Tecumseh (c. 1768 – October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and promoting intertribal unity. Even though his efforts to unite Native Americans ended with his death in the War of 1812, he became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian popular history.

Tecumseh was born in what is now Ohio at a time when the far-flung Shawnees were reuniting in their Ohio Country homeland. During his childhood, the Shawnees lost territory to the expanding American colonies in a series of border conflicts. Tecumseh's father was killed in battle against American colonists in 1774. Tecumseh was thereafter mentored by his older brother Cheeseekau, a noted war chief who died fighting Americans in 1792. As a young war leader, Tecumseh joined Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket's armed struggle against further American encroachment, which ended in defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and with the loss of most of Ohio in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

In 1805, Tecumseh's younger brother Tenskwatawa, who came to be known as the Shawnee Prophet, founded a religious movement that called upon Native Americans to reject European influences and return to a more traditional lifestyle. In 1808, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa established Prophetstown, a village in present-day Indiana, that grew into a large, multi-tribal community. Tecumseh traveled constantly, spreading the Prophet's message and eclipsing his brother in prominence. Tecumseh proclaimed that Native Americans owned their lands in common and urged tribes not to cede more territory unless all agreed. His message alarmed American leaders as well as Native leaders who sought accommodation with the United States. In 1811, when Tecumseh was in the South recruiting allies, Americans under William Henry Harrison defeated Tenskwatawa at the Battle of Tippecanoe and destroyed Prophetstown.

In the War of 1812, Tecumseh joined his cause with the British, recruited warriors, and helped capture Detroit in August 1812. The following year he led an unsuccessful campaign against the United States in Ohio and Indiana. When U.S. naval forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, Tecumseh reluctantly retreated with the British into Upper Canada, where American forces engaged them at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, in which Tecumseh was killed. His death caused his confederacy to collapse. The lands he had fought to defend were eventually ceded to the U.S. government. His legacy as one of the most celebrated Native Americans in history grew in the years after his death, although details of his life have often been obscured by mythology.

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  • peppersky [he/him, any]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Started reading grapes of wrath a few days ago after finishing blood meridian. I watched the John Ford film adaptation a few weeks ago as well and while that's pretty good on its own, even just a hundred pages in it's obvious how much richer the book is (kinda obvious when you need to adopt a 600 page novel into a film that's barely over two hours). There's just a materiality to the novel that the film can't match, you really feel all the things and connections and stories these people left behind when they made the trek to California. Also really enjoy the more "expressionistic" chapters that alternate with the main story, where the Road family buys their jalopy and sells their - now basically worthless - farming tools. The one part that the Ford version really nails though is the first time the tractors come upon the joad's property, these machines really seem like beasts from hell. The book does an overall better job at showing just how unabashedly cruel capitalism gets though, pretty sure the part where the tractor driver admits they get a bonus for damaging the farmer's houses isn't in the film.

    Also why isn't there a book comm? I'd love to read what everyone is reading and their thoughts on a week-to-week basis.

      • peppersky [he/him, any]
        ·
        3 months ago

        Somehow I overlooked that when I looked through the comms list, thank you 👍

    • Dingus_Khan [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      If you enjoy it and want more Steinbeck in a similar vein: In Dubious Battle. It's about people trying to unionize apple pickers in California during the depression. I cannot recommend it highly enough, I always try to mention it whenever anyone brings up The Grapes of Wrath because they go so great together