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Battle of Tippecanoe

Amerindian warriors are routed at the Battle of Tippecanoe
Source: The War of 1812, by Reginald Horsman

"My people wish for peace; the red men all wish for peace; but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother. Where today are the Pequot? Where today are the Narrangansett, the Mohican, the Pakanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun."
Shawnee Chief Tecumseh

While not really a battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of Tippecanoe was none the less significant in the long term. The American people and government viewed the possibility of an alliance between the British and the Amerindians as a danger to their young state. It was belived that the British were inciting the tribes against the United States. And of course, rumors of the cruelty of the Amerindians in the treatment of their victims was almost legendary.

Given this, it was not surprising that the American government felt threatened by the efforts of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (known commonly as the Prophet) to unite the Amerindian tribes. As a result, they increased pressure on the Amerindian lands. While Tecumseh was visiting the southern tribes, gathering support for a confederacy of the tribes, William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, led his army into Amerindian territory near Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe River, intending to disperse the Prophet's center of influence.

Although Tecumseh had warned him against such action until the confederacy was strong, the Prophet attacked the American forces. On the night of November 6, 1811, he led his men near the American campsite, and with fiery speeches, persuaded them to attack at dawn on the 7th.

The attack was foreseen by Governor Harrison, who ordered that the soldiers sleep fully clothed and battle-ready. When the Amerindians charged, the sentinels opened fire. After two hours of fighting, the Americans lost 62 soldiers and 126 were wounded. While the Amerindian casualties were unknown, but they lost their spirit. Angry at the Prophet, who claimed that American bullets could not harm them, the Amerindians stripped him of his power and forced him to flee. Then they abandoned Prophetstown which was burned by the Americans the following day.

This battle resulted in more Amerindian raids rather than stopping them, but when Tecumseh returned, his dream of a confederacy was in shambles. He turned to the British, hoping to increase the chances of Amerindian survival, and played an important part in the War of 1812, until he was killed at the Battle of the Thames.