1812 hero Chief Tecumseh gets own stamp

Canada Post will issue a stamp next year commemorating Chief Tecumseh, and a Great Lakes freighter also will be renamed to pay tribute to the late First Nations leader. 

Both honours commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, in which Tecumseh played an integral part.

Residents of Tecumseh, Ont., through a letter campaign, began pushing for the stamp late this year. The town's mayor, Gary McNamara, strongly supported the idea.

"Those are two great announcements," McNamara said.

"It'll be a great ship that's going to be in the Great Lakes region for years to come. [It will] certainly be flying the flag of Tecumseh."

McNamara said the ship will likely be recommissioned at ADM Agri-Industries at the Port of Windsor sometime next year.

"We're going to go through the whole ceremony of renaming it, you know, with the champagne on the bow," McNamara said.

It's not yet known which ship will be renamed.

An official with Canada Post says they welcomed letters of support from people lobbying for a commemorative stamp to honour Chief Tecumseh, but the tribute was already planned.

Jim Phillips said a decision had been made to honour Tecumseh as part of next year's bicentennial.

"Tecumseh we've never featured on a stamp before, and we thought it would be really interesting both in Canada and the U.S.," said Phillips.

"So we thought that would be a great one."

Canada Post will also issue a stamp in honour of Sir Isaac Brock, the general Phillips called Tecumseh's "ally and equal in the war."

According to the Government of Canada's website devoted to the War of 1812, legend has it that Tecumseh rode beside Brock when he entered Detroit and that Brock gave him his sash as a mark of respect.

Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief who joined the British army, led more 2,000 warriors and fought at the sieges of Fort Meigs, and Fort Stephenson.

His last battle was the Battle of the Thames at Chatham, Ont. There, clothed in traditional Aboriginal deerskin garments, he was killed leading his warriors in a final stand against the invading Americans.

Phillips said there may be a ceremony for the unveiling of the Chief Tecumseh stamp in Tecumseh next June.