Tecumseh's Last Stand

by John Sugden

Overview

The War of 1812 has been regarded by many historians as a "small naval war" of little importance. Not so to the Native American tribes of the Old Northwest, who joined the British attempt to hold off the expansionist American armies in a desperate effort to retain their tribal lands, promised to them by the British in return for their alliance. The Native American force numbered some sixteen hundred warriors-Shawnees, Winnebagoes, Kickapoos, Potawatomis, Sacs, Ottawas, Muncey Delawares, Ojibwas, and Senecas among them.

     In September and October of 1813, a small force of British and Native Americans under General Henry Procter and the Shawnee chief Tecumseh was driven from Amherstburg after the Battle of Lake Erie. The engagement at Moraviantown, on October 5, 1813, was the most decisive American victory won on British soil in this war. The death of Tecumseh, who was killed while valiantly defending the field after the British had fled, cost the British-Indian alliance its most effective leader.

     The story of the campaign has never been fully told from the point of view of Native Americans and the British, but innumerable legends have persisted about it, many of them contrasting the courage of the Shawnee chief with the alleged cowardice of Procter. John Sugden searched for surviving records in Britain, Canada, and the United States and found a major source of information in the little-known minutes of General Procter's court-martial.

     The author has comprehensively reconstructed the retreat and tackled the major questions: why was Procter compelled to withdraw from Amherstburg after the loss of his squadron on Lake Erie; why and how did Procter and Tecumseh fight at Moraviantown; how was Tecumseh killed; and how did the engagement affect the fortunes of the British, Native Americans, and the Americans in the remaining months of the war.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806122427
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	03/15/1990
Pages:	314
Sales rank:	1,073,853
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

John Sugden is a native of Hull, England, and he received a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Sheffield. He is currently Joint Director of Studies at Hereward College in Coventry and is a contributor to academic journals in Britain and the United States. Sugden is especially interested in Indian resistance movements, and his article, "The Southern Indians in the War of 1812: The Closing Phase," was awarded the Arthur W. Thompson Memorial Prize in Florida History in 1982 and was judged the best article to appear in the Florida Historical Quarterly that year.

Editorial Reviews

Sugden presents a detailed study of the most important campaign on the northwest frontier during the War of 1812, culminating in America's victory at the Battle of the Thames (Moraviantown), Canada, on October 5, 1813. He reevaluates the role of British General Henry Proctor, but concentrates on Britain's Indian ally, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was killed in the battle. Sugden analyzes the details and controversies of Tecumseh's death. His work complements R. David Edmunds's biography, Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership (Little, 1984), and is best suited for special collections on Indian and military history. Joseph G. Dawson III, History Dept., Texas A&M Univ., College Station

Library Journal

Paper reprint of the 1985 original. A thorough investigation of the final days of the Shawnee chief, who died at the Battle of the Thames in 1813. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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