(ominous music)
Inhabitants of Canada.
The army under my command
has invaded your country.
United States offers you peace,
liberty, and security.
Your choice lies between these and war,
slavery and destruction.
We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest.
We may teach the enemy this lesson.
That a country defended by free men,
enthusiastically devoted to the cause
of their king and constitution,
can never be conquered.
(gunfire)
The Americans.
We know them to have always been the enemy
of the aboriginal nations.
We shall participate in the shout of victory
or in the grave.
(epic music)
(adventurous music)
In the first year of the war of 1812
the United States would almost certainly have prevailed
over the defenders of Canada,
were it not for one man.
The Shawnee war chief Tecumseh.
His name is wrapped in myth and legend,
but this much is known to be true.
He was born to a warrior family.
His father killed defending Shawnee land
against a white settler army.
In the archival records, friend and foe alike
remember his natural eloquence,
his chivalry towards the unarmed,
his courage in battle.
(epic music)
In war, his British military allies
were astonished by his generalship
and call him the Wellington of the Indians.
The Shawnee took it as a sign from heaven that a comet
blazed across the sky at the moment of his birth.
The name Tecumseh means shooting star.
I am Shawnee.
My forefathers were warriors.
Their son is a warrior.
Once there was no white man on this continent.
It all belonged to red men.
Once a happy race
since made miserable by the white people.
Who never contented, always encroaching.
In the years leading up to war
Tecumseh campaigned to unite Indian nations,
which had been fighting and killing
each other for generations.
He saw native unity as the only way to resist
domination by the ever expanding United States.
His movement preached a return to fundamental values,
turning away from the evils brought by white society,
especially alcohol.
The Shawnee chief established a model commune
on the banks of the Tippecanoe River in Indiana.
It was called Prophet's Town.
His fame spread far and wide
to chiefs like John Norton of the Grand River Mohawks
in upper Canada.
This is the word about Tecumseh.
He denies the validity of all treaties.
He says the great spirit has given aboriginal natives
the soil they possess.
They should be defended even at the expense of their lives.
To challenge Tecumseh,
the American government chose its champion.
A man who would one day become president
of the United States, General William Henry Harrison.
Harrison realized that this was an Indian leader
unlike any he had dealt with before.
The implicit obedience and respect which the followers
of Tecumseh pay to him is really astonishing.
In more than any other circumstance bespeaks him
one of those uncommon geniuses that spring up occasionally
to produce revolutions
and overturn the established order of things.
According to historical records of their
public and private meetings,
Tecumseh accused Harrison and the American government
of stealing the ancestral lands of the tribes
and the territories south of the Great Lakes.
Harrison rejected the allegations.
I will tell the president what you have said.
But since we have acquired title to these lands
through fair treaty, I am sure this title will be upheld
by the sword.
Tecumseh made a strategic error
in one encounter with Harrison.
The Shawnee chief revealed that he was going off
on an extended visit to Indian tribes
in the southern United States.
Harrison decided to turn Tecumseh's absence
to his military advantage.
(epic music)
(gunfire and howling)
While Tecumseh was gone
American troops under Harrison's command attacked
Indian villages throughout Indiana and the Ohio Valley,
burning many of them to the ground.
One of the villages destroyed by Harrison
is Tecumseh's Prophet's Town.
With his quest for peace in ashes,
Tecumseh now calls on the red nations to join in alliance
against the United States.
As I stood on the ashes of my own home
where my own wigwam had sent its fires
up to the great spirit,
I summon the spirit of those braves
who had fallen in their vain attempts
to protect their homes from the grasping invader.
War now.
War always.
War on the living
and war on the dead.
(adventurous music)
From the Mohawks in the north
to the Creeks in the south,
the First Nation's answered Tecumseh's call to arms.
If we side with the British in the coming battles
we will gain our country.
They enter the war of 1812
on the British and Canadian side
and play a key role in early victories over the Americans
at Fort Mackinac and at Detroit.
The Michigan territory is reattached to the British empire
and promised to the Indians as a possible
independent native nation in North America.
For the Americans, the defeats are a totally unexpected
turn of events.
But they slowly rally to the flag.
In autumn of 1812 a new American army
is marshaled by General Harrison
to recapture the lost territory.
Those brave men who may give their services
on this occasion, may be assured that an opportunity
of distinguishing themselves will be afforded.
