TECUMSEH

born 1768, Old Piqua [modern Clark county, Ohio, U.S.] died Oct. 5, 1813, near Thames River, Upper Canada [now in Ontario, Can.] also spelled Tecumthe, Tikamthe, or Tecumtha Shawnee Indian chief, orator, military leader, and advocate of intertribal Indian alliance who directed Indian resistance to white rule in the Ohio River valley. In the War of 1812 he joined British forces for the capture of Detroit and the invasion of Ohio. A decisive battle against William Henry Harrison's U.S. troops ended in Tecumseh's defeat and death. Additional reading Benjamin Drake, The Life of Tecumseh and His Brother the Prophet (1841, reprinted 1969), is the best of the early biographies. Norman S. Gurd, The Story of Tecumseh (1912), offers a relatively brief but interesting account from a Canadian viewpoint. Glenn Tucker, Tecumseh: Vision of Glory (1956, reprinted 1973), a thorough biography with a full bibliography, exonerates the British government from the charge of inciting the Indians to warfare against the Americans prior to the War of 1812.