Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!

As we wrap up our time here in Indiana, we decided we needed to stop by a few of the places we talked about going before we left. Yesterday, we got a taste of a little American history as we went to visit the Tippecanoe Battlefield. This is the site where William H. Harrison, then a future president of the US, made his name.

In short, there was a town not to far from this location where the Indian nations had formed a confederation capital that was known as Prophet's Town because they were led by a man they called the Prophet. The Prophet and his brother Tecumseh were trying to unite many Indian tribes together in order to resist the further expansion of white settlers in their territory. William Harrison went out to the area in with an armed militia. He sent representatives to meet with the Indians and they all agreed to avoid hostilities until a meeting could be held on the following day. Before the crack of dawn the next day, the Indians decided to surprise attack the militia men. They felt confident they could win because the Prophet told his men that he knew they would not get hurt because the militia's bullets would turn to dust before they hit them. William Harrison had suspected something like this might happen, so his men were prepared that night. In the end, the Indians' attempt failed, and defeated, they stripped the Prophet of his power and evacuated Prophet's Town.

Years later when William Harrison was running for President, there was a massive rally thrown for him at Tippecanoe Battlefield. He had been nick-named "Old Tipp" because of the role he had played in the battle. His presidential slogan became "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" (Tyler was his vice presidential candidate.) After his successful bid for the office, William Harrison (AKA - Old Tipp) had the shortest presidency of all because he died months after taking office.

There's your US history refresher for the day, and now on to the pictures...