History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

TECUMSEI.
If one should inquire who has been the greatest Indian, the most
noted, the " principal Indian " in North America since its discovery by Columbus, we would be obliged to answer, Tecumseh. For
all those qualities which elevate a man far above his race; for talent,
tact, skill and bravery as a warrior; for high-minded, honorable and
chivalrous bearing as a man; in a word, for all those elements of
greatness which place him a long way above his fellows in savage
life, the name and fame of Tecnmseh will go down to posterity in
the West as one of the most celebrated of the aborigines of this
continent,-as one who had no equal among the tribes that dwelt
in the country drained by the Mississippi. Born to command himself, he used all the appliances that would stimulate the courage
and nerve the valor of his followers. Always in the front rank of
battle, his followers blindly followed his lead, and as his war-cry
rang clear above the din and noise of the battle-field, the Shawnee
warriors, as they rushed on to victory or the grave, rallied around
him, foemen worthy of the steel of the most gallant commander
that ever entered the lists in defense of his altar or his home.
The tribe to which Tecumseh, or Tecumtha, as some write it, belonged, was the Shawnee, or Shawanee. The tradition of the nation
held that they originally came from the Gulf of Mexico; that they
*wended their way up the Mississippi and the Ohio, and settled at
or near the present site of Shawneetown, Ill., whence they removed
to the upper Wabash. In the latter place, at any rate, they were
found early in the 18th century, and were known as the " bravest
of the brave." This tribe has uniformly been the bitter enemy of
the white man, and in every contest with our people has exhibited
a degree of skill and strategy-that should characterize the most
dangerous foe.
Tecumseh's notoriety and that of his brother, the Prophet, mutually served to establish and strengthen each other. While the
Prophet had unlimited power, spiritual and temporal, he distributed
his greatness in all the departments of Indian life with a kind of
fanaticism that magnetically aroused the religious and superstitious
passions, not only of his own followers, but also of all the tribes in
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