Battle of the Thames The Battle of the Thames , also known as the Battle of Moraviantown , was a decisive United States victory in the War of 1812 against Great Britain . It took place on October 5 , 1813 , near present - day Chatham , Ontario in Upper Canada . It resulted in the death of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh , and the destruction of the Native American coalition which he led . Background . During the last months of 1812 and for much of 1813 , the American Army of the Northwest under William Henry Harrison was attempting to recover Detroit and capture Fort Amherstburg at Amherstburg from the " Right Division " of the British Army in Upper Canada , which was commanded by Major General Henry Procter . The British position depended on maintaining command of Lake Erie . The sparsely populated region produced insufficient crops and cattle to feed Procter ' s troops , the sailors of the British ships on the Lake , and above all the large numbers of Native warriors and their families gathered at Amherstburg under Tecumseh ; supplies could effectively be brought to them only by ships on the lake . Also , if naval command of Lake Erie passed to the Americans , they would be able to land an army on the north shore at any point of their choosing , cutting off Procter from reinforcement from the east . From the start of the war to the end of July 1813 , the British ships , which since May 5 , 1813 were led by Commander Robert Heriot Barclay , had maintained control of the lake . They contained the American squadron under Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry at Presque Isle harbour . When Barclay lifted the blockade for two days in order to receive supplies , Perry was able to move his ships across the sandbar at the entrance to the harbour and into the lake . Barclay declined to attack them . Once it was fully armed and manned , Perry ' s superior squadron instituted a counter - blockade of Amherstburg , and supplies of food there rapidly ran short . Finally , with supplies almost exhausted , Barclay put out to seek battle with Perry . On September 10 , Perry gained a complete victory in the Battle of Lake Erie , after a hard - fought battle . On receiving Perry ' s hastily written note that " We have met the enemy and they are ours " , Harrison knew that Procter would be forced to retreat , and ordered an advance . One thousand mounted troops began advancing along the lake shore to Detroit , and 2 , 500 foot soldiers were carried there and to Amherstburg by Perry ' s ships once the damage they had received in the battle had been repaired . Procter ' s retreat . Even before he received news of Barclay ' s defeat , Procter had made preparations to fall back to the British position at Burlington Heights at the western end of Lake Ontario . Tecumseh knew that this would remove all protection from the tribes in the confederation whose lands lay to the west of Detroit and attempted to dissuade Procter , saying : Our fleet has gone out , we know they have fought ; we have heard the great guns but know nothing of what has happened to our Father with one Arm [ " Barclay , who had lost an arm in 1809 " ] . Our ships have gone one way , and we are much astonished to see our Father [ " Procter " ] tying up everything and preparing to run the other , without letting his red children know what his intentions are . . . We must compare our Father ' s conduct to [ that of ] a fat animal that carries its tail upon its back ; but when affrighted , it drops it between its legs and runs off . Nevertheless , Procter could not defend Fort Amherstburg . Not only was there no food , but the guns had been removed from the fort to be mounted on Barclay ' s ships . Procter began to retreat up the Thames River on September 27 . Tecumseh had no option but to go with him . Procter apparently agreed to a compromise to retreat only as far as Moraviantown , a settlement of Lenape Indians who had migrated from the United States . As this was the highest point of the river to which batteau x could navigate , it was safe from outflanking moves by water . Also , some supplies could in theory be brought there overland from Burlington Heights , although the roads were very poor . However , Procter made no attempt to fortify this position . The British retreat was badly managed , and the soldiers had been reduced to half rations . Procter was alleged to have left the main body of his army under his second - in - command , Colonel Augustus Warburton of the 41st Regiment , without orders , while he led the retreat , accompanied by his wife and family , the other women and dependents , and his personal baggage . The British soldiers were becoming increasingly demoralized , and Tecumseh ' s warriors grew ever more impatient with Procter for his unwillingness to stop and fight , giving Procter reason to fear a mutiny by the warriors . The Americans left a brigade under Duncan McArthur to garrison Detroit and another under Lewis Cass to garrison Sandwich , Ontario . Harrison led the main body from Sandwich in pursuit of Procter on October 2 . As they advanced , Harrison ' s men captured several abandoned boats and a steady stream of British stragglers . They caught up with the retreating British and Indians late on October 4 . Tecumseh skirmished with the Americans near Chatham to slow the American advance , but the warriors were quickly overwhelmed . The batteaux carrying Warburton ' s reserve ammunition and the last of the food went aground and were left behind , to be captured by an American raiding party . Forces . William Henry Harrison ' s force numbered at least 3 , 500 infantry and cavalry . He had a small detachment of regulars from the 27th U . S . Infantry and five brigades of Kentucky militia led by Isaac Shelby , the 63 - year - old governor of Kentucky and a hero of the American Revolutionary War . He also had 1 , 000 volunteer cavalry under Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson . Most were from Kentucky but some of them were from the River Raisin area , spurred on by the slogan " Remember the River Raisin . " Procter had about 800 soldiers , mainly from the 41st Regiment . The veterans of the 1st Battalion of the regiment had been serving in Upper Canada since the start of the war , and had suffered heavy casualties in several engagements during 1813 ( including the Battle of Lake Erie , in which more than 150 men of the regiment served aboard Barclay ' s ships . ) They had been reinforced by the young soldiers of the 2nd Battalion . Most of the regiment ' s officers were dissatisfied with the leadership of Procter , but the next in command , Colonel Warburton , refused to countenance any move to deprive Procter of command . Tecumseh led about 500 Native warriors . Battle . Shortly after daybreak on October 5 , after