Tecumseh. The Real Hero of the War of 1812?

I have been doing a lot of reading on the War of 1812, not only because of the 200th anniversary but also because the subject is interesting.  As I go through the literature I am swamped with visions of British Generals like Brock and Hull and the exploits of the Red coats versus the Blue coats.  Certainly there were heroes and villains on both sides of the conflict but I find that there is not enough attention paid to real heroes... namely, the First Nation people and specifically Tecumseh.

The war started over the aggressive acts of the British, who had a habit of boarding American ships at sea looking for contraband and AWOL British sailors.  The Americans decided that since Britain was busy at war with France then the time was probably right to seek out some more land mass and smack at the British at the same time.  They decided to invade the lands to north of their borders -  the Maritime provinces and the Canadas.

The traditional way to fight these wars was to have the armies line up facing each other, then let fly with musket balls and cannon fire until one side or the other quit and ran away or died to the last man.  The aboriginal warriors, who were allied with the British (because of the way they were treated by the Americans) thought that was a stupid way to fight, so they introduced the combatants to fight and flight - a technique of lightening quick actions that they used quite effectively against the Americans.

Tecumseh also introduced the Americans to the old "circle-of-savages" at the fight for the fort at Detroit.  He showed up with 400 warriors and then proceeded to have them walk into an opening near the fort and then back into the forest.  He had the warriors loop around and actually walk out three times each thus making American General Hull believe that there was over 1,200 warriors.  Hull actually surrendered the fort without firing a shot because he feared that the warriors would massacre his soldiers and the women and children inside the fort.  But it was not to Tecumseh that he surrendered, it was to General Issac Brock, who got the credit for the victory.

And on it went, Tecumseh and his warriors played the pivotal role in the British victory in 1812 but we ended up with Brockville and Brock University... not Tecumseh University.