Tecumseh

: For other uses of the name, see Tecumseh (disambiguation).

Youth

The exact date of Tecumseh's birth is impossible to verify; 1768 is the generally accepted estimate. He was born in the Ohio Country, probably in one of the Shawnee towns along the Scioto River or the Little Miami River. Tecumseh's name (which translates as "I Cross the Way" or "A Panther Crouching for His Prey") was a reference to his family clan (or phratry). Shawnee children inherited a clan affiliation from their fathers; Tecumseh belonged to the panther clan, one of a dozen exogamous Shawnee clans.{{fn|2}}

Related Topics:
Ohio Country - Scioto River - Phratry - Exogamous

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In addition to clans, the Shawnee had five divisions, membership in which was also inherited from the father. Tecumseh's father Pukeshinwah (and thus Tecumseh also) belonged to the Kispoko division. Some traditions state that Tecumseh's mother Methoataaskee was Creek or Cherokee, but biographer John Sugden believes that she was a Shawnee of the Pekowi (Piqua) division.{{fn|3}} Some of the confusion results from the fact that Creeks and Cherokees were eager to claim the famous Tecumseh as one of their own; many Creeks named children after him.{{fn|4}} The details are sketchy, but some traditions suggest that Tecumseh's paternal grandfather (Pukeshinwah's father) may have been British.{{fn|5}}

Related Topics:
Creek - Cherokee

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Warfare between whites and Indians loomed large in Tecumseh's youth. Pukeshinwah was killed in Lord Dunmore's War at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. In the American Revolutionary War, many Shawnee villages were destroyed by United States forces, including what was likely Tecumseh's boyhood home in the Battle of Piqua in 1780.

Related Topics:
Lord Dunmore's War - Battle of Point Pleasant - 1774 - American Revolutionary War - United States - Battle of Piqua - 1780

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