36 pages • 1 hour read
R. David EdmundsTecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Red Messiah”
Chapter 4 describes the religious conversion of Tecumseh’s younger brother, Lalawethika, and its important implications for the Shawnee and other Indigenous tribes in the region.
Lalawethika is one of two surviving triplets. Unlike Tecumseh, the young Lalawethika is not particularly favored by his older brother, Chiksika, or his older sister, Tecumpease. He is an awkward, unathletic youth who develops an early taste for whiskey. Despite his poor reputation, Tecumseh allows Lalawethika to accompany him as he and his village move throughout Indiana after the Treaty of Greenville.
In April 1805, Lalawethika has a sudden and violent vision and is briefly mistaken for dead. He revives, proclaiming himself Tenskwatawa (“Open Door”) and claiming to have received a message from the Master of Life, a Shawnee religious deity (76). The Shawnee, Tenskwatawa says, should attempt to resuscitate their traditional lifestyle and completely forego alcohol and other European practices. He claims that the Americans are a corrupting influence created not by the Master of Life, but by the “Evil Spirit or Great Serpent” (78-80). Tenskwatawa describes those who have emulated the Americans, such as Black Hoof, as deceptive witches sent by the Great Serpent to undermine the Shawnee.
Aided by Tecumseh, the teachings of Tenskwatawa (also called the Prophet) spread throughout the region, garnering the support of numerous other tribes. Tenskwatawa establishes a permanent settlement called Greenville in Ohio, just south of the dividing line between Indigenous and American territory in 1795. The growth of Tenskwatawa’s movement alarms both Black Hoof and the Americans. They are particularly unsettled by the fanaticism of some of the movement’s adherents.
Faced with food shortages in his rapidly expanding village, Tecumseh seeks out the aid of the Americans with mixed results. Despite periods of rising tension between him and both the white settlers and the Shawnee under Black Hoof, Tecumseh is able to convince the Americans that the Greenville Shawnee desire nothing more than peace and the continued possession of their territory. According to Edmunds, this marks a shift in Native American political strategy. Instead of insisting that land is common to all and belongs to no one, Tecumseh is now “willing to accept a demarcation line between Indian and white territory, but he was determined to use that border as a defense against further American encroachment” (98).
Chapter 5 Summary: “‘The Moses of the Family’”
In Chapter 5, Edmunds traces the development of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa’s movement from late 1807 until August 1810.
Following the advice of Main Poc, a Potawatomi chief, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa decide to move their settlement from Greenville, Ohio, to a new, more secure location on the Tippecanoe River in Indiana. Called Prophetstown, the village is completed by the summer of 1808.
During this period, Tecumseh develops the idea of a pan-tribal military and political confederacy as the best way to defend Indigenous territory against further encroachments by the Americans. This plan is opposed by older, more traditional chiefs, like Black Hoof and the Miami leader Little Turtle.
In anticipation of future conflict with the United States, Tecumseh cultivates an alliance with the British in Canada. While the British warn Tecumseh not to start a war, they agree to ally with him in the event of an outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain. Meanwhile, Tenskwatawa visits William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana, at Vincennes in August 1808. Their meeting temporarily defuses any suspicions of collusion between the Shawnee and the British. Shortages continue to plague the religious community gathered at Prophetstown as Tecumseh travels throughout the region seeking Indigenous support for his anti-American confederacy.
The political landscape is completely changed by the Treaty of Fort Wayne, signed on September 30, 1809, by Governor Harrison and pro-American chiefs from the Miami, Potawatomi, and Delaware tribes. The agreement cedes over three million acres of Indigenous territory to the United States. Though the treaty catches Tecumseh off guard, it also reinforces his message of distrust towards the Americans and the need for a unified Native American front. After the treaty is signed, he and Tenskwatawa gain support from numerous other tribes. Tecumseh takes on “the dominant position in the movement,” surpassing his brother the Prophet (125).
Following a series of tense exchanges between Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa and emissaries from Governor Harrison, Tecumseh arrives in Vincennes on August 12, 1810, for a series of meetings. Impressed, Harrison calls Tecumseh “the Moses of the family,” referencing his decisive leadership of the Native Americans (132). After a fight between the two parties is narrowly averted, Tecumseh requests that his opposition to the Treaty of Fort Wayne and willingness to defend his territory be conveyed to President James Madison in Washington, D.C.
