{"id":3080,"date":"2016-10-15T16:19:38","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T20:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/mhugl\/?p=3080"},"modified":"2019-09-15T15:21:57","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T19:21:57","slug":"the-battle-of-tippecanoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/mhugl\/2016\/10\/15\/the-battle-of-tippecanoe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Battle of Tippecanoe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Battle of Tippecanoe<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On November 6, 1811, warriors from Prophetstown, the headquarters for an Indian confederacy, led by Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, attacked US troops commanded by General Harrison near the Tippecanoe River.\u00a0 The battle lasted only two hours, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.\u00a0 While largely indecisive, the battle helped sway the country to war with Britain in 1812.\u00a0 For the natives, the battle was the end of their dreams for a confederacy against the settlers, forcing them to join forces with the British as the only defense to their homeland.<\/p>\n

The Road to Battle<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
British Impressing American Sailors<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since winning the Revolutionary War, there had been little peace between the newly created United States and their former sovereign nation, Great Britain.\u00a0 Americans were angered by the British failure to abide by the Treaty of Paris as British troops continued to occupy American soil, such as their control of Fort Miami in the Ohio territory.\u00a0 The Indians were able to find support against the incoming American settlers from England as the British gave them weapons and other supplies. \u00a0At sea, British ships began impressing, or as John Adams defined \u201ckidnapping on the ocean,\u201d American sailors [6, p. 127].\u00a0 As the United States got involved in the Napoleonic War with the Non-Intercourse Act, which prohibited trade with Great Britain due to the continuation of American merchant ships seized by the British navy, many on the East Coast were angered by economic strain.\u00a0 When news of the HMS Leopard<\/em> attack on the USS Chesapeake<\/em> off the coast of Virginia broke out, many in New England began clamoring for war [7, p. 12].\u00a0 This sparked outrage on the entire East Coast.\u00a0 The Pittsburgh Gazette <\/em>declared the Leopard-Chesapeake <\/em>crisis as, \u201cthe honor and independence of our nation insulted beyond the possibility of further forbearance\u201d [6, p. 128].\u00a0 For those on the coast, the incident was as critical as if the British had invaded Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Old Northwest Territory\u00a0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the west, the fear of foreign invasion came from the north.\u00a0 As tensions began to rise between Great Britain and the United States, Canadians made special efforts to secure Indian alliances with the use of gifts; in many cases this came in the form of weapons [7, p. 4].\u00a0 This was ideal for the Indians because the Canadians were allies who would not invade their land, unlike the quarter million settlers moving across the Appalachian Mountains [7, p. 63].\u00a0 With mass migration into the Ohio River Valley following the Revolutionary War, many tribes joined together in the Western Confederacy to counter this threat to their homeland.\u00a0 Under General Wayne, American troops put down the Confederacy with the victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, ending the Northwest Indian War.\u00a0 The Indians had received support and weapons from their British allies in Canada, which only fueled the rising tension between the American settlers and their northern neighbors [6, p. 67].\u00a0 To the Americans, the Northwest Indian War was the result of British encouragement of Indian unrest against the incoming settlers in the Old Northwest Territory [7, p. 61].\u00a0 Soon stories began to circulate about the Indians\u2019 savage customs, such as scalping and human sacrifices on innocent and defenseless settlers by the barbaric natives. \u00a0The tales engulfed the nation causing more and more Americans to want the Indian threat removed.\u00a0 One man from Kentucky even joined the Indiana militia out of \u201can abhorrence of those principles and practices of the savages, and their British allies\u201d [6, p. 190].\u00a0 As land treaties, such as the Treaty of Greenville (1795) and the Treaty of Grouseland (1805), became more commonplace, the natives witnessed most of their land transferred from local, tribal control to the United States government.\u00a0 The treaties also put the tribes living on that land under the United States protection, meaning all conflicts between individual native tribes as well as conflicts between settlers and Indians would be resolved through the American government [6, p. 90-91].\u00a0 With a direct threat to their homeland, many chiefs were willing to put aside their traditional, separate ways of life when Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee tribe and his brother, Tenskwatawa, also known as the Prophet, began preaching that unity was the only way to save their homes.\u00a0 The Prophet offered many of the younger generation an escape from the Westernization of their culture and a return to their old, traditional ways.\u00a0 Tecumseh, a man of military action, convinced warriors from different tribes that united they could push back the inflow of American settlers.\u00a0 Soon tribes began to assemble at Prophetstown in the Indiana territory as a new united Confederacy.<\/p>\n

