Tecumseh and the Prophet

I wanted to know more about the warrior Tecumseh following my reading on William Henry Harrison back in December of 2021, and a quick search provided Tecumseh and the Prophet by Peter Cozzens. Interesting detail, the book was not in the History section at my local bookstore. It was in the social studies section. Not sure why, but that’s where it was.

Tecumseh was born in 1768 to Puckeshinwau and Methoataske. Puckeshinwau was Shawnee and his first wife had been Creek, so Creek Country in Alabama is where he had been living when his first wife died and he married Methoataske, another Shawnee. Methoataske wanted to rejoin the Shawnee in the north, and so they traveled north, and Chillicothe, OH is where Tecumseh was born.

This was prior to the American Revolution, but things were no more peaceful on the western frontier than they were on the eastern seaboard, with the French and British convincing various tribes to take sides, and on October 10, 1774, Puckeshinwau died in a battle in the Kanawha Valley, Kentucky. His oldest son, 13-year-old Cheeseekau, pulled Puckeshinwau back across the Kanawha River into Ohio, and took on the burden of raising his younger siblings, including 6-year-old Tecumseh, and soon to be born Laloeshiga, who was one of the triplets born to Methoataske in January, 1775. Triplets were seen as ill-luck, and one of the babies, a girl, died shortly after being born, leaving Laloeshiga and his twin Kumskaukau as the youngest born from Methoataske and Puckeshinwau.

Tecumseh grew up basically to be everything a Shawnee warrior should be, strong in body and spirit, he had an ingrained moral compass and no fear of speaking his mind on what was right and wrong. There are several incidents where a party he was traveling with would engage in warfare and where the usual treatment of captives might call for torture, he spoke out against the practice, saying it was inhumane and beneath the courage of the Shawnee to sink to the depths of depravity required to torture a fellow being. Where his words failed to persuade, he would just shoot the captive in the head before torture could take place. And his reputation was such that no one would argue with him about the matter.

Conversely, Laloeshiga was everything a Shawnee warrior should NOT be, he was not strong in body or spirit, he was prone to alcoholism, and was so inept at hunting that he shot his own eye out with a bow and arrow when he was a child, I think maybe 6 years old. And to compound his failings as a warrior, he was prone to boasting about things he didn’t do. His name, Laloeshiga, meant “Panther with a Handsome Tail.” His name was eventually changed to Lalawethika, meaning “Rattler”, or “Noise Maker.” The family was saying, basically, we know you did not do these things. Why do you say you did?

In Spring of 1779, a large faction of the Shawnee, favoring peace over war, accepted land grands from Spain west of the Mississippi. Among those who chose to move were Methoataske. However, Shawnee youth, being given a bit more choice in their lives, Tecumseh and Laloeshiga opted to stay in the Ohio Valley with Tecumseh’s older sister, Tecumpease and her husband, Wahsikegaboe. And from Wahsikegaboe and brother Cheeseekau, Tecumseh continued to grow into the epitome of Shawnee manhood.

And they were pulled into the Revolution on the western frontier, keeping up the fighting long after the British had surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. In fact, fighting would continue in the west for two more years, ending in 1783, and Tecumseh was part of it, fighting as directed, raiding flat boats of pioneers heading west. And, needless to say, tensions between the pioneers and the natives, rose steadily both during the Revolution and afterwards, as the pioneers moved in over-hunted lands that were already growing scarce in game.

Three years after the Revolution has ended in the West and no agreement has been made on where whites are allowed to settle, and this contributes to continuously rising tensions on both sides. And the author Peter Cozzens does a spectacular job maintaining utter neutrality and reporting just the facts. He points out where the pioneers fucked up, and where the Natives fucked up. He goes into detail on who commits what atrocities when, and it is important to note that it wasn’t just a matter of white people sweeping in and murdering the innocent, although there are definitely occasions where exactly that happened, like at Gnadenhutten. There are also times where the Shawnee sweep in and murder innocents, like when Tecumseh and his men attacked the homestead of John Waggoner, for no reason than Tecumseh needed to save face for having lost a previous engagement.

There were no true heroes in this saga, because, like everyone on the planet, the Shawnee were overwhelmingly human, and just as prone to the pride and arrogance of all humans. And among the many fascinating things in this book is the great detail Cozzens goes in to in reconstructing Shawnee belief system. Turns out, they saw us as sub-human too. Because racism is not just a white thing. But for all that, Tecumseh himself does not appear to have been racist. He had a strong sense of right and wrong, and fair play. He made friends easily, with both white people and other Shawnee and tribes. And he was very much a leader.

