WEBVTT - Ep. 88: Tecumseh - A Panther Crossing the Sky (Part 1) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:08.880 M. Takoma was the most remarkable Native American leader in 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.960 all of American history. He was a man that tried 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.800 to unite the tribes to hold the Ohio Valley and 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:20.480 the Midwest against American expansion. But his leadership was of 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:25.000 such a great nature. His leadership was so grand that 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:29.080 he was admired not only by Native American people, but 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.840 by the Americans who have posed him, and he has 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.400 emerged as a major folk hero throughout all of the 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.879 United States. On this episode, we're neck deep in the 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:44.160 murky waters of American identity. We're peering into the life 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.080 of the Shawnee leader two Kumsa. I want to understand 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:52.159 his social political context, the foundations of what built him 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:56.680 while trying to understand the extraordinary leadership of this man 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:01.680 whose name means a panther crossing the sky. He was 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.319 a hunter, a warrior, and exceptional orator. He was a 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:10.240 revolutionary leader, considered a genius, and though he was an 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.240 enemy of the United States, his legacy was grafted into 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.680 our national character. And I believe that he's an American hero. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.560 In this series, we're gonna hear from the current chief 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:27.039 of the Shawnee Nation, Chief Ben Barnes and New York 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:31.960 Times bestselling author Robert Morgan. We'll hear from Peter Cosens 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:37.240 and acclaimed historian and author, and from Native American historian 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.440 Dr Dave Edmonds. We got these guys stacked in here deep, 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.160 and in all my work on this here Burgary's podcast. 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.800 I don't think I've ever had to dig as deep 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.920 into the American bone yard to get the goods. I 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.840 really doubt that you're gonna want to miss this one. 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.120 My name is Clay Nukelem, and this is the Bear 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:13.160 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.800 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:21.079 story of Americans who lived their lives close to the land, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:27.280 presented by f HF gear, American made purpose built hunting 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.880 and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:45.240 the places we explore. The being within. Communing with past 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.560 ages tells me that once nor lately there was no 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.120 white man on this continent, that it then belonged to 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.640 the Red Man. Children of the same parents placed on 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.040 it by the great spirit that made them to keep it, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.760 to traverse it, to enjoy its productions, and to fill 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.480 it with the same race, once a happy race, since 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.079 made miserable by the white people, who are never contented, 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.760 but always encroaching the way. And the only way to 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.000 check and stop this evil is for all red men 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:23.280 to unite in claiming a common and equal right in 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.440 the land, as it was at first and should be yet, 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.040 for it never was divided, but belongs to all for 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.160 the use of each, For no part has a right 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:39.160 to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers, 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.120 those who want all and will not do with less. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:48.960 Two cups spoken to William Henry Harrison in eight ten, 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.360 Two CUMPSA. I'd like you to take an inventory of 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.560 everything you know about him. Did you know what tribe 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.280 was from when he was alive? Have you heard of 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.120 towns or businesses or people named after him? If you're 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.000 an American, I'm certain you've heard his name. And if 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.000 you're into how things came to be as they are 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.880 on this continent, you'll want to know what he did 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.120 and if things had just gone slightly different for him, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.040 these contiguous United States we know today would have an 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:36.280 Indian nation occupying the likes of what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.560 and Wisconsin. Maybe even bigger. Two Comes to command of 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.960 the largest Native American forces ever rallied against the United States, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.880 larger even than any of the Indian wars of the West. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.599 And interesting to me, Two comesa is considered by many 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.320 to be one of the greatest orators in American history. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.599 That's right, all of American history. I'm in search of 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.560 learning who this man was and what drove him to 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.880 his death on the battlefield on a cool October day 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:12.000 in eighteen thirteen. His passing scattered to the winds the 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.280 unified Native American forces and marked the end of their 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.200 most serious resistance east of the Mississippi, and soon after 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.280 most of the weakened tribes moved west. Two Comes to 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.680 his death was the end of an epoch of governance 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:31.479 of the great Native American civilizations in the eastern one 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.279 third of this continent. But much of his life doesn't 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:39.400 make sense to me, and I need answers. Well, why 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.360 don't you begin with the paradox of comps being for 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.160 most of his life an enemy of the United States, 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.520 but being one of the most celebrated people of that 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:54.800 era by Americans, but on stamps the statues to him, Now, 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.880 why would that be Why would he be so celebrated 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.240 in the country he fought again? That was the voice 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.159 of New York Times bestselling author Robert Morgan. He was 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.520 also the author of The Boon Biography, which me and 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.960 Steve Rinella love so much. I'm after the answer to 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:18.680 his question, why did our young country love this man 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:23.360 who would today be labeled a domestic terrorist. But let's 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.320 get things straight from the beginning. We're all gonna have 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.280 to gather up and put on our learning caps if 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.920 we even want to pretend to understand what was actually 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.719 going on with Twokumpsa. If you want to listen to 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.680 some soft rock and scroll through TikTok, then this series 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:45.279 probably isn't going to be your favorite. So first of all, 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.760 you can't talk about two Kumsa without talking about his brother, 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.720 Tim Squattawa, also known as the Prophet. These boys are 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.880 inseparable and started a movement or a revolution that sought 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.279 to stifle the expansion of the United States and unite 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:06.520 the Indian tribes like never before into one Indian nation. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:11.360 A Pan Indian confederacy. Bam, that's it. That's the term. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.840 You gotta remember, Pan Indian Confederacy. It's everything in this story. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.320 But Two Comes his life was so much bigger than 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.800 just being a military leader. He was called a genius 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.840 by US President William Henry Harrison. We're now going to 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.320 hear from Dr Dave Edmonds of the University of Texas 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.560 at Dallas. He's a distinguished author with more accolades related 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.000 to Native American history than we've got room to tell. 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.880 He's going to help set the context for Two Comes 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:45.040 to his life. I mean, first of all, Two Comes 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.240 is a remarkable man. He's one of the few Native 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.680 American leaders that his opponents at the time admired. You. 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.480 You almost never find any kind of historical reference to 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.720 Two Comes that's negative. And the more you read about him, 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:01.600 he's it's it's some way that's sort of hard to 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.880 do biography of him, because it's he kind of transcends 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.400 history and folklore and this figure emerges out of there 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:15.320 when when the movement first starts, he's not mentioned. Everything 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.200 that's mentioned is this prophet, this prophet, this strange man. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.120 And so as time went on, I began to realize 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.840 that the movement starts sort of as a as a 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.000 religious movement, it becomes his brother. And but at this time. 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.480 Things are very bad for tribal people in the Midwest. 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.240 I mean, they're losing their lands. There have been a 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.920 lot of diseases that have swept through. Some of them 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.800 have been picked up and partying beginning to move them west. 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.200 Things are just going very bad. It seems like the 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:50.360 world is kind of collapsing around them. And the Shawnees 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.240 believe that there are two forces in the world. There's 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:57.000 the Master of Life, which is the major power in 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.680 the universe. What you want out of life is harmony, 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:01.760 to of the way the Master of Life wants you 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.120 to live. But there's a bad force in it, to 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.839 the Great the Great Serpent. And these forces fly back 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.920 and forth. And many of them believe that by in 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.760 the eighteen or eighteen hundreds that the Great Serpent was 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:20.120 was gaining the upper ground. The Great Serpent was gaining 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.240 the upper ground. When you look at what was happening 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.559 to their civilization, it's hard to argue with their synopsis 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.000 and the proceeding four hundred years. As much as eight 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.040 of the Native American population was killed by disease brought 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:38.199 over by Europeans, let alone the amount killed in warfare. 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.079 Perhaps some Norse colonies were established in North America as 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:46.520 early as one thousand BC, but systematic European exploration and 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:50.640 colonization began in the late fourteen hundreds. My friend Taylor 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.280 Keen of the Omaha Tribe says that the idea that 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:59.720 Europeans landed in an uninhabited wilderness just isn't true. There 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:04.800 us no wilderness, but rather a great civilization. But the 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.880 world view of the inhabitants, their land, ethic, and every 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.880 possible ideology of how a human should live was different 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.840 than the Europeans. To them, it looked like wilderness. To 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.679 the Native Americans, it looked like a well ordered, established civilization. 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.880 Primarily because of disease brought over by Europeans, the great 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.800 Native American cities dried up, and with it their history, 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:34.800 their tradition, their ability to protect themselves, their economies. They 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:42.280 were sept dry by an invisible enemy. These are the 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.920 words of ten Squattawa, the prophet to come to his brother. 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:52.520 A wind blew west over the Atlantic, driving before it 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:57.200 a frothy foam or scum. It blew this scum, which 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.360 was evil and unclean, upon the shore or of the 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.600 American continent. And the scum took form. The form that 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.839 it took was that of a white man, of many 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:12.559 white people, both men and women. Wherever the scum lodged 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.800 on the shore of the continent, it took this form. