---
title: "Tecumseh falls at the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813"
slug: "tecumseh-falls-at-the-thames-oct-5-1813"
url: "https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/tecumseh-falls-at-the-thames-oct-5-1813/"
era: "Early commonwealth"
years: "1813"
license: "CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)"
---

# Tecumseh falls at the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813

> Tecumseh was killed at the Thames in Ontario on Oct. 5, 1813, when Isaac Shelby's Kentucky volunteers broke the British line and his confederacy collapsed.

## At a glance

- **When:** 1813
- **People:** Isaac Shelby

## The story

Kentucky's frontier wars with the Shawnee-led confederacy ended in Ontario. After the American win on Lake Erie, Governor Isaac Shelby, then 63 and a veteran of Kings Mountain, personally led more than 3,500 Kentucky volunteers, mostly mounted riflemen, north to join William Henry Harrison.

On October 5, 1813, near Moraviantown on the Thames River, Col. Richard Mentor Johnson's Kentucky horsemen charged through swampy ground and broke Procter's British line. Tecumseh was killed fighting in the woods next to it. His multi-tribal alliance collapsed after his death, which effectively ended organized Native resistance in the Old Northwest and the last Native threat to Kentucky's northern border. ([Grokipedia](https://grokipedia.com/page/Battle_of_the_Thames))

## People in this story

- **[Isaac Shelby](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#isaac-shelby)** — First and fifth governor of Kentucky

## Sources & research notes

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Cite as: "Tecumseh falls at the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813." Kentucky History Drive. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/tecumseh-falls-at-the-thames-oct-5-1813/ Text licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.