Pugliese 1

Pushed Too Far

Pugliese 2

Conflicts between the influx of Europeans and the aboriginal people of the Americas
have, as is known today, been unfalteringly won in favor of European invaders; the technologies
of the Europeans had then vastly surpassed those of the natives. Whereas Native Americans
fought with spear and stone, the Europeans fought with gunpowder and disease. Europeans were
believed to have brought about smallpox in 1520 on a Spanish ship sailing to Cuba (believed to
be spread by an infected slave). ("The Story Of... Smallpox and Other Deadly Eurasian
Germs") These defendants inevitably fell down from power and Europeans did as they slowly
took over this consumed land. In the midwest however, a man actually constructed a force of
retaliation. Shawnee war chieftain Tecumseh mustered up a multitude of natives against
American expansionism in the Midwest region. Determined to halt these Americans, Tecumseh
continued a war effort that spanned the then entire Northwestern frontier and continued on into
an even more-encompassing conflict. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh had turned the struggles of
millions of those before him into the muster and fighting power to stage a war.
The track record between the Aboriginal people of the Americas and the Europeans is one
riddled with bloodshed and false security. On October 12, 1492, just a short time after Columbus
sailed the ocean blue, Columbus remarked already that the people he found in the West Indies
"should be good servants... and wrote to the Queen of Spain I, our Lord being pleased, will
take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses. (Plous) The Spanish
and Portuguese were amongst the first of the first of the Europeans to lay conquest of this new
world. Vast bouts of eradication, disease, slavery, and displacement occurred under the rulings of
the Hispanic invaders. Further abuse by the white Europeans occurred as more Europeans moved
in, regardless of the bouts of apparent kindness that have occurred (namely the Harvest festival at
Plymouth Rock remembered annually on Thanksgiving). Trade was not unheard of, however.

Pugliese 3
The French promoted healthy trade relations with the Natives on their colonized lands and the
British supported natives following the American Revolution.
Much later on in the European history of the Americas, the American Revolution ended
with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. In addition to a cease of conflict, one of the awards
provided to the American people was a doubling of the land given to the Americans. Much of the
land past the Appalachians (bordered by lands claimed by France) was awarded to the
Americans. The land provisions were deemed exceedingly generous by Americans at the time.
(Paterson, Clifford, and Hagan 20) The land Americans now controlled included all the land
south of the Great Lakes and most of the land westward towards the Great Plains. It was in the
Great Lakes region that the Shawnee Indians resided. Amongst this group of people, Tecumseh
grew up amongst them.
Tecumseh was born at Old Piqua on the Mad River in Western Ohio. (Tecumseh)
Tecumseh was raised by neither of his parents as his father was killed in battle and his mother
left him to go south. Instead, Tecumseh was raised by his siblings; and he swore revenge against
his fathers killers and to be "a fire spreading over the hill and valley, consuming the race of dark
souls." ("Famous Native Americans: Tecumseh Part 1.") Tecumseh grew to live out his grand
plan and joined other Shawnee warriors against Europeans moving into the Shawnee lands. By a
young age, Tecumseh was already raiding settlements and controlled his own band of marauding
warriors. ("Famous Native Americans: Tecumseh Part 1.") It is ironic that Tecumseh even
pursued love with a young white woman named Rebecca Galloway; but rejected her final
advances in favor of his own people. Tecumseh never took a wife since; but married a selfproclaimed war against the white men invading his homeland.

Pugliese 4
It was following the Treaty of Greenvilles terms, a peace treaty ending the Northwest
Indian War of which Tecumseh never agreed to sign, that Tecumseh formed the American Indian
Confederacy around the teachings of his younger brother Tenskwatawa. Tecumseh used the
teachings of his brother to rally together an assemblage of tribes in the Midwest under one
allegiance against their common enemy, the Americans. Tenskwatawa himself used a series of
visions that transformed him into a prominent religious leader. (Tecumseh) Tenskwatawa was
not initially believed by his brother until the Prophet (as he was so called) accurately predicted
an eclipse of the sun; giving Tecumseh incentive to take up Tenskwatawas religion for his cause.
(Tecumseh)
Outrage came of the signing the American Treaty of Fort Wayne. In 1809, approximately
three million acres of land in the Indiana Territory were negotiated to, for, and by Americans in a
formal agreement to obtain this land. The Treaty of Fort Wayne claimed to have been signed with
the Delawares, Shawnees, Pottawatomies, Miamis and Kickapoo tribes and Indiana governor
William Henry Harrison. ("Treaty of Fort Wayne Takes 3 Million Acres from Native Peoples")
Congress went ahead with ratification of the treaty while Tecumseh instead argued the validity of
the treaty and its signees. Tecumseh called into question whether these Native tribes actually had
any authority when signing the treaty. ("Treaty of Fort Wayne Takes 3 Million Acres from Native
Peoples") Tecumseh subsequently went on to threaten any settlers to claim the land with
retaliation and harassment.
Tecumsehs passionate aggression towards the loss of Native land allowed him to surpass
his brother in the publics view of leader of the movement. (Tecumseh) To continue
establishment of his confederacys legitimacy, Tecumseh marched with a group of warriors
towards William Henry Harrison (future president and then Governor of Indiana) at Grouseland

