His description of Tecumseh after the 1810 Wabash meeting — as an “uncommon genius” who could “produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things” — was the assessment of an intelligent observer who was not inclined to flatter his enemies.

Harrison also understood that Tecumseh was not simply a military problem.

Killing the warriors at Tippecanoe would not end the confederacy as long as Tecumseh was alive and building it.

The political project had to be destroyed at its source.

This understanding shaped Harrison’s approach throughout the period: he was not simply trying to defeat Tecumseh militarily but to eliminate him as a political force.

The destruction of Prophetstown was partly tactical — eliminating a supply base and gathering point — and partly political: destroying the symbol and physical reality of pan-Indian cooperation.