Tecumseh

Studies for general readers tend to be weak. An exception that logically would form an example of a popular writer’s efforts in an essential library is John Sugden’s Tecumseh. The Indigenous history of the war is poorly understood, and often suffers from grim biases when non-specialists write about the First Nations. This text on the most famous of the conflict’s Native participants presents readers with an accessible biography aimed at general audiences within the context of the wider issues that afflicted the Shawnees and other tribes of the “Old Northwest” in today’s Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and neighbouring… show more.

Many historians have written about the great Shawnee war chief, but Sugden’s books remain the most thoroughly researched and convincing. While I quarrel with some of his findings, especially in regard to William Wells and Little Turtle, the author’s ability to illuminate all facets of Tecumseh’s remarkable career is impressive. The final sequence on Tecumseh’s role leading up to and including the War of 1812 is especially important. Had he been given the British support he demanded the outcome of that war might have been different, and Michigan, in particular, might well have become a part of Canada.