About this ebook
On October 5, 1813, Tecumseh fell along the Thames River, and with him died the last real chance for Native sovereignty east of the Mississippi. But the story of how he built a confederacy spanning from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico—and how it was destroyed—remains one of the most compelling chapters in American history.
Born during a meteor shower in 1768, Tecumseh watched his father die in battle, his homeland invaded, and treaty after fraudulent treaty strip his people of their land. While other chiefs signed away their birthright for whiskey and empty promises, he understood what most could not see: divided, the tribes would fall one by one. United, they might actually win.
Between 1805 and 1811, he and his brother Tenskwatawa built something unprecedented—a multi-tribal alliance bound by shared belief and common cause. Then William Henry Harrison attacked at Tippecanoe, and everything unraveled.
This is the full account of Tecumseh's vision: from the Shawnee world through the American Revolution, the building of Prophetstown, the catastrophe at Tippecanoe, and the final stand during the War of 1812. It reveals how close he came to succeeding—and why his failure shaped the nation we know today.
One side had unlimited numbers and industrial might. The other had Tecumseh. For a brief, shining moment, that was almost enough.
