Somewhere in the smoke and fury, Tecumseh went down. Col. Richard Mentor Johnson, severely wounded himself, recounted pulling out his pistols and shooting an Indian -- maybe Tecumseh? In later years, Johnson built his political career on the claim that he had slain the mighty Tecumseh himself.
Tecumseh's death put in motion a series of events and consequences. Furious about the British failure, many of Tecumseh's allies quickly signed an armistice with Harrison, who then sought o enlist them to fight the British.
Even as many American settlers spoke explicitly about the "extermination" of Indian people, their leaders negotiated a series of treaties with confederacy tribes. The British confirmed their faithlessness in the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, but sold out their Indian allies.
Without Tecumseh, his brother, Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, floundered, and he eventually helped the Americans to persuade the Shawnees to leave their lands and relocate in Kansas. There, in 1828, he set up a sad little Prophetstown of four remote cabins, where he faded away to a lonely death less than a decade later.
--Brock-Perry
No comments:
Post a Comment