Chief Tecumseh once uttered these words: “When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.” Tecumseh died nearly two hundred years ago, yet his story lives on to inspire and intrigue many. You may wonder: Why was this Indian chief so important to our country’s history? Let’s first explore Tecumseh’s early life which in turn impacted his adulthood and made him one of the greatest Indian chiefs of all time. Tecumseh, one of seven children, was born on March 9, 1768 just outside of present-day Xenia, Ohio. His father, Pucksinwah, was a Shawnee war chief who was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Tecumseh was born into the Shawnee Indian tribe, which was located originally in Southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania, but is now scattered in South Carolina, Tennessee’s Cumberland Basin, Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern Illinois. When Tecumseh was but a mere child, the Shawnee Indian tribe was displaced by encroaching white settlers and many, including Tecumseh’s mother, relocated first in Indiana, then Illinois, and finally in Missouri. Although Tecumseh was only eleven years of age, he dearly loved the land of his birth and remained to be raised as a warrior by his eldest brother, Cheeksuakalo and sister, Tecumpease. Tecumseh’s first military encounter occurred against an army led by George Rogers Clark into the Ohio Country in 1782. During the battle, Tecumseh became flooded with panic and fled from the battlefield. After this humiliating event, he became determined to never run from a fight again. Quickly afterwards, he grew into a noble warrior and became a Shawnee leader. Some of his battles include the battle against the army of St. Clair in 1791. This time, the Indians in the northwest emerged from the battlefield…
