SPOONER'S VERMONT JOURNAL, Walpole, June 2, 1806

• Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa
• Spiritual revitalization movement

Page 2 has a letter from Vincennes in the Indiana Territory concerning: "...the Delaware Indians have burnt several...of their nation & condemned several others to undergo the same fat. A prophet it seems, appeared among them...the Great Spirit...commanded him to tell the Indian that it was his will they should destroy all those who drink spiritous liquors...". 
The back page has: "An Act" of Congress signed in type: Th. Jefferson.
Four pages, never bound nor trimmed, wide margins, some stains to an upper quadrant of the front page, nice condition.

Background: This passage from the June 2, 1806 issue of Spooner’s Vermont Journal represents an exceptionally rare, real-time Eastern newspaper account documenting the violent origins of the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa’s spiritual revitalization movement in the Indiana Territory. Writing from Vincennes, the dispatch captures a pivotal historical turning point as Tenskwatawa—brother of the famous leader Tecumseh—emerged following an 1805 vision to demand a total purification of Native culture, specifically mandating the rejection of European influences, land cessions, and "spirituous liquors." The primary-source account details the severe 1806 witch trials along the White River, where Tenskwatawa’s followers condemned and executed traditional Delaware (Lenape) leaders—most notably Chief Tetepachsit—by burning them at the stake for alleged witchcraft, alcohol consumption, and collusion with American authorities. Historically significant and structurally scarce, such contemporary reports provided citizens on the Eastern seaboard with a chilling, firsthand glimpse into the internal political fractures and rising pan-Indian resistance that would ultimately culminate in Harrison’s confrontation at the Battle of Tippecanoe and the War of 1812.