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May 9, 2003 By Uncategorized

Tecumseh

On May 9, 1813 Fort Meigs was beseiged by Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet.

Tecumseh was a Shawnee and a resister. His goal was the unity of all the tribes in the midwest against the American incursion on their lands. He held sellouts in great disdain, angry at the “chiefs” who had sold land to Americans. He fought on the British side in the War of 1812, but was killed in 1813 when the British withdrew their forces during the Battle of the Thames and left him to face the Americans alone in hand to hand combat with a broken leg and two loaded muskets to “have a last shot.”

The commander of the American force that killed him was an old rival, William Harrison, the Governor of the Indiana Territory. He was a fierce proponent of American expansion and incursion into the Northwest Territory. Tecumseh seemed to live his life as if to lay waste to Harrison’s firmest convictions.

In a speech to Harrison three years before that final battle he said:

You recall the time when the Jesus Indians of the Delawares lived near the Americans, and had confidence in their promises of friendship, and thought they were secure, yet the Americans murdered all the men, women, and children, even as they prayed to Jesus?

The same promises were given to the Shawnee one time. It was at Fort Finney, where some of my people were forced to make a treaty. Flags were given to my people, and they were told they were now the children of the Americans. We were told, if any white people mean to harm you, hold up these flags and you will then be safe from all danger. We did this in good faith. But what happened? Our beloved chief Moluntha stood with the American flag in front of him and that very peace treaty in his hand, but his head was chopped by an American officer, and that American Officer was never punished.

Brother, after such bitter events, can you blame me for placing little confidence in the promises of Americans? That happened before the Treaty of Greenville. When they buried the tomahawk at Greenville, the Americans said they were our new fathers, not the British anymore, and would treat us well. Since that treaty, here is how the Americans have treated us well: They have killed many Shawnee, many Winnebagoes, many Miamis, many Delawares, and have taken land from them. When they killed them, no American ever was punished, not one.

It is you, the Americans, by such bad deeds, who push the men to do mischief. You do not want unity among tribes, and you destroy it. You try to make differences between them. We, their leaders, wish them to unite and consider their land the common property of all, but you try to keep them from this. You separate the tribes and deal with them that way, one by one, and advise them not to come into this union. Your states have set an example of forming a union among all the Fires, why should you censure the Indians for following that example?

Other Tecumseh speeches: