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Battle of Tippecanoe
Part of Tecumseh's War/War of 1812
19th century depiction by Alonzo Chappel
Date November 7, 1811 Location near modern Battle Ground, Indiana Result United States victory
Belligerents
Tecumseh's confederacy	United States
Commanders and leaders
Tenskwatawa "The Prophet"	Governor William Henry Harrison
Strength
550–700	250 US Army Regulars 100 Kentucky militia 600 Indiana Territory militia
Casualties and losses
50 killed 70 wounded	37 killed in action 25 died of wounds 126 wounded

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The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and forces of Tecumseh's growing American Indian confederation led by his brother, Tenskwatawa. In response to rising tensions with the tribes and threats of war, an American force of militia and regulars set out to launch a preemptive strike on the headquarters of the confederacy. The battle took place outside Prophetstown, at the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers.

Although the Americans claimed victory, the Indians attacked with fewer men and sustained fewer casualties. The battle was the culmination of rising tensions in a period sometimes called Tecumseh's War, which continued until his death in 1813. The battle was an important political and symbolic victory for the American forces and a devastating blow to the confederacy which never regained the strength it had before the defeat. Public opinion blamed the uprising on British interference and Tippecanoe was one of the catalysts that resulted in a declaration of war beginning the War of 1812 only a few months later.

Background

In 1800, William Henry Harrison had become the governor of the newly formed Indiana Territory. Harrison sought to secure title to Indian lands in order to allow for American expansion; in particular he hoped that the Indiana Territory would attract enough settlers so as to qualify for statehood. Harrison negotiated numerous land cession treaties with American Indians, culminating with the Treaty of Fort Wayne on September 30, 1809, in which Little Turtle and other tribal leaders sold 3,000,000 acres (approximately 12,000 km²) to the United States.

Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, had been leading a religious movement among the northwestern tribes calling for a return to the ancestral ways. His brother, Tecumseh, was outraged by the Treaty of Fort Wayne, and thereafter he emerged as a prominent leader. Tecumseh revived an idea advocated in previous years by the Shawnee leader Blue Jacket and the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, which stated that American Indian land was owned in common by all tribes, and land could not be sold without agreement by all the tribes. Not yet ready to confront the United States directly, Tecumseh's primary adversaries were initially the American Indian leaders who had signed the treaty. He began by intimidating them and threatening to kill anyone who carried out the terms of the treaty. Tecumseh began to travel widely, urging warriors to abandon the accommodationist chiefs and to join the resistance at Prophetstown. Tecumseh insisted that the Fort Wayne treaty was illegitimate. In a 1810 meeting with Harrison, he demanded that Harrison nullify the treaty and warned that Americans should not attempt to settle the lands sold in the treaty. Harrison rejected his demands and insisted that the tribes could have individual relations with the United States.

In August 1811, Tecumseh again met with Harrison at Vincennes, assuring him that the Shawnee brothers meant to remain at peace with the United States. Tecumseh then traveled to the south on a mission to recruit allies among the "Five Civilized Tribes." Most of the southern nations rejected his appeals, but a faction among the Creeks, who came to be known as the Red Sticks, answered his call to arms, leading to the Creek War, which also became a part of the War of 1812.

Harrison left the territory on business in Kentucky shortly after the meeting with Tecumseh, leaving secretary John Gibson as acting-governor. Gibson, who had lived among the Indians for many years, was quick to learn of Tecumseh's plans for war and immediately called out the territory's militia and sent emergency letters to call for the return of Harrison. By mid-September most of the militia regiments had formed. By then Harrison had returned accompanied by a small force of army regulars and took command of the militia. Harrison had already been in communication with his superiors in Washington D.C., and he had been authorized to march against the natives as a show of force, hoping that they would accept peace.

Harrison gathered the scattered militia regiments near a settlement on Maria Creek. There he was joined by the sixty man company called the Yellow Jackets, so named for their bright yellow coats, from Corydon, Indiana. He was also joined by the companies of the Indiana Rangers. From there the entire force of about one-thousand men set out northward towards Prophetstown. The force consisted of about 250 army regulars from the 4th US Infantry Regiment, 100 Kentucky volunteers, and near 600 Indiana militia including two companies of the Indiana Rangers. The army reached the site of modern Terre Haute, Indiana on October 3 where they camped and built Fort Harrison while they waited for supplies to be delivered. A scouting party of Yellow Jackets was ambushed on October 10 causing several casualties and preventing the men from continuing to forage. Supplies quickly began to run low. By October 19, rations were cut and remained so until October 28 when fresh supplies arrived via the Wabash River from Vincennes. With the army resupplied, Harrison resumed his advance to Prophetstown on October 29.

Battle

As Harrison's forces approached Prophetstown late on November 6, they were met bye one of the Prophet's followers waving a white flag. He carried a message from Tenskwatawa, requesting a cease fire until the next day when the two sides could hold a peaceful meeting. Harrison agreed to a meeting, but was wary of the Prophet's overture believing that the negotiations would be futile. Harrison moved his army to a nearby hill near the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers. There he camped his men in battle array, and kept sentinels on duty during the night. The hill he encamped on was the site of a Catholic mission school built to educate. On the east side of the hill there was a shallow creek and the west side was a very steep embankment. On the far right flank, the Yellow Jacket company was posted with Captain Spier Spencer in command, the rest of the militia formed a rectangular perimeter along the edges of the bluff surrounding the camp. The regulars were kept behind the main line to serve as a reserve.

The Prophet's followers were worried by the nearby army and feared an imminent attack. They had began to fortify the town, but the defenses were not yet completed. During the evening, the Prophet consulted with the spirits and decided that sending a party to murder Harrison in his tent was the best way to avoid a battle. He assured the warriors that we would cast spells that would prevent them from being harmed and confuse the Americans so they would not resist. The warriors then moved out and began to surround Harrison's army looking for a way to sneak into the camp.

Although existing accounts are unclear about exactly how the battle began, Harrison's sentinels encountered advancing warriors in the pre-dawn hours of November 7. Around 4:30am, the soldiers awoke to scattered gunshots, they discovered themselves almost encircled by the Prophet's forces. Fierce fighting broke out as the Indians broke through Harrison’s line on the northern corner and entered the camp. The attack took the army by surprise as the brunt of the first charge came down on the right flank. Captain Spencer was among the first to be killed, being shot in each thigh. Governor Harrison later recorded his death in a dispatch to Washington. Of Spencer he said, "...Spencer was wounded in the head. He exhorted his men to fight valiantly. He was shot through both thighs and fell; still continuing to encourage them, he was raised up, and received a ball through his body, which put an immediate end to his existence." Lieutenants McMahan and Berry were also soon wounded and killed. As the sentinels fled back into camp, the soldiers quickly regrouped and with the help of two reserve companies they repulsed the advance and fixed the breach in the line.

The second charge on the line came on both flanks, with the far right flank being the hardest hit. Over half the casualties were suffered among the companies on the far right wing, including Captain Spencer and five other men in his company, and seven other men in the adjoining company. With the regulars reinforcing that critical section of the line, and their surprise over, the men were able to hold firm as the attacks continued. Throughout the morning Harrison's troops fought off several more charges. When the Indians began to run low on ammunition and the sun rose, revealing how small the Prophet's army was, the Indian forces finally withdrew.

The battle lasted about two hours and Harrison lost 62 men—37 were killed in action and 25 mortally wounded—and about 126 were less seriously wounded. The Yellow Jackets suffered the highest causalities of the battle, 30% of their numbers were killed or wounded. The number of Indian casualties is still the subject of debate, but it was certainly lower than that of the United States forces. Historians estimate that as many as 50 were killed and about 70–80 were wounded.

Fearing Tecumseh's imminent return with reinforcements, Harrison ordered his men to fortify their position. The next day, November 8, he sent a small group of men to inspect the town, which was deserted, as the defeated Indian forces had evacuated the village during the night. Harrison ordered his troops to burn down Prophetstown and destroy the Indians' cooking implements, without which the confederacy could not survive the winter. Harrison's troops buried their dead on the site of their camp. They built large fires over the mass grave in an attempt to conceal it from the Indians. However, after Harrison's troops departed the area, the Indians returned to the grave site, digging up many of the corpses and scattering the bodies. It was then that the Prophet supposedly placed the curse of Tippecanoe on Harrison.

Aftermath

The day after the battle, the wounded were loaded into wagons and carried back to Fort Harrison for care. Most of the militia was released from duty and returned home, but the regulars continued in the area for a brief time longer. In his initial report to the Secretary Eustis, Harrison informed him of a battle having occurred near the Tippecanoe River, giving the battle its name, and that he feared an imminent reprisal attack. The first dispatch did not make clear which side had won the conflict, and the secretary at first interpreted it as a defeat. The follow-up dispatch made the American victory clear and the defeat of the Indians was more certain when no second attack materialized. Eustis replied with a lengthy note demanding to know why Harrison had not taken adequate precautions in fortifying his camp. Harrison responded that he considered the position strong enough to not require fortification. The dispute was the catalyst of a disagreement between Harrison and the Department of War that later caused him to resign from the army in 1814.

At first the newspapers did not carry any information about the battle to the public, instead covering the highlights of the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. One Ohio newspaper even printed a copy of the original dispatch and called the battled an American defeat. By December, most of the major American papers began to carry stories on the battle. Public outrage quickly grew and many Americans blamed the British for inciting the tribes to violence and supplying them with firearms. Acting on popular sentiment, Congress passed resolutions condemning the British for interfering in American domestic affairs. Tippecanoe fueled the worsening tension with Britain, culminating in a declaration of war only a few months later.

Prophetstown was partially rebuilt over the next year, but was again destroyed by a second campaign in 1812. The Battle of Tippecanoe was a serious blow to Tecumseh's dream of a confederacy. When he returned he was angry with his brother who he instructed to keep peace while he was away. The Prophet lost much of his prestige and influence after the defeat when his claims that the warriors could not be harmed proved untrue. Tecumseh continued to play a major role in military operations on the frontier, however, and by 1812 he had regained some of his former strength. Tecumseh's troops made up nearly half of the British army that captured Detroit from America in the War of 1812. It was not until Tecumseh's death at the 1813 Battle of the Thames that his confederation ceased to threaten American interests. When William Henry Harrison ran for President of the United States during the election of 1840, he used the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" to remind people of his heroism during the battle.

See also

• List of battles fought in Indiana

Notes

1. ^ Tunnell, p. 134
2. ^ Langguth, p. 164
3. Langguth, p. 164–165
4. ^ Langguth, p. 165–166
5. ^ Langguth, p. 167
6. ^ Langguth, p. 168
7. Funk, p. 27
8. Funk, p. 28
9. Funk, p. 29
10. ^ Owen, p. 217
11. Dillon, p. 471
12. Funk, p. 30
13. ^ Owen, p. 218
14. Funk, p. 30
15. Sugden, pp. 235–236
16. Edmunds, p. 115
17. ^ Funk, p. 30
18. Funk, p. 31
19. Owens, p. 219–220
20. Owens, p. 220
21. Owens, p. 221
22. Owens, p. 223
23. Langguth, p. 169
24. Lungguth, p. 214
25. Carnes, p. 41

References

• Carnes, Mark C.; Mieczkowski, Yanek (2001). The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Campaigns. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0415921392.
• Dillon, John Brown (1859). "Letters of William Henry Harrison". A History of Indiana. Bingham & Doughty.
• Edmunds, David R (1983). The Shawnee Prophet. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1850-8.
• Funk, Arville (1969, revised 1983). A Sketchbook of Indiana History. Rochester, Indiana: Christian Book Press. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Langguth, A. J. (2006). Union 1812:The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence. New York: Simon & Shuster. ISBN 0743226189. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
• Owens, Robert M. (2007). Mr. Jefferson's Hammer:William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806138428.
• Tunnell, IV, H.D. (1998). To Compel with Armed Force: A Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Tippecanoe. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Holt. 1997. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |auhor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |isbn1= ignored (help)

External links

• "Tippecanoe County Historical Association". Retrieved 2009-02-24.

v t e Indiana Territory in the War of 1812
People	William Henry Harrison Zachary Taylor Tecumseh John Tipton William Wells Indiana Rangers
Places	Eel River Fort Knox Fort Wayne Fort Vallonia Pigeon Roost
Battles/raids	Fort Harrison Fort Wayne Mississinewa Spur's Defeat Tipton's Island
See also: Tecumseh's War and Battle of Tippecanoe

v t e History of Indiana
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• 1811 in the United States
• Battles of the War of 1812
• Indiana in the War of 1812
• Wars involving the indigenous peoples of North America
• Shawnee tribe
• Native Americans in Indiana