Benjamin Drake

The Life of Tecumseh and His Brother The Prophet Benjamin Drake

This is the story of Tecumseh, Chief of the Shawnees, who organized a Confederacy of Western Indian Tribes in order to resist further land cessions to the white man. Knowing of the growing tension between England and the United States, he looked to Britain for aid which she was willing to supply. The author has added to the main work a brief historical narrative of the Shawnee nation, with biographical sketches of several of its most distinguished chiefs. Written in 1841, less than 35 years after Tecumseh's death, the author uses many original sources to bring him and the Shawnee back to life. Benjamin Drake was born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1794. He moved to Cincinnati about 1815, was admitted to the bar about 1825, and practiced law during the remainder of his life. In 1830 he established and became editor of The Western Agriculturist, and subsequently edited the Cincinnati Chronicle. His published works include: Cincinnati in 1826 (with E. D. Mansfield, 1827); The Western Agriculturist and Practical Farmer's Guide (1830); The Life and Adventures of Black Hawk, with Sketches of Keokuk, the Sac and Fox Indians, and the Late Black Hawk War (1838); Life of Gen. William Henry Harrison (with Col. Charles S. Todd, 1840); and Life of Tecumseh, and his Brother the Prophet, with a Historical Sketch of the Shawanee Indians (1841). He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 1, 1841.