One of the defining points, a pivotal moment for America’s westward expansion, was the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Here is where future president William Henry Harrison earned his reputation for calmness in the face of combat. Tecumseh earned the same and came out a genuine leader of men. The Native coalition lost the battle and were forced into treaties that ultimately led to their complete destruction, with dishonest Indian agents and dirty politicians holding the annuities the tribes were promised as ransom unless the tribes signed ever more onerous land sales, ceding millions of acres of land to the US Government for pennies an acre, which the government would then sell to settlers for $2.00 per acre.

Kept slightly separate from all of this was Tecumseh, and the small village he had founded and led, at the Whitewater River in eastern Indiana. At this time, William Henry Harrison has been appointed governor of the Northwest Territory and did not yet realize that Tecumseh was someone to be reckoned with, and Tecumseh, for his part, was happy to be chief in his village. But more trouble is coming. With the loss of their traditional way of life, most of the “settled” Indians turned to alcoholism to combat the depression of their defeat and subjugation to American will. And that is where part one ends. With Tecumseh having settled in to be chief, and William Henry Harrison trying his paternalistic best to help the Indians with their alcoholism, but to no avail, because everything that brought them joy, the hunting, the moving, the ability to be free on their terms, has been stripped from them with punitive treaties.

So, Part One was, more or less, about Tecumseh. Part Two covers The Prophet. Mostly. Basically, Lalawethika didn’t do much of anything until he was about 30 years old. So, Winter of 1804-1805, Lalawethika is basically the town drunk. He has two wives, which was not uncommon or not permitted in Shawnee culture, and several children. He was a henpecked husband, both wives having overbearing personalities. Illness, specifically influenza, tended to ravage the Indian villages in the wintertime. And Lalawethika, lacking the qualifications and ability to be a warrior, has been studying to be a medicine man. Basically, the only person in the village who even tolerated Lalawethika was his mentor, his brother, and the white friends he was able to make. Then his mentor died. And, for reasons known only to himself, Lalawethika quits drinking. And he prays to the Great Spirit for guidance. His mentor is dead, his life has been wasted, he needs to know what to do now. And when lighting his pipe from the fire, he apparently drops over dead.

The village assumes that, like many other Shawnee, he had drunk himself to death. The customary grave diggers come to cart his body away, he gets laid out for burial, dressed in burial clothes, face painted for death. And he wakes up. And tells everyone that yes, he had died. He had been shown a vision of what death looked like by the Master of Life, and that the path he had been on, drunkard and failed warrior, was a path to hell, basically. Like all other paths, there was a chance for redemption. But the alcohol, was a straight road to eternal torment and burning fires. And he, so far in the story at least, never drank again.

And he announced that his name was no longer Lalawathika, he was now Tenskwatawa, meaning “He who opened the sky for red men to go up to the Master of Life,” or “Open Door”.  He announced he was a spiritual leader, a Prophet for the people, and that the only way to redemption was to quit drinking and return to the native ways. Return all property gifted to them from the white men. Everything. Dogs, clothes, cows, wives, everything. Any children conceived with a white person must also be returned to the whites. The only thing they were allowed to keep were guns, but that was only to make war against the white men. When hunting, the Shawnee must return to bow and arrow. And anyone who disagreed with him were fools or false prophets.

And he quickly got converts. From multiple tribes, not just the Shawnee. And he garnered such a reputation as a holy man, one who could look into the hearts of men and see evil if it existed, that when  the Delaware tribe were convinced they were beset by witches, as confirmed by their own holy woman Beata, they asked Tenskwatawa to attend and divine who among them was a witch. It’s not that they didn’t trust Beata. It’s that Beata freely said identifying the witches was outside her ability, and she recommended they call Tenskwatawa. Who promptly came, confirmed the suspected witches as evil, and the witches were immediately condemned to death. Much like with white history, when one tried to deny it, she was tortured until she confessed and named others. And when the one she named promptly said oh yeah, that’s totally true, he was let get go. Turns out, people just suck.

And much like the witch hunts in white mans land, these too ended when someone stood up to them and said Enough!

But he was now recognized as a Prophet, and Tecumseh was his biggest supporter. And the two brothers set about creating a space for the Shawnee and other Indians to gather together, starting in Greenville, IN. This village was on the white man’s side of the last treaty, but no where near white settlements, and so it was allowed. At first. But as Tenskwatawa began to amass followers, the white people started to get nervous. Mostly, it was Tenskwatawa’s kill all the white people creed. Tecumseh, surprisingly, was the diplomat, and quite able as one. He was very skilled at allaying fears and ensuring that the Shawnee in Greenville, as well as all Indians in Greenville regardless of tribe, stayed peaceful and did not attack the white people.

