deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.)

Being a vexillologist, flags always catch my attention. We visited one of the most impressive museums in the country recently, The First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Where a flag caught my eye.

Good museums investigate and authenticate pieces that are offered to them by collectors. They make sure the piece is the real thing. This flag is the actual nim’ hika (British Flag) given to First American leader, Tecumseh in 1811. Tecumthé (Shawnee pronunciation) was likely born in the Shawnee town of Chillicothe Ohio. He was the fifth of eight children. Tecumseh became a chief of a small town in Ohio. Various tribes kept ‘ceding’ land to the British.

Tecumseh’s younger brother, Tenskwatawa, became a prophet and founded a religious movement that opposed the European ethos and colonialization of land. ‘How could anyone own the land?’ Tecumseh became one of his brother’s most ardent supporters.

In a famous 1810 meeting Tecumseh accosts William Henry Harrison (‘Old Tippecanoe’) over the Treaty of Fort Wayne. Tecumseh had organized an intertribal confederacy to counter U.S. Expansion. After this he travels all over this part of the continent to recruit allies to oppose colonialism.

Tecumseh joins forces with British Commander Issac Brock in 1811, where he is given this British flag to use as a recruiting tool and then joins in with the British against the Americans in the War of 1812. The Americans eventually ‘win’ the war of 1812 but it is a tough, hard fought series of battles. Tecumseh helps the British win some important skirmishes and continues to organize tribes to oppose American expansion.

At Fort Meigs in Ohio, the British rout the Americans and take a large number of prisoners. Tecumseh led 1,200 warriors. After the battle some of the tribal members want to exact more revenge against the Americans and begin killing the prisoners. Tecumseh steps in and prevents them from killing any more prisoners.

The war drags on. In 1813 Tecumseh reluctantly agreed to help British Commander Proctor in a battle in Ohio near the river Thames. Out numbered 3 to 1, and with Proctor retreating Tecumseh is killed in Battle.

Yellow Hawk carried the flag into the Battle of The Thames and it eventually ended up in the hands of the collector. He donated,it to The First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.

[Aside: I find it interesting that a small town in Michigan would name itself Tecumseh. Chief Tecumseh organized and fought hard against ‘The American Way of Life’. I can understand a city in Canada taking the name, they are part of the commonwealth.]