of the chapter so we get a sense of how it works. how does anti-semitic writing work? why was it so much more successful than the protocols? you will instantly see because he seems to be explaining contemporary events. then we will talk about erin sapir up -- aaron sapiro, who is the person who sues ford. there is a new book on that subject. a rather interesting court case. any questions comments? >> join us each saturday evening at 8:00 and midnight for classroom lectures from across the country on different topics and eras of american history. lectures are also available as podcasts. visit our website or download them from itunes.

>> this year, c-span is touring cities across the country exploring american history. next, a look at our recent visit to lafayette and west lafayette, indiana. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> ♪ >> we are at the sight of the battle of tippecanoe which was fought november 7, 1811, just over 200 years ago. it was one of the events that

cleared the way for indiana statehood which will have its 200th anniversary in 2016. the treaty of greenville brought an end to what had been called the northwest indian wars in the 1790's. it was the beginning of the united states being able to take control of the northwest territory, which it gained title to in the treaty of paris in 1783. it brought about a generation of uneasy peace on the frontier but it also, in the early years of the 19th century, saw the beginnings of a native revivalist movement under the leadership of a shawnee holy man which the whites referred to as the shawnee prophet. his movement was quite successful and attracted lots of followers.

in 1808, he moved his headquarters to the confluence of the tippecanoe and wabash rivers. it was to become the new headquarters and training ground of an alliance that was forming and becoming rather large. you have profits down -- profit town set up on the wabash river that basically set up an international boundary between u.s. lands and native-held lands. in 1800, the indiana territory had been created out of the old northwest territory, and william henry harrison had been appointed governor. in 1809, the year after the founding of profits town harrison on behalf of the government negotiated a treaty with tribes in this area, which turned over about 3 million acres of southern indiana to the u.s. government. this is the event that really set the two sides on a collision course.

the doctrine at prophetstown was all indian or native peoples are one people, and no land can be sold or turned over without unanimous consent. the 1809 treaty was negotiated with people who had long-standing claims to residentsce in this area. they did not invite others to the treaty. prophetstown was a direct challenge to the united states. the 1809 treaty was a direct challenge to the influence of the alliance at prophetstown which by this time was increasingly coming under the influence of the prpophet's

rather, whose name was tecumseh. in 1810, tecumseh and 300-400 warriors made a trip to the territorial capital to demand that the 1809 treaty be rescinded. this meeting became extremely acrimonious, almost devolved into armed conflict at least once. the two met for several days and finally parted, but nothing was -- but with nothing really well resolved. from that time on, the frontier was basically in a state of guerrilla warfare. harrison asked the secretary of war for troops. in july of 1811, the secretary sent the fourth u.s. regiment down the ohio river on flat boats, hoping to avoid conflict. harrison learned that tecumseh who he now had come to see us his major opponent in this mill

you the less mill you -- in this milieu, tecumseh was going to be out of town. he said, i'm leaving for the south on recruiting drive, i will be back, and then maybe we will talk to the president or something about this treaty. the troops got there in 1826. they almost immediately undertook their expedition to prophetstown. they got here on the afternoon of november 6. there -- their orders from the secretary of war were to effect the dispersal and abandonment of prophetstown by peaceful means if possible but by force if necessary. looking around at the surrounding terrain, the army came over to this tempered -- timbered ridge that we are standing on now and set up camp

on this spot now known as the tippecanoe battlefield. the weather was cold and rainy. it was early november. the troops were tired. they were low on provisions. they had limited manpower and limited time and equipment. harrison had complained about their shortage of axes and poor quality in the building of the fort. he had the troops build bonfires to keep them warm and ward off the rein field -- rainfall. he had them sleep in battle positions fully dressed on their weapons. in the predawn hours, about 4:00, one of the centuries the bush centuries heard a noise in the darkness and fired at it. the indian who was hit yelled out in pain, which to some degree spoiled the surprise, but once that happened, the attack proceeded immediately. the majority of fighting took place on two flanks.

the first attack on the lines came at this corner of the camp . pretty much from the direction that this large perforated arrow points. it spread around the two flanks, first around this way, pretty heavy fighting on this corner, and shortly thereafter, a lot of fighting on the right flank. the right flank is narrow enough that the troops down there were under fire from three sides all at the same time. a lot of the fighting was hand to hand. the bonfires that the troops had set to keep warm that night proved to be a severe disadvantage until they were able to be extinguished. the whole battle lasted about two hours, and it all took place in the dark. at daylight, the native forces

broke off the attack and went back across the marsh and evacuated prophetstown. the army spent the rest of the day of november 7 taking care of the wounded and burying their dead. when they went to prophetstown the following day, they found british-made weapons and gunpowder, which gave evidence to the hardliners in congress and other places in this country who had been agitating for war with britain for a long time evidence to say we have been telling you it is the british behind all of our indian problems, and now this proves it. the battle here was one of the tipping point events that led to the declaration of war about seven months later, which started the war of 1812. the battle here was a blow to the credibility and influence to -- of both tecumseh and the

prophet. tecumseh returned to wabash in january of 1812 and was killed a year later in october of 1813. the prophet stayed in canada for a long time, even after some of his followers came back. the partially rebuilt proph etstown again. he did eventually make his way to the shawnee reservation in kansas in the 1830's and died in 1836 and is buried somewhere under the streets of kansas city. he lived to be quite an old man. harrison was having political problems before the battle, and when they returned after the battle, a lot of prominent indiana and kentucky families suddenly found themselves with dead sons. there was a lot of criticism because of that. it was uncertain whether the

battle was really a victory or not because of the heavy losses. harrison ran for president for the first time in 1836 against martin van buren. he had in the intervening years parlayed the victory here, such as it was, into a national political campaign and a nickname for himself. he was called old tip. you probably would not have been able to spin the victory here into as big of a thing as it was had he not been subsequently a successful general in the war of 1812. he ran for president in 1836 was unsuccessful. he ran again in 1840 with john tyler as his running mate. there was a large campaign rally here at the battlefield in 1840 that attracted some 30,000 people.

the rally in 1840 was probably the first modern style campaign rally of the type we see today. probably the number one question i get here at the museum is, what does tippecanoe and tyler too mean? harrison ran for president with tyler as his running mate. the meaning was, if you vote for tippecanoe, which was harrison, you get tyler too. they won the campaign that year, and harrison died three days after the inauguration, and tyler became president. it was known in some quarters as his accidentcy. the battlefield today is surrounded by a wrought iron fence. the fence pretty much and closes -- and closes -- in closes the perimeter of the army camp. because there are dead u.s. military servicemembers buried it is treated pretty much as a cemetery. there isn't much in the way of

interpretive materials. there is a large monument that was erected in 1908, but this battle secured the old northwest territory for the united states. it stabilized what had been a significant strategic vacuum and enabled the westward movement of the country to proceed forward. >> find out where c-span's local content vehicles are going next online. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> in this recent associated press image, protesters are blocking a street in front of the police department to call attention to grand jury decisions in missouri and new york not to prosecute white police officers for the death of