Autumn 1811: The Battle of Tippecanoe
Fought almost a year before the formal declaration of the War of 1812, “Tippecanoe” became a rallying cry for many Americans as they denounced British support for the western Indian tribes.
“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” became a popular campaign slogan in the mid-nineteenth century, promoting the Whig presidential candidate and war hero William Henry Harrison and his running mate, John Tyler. But decades before it became a political refrain in the 1840 presidential election, the battle it referenced helped drive Americans to war in 1812.
William Henry Harrison joined the army at eighteen in the early 1790s. He later became aide to Major General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, and participated in the decisive victory over the Western Indian Confederacy at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers. After resigning from the army, Harrison became a territorial governor. A ruthless negotiator for Indian lands, Harrison procured some 3,000,000 acres for white settlement by negotiating with carefully-selected tribes.
Harrison’s methods made him enormously popular with white settlers. The same methods outraged native Americans, inclusidng Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, “the Prophet.” The brothers hoped to establish a confederacy of tribes that could turn back the waves of white settlers in the present day Midwest.
Harrison recognized the threat Tecumseh’s movement posed for American settlement. Hoping to gain an advantage, Harrison launched a preemptive strike at the native headquarters at “Prophet’s Town,” located on Tippecanoe Creek in present-day Indiana. But his targets sprang their own surprise: on November 6, 1811, they launched a predawn attack. Harrison’s men eventually repulsed the attackers, but suffered significant casualties in the fighting.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/tippecanoe.htm?utm_source=article&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=experience_more&utm_content=small