WOW!! Peter Stark has brought to life a time and place in our young nation’s history that would forever shape the future of the United States. But I think, more so, it would shape the destiny of all Indigenous tribes. It is the story of the lengths a corrupt, self-serving politician would take to expand the United States and a courageous Shawnee Chief who would rally this country’s first people, to unite and stop the destruction of their way of life. Stark will be presenting this new book in conversation with Montana Poet Laureate Chris LaTray on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. at the Foundation Building in Seeley Lake as part of Alpine Artisans’ Open Book Club. This event is free and everyone is welcome.
It was 1782. The Revolutionary War was over. Proposed was the formation of an Indian state, terminating the United States at the western border of the colonies. Everything west of the boundaries of the colonies would revert to being Indian territory. That was not to occur. Instead, in 1795, the Greenville treaty established the United States western boundary extending the reach of settlers further into traditional lands occupied by Indigenous tribes for centuries.
President Jefferson wanted to continue increasing the territory of the United States, but he indicated he wanted the Indigenous tribes to be treated fairly. “Fairly” was not in the vocabulary of William Henry Harrison who, at the time, governed the vast Indian territory east of the Mississippi river. Tecumseh, a Shawnee, was then rising as a unifying chief among the tribes extending from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico and the Appalachian Mountains far out onto the Great Plains.
As Stark explains, each man had a radically different vision for the heart of North America. Would it go more toward Harrison’s vision of America moving unstoppably westward at the expense of Native American tribes or would Tecumseh’s vision prevail with the unification of native tribes stopping this westward expansion. Stark, with meticulously researched facts, sets forth the details of engagement over nearly the next 20 years. As he explains: the outcome would define “the destiny of both nations”.
Interesting questions are raised. How did the Napoleonic wars in Europe influence what was occurring in the wilds of North America? Why did the Tecumseh and the unified Native tribes join the British in the war of 1812 and what had Harrison done to cement this partnership? How did these events help to determine that ultimate destiny? Peter Stark methodically guides us through those perilous times. Importantly, the story is carefully told in the voices of the two men whose visions would either prevail or fail.
We know the old maxim: “the winner writes the history.” Too often, such a rendering is not factually accurate or truthful. It is clear to me, reading Stark’s acknowledgments at the end of book, he took special care in his research to assure this history was accurate. We may ask at the reading: Why is accuracy so important today, or is it simply that more information is available?
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