Tecumseh entertained the ambitious
project, at various times a favorite design with the Indian, of uniting
all their tribes at the West and South-west, in one strenuous endeavor, to
resist the further advance of the whites into their country, and of
forming here a confederacy, similar to that which had existed among the
Iroquois.
In these views he was greatly assisted and strengthened by the influence
and efforts of his brother, Elskawata.
Elskawata, on the death of Penagashega, an aged and revered prophet, very
adroitly assumed the sacred office of this Indian saint, and began to
proclaim himself, as a delegated messenger of the Great Spirit to his
people.
He commenced his career among the Shawnees, the people of his tribe, as
early as 1805. But not content with so narrow a sphere for his endeavors,
he went from tribe to tribe, and assembled as he was able, different
nations, that he might make known to them the important instructions, he
had been divinely authorized to communicate.
For a long time his efforts wore the appearance of a religious, and
pacific character. He proclaimed the high superiority of the Indians over
the whites, and of his own tribe among the Indian tribes. He declared it
to be the will of the Great Spirit, that the Indians should abandon the
use of intoxicating drinks, refrain from intermarrying with the whites,
live at peace with each other, have their property in common, and maintain
their customs, as they had been anciently established.
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