OTD in History: Thames and Tecumseh

A key event in the War of 1812

The War of 1812 is a case study in how Britain didn’t know how to take an L. Still sore over losing the American Revolution to George Washington and a bunch of farmers (cheat code: they had God on their side), they tried a few decades later to retake American lands, and they teamed up with the Indians to make it happen.

One particular Indian leader was Tecumseh, a Shawnee from Ohio, who worked to confederate other Indian tribes in an effort to limit or repel American expansion. The Brits found a common cause with Tecumseh, so they teamed up with him and started stacking Ws (an unfamiliar sensation to Britain at this point). They even retook Detroit (I’m in favor of this today).

But alas, America shall never again be in the hands of the tea-and-crumpet pantywastes who would eventually arrest people for liking memes on Facebook, so future president William Henry Harrison put on his big-boy pants and broke his foot off in Britain’s poppy tommywobbles (that’s what they call an ‘ass’.) They duked it out in the Battle of the Thames, near Ontario, and in that conflict, Tecumseh was killed.

Some years later, a man named Charles Robert Sherman would name his son after Tecumseh, because he held the man in such high regard, for his prowess and skill—this despite Tecumseh and Sherman being on opposite sides of a conflict. (Imagine.) Thus William Tecumseh Sherman was born, known as Tecumseh Sherman in his youth, though he went by William T. Sherman as an adult.

I like this. It’s good to keep the memories of nobility alive, and while I believe wholly in the cause of America, I respect that Tecumseh also went out and fought nobly for his people. Props to him for doing that, and to Charles Sherman for respecting it. Naming his son after an enemy combatant has no doubt helped to keep the memory of Tecumseh alive.

America is cool and good, actually.