Tenskwatawa (1775-1836) was born into a family of warriors. His father, Pukeshinwa, was a noted warrior and chief of the Kispoko band of the Shawnee. Pukeshinwa's oldest son, Cheeseekau, would later succeed his father as chief, as would the next eldest sibling, Tecumseh. All three would die fighting for their homeland, as would yet another of Pukeshinwa's sons, who were all noted warriors. Their sister, Tecumpease, was married to a warrior in his own right, Wasgoboah. Then there was the baby of the family, Lalekawitha, the Noise Maker. He was the only survivor of a set of triplets born to his mother Methoataske and Pukeshinwa after Pukeshinwa was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Grief-stricken, Methoataske decided to return to her people for a long visit, leaving her younger children in the care of Tecumpease and Cheeseekau. There was no reason that Lalekawitha wouldn't grow up to be a warrior like the other men in his family. However, at a young age, he damaged his eye while practicing with a bow. The injury was visible and disfiguring. Added to that the fact that he just didn't seem to cut it at warrior training and Lalekawitha grew up to be an insecure young man whose mouth got him in a lot of trouble. He later turned to alcohol and became known as a drunken bully and braggart, not to be regarded in anything.
It was Tecumseh who tried to help Lalekawitha as much as he could, even taking him along to the Battle of Fallen Timbers to see if he couldn't finally become the warrior he wanted to be. Tecumseh also took Lalekawitha with him to Indiana to start a Shawnee village there, but Lalekawitha's efforts at redemption came to nothing. He slipped further into drinking and eventually became ill and fell into a fire during a drinking binge, becoming seriously injured. While unconscious, he began to see visions. According to the visions, the Americans were the spawn of the Great Serpent and their luxury goods had spread corruption to the Native people. Lalekawitha proclaimed that he had been given a new name, Tenskwatawa, or the Open Door, and commanded to preach his visions among the people. He demanded that they give up European items and return to their original way of life. He also believed that some Shawnee had fallen into the error of witchcraft and began calling for witch hunts to determine who they were.
Tenskwatawa had his skeptics at first but that changed in 1806 when he predicted a solar eclipse and embarrassed Indiana's military governor, William Henry Harrison, in the process. Tenskwatawa's teachings caught on and spread to other tribes, leading to the founding of Tippecanoe, or Prophet's Town in 1808. With Tecumseh as his war leader, the two were an unbeatable combination and people from other tribes flocked to join them. Naturally, this large gathering of Natives and rumors of a pan-Indian Confederacy and uprising didn't sit well with Harrison, who began making plans for military action.
Matters came to a head in 1811, Tecumseh journeyed South to convince the Creek and other Southeastern tribes to join his Confederacy. He'd left Tenskwatawa in charge at Prophet's Town with strict orders that if the Whites tried to attack the town, it would be evacuated. On November 7, 1811, Harrison advanced on he town. Although the town was surrounded, Tenskwatawa chose to attack. The Natives were defeated and several killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe. Surviving Natives from other tribes abandoned the town in droves while the humiliated Shawnee stripped Tenskwatawa of his status as a prophet, burned the village and fled. Tecumseh returned and, furious, banished Tenskwatawa rather than killing him. Nevertheless, Tenskwatawa trailed along as his people sought refuge in Canada. He may have found asylum with John Norton's band of Mohawk but was not present at Tecumseh's death at the Battle of the Thames in 1813.
Beginning in 1825, he again tried to reassert leadership among his people, eventually leading a small group to a settlement in what is now Argentine, Kansas. He died in 1836.
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