I shall command the expedition in person.
Hundreds of American volunteers
pour in to Indiana.
Many are drawn by the reputation of General Harrison.
Among the legions arriving from Kentucky
is private Billy Atherton.
General Harrison addressed the whole army
in a most thrilling speech
that kindled in the breasts of the men
an increased desire to meet the enemy
and a willingness to endure any privations
they might be called to suffer.
Men of the west.
Your country has called you and you have answered that call.
The innocent heads of women and children
have fallen victim to the prey of red savages
brought on by England.
I'm very proud to stand with you today as you answer
your country's call.
Right face.
Mark.
Halt.
Front.
The regular US army is well trained
but small in number.
The brunt of the fighting will be born by
American militia who would be up against
Britain's professional army, the best in the world.
Harrison tries to be diplomatic about his concern.
The troops which I have with me
perhaps the best materials for forming an army
that the world has produced,
but no equal number of men were ever collected
who knew so little of military discipline.
In the American capital, the politicians
are astounded by the early defeats of the US army.
President James Madison has drastically underestimated
the power of the First Nations
now siding with the British against him.
His hopes and his political future are riding
on William Henry Harrison.
Harrison has a prospect of doing something towards
retrieving the campaign.
The force under his command will at least
save the military character of the nation.
Will satisfy Great Britain that the tendency of defeat
is to rouse, not depress the American spirit.
And will stamp deep on the Indian mind
the little security they have in British protection.
(marching music)
Right turn.
In the forts of upper Canada
the British and Canadian forces are Tecumseh's key allies.
They make disciplined preparations
for the new American storm.
And morale is high.
Shoulder arms.
Eager for a crack at the Americans
is John Richardson, the son of a doctor
from Queenston Ontario.
I detested school as I was often flogged
and meditated running away.
The commencement of hostilities on the part
of the United States and the unexpected appearance
of a large body of troops signaled the end of classes.
I felt disposed to bless the Americans
for the bold step they'd taken.
(marching music)
All for praying, we're finding out.
To defend Canada, young men have come
from far away with the British army.
Shadrach Byfield joined in London to follow
the footsteps of his brothers.
I entered the militia service in the year 1807.
Upon hearing that I was unlisted, and having two sons
before in the army,
my mother was so affected that on the evening
of the same day she fell ill in a fit.
And we never spoke again.
I was obliged to march off the next morning.
She expired three days later.
(majestic music)
It is late in the year 1812.
The US presidential orders to recapture the northwest
were easy to write.
But moving armies north across a rugged frontier
turns out to be a daunting affair for General Harrison.
(wind blows)
First his forces are inundated with driving rains.
Then comes what will prove to be
a most devastating Canadian adversary.
The Canadians and the British have made some preparations
to fight in the snow.
The Americans have not.
There is nothing that gives me more apprehension
than the destitute condition of many of my men
in clothing and blankets.
It appears to me that it is impossible for them
to act in such a climate as that of Canada
without warm clothing.
The conditions fulfill
Harrison's worst expectations.
More dangerous for the men,
the officers neglect sanitation when they make camp.
We're called to contend with severe weather
which not only prevents the necessary supply of provisions
from reaching us, but
in our thinly clad condition
becomes very oppressive.
The men are very sickly.
Typhus fevers, raging with violence.
Three or four are dying every day.
Upward of 300
on the sick list at one time.
January 1813.
The US attempt to recapture Michigan begins.
Harrison divides his army in two columns.
He leads one northwest to Upper Sandusky
while a second column under General James Winchester
pushes up further west.
The plan is for the columns to stay close enough
to support each other.
But an overconfident Winchester moves ahead on his own.
Up to the settlement at Frenchtown on the River Raisin.
Canada's defenders respond by marching across
the frozen Detroit River,
hoping to catch the Americans by surprise.
Early morning, January 21st 1813.
(intense music)
(men yell)
As the British and Canadian troops advance relentlessly
towards the Frenchtown encampment,
the US troops inside scramble for their weapons.
I was sleeping soundly until awakened by
the startling cry of to arms, to arms.
And the thundering of cannon and the roar of small arms
and the more terrific yelling of the savages.
(gunfire)
In the battle, 290 Americans are killed.
Threatened with a massacre, almost 600 US troops surrender.
General Harrison has a disaster on his hands.
