Battle of Tippecanoe

Battle of Tippecanoe

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana. American forces led by then Governor William Henry Harrison fought Indian forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa. Harrison’s men burned Prophetstown to the ground, destroying the food supplies stored for the winter. The win proved decisive and garnered Harrison the nickname of “TippecAnoe”

About Battle of Tippecanoe in brief

Summary Battle of TippecanoeThe Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana. American forces led by then Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory fought Indian forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa. Harrison’s men burned Prophetstown to the ground, destroying the food supplies stored for the winter. Harrison accomplished his goal of destroying Prophetstown. The win proved decisive and garnered Harrison the nickname of “TippecAnoe”. Meanwhile, the defeat dealt a fatal blow for TecumSEh’s confederacy and, though comeback attempts were made, it never fully recovered. The defeat led to a further deterioration of relations with Britain and was a catalyst of the War of 1812, which began six months later. The U.S. declared war on Britain in June 1812 and Tecumneh’sConfederacy rebuilt Prophetstown and fought in alliance with the British. The war ended in 1813 during the Battle of the Thames, and the confederate was defeated by the US in 1814. The battle was the first of several battles between the United States and Britain in several months between 1809 and 1812. Tensions had been high between the US and Britain as a result of British interference in American commerce with France. As early as 1810, British agents had sought to secure an alliance with Indians to break out of hostilities with Canada, but the Indians had been reluctant to accept their offer. Most rejected the offer, fearing that they had little to benefit from such an arrangement.

Most of the southern tribes rejected Harrison’s offer, and he assured them that the Shawnee brothers meant to remain at peace with the United United States. The Treaty of Fort Wayne was signed on September 30, 1809 in which Miami, Pottawatomie, Lenape, and other tribal leaders sold 3,000,000 acres of land to the US. The treaty stated that Indian land was owned in common by all tribes, and land could not be sold without agreement by all the tribes. Harrison rejected his demands and insisted that the tribes could have individual relations with the U.N., and he warned that settlers should not attempt to settle the lands sold in the treaty. Harrison’s nickname became his campaign slogan and a popularized campaign song when he ran for president in 1840 with John Tyler as his running mate. He was elected governor of the newly formed Indiana Territory in 1800. He hoped that the Indiana Territorial would attract enough settlers to qualify for statehood. He negotiated numerous land cession treaties with American Indians, including the Treaty ofFort Wayne. He refused to nullify the treaty, and warned that the Indian leaders who had signed the treaty would kill anyone and their followers who carried out the terms of the treaty and join his resistance. He traveled widely, urging warriors to abandon their chiefs and joined his resistance at Prophetstown, insisting that the Fort Wayne treaty was illegitimate.