Death of Tecumseh at Battle of Thames, War of 1812
Currier and Ives lithograph depicting Colonel Richard Johnson shooting Tecumseh during a cavalry charge. Tecumseh (1768-1813) was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy (Tecumseh's Confederacy) which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812. Tecumseh has become an icon and heroic figure in American Indian and Canadian history. His name means Shooting Star or Panther Across The Sky. He grew up in the Ohio Country during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, where he was constantly exposed to warfare. A comet appeared in March 1811. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh told the Creeks that the comet signaled his coming. Tecumseh's confederacy and allies took it as an omen of good luck. During the War of 1812, Tecumseh's confederacy allied with the British in The Canadas and helped in the capture of Fort Detroit. Tecumseh was killed in the Battle of the Thames, in October 1813
