Tenskwatawa: The Life of the Shawnee Prophet and Tecumseh’s Brother

Summary

As settlers continued to encroach further west, the Shawnee, who were attempting to put together a confederacy of Native Americans to resist, stood firm and ready to fight them. Before America fought Britain in the War of 1812, they were engaged in Tecumseh’s War around the Great Lakes. The fighting made him famous and made a military hero (and eventually a president) out of William Henry Harrison, whose victory at Tippecanoe is considered the end of that war.

Despite being one of their most tenacious opponents, Tecumseh almost immediately became a celebrated folk hero and respected leader in American history, all while continuing to be one of the most poignant symbols of resistance among Native Americans. He continues to be a household name across the United States today, nearly 200 years after his death.

What makes Tecumseh’s legacy ironic is that the Shawnee were nominally led by a different man altogether, and that man just so happened to be Tecumseh’s brother. Lalawethika’s early life mostly consisted of abject failures, and he became an alcoholic, but in one of his alcohol-soaked stupors, he began to have visions of the Master of Life that turned him into the Open Door, the prophet named Tenskwatawa. It was Tenskwatawa who brought a new vision to the Shawnee, transforming himself from an object of pity and contempt into a religious leader who had thousands of followers. When the Americans fought at Tippecanoe, the gathering of Native Americans who they were attempting to disperse had congregated at a place colloquially known as Prophetstown.