ecumseh seemed reluctant to accept his brother's teachings until June 16, 1806, when the Prophet accurately predicted an eclipse of the sun, and Indians from throughout the Midwest flocked to the Shawnee village at Greenville, Ohio. He slowly transformed his brother's religious following into a political movement. In 1808 Tecumseh and the Prophet moved their village to an ancient Indian town named Kithtippecanoe in what is now Northern Indiana. The settlement attracted new Indians.After the loss of much Indian land at the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809), Tecumseh gradually eclipsed his brother as the primary leader of the movement. In 1809, Tecumseh traveled among the various tribes and warned them of dangers and forming alliances against the whites. Between 1809 and 1811, he carried messages of nationalism and military resistance south to the Creeks and the Cherokees. They refused to join.Tecumseh’s speeches rang with bitter denunciations of white Americans; “The white race is a wicked race”. He also has been quoted as saying, “Since the days when the white race first came in contact with the red man, there has been a continual series of aggressions. The hunting grounds are fast disappearing, and they are driving the red men farther to the west… The only hope… is a war of extermination against the pale face.” In 1811, William Henry Harrison surrounded their village with 1,000 men. At dawn on November 11, 1811, 400 Indian warriors assaulted Harrison’s lines. The battle lasted for hours, resulting in a victory for Harrison. Over 150 warriors were killed. At the end of the battle, Harrison burned down the village of Kithtippecanoe. Tecumseh tried to rebuild his shattered society, but when the War of 1812 broke out, he withdrew to Michigan where he assisted the British in the capture of Detroit and led pro-British Indians in subsequent actions in southern Michigan (Monguagon) and northe...