Eventually, Governor Harrison got nervous enough he asked the Shawnee brothers what their plans were. And was grateful when they said we plan to move west, into the newly designated territory that’s been set aside for us to hunt in by our allies Main Poc of the Potawatomi’s, and we will build a town there. Which they did, creating Prophetstown on the banks of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers. This was solidly in designated Indian territory, and well removed from white settlements.

And in 1807, they set out to do exactly that. Once Prophetstown was established, Tecumseh set about building an Indian Alliance. But it was very rough going, with mixed results. While many were willing to listen, and there were quite a few converts to the cause thanks to the preaching of Tenskwatawa, when winter came and there wasn’t enough food regardless of intent, people left. So, the population of the village tended to ebb and flow. But Tecumseh, sort of a 19th century version of a Native American Cassandra, he set out to alert the tribes that the American’s could not be trusted. And as proof, he had the very shady dealings and land grabs of one Governor William Henry Harrison, who made multiple land grab deals that left the native tribes underpaid for the land.

Unfortunately for Tecumseh, the tribes in his area failed to listen. So, in 1811, he set out the old Southwest, meaning what is now southeastern United States, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, with the intent of recruiting the four great nations of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee tribes. And he struck out with every single one of them. All the tribes believed the Americans would deal fairly with them. And Tecumseh, who had hoped to recruit 6,000 warriors to his cause, returned with 30.

And when he returned, the Battle of Tippecanoe had occurred, and Prophetstown had been burned to the ground. And he was not happy. All Tenskwatawa had to do was keep his head down and not piss of Governor Harrison. But it seems old habits died hard and Lalawathika popped to the forefront again, causing Harrison to react nervously, and bring troops to the Indian side of the treaty line. Now, make no mistake. Tippecanoe was Harrison’s fault. He could have ignored the loudmouthed Prophet, and nothing would have ever come of it. History itself might have turned out very differently on many fronts had he simply ignored The Prophet at this time.

But he did not. Perhaps he could not. He genuinely believed that the British were the cause of the native discontent on the western frontier, rather than his own shady land dealings. And so, he moved his troops into Indian territory. And when the Prophet swore to his men that they would be victorious, the warriors snuck up on the American encampment. And promptly lost the Battle of Tippecanoe. And when the angry warriors confronted Tenskwatawa and asked him how they lost, he said it was his wife’s fault. She had failed to alert him to the fact she was menstruating when helping him prepare the rituals. And as all the Indians believed a menstruating woman could cancel out a mans magic, Tenskwatawa’s life was spared, although the remaining warriors left in disgust. Prophetstown was abandoned. And Harrison and his troops burned it to the ground, destroying the winter stores, and ensuring a winter of hardship for the remaining Shawnee.

But, as angry as Tenskwatawa’s actions made him, this worked to Tecumseh’s benefit. As did mother nature. When Tecumseh was making his tour of the southern states, trying to drum up support for his pan-Indian alliance, he was followed by a comet, which stayed visible in the night sky during almost his entire journey in 1811. He tried to use this as proof they tribes should listen to and follow him, although the comet and Tecumseh himself failed to persuade. However, immediately following the news of Tippecanoe, which did outrage all the native tribes, given that Harrison was so boldly in the wrong by even crossing into Indian land, the December 16, 1811, earthquake of New Madrid occurred, followed by several months of aftershocks. THIS convinced the tribes that Tecumseh may have been right. And people started to flock to his banner.

Following Harrison’s destruction of Prophetstown, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa became public enemies in the eyes of Washington. Madison was already looking at war with Great Britain, and following Harrison’s reports of the Shawnee movements, the two brothers were seen as leading figures in the Indian rebellion and believed to be British agents. Again…the powers that be never once considered their own land grabs might be the reason for the Shawnee’s discontent with American Policies.

And as 1812 moved inexorably towards war, Tecumseh reached out to the British. His goal, in the advent of British victory, was to push the American line back east of the Ohio Valley and historic Shawnee territory. And so, with his newfound pan-Indian legion, he intended to make treaties with the British ensuring Native land holdings and kicking the American’s out.

