the bank of the Ohio River, he chided a war party for the burning to death of a white captive. Tecumseh would not remain silent to what he felt was an unmanly act. He is reported to have told them to kill if you must, but to torment to death a helpless prisoner was despicable. No torture was to have occurred in his presence. Raids continued with his older brother until Chiksika was killed in a battle that ended in defeat. It is said that in the shadow of this defeat and while still grieving over the loss of his elder brother, Tecumseh began to realize the efforts of the Ohio Valley Nations would not be enough to stem the tide of white settlers on Native lands. Simultaneously, in this time, William Henry Harrison was enlisted in the US Army. Harrison was the son of one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. President George Washington gave this son of Virginia his first commission. Tecumseh first fought Harrison at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. It was in the following year that Tecumseh refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville. At this point in time, Harrison had been named Secretary of the Northwest Territory. This included an area that encompassed Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Shortly thereafter, Harrison was named governor of the Indiana Territory. It was here that Harrison began the gathering of millions of acres of land via treaties from Native Americans. Tecumseh began to observe individual chiefs being led by whites to sign treaties that went against the best interests of the tribe. All to often the signing tribe would shortly be met with irregular militias assisting the U.S. Army in taking over more and more land. Survival in these instances quickly became a shift from self- sufficiency toward a dependant relationship relying on U.S. government handouts. Seeing what further encroachment would mean for Native Americans, Tecumseh began the task of forming a pan-Indian Confederation in an effort to halt the westward migration of settlers. It was his dream to form a confederation where each would be viewed as a Native American first, and then as a member of a tribe, clan or sept. With that ideal, he began work on a Native American Coalition. This set him upon a path that would encompass areas west of the Mississippi, down to the Gulf of Mexico and across the Southeastern United States. During his travels, his warriors were left in the care of his younger brother, Tenskwatawa who was also known as the Prophet. Earlier, this younger brother had drawn people to him for his prophecies. As time went on, followers began to turn to the political and spiritual leadership of both brothers. They established a capital of the Alliance on Tippecanoe Creek in the western portion of Indiana. It was reported they had at times 1,000 warriors there. Tecumseh had also gathered support from other Native American Nations. As governor of Indiana, Harrison watched the brothers warily. Tetskwatawa met with governor Harrison at one point but it was of little use. Harrison at that time feared a coming war with England and further feared a Native American Alliance might decide to align itself with the English. Additionally, while Tecumseh was away traveling at one point, Harrison made various treaties that gained three million acres in Southern Indiana and Illinois. This angered Tecumseh and upon hearing it, he wrote a letter to Harrison telling him that all Native Americans owned these lands co-jointly. As such, no one individual segment had the right to sell or treaty cessation of land without agreement from all. Further exchanges between the two men did little to find an agreement. Tecumseh found himself traveling again. This time, he was headed South. Before he left, he told his brother Tetskwatawa avoid a fight at all costs because they were not yet strong enough. He asked his brother to wait upon the right time when they would be strong. Tetskwatawa, however, did not wait. While Tecumseh was away, Harrison marched up the Wabash River. He and his men camped near the brother�s Capitol. That night, Tenskwatawa ignored his brother�s earlier pleas and attacked. Harrison was prepared and his men were waiting. While the battle was supposedly a draw, Tenskwatawa had promised a decisive victory that he had not delivered. Many warriors left. The next day, when Harrison�s men marched into camp, they found Tippercanoe abandoned. Eventually outliving his brother, Tenskwatawa lived out the rest of his life in Canada. Three months later, Tecumseh returned to find Tippercanoe deserted. Angry, but undaunted, he gathered his followers and joined the British on the eve of the War of 1812. At this point in time, Harrison was now in command of the U.S. forces in the Northwest. After amassing a large number of men, he defeated the British Fleet on Lake Erie. The British who had held on to Detroit had to abandon it. Tecumseh and his forces went with them. However, Harrison followed them into Canada. Harrison�s forces met with the British and Native American forces at the Battle of the Thames. At this battle, the British commander and his staff left the field. Tecumseh remained. It is here that he died in battle. The war was over. Tecumseh was taken from the field and secretly buried in an area unknown. It was never determined who killed him. Following the shooting star he was born beneath, in his time he shone brightly with the fire of his convictions and just as quickly, his life was extinguished. More importantly, like the shooting star beholden to none for a path to follow, he followed the path that was his own. |
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