Tecumseh was an inspired and brilliant leader and military expert. He organized and led Indian militias in their continued successes, hoping to create and independent Indian nation in what was then referred to as the Northwest Territories (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin). After the British lost the battle of Lake Erie, their alliance with Tecumseh weakened, and they proceeded to make military blunder after military blunder, eventually losing the Battle of the Thames and sacrificing their Indian allies both on the battlefield and in the postwar negotiations. From Wikipaedia,
Tecumseh grew up in the Ohio Country during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, where he was constantly exposed to warfare.[2] With Americans continuing to encroach on Indian territory after the British ceded the Ohio Valley to the new United States in 1783, the Shawnee moved farther northwest. In 1808, they settled Prophetstown in present-day Indiana. With a vision of establishing an independent Native American nation east of the Mississippi under British protection, Tecumseh worked to recruit additional tribes to the confederacy from the southern United States.[2]
During the War of 1812, Tecumseh's confederacy allied with the British in The Canadas (the collective name for the colonies of Upper Canada andLower Canada), and helped in the capture of Fort Detroit. American forces killed Tecumseh in the Battle of the Thames, in October 1813. His confederation fell apart, the British deserted their Indian allies at the peace conference that ended the War of 1812, the dream of an independent Indian state in the Midwest vanished, and American settlers took possession of all the territory south of the Great Lakes, driving the Indians west or into reservations.
Why write about him now? Because of this photo of a corn maze in the London Free Press (ht Butch):
The defeat of the Indians and British in the Northwest Territories contributed to the popular view in the US (most likely correctly, and certainly correctly on this score) that they won the War of 1812. In the negotiations following the war, the US gave up nothing, but the British agreed to no longer provide protection and support for the Indian nations who were fighting to regain their lands.