[482] Drake, Tecumseh, chaps, i and ii.
[483] Ibid., 68-69.
The young warrior doubtless participated in various warlike forays during the stormy years prior to Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers in 1794. He fought in that battle, but refrained from attending the council which resulted in the Treaty of Greenville.[484] During the next few years he assumed the dignity of a chief and gradually attracted to himself a considerable following. Before long his fame as an orator and a man of influence among his fellows had spread even to the white settlers. In 1805 several scattered bands of the Shawnee tribe, Tecumseh's among the number, united and settled at Greenville, where Tecumseh's brother began the career which has caused him to be known in history as the "Prophet."
[484] Drake, Tecumseh, 81-83.
Tecumseh was always an enemy of the Americans, but he based his enmity upon the losses and ills suffered by his people. Evidently the Great Spirit was angry with his red children, for they were being driven from their hunting-grounds, were losing their health and vigor, and sinking into the lowest depths of poverty and depravity. For all these evils there were two remedies; the first to recover the lost hunting-grounds, the second to reform the conduct of the warriors; and no European statesman ever faced an impossible task with greater courage or used his resources with greater skill than did Tecumseh.
The leading role was taken for some time by Tecumseh's brother the Prophet, who now took upon himself the name Tenskwautawau, meaning the "Open Door," signifying that he would point out to the Indians the new mode of life they should pursue.[485] From the village of the assembled bands near Greenville was sent out far and wide to the tribes in the year 1806 this revelation by the Prophet of the will of the Great Spirit: "I am the father of the English, of the French, of the Spaniards, and of the Indians. I created the first man, who was the common father of all these people, as well as yourselves; and it is through him, whom I have awaked from his long sleep, that I now address you. But the Americans I did not make. They are not my children, but the children of the evil spirit. They grew from the scum of the great water where it was troubled by the evil spirit, and the froth was driven into the woods by a strong east wind. They are numerous, but I hate them I am now on the earth, sent by the Great Spirit to instruct you. Each village must send me two or more principal chiefs to represent you, that you may be taught Those villages which do not listen to this talk, and send me two deputies, will be cut off from the face of the earth."[486]
[485] Ibid., 86.
[486] American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 798.
A religious enthusiasm was thus enkindled which soon developed into a frenzy. The Prophet's teachings in the main were sound, from the red man's point of view, but they were attended by the excesses inevitable to such a movement.[487] Witchcraft, drunkenness, and intermarriage with the whites were declared against, and community of property, respect for the aged and infirm, and adherence to the native dress and customs were advocated. To all who would adopt these precepts the recovery of the comforts and happiness enjoyed by their forefathers before they were debased by their connection with the whites was promised. Among the first manifestations of the influence of the new teachings was the outbreak of a witchcraft delusion, similar in all essential respects to that in Massachusetts in 1692.[488] Under the influence of torture those accused confessed the possession of supernatural powers, and to aerial journeyings by night; but where staid and civilized Salem had been content to hang her victims, the untutored red man burned his at the stake.
[487] For a statement of the Prophet's teachings at this time see Drake, Tecumseh, 87-88.