Tecumseh (1768-1813)

American Indian chief of the Shawnee. He attempted to unite the Indian peoples from Canada to Florida against the encroachment of white settlers, but the defeat of his brother Tenskwatawa, ‘the Prophet’, at the battle of Tippecanoe in November 1811 by W H Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, largely destroyed the confederacy built up by Tecumseh.

He allied himself with the British in the War of 1812, during which he helped take Detroit, fomented the Creek War 1813 in the South, and led an invasion of Ohio. He was killed in Canada at the Battle of the Thames 1813, a battle won by Harrison, who would campaign for the presidency 1840 largely on the strength of his military exploits against Tecumseh.