The Battle for the Indiana Territory\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

General William Henry Harrison<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With rumors flooding Vincennes about Indians massing in Prophetstown, General Harrison gathered 1400 troops and in mid-September of 1811 began his long march to confront this renewed threat to the interior [4].\u00a0\u00a0 Accompanying the 1000 regulars were 400 men of the Indiana and Kentucky militias, including Captain Spencer and his brave Yellow Jackets of the Indiana militia.\u00a0 Rainy and cold conditions of a Midwest fall slowed the army\u2019s progress.\u00a0 The troops marched with caution, always on the lookout for Indian ambushes.\u00a0 The closer the army came to their destination, the greater the chance of skirmishes between the two groups.\u00a0 However, this was not an imaginary fear; on the 2nd<\/sup> of November reports of boats being fired upon soon reached the troops [3, p. 179].\u00a0 Additionally, learning that Tecumseh, the Indian chief who was responsible for the united Confederacy that threaten settlers, had traveled south to meet with other Indian chiefs leaving his brother in charge of around 600 warriors, Harrison quickened his troops and soon arrived on November 5 near the Tippecanoe River.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tenskwatawa also know as the Prophet<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After holding a meeting with the Prophet in hopes of negotiating peace between the two groups, Harrison reported, \u201ca mutual promise was again made for suspension of hostilities until we could have an interview on the following day\u201d [2, p. 18].\u00a0 However, not trusting the Indians sincerity for peace, he retired with orders for his troops to be prepared in case of the Prophet\u2019s treachery [9].\u00a0 Harrison doubted that the Prophet would keep the peace even before arriving at Prophetstown, as he told the regiments back in October \u201cthat we should have to fight the Indians\u201d [3, p. 176]. The troops slept in uniforms and with their guns loaded next to them.\u00a0 Also, the troops set up camp in battle formation.\u00a0 It was done with a single rank which the Battle of Falling Timbers proved to be the most effective battle formation in Indian warfare [2, p. 18].\u00a0 Even though Harrison took precautions, he only sent out a few patrols and left no sentries posted around camp.\u00a0 Additionally, fires were kept burning throughout the night due to the cold and rainy conditions of November.\u00a0 Some soldiers attested that the fires helped the Indians more than the army.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Tippecanoe River (photo taken by author)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 04:00, Harrison\u2019s troop awoke to \u201cthe firing of guns and the Shawnies [Shawnees] braking into their tents\u201d as the Prophet\u2019s warriors attacked before daybreak [3, p. 180].\u00a0 For two hours, Harrison\u2019s troops struggled to overcome the Indians\u2019 advances.\u00a0 The surprise even forced some troops to fight in their tents [5].\u00a0 After the ensuing carnage, Harrison\u2019s disciplined troops routed the outnumbered warriors driving them into the marshes \u201cat the point of the bayonet,\u201d winning the battle [2, p. 20].\u00a0 It took bravery and heroism to overcome the aggressors.\u00a0 As one soldier, John Tipton who fought under Captain Spencer, reported, \u201cthey kept up a firing on three sides of us took our tent from the gueard [guard] fire.\u00a0 Our men fought Brave and By the timely help of Capt. Cook with a Company of infantry we maid [made] a Charge and Drove them out of the timber across the prairie\u201d [3, p. 181].\u00a0 Harrison\u2019s strategy during the fighting was to keep the lines intact until daylight.\u00a0 By moving Captain Cook\u2019s company of riflemen to reinforce Captain Spencer, Harrison prevented the Indian warriors from breaking the troop\u2019s lines and entering the camp.\u00a0 He attested that while \u201cthe Indians manifested a ferocity, uncommon even with them,\u201d they could not overcome his \u201ctroops who opposed their savage fury with that cool and deliberate valor which is characteristic of the Christian soldier\u201d [2, p. 21].\u00a0 The next day the company ventured to Prophetstown where they found it deserted.\u00a0 After burning the town to ashes and seizing most of the grain stores, Harrison retreated with his weary troops back to Vincennes due to lack of ammunition and supplies as well as rumors reaching him of the return of Tecumseh with the main force of the Confederacy [6, p. 130].<\/p>\n

