The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier by Adam Jortner (review)

BOOK REVIEWS WINTER 2012 81 The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier Adam Jortner What began as Adam Jortner’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Virginia has morphed into a great read that compares and contrasts the cultural background , personal histories, and political status and views of American Major General William Henry Harrison and the Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawa before, during, and after the War of 1812. Jortner’s book offers new insight into the old and often mythic narratives surrounding the cultural and political contests of the early nineteenth century, American westward movement , and Native American turmoil, despair, fragmentation, and destruction. Jortner’s cultural history approach provides a more complete understanding of the two protagonists and the cultures from which they originated. His refreshing study is perceptive, remarkably well balanced, well researched, and thorough. Jortner’s conclusions depend on an array of primary documentation drawn from a variety of American and international repositories . He understands well the Virginia plantation society and culture from which Harrison hailed and how it shaped his efforts to improve his social position. Jortner also explores the parallel rise of Tenskwatawa. The Prophet committed his life to protecting the Shawnees’ Midwestern homeland, thereby enhancing his political and social influence among his people. “Like Tenskwatawa,” Jortner writes, “Harrison was a younger son and thus not perceived as destined for greatness.…And, like Tenskwatawa, Harrison had an older brother being groomed to fill their father’s shoes” (37). Jortner offers powerful concluding remarks about the parallels between the two men in his epilogue entitled “The Funeral” (225-32). Examining the lives and accomplishments of both men and pondering “what if” questions about their careers, the closing chapter highlights and puts in perspective their respective contributions to their people and country. Both men, Jortner concludes, remain forever linked by war and by their often parallel ideologies. But The Gods of Prophetstown does more than compare and contrast the personalities, dreams, and goals of Tenskwatawa and Harrison. With Adam Jortner. The Gods of Prophetstown:The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 320 pp. ISBN: 9780199765294 (cloth), $27.95. BOOK REVIEWS 82 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY insight and balance, Jortner examines the ideological roots of Euro-American deism and Native American shamanism. His study will remind readers of the work of anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace, even if Jortner rightfully critiques Wallace’s analysis of Native American revitalization movements and the shifting ideologies of early nineteenth century Shawnee culture (9-10). Unfortunately, Jortner displays a similar lack of understanding of the late prehistoric history of the Eastern Woodlands (16-17), and in particular the archaeology and anthropology of the Mississippian cultural tradition. He also misidentifies the location of the Cahokia Mounds, which lie near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers rather than the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But Jortner has not written a monograph about the archaeology and late prehistory of the Midwest, and he should be applauded for his efforts to reach back in time and sketch the historical foundations of eighteenth century Native America. If readers seek one book about the early national West during the War of 1812, The Gods of Prophetstown should be their choice. Historians owe Jortner a debt of gratitude for his detailed examination of the ideological and cultural values of William Henry Harrison and Tenskwatawa, two different yet strikingly similar historical figures. Kenneth C. Carstens Murray State University The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest Alec R. Gilpin In 1958, Alec Gilpin published The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, the first scholarly account of that struggle. This bicentennial reprint edition of Gilpin’s work augments the original with a new cover, a revised map, and an introduction by Brian Dunnigan that includes an author profile. Gilpin’s study chronicles the wilderness war in which large but poorly organized American armies sought to break the Anglo-Native alliance and invade what United States President James Madison called “Uppermost Canada.” Strategically, the West was the least vital of the three “Canadian” theaters, but also the scene of intense fighting. The British...