Tenskwatawa (; also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee people, known as the Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was a younger brother of Tecumseh, a leader of the Shawnee. In his early years Tenskwatawa was given the name Lalawethika ("He Makes a Loud Noise" or "The Noise Maker"), but he changed it around 1805 and transformed himself from a hapless, alcoholic youth into a spiritual leader.
In the early 1800s, Tenskwatawa formed a community with his followers near Greenville in western Ohio, and in 1808 he and Tecumseh established a village that the Americans called Prophetstown north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana. At Prophetstown, the brothers' Pan-American Indian resistance movement increased to include thousands of followers, and Tenskwatawa provided the spiritual foundation. Together, they mobilized the Indigenous American Nations in the Northwest Territory to fight settlers.
On November 7, 1811, while Tecumseh was away, Tenskwatawa ordered the pre-dawn attack on a hostile, encroaching military force encamped near Prophetstown that initiated the Battle of Tippecanoe. The American Indians retreated after a two-hour engagement and abandoned Prophetstown, which the Americans burned to the ground. The battle did not end the American Indians' resistance against the United States, but he lost his influence, became an outcast, and moved to Canada during the War of 1812. After Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames in 1813, the American Indian resistance movement faltered and was eventually defeated. Tenskwatawa remained as an exile in Canada for nearly a decade. He returned to the United States in 1824 to assist the U.S. government with the Shawnee removal to reservation land in present-day Kansas. The aging Prophet arrived at the Shawnee reservation in 1828 and faded into obscurity. Tenskwatawa died at what is known as the Argentine district of present-day Kansas City, Kansas, in 1836.
Early life and family
Lalawethika ("He Makes a Loud Noise" or "Noise Maker"), who as an adult changed his name to Tenskwatawa ("Open Door" or "One With Open Mouth"), was one of a set of triplet brothers born in early 1775 to Puckeshinwa and Methoataske in a Shawnee village along the Mad River in western Ohio. One of the triplets died within the first year of his birth, but Tenskwatawa and his surviving triplet, Kumskaukau, were members of a family that included at least eight children (three daughters and five sons). Lalawethika's early years showed no evidence of the powerful spiritual leader he would become as an adult. Instead, his sad and isolated youth was marked by numerous failures and alcoholism.
Tenskwatawa's father, Puckenshinwa ("Something That Falls"), was a leader of the Kispokotha division of the Shawnee. He was killed fighting against the Virginia militia in the Battle of Point Pleasant before Tenskwatawa was born. His mother, Methoataske (or Methoataaskee, meaning "[One who] Lays Eggs in the Sand"), is believed to be either Muscogee Creek, Cherokee, or Shawnee, possibly of Pekowi division and the Turtle Clan.Sugden, Tecumseh, pp. 13–16. Methoataske, who was frightened by the American Revolution and deeply saddened by the death of Puckenshinwa, may have gone to live with her Creek relatives and then moved west with the Kispokothas in 1779, leaving Tenskwatawa and his siblings in the care of their older sister, Tecumpeas, who was married.
Tenskwatawa, who was not as successful or brave as his brothers, was a failure "at almost everything he attempted" during his youth. When Chiksika, his oldest brother and a leading warrior, took his brothers out to hunt and fight in small battles, Tenskwatawa stayed behind because he lacked competence as a skilled hunter and warrior. Tenskwatawa was never able to distinguish himself as a hunter or fighter as Tecumseh, another of his older brothers. Tecumseh, who was seven years older, was an especially gifted athlete who became the favorite of most of the tribe. In contrast, Tenskwatawa was isolated, unpopular, and depressed by his lack of success. He began drinking alcohol, which further lowered his self-esteem and increased his problems. He also blinded himself in his right eye with his own arrow when he was younger. Lonely and insecure, Tenskwatawa attempted to make up for his deficiencies by boasting and making up stories about how talented and important he was. His depression and alcoholism worsened as he grew older, making him unable to provide for his wife and several children.Edmunds, The Shawnee Prophet, pp. 30–32.
In 1794, nineteen-year-old Tenskwatawa was present at the Battle of Fallen Timbers with two of his brothers, Tecumseh and Sauwauseekau, but he did not distinguish himself as a warrior. Instead, Tenskwatawa viewed the battle as a chance to re-insert himself into tribal society. In his late twenties, he decided to become a medicine man and apprenticed with a tribal healer, Penagashea ("Changing Feathers"). However, when Tenskawatawa was unable to save his people after they fell seriously ill, probably with influenza, he became humiliated and even more depressed. By the early 1800s, Tenskawatawa had developed a reputation as a notorious drunk among the Shawnee living along the White River.
