A Flag of the Fathers

British wool cloth flag said to have been given to Tecumseh (Shawnee, 1768-1813)
by the British in 1812, National Museum of the American Indian, 23/730
(Photo by Roger A. Whiteside, NMAI)

Molly Stephey, of the National Museum of the American Indian Blog, wrote an interesting and informative post about a British flag in the NMAI's collection which is suspected to have belonged to Tecumseh a Shawnee leader who "joined forces with the British to halt American expansion into the “Old Northwest,” a region now comprised of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin that Tecumseh had hoped would someday become an independent pan-Indian nation."

November 5, 2012

"Before it went on display at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario last month, this British flag from our museum's collection had never been seen by the public before. Though it appears rather tattered, the flag is in remarkable shape considering its age: it turned almost exactly 200-years-old this year.

The flag is special not only for its venerable age and exceptional condition, but also because of its previous owner: the famous Shawnee warrior Tecumseh. As legend has it, Tecumseh received the flag from British Major General Sir Isaac Brock as a symbol of their alliance against the U.S. during the War of 1812."

-Molly Stephey, National Museum of the American Indian Blog

To view the full post, click here.