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.880 The Native Americans knew their civilization was in trouble. In 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:26.520 the seventeen sixties, a Delaware profit named Niolan proclaimed that 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:31.040 quote the whites would be wiped from the continent, game 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.400 animals would return in abundance, and the earth would become 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:39.439 an Indian paradise end of quote. As a civilization, they 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.120 were clearly looking for a remedy against this threat. They 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.000 were looking for a way forward. And going back to 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.760 what Tin Squad was said, this kind of language today 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.360 spoken about any race of people is pretty rough. But 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.160 looking at the situation two in years later, and knowing 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.200 the broken treaties and the outright atrocties committed by the 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:03.040 American government towards the tribes, his reasoning seems logical. It's 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.480 kind of mind boggling to me. And I'm not bringing 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:10.560 these things up as racial or political statements, so I 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.440 wouldn't let them tickle either of those taters. I love 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:18.960 America and am deeply grateful to be an American no doubt, 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.640 but it's unrealistic to view the America we know today 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.560 without acknowledging that it came at the cost of almost 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:31.160 extra painting a pre existing civilization of people. That's just 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.520 the way it happened. And as a separate idea, I 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.520 don't view this story as their history and our history 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.360 as in Native American and white European. I mean, most 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.960 of my descendants were White Europeans, but the Native American 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.800 influence on early American identity as undeniable and significant. The 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.599 America that emerged in the nineteenth century was radically influenced 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:01.040 by Native Americans. I think the difference between European today 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.880 and the gritty, close to the land American identity that 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.280 lives in so many of the people that I know 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:11.319 in love in this America is linked to that Native 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:16.360 American influence. Hang with me. Daniel Boone was America's earliest 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:21.360 non political folk hero and archetype because of, I believe 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.120 and many others, the Native American influence on his life. 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.200 Indians taught Daniel Boone how to be Daniel Boone, and 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.920 Daniel Boone taught us a lot about American identity that 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.880 governed that got deep quick. But we have to set 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:41.160 the stage and this isn't an easy one. All this 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.160 is important because it forms the context of it comes 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.600 to his life. He was born into a literal war 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.000 zone and a cultural war zone in the spring of 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:56.719 seventeen sixty eight. The circumstances around his birth are quite extraordinary. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.839 This is the voice of author Peter Cozens. He's a 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.360 eating historian on the life of Tecumsa. After he wrote 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.079 a book called Tecumsa and the Prophet. I think it's 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:11.120 a really great book. One of the interesting dates and 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.560 tcums his life is indeed his birthday, you know, for 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.720 two reasons. He was born just after this comment shots 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.600 through the air over the skies of the southern Ohio 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:26.520 and one of Tecums's mother's friends saw that, and that 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:30.080 became part of his name. Uh two comes as a 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.960 short form of a larger Shawnee word meaning one who 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:38.920 passes across. The Kamsa belonged to the Panther clan. There 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.720 were twelve at a time, twelve clans among the Shawnee. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.800 There both of them were named for animals. Depending on 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.360 the clan you were born into, you were expected to 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.960 emulate the traits of the animal and panthers were very common, 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.720 you know, in the forest mountain. Yeah, they were very 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.680 common predators, absolutely, and you know the traits of the 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:04.240 pan through where stealth, strength, speed, and those were traits 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.920 that you expected to emulate if you're a boy. So 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.320 in t comes his case, he who passed across would 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.720 have been a celestial panther crossing the sky from one 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.040 end of the Earth to the other. And so it 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.120 was in his a panther crossing the sky. De comes 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.840 his name means a panther crossing the sky. How cool 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:29.560 is that? But the pronunciation of his name is elusive. 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.400 They say that it was probably closer to to come 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.040 fifth with a fifth on the end of it, which 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.320 is odd to our ear. A man today could only 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.440 wish he was named after a panther. Comet celestial signs 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.000 in the sky at the birth of people who become 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.480 great is very interesting to me. Mark Twain was born 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.880 under the tailings of Haley's comet in eighteen thirty five. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.680 Jesus was born under an unusually bright star some believe 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.200 was a planetary con junction of Jupiter and Saturn appearing 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.120 close together. Some would chalk off the account of two 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.280 combs his birth comment to folk lore, but the story 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.840 was relayed by multiple sources who knew two comes in 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.320 any way you slice it. The Panther clan of the 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:18.080 Shawnees were thought to be the best hunters and warriors. 