Chapter 6 Summary: “To Tippecanoe”
Chapter 6 examines the aftermath of the meeting between Tecumseh and Governor Harrison in August 1810 until the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811.
According to Edmunds, the Vincennes conference “seemed temporarily to ease the tensions between the Indians and the government” (135). After a period of calm during which Tecumseh once again meets British envoys in Canada, two incidents upset the delicate truce between the Shawnee and the Americans. The first is a series of raids conducted by Potawatomi connected to Main Poc in southern Illinois, which Harrison and his advisors attribute to the Shawnee at Prophetstown. The second event is Tenskwatawa’s seizure of a shipment of salt from the Americans to the Kickapoo and other tribes in June 1811. In the face of such aggression, Harrison writes to Tecumseh, accusing him of plotting his murder. Another meeting between him and Tecumseh at Vincennes in August does little to abate Harrison’s concerns.
Tecumseh then sets out from Vincennes in to “enlist the support of the southern tribes” against the United States (146). Though largely rebuffed by the Chickasaws and Chocotaws, Tecumseh finds some success with the Creeks. Overall, his mission to recruit southern tribes to his coalition of northwestern Indigenous peoples is deemed “unsuccessful” by Edmunds (151-52).
With Tecumseh absent from Prophetstown, Harrison receives approval from Washington, D.C., to attack the village. He builds two new military bases, Fort Harrison and Fort Boyd, in the vicinity of Prophetstown. Unsure of what to do without the counsel of his brother, Tenskwatawa eventually decides to attack the approaching American troops. On November 7, 1811, the Native American warriors descend upon Harrison and his men. Though initially caught off guard, the American soldiers successfully repel the attack, and the Native Americans retreat. Furious with Tenskwatawa and his false prophecies regarding the Battle of Tippecanoe, tribal warriors and their families begin leaving Prophetstown. On the next day, Harrison marches on the village and finds it deserted. He burns Prophetstown and its stockpile of food to the ground.
Although Harrison lost about the same number of soldiers as Tenskwatawa at the Battle of Tippecanoe, the Prophet is nevertheless completely discredited by the defeat. His time as a major leader among the northwestern tribes is over. Now, his brother must rebuild their movement after such a crippling loss.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
In chapters 4 through 6, Edmunds provides an overview of the rise of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (formerly Lalawethika) among the Shawnee and other tribes. This movement can be divided into two distinct but partially overlapping phases: First, the emergence of Tenskwatawa as a religious prophet; and, second, Tecumseh’s attempt to convert his brother’s followers into members of a pan-tribal Native American military and political alliance that can oppose the government of the United States.
Chapter 4 describes the stark transformation of Lalawethika from a young, disagreeable alcoholic into Tenskwatawa, the leader of a major religious revival that draws followers from numerous Indigenous tribes in the Old Northwest. According to Edmunds, Tenskwatawa’s doctrine about prophecy fits a broad pattern of “revitalization movements found among Native Americans and in other parts of the world” (81). With Native American territory and culture under siege from increased settlement, Tenskwatawa preaches a rejection of European values and a return to Shawnee tradition. Although some Indigenous leaders, like rival Shawnee Chief Black Hoof, see the adoption of a settler lifestyle as the best way forward, Tenskwatawa’s message spreads quickly throughout the region. Centered at Greenville and then later at Prophetstown, Tenskwatawa and his movement become a source of major concern for American officials, like Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison.
With support from members of numerous tribes who follow his brother, Tecumseh begins to develop the military and political dimensions of Tenskwatawa’s new religious movement. Despite challenges like frequent food shortages, Tecumseh begins a pattern of placating Governor Harrison while also securing support from the British in Canada. This establishes Tecumseh as a significant Native American leader in the eyes of white settlers on both sides of the border. While cautious not to provoke an outright war with the United States, Tecumseh aims to unite the different tribes in the region around an anti-American Indigenous confederation.
This tribal unity becomes more pressing after the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, an agreement between Harrison and several tribes that cedes a significant portion of Native American territory to the United States. Though the treaty fans the flames of opposition against the United States among many Native Americans, Tecumseh fails to extend his alliance to tribes such as the Chickasaws and Chocotaws in the south.
Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa’s movement ends with their defeat at the Battle of Tippecanoe in November 1811 and the destruction of Prophetstown by Harrison and his troops. After the battle, Tenskwatawa loses his remaining authority over the tribes. Tecumseh must now pick up the pieces of his fledgling movement.
