OK go with me on this one.
During the War of 1812, much of the fighting took place in the Old Northwest Territory which included the current states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and the Northeast corner of Minnesota.
Two of the most famous combatants from this era in this territory were the great Native American leader Tecumseh, and William Henry Harrison or Tippecanoe.
Tecumseh fought for the British, but was really fighting with them only to preserve Indian Territory for his people and many other tribes. He had actually been fighting American territorial expansion beginning in about 1810. This was known as Tecumseh’s War. Once the war between the British and the Americans began in 1812 Tecumseh allied himself and his peoples with the British.
Harrison was the territorial leader of Indiana and eventually served as Governor of the state before becoming President of the United States. During Tecumseh’s War, Harrison led a successful victory against one band of the Indian Confederacy near the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers. Harrison gain notoriety for this victory and gained the nickname Tippecanoe which was later used as a campaign slogan during his presidential election of 1836. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Tooâ€.
So why not the Tecumseh & Tippecanoe Divisions, or Tecumseh and Harrison Divisions? These names would represent a part of American history that a lot of people who live in Big Ten country now, may not really know about. Certainly these two men were big rivals as I'm sure the BT hopes these divisions will be.
Thoughts?