Tecumseh's War
Tecumseh's War in 1811 was one of the Indian Wars, a series of conflicts between the government and military of the United States and the Native American peoples of North America.Tecumseh, (also spelled Tecumthe, Tikamthe, or Tecumtha) was Shawnee Indian chief, orator, military leader, and advocate of intertribal Indian alliance who directed Indian resistance to white rule in the Ohio River valley.
About 1808 Tecumseh settled in the area of present-day Indiana with his brother Tenskwatawa, called "the Prophet" because he claimed to have had a revelation from the "Master of Life." There the brothers sought to induce the Indians to discard white customs and goods and to abjure intertribal wars for unity against the white invader. The code of the Prophet had a mysticism that appealed to the Indians, and many became converts.
In 1811, while Tecumseh was in the South, William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, marched up the Wabash River and camped near the brothers' settlement. The Prophet unwisely attacked Harrison's camp and was so decisively defeated in the ensuing Battle of Tippecanoe that his followers dispersed, and he, having lost his prestige, fled to Canada and ceased to be a factor in Tecumseh's plans.
See also