Purification movement leader
In 1795, after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the Indians of the Old Northwest signed the Treaty of Greenville with the American government, in which they agreed to surrender most of modern Ohio. In return, the American government promised to allow them to retain the remainder of the Northwest Territory forever. After 1803, however, the main official in the Northwest, William Henry Harrison, began pressuring the tribes of the Old Northwest to cede more land west of the Greenville line.Reginald Horsman, Expansion and American Indian Policy, 1783–1812 (Michigan State University Press, 1967), 142–157; Jefferson and the Indians, pp. 221–226 President Thomas Jefferson and Harrison tried to pressure the tribes into adopting Euro-American customs, especially European-style farming. They hoped that such acculturation would make the tribes more willing to cede additional land but also believed that they could force the tribes into acculturating by pressuring them to cede more of their remaining territory. To this end, Jefferson encouraged American officials in the Northwest to deliberately entrap the tribes of the region in debt to force them to cede land. Many established chiefs, such as Black Hoof and Little Turtle, encouraged their followers to adopt European customs and tried to maintain good relations with the American government. After 1803, Harrison convinced some pro-accommodation chiefs to cede large areas of land west of the Greenville line. The American government paid for these cessions with annuities, which it placed under the control of the pro-accommodation chiefs. Many Indians saw these payments as bribes to the pro-accommodation chiefs.Gregory Evans Dowd, A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 116–140
These land cessions were also controversial because the American government generally paid the tribes far less than the market price of the land which it acquired. Moreover, Harrison often bought land from tribes which had relatively weak claims to it, while ignoring the stronger claims of other tribes. Meanwhile, Euro-American settlers rapidly moved onto the lands which the tribes of the Old Northwest had not yet ceded. Many settlers sold alcohol to the tribes, contributing to a growing problem of drunkenness.Madison and Sandweiss, p. 14. The land cessions, along with these trends, contributed to growing discontent among the tribes of the Old Northwest and gradually undermined the authority of the pro-accommodation chiefs. The stage was thus set for the emergence of a nativist movement.Timothy Willig, Restoring the Chain of Friendship, 209
Beginning in 1805, Lalawethika had a series of religious visions that transformed his life, caused him to change his name to Tenskwatawa (meaning "Open Door"), and led him to reject his old ways. He experienced his first vision in May 1805, when he fell into unconsciousness during one of his alcoholic stupors and was thought to be dead. Unexpectedly reviving as his body was being prepared for burial, he recounted a powerful vision of two different worlds, one filled with ample blessings for the virtuous ones who lived as the master of life intended, while the other world was filled with pain, hardship, and terror for those who refused to follow traditional tribal ways. Tenskwatawa became known as "The Prophet", began preaching and gathered a growing number of followers. He soon emerged as a powerful and influential spiritual leader. More visions followed in succeeding months, including revelations that the European invaders from the east were "the children of the evil spirit".Edmunds, The Shawnee Prophet p. 38.Richard White notes that in the Algonquian tradition the "Great Serpent" came from the sea and stood for evil powers. Similarly, Tenskwatawa explained that white men (American colonists), who came from the eastern seashore, were the spawn of the Great Serpent and intended to harm them. See
The Prophet's developing purification movement caused him to urge his followers to reject European habits, such as consumption of alcohol, and to return to their traditional ways. He wanted his people to reject the white man's customs by forbidding marriages between Indians and whites, as well as the use of Euro-American foods, clothing, and manufactured goods. Tenskwatawa also encouraged his people to follow traditional gender roles (women as farmers, men as hunters and warriors). Tenskwatawa proved to be harsh, even brutal, in his treatment of those who opposed him and his teachings. He accused his detractors, and anyone who associated with settlers, of witchcraft, including Indians who had converted to Christianity. For Tenskwatawa, Indian witches remained the most active agents of the evil spirits on earth, and he sought to identify and destroy them.Cayton, pp. 207–208.Edmunds, The Shawnee Prophet p. 39.
Greenville and Prophetstown founder In 1805, Tenskwatawa, who evolved into an effective speaker and charismatic leader of his religious movement, formed a new community with his followers along the White River, near the present site of Greenville in western Ohio.Edmunds, The Shawnee Prophet, p. 34. Harrison, the governor of Indiana Territory, derided Tenskwatawa as a fraud.Edmunds, The Shawnee Prophet, pp. 47–49. He wrote a letter to the Delawares urging them to challenge Tenskwatawa to "cause the sun to stand still ... or the dead to rise from their graves", adding that "If he does these things you may then believe that he has been sent by God." He also had the letter printed in a major newspaper. Tenskwatawa responded by correctly predicting that an eclipse would occur on June 16, 1806. This prediction strengthened his credibility and humiliated Harrison.Owens, Mr. Jefferon's Hammer, pp. 125–126.Alfred A. Cave, Prophets of the Great Spirit: Native American Revitalization Movements in Eastern North America, 2005, University of Nebraska Press, 88
The Prophet detested the leaders of the United States government, including Jefferson and Harrison. Tenskwatawa also opposed some tribal leaders, such as Little Turtle, and their representatives because he felt that they had agreed to the demands of the government.Madison and Sandweiss, p. 15. When some of the tribal chiefs tried to promote compromise and conciliation with the United States, Tenskwatawa, proclaiming his obedience to the Great Spirit, lashed out against the pro-U.S. sympathizers and castigated them as wicked traitors.