And there were some British he got on quite well with, like Sir Isaac Brock, who was the General in charge of British forces in the Northwest at the start of the War of 1812. Which confederacy continued until Brock’s death on October 13, 1812, at the battle of Queenstown Heights, which left Henry Procter in charge of British forces, and Tecumseh none too happy with this arrangement, as he did not get on well with Procter. And to be fair, Procter was not the leader Tecumseh was. No one ever questioned his own commitment to the cause and his desire to see American’s pushed east, and lands returned to the Native tribes. In 1813, battle lines were drawn between William Henry Harrison and British forces at newly constructed Fort Meigs. And however incompetent Procter was, Harrison was very competent at the defense of Fort Meigs in Ohio, never once rising to taunts or attacks by the Indians.

The British forces fell. Repeatedly. And with each defeat, the Natives became more incensed, as the British seemed likely to continue to fall back and cede ground Tecumseh believed they should be fighting to protect and maintain.

And sadly, the British did continue to withdraw, which retreat grew faster after the battle of Lake Erie, when it became clear that naval supremacy belonged to the United States. Tecumseh essentially called them cowards for continuing to retreat to Canada but was urged to continue to stand with the British and keep fighting in Canada, with the promise that the British would see their lands restored to the Shawnee when the war was won.

And so, with that in mind, Tecumseh and his warriors followed Procter to the Thames River. On October 4, 1813, Tecumseh had a premonition and suddenly yelled out, declaring a Long Knife had shot him. Tecumseh became convinced that the next days battle would see him dead.

It’s interesting that Tecumseh’s movements of October 5, 1813, are completely known. We know that he met with Christopher Arnold at his wood-plank mill and apologized to his warriors had burned the McGregor’s mills. He had Arnold alert him when he saw American’s approaching, by throwing shovel full of dirt in the air. Tecumseh pulled up next to David Sherman and his brothers while Sherman was gathering their animals and advised Sherman and his brothers to go inside and stay there, a battle was coming.

Procter set up battle grounds on the Thames River, with the British set to fire on the American’s while the Shawnee and the tribes hid in the Backmetack Marsh, set to ambush the American’s. The British met the American forces as planned, then almost immediately surrendered, leaving the Americans to flush out the tribes in ambush. Colonel James Johnson led a Forlorn Hope assault on where they believed the Shawnee and tribes to be, flushing them out, but resulting in huge casualties: Only two survived the charge, leaving the remaining 460 men of the battalion to open fire when the gambit worked. Once the tribes had revealed their location, they were fired upon mercilessly. Tecumseh’s last known act was to direct translator Billy Caldwell to leave, saying “We must leave here; they are advancing on us.” Caldwell Fled. Tecumseh stood up, possibly to follow, and was promptly shot through the heart with a musket ball.

No one doubts he died during the Battle of the Thames. But as well known as his movements are on October 5, 1813, no one knows the crucial detail: Who actually killed Tecumseh?

Harrison, on hearing that the great Warrior had fallen, tried to ascertain the death with his own eyes. However, by the time Harrison was able to review the body on the battlefield, the corpse had been desecrated, with strips of skin removed to be razor strops, and the scalp removed as trophies of war. Harrison was unable to say with certainty that the body was in fact that of Tecumseh.

I like to think this anecdote is true. “A Kentucky company commander chanced upon Andrew Clark, still propped against a tree and clinging to life. Yes, Clark gasped, Tecumseh was dead, but, the dying interpreter added with a dissembling flourish, Indian warriors had dragged the body away.” (p. 410)

Regardless of where the body lay, there is no doubt that Tecumseh died on October 5, 1813, at the Battle of the Thames. The British continued their withdrawal. And ultimately, the War of 1812 was a draw between American and Great Britain, with the Treaty of Ghent returning everything to status quo.

Tenskwatawa fell to British patronage and spent a decade living off of British annuities. Until Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan saw a chance to remove the remaining Shawnee population from Michigan territory, by offering Tenskwatawa what he wanted: a place to set up a new Prophetstown. In Kansas, west of the Mississippi River. Tenskwatawa accepted the offer and led his remaining followers to the new territory. And shortly after the remaining holdouts to Shawnee independence in Michigan died, namely Chief Black Hoof, the remaining Shawnee followed Tenskwatawa to the new territory.

Tenskwatawa died in extreme poverty and ignominy in November 1836, specific date unknown. And thus ended the last holdouts to a Pan-Indian union, that was as betrayed by the British, as it was ever betrayed by the American’s.

This book was reviewed on YouTube on March 13, 2022, but is now available on Rumble and PodBean.