He had lost an eye in a childhood accident.

He had a reputation as a lazy, drunken failure in his early years.

Nothing in his early life suggested that he would become one of the most important religious figures in the history of the Great Lakes region.

Then, in 1805, he had a transformative religious experience.

He fell into what was described as a trance — possibly a seizure or episode of severe illness — and when he recovered, he described visions he had received from the Master of Life, the supreme spiritual being in Shawnee religious tradition.

The message of these visions was revolutionary: Native peoples should reject European material culture.