TIPPECANOE, BATTLE OF

TIPPECANOE, BATTLE OF (7 November 1811). In response to pressure from white settlers, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh organized a confederacy of Native American tribes in the Indiana and Michigan territories. The crisis came in the summer of 1811, when Tecumseh, after renewing his demands on Gen. William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, at Vincennes, departed to rally the tribes of the Southwest to the confederacy. Urged on by the frantic settlers, Harrison decided to strike first.

On 26 September Harrison advanced with 1,000 soldiers on the Indian settlement of Prophetstown, along Tippecanoe Creek, 150 miles north of Vincennes. He spent most of October constructing Fort Harrison at Terre Haute, resuming his march on 28 October. With the town in sight, Harrison yielded to belated appeals for a conference. Turning aside, he encamped on an elevated site a mile from the village. Meanwhile the Native American warriors, a mile away, were stirred to a frenzy by the appeals of Tecumseh's brother Tenskwatawa ("the Prophet"). Shortly before dawn (7 November), they drove in Harrison's pickets and furiously stormed the still-sleeping camp. Harrison's soldiers deflected the attack with a series of charges, attacked and razed the Indian town on 8 November, and began the retreat to distant Fort Harrison.

Although Tippecanoe was popularly regarded as a great victory and helped Harrison's political fortunes, the army had struck an indecisive blow. With almost one-fourth of his followers dead or wounded he retreated to Vincennes, where the army was disbanded or scattered. During the War of 1812, federal troops would again do battle with Tecumseh, who had formed an alliance with the British.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bird, Harrison. War for the West, 1790–1813. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Edmunds, R. David. The Shawnee Prophet. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.

———. Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership. Boston: Little, Brown, 1984.

Peterson, Norma L. The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.