Background

Prior to the War of 1812, the British and the Spaniards had been forging alliances with Indians on the American frontier to try to slow American expansionism, and therefore power. One significant Indian Chief, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, used this time and support to try to build an Indian Confederacy along the western edge of the American frontier. Tecumseh's Shawnees were based predominantly in current day Indiana, Illinois and western Kentucky, but were historically linked to the Creek people of current day Alabama and Georgia. Tecumseh travelled to Alabama to rally the Creeks to war against the whites in the region.

Below is Tecumseh's speech to the Creeks at Tuckabathcee in October 1811 as told by Sam Dale to JFK Claiborne;

"In defiance of the white warriors of Ohio and Kentucky, I have traveled through their settlements, once our favorite hunting grounds. No war-whoop was sounded, but there is blood on our knives. The Pale-faces felt the blow, but knew not whence it came.

Accursed be the race that has seized on our country and made women of our warriors. Our fathers, from their tombs, reproach us as slaves and cowards. I hear them now in the wailing winds.

The Muscogee was once a mighty people. The Georgians trembled at your war-whoop, and the maidens of my tribe, on the distant lakes, sung the prowess of your warriors and sighed for their embraces.

Now your very blood is white; your tomahawks have no edge; your bows and arrows were buried with your fathers. Oh !

Muscogees, brethren of my mother, brush from your eyelids the sleep of slavery; once more strike for vengeance; once more for your country. The spirits of the mighty dead complain. Their tears drop from the weeping skies. Let the white race perish.

They seize your land; they corrupt your women; they trample on the ashes of your dead!

Back, whence they came, upon a trail of blood, they must be driven.

Back! back, ay, into the great water whose accursed waves brought them to our shores !

Burn their dwellings! Destroy their stock! Slay their wives and children! The Red Man owns the country, and the Pale-faces must never enjoy it.

War now! War forever! War upon the living! War upon the dead! Dig their very corpses from the grave. Our country must give no rest to a white man's bones.

This is the will of the Great Spirit, revealed to my brother, his familiar, the Prophet of the Lakes. He sends me to you.

All the tribes of the north are dancing the war-dance. Two mighty warriors across the seas will send us arms.

Tecumseh will soon return to his country. My prophets shall tarry with you. They will stand between you and the bullets of your enemies. When the white men approach you the yawning earth shall swallow them up.

u Soon shall you see my arm of fire stretched athwart the sky. I will stamp my foot at Tippecanoe, and the very earth shall shake.'"*

* At the battle of the Holy Ground, which occurred some time after, the prophets left by Tecumseh predicted that the earth would yawn and swallow up General Claiborne and his troops. Tecumseh refers to the Kings of England and Spain, who supplied the Indians with arms at Detroit and at Pensacola. The British officers had informed him that a comet would soon appear [ed. The Great Comet of 1811], and the earthquakes of 1811[ed. the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812] had commenced as he came through Kentucky. Like a consummate orator, he refers to them in his speech. When the comet soon after appeared, and the earth began to tremble, they attributed to him supernatural powers, and immediately took up arms.

Source, pages 59-61
Life and times of Gen. Sam Dale, the Mississippi partisan (1860)
Author: Claiborne, J. F. H. (John Francis Hamtramck), 1809-1884

Unbeknownst to Tecumseh, his brother, Tenskwatawa or "The Prophet," was busy picking a fight with William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe, Indiana shortly thereafter which would severely hamper his plans for an Indian Confederacy on the western borders to stop the ever expanding American frontier.

Ride Suggestion

This ride starts at exit 26 on I-85 to the east of Montgomery, Alabama. In between exit 26 and Tallassee, Alabama, on the banks of the Tallapoosa River, is the historic meeting place of the Creeks called Tuckabatchie where Tecumseh gave his speech to the Creeks. The ride continues through Lake Martin and down the beautiful Highway 9 to Wetumpka. This area is part of the traditional homeland of the Creeks.

Book Recommendations

The Battles of Saratoga - American Revolutionary War

	A tank bag sized guide to the battles with 16 pictures from the ride, a National Park Service map and a custom route map of the 152 mile ride from Stillwater, NY ( approximately 24 miles north of Albany, NY ).
USD $4.99 for electronic PDF	USD $9.99 for laminated hard copy by snail mail

The battle between Radway and Kineton in Warwickshire, known as Edgehill, provided the field for the English Civil War's first major confrontation.
The plodding Earl of Essex had been sent by Parliament to seek out the King's forces before they could reach critical mass and threaten London. Essex probably lost that opportunity by taking his time getting into the Midlands and finding the King's forces. The King wasn't much better in not knowing that Essex was near, until Prince Rupert's patrol stumbled across the Parliamentarian Quartermasters in nearby Wormleighton. The King decided to alight atop Edgehill, which sits about 300 feet above the plain running northwest several miles to the village of Kineton where the Parliamentarians were. Essex moved into the plain and made clear that he would not assault the King on the formidable hill. The King decided to issue battle so he gave the order to descend the hill and make contact.
As would be the case throughout the war, Prince Rupert's cavalry, on the right, would start the action and provide the King with an early advantage by driving the Roundhead cavalry from the field. However, like so many other times to come, Rupert could not control them after the initial assault and they gave chase well beyond the battlefield. Most of the cavalry of both sides was gone from the field when the infantry engagement began. With the Royalist right exposed, Essex sent some of the little remaining horse he had to attack the King's right flank. In the middle, the battle ebbed and flowed back and forth. A hole opened in the middle of the King's lines that another small Parliamentary cavalry force breached and attacked the Royalist artillery and returned to catch fire from its own artillery. A general sense of mayhem and confusion descended on the field, until dark, when both sides retired.
Poor leadership, poor execution and weak will led to a battlefield stalemate that neither side was keen to re-open the next morning. Essex slipped away to the safety of Warwick, leaving the road to London open. However, the King seemed to have lost his initial desire to move on London quickly. All in all, not satisfactory for either side, but nothing strategically significant resulted either.

Rides, Routes and Waypoints

20-30 miles, depending on the options chosen. Take the B4100 out of Banbury, taking the left hand "Y" near Warmington onto the B4086 up to Edgehill escarpment. Follow the B4086 through the battlefield from Edgehill to Kineton to simulate Rupert's advance. Continue through Kineton until you meet the B4455 and turn left and follow to the A422. Turn left on the A422 and follow this beautiful road through countryside and back onto Edgehill from the south. In between, there are multiple lanes through the battlefield, but many end abruptly at the entrance of a MOD installation nearby.
Use Ordnance Survey Landranger map 151 and the battlefield is centred on SP 360490. If using a roadmap, the battlefield is centred between the villages of Radway and Kineton, northwest of Banbury.