Tenskwatawa preached unity and helped to improve the morale of his people by encouraging them to pursue traditional ways. He also remained resolute in his rejection from his family and the of United States authority and acculturation to the Euro-American way of life. After the defeat of his people at the Battle of Tippecanoe, the Prophet spent the remainder of his life trying to regain some of his previous political power. Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh along with their followers were not successful in achieving the long-term results they wanted. They lost a difficult and violent struggle that deprived them of their lands in the Northwest Territory, largely because of the relentlessness and large-scale efforts of the United States, but their defiance was a noble effort. Because most white Americans of his era were unfamiliar with Native American culture, they did not understand the Prophet's religious movement. Since his death in 1836, the Prophet has been relegated to a secondary role. Those who knew Tenskwatawa after 1825, when he no longer had his previous influence as a religious leader, described him as a "shallow opportunist." However, it was Tenskwatawa, not Tecumseh, who provided the spiritual foundation for the Indian resistance movement in the Midwest in the years immediately preceding the War of 1812. In the Indiana Territory, the violence that erupted between the U.S. and the pan-Indian alliance that Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh established at Prophetstown led to the relocation of territorial capital from Vincennes to Corydon, Indiana. In addition, U.S. efforts to remove Indian inhabitants from the Indiana Territory increased after the War of 1812 and led to their forced removal to reservations in the trans-Mississippi west. See also Native American temperance activists Citations General and cited references (Argues the Prophet was much more important than Tecumseh.) * Further reading Thom, James Alexander, Panther in the Sky, a historical novel featuring Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa. External links The Emigrant Tribes . wyandotte-nation.org (pdf) Battle Ground, Indiana Prophet's Rock Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 1775 births 1836 deaths Burials in Kansas Indiana in the War of 1812 Native American history of Indiana Native American history of Kansas Native American leaders Native American temperance activists Native Americans in Indiana Native Americans in the War of 1812 Prophets Religious figures of the indigenous peoples of North America 18th-century Shawnee people 19th-century Shawnee people Tecumseh Witch hunters