Rather than accept defeat, the Shawnee War Chief Tecumseh resolved to form a cohesive Indian nation-state to combat the American encroachment.
The Treaty of Greenville ended hostilities between the United States and the Indian confederacy of Little Turtle. It could not, however, quell the rising sense of indignation that had permeated throughout native societies as they watched their land absorbed by strangers. While Little Turtle realized that continued fighting would be futile and even counseled peace between settlers and indigenous peoples, he could not mollify all of his former adherents. The Shawnee orator Tecumseh, for instance, refused to sign the treaty and vowed to continue what Little Turtle had started in the name of Indian sovereignty. Tecumseh believed that there could be no peace until all western tribes organized into a coherent nation; a buffer zone to stall the Americans from further encroachment. He envisioned a new state, centralized Ohio and stretching from the Great Lakes region of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico�a union of tribes that would stand together.
Tecumseh (whose name translates to �Shooting Star�) was born in the Shawnee village of Piqua, located along Ohio�s Mad River, in 1768. Throughout his early life, Tecumseh witnessed Shawnee territory gradually absorbed by white settlers and saw his family directly affected by interaction with whites. His father was killed in Lord Dunmore�s War in 1774 and his mother relocated to Missouri to avoid the influx of white settlers. Tecumseh remained in Ohio and was raised by his elder brother, Chiksika, who trained him to be a warrior. In 1782, Tecumseh experienced his first taste of combat against the American army under George Rogers Clark. The fight did not go well for the young warrior, and in the confusion Tecumseh fled. Determined to correct his momentary lack of composure, he dedicated himself to becoming the greatest of the Shawnee warriors and soon rose to prominence as a War Chief of his nation.
As part of Little Turtle�s Indian confederacy, the Shawnee successfully repelled the Americans during the first Ohio Indian War (1790-1795). Gaining a reputation as a level headed leader, Tecumseh soon earned the respect of the warriors under his command. By the end of the war, he had become the top military leader of the Shawnee nation. When the tide turned and Little Turtle was forced to surrender, Tecumseh was one of the few chiefs to refuse to sign the Treaty of Greenville, ceding Indian lands to the Americans. Feeling betrayed by the 1,000 other leaders who had acquiesced, Tecumseh conceived a plan to prevent the further erosion of Indian territory. Little Turtle had the right idea, Tecumseh felt, but he did not carry his vision far enough. Rather than a loose military alliance, Tecumseh wanted to create an entire Indian country.
From the end of fighting in 1795, Tecumseh traveled to the villages and towns that had made up the former alliance in an effort to convince the now scattered tribes to join his union. The Ohio River would serve as the eastern border of this new state, with tribes stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. All tribal forces would once again combine into a national army, divided into defensive sectors but ready to concentrate on a threat if so required. In addition, this new nation would forsake alcohol and practice indigenous religions over Christianity. This new state was also to abandon the use of guns and European agricultural practices, all vices that had been introduced by the whites. The reliance on traditional Indian social, religious, and agricultural practices was the influence of Tecumseh�s younger brother, a Shawnee spiritual leader named Tenskwatawa. Together, the two would build a new union for the scattered tribes of the west and attempt to regain what had been lost.
http://nativeamericanfirstnationshistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/tecumseh_union
