Original subtitles

in the year eighteen twelve a young united states of america declared war on

the british empire and launched a full-scale invasion of canada no one

expected the poorly defended british colony to hold out against a much larger

american foe and yet it did canada's salvation came arguably in the form of

one man tecumseh he was fighting for his people the indigenous tribes of north

america his alliance with the british was out of convenience alone and his

true goal was simple to create a united native nation across the american

frontier and retake the land that had been lost welcome to our four-part

series on the life of tecumseh to tell tecumseh's story from the very beginning

we must explain the world he was born into

Native tribes had inhabited North America for over 12,000 years, but

diseases brought upon them by Europeans had apocalyptic effects on their

society. By the time the first English pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in

1620, a smallpox epidemic had killed 90% of the local population.

By the 18th century, the eastern seaboard was dominated by Britain's 13

colonies. with tribes like the Pequot, Powhatan and Massachusetts all but wiped

out and pushed out of their homes.

Now, peoples like the Odawas, Shawnees, Lenape and the powerful Iroquois

Confederacy were on the border of this expansion.

Further inland, the French Empire claimed a vast swath of territory from

Labrador to Louisiana.

It was a sparsely populated land where native tribes exercised full autonomy,

and were more or less equal partners in the incredibly lucrative fur trade.

The French tended not to impose on native territory, and their presence

provided a buffer against British expansion.

This all changed in 1756, when the Seven Years' War in Europe bled into the

Americas. England and France found themselves in a war for dominance over

the New World, and the natives were forced to pick sides.

the six nations of the iroquois declared for england but nearly all the other

local tribes fought alongside the french the french were ultimately defeated and

their territory annexed the british now ventured inland occupying formerly

french forts along the great lakes and ohio it was well known that unlike the

french the british did not come to trade furs but to flatten and tame the land

and displace the natives who hunted and gathered there as settlers began to

trickle westwards and british soldiers treated the locals with contempt

whispers of war began to spread amongst the tribes of the old northwest in

seventeen sixty three the odawa chieftain pontiac created an alliance of

fourteen tribes and proceeded to wage a bloody and vengeful war upon the british

his native confederacy raised hell capturing eight forts along the great

lakes killing over two thousand settlers and four hundred soldiers

Pontiac's fierce resistance forced the British to pull back, and reaffirm an

earlier treaty in which the 13 colonies promised not to settle land west of the

Allegheny Mountains.

Peace was made in 1766, and the tide of expansion had been stemmed for now, but

war would soon come to native peoples once more.

Two years later, the man fated to lead them into battle entered the world.

In March of 1768, Tecumseh was born to the Shawnee people in a village along

the Ohio River.

It is said that upon giving birth, his mother looked to the heavens and saw a

comet blazing across the night sky.

This is where the child got his name, Tecumseh, the Shooting Star.

The Shawnee had long been a wandering people, beset by conflicts with other

tribes. in centuries past the iroquois had pushed them eastward from their old

territory they had settled in many places before coming to their present

spot along the ohio river but turmoil and warfare would carry over into

tecumseh's childhood in the same year he was born the iroquois sold land in

kentucky and west virginia to the british these were plains the shawnee

depended on for hunting But when they voiced their protests, they were ignored

both by the British and the Iroquois.

So, when continental settlers began pouring westward into their newly

purchased territory, Shawnee warriors prepared to defend their lands.

In 1774, a six-year-old Tecumseh watched his father, Pukishinwau, and his eldest

brother, Chisikau, partake in a ritual war dance before heading away to battle.

They met their foe at Point Pleasant.

a force of virginia militiamen who the natives called the big knives on account

of the sabres worn by the colonial officers outnumbered and outgunned the

native warriors were driven back as a result the shawnee were forced to

relinquish their hunting grounds allowing the settlers to move westward

with impunity tickums father was mortally wounded in the battle with his

dying breath he beseeched his first-born son to preserve the dignity of his

family line and one day lead his younger brothers into battle the news of

pukushinwa's death devastated tecumseh's mother who was pregnant with the last of

his children it was no less hard upon the boy himself fatherless at six years

old his family was uprooted and forced to move west that winter his mother gave

birth to triplets of the two that survived one was named lalawethika

initially a useless layabout the sickly boy would later have a profound impact

on tecumseh's life a year later the thirteen colonies declared their

independence from the british empire plunging the region into war and

imposing a new threat upon native peoples as the revolutionary war raged

between patriot and loyalist many native bands now joined the fray on the side of

the british frown among them were the shawnee who sought to reclaim the lands

lost to the now rebellious frontiersmen this invoked the ire of the americans

who responded wrathfully sending soldiers into shawnee lands before long

a large band of kentucky militia were advancing upon tecumseh's village

still too young to fight tecumseh had fled alongside the women and children to

nearby bluffs while the warriors of the village tried to hold off the militia to

no avail it was not the first time tecumseh was forced to move but this

time he was there to see his village burn witnessing with his own eyes the

destruction caused by the big knives never again would tecumseh sit idly by

while his people's land was ravaged In the years that followed, Tecumseh began

training to become the warrior his father had wanted him to be.