He promptly blames the entire debacle
on his subordinate, General Winchester.
It is with the deepest regret that I have to inform
you sir that the detachment under General Winchester
has been entirely destroyed by an Indian and British force
on the morning of the 22nd at the River Raisin.
The movement which led to it was not only without
my knowledge or consent,
but entirely at variance with the instructions
that I had given to General Winchester.
After their victory,
fearing Harrison is on the way,
the British return to Canada.
They have no sleighs to carry back
the worst American wounded, who are left behind.
And now in great peril.
The US soldiers are now prisoners of Indian people
who had suffered much at the hands of American frontiersmen.
One of the American captives is Billy Atherton.
The door to our room was forced open by an Indian
who entered with a tomahawk in his hand
ready to commence his bloody work.
Captain Hart.
He came out of his room
barefoot with nothing on but shirt and drawers
and he stood in the snow for
a long time pleading for his life.
He said to the Indian, if you agreed to take me away
I'll give you a horse or a hundred dollars.
And the Indian said, I cannot take you.
Why asked Captain Hart?
You're too badly wounded said the Indian.
Captain Hart asked them what they intended to do with them.
Boys, said the Indian
raised themselves up.
You are all to be killed.
(intense music)
(crowd yelling)
Billy Atherton survived
but Captain Hart and an estimated 50 other
American prisoners are massacred at the River Raisin.
Such are the allies of the power which boasts
its attainments in every art and science.
In such the war associates of British officers
who claim distinction for their nice feelings
and delicate sense of honor.
Defenders of Canada make no apology
for their alliance with the native warriors.
John Richardson.
The act of aggression was not ours.
We declared no war against America.
We raised no armies to invade her soil.
But we availed ourselves of our right
common to every weak power,
the right of repelling acts of aggression
by every means within our reach.
In the spring of 1813
it is the best of times for the defenders of Canada,
the worst of times for the United States.
Instead of presiding over reclaimed Michigan territory,
Harrison's army is hunkered down at Fort Meigs
on the Miami River.
Rebuilding, not yet strong enough to venture forth.
In control of the territory is the Canadian Alliance,
stationed at Fort Malden.
The alliance has completed preparations to strike
another blow at Harrison,
with the ships waiting to ferry the Canada force
across Lake Eerie.
Everything waits for one commander.
the British cannot fight without him.
The First Nations will not fight unless he comes.
The 16th of April, 1813.
Tecumseh finally appears.
He has recovered from injuries and ready for battle.
Even Harrison has called Tecumseh the Moses of his people.
Now he is coming to lead them back to the land
promised by the British.
(ominous music)
The British, First Nations, and Canadian Alliance
make a formidable army.
Their plan?
To strike at Harrison before the United States
can build an overpowering force against Canada.
Their target is Fort Meigs.
The US fort is a masterpiece of military engineering,
with huge mounds to smother and deflect British cannonballs.
The US army stays safe in underground bunkers
while Harrison plots revenge against
Tecumseh and the British.
My men are in fine spirits.
Do not my dear sir doubt the results.
The enemy little dream of the bitter pill
I have prepared for them.
(adventurous music)
Tecumseh is every bit as determined.
Before the battle he vows to capture Harrison personally
to make him pay for the death and destruction
at Prophet's Town.
Brush from your eyes the sleep of slavery
and strike for vengeance and for your land.
Many red men have fallen.
Just as the leaves now fall.
I hear their voices in the aged pines.
Will no son of these brave men strike at the pale face
and quiet these complaining ghosts?
The British assure Tecumseh
that the royal artillery will crack open Fort Meigs
without any difficulty.
On the early morning of May the 1st
the British guns open up.
Fire!
(cannon fire)
In the next five days they rain down
1,649 cannon shot on the American fortification.
When the smoke clears,
the American fortifications are unbroken.
It is the fifth day of the siege
and now it is Harrison's move.
Down river, 1400 American reinforcements,
the Kentucky militia, are on their way to lift the siege.
They ambush the Canada force from behind.
The First Nations retreat, but Tecumseh proves
once again why he is such a dangerous adversary.
Outnumbered, Tecumseh withdraws with his men
deeper into the woods, enticing the Americans
to chase after him.
Much to Harrison's dismay, the US reinforcements
swallow the bait.
Before Harrison can stop them
the Kentucky regulars and militia set off after the Indians.
