The military alliances between the British and Indian tribes that had been maintained after the American Revolution continued into the 1800s, supported by military garrisons and partnerships enhanced by gift-giving. It would be this “Bloody Battle,” the Battle of Tippecanoe, that made it clear to Americans that war with the Indian tribes would certainly be part and parcel of any war with Great Britain and that it was more and more likely to happen. A new more warlike attitude was now in place in Washington as well. The 1810 election resulted in the defeat of many older men of pacifist views and brought in younger politicians from western areas that were affected by the Indian raids.
Along the frontiers of the Northwest territories, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh (1768?-1813) and his brother Tenskwautawa, “the Prophet” (1775?-1837?), had forged a defensive tribal confederacy against the continuing pressures from settlers seeking lands beyond the Appalachian chain. The British governor of Canada and the fur traders working the western frontier actively supported the two chiefs. The summer of 1811 saw an increase in Indian activity against local settlers, basing their operations out of a community at Tippecanoe Creek, near the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers (now Lafayette, Indiana). Finally the governor of Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), took the field, marched up from Vincennes to Tippecanoe Creek, beat back the Indian forces, and razed their village on November 7 and 8, 1811.
This poem takes an entirely partisan approach. There is not a shred of concern over the rights of the Indian people to the hunting grounds and lands that they had been assured by treaties and agreements. The language is colorful and descriptive, but flowery and elevated in its expression. The broadside is, in essence, a recruitment and war promotion piece.
The sentimental text, “Edward, an American Solider,” is also a recruitment lyric, praising the brave soldier, an American who “scorns to whine” and dies on a “bed of honor.” The third and sixth verses on the broadside are the refrain. The lyric appeared in Jovial Songster (1798) as “Edward and Kitty,” and in Mirth and Song (1804) as “Honest Ned.” Here a third verse is given, beginning “Though war’s dread trumpet flew around him / Though dismal groans assail’d his ear.” This text appeared in four songsters between 1798 and 1808 (R. Keller).
