Native American History, Topic 3: Indian Alliances of the Long Eighteenth Century and Tecumseh s Speech to the Osage of Missouri (Winter )

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Frank Haynes
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1 Background: During the turbulent long eighteenth century, native tribes defended their homelands and fought for independence through the formation of complex alliances with each other and with European powers. When the British and French fought King William s War ( ), Queen Anne s War ( ), King George s War ( ), and the French and Indian War ( ) for control of North America, native warriors fought with the British, with the French, against both empires, or not at all, choosing instead to work, through diplomacy, for peace, trade, and land. Following British victory in 1763, Delaware prophet Neolin and Ottawa chief Pontiac united tribes in the Great Lakes region and Ohio River Valley against the Red Coats and American settlers in Pontiac s Rebellion ( ). During the War of American Independence ( ), after remaining neutral as long as diplomatic and economic pressures would allow, the mighty Iroquois Confederacy of New York split. The Oneida and Tuscarora joined the Americans; the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca sided with the British; and the long-time allies killed each other in a desperate gamble for freedom. In the Ohio River Valley, following the murder of their peaceful chiefs by American troops, the Delaware and Shawnee joined the British. In New England, Indian tribes sustained heavy casualties throughout the war fighting on the side of the Americans. Nevertheless, following the war, the results of the peace were the same for the respective Indian allies of the defeated British and the victorious Americans: the relentless assertion of American sovereignty, the loss of enormous tracts of land, and a future flooded with Americans eager to expand westward. In the 1780s, a confederacy of tribes in the Old Northwest led by Mohawk Joseph Brant rejected treaties signed by individual tribes and Americans claims to right of conquest and refused to accept American settlement west of the Ohio River. By 1790, Miami Little Turtle and Shawnee Blue Jacket were leading militant members of the confederacy against U. S. troops in what became known as Washington s War ( ), which, after crushing Indian victories in the war s first two years (including one in 1791 in which 900 Americans under the command of Arthur St. Clair were killed or wounded in the single worst defeat of an American force by native warriors), caused the confederacy to fall apart after a loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and to cede a huge swath of territory to the United States at the Treaty of Greenville in Tecumseh, a Shawnee who had fought at Fallen Timbers but refused to sign the treaty along with his brother Tenskwatawa, called the Prophet forged a pan-indian religious, political, and military movement that would hold the last and greatest chances of all of the eastern Indian alliances of the long eighteenth century. Both brothers were spellbinding orators with charismatic personalities and the power to gather flocks of followers to their cause of reasserting Indian sovereignty on tribal lands. They were also visionary in their ability to see that what united Indians of different tribes in opposition to American expansion was more important than what divided them in culture, politics, or religion. Preaching a doctrine of pan- Indian resistance one in which all Indians should unite behind a common cause they worked

2 to rebuild the Ohio confederation and even traveled among the tribes of the South to spread their message of united opposition. Let the white race perish! Tecumseh thundered. They seize your land; they corrupt your women; they trample on the bones of your dead! Back whence they came, upon a trail of blood, they must be driven! Back aye, back to the great water whose accursed waves brought them to our shores! he cried. In 1805, Tenskwatawa saw a vision in which he believed the Master of Life told him to spread a new message of redemption and renewal to native peoples. Central to his message was the conscious rejection of the white man s ways. Tenskwatawa preached vehemently against alcohol, intermarriage with whites, Christianity, manufactured tools, trade with Americans, European-style clothing, and meat from domesticated animals. In a thinly veiled adaptation of Christian imagery, he taught that all Indians who followed him would be rewarded in the afterlife but that all Indians who did not would go to a hell of fire and brimstone. In 1806, after accurately predicting a total eclipse of the sun, he began to draw droves of Indian disciples from the Shawnee, Delaware, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Anishinaabeg, and other tribes in Ohio country. In 1808, he established Prophet s Town at the confluence of Tippecanoe Creek and the Wabash River in Indiana as a gathering place for his followers and continued traveling between Florida and Canada to spread his message of native cultural renewal, a sovereign Indian state, united and violent resistance to white expansion and white treaties, and a future free from the white man. Tecumseh s political and military prowess and Tenskwatawa s religious clout and promises of an Indian utopia attracted thousands of followers to their pan-indian movement. Beginning in 1809, Tecumseh sent a message of unification to all tribes in the vast Mississippi Valley, north and south, and called for a massive resistance force that could stop American expansion, recover the entire Northwest, and keep whites east of the Ohio River. He also rejected all prior treaties made with individual tribes, stating that the land ceded to the U. S. belonged to all the tribes and could not be given away by one nation without the consent of every other. As Britain eyed war with the United States over maritime disputes, the British began supplying Tecumseh and his followers with weapons in the hope of destabilizing the young republic. In 1811, at the peak of the resistance movement s power, Tecumseh traveled down the Mississippi to recruit more warriors, and Governor William Henry Harrison of the Northwest Territory took the opportunity to assault Tenskwatawa and Prophet s Town with one thousand men. At the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, despite native belief that Tenskwatawa s spiritual powers would protect them, Harrison inflicted heavy casualties, drove away the Indians, and torched the town. Though Tecumseh continued to lead the resistance movement until his death fighting on the side of the British during the War of 1812, Tenskwatawa s magic had been discredited, the confederacy had fractured, and the last hope of intertribal unity and widespread resistance east of the Mississippi had perished. Never again would the native peoples of eastern North America have a real chance at holding back the flood of American expansion. The leaky dam of

