From the Encyclopedia of North American Indians we learn that he was one of a set of triplets born at Old Piqua, on the Mad Rive4 in western Ohio.

 His mother was Methoataske (Turtle Laying Its Eggs), a Creek woman. His father, Puckeshinewa, a Shawnee war chief, was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant prior to the triplets' birth. The triplets were the youngest siblings in a large family (they had at least six older brothers and sisters), and one of the triplets died in infancy. The other triplet, Kumskaukau, lived at least until 1807.

In 1779 Methoataske left Ohio. The two remaining triplets and Tecumseh, a brother born in 1768, were left in the care of Tecumapease, an older, married sister. Their upbringing also was supervised by Chiksika, a brother in his late teens. Both Tecumapease and Chiksika favored Tecumseh, an athletic youth who excelled at the contests and games popular among Shawnee boys. In contrast, the boy who would become the Prophet was an awkward, corpulent youth who accidentally gouged out his own right eye while fumbling with an arrow. Because he often boasted and complained, he was called Lalawethika (the Noisemaker), a name he disliked. He married in his teens, but was unskilled as a hunter and became an alcoholic. He did not participate in the Indian victories over Josiah Harmar (1790) or Arthur St. Clair (1791), but he did join a war party of Shawnees led by Tecumseh who fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Following the Treaty of Greenville (1795) he lived with a band of Shawnees led by Tecumseh who resided at several locations in western Ohio and eastern Indiana. In 1798 they moved to the White River near Anderson, Indiana, where Lalawethika, still an alcoholic, unsuccessfully attempted to assume a role as a healer and shaman.

In the decade following the Treaty of Greenville socioeconomic conditions among the Shawnees and neighboring tribes deteriorated. Game and fur-bearing animals declined, while frontiersmen encroached upon Indian land, poaching the few remaining animals and establishing new settlements. White juries protected Americans accused of crimes against tribes people while systematically convicting Indians. Meanwhile, many Indian people contracted new diseases for which they had no immunity. Under considerable stress, tribal communities were plagued with apathy and dysfunction, and alcoholism increased. Considerably alarmed, many Shawnees believed that their troubles were caused by witches spreading chaos in the Shawnee world.

During April 1805, in the midst of this crisis, Lalawethika underwent a religious experience in which he appeared to fall into a trance so deep that his family at first believed him to be dead. After a few hours he recovered and informed his neighbors that he had died, had been taken to a location overlooking heaven and hell, and had been shown how the Shawnees could improve their situation. He stated that although Indians had been fashioned by the Creator, Americans were the children of the the Great Serpent, the source of evil in the world. Aided by witches (Indians who accepted American cultural values), the Americans had spread chaos and disorder. In consequence, he championed a new religious revitalization, urging the Shawnees and other Indians to minimize their contact with the Americans. He admonished tribespeople to relinquish American food and clothing, most manufactured goods, and alcohol. Firearms could be used for defense, but game should be hunted with bows and arrows. If Indians followed such doctrines, their dead relatives would return to life and game would reappear in the forests; if they refused, they would be condemned to a fiery hell reminiscent of Christian doctrines. He also announced that thenceforward he should be known as Tenskwatawa (the Open Door), a name befitting his new role as a prophet.

Never a warrior, the Prophet took little part in the War of 1812. In December 1812 he fled to Canada, then accompanied Tecumseh back to northern Indiana. In the following spring they led a large party of western warriors to the Detroit region. The Prophet accompanied the British and Indian forces that unsuccessfully besieged Fort Meigs during May 1813, but he took no part in the fighting. On October 5, 1813, he was present at the Battle of the Thames, but he fled with the British when the battle started. Tecumseh was killed in the battle.

Following the War of 1812, the Prophet remained in Canada for ten years, unsuccessfully attempting to regain a position of leadership. In 1825, at the invitation of Lewis Cass, the governor of Michigan Territory, he returned to the United States and used his limited influence to promote Indian removal. One year later he accompanied a party of Shawnees from Ohio who were traveling via St. Louis to Kansas. The Prophet settled at the site of modern-day Kansas City, Kansas, where he posed for the artist George Catlin in the autumn of 1832. He died there four years later, in November 1836.

The Encyclopedia of North American Indians was published by the Houghton-Mifflin Company of Boston and New York, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York, 10003. Encyclopedia of North American Indians / Frederick E. Hoxie, editor. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Indians of North America—Encyclopedias. I. Hoxie, Frederick E. E76.2.E53 1996 970.004'97'003—dc20 96-21411 CIP Book design by Anne Palms Chalmers (Potawatomi ancestry). ISBN 0-395-66921-9. We highly recommend this work to our readers.