Born 1768

Chalahgawtha

(an Indian village near Springfield, Ohio)

Died 1813

Near the Thames River, Ontario, Canada

Warrior and tribal leader

Tecumseh. (The Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.)

"Before the palefaces came among us, we enjoyed the happiness of unbounded freedom. How is it now? Wants and oppressions are our lot; for are we not controlled in everything? ... Are we not being stripped day by day of the little that remains of our ancient liberty?"

From Tecumseh's speech to the Choctaw, quoted in Tecumseh, Shawnee Rebel

At the height of his power in the first decade of the nineteenth century, Shawnee war chief Tecumseh was the single biggest obstacle to continued American expansion into what was known as the Old Northwest (the present-day states of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan). Leading first his own people and then a confederacy (organized group) of Native American tribes, Tecumseh harassed Americans settling in the...