3 westward settlement, which Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa s alliance had attempted to plug for almost a decade, was about to burst. Questions to Consider as You Read: What does Tecumseh say about Euro-Americans? What does Tecumseh say about Indian unity? What does Tecumseh say about aid from Great Britain and the Great Spirit? Research: Tecumseh s Speech to the Osage of Missouri As you read, don t forget to mark and annotate main ideas, key terms, confusing concepts, unknown vocabulary, cause/effect relationships, examples, etc. Brothers. We all belong to one family; we are all children of the Great Spirit; we walk in the same path; slake our thirst at the same spring; and now affairs of the greatest concern lead us to smoke the pipe around the same council fire! Brothers. We are friends; we must assist each other to bear our burdens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water on the ground to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We, ourselves, are threatened with a great evil; nothing will pacify them but the destruction of all the red men. Brothers. When the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their fires. They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our fathers commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them whatever the Great Spirit had given his red children. They gave them food when hungry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds, that they might hunt and raise corn. Brothers, the white people are like poisonous serpents: when chilled, they are feeble and harmless; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their benefactors to death. The white people came among us feeble; and now we have made them strong, they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as they would wolves and panthers. Brothers. The white men are not friends to the Indians: at first, they only asked for land sufficient for a wigwam; now, nothing will satisfy them but the whole of our hunting grounds, from the rising to the setting sun. Brothers. Many winters ago, there was no land; the sun did not rise and set: all was darkness. The Great Spirit made all things. He gave the white people a home beyond the great waters. He supplied these grounds with game, and gave them to his red children; and he gave them strength and courage to defend them.

4 Brothers. My people are brave and numerous; but the white people are too strong for them alone. I wish you to take up the tomahawk with them. If we all unite, we will cause the rivers to stain the great waters with their blood. Brothers. If you do not unite with us, they will first destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations of red men because they were not united, because they were not friends to each other. Brothers. The white people send runners amongst us; they wish to make us enemies, that they may sweep over and desolate our hunting grounds, like devastating winds, or rushing waters. Brothers. Our Great Father [Great Britain], over the great waters, is angry with the white people, our enemies. He will send his brave warriors against them; he will send us rifles, and whatever else we want he is our friend, and we are his children. Brothers. Who are the white people that we should fear them? They cannot run fast, and are good marks to shoot at: they are only men; our fathers have killed many of them: we are not squaws, and we will stain the earth red with their blood. Brothers. The Great Spirit is angry with our enemies; he speaks in thunder, and the earth swallows up villages, and drinks up the Mississippi. The great waters will cover their lowlands; their corn cannot grow; and the Great Spirit will sweep those who escape to the hills from the earth with his terrible breath. Brothers. We must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each other s battles; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit: he is for us; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red children happy. 1 Notebook Questions: Reason and Record What does Tecumseh say about Euro-Americans? What does Tecumseh say about Indian unity? What does Tecumseh say about aid from Great Britain and the Great Spirit? 1 SOURCE: Tecumseh s Speech to the Osage of Missouri, found in Hunter, John D. Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians of North America, from Childhood to the Age of Nineteen. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1823.

