Tecumseh

Tecumseh was born around 1768 in Ohio. He was a war chief of the Shawnee. By all reports, he was an extraordinary person. Early in his life he became convinced that the only way to deal with the American settlers was for Natives to join together and create a confederacy of all nations. He wanted to create a separate Native homeland so that the Natives could continue their traditional way of life.

In 1811, General Harrison led the troops that destroyed Tippecanoe (Indiana), the Shawnee village that Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, had created. It was after this that Tecumseh offered his support to Matthew Elliott of the Indian Department in Amherstburg.
Tecumseh was known as a great speaker. He inspired the other Natives and influenced their decisions. Most of the people who met him were very impressed by him.

When General Brock came to Amherstburg, he met with Tecumseh. Together they planned the capture of Detroit. Tecumseh was also part of the attacks on Fort Meigs.
After the Battle of Lake Erie, when Procter decided to withdraw the British troops from Amherstburg, Tecumseh protested. But he took part in the retreat up the Thames River. On Oct. 5, 1813, Tecumseh died in the Battle of the Thames.

Tecumseh's powder horn

After Tecumseh's death, his body was taken away from the battlefield by the surviving Natives. Native oral tradition is that his bones were hidden. In 1931, a monument to Tecumseh was put up on Walpole Island.

The monument to Tecumseh on Walpole Island

Another view of the monument to Tecumseh on Walpole Island

Wampum that belonged to Tecumseh

See more: Tecumseh's speech before the retreat from Amherstburg.

See more: Richardson's account of the death of Tecumseh.

Brock on Tecumseh
(from The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K.B. p. 238 - 9)

Statue of Tecumseh

Among the Indians whom I found at Amherstburg, and who had arrived from distant parts of the country, there were some extraordinary characters. He who most attracted my attention was a Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, the brother of the prophet, who for the last two years has carried on, contrary to our remonstrances, an active war against the United States. A more sagacious or a more gallant warrior does not, I believe, exist. He was the admiration of every one who conversed with him. From a life of dissipation he has not only become in every respect abstemious, but he has likewise prevailed on all his nation, and many of the other tribes, to follow his example.