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Prehistory | 2 Worlds Meet | New France | England Arrives | Clash of Empires | Revolution | British America | Reform/Revolt | Responsible Government | Confederation | Nation Building | Laurier | The Great War | Roaring 20's | Great Depression | WWII | The Peace | Cold War | Trudeau | PC's in Power | Modern Canada
Constitution Act 1791 | Guy Carleton | Jay's Treaty | Black Loyalists | Alexander Mackenzie | Simon Fraser | David Thompson | John Graves Simcoe | Captain George Vancouver | The Northwest Company | Prevost's Conciliation | Tecumseh | The War of 1812 | Lord Selkirk | Newfoundland
Tecumseh was one of the more heroically romantic figures in Canadian history and certainly brought a consciousness of the native peoples into play with both the British and the United States. He was born a Shawnee Indian after the seven years war in 1768 near present day Springfield Ohio and grew up as the revolutionary war raged across the continent.
After the war was over pressures began to grow on native bands along the western boarder of the United States. One of the reasons the American Revolution broke out was the restrictions the British authorities had placed on the colonies in relation to westward expansion. This had benefited the native bands and keep their lands in the Ohio country and along the Mississippi relatively safe from colonial expansion.
After 1782 the pressure began to build as the United States population started to spill over the western boarder. Up until 1795 as a youth, he participated in attacks on settlers coming into the area of the Ohio Valley. The treaty of Greenville in 1795 ended this practice and a low confrontation period ensued.
Tecumseh's older brother was known as the prophet and like Pontiac the two brothers realized that a larger Indian union or confederation would be needed to resist the steam roller of white settlement. Native groups had been decimated and destroyed one at a time as European settlement and then growth in America had accelerated. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 essentially recognized American claim to all of the native lands in the Mississippi basin.
Tecumseh and his brother began to plan and organize Indian bands from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Their main base was near present day Greenville, Ohio and they invited all native groups to send warrior representative to resist, by force if necessary, white encroachment on their lands. Tecumseh used the belief that his brother had supernatural powers as an aid to ring the native nations together under their leadership. The popularity of Tecumseh and his movement alarmed the U.S. authorities and the Governor of Indiana asked to meet with the brothers in order to expedite American land ambitions. In 1809 a treaty know as "The Treaty of Fort Wayne" asked for 3 million acres from the Indians in central Indiana and became a threat to Tecumseh's entire confederacy dream. Harrison decided to move on the Prophet's village and defeated the natives at Tippecanoe, which later became one of his campaign slogans when he ran for President, and broke the spell of invincibility that Tecumseh had tried to instil in his followers. Tecumseh was away during the battle but incursions into the Indian land began to increase as soon as word of their defeat spread.
By 1812 Tecumseh was ready to fight and when war broke out between the British and the U.S. he was quickly offered the rank of brigadier -general in the British army and an opportunity to turn back the American tide. Initially he and the British were very successful and captured Detroit with little effort but as the war dragged on American invasions began to take their toll and on October 5th, 1813. Tecumseh was killed during the fighting on the Thames River. His body was never found and rumours of his escape persisted for decades afterwards. His brother the prophet led a small band of Shawnees over the Mississippi and west where he lived until 1834.
