James Huston

Counterpoint: Tecumseh vs. William Henry Harrison James Huston

Counterpoint is a saga of theconflict of cultures between White settlers and Indian inhabitants of the Old Northwest as personified in the rivalry between Tecumseh andWilliam Henry Harrison.¿ Alternating fromone to the other, it traces the early training and education of each, Tecumseh's disappointing romances, including his deep friendship with the WhiteRebekah Galloway, and Harrison'searly disappointments in love until his enduring romance with Anna Symmes. It goes on to relate their riseto positions of leadership among their respective people - Tecumseh, as thegreat war chief, with his brother, The Prophet, who became the spiritualleader; Harrison, as Governor of the Indiana Territory for twelve years andthen as commander in chief of the Northwestern Army during the War of 1812. They first met in the Battle ofFallen Timbers, when Anthony Wayne's Legion defeated a combination of Indiansunder Blue Jacket.¿ Later came theconfrontations at Vincennes; Harrison's move against Prophet's Town and theBattle of Tippescanow while Tecumseh was away; theirencounter at Fort Meigs in northwestern Ohio, and atlast the showdown at the Battle of the Thames in Canada. Many people consider WilliamHenry Harrison the ablest of all the territorial governors.¿ Many consider Tecumseh the greatest Indian ofthem all.¿ On the one side there wasdaring and bold enterprise and struggle to reach out to a bright, promisingfuture.¿ On the other there was daringand bold enterprise and struggle to hold to a present against the despairingprospect of no future at all.