File:Tecumseh.jpeg

DescriptionTecumseh.jpeg	English: 1868 portrait of Tecumseh by Benson John Lossing, after an 1808 pencil sketch by Pierre Le Dru. Deutsch: Benson John Lossings Portrait des Shawnee-Häuptlings Tecumseh nach Pierre Le Drus Bleistiftskizze von 1808(?). Polski: Tecumseh – dziewiętnastowieczny porter autorstwa B. Lossinga, na podstawie ołówkowego szkicu P. Le Dru, sporządzonego w 1808 r.
Date	1868
Source	Benson John Lossing Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 (1868)
Author	Benson John Lossing  (1813–1891)      Alternative names Benson J. Lossing; Benson Lossing Description American journalist, historian and writer Date of birth/death 12 February 1813  3 June 1891  Location of birth/death Beekman  Dover Plains, New York Authority file : Q4890263 VIAF: 12359831 ISNI: 000000010870406X LCCN: n50042414 NAID: 10580739 NLA: 35957740 WorldCat creator QS:P170,Q4890263
Permission (Reusing this file)	This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States. This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain". This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.
Other versions	Jacques Reich after Lossing (1889) 1901 illustration with the British uniform removed from The Battle of Tippecanoe (1911) colored version of Lossing's engraving (1915)

According to Tecumseh biographer John Sugden, "No fully authenticated portrait of the Shawnee leader exists."^[1] In 1868, Benson John Lossing published his Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, which included a portrait of Tecumseh. Until that time, no portrait of Tecumseh was known to exist. Lossing said he had discovered pencil sketches of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa in 1848, which were then in the possession of the son of Pierre Le Dru, a French trader. Le Dru was said to have made the sketches in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1808.^[2]

Lossing altered the original sketch of Tecumseh by keeping the head as depicted by Le Dru, but adding a medal and the uniform of a brigadier general of the British Army. Lossing said that he seen a drawing of Tecumseh dressed that way in 1858. This drawing, he explained, had been made at Fort Malden in 1812 after the surrender of Detroit when Tecumseh was in "full dress" to celebrate the capture of Detroit.^[2] Lossing's depiction of Tecumseh in a British uniform was based on the erroneous belief that Tecumseh had been a British general, although he did possess a uniform coat that he sometimes wore.^[1]

Sudgen noted that Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were never in Vincennes at the same time, so Le Dru might have mistaken one of Tenskwatawa's companions for Tecumseh, which means the only image we have of Tecumseh might not be authentic. Nevertheless, writes Sugden, "Lossing's portrait is the nearest we have to an authentic representation."^[3]