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Caption: Grand Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee, circa 1807
Tecumseh (circa 1768 – 1813) had an impressive bearing and a charismatic personality. Canadian militia officer Thomas Vercheres de Boucherville described the Shawnee chief at a diner in 1813: ‘Tecumseh was seated at my left with his pistols on either side of his plate and his big hunting knife in front of him. He wore a red cloak, trousers of deerskin, and a printed calico shirt, the whole outfit a present of the English. His bearing was irreproachable for a man of the woods as he was, much better than some so-called gentlemen.’ It is uncertain that this widely published 19th century print is an actual likeness of Tecumseh. It is reputedly based on a pencil sketch made from life in 1807 at Vincennes, Indiana by Canadian fur trader Pierre Le Dru.
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