The Aftermath and Road to War<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Captain<\/a>
Captain Spencer’s Grave\u00a0 (photo taken by author)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While considered by most to be an American victory, the Battle of Tippecanoe was largely indecisive.\u00a0 The surprise attack left 37 dead, an additional 25 died from injuries, and another 126 wounded for Harrison, and an estimated 40 dead and 60 wounded for the Prophet [4].\u00a0 For the Yellow Jackets, they lost their Captain, First Lieutenant McMahan, Captain Berry as well as five others [3, p. 181].\u00a0 The battle pushed many tribes into aligning themselves with Tecumseh and the Prophet after what they saw as an unprovoked attack by the United States army on an Indian settlement.\u00a0 Additionally, out of the ashes, Prophetstown was rebuilt a month after Harrison left [6, p. 313].\u00a0 However, while Tecumseh would remain a threat until his death in the ensuing war, the fear of a grand Indian Confederacy was eliminated.\u00a0 The battle also enabled pioneers to safely settle the Indiana frontier as tribes were forced farther west, and in five years the Indiana territory would enter the Union as the 19th<\/sup> state of America [8].\u00a0 The Battle of Tippecanoe saw the American frontier pushed farther west much to the dismay of the Indians.<\/p>\n

The Battle of Tippecanoe was the spark that ignited the fuse that led to the War of 1812. \u00a0Many Americans saw the Confederacy as a tool for Great Britain to terrorize the Northwest territories, including Harrison, who said, \u201cI really fear that this Prophet is an Engine set to work by the British for some bad purpose\u201d [6, p. 128].\u00a0 Following the end of his dreams for a united Indian force against the tide of invading settlers, Tecumseh allied himself with the British forces in Canada.\u00a0 This only fueled the war hysteria that soon engulfed the nation.\u00a0 As one newspaper wrote after learning of the battle, \u201cAgain from various circumstances, such as the conferences of Indians with our good friends the British, and the intrigues which the British have uniformly had with them whenever any hostile attitude was taken by the government towards us, together with other facts-<\/em> we have believed that war would ensure\u201d [1, p. 240].\u00a0 The War Hawks of New England joined the westerners anger of British support of Indians with their own fury of economic loss caused by Great Britain on the high seas. \u00a0After the battle, the anti-British attitude would dominate Washington. \u00a0On June 12, 1812, less than a year after Harrison burned down Prophetstown, the United States declared war on Great Britain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Battle of Tippecanoe Monument<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Primary Sources:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Dooley, Patricia L. “The Battle of Tippecanoe, November 7-8, 1811.”\u00a0The Early Republic: Primary Documents on Events from 1799 to 1820. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2004. 240-41.<\/li>\n
  2. Durfee, David A.\u00a0William Henry Harrison 1773-1841: John Tyler 1790-1862: Chronology, Documents, Bibliographical Aids. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publ., 1970.<\/li>\n
  3. Tipton, John, John Tipton\u2019s Tippecanoe Journal. <\/em>Indiana Magazine of History. December, 1906: 170-184.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Secondary Sources:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Hickman, Kennedy. “Tecumseh’s War: Battle of Tippecanoe.<\/a>”\u00a0About.com Education. N.p., 09 Mar. 2015.<\/li>\n
    2. Tippecanoe County Historical Association. “History of the Battle of Tippecanoe.<\/a>”\u00a0Battle of Tippecanoe History. Tippecanoe County Historical Association, n.d.<\/li>\n
    3. Jortner, Adam Joseph.\u00a0The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012.<\/li>\n
    4. Mason, Philip P.\u00a0After Tippecanoe: Some Aspects of the War of 1812. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1963.<\/li>\n
    5. Trice, Nancy. “Chapter VII Effect of the Battle.<\/a>”\u00a0The Battle of Tippecanoe. USGENWEB, n.d.<\/li>\n
    6. U.S. Army Center of Military History. “Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811.<\/a>”\u00a0U.S. Army Center Of Military History. U.S. ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, 24 Nov. 2014.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Further Reading<\/p>\n