[CHAPTER X.]
TECUMSEH, OR "THE SHOOTING STAR."
FAMOUS SHAWNEE WAR-CHIEF—ORGANIZER OF SECOND GREAT INDIAN CONFEDERATION AND GENERAL IN THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE WAR OF 1812.
Judged from whatever standpoint you will, the subject of this sketch was certainly one of the greatest, if not the very greatest American Indian.
The name Tecumseh means "The Shooting Star," and it was very appropriate, and seems to have been prophetical of his meteoric career and brilliant genius, to say nothing of his numerous journeys to distant tribes, which were accomplished with incredible speed.
This great chief was born at the old Indian town of Piqua, Ohio, on the Mad River, in 1768.
His father, a Shawnee chief named Puckeshinwan, was killed in the battle of Kanawha, in 1774.
His mother was thought to have been a Creek or Cherokee. Her name was Methoataske, and she is said to have been a comely, intelligent and very respectable woman.
There is a story that he and his brother, Elskwatawa, the Prophet, were twins, and even that a third brother, Kumshaka, were the offspring of the same mother at the same birth, though, according to one account, the Prophet and a twin brother were some years younger than Tecumseh. Eggleston is of the opinion that the Prophet and a twin brother were born in 1771.
We hear little or nothing of Kumshaka, and the presumption is that he died young.
There were seven children in this interesting family, two others—Cheeseekau, the oldest brother, and Menewaula-Koosee, or Tecumapease, the name given to her later in life, according to the Indian usage, to signify her relationship to the great Tecumseh—were also famous.