Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and Harrison’s Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation

In this intriguing study, historian Stark (Young Washington) examines the conflict between two major figures of the America’s “western destiny,” William Henry Harrison and Shawnee chief Tecumseh. Focusing on the decades leading up to the War of 1812, Stark reveals how the actions of both men—often in direct response to the other—affected the development of “the continent’s center—spanning from Lake Superior in the North to the Gulf of Mexico in the South, and from the Appalachians in the East to the Rockies in the West,” and the decimation of the region’s Native American communities. As Indiana’s territorial governor, Harrison enforced dubious claims in the “relentless” pursuit of new lands for settlement, while Tecumseh sought to unite America’s Indigenous tribes in a confederacy of resistance. A brilliant orator, Tecumseh fiercely condemned the deceitful behavior of the U.S. government, comparing the “forced exodus” of Native Americans to “a galloping horse... being driven westward toward the setting sun.” Eventually, Tecumseh and his forces allied with the British during the War of 1812, where he cemented his fame as a military leader before he was killed in the Battle of the Thames. Vivid biographical detail and astute analysis of how Harrison and Tecumseh’s competing visions for the future fueled the conflict make this is an informative chapter in the history of the American frontier. (Aug.)