Prophet gathers strength

            “The celebrated Shawnese Prophet has just left me after a visit of more than two weeks.  He is rather possessed of considerable talents and the art and address with which he manages the Indians is really astonishing.  I was not able to ascertain whether he is, as I at first supposed, a tool of the British or not.  His denial of being under any such influence was strong and apparently candid.  He says that his sole purpose is to reclaim the Indians from the bad habits they have contracted and to cause them to live in Peace and friendship with all mankind and declares that he is particularly instructed to that effect by the great spirit.  He frequently harangued his followers in my presence and the evils attendant upon war and the use of ardent spirit was his constant theme.  I cannot say how successful he may be in persuading them to lay aside their passion for war but the experiment made to determine whether their refusal to drink whiskey proceeded from principle or was only empty profession, established the former beyond all doubt.
            “Upon the whole Sir I am inclined to think that the influence which the Prophet has acquired will prove rather advantageous than otherwise to the United State.”  From a letter by Governor William Henry Harrison at Vincennes on September 11, 1808, to the Secretary of War.
            In the last article, the rise of the Shawnee religious leader known as the Prophet, beginning in 1805, was recounted.  Urging an end to intertribal fighting and a return to the old lifestyle, the Prophet emphasized traditional Shawnee religious beliefs while introducing new rituals.  The great attraction of the Prophet’s message to many Indians in the Trans-Appalachian region could be partially attributed to the quandary in which they found themselves as a result of the onrushing advance of American settlers.
            Twice before there had been major attempts to unite the various Indian tribes north of the Ohio River against the encroachments of the white man.  The first effort had been led by Pontiac in 1763.  The second effort was under the guidance of Little Turtle during the period 1790 to 1794.  Both of these earlier attempts had failed, due primarily to the Indians’ inability to sustain a united effort over an extended period.
            In 1808, having spread his influence in varying degrees among the tribes north of the Ohio River, the Prophet moved from Greenville in western Ohio to Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe River in Indiana Territory, near present-day Lafayette.
            Although the Americans had suspected that the Prophet was a tool of the British, in reality the latter also were mystified by this new movement.  Invited by the English to Amherstburg, Canada, located across the river from the American post at Detroit, the Prophet instead sent his older brother, Tecumseh.  Although Tecumseh had been assisting the Prophet behind the scenes, this trip marked the beginning of a meteoric rise to prominence that would soon cause him to overshadow his brother as the dominant leader of a new Indian coalition.
            Arriving at Amherstburg, in June 1808, Tecumseh met with British officials.  The English were greatly impressed by his manner and intelligence.  As a result, they viewed this new Indian movement as having great potential value at a time of deteriorating relations with the United States.
            In the meantime, the Prophet was engaged in establishing the village of Prophetstown.  However, with Indians from many tribes arriving, he was faced with the same food supply problems encountered earlier at Greenville.
            Deciding on a bold move, in June the Prophet sent a delegation to see Governor William Henry Harrison at Vincennes.  Temporarily convincing the governor of their peaceful intentions, the Prophet’s messengers obtained a supply of corn to take back to the village.
            Pleased with this success, the Prophet journeyed to Vincennes in August with hundreds of followers.  Holding meetings with the governor during a two-week period, he was able to conceal the anti-United States aspects of his movement.  As a result, Harrison temporarily was lulled into complacency, as indicated in the letter quoted above.
            Despite more supplies obtained from the governor the winter of 1808-1809 was a time of near starvation for those of the prophet’s followers that remained at the village on the Tippecanoe River.
            In the spring of 1809, Tecumseh traveled into present-day Illinois and Wisconsin to reiterate the message of Indian solidarity and also to stress the importance of military resistance to further American encroachments on their lands.
            While Tecumseh was active to the west in 1809, the Prophet again traveled to Vincennes.  His meeting with the governor was less cordial than in the previous year, as Harrison was receiving reports that the Shawnee leader’s ultimate intentions were unfriendly to the Americans.
            Determined to push ahead with his acquisition of Indian land north and west of Vincennes despite Indian unrest, Harrison summoned representatives from the Miami, Delaware and Potawatomi tribes to meet him at Fort Wayne.  Although the governor encountered greater opposition than in earlier treaty negotiations, he finally was able to gain nearly 3 million acres which was located in a tract north of Vincennes and another one near the Ohio border.  Later in the year, Harrison negotiated supplementary treaties for some of this same acreage with the Weas and Kickapoos.  For their land, the Indians received trade goods and the promise of annual payments.
            Tecumseh and the Prophet had been conspicuously absent from the negotiations at Fort Wayne.  Enraged by the treaty, Tecumseh vowed that it would be cancelled and threatened to kill the chiefs that had signed it.
            The ill feelings engendered by the continued land acquisitions of the United States, combined with the growing influence of Tecumseh and the Prophet, resulted in the gathering at Prophetstown of hundreds of warriors from several tribes in the spring of 1810.