Tippecanoe

 

(tĭp'əkənū') , river, c.170 mi (270 km) long, rising in the lake district of NE Ind. and flowing SW to the Wabash River, near Lafayette. U.S. Gen. William Henry Harrison fought the Shawnees in the battle of Tippecanoe, Nov. 7, 1811, on the site of Battle Ground, Ind. The Native Americans, encouraged by their chief, Tecumseh, and by the British, became threatened by the continued U.S. advance into their territory. At the time of Harrison's expedition, Tecumseh was away and his brother, the Shawnee Prophet, led the group. They attacked U.S. forces at dawn but were repelled; their village was subsequently razed by Harrison's forces. Claimed as a U.S. victory, the battle was at best indecisive; the power of the Shawnees was broken, however, despite the subsequent American retreat.

Battle of Tippecanoe
Part of Tecumseh's War/War of 1812
19th century depiction of the battle by Alonzo Chappel
Date November 7, 1811 Location near present Battle Ground, Indiana Result U.S. Pyrrhic victory
Combatants
Tecumseh's confederacy	United States
Commanders
Tenskwatawa	William Henry Harrison
Strength
550-700	1,000 regulars and militia
Casualties
50+ killed 70+ wounded	62 killed 126 wounded

Detroit frontier
Tippecanoe – 1st Mackinac Island – Brownstown - Maguaga – Fort Dearborn – Detroit – Fort Harrison – Fort Wayne – Mississinewa – Frenchtown – Fort Meigs – Fort Stephenson – Lake Erie – Thames – Longwoods – Prairie du Chien – 2nd Mackinac Island – Lake Huron – Malcolm's Mills

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in 1811 between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and forces of Tecumseh's growing American Indian confederation. The battle took place outside Prophetstown, near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana, and was part of what is sometimes known as Tecumseh's War, which continued into the War of 1812. Although Harrison's side suffered greater casualties despite its far superior numbers, the battle was an important political and symbolic victory for the American forces.

Background

On November 6, 1811, approximately 1,000 Regulars and militia under the command of Harrison approached Prophetstown. Their march intentionally coincided with Tecumseh’s absence; he was traveling through the southern states in an attempt to recruit more tribes to his alliance. Tecumseh left Prophetstown under the leadership of his younger brother Tenskwatawa, who was also known as the Prophet. Fewer than one thousand warriors plus women and children occupied the village.

Battle

When Harrison's forces approached the town late on November 6, a young Indian on horseback rode out from the town waving a white flag. He carried a message from the Prophet requesting a cease fire until the next day when the two sides could hold a peaceful meeting. Harrison agreed but was wary of the Prophet's overture and kept sentinels on duty over night.

Although existing accounts are unclear about exactly how the skirmish began, Harrison’s sentinels encountered advancing warriors in the pre-dawn hours of November 7. As the soldiers awoke to scattered gunshots, they discovered themselves almost encircled by the Prophet’s forces. Fierce fighting broke out as the Indians broke through Harrison’s lines and entered the camp. As the sentinels fled back to camp, the volunteers quickly regrouped and repulsed the advance while securing their own lines. Throughout the morning Harrison's troops fought off several charges. When the Indians began to run low on amunition and the sun rose, revealing how small the Prophet's army really was, the Indian forces finally retreated. Harrison had 68 men killed or mortally wounded, and about 120 less seriously wounded. The number of Indian casualties is the subject of intense debate, but it was certainly lower than that of the United States forces. Historians estimate that as many as 50 were killed and about 70-80 were wounded.^[1]

Fearing Tecumseh's imminent return with reinforcements, Harrison ordered his men to fortify their position. The next day, November 8, he sent a small group of men to inspect the town, which was deserted, as the defeated Indian forces had retreated during the night. Harrison ordered his troops to burn down Prophetstown and destroy the Indians's cooking implements, without which the confederacy could not survive the winter. Harrison's troops also desecrated the Indians' graveyard, digging up many of the corpses and scattering the bodies.

Aftermath

The Battle of Tippecanoe was a serious blow to Tecumseh's dream of a unified Indian confederacy. The Prophet, having prophesied that the weapons of Harrison's men would not be able to hurt his warriors, was disgraced by his failure and fled to Canada. Tecumseh continued to play a major role in military operations on the frontier, however, and by 1812 he had regained much of his former strength. Tecumseh's troops made up nearly half of the British army that captured Detroit from America in the War of 1812. It was not until Tecumseh's death at the 1813 Battle of the Thames that his confederation ceased to threaten American expansion. When William Henry Harrison ran for President of the United States during the election of 1840, he used the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" to remind people of his heroism during the battle.

Notes

1. ^ Casualty figures and force sizes from Sugden, pp. 235-6, and Edmunds, p. 115.

References

• Edmunds, R. David. The Shawnee Prophet. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. ISBN 0-8032-1850-8.
• Sugden, John. Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Holt, 1997. ISBN 0-8050-4138-9 (hardcover); ISBN 0-8050-6121-5 (1999 paperback).

External links

• Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Battle of Tippecanoe
• The Battle of Tippecanoe

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