1889 Kurz and Allison Chromolithograph View of the Battle of Tippecanoe

This is an 1889 Kurz and Allison view of the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe, Indiana, fought between Native American tribes led by Tecumseh and the U.S. army led by future president William Henry Harrison. Harrison appears on the left mounted on horseback with his saber raised while his men fire into the charging Native Americans.

The Battle of Tippecanoe

The Battle of Tippecanoe took place on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana, along the banks of the Keth-tip-pe-can-nunk River. Hostilities began after Indiana Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison successfully negotiated the Treaty of Fort Wayne, which ceded nearly 3 million acres of Native land to the United States. Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee, opposed the treaty, and organized a confederacy to fight settler incursions onto Native land. Harrison, for his part, saw all conflicts with Native Americans as hostile and advocated forceful suppression of belligerent tribes. Harrison's froce of 1,000 men marched on Prophetstown, a Native American settlement established by Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa ('The Prophet') at the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers. When Harrison arrived near Prophetstown, Tecumseh was away but left his brother in charge. Harrison arranged a meeting with Tenskwatawa the following day. HIs forces encamped about a mile from Prophetstown, but his men, fearful of a surprise attack, slept in their uniforms and with rifles loaded. Early the following morning, Tenskwatawa attacked the encamped army. After roughly two hours of fighting, Harrison's men repulsed every attack but suffered 62 deaths and 126 wounded. That night, Tenskwatawa and the other Native inhabitants abandoned Prophetstown and Harrison ordered his men to burn the village.

Publication History and Census

This view was created and published by Kurz and Allison in 1889. We note two cataloged examples in OCLC which are part of the collections at the Library of Congress and the Indiana State Library.