People of Allen County, Indiana

Tecumseh

March 9, 1768 – October 5, 1813. Tecumseh began life in the Shawnee village of Piqua, [Miami County] Ohio on March 9, 1768 as a great meteor flashed and burned its way across the heavens. This event accounts for his name: The Shooting Star, or Celestial Panther Lying in Wait. Tecumseh grew to be a famous warrior and dynamic orator. These skills, paired with his belief that the white man would never rest until all American Indians were dispossessed, made him a powerful and influential force. Copied from Tecumseh at the National Park Service

Tecumseh and the Shawnee prophet including sketches of George Rogers Clark, Simon Kenton, William Henry Harrison, Cornstalk, Blackhoof, Bluejacket, the Shawnee Logan, and others famous in the frontier wars of Tecumsehs time by Eggleston, Edward, 1837-1902; Seelye, Elizabeth Eggleston, 1858-, Publication date 1878, on Archive.org. Another copy has map and paintings in cover. A quote in a meme concerning religion and violence commonly shared on social media is found on the bottom of page 185 continuining on the top of page 186.

See our Indians - Native American page.

  1. The Tecumseh branch of the Allen County Public Library is at 1411 East State Boulevard shown in the Street View photo from Google Maps

  2. Tecumseh Street between Tennessee Avenue and Coomb Street shown on Google Maps

  3. Tecumseh on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
  4. The Dying Tecumseh and the Birth of a Legend A sculpture in the Smithsonian collection reveals much about how the Indians of the West were viewed in the early ages of the United States, Bil Gilbert, July 1995 at Smithsonian Magazine.
  5. 6 Things You May Not Know About Tecumseh by Jesse Greenspan published October 4, 2013 on History.com.
  6. While his brother Tecumseh was assembling the greatest Indian confederation the U.S. would ever confront, the “Prophet” launched a fateful preemptive attack in Indiana Territory. Tecumseh and The Prophet at Tippecanoe Peter Cozzens, Winter 2021 Volume 66 Issue 1 of American Heritage magazine.

  7. According to legend, (Penick, 1981, p. 123), the Shawnee Indian chief Tecumseh traveled south in 1811 from his village of Tippecanoe on the Wabash River in an attempt to recruit supporters. At a town of Creek Indians near the site of Montgomery, Ala., Tecumseh declared that they would know he was sent by the Great Spirit because, upon leaving, he would go to Detroit, stamp his foot on the ground, and shake down all their houses. Tecumseh left. The Creeks counted the days; on the morning they had estimated for his arrival in Detroit, the earth began to shake, and houses fell down. It was the first of the New Madrid, Mo., earthquakes, which were centered about 250 mi away in the Mississippi Valley.

    42-page document Tecumseh's Prophecy: Preparing for the Next New Madrid Earthquake U.S. GEOL()GICAL SURVBV CIRCULAR 1066

  8. August 20, 2017 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

    On August 20, 1810, Shawnee warrior Tecumseh met with Indiana Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison in Vincennes. Tecumseh spoke for a growing confederacy of American Indians. He denounced the 1809 Treaty at Fort Wayne in which the U.S. government continued their policy of taking Indian lands by treaties with village chiefs. Tecumseh told Harrison: Indian lands were common property and could not be sold without agreement of all Indian nations; the confederacy wanted to keep peace and their lands, but would defend their villages from U.S. advance.

    To read Tecumseh's full speech see Messages and letters of William Henry Harrison page 463

    Or to view the digitized manuscript from the Indiana Historical Society go to Tecumseh's Speech to Governor Harrison, 20 August 1810

  9. August 20, 2023 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook

    #OTD in 1810, Shawnee military and political leader Tecumseh addressed Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison in Vincennes. Through this address, Tecumseh hoped to persuade Harrison to both relinquish American claim to land acquired in the Treaty of Fort Wayne and to dissuade him from further encroachment upon Native people’s land, saying, “If you will not give up the land and do cross the boundary of your present settlement it will be very hard and produce great troubles among us.” Tecumseh had travelled to Vincennes from Prophetstown, just north of present-day Lafayette, with an escort of seventy-five warriors. Prophetstown leaders had not been informed of the negotiations of the Treaty of Fort Wayne, signed in 1809, and the treaty increased tensions between Prophetstown and the territorial government. According to historian Adam Jortner, the August 1810 summit “did not produce any changes in relations, but it did produce some of the most eloquent explanations and defenses of the Prophetstown position on land ownership.” Learn more about the Treaty of Fort Wayne here: Journal of the proceedings: Indian treaty, Fort Wayne, September 30th, 1809 [read online at CurateND University of Notre Dame - see 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne section on our Indians - Native American page]

    The portrait of Tecumseh below was painted by Owen Staples, based on Benson Lossing's 1868 engraving.

  10. The last time Ohio experienced a total solar eclipse was June 16, 1806. The so-called Tecumseh Eclipse played a...

    Posted by WOSU Public Media on Saturday, April 6, 2024

    Saturday, April 6, 2024 post by WOSU Public Media on Facebook:

    The last time Ohio experienced a total solar eclipse was June 16, 1806. The so-called Tecumseh Eclipse played a significant role in the legendary Shawnee leader’s fight against western settlement of native lands. But a deeper look at the early years of Ohio history suggests the eclipse may be misnamed.

    What the last solar eclipse meant for two brothers and Ohio history The Ohio Newsroom Amy Eddings April 4, 2024

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