Who is tecumseh what did he do

Meanwhile, William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory was negotiating treaties and utilizing American forces to put pressure on those tribes still in Indiana and especially those allied with Prophetstown. Tecumseh was away from Prophetstown on a recruitment journey when Harrison launched a sneak attack now known as the Battle of Tippecanoe.

The American forces cleared the encampment and then burned it to the ground. It was a severe blow to the confederacy and a harbinger of war to come. In the Northwest Territory, American Indian tribes found themselves pulled in two separate directions — side with the British or with the Americans.

Tecumseh and his confederacy sided with the British. The siege failed and morale waned as a result. In the fall of as conditions around Detroit worsened, Procter began a retreat east toward Niagara. Tecumseh requested arms so that his men could stay in the Northwest Territory and continue to defend their lands. Procter agreed to make a stand at the forks of the Thames River. However, when forces reached the site communication broke down and some men deserted while others continued east.

When the Americans attacked, large sections of forces broke leaving about hundred American Indians to hold back 3, Americans. Tecumseh was fatally wounded in the battle. For example, he found some of his most passionate followers among the Muscogee or Creek tribe in modern-day Alabama, whose language was entirely different from Tecumseh's own Algonquian Shawnee.

With his encouragement, many Creeks began their own resistance movement called the Red Sticks, and waged their own war against the United States, which gives a sense of the geographic and linguistic divides Tecumseh managed to cross.

Conflict came to a head with the United States government in Traditional leaders of the various tribes in the Great Lakes area had been encouraging peace and assimilation with the Americans, but Tecumseh argued that the U. Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?

How can we have confidence in the white people? In , Harrison defeated Tecumseh's forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe and destroyed Prophetstown, but this did not spell the end for the Shawnee leader. America went to war against the United Kingdom in , at which point Tecumseh and the remnant of his forces struck a deal to support the British. Throughout this time, he continued to spread his message of resistance to various other Native American groups, gathering volunteers from as far south as Chickasaw and Choctaw country.

Despite his renewed efforts, he did not have a productive relationship with his British liaison, General Henry Procter. Tecumseh was the first Indian to serve at the rank of General in the British Army. Tecumseh fought as a Brigadier General during the War and when the British were defeated and turned tail to Canada, Tecumseh begged them not to give up the fight.

At the start of the Battle of the Thames in , the British retreated and left the Indians to fight on their own. Finding no aid in their leadership, Tecumseh and his men decided to fight the Americans without the help of the British.

Tecumseh died in battle at Chatham, Ontario. His death ended the dream of a unified Indian Nation and an allied Indian resistance to the American settlers. All rights reserved. Why Is Tecumseh Famous? He was also the first to find out that: The white man could not be trusted to take only what was given to them, but would attempt to take even more. The white man would attempt to drive the Indians from any land that they wanted and would resort to violence to get it.

His name means "shooting star. When the white settlers came, some Indians would fight for their land and others would move. He did not go with his mother but stayed in Ohio with his brother Chiksika and his sister Tecumpease.

He was trained as a warrior but ran from his first battle. Ashamed of himself, he worked even harder and became a great warrior. Tecumseh grew into adulthood with his brother and envisioned peace with the settlers, hoping that the Indians would give them some land and then everyone could live in peace.

Unfortunately, hostilities continued to rise and soon there was bloodshed over the land. The Indians were defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and felt they had to give up their lands, so they signed the Treaty of Greeneville in This left them with a section of land in the northwestern part of Ohio.

Tecumseh thought they should not have signed the treaty. He decided the Indian tribes needed to unite against the white man and he set out to convince them to form a confederacy.