5 Notebook Questions: Relate and Record How does the document relate to FACE Principle #7: The Christian Principle of American Political Union: Internal agreement or unity, which is invisible, produces an external union, which is visible in the spheres of government, economics, and home and community life. Before two or more individuals can act effectively together, they must first be united in spirit in their purposes and convictions? How does the document relate to 1 Nephi 13:14-15, 2 Nephi 1:10-12, and Mormon 5:17-20? Record Activity: Multiple Choice Comprehension Check 1. Background: Which one of the following is not true about Indian alliances of the long eighteenth century? a. Native tribes defended their homelands and fought for independence through the formation of complex alliances with each other and with European powers. b. When the British and French fought for control of North America between 1689 and 1763, native warriors fought with the British, with the French, against both empires, or not at all, choosing instead to work, through diplomacy, for peace, trade, and land. c. In Pontiac s Rebellion ( ), Delaware prophet Neolin and Ottawa chief Pontiac united tribes in the Great Lakes region and Ohio River Valley against the Red Coats and American settlers. d. During the War of American Independence ( ), after remaining neutral as long as diplomatic and economic pressures would allow, the mighty Iroquois Confederacy of New York split, the Delaware and Shawnee joined the British, and Indian tribes in New England fought on the side of the Americans.

6 e. Following the War of American Independence, the native peoples who sided with the victorious Americans gained tremendous advantages over Indians who had fought with the British. f. By 1790, Miami Little Turtle and Shawnee Blue Jacket were leading militant members of an Indian confederacy in the Old Northwest against U. S. troops in what became known as Washington s War ( ), which ended badly for the confederacy. 2. Background: Which one of the following is not true about Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa? a. They forged a pan-indian religious, political, and military movement that would hold the last and greatest chances of all of the eastern Indian alliances of the long eighteenth century. b. Both brothers were spellbinding orators with charismatic personalities and the power to gather droves of followers to their cause of reasserting Indian sovereignty on tribal lands. c. They were also visionary in their ability to see that what united Indians of different tribes in opposition to American expansion was more important than what divided them in culture, politics, or religion. Preaching a doctrine of pan- Indian resistance one in which all Indians should unite behind a common cause they worked to rebuild the Ohio confederation and even traveled among the tribes of the South to spread their message of united opposition. d. In 1805, Tenskwatawa saw a vision in which he believed the Master of Life told him to spread a new message of redemption and renewal to native peoples. Central to his message was the conscious rejection of the white man s ways. e. In 1808, Tenskwatawa established Prophet s Town at the confluence of Tippecanoe Creek and the Wabash River in Indiana as a gathering place for his followers and continued traveling between Florida and Canada to spread his message of native cultural renewal, a sovereign Indian state, united and violent resistance to white expansion and white treaties, and a future free from the white man. f. Tecumseh s political and military prowess and Tenskwatawa s religious clout and promises of an Indian utopia attracted thousands of followers to their pan-indian movement. g. Beginning in 1809, Tecumseh sent a message of unification to all tribes in the vast Mississippi Valley, north and south, and called for a massive resistance force that could stop American expansion, recover the entire Northwest, and keep whites east of the Ohio River.

7 h. Tecumseh also rejected all prior treaties made with individual tribes, stating that the land ceded to the U. S. belonged to all the tribes and could not be given away by one nation without the consent of every other. i. Though Tenskwatawa continued to lead the resistance movement until his death fighting on the side of the British during the War of 1812, the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811) discredited Tecumseh s magic, fractured the confederacy, and snuffed out the last hope of intertribal unity and widespread resistance east of the Mississippi. 3. Source: Which one of the following does Tecumseh not say about Indian unity? a. We all belong to one family; we are all children of the Great Spirit. b. We must assist each other to bear our burdens. c. My people are brave and numerous; but the white people are too strong for them alone. d. If we all unite, we will cause the rivers to stain the great waters with their blood. e. If you do not unite with us, they will first destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations of red men because they were not united. f. If we are united, we will call down the powers of the Great Spirit to make the white people sue for peace and stay in their lands east of the Appalachians. g. We must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each other s battles.

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