Tecumseh | |
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A romanticized depiction of Tecumseh from c. 1915
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Born | March 1768 On the Scioto River, near the present-day city of Chillicothe, Ohio (location uncertain, see Early life) |
Died | October 5, 1813 Moravian of the Thames (in modern-day Chatham-Kent, Ontario) |
(aged 45)
Resting place | Walpole Island, Ontario |
Nationality | Shawnee |
Other names | Tecumtha, Tekamthi |
Known for | |
Parent(s) | Puckshinwa, Methoataske |
Tecumseh /tᵻˈkʌmsə, tᵻˈkʌmsi/tə-KUM-sə, tə-KUM-see (March 1768 – October 5, 1813) was a Native American leader of the Shawnee who led a large tribal confederacy (known as Tecumseh's Confederacy) which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and became an ally of Britain in the War of 1812.
Tecumseh grew up in the Ohio Country during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, where he was constantly exposed to warfare. With Americans continuing to move west after the British ceded the Ohio Valley to the new United States in 1783, the Shawnee moved farther northwest. In 1808, they settled Prophetstown in present-day Indiana. With a vision of establishing an independent Native American nation east of the Mississippi under British protection, Tecumseh worked to recruit additional tribes to the confederacy from the southern United States.