On September 24, 1811, General William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, led an army north from the territorial capital of Vincennes. His objective was to break up a large gathering of Indians that were part of a confederacy organized by Tecumseh to resist American settlement in the Ohio Country. Although advised by his officers to immediately strike the village, Harrison was under strict orders from Secretary of War William Eustis to maintain peace if possible and not initiate an attack. Tecumseh happened to be away recruiting southern tribes for his confederacy so the responsibility for dealing with the American army fell to the Prophet. Although prior to leaving Tecumseh had stressed that a battle was to be avoided at all costs, the Prophet felt he must do something.

Tecumseh’s War was the last great Indian war in the Northwest Territory and raged from 1811 to 1817. Tecumseh was a Shawnee born in 1768 in today’s central Ohio. By the late 1780s, Tecumseh began participating in raids into Kentucky and fought at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers. Despite Tecumseh’s prowess, he may have remained unknown to history were it not for his brother Tenskwatawa, better known as the Prophet, who rose to prominence in 1805 following a series of visions. Part of the reason why the Prophet’s message resonated so well with Indians in the Great Lakes region was their growing frustration over repeated land cession treaties between willing chiefs and the United States.