Today in History - Nov 22 - The Battle of Wild Cat Creek
November 22 is the anniversary of The Battle of Wild Cat Creek in 1812. This day saw a brilliantly led ambush against the marauding US military that left 17 dead.
Tecumseh was a great Shawnee war chief and prophet who had sought to organise a confederacy of tribes in the great lake region. The previous year had seen a massive defeat for the tribes. But when war broke out between Britain and the US in the war of 1812, he sided with the British in the hopes that things would work out better this time around.
Tecumseh did quite well. He led successful attacks against several US forts and managed to take Detroit without a fight. This forced the US to divide their forces, and prevent them from successfully invading Canada.
The US of course couldn't tolerate being beaten by an Indian. So they acted as they normally do, by burning villages and killing women and children. Tecumseh scattered his people for safety, and came up with a plan for dealing with these marauders.
He killed a sentry over the night, and stuck his head on a pole a ways from their camp. He left a lone warrior to attempt to make them give chase. It worked, probably in no small part due to their belief of being racially superior. The soldiers were blinded by their bloodthirst and chased the warrior into a canyon. When they entered the canyon, the trap was sprung, and they were taking fire. In less than two minutes, 17 men were killed, and 3 more were wounded. The battle became known as "Spur's defeat" due to the American soldiers spurring their horses hard enough to draw blood in their eagerness to run away.
The general in charge of the operation was forced to retreat, and resigned in shame. The terror campaign was over for now. Of course, they would always be back. Tecumseh was killed the following year and the confederation collapsed. Eventually the tribes were forcibly relocated and scattered to the winds. The Shawnee were even lumped in with the Cherokee upon their removal to Indian Territory. Not regaining their tribal status until the year 2000.