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.400 It's recorded folklore or no folklore. I don't really care 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.280 that tucks in wall two comes his father. In accordance 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:30.640 with Shawnee tradition, Buried two comes his umbilical cord with 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.840 the antlert of a young buck to help him grow 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.520 into a mighty hunter man. I wish I'd known that 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.200 trick when my kids were born. Here is Shawnee chief 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:46.560 Ben Barnes Unto comes his childhood. You know, when I 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.360 think about two Comes, I think about the child that 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.400 he must have been and growing up in that family 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.480 one of those those families were starting to disappear. By that, 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.880 I mean, is the way that you understand your family 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.440 is different the way that I understand my family. It's 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.200 actually the way that you understand your family is different 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.320 than the way that most of the world understands their family. 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.560 I see a lot of disconnect in the dominant society 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.760 where folks don't keep in touch with family way in 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.520 traditional communities into comps the traditional community, all of his 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.080 mama's sisters would have been his mom's, All of his 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.800 dad's brothers would have been his dad's. He would have 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.920 had a score of grandparents or more. All of those 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.080 siblings that are coming out of these these that he 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:29.760 would call it with it, you and I would call cousins, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.840 are his siblings. And so he had this huge family 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:35.520 wrapped around the match once you were if you were 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.280 wrapped around by that much family, you know, in the 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.600 times we live in now, having that big of a 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.159 nurturing community, you know, would have a lot of value. 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:45.960 We don't feel so separate and isolated. So that was 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.080 the child he grew up to be. He sees that 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.400 he sees the beginnings of that that community being shattered. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.240 Him and other disaffective young men as teenagers, they're seeing 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.720 the lessons of people like Bluejacket and others. It's like, yeah, yeah, 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.639 look at what we did battle of you know that 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:01.560 some here's defeat. Look at that we can we can 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:03.919 do this growing up being a young man. So how 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.119 come how come they're talking about a peaceman again? How 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:07.880 can they trying on what they want to they want 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:10.560 to do with it, will do anything they can stand Ohio. Well, 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.440 that that didn't sit well with some of those young 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:16.320 meant so it's thinking about him as a person, you know, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.080 and starting with, you know, what that community looked like 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.880 and how that community is in the process of shattering 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:26.400 in front of his very eyes. Two Comes his foundations 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:30.320 coming to time when Shawnee communities were being shattered. To 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.639 understand the social dynamics of really what was happening in 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:38.119 the Native American communities, their social structure is essential to understand. 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.679 But what built two Comes his functional identity wasn't nearly 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:47.919 as romantic but tragic. Two Comes was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:53.440 Nobody's really sure. His father and mother attended a conference 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.720 that the Shawnee leadership had called at the Shawnee village 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.120 of Chillicothee, which is a bit distant from modern day 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.560 Chili Coffee, closer to Zenio, Ohio than it is Chilla Coffee. 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.879 So they were experiencing these you know, initial in roads 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:14.200 in Kentucky, initial probing long Ohio River from Virginia surveyors 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.080 than others were starting to stake out land in the 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.439 Ohio valley, and so the Shawnee leadership got together to 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:23.520 pose a question, should we stay here or should we 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:27.199 migrate west in Mississippi. And so it comes to his 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.800 father procussion Way, and his mother attended this conference while 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.400 she was like a plus pregnant. So at the time 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.440 of his birth, literally his family was in the midst 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.560 of deciding what to do about these European interlopers coming 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:46.359 into our land that we've had for tom immemorial, not 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:48.520 long that they'd had it at one time, but then 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:50.919 they lost it to the Iroquois. Just come back to 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.119 it from there, that you know, diaspora that happened in 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.480 the sixteen Dred just reclaimed it. And now here we 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.640 have a potential new threat. And I mean, even though 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.679 the trickle of whites coming into the country was just 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.359 that a trickle, a lot of the Shawnee could kind 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:13.000 of see the handwriting on the wall. History is more 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:17.240 complex than an easy narrative. Some recorded that Takomsta was 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.679 born two arrow flights southeast of Chillicothe, Ohio. I like 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:25.200 that unit of measurement in the big picture, the Native 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:31.040 American people had been quote here since time immemorial, essentially 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:34.600 meaning so far back that it can't be traced. However, 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.280 in a shorter view, the Shawnees had just returned to 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.919 the section of Ohio and now it was illegally filling 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.320 up with English colonists. This was before America was America. 