A New Hope for the Natives

About the year 1768, a Creek squaw of a Shawnee warrior gave birth to three sons near present day Springfield, Ohio.  One is rarely mentioned in history.  The second became known as simply "The Prophet."  The third named, Tecumseh, "the shooting star", was tall, handsome, daring, energetic, fluent of speech, given to deep reflection, and a hater of white men.

Tecumseh had uncommon traits in his culture.  He had perfect self-command, a keen insight into human motives and purpose,s and an exceptional capacity to organize men and plans to completion. 
He gained the respect of the whites as "the most statesman-like member of his race."

Tecumseh was merely a boy when he became aware of the continued advancement of white men on his people's hunting grounds.  He envisioned a permanent and single confederacy of all Indian tribes consisting not of chiefs, but of warriors.  It would be governed by a warrior's congress of popular rule.  Joint ownership of all Indian lands would prevent the white man from piecemeal acquisition of Indian land.  Tecumseh wanted to pick up where Pontiac left off, but with a much more powerful plan.

Even though the plan was brilliant, it was not practical.  The chiefs didn't support it, for it took away tribal independence and the chief's authority.  Tecumseh was not a chief, had no sanction of birth or title.  It's success depended on building inter-tribal unity which Indians had never known.  It certainly ran counter to the advancing white population.  Tecumseh was not deterred.  He traveled from one end of the country to the other arguing with chiefs, motivating warriors and making quite an impression on the native people.  Eventually events in the territory and beyond helped to bring tribes into the union of warriors.

In the spring of 1808, Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, carried their plans forward by taking up residence in central Indiana where the Tippecanoe Creek flowed into the Wabash, equal distance from Vincinnes and Fort Wayne.  From this strategic location, they could canoe to the Ohio or the Mississippi and Great Lakes.  The village soon grew to the hundreds where livestock was acquired, crops were grown, and whiskey was strictly forbidden.

Next time...Tecumseh meets Harrison
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On May 6,  1937, the German airship, the Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built, explodes as it arrives in Lakehurst, New Jersey.  The whole tragedy was broadcast by radio where 36 people were killed. It was more than 800 feet long, had a range of 8,000 miles, and was filled with 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen with a Mercedes-Benz engine. It could hold 97 people.