Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership

Chapter 4 describes the religious conversion of Tecumseh’s younger brother, Lalawethika, and its important implications for the Shawnee and other Indigenous tribes in the region.

Lalawethika is one of two surviving triplets. Unlike Tecumseh, the young Lalawethika is not particularly favored by his older brother, Chiksika, or his older sister, Tecumpease. He is an awkward, unathletic youth who develops an early taste for whiskey. Despite his poor reputation, Tecumseh allows Lalawethika to accompany him as he and his village move throughout Indiana after the Treaty of Greenville.

In April 1805, Lalawethika has a sudden and violent vision and is briefly mistaken for dead. He revives, proclaiming himself Tenskwatawa (“Open Door”) and claiming to have received a message from the Master of Life, a Shawnee religious deity (76). The Shawnee, Tenskwatawa says, should attempt to resuscitate their traditional lifestyle and completely forego alcohol and other European practices. He claims that the Americans are a corrupting influence created not by the Master of Life, but by the “Evil Spirit or Great Serpent” (78-80). Tenskwatawa describes those who have emulated the Americans, such as Black Hoof, as deceptive witches sent by the Great Serpent to undermine the Shawnee.