Existing comment:
The Dying Tecumseh
Tecumseh (c 1768-1813) played a key role in Indian resistance to America's post-Revolutionary expansion into the Midwest. A Shawnee chief from the Ohio Valley, Tecumseh was charismatic and politically skillful, creating a coalition among disparate tribes that first sought a diplomatic solution with the settlers and later took up arms. During the War of 1812, he aligned the tribes with the British. After some military success, Tecumseh was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Thames (Ontario) by troops under the command of future president William Henry Harrison.
The sculpture draws on classical work, such as the Dying Gaul from ancient Rome, to mythologize Tecumseh as a hero of the Native people and their tragic fate, a status conveyed to him only after death.
Ferdinand Pettrich, 1856 |