His eldest brother Chisikao took full responsibility for his younger brother's

growth, obeying his dying father's last wish.

Tecumseh was taught how to hunt, how to fight, and how to live as a Shawnee

warrior should.

When he entered adolescence, Chisikao blackened Tecumseh's face and sent him

alone into the woods to find his guardian spirit.

tecumseh fasted and meditated and his spirit came to him in a vision he never

revealed to anyone what form his ethereal guardian took tecumseh soon

matured into a strong intelligent young man allegedly he once slew sixteen bison

with only a bow and a single quiver of arrows he also drew no small amount of

attention from the opposite sex the women of the shawnee were very fond of

tecumseh but he did not indulge in their attention often brushing off their

advances tecumseh's first taste of battle came in seventeen eighty six the

young warrior confronted a host of big knives alongside chisicao and a host of

shawnee warriors at mad river ohio when the americans fired a musket volley

across the river tecumseh's nerve broke and he panicked and ran he had failed

his first test as a warrior he was disgusted with himself and vowed to

never show cowardice again the following years saw tecumseh come into his own as

a capable warrior albeit still in the shadow of his eldest brother continued

conflict with the united states seemed inevitable the young nation was

burgeoning and hungry for expansion many tribes were resolved to do whatever was

necessary to stop colonial encroachment on to their land

In 1785, this tension evolved into a prolonged frontier conflict known to the

Americans as the Northwest Indian War.

Rarely able to take on the US Army head-on, many native warbands resorted

to hit-and-run tactics.

By 1788, Tecumseh and Chisicao were involved in more than their fair share

of skirmishes.

Initially camped on the Ohio River, the two brothers and their band of warriors

habitually raided the flatboat that traversed the busy thoroughfare these

boats carried food provisions and settlers and their waylaying discouraged

many from entering native land during this turbulent period of his life

tecumseh began to see the world in a new way he was fighting alongside not just

the shawnee but also cherokees mingos and delawares he began to see himself as

a native first and a shawnee second and realized that his people would never be

free of the yoke of colonialism unless they banded together as one he began to

detest the idea that any one tribe could sell land to the whites whatever the

consequences it brought upon other tribes tecumseh came to the revelation

that land belonged to no one band but to all native peoples thus he began to

dream of a united and independent nation held together by a shared indigenous

identity in seventeen ninety one an alliance of tribes formed to push the

americans back east of the ohio river led by the little turtle of the miami

and blue jacket of the shawnee they fell upon a force of one thousand u s

soldiers camped at the wabash river and massacred

it is to this day the single greatest victory won alone by native peoples

against the americans tecumseh was not at the battle at the wabash but

certainly took part in the increased back and forth raiding that followed in

its wake in september of seventeen ninety two tecumseh and chisicao joined

a war party of cherokees and creeks and launched an assault upon buchanan

station in tennessee from inside a stockaded blockhouse twenty frontiersmen

were able to hold off three hundred native warriors in this fateful battle

chisicao was slain shot dead by an american soldier through a porthole

while tecumseh managed to retreat with his life the loss of his older brother

fell hard upon the young shawnee but chisicao had accomplished what his dying

father had beseeched he do all those years ago among many native groups

leadership was not determined through formal appointment but by earning the

respect of one's peers in the years that followed chisicao's death tecumseh had

become a fighter of great renown and began to accumulate a small war band

loyal to him by seventeen ninety four the northwest indian war was nearing its

climax

tecumseh and his warriors joined forces with the confederacy led by little

turtle and blue jacket forming a combined army of thirteen hundred men

fighting alongside them was a british led contingent of canadian militias who

had a vested interest in undermining american influence in the region

together they faced an army of two thousand american soldiers on the bank

of the maumee river in what would later be known as the battle of fallen timbers

the natives were overwhelmed by american gunfire and attempted to retreat behind

the walls of the british held fort miami the british would not let them in not

willing to risk all-out war with the u s facing a massacre the natives were

forced to scatter the betrayal tecumseh suffered at the hands of the british was

one he would not forget

the engagement at the fallen timbers ended the ten-year frontier war and the

united states finally managed to impose their sovereignty over the old northwest

native leaders were compelled to sign the treaty of greenville a document that

forced them to recognize large chunks of ohio and the great lakes as american

soil tecumseh was disgusted by this capitulation and stubbornly refused to

sign the treaty

instead he retreated with his followers to buck creek where he founded a village

for the next ten years tecumseh bided his time waiting for the opportunity in

which he could make his dream a reality a dream of a united self-sufficient

native nation that opportunity would arrive in eighteen o five when

tecumseh's laggard of a younger brother received a vision from the great spirit

The idler, known as Lallawethika, would transform into Tenskwetaway, the great

prophet, and lead a religious revival that would bring together tribes from

all corners of the American frontier.

But that is a story for the next chapter.

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