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Listen, Father! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land; neither are we sure they have done so by water--we therefore wish to remain here and fight our enemy... Tecumseh to the British, Tippecanoe, 1811
Jacob Lawrence American
Not on view
This dynamic scene depicts American soldiers battling warriors belonging to a confederacy of Indigenous peoples led by Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and supported by the British Empire. Lawrence derived the panel’s title from a speech the chief delivered to British General Henry A. Proctor, in which he emphasized his nation’s fervent desire to continue fighting for their lands against all odds. Despite the decisive defeat of the Native and British in 1811 at Tippecanoe (in present-day Indiana), Lawrence recreates a violent moment when the fight had not yet been lost. However, his layering of the American soldiers on top of the Indigenous figures seems to allude to the federation’s eventual defeat.
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