Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison
Height: 5′ 8″
February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841

A clever politician and fearsome frontier General, Harrison moved to Vincennes, the capital of the newly established Indiana Territory, on January 10, 1801. While in Vincennes, Harrison built a plantation style home he named Grouseland for its many birds. It was one of the first brick structures in the territory. The home, which has been restored and has become a popular modern tourist attraction, served as the center of social and political life in the territory.

As governor, a primary responsibility was to obtain title to Native American lands. Harrison was eager to expand the territory for personal reasons as well, as his political fortunes were tied to Indiana’s rise to statehood. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson granted Harrison authority to negotiate and conclude treaties with the Indians. Harrison supervised the development of 13 treaties, through which the territory bought more than 60,000,000 acres of land from Native American leaders, including much of present-day southern Indiana. Due to such policy tensions remained high on the frontier, with open warfare with the “Indians” a constant possible outcome.

The 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne raised new tensions. Harrison purchased from the Miami tribe, who claimed ownership of the land, more than 2,500,000 acres of land inhabited by Shawnee, Kickapoo, Miami, Pottawatomie and others. Harrison rushed the process by offering large subsidies to the tribes and their leaders so that he could have the treaty in place before President Jefferson left office and the administration changed. The tribes living on the lands were furious and sought to have the treaty overturned but were ultimately unsuccessful. The rise of “The Prophet” posed a direct threat to American expansion. Harrison petitioned the US government to allow him to stop the “Indians” from forming an alliance with the British who were also a major thorn.

Tenskwatawa

Height: Shorter than Tecumseh

His father died before he was born resulting in his mother leaving the family shortly after. The small, weak and shy, Lalawethika grew up without the guidance of his parents. Young Lalawethika was then dependent on his siblings to teach him the Shawnee ways. He was not close to his siblings and therefore never learned how to hunt or fight successfully, skills essential to a Shawnee man.

Losing an eye to an arrow in a hunting accident while young, his poor looks and braggart personality didn’t win him many friends. As a result, Lalawethika grew up to be the laughing-stock of his community and turned to alcohol. In the language of the Shawnee his name meant he-who-makes-noise but can be translated idiomatically to mean loudmouth or troublemaker.

He was a vile man who retreated from society after failed attempts at being a medicine man. Unable to care for his family due to his alcoholism, he was supported by his older brother Tecumseh. He was also rumoured to have beaten his wife and family and was seen even by his own people as a “waste of life”. This all changed after he had a terrible vision of his people being swallowed up and destroyed by the whites.

After his transformation he took the name Tenskwatawa meaning Open Door to show that his teachings were the doorway to salvation for all Native Peoples. After proving his worth as a great medicine man people took to calling him the Prophet and his following started to steadily grow. He was proof that the evil influences of the white man such as alcoholism could be overcome and taught that a return to the old ways were the only way they could survive. His brother Tecumseh inspired by his sudden transformation took up his message and carried it as far as he could travel bringing many adherents to their cause.

Tecumseh

Height: Unknown

By the time Tecumseh was a man he had fought in many battles against Americans, losing both his father and older brother through frontier warfare. He was an accomplished warrior of the Kispokotho War Clan of the Shawnee Tribe, who did not believe in the wanton slaughter of innocents. Tecumseh was an athletic man, as proficient with a musket as he was with a tomahawk.

Inspired by Native leaders from previous generations such as Pontiac and Joseph Brant, he sought to unite native peoples in a great confederation stretching from the great lakes in the north to the gulf of mexico in the south, the Mississippi river in the west and the Appalachian mountains in the east. He used his younger brother’s transformation into a great prophet who urged a return to the ways of their ancestors as a rallying cry. He embarked on a quest to spread Tenskwatawa’s teachings, bringing many warriors and their families to their settlement.

An honourable and just warrior, Tecumseh did not believe in harming women and children was strongly against the senseless massacre of his enemies. He did however believe in the rights of his people to the land they have cared for and lived in harmony with for generations. He would fight and die for his cause but would never give up his principles. He was truly an awe inspiring hero that should never be forgotten.

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Who won the war of 1812? That is perhaps the most complicated question you could pose concerning this topic. There were four major participants in this war arranged into two sides. It was a war that the United States declared against Great Britain and her North American allies and colonies. The war and it’s result went down differently for each participant.

The United States Started the war and it’s aim was to stop Britain from impressing it’s sailors (A war time practice of boarding neutral ships and forcing any English speaking sailors into the royal navy), stopping trade across the ocean to France and inciting Native unrest in the Great Lakes region. It aimed to stop the latter and increase it’s territory by wiping out Native rebellion and by invading Canada.

By the time the war was over in 1815, the US boundaries were unchanged but impressment had stopped due to lack of need (Napoleon had been defeated in Europe). Native unrest was quelled for the most part and Tecumseh was dead but warfare with the tribes continued for 50 years. Canada had not been conquered.

None of the American war aims were actually solved by the war. The one thing they did win however was a national identity. The victory at the Battle of New Orleans convinced the Americans that they could repel a full on British invasion despite it having occurred after the war was over. Directly from this forgotten war the United States also published a new national anthem which was written about the successful defense of Fort McHenry. In Great Britain and Canada they won steadfast allies in every global conflict in the next 200 years.

Great Britain lost men and resources but little else. They maintained the status quo. The only peace demand they had to give up was the creation of a First Nations state buffer zone as proposed by Brock and Tecumseh. They won due to their successful defense of the Canadian Colonies. Their possessions in North America were unsuccessfully invaded several times. The only land in Canada that was occupied by the invaders were Essex and Kent counties in southwestern Ontario; which were given back in the treaty of Ghent returning the border to that of a prewar state.

Canada did not have much say in this war as it was not yet a nation but the Americans and Loyalists living in Upper Canada at the time would identify Americans as invaders that burned down their houses and destroyed their crops Canada was not conquered by the US. By the end of the war Canadians did not yet have a country and didn’t really have much of a national identity as a result. What they did know is what they weren’t. They weren’t Americans.

The First Nations had a unique culture that did not believe in land ownership as the Europeans and Americans did. Instead they believed in common ownership and use by the whole which lead to land loss and removal issues with the Americans. Under the leadership of Tecumseh, the majority of First Nations of the great lakes had joined the British in the hopes of gaining a permanent homeland surrounding the lakes. In negotiating the treaty of Ghent the only peace condition dropped by the British was the creation of this native state in “Indian country”. This land was absorbed by the United States which is now parts of Pennsylvania and New York as well as the entire areas of modern Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Great Britain, Canada and the United States all came out of this war as winners in their own ways.
The only real losers of the war were the First Nations. If you wish to learn more about Tecumseh’s struggle please stay tuned to www.twistedstudio.ca/tecumseh

“This image was posted in May as a test post before the site went live and was used as a promotional card at the Kids Read Comics convention run by the Ann Arbor District Public Library in Ann Arbor Michigan. Very cool event by the way and we really hope to go again in 2013″

Dave – Jan 1, 2013