Pugliese 5
(which was William Henry Harrisons Mansion in Vincennes, Indiana) in 1810 and warned that
his people would fight to prevent further white encroachment. ("William Harrison's Grouseland")
William Henry Harrison rebutted the power of Tecumsehs confederacy. The Confederacy
had since amassed, by this point in time, numerous tribes under Tecumsehs banner. While
Tecumseh was away from his home in Prophetstown to recruit the Creek indians, Harrison
planned his attack against this confederacy. He marched a group of 1,000 soldiers down
Tippecanoe Creek and assaulted Prophetstown. ("History of the Battle of Tippecanoe") When he
reached Prophetstown, Harrison warned of retaliation despite scouts mutually assuring no
conflict would come of violence. ("History of the Battle of Tippecanoe")
Despite being told by his brother not to engage in fighting (Tecumseh wished to summon
more allies before any formal engagements in his war), Tenskwatawa rallied the warriors to fight
the Americans approaching Prophetstown. Claiming the white man's bullets could not harm
them, Tenkswatawa led his men towards William Henry Harrison. ("History of the Battle of
Tippecanoe") Tenskwatawa reached a hill around the camp and encouraged men under his
command to attack Harrison's regiment at dawn. ("Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811: Definition,
Summary & Facts")
Harrisons men were ready however; guards had been set up along the camp and
immediately opened fire upon the attacking natives. Many of the men awoke to find the Indians
upon them. The army of soldiers, despite being poorly-experienced in battle, successfully fought
off the tribesmen in their misguided assault. Lt. Charles Larrabee, a military officer present at the
battle latter wrote that the manner the Indians fought was desperate. and that They would rush
with horid [sic] yells in bodies upon the lines. (Ksander) About two hours later, thirty-seven
soldiers were dead, twenty-five others were died of injuries, and over 126 soldiers were

Pugliese 6
wounded; but the Indian casualties went unrecorded. ("History of the Battle of Tippecanoe")
Only a single old woman remained in Prophetstown in the days following the battle (after being
left their with a wounded chieftain). ("History of the Battle of Tippecanoe") The surviving
natives grew angry at the Prophet Tenskwatawa and stripped him of his status.
Harrison immediately proceeded to ransack Prophetstown, burning the settlement and
ravaging the natives food supplies should Tecumseh return with more troops. (Tecumseh)
The lose of Tippecanoe to William Henry Harrison spelt doom Tecumsehs Wars future.
Although the battle itself is heralded as indecisive and by no means an official end towards the
greater goal of the Natives defending their land, it was celebrated greatly amongst the Americans
in the Indiana Territory. (William Harrisons Grouseland) The Indians in the region were dealt
a major loss in morale and faith in both Tecumsehs confederacy and Tenskwatawas teachings.
Tecumseh, however, did not falter. Despite full recovery being nigh impossible at that
point, Tecumseh used another large superpower to back his war. By the year 1812, American and
British relations had curdled to the point of sourness once again. Realizing his chance, Tecumseh
embraced the allegations that Tippecanoe and the entire war effort was a plot incited by the
British. Under British command, Tecumseh took some of his still devoted men to fight in the
siege of Detroit during the War of 1812; the battle was a success due in no small part to
Tecumsehs contribution. ("Tecumseh's Confederation")
Following the failures at the Siege of Fort Meigs and the worsening conditions around the
British held Detroit, morale and faith fell amongst Tecumsehs men. ("Tecumseh's
Confederation") When William Henry Harrison invaded Upper Canada, Tecumseh reluctantly
joined the British retreat northward. (Tecumseh) On October 5, 1813, Tecumseh had died in

Pugliese 7
the Battle of the Thames at the age of forty-five ; and with him ended the confederacy and his
own war against the white invaders.
It became inevitable at that point following the War of 1812 that the Americans in the Old
Northwest (the Great Lakes Region) would consume the native land. As is known today, his
brave effort in uprising ultimately failed to stop the encroachment of Americans upon the region;
forcing the Shawnee and other tribes westward.
Tecumseh then and now is remember positively for his achievements of proper political
leadership, good oratory, humanitarianism, and personal bravery in both The United States of
America and Canada. (Tecumseh) Tecumseh is especially revered in Canada for assisting in
protecting the British affairs in Canada against annexation by the United States, thus earning a
title as a national hero. ("Strange Happenings during the Earthquakes") Along with good will
spread of his name, Tecumseh posthumously received a fair amount of mysticism surrounding
himself. The earlier New Madrid Earthquake was attached to Tecumseh in a reference to his
vocalization of his wrath against the Americans. Perhaps this attention is an extension of his
brothers own mystic legacy, but the Earth coincidentally shook only a month after Harrison
attacked Prophets Town on November 6, 1811. ("Strange Happenings during the Earthquakes")
As time has admitted again and again, it seems invaders have always succeeded in their
conquest of what did not truly belong to them. Tecumseh valiantly attempted to do what any
proclaimed leader would do, defend his own lands from the impending American Manifest
Destiny. As foul as war is, it is said the ends justify the means. Unfortunately in a bout of cruel
irony, Tecumseh never reached these ends and, like many of those before him, lost the war he
poured his life into.

Pugliese 8

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<http://www.trivia-library.com/a/famous-native-americans-tecumseh-part-1.htm>
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