Tippecanoe Battlefield National Historic Park

The Tippecanoe Battlefield Park preserves the location of the Battle of Tippecanoe fought on November 7, 1811, near what is now West Lafayette, IN.

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, in what is now Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa ( "The Prophet") were leaders of a confederacy of Native Americans from various tribes that opposed US expansion into Native territory. As tensions and violence increased, Governor Harrison marched with an army of about 1,000 men to disperse the confederacy's headquarters at Prophetstown, near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers.

Tecumseh, a Native American Shawnee warrior and chief, who became the primary leader of a large, multi-tribal confederacy in the early 19th century. Born in the Ohio Country, and growing up during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, Tecumseh was exposed to warfare and envisioned the establishment of an independent Indian nation east of the Mississippi River under British protection. He worked to recruit additional members to his tribal confederacy from the southern United States

Tenskwatawa was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the Prophet. He was a younger brother of Tecumseh.  On November 7, 1811, while Tecumseh was away, Tenskwatawa ordered the pre-dawn attack on a U.S. military force encamped near Prophetstown that initiated the Battle of Tippecanoe. The Indians retreated after a two-hour engagement and abandoned Prophetstown, which the military burned to the ground. The battle did not end the Indians' resistance against the United States, but the Prophet lost his influence, became an outcast, and moved to Canada during the War of 1812.

Tecumseh, not yet ready to oppose the United States by force, was away recruiting allies when Harrison's army arrived. Tenskwatawa("The Prophet"), a spiritual leader but not a military man, was in charge. Harrison camped near Prophetstown on November 6 and arranged to meet with Tenskwatawa the following day. Early the next morning, however, warriors from Prophetstown attacked Harrison's army. Although the outnumbered attackers took Harrison's army by surprise, Harrison and his men stood their ground for more than two hours. The Native Americans were ultimately repulsed when their ammunition ran low. After the battle, they abandoned Prophetstown and Harrison's men burned it to the ground, destroying the food supplies stored for the winter. 

"The Prophet"

 Harrison, having accomplished his goal of destroying Prophetstown, proclaimed he had won a decisive victory. He gained the nickname "Tippecanoe", which was popularized in the campaign song "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" during the presidential election of 1840, which Harrison won. The defeat was a setback for Tecumseh's confederacy from which it never fully recovered