The battle of Tippecanoe took place near the junction of the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers. It was here that an Indian village was established by two Indian brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, to unite many Indian tribes and establish an Indian confederacy. This made the white settlers in the area nervous.Harrison organized a small army of 1,000 men in the late summer of 1811 in hopes of destroying Prophet's town while Tecumseh was away recruiting more tribes. The regiment arrived in the area on November 6, 1811. It was agreed, after meeting with representative of the Prophet, that there would be no hostilities until a meeting could be held the following day.
In the early morning of November 7, 1811, a force of 600-700 Indians made up of a confederation of the Potawatomi, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Delaware, Winnebago, Wea, and Wyandotte tribes under the direction of Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet, attacked the American encampment. Even though the majority of the United States troops had no combat experience, the troops repelled the Indians. This battle resulted in the loss of the Prophet's power within the Indian territory. This was the first major conflict between the Indians and the white men in the region since 1794.
The American army drove off the Indans and burned Prophet's Town to the ground. The Indians no longer believed in the Prophet. Tecumseh's dream of an Indian confederacy ended in the ashes of Tippecanoe. When Tecumseh returned three months later he believed the reconstruction of the confederation too risky, gathered his remaining followers and allied himself with the British. Tecumseh played a key role in the War of 1812, but was killed at the Battle of Thames on October 5, 1813 at the age of forty-five.
This fighting brought about General William Henry Harrison's infamous campaign slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."
