TECUMSEH

 Near my house, on the way to the nearest Costco, I cross a street called Tecumseh. 

What I did not know was this is the name of a Shawnee chief and warrior, born in what is now Ohio. He was a folk hero, travelling widely and forming a Native American confederacy. 

His younger brother Tenskwatawa became known as the Shawnee Prophet, who founded a religious movement that rejected European influence and valued their traditional lifestyle. 

The two brothers would go on to establish Prophetstown, Indiana, a multi-tribal community, that would be destroyed by Americans in 1811. 

In the War of 1812, Tecumseh joined with the British, helping capture Detroit. He participated with the British in the failed campaign against the Americans in Ohio and Indiana. When US Naval Forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, he retreated with the British into Upper Canada (a town near Windsor is named after him), and was killed at the Battle of the Thames on October 1813. 

His death lead to the collapse of the conferacy, and the lands he fought to defend were ceded to the US government.