TECUMSEH, TECUMTHE or TECUMTHA (c. 1768— 1813), American Shawnee chief, was born probably in the old Shawnee village of Piqua, near the site of Springfield (0.), be tween 1768 and 1780. While still a youth he took part in attacks on settlers passing down the Ohio river and in widely extended hunting expeditions or predatory forays to the west and south ; and he served in the Indian wars preceding the Treaty of Green ville in 1795. His eloquence and his self-control made him a leader in conferences between the Indians and whites as early as 180o, and when in 1804 and 1805 the Indians of the North-west became aroused by a series of treaties calling for new cessions of their territory and by the prospect of war between Great Britain and the United States, the opportunity was presented to Tecum seh and to his brother Tenskwatawa (i.e., the Open Door), popu larly called "the Prophet," to put into operation a scheme which followed the ambitious dream of Pontiac. With some scattered Shawnee clans as a nucleus, the brothers proceeded to organize, first near Greenville, Ohio, and later on the White and Tippe canoe rivers in Indiana, "the Prophet's town," which was based on a sort of Communism and was apparently devoted to industry and sobriety, but their actual plan was to combine all of the Indians from Canada to Florida in a great democratic confed eracy to resist the encroachment of the whites. Tribal organiza tions were to be disregarded, but all warriors were to be repre sented at periodical assemblages where matters of interest to all Indians were to be definitely decided. The twofold influence that was to dominate this league was the eloquence and political ingenuity of Tecumseh and the superstitious reverence aroused by "the Prophet." This programme alarmed the whites along the north-western border. In the course of the next three years Governor William Henry Harrison of Indiana held interviews with each of the brothers, and during one of these, at Vincennes in 181o, the respective leaders narrowly avoided a hostile en counter. Nevertheless "the Prophet" and Tecumseh reiterated their determination to remain at peace with the United States if the recent cessions, including that of 1809 which deprived the Indians of their best hunting-ground, were given up and if no purchases were made thereafter without the consent of the tribes.
Harrison refused to consider this arrangement, and during Tecumseh's absence in the South, made a hostile move against "the Prophet's town." The latter ventured to meet him, but was defeated Nov. 7, 1811, in the famous battle of Tippecanoe, which broke the personal influence of "the Prophet" and largely destroyed the confederacy built up by Tecumseh.
Tecumseh still professed to be friendly toward the United States, probably because his British advisers were not ready to open hostilities, but a series of border outrages indicated that the fatal moment could not long be postponed. With the breaking out of the War of 1812 he was commissioned a brigadier-general in the British army and participated in the skirmishes which preceded General William Hull's surrender at Detroit. He took an active part in the sieges of Fort Meigs, where he displayed his usual clemency towards his prisoners. After the battle of Put-in Bay, when Col. Henry Proctor began to retreat from Malden, Tecumseh bitterly reproached him for his cowardice and finally forced him to join battle with Harrison on the Thames river Oct. 5, 1813. In this battle Tecumseh was killed. "The Prophet" remained with a small band of Shawnees and died west of the Mississippi in 1834. Like Pontiac, whom he doubtless imitated consciously, he had a wonderful eloquence and a power of organi zation rare among the Indians. He is depicted in many historical plays and novels.
See Benjamin Drake, The Life of Tecumseh and of his Brother the Prophet (1841) Ethel T. Raymond, Tecumseh ("Chronicles of Canada" series, vol. xvii.) ; H. J. Webster, Harrison's Administration of Indiana Territory (1907) ; also sketches in Don Seitz, Uncommon Americans (1925) ; and Frances M. Perry, Four American Indians (1904), designed for juvenile readers.