The Sign of the Prophet: a Tale of Tecumseh and Tippecanoe

The Shawnee leader Tecumseh, who has been hailed by many as the greatest Indian leader of all time,.came closer than any other before or after him to saving his people from total destruction by the whites on the eastern frontier in the early 19th century. If Sitting Bull is the most famous Indian, Tecumseh is the most revered - the shadowy figure who created a loose confederacy of diverse Indian tribes that extended from the Ohio territory northeast to New York, south into the Florida peninsula, westward to Nebraska, and north into Canada. A warrior as well as a diplomat, the great Shawnee chief was a man of passionate ambitions. Spurred by commitment and served by a formidable battery of personal qualities that made him the principal organizer and the driving force of confederacy, Tecumseh kept the embers of resistence alive against a federal government that talked cooperation but practiced genocide following the Revolutionary War. Tecumseh does not stand for one tribe or nation, but for all Native Americans. Despite his failed attempt at solidarity, he remains the ultimate symbol of endeavor and courage, unity and fraternity. Of Indian chief Tecumseh, U. S. president William Henry Harrison said, "If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would, perhaps, be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory that of Mexico or Peru." James Ball Naylor, noted author, poet, and doctor, is one of the most prolific writers of early Ohio history. Living from 1860 to 1945, Naylor wrote a number of poetry books and historical novels focusing much of his attention upon the main figures involved in the struggles between frontier settlers and Indian tribes in the Ohio territory.