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:48.639 It was seventeen sixty eight, and the American Revolution wouldn't 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.400 happen until the mid seventeen seventies. The land was literally 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.560 and lawfully owned by the Native Americans, but it was 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.560 really messy, and in order to understand the situation, one 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:03.040 has to stopped themselves from seeing the current structure of 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:07.280 the United States and imagine another country coming to our 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:13.040 America today and literally stealing our land and building their government. 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.360 It would not be any different. The Native people were 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:21.919 in personal crisis, can you imagine the stress? And Tecumsa 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:24.760 was born right in the thick of it, but was 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.119 riddled with his own personal crisis, a string of war 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:34.160 related deaths of important figures in his life. So two 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.800 Coups is born seventy eight and and he's born right 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:43.840 in the beginning heat of European movement into Indian territory 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:46.840 west of the Appalachian Mountains. And two comes to his 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.520 life if he had a landscape version of his life. 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.560 The first twenty years you would see an incredible amount 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:56.560 of instability. So the chief, the main leader of the Shawnees, 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.480 dyes Cornstalk, who would have been influential in his life. 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.880 Then his father dies, and then he's kind of semi 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:08.159 adopted by Blackfish, who's another Shawnee leader who also is 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:10.920 killed in battle. So by the time two Coomesa is 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:14.359 a teenager, three very influential men in his life have 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:24.400 been killed essentially at war or straight up murdered. Two 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.200 comes to was six years old when his father died 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:30.240 at the Battle of Point Pleasant in West Virginia in 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:34.720 seventeen seventy four. His older brother chis Aqua was there 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:38.040 and buried him in the forest near where he fell. 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:43.800 Can you imagine burying your dad in the forest. He 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:47.440 was charged by his father to raise his younger siblings 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.800 and fight for Indian lands. Chis Aqua would have great 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:54.720 influence on the child two Compsa. He considered it an 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.199 honor to fall in battle, and chis Aqua said quote 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:01.560 he didn't wish to be buried at home like an 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:05.479 old squaw, but preferred the fouls of the air should 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:10.040 pick his bones. These words would be like an injection 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:13.600 of lightning into the identity and world view of a child. 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.960 And in sevent chis Aqua two comes To his older 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:21.400 brother would also die in battle. Two comes To would 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:24.920 have been twenty four years old. The sting and stinch 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:29.080 of death hovered over this man like a fog. But 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:34.520 that wasn't all. And adding to that, the most important 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.600 woman in his life is gone, because when he was 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:41.720 still a boy, his mother picked up and with almost 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:43.760 half the Shawnee. This was during the course of the 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:48.040 Revolutionary War. We're being pushed north and about thousands of 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.000 the Shawnee. He just upped and decided to move west 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:55.560 of the Mississippi into what was then Spanish Louisiana and 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:59.240 take advantage of an offer by the Spaniards to come 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:03.040 live there, basically as a buffer against hostile plains Indians. 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:05.919 So she left, I mean she had banded her kids, 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:08.560 she had banned, and two comes To and his younger 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:12.720 brother were left to be brought up essentially by blackfish, 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:16.600 while he lived by two comes his older sister take 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:19.480 when and her husband? What do you make of his 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:22.480 mother leaving him? That that didn't compete with me. It 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:26.960 didn't compete with me either. I still doesn't Shawnee generally speaking, 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:30.240 in and they not only doated on their children, but 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:32.679 they deeply loved their children. And they had family with 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:34.800 the Shawnee and the other tribes in Midwest. It was 0:24:34.920 --> 0:24:39.640 family first, then clan, then what they call we call division, 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:42.800 which is a number of clans that shared a similar 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.840 sort of function within Shawnny society. And then you were Shawnee, 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:49.920 and just after and after that, you're an Indian. And 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:53.159 for for a mother to to abandon, I mean she 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:56.880 was sacrificing in their patrimony because she was so bereft 0:24:56.920 --> 0:24:59.879 at having lost her husband. But she then she was 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:02.280 following her own clan. I guess any way you look 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:05.440 at it, it would be the result of a society 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:09.639 that's in crisis, crisis at falling apart. So that is 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:14.640 the foundation of this young two combs, his life absolutely 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:17.080 born into born into a time of turmoil and raising, 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:20.879 a time of constant warfare and chaos and uncertainty. And 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:26.080 that becomes the foundation for everything that he's gonna do 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:28.840 and fight for in the future. And it's so interesting 0:25:28.960 --> 0:25:31.359 to me when you think about the response that people 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:36.200 have to crisis because presumably there were many in that 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:40.359 society and other societies that have fallen apart. In today's society, 0:25:40.520 --> 0:25:43.720 our society that in some ways is breaking apart, is 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:47.320 there's people that respond very negatively to that, and it 0:25:47.640 --> 0:25:51.040