Places: Tippecanoe Battle Site

As the saying goes, to the victor belong the spoils.  Victors also write the history and receive the lion's share of the credit and commemoration.  Nowhere is that more true that at the Tippecanoe Battlefield Park near Lafayette, Indiana.

In 1811, Tecumseh had left his brother, Tenskwatawa, in charge at Prophetstown, where Natives from several tribes had gathered in support of his opposition to further White encroachment into Indiana territory.  While Tecumseh traveled to forge alliance with other tribes, he had left Tenskwatawa with orders to evacuate Prophetstown should William Henry Harrison, the military governor of Indiana, advance toward it with his army.  This Harrison did in early November 1811.  For reasons known only to himself, Tenskwatawa defied those orders and convinced the assembled warriors to fight under his command.  The result was disaster.  After a four-hour battle, Tenskwatawa's forces retreated.  That night, as the Shawnee Prophet was stripped of his powers and authority, people began to flee the doomed village.  Harrison's men burned what was left the following day.  Tecumseh's followers would flee to Canada, hoping to find refuge there.

In the years following the battle, the land was claimed by a Settler, John Tipton, who had been present at the site.  He later gave the land to the state of Indiana in 1836, in time to celebrate the twenty-fifth year anniversary of the battle.  It was used a rallying place during Harrison's campaign for the White House in 1840.  The site became so popular that a refreshment stand was operated there and it later became a church youth camp.  It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.  A large white obelisk commemorates the battle.  Before it is a statue of the victor, William Henry Harrison.  Neither Tecumseh nor Tenskwatawa have a statue there.