Great Leader: Tarhe of the Wyandot

Tarhe (1742-1818) was one of several Native leaders who tried to maintain peace with Settlers, only to see little but hardship and betrayal for all his hard work.

Tarhe was born in the Ohio Valley, but little is known of his early life or how he came to be a leader among the Wyandot.  Settlers nicknamed him "The Crane" because he was tall and slender, described as handsome in appearance.  He does not appear in the record for the Seven Years War (1756-1763) but became active after that time, opposing encroachment on Indian Land.  He, like Cornstalk of the Shawnee, first fought against the Settlers in Lord Dunmore's War, though he later adopted a position of neutrality, keeping his people out of the American Revolution and the early part of the Northwest Indian War.  He was among the members of the Native command team at Fallen Timbers (1794), though he later signed the Treaty of Greenville (1795) and reverted once more to a position of neutrality and co-existence with settlers.

He was not in favor of Tecumseh's Confederacy and again worked to keep his people out of the conflict, although other Wyandot leaders, including some of his own relatives, joined Tecumseh.  Tarhe was present at the Battle of the Thames, among the Native auxiliaries assisting Harrison.  He later died near the present-day town of Upper Sandusky, Ohio.