OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Ohio Shawnees [1] *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 February 6, 2002 *********************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley *********************************************************************** Ohio Shawnees -- Part 1 The Shawnee Indians were living in the Ohio Valley as early as 1660, but the Iroquois were not willing to share their rich hunting grounds and drove the Shawnees away. Some went to Illinois, others to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia. As the power of the Iroquois weakened, the Shawnees eventually moved back into Ohio, from the south and the east and settled in the lower Scioto River valley. The Shawnees spoke a form of the Alogonquian language and were related to the Delaware, Miami, and Ottawa Indians, having a special friendship with the Wyandotes. Other Indian tribes were allies one day and enemies the next. Political alliances were complicated and certainly changed with the times. First they were allies of the French until the British traders moved into the Ohio country around 1740. The French pushed the British out of Ohio and the Shawnees were forced to be the allies of the French again until the British victory in the French and Indian War. As the French trading posts turned into British forts, the Ohio Indians began to band together to fight the British. During the American Revolution, the Shawnees fought alongside the British against the Americans and continued to fight the Americans afterwards. They were fierce warriors and were among the most feared and respected of all Ohio's Indians, with Tecumseh as their greatest Chief. After General Anthoney Wayne defeated the Ohio Indians, in 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the Shawnees surrendered most of their lands in Ohio with the signing of the Treaty of Greenville. Many of the Shawnees moved into Indiana and continued to fight for land and freedom. General William Henry Harrison defeated the Shawnees and their allies at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Between 1831 and 1833 the United States forced the Shawnees to give up their reservations in Ohio and they were sent off to reservations in Oklahoma and Kansas. The Shawnee were divided into different clans, with the main chief coming from the Shawnees could only come from the one clan. The name of this clan was "Chillicothe." When a village was called Chillicothe it meant that it was home to the principal chief, the capitol city of the Shawnee. Chillicothe was also the first state capitol in Ohio, but this modern city was not the site of the former Shawnee village or capitol home of the prinicipal chief. ******************************************* George Bluejacket -- His Story of the " Shawanoes " George Bluejacket was the son of the great Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket. He later became a chief himself. He wrote his history of the Shawnee people between 1829 and 1831. It shows the Indians version of Ohio's early history, and gives us the unique and invaluable perspective of a Shawnee Indian whose father was one of the most influential Indian participants in the events of one of Ohio's tragic Indian Wars.-- "A Story of the Shawanoes" [ Water People ] By George Bluejacket 1886. Wapaughkonnetta [ Wapakoneta, Ohio ] October 29, 1829. part 1-- I have been told by Nath-the-wee-law [ Geo. C. Johnson ] to write a story of our tribe. Nath-the-wee-law is our brother and friend of our people. My father [Bluejacket] was great Chief and told us many things of the old Shawanoes. [Shawnees]. Other old Chiefs have told us many things too. I was born two winters after the Gin-e-wane Al-ag-wa [" rain of stars " -- the spectacular meteor shower of 1800 ] at our Pe-quaw [Piqua] on Big Miami Se-pe [ Great Miami River ]. My father was Head-Chief then at that town. My Father Chief was buried there by our White Father [ John Johnson ] near the school house. Many of our people are buried there. Our White Father has told us to go sit by our dead on his farm any time. Some of our tribe go there every summer. We all love that place. We all love our White Father John Johnson too. I now tell about our tribe. Old Chief Black-hoof has told us that our tribe came from the great salt water, where Ke-sath-wa [ the sun ] came out of the Kitch-e-ca-me [ lake ] in the morning, and hid on the Me-to-quegh-ke [ forest ] at night. We were great people. Our men were great warriors. They fought many tribes and always beat them. The beginning of the Shawanoe tribe was when the Co-cum-tha [ Grandmother ] of our people come up out of the great salt water holding the tail of the Me-she-pe-she. [ Panther ] Her Wash-et-che [ husband ] was carried to the shore by a very big Wa-be-the. [ swan or goose ] The land where our people had lived was swallowed up in the great salt water by Watch-e-me-ne-too [ bad spirit or devil ], but Mish-e-me-ne-toc [ the great god or good spirit ] saved these two and they were the first of our tribe. Many animals and birds were saved too, so there was plenty hunting in the new Me-to-quegh-ke [ forest ]. That was many Te-pa-wa-ko-te [ hundred seasons , or years ] ago, and our people soon became many. They have always been called Shawanoes [ Water People ] and the Me-she-pe-she [ Panther ] and Wa-be-the [ Swan ] have always been the signs [ or totems ] of this tribe. After a time the white people got too many for the red man and then we followed the best hunting toward the north where the Al-wa-ma-ke [ bottom land ] was good for the corn, and the Ma-vuegh-ke [ hills ] full of game