But they might have established something: a period of recognized sovereignty, an international precedent, a delay long enough to allow a more settled political arrangement to emerge.

What actually happened was that Tecumseh died at the Thames, the confederacy collapsed immediately, and within a generation the entire Northwest Territory was cleared of organized Native resistance.

The speed and completeness of that clearing is itself evidence of how much the confederacy had been the preventing force.

The Fire Spreads South: The Creek War’s Lessons

The Creek War of 1813-1814 provides the most direct evidence of both the power and the limits of Tecumseh’s influence.

The Red Sticks who launched the Creek War were implementing Tecumseh’s argument: resist or be dispossessed.