The child who would later become a man called the Shawnee Prophet by many outside of this tribe was born as one of a set of triplets in Ohio in 1775. His parents were Methoataske (Turtle Laying its Eggs), a Creek woman, and Puckeshinewa, a Shawnee war chief. His father was killed before he was born.
He was given the name Lalawethika, which means "The Rattle" or "The Noisy One." As a child he was fat, clumsy, and timid. In addition to the triplets, one of which died shortly after birth, there were three older daughters and three older sons in the family. Methoataske abandoned her children about 1779. She may have returned to the Creek villages in the south or gone with other Shawnee when they left Ohio.
Tecumpease, the oldest sister who was already married, took the young Shawnee children into her home. Tecumpease and her husband Wasabogoa favored Tecumseh (seven years older than Lalawethika) over either of the younger brothers. She generally ignored Lalawethika.
The eldest brother, Chiksika, was 15 years older than Lalawethika and had been present at the Battle of Point Pleasant where his father was killed. He also favored Tecumseh. In 1787, Chiksika organized a war party to raid the American settlements in Tennessee. He asked his younger brother Tecumseh to join the war party. The following year, Chiksika was killed during an attack on an American settlement.
During childhood Lalawethika’s right eye was pierced with an arrow, leaving him blind in one eye and one side of his face permanently twisted. Lalawethika married and had several children. He was not a good deer hunter and often returned from the hunt empty handed. Frustrated, he turned more and more to whiskey which angered his wife.
Lalawethika became friends with Penagashea, a highly respected prophet and medicine man. Even though Lalawethika had not had a vision, the elderly Penagashea shared some of his medical knowledge with the younger man.
In 1805 Lalawethika temporarily died, saw the afterlife, and received a message from the Creator which told the people that strength comes from their traditions. He was told that Indians had been fashioned by the Creator, but that the Americans were the children of a great evil. Aided by witches, the Americans spread chaos and disorder.
Following his vision, he stopped drinking and changed his name to Tenskwatawa (The Open Door). He urged the Shawnee and other Indians to have little contact with the Americans. He urged them to give up European-style clothes, manufactured goods, and alcohol. If Indians returned to their traditions, then their dead relatives would return and the woods would be once more filled with game. He preached that all property must be held in common and that Indian women must not marry non-Indians. His sudden transformation gathered many followers.
The Prophet and his brother Tecumseh moved their village to Greenville, Ohio, land which had been relinquished to the United States by treaty. President Jefferson called for the Indians to be removed and Tecumseh replied:
"These lands are ours. No one has a right to remove us, because we were the first owners. The Great Spirit above has appointed this place for us, on which to light our fires, and here we will remain. As to boundaries, the Great Spirit above knows no boundaries nor will his red children acknowledge any."
In 1806 Tenskwatawa was preaching that the Americans were the children of an evil spirit and that those Indians who followed American ways were witches. During his visits to Delaware and Wyandot villages several Christian converts were burned as witches. Consequently, many Delaware and Wyandot turned against the Prophet and his followers.
William Henry Harrison, the governor of Indiana Territory (which includes what is now Ohio) feared that the Indians were becoming "orgiastically excited" by Tenskwatawa and called for the Delaware to drive him from their towns. In response to Harrison and his concern about the burning of the witches, the Delaware replied:
"You white people also try your criminals, and when they are found guilty, you hang them or kill them, and we do the same among ourselves."
For those who doubted that Tenskwatawa was a prophet, he announced that on a certain day he would cause the sun to go dark. On the appointed day in June 1806 there was a solar eclipse and he was therefore proclaimed a true prophet.
The Prophet and his brother Tecumseh built a center for traditional people on the Tippecanoe River in 1808. The village was called Prophetstown.
The village was laid out differently from other Indian villages. Individual cabins were built along the river. There were three public buildings: a council hall, a hall where the Prophet preached, and a hostel. The hostel was known as the House of Strangers and provided accommodations for visiting pilgrims.
Messengers from The Prophet, their faces painted black, brought word of the new religion to the Great Lakes Chippewa. The messengers asked the Chippewa to live the simple and self-sufficient lives they all once enjoyed and to renounce corrupt European merchandise, especially liquor. They commanded that no skins or furs be bartered, no intertribal battles be fought. They also opposed some traditional religious practices, including the use of medicine bags.
In 1811 the Americans attacked the Shawnee at Tippecanoe while Tecumseh was away. Tenskwatawa told the Shawnee that victory was guaranteed by the Great Spirit. The fighting at Tippecanoe was fierce but essentially involved two armed mobs having at each other among the trees in the half light of morning. The Indians soon ran low on ammunition and were forced to retreat.
Tenskwatawa blamed the failure of his vision on his menstruating wife, a condition which he felt interfered with his power to receive messages from the Great Spirit. Following the defeat, Tenskwatawa was seen as a false prophet and a coward. Following the defeat at Tippecanoe, he went to Canada, In 1813 Tenskwatawa and his followers established a village on the Huron River in Ontario. His brother, Tecumseh, was killed at the Battle of Thames in that same year. Following the Battle of Thames, Tenskwatawa and his followers joined more than a thousand Indian refugees at Dundas.
In 1814, Tenskwatawa announced to the British Indian agent that the Shawnee had selected him as their war chief. In addition, he proclaimed himself as the principal chief of all of the western Indian nations. The Indian agent, assuming that Tenskwatawa had united the tribes, accepted his claim and presented him with a sword and a brace of pistols. By 1815, Tenskwatawa had become what he had once condemned: a village chief whose influence over his people was based on his ability to procure supplies and services from a foreign government.
In 1816, Tenskwatawa complained to the British that their rations were so small that one man might eat a family’s daily allowance in a single afternoon. He reminded the British that his people had faithfully served the Crown. He said:
"A great many promises were made to my Brother and to our chiefs. We have suffered greatly, Father; we now expect that the promises will be fulfilled."
While the British listened to his pleas, they did not make any changes. Over the next several years, Tenskwatawa continued to complain regularly and loudly about the mistreatment of Indians loyal to the Crown.
In 1825, Tenskwataw returned to the United States at the request of the governor of Michigan Territory. The government envisioned settling the Shawnee on new lands in the west, away from the corrupt influence of American settlers, and this had some appeal to Tenskwatawa. In Michigan he used his limited influence to promote Indian removal. In 1826 he joined a party of Shawnee who were traveling to Kansas. He settled in what is now Kansas City. In Kansas, he attempted to regain a leadership position, but few Shawnee paid any attention to him. Embittered, Tenskwatawa withdrew and established a new ‘Prophetstown’ where he lived with his family, an outcast among his people.
Tenskwatawa died near Kansas City in 1836 at the age of 61. During the last decade of his life, he had become something of a tourist attraction: tourists often stopped to interview and/or sketch the once-famous Shawnee Prophet. Today his remains lie buried somewhere under modern Kansas City, Kansas.
Cross Posted at Native American Netroots
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