Tippecanoe and Tyler Too helped elect a president in 1840, but the 1811 battle behind the slogan was chaotic, muddy and nearly disastrous. This episode traces the collision between Indiana territorial governor William Henry Harrison and the Shawnee spiritual leader Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet.

We examine Harrison’s land acquisitions, including the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne, and Tecumseh’s argument that Native land was held in common by all tribes. Then we follow Harrison’s march on Prophetstown while Tecumseh was away, the unfortified camp, the predawn fighting on November 7, the burning of Prophetstown, and how both men’s reputations rose and fell in the aftermath.

• Tecumseh’s 1810 confrontation with Harrison at Grouseland
• How a multilingual coalition, including Siouan-speaking Ho-Chunk warriors, may have triggered the fight
• Tenskwatawa’s promise that his spells would make American gunpowder useless
• The press backlash over Harrison’s casualties and the New Madrid earthquakes that revived the Prophet’s standing
• How the Whigs rebranded Harrison as the log cabin hero of Tippecanoe in 1840