The pursuit leads them two miles into the forest.
Tecumseh prepares an ambush.
The Kentucky troops stumble into it.
(gunfire and yelling)
For Kentucky, dreams of glory become a nightmare.
In vicious hand to hand fighting over half their militia
are killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.
By the end, Kentucky provides only 5% of the troops
in the War of 1812,
but suffers 64% of all the combat dead.
I am sorry to inform you of another disaster
to the Kentucky troops.
Not indeed bearing any comparison to that of the
River Raisin in point of killed and wounded,
but exceeding it as to the number of prisoners.
(yelling)
Once again some Indian warriors move in
to massacre the American prisoners,
against the express orders of their chiefs.
The worthless Chippewa of Detroit,
having with him a number of wretches like himself,
who did not have the courage to kill their enemies
while in arms assail the unfortunate prisoners.
This time Tecumseh is alerted
that a massacre has begun.
Tecumseh, apprised of what was happening
rode up at full speed and raised his tomahawk,
threatening to destroy the first man
who resisted his injunction to desist.
Never did Tecumseh shine more truly.
As merciful as he was courageous.
Although war was his idol, the element in which he lived,
his heart was formed with the nobler
impulses of the warrior.
Nine days after it began
the siege of Fort Meigs comes to an end.
The defenders of Canada retreat back across the border.
They have bloodied Harrison, but have not defeated him.
With a retreat back to the Canadian side of Lake Eerie
in May 1813, the stage is set for a decisive summer.
Everything rides on control of the Great Lakes.
With almost no roads, just about everything
has to move by water.
The navy that controls the lakes controls the war
and so far that's the British navy.
But the Americans intend to change that.
For President James Madison, the coming naval contest
is crucial to victory over the British and Tecumseh.
The command of the Great Lakes is a fundamental point
in the national policy.
Without ascendancy over these waters,
we can never have it over the savages.
With this ascendancy we command the Indians,
can control the companies trading with them
and hold Canada whilst in British hands
as a hostage for peace and justice.
The task of constructing a powerful new
American fleet on Lake Eerie is assigned to
a 27 year-old naval officer named Oliver Perry.
He is told that money is no object.
His opponent is a British naval hero named Robert Barclay,
who has lost an arm fighting at the side
of Admiral Nelson in Europe.
Barclay is allowed few resources and no money.
(adventurous music)
In early September 1813
the British Captain Barclay leads his armada
of six ships and 63 guns onto Lake Eerie
to meet the Americans.
The Americans are in a clearly superior position
with seven ships and double the firepower.
(cannons fire)
The 10th of September, morning.
An immense naval battle on a lake.
One of the most important actions of the War of 1812.
Our fleet has beyond all doubt met that of the enemy.
An incessant and tremendous cannonading has been heard.
I am all anxiety for the event.
In the first moments of the battle
the British captain's superior tactics pay off.
Murderous fire dismasts the American flagship.
85% of its crew is killed or wounded.
In his moment of distress though,
the American Captain Oliver Perry improvises brilliantly.
He has himself rowed in a small boat away
from his stricken flagship
to take up command of the battle from another vessel.
(cannons fire)
Superior American firepower is brought to bare
and within a few minutes the British ships
are all disabled and forced to surrender.
William Henry Harrison receives a famous dispatch
from the young American Captain, Oliver Perry.
We have met the enemy and he is ours.
Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.
At the Canadian forts
the defeat on Lake Eerie brings panic.
They are now vulnerable to an
American invasion across the lake.
The troops are ordered to prepare for an immediate retreat.
The orders are issued by General Henry Procter.
He is the British officer who failed to crack Fort Meigs.
Now at Fort Malden, Procter wants to run.
Tecumseh is appalled.
You always told us you would never draw
your foot off of British ground.
And now we see you are drawing back.
And we are very sorry to see you doing so father
without seeing the enemy.
We must compare our father's conduct to that
of a fat animal carrying its tail on its back.
And when frightened, drops it between its legs and runs off.
On September the 27th,
as the American invasion force sails across Lake Eerie,
they report seeing Tecumseh riding along the shore
as a sign of defiance.
Tecumseh has extracted a promise from the British.
To make a stand further inland.
As the British and Canadian forces retreat
past Lake St. Clair and east along the Thames River,
General Harrison occupies Fort Amherstburg
and the town of Sandwich, now Windsor,
and prepares to go after them.
I have the honor to inform you that I landed the army
under my command about three miles below this place
without opposition.
I will pursue the enemy tomorrow.
As the Canadian Alliance retreats
up the River Thames,
General Harrison and his army are in hot pursuit.
October the 4th, 1813.
The redcoats meet Moravian Town on the Thames River.
The British, under pressure from Tecumseh,
agree finally to make a stand and fight it out.
(group sings)
A force of 500 Indians under the command of Tecumseh
will attempt to hold the right flank.
For the First Nations, who with Tecumseh
have given their all in this war,
there is a sense that a moment of destiny has come.
Tecumseh also has a message for the defenders of Canada
and their general.
Father.
Tell your young men to be firm
and all will be well.
As for us?
Our lives are in the hands of the great spirit.
We are determined to defend our lands
or leave our bones upon them.
The morning of October 5th 1813.
General Harrison leads his 3,000 men army
up the northwest towards the battlefield.
Just outside Moraviantown near Chatham.
Facing him are Tecumseh and his 500 warriors
and 450 British regulars under the command
of General Procter.
Colonel Richard Johnson and his 1,000 man
Kentucky cavalry regiment will lead the American charge.
Always worried about the discipline of Kentucky troops,
General Harrison issues Johnson a draconian order.
Your men must be particularly cautioned against
shouting or firing upon their approach to the enemy
until ordered to do so.
You are hereby positively ordered to direct the officers
to cause the first man who offends to be shot down.
The lives of hundreds must not be jeopardized
by the folly or villainy of a few individuals.
Only a few minutes before the American bugles
ran through the forest.
Tecumseh passed along our line,
seemingly sanguine of success.
He pressed the hand of each officer
and made some remarks appropriate for the occasion.
And then passed forever from our view.
(epic music)
The Battle of Moraviantown is a short one.
In the face of the charge, the British defense line wavers.
It is not a proud moment for Shadrach Byfield.
After exchanging a few shots our men gave way.
I was in the act of retreating when one of the sergeants
said, for god's sake men stand and fight.
I stood by him
and fired one shot.
But the line was broken,
and the men were retreating.
Then made my escape further into the woods.
(adventurous music)
Deserted by the British,
now the First Nations are once again on their own.
Sustaining the full force of the furious American attack.
Over the sounds of battle, Tecumseh's voice could be heard
rallying the Indian people.
(gunshot)
The Indians on the raid sustained the assault
but were finally obliged to retire with some loss.
Among the killed was the intrepid Tecumseh.
(somber music)
Tecumseh is certainly killed,
wrote one of Harrison's officers.
I saw him with my own eyes.
There was something so majestic, so dignified, and yet
so mild as he lay stretched on his back on the ground.
I shall never forget it.
The Shawnee say that they rescued their chief's body
and removed it from the battlefield, as was their custom,
to allow his spirit to rest in peace.
Tecumseh's final resting place is unknown.
I have the honor to inform you that by the blessing
of providence, the army under my command has obtained
complete victory over the combined Indian and British forces
under General Procter.
General Procter has escaped by the fleetness of his horse.
General Procter did flee the battlefield
and was widely condemned for it.
Court-martialed and found guilty,
he was reprimanded and retired from the army in disgrace.
Ironically General William Henry Harrison
was also shoved aside after the battle.
The victim of a power struggle in the American military.
He went on however to become a congressman
and then a senator and finally in 1840
President of the United States.
(majestic music)
In death, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh was elevated
to mythological status.
Lionized by his former enemies, the Americans.
This one ton marble sculpture, the Dying Tecumseh,
is kept at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.
In Canada however, Tecumseh is rarely given his due.
His military contribution to the defense of Canada
approached that of British General Issac Brock.
Brock is awarded a massive monument at Queenston Heights.
At this main 1812 memorial, far below,
the role of First Nations is confined to a small rock.
Tecumseh is not even mentioned on the plaque.
While he clearly was as savior of Canada,
Tecumseh's own dream of a strong confederation
of First Nations died with him.
The tragic destruction of the Indian civilizations
and way of life in North America,
had been set in motion.
No other leader of Tecumseh's stature would ever come along
to stop it.
(chanting)
Oh that I might make that of my own red people.
And of my country as great as the conceptions of my mind.
Oh what will become of my Indians?
(regal music)