ordering his troops to abandon their half - cooked breakfast and retreat a further two miles , Procter formed the British regulars in line of battle with a single 6 - pounder cannon . He planned to trap Harrison on the banks of the Thames , driving the Americans off the road with cannon fire . However , he had taken no steps towards fortifying the position ( e . g . by creating abatis or throwing up earthworks ) , so the ground presented no obstacle to the American mounted troops , while scattered trees masked the British fire . Tecumseh ' s warriors took up positions in a black ash swamp on the British right to flank the Americans . Tecumseh rode along the British line , shaking hands with each officer , before joining his warriors . General Harrison surveyed the battlefield and ordered James Johnson ( brother of Richard Mentor Johnson ) to make a frontal attack against the British regulars with his mounted Kentucky riflemen . Despite the Indians ' flanking fire , Johnson broke through , the British cannon having failed to fire . The exhausted , dispirited and half - starved British troops fired one ragged fusillade before giving way . Immediately Procter and about 250 of his men fled from the field . The rest surrendered . Tecumseh and his followers remained and carried on fighting . Richard Johnson charged into the Indian position at the head of about 20 horsemen to draw attention away from the main American force , but Tecumseh and his warriors answered with a volley of musket fire that stopped the cavalry charge . Fifteen of Johnson ' s men were killed or wounded , and Johnson was hit five times . Johnson ' s main force became bogged down in the swamp mud . Tecumseh is believed to have been killed in this fighting . The main force finally made its way through the swamp , and James Johnson ' s troops were freed from their attack on the British . With the American reinforcements converging and news of the death of Tecumseh spreading quickly , Indian resistance quickly dissolved . Colonel Johnson may have been the soldier who shot Tecumseh , though the evidence is unclear . William Whitley , a Revolutionary War veteran , is another credited with the killing of Tecumseh . Whitley , of Crab Orchard , Kentucky , volunteered for the raid on Tecumseh ' s camp , and was killed during the attack . Before his death , he requested that General Harrison have his scalp removed when his body was found and sent to his wife . After the battle , American mounted troops moved on and burned Moraviantown ( marked today by the Fairfield Museum on Longwoods Road ) , a settlement of pacifist Christian Munsee of the Moravian Church , who did not participate in the fighting . Because the enlistments of the militia component of Harrison ' s army were about to expire , the Americans retired to Detroit . Three currently active regular battalions of the United States Army ( 1 - 6 Inf , 2 - 6 Inf and 4 - 6 Inf ) perpetuate the lineage of the old 27th Infantry Regiment , elements of which were at the Battle of the Thames . Casualties . Harrison reported that the British regulars had 12 killed and 22 wounded prisoners . Lieutenant Richard Bullock of the 41st Regiment , however , said that there were 12 killed and 36 wounded prisoners . The British Colonel Augustus Warburton and Lieutenant Colonel William Evans both reported , more than a year after the battle , that 18 were killed and 25 wounded . Harrison reported 601 British troops captured : a figure that included the prisoners taken during the retreat leading up to the battle and stragglers captured after it . The Native Americans recorded their own casualties as 16 killed , including Tecumseh and Roundhead , although Harrison claimed that 33 dead warriors were found in the woods after the battle . There are several versions of the American loss in the battle . Harrison stated 7 killed outright , 5 died of wounds and 17 wounded . Major Isaac Shelby said 7 - 8 killed outright , 4 died of wounds and about 20 wounded . Participants Robert McAfee and Peter Trisler , Jr . , respectively gave 10 killed and 35 wounded and 14 killed and 20 wounded . Historian Samuel R . Brown stated 25 killed or fatally injured and 50 wounded in Johnson ’ s regiment and 2 killed and 6 - 7 wounded in the infantry , for a total of 27 killed and 56 or 57 wounded Harrison informed United States Secretary of War John Armstrong , Jr . that the only casualties inflicted on his command by the British troops at the battle were three men wounded : all of the rest were inflicted by the Indians . Results . The American victory led to the re - establishment of American control over the Northwest frontier . Apart from skirmishes ( such as the Battle of Longwoods ) between raiding parties or other detachments , and an American mounted raid near the end of 1814 which resulted in the Battle of Malcolm ' s Mills , the Detroit front remained comparatively quiet for the rest of the war . The death of Tecumseh was a crushing blow to the Indian alliance he had created , and it effectively dissolved following the battle . Shortly after the battle , Harrison signed an armistice at Detroit with the chiefs or representatives of several tribes . He then transferred most of his regulars eastward to the Niagara River and went himself to Washington where he was acclaimed a hero . However , a comparatively petty dispute with President James Madison and John Armstrong resulted in him resigning his commission as Major General . Harrison ' s popularity grew , and he was eventually elected President of the United States . Richard Mentor Johnson eventually became to President Martin Van Buren , based partly on the belief that he had killed Tecumseh . Procter later rallied 246 men of the 41st Regiment at the Grand River . Reinforced by some young soldiers of the 2nd battalion who had not been present at the battle , the two battalions were reorganized and merged as the regiment was severely understrength at this point . The experienced survivors of the 1st Battalion were placed in the grenadier and light infantry companies . The soldiers of the 41st who were taken prisoner at Moraviantown and the Battle of Lake Erie were exchanged or released towards the end of 1814 . They had been held in encampments near present - day Sandusky , Ohio , and had suffered severely from sickness during their captivity . Procter ' s court - martial . In May 1814 , Procter was charged with negligence and improper conduct , though a court martial could not be held until December , when campaigning had ceased for the winter and a suitably senior board of officers could be assembled . They judged that Procter had managed the retreat badly , failing to secure his stores , and also disposed the troops ineffectively at Moraviantown . He was sentenced to be suspended from rank and pay for six months .