This 1848 drawing of Tecumseh was based on a sketch done from life in 1808. Benson Lossing altered the original by putting Tecumseh in a British uniform, under the mistaken (but widespread) belief that Tecumseh had been a British general. Note the nose ring, popular among the Shawnee at the time, but typically omitted in idealized depictions.

At Vincennes in 1810, Tecumseh loses his temper when William Henry Harrison refuses to rescind the Treaty of Fort Wayne.

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Tecumseh

Tecumseh (c.1768 – October 5, 1813), whose given name might be more accurately rendered as Tecumtha or Tekamthi, was a famous Shawnee leader. more...

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He spent much of his life attempting to rally disparate Native American tribes in a mutual defense of their lands, which eventually culminated in his death in the War of 1812.

Tecumseh was greatly admired in his day, remains a respected icon for Native Americans and is considered a national hero in Canada. Even his longtime adversary William Henry Harrison considered Tecumseh to be "one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things.".

Early years

The exact year of Tecumseh's birth is unknown; 1768 is the generally accepted estimate. He was born in the Ohio Country, probably in one of the Shawnee towns along the Scioto River. Nineteenth century traditions (and current Ohio historical markers) placed his birthplace further west, along the Little Miami River, although the Shawnee towns there were not settled until after Tecumseh's birth. Tecumseh's name (which has been translated in a number of ways, including "I Cross the Way" or "A Panther Crouching for His Prey") was likely a reference to his family clan (or phratry), but perhaps refers to a passing comet as later traditions claimed. Shawnee children inherited a clan affiliation from their fathers; Tecumseh belonged to the panther clan, one of about a dozen exogamous Shawnee clans.

In addition to clans, the Shawnee had five traditional divisions, membership in which was also inherited from the father. Tecumseh's father Pukeshinwah (and thus Tecumseh also) belonged to the Kispoko division. Most traditions state that Tecumseh's mother Methoataaskee was Creek or Cherokee, but biographer John Sugden believes that she was a Shawnee of the Pekowi (Piqua) division. Some of the confusion results from the fact that some Creeks and Cherokees were eager to claim the famous Tecumseh as one of their own; many Creeks named children after him. There is some evidence to suggest that Tecumseh's paternal grandfather (Pukeshinwah's father) may have been a white trader.

Warfare between whites and Indians loomed large in Tecumseh's youth. Pukeshinwah was killed in Lord Dunmore's War at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. In the American Revolutionary War, many Shawnee villages were destroyed by American frontiersmen, including what was likely Tecumseh's boyhood home in the Battle of Piqua in 1780. Tecumseh was raised in part by his older brother Cheeseekau, an important war leader whom Tecumseh probably accompanied in skirmishes against whites in Kentucky and Ohio.