Happy Birthday Tecumseh!

in Old Town, North of Xenia OH

I've written a few things about the Shawnee War Chief Tecumseh, the Pan-Indian Confederacy leader and William Henry Harrison's adversary in the 18th and 19th centuries. There are some links at the end of this post or you can use the search box to your right. This post will just focus on his date and place of birth, both of which are somewhat speculative.
Since American Indians of this time period had no written records, historians have to rely on statements and observations by whites who interacted with them and deduce from there.
It is generally agreed upon that Tecumseh was born in the Spring of 1768. The month of March is derived from Stephen Ruddell, a captured white who was an adopted brother of Tecumseh for 17 years that had the Shawnee name Big Fish. Ruddell was born on September 18th, 1768. In later years Stephen told his son that Tecumseh was 6 months his senior which would be about March 1768. This is also backed up by a letter that Ruddell wrote where he refers to Tecumseh being the same age as he when they met at age 12 in 1779. Putting all this together let's just call it March 18th, 1768.

possible Tecumseh birth locations in 1768

There is also a question of the specific location of his birthplace in Ohio. I have read several books and articles on Tecumseh and historians don't all agree on this. Many agree that it was probably a Shawnee town called Chalahgawtha. The problem is, this band of Shawnee called their "principal village" Chalahgawtha and the town was relocated at least six times and the same name was used each time. Incidentally, modern-day Chillicothe OH derives its name from the Shawnee town so that adds to the confusion. This means his place of birth could have been in present-day Springfield, Piqua, Xenia or Chillicothe. It turns out that the Ohio Historical Society thinks his place of birth is in Old Town just north of Xenia OH. The Absentee Shawnee of Oklahoma agrees and have placed their own marker there too. That works for me.
So Happy Birthday to Tecumseh or perhaps in Shawnee/Algonquin, Minowaazon Tibishkaman Tecumtha!

Additional Gehio posts about Tecumseh:
The death of Tecumseh
Tecumseh! - the play
The War to End All Indian Wars
How It All Began

The Ballad of St Clair

Today is the anniversary of the death of my favorite US frontier general, Arthur St. Clair (which is pronounced "Sinclair").
Art, once an important man, died alone and penniless August 31st, 1818 at his home in Greensburg Pennsylvania.
I like the old guy because he was so bad at being a frontier general and he also gave Cincinnati it's new name. If the US had more generals like him in the late 18th Century then maybe the Indians would have had a longer stay in Ohio. Maybe. And if it wasn't for him then we would have had WKRP in Losantiville. Maybe.

Arthur St Clair and Thomas Jefferson at a crossroad

You see, Artie was known for disliking the name Losantiville and re-naming it Cincinnati in 1790 after the name of the club he presided over while he was Governor of the NW Territory.

A short time later, November 4th, 1791 he suffered the worst military defeat in the history of US and American Indian warfare known as "St Clair's Defeat", sometimes referred to The Battle of the Wabash in 1791 near present-day Fort Recovery OH. This was three times worse than the more infamous Custer's Last Stand in 1876.
By this time Little Turtles' Pan-Indian Confederation had already defeated US forces led by General Harmar in 1790 and tensions were rising in the Ohio country. President Washington ordered Arthur St Clair to raise an army and finish what Harmar had failed. On November 4th, 1791, St Clair was camped and preparing for his assault when the combined forces of the Miami Chief Little Turtle, the Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket, and the Lenape Chief Buckongahelas struck first and caught the US forces by surprise. Major General Richard Butler was mortally wounded here. Supposedly, St. Clair who already had a horse shot out from under him, was in such poor health with gout during this battle that he had to be carried in a litter between two horses at one point yelling "where's my hasenpfeffer!"** while 3/4 of his army was being slaughtered and the rest were running for their lives rather after 2 hours of fighting. Even St Clair later referred to it as a "flight". Many fell back to nearby Fort Jefferson to the south with the Indians following for several miles. Forces evenly matched in the number of men at 1000 each, St Clair had a casualty rate of 952 vs. Little Turtle's 61.
Arthur was ultimately forced to resign from the military by President Washington but he remained as Governor. The resulting loss to the US boosted the morale and security of Little Turtle's Confederation for a few more years until Mad Anthony Wayne's successful win at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.

**he didn't really yell that but in my potential movie version he does

Why did such an important man die penniless and not so important? These are great questions! Washington was a good friend but his successor Thomas Jefferson was not and Tom fired him as Governor over a dispute on the boundaries of the future State of Ohio. He was very wealthy at one point but had made generous loans to various individuals and organizations including the US Government while he was Governor of the NW Territory. The US never bothered to pay him back because they didn't really have any money either. Some things don't change.

<< I've never been to the grave of Arthur St. Clair but I did stumble upon the grave of his grandson Arthur St. Clair III while looking for a geocache in Greendale Indiana.

A couple of folksingers named Bob Gibson and Bob Camp recorded a song in 1961 called "St. Clair's Defeat". You can listen to it and read the lyrics here.

Related Gehio links: 
Gehio: Great Scot, it's St. Clair's Birthday!
Gehio: WKRP in Losantiville
Gehio: a visit to Chalahgawtha
Gehio: The Battle of Fallen Timbers

Da Plane! Da Plane!

1928 Time magazine cover

Orville Wright was born in 1871 on this date in Dayton OH. He never graduated from high school and did not attend college but he and his brother Wilbur changed the world forever due to their ambition and nurturing childhoods. Orville said of his upbringing, "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity."
Much of their research and work was done in their Dayton bicycle shop but they chose Kitty Hawk, NC for their first test flight based on a suggestion by the U.S. Weather Bureau for that areas excellent wind conditions. The first flight in 1903 lasted 12 seconds and covered only 120 feet but a second flight that day was nearly a minute of controlled flight. By 1905 the brothers were making 30 minute controlled flights as they improved their designs. It's pretty amazing to think that in less than 50 years from these test flights there would be jets and spacecraft!
People all over the world at first were skeptical that such a thing even occurred and much debate ensued on whether they were "flyers or liars". They had to demonstrate this accomplishment many times before it became widely accepted as a fact. Even the US Military was dubious of the claim and practicality when the Wright Brothers tried to sell their design to them.

Wilbur (who was born in Indiana) died in 1912 of typhoid fever but Orville went on to be an aviation superstar and consultant eventually serving on the board of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) which was the predecessor to NASA. Orville died of a heart attack in 1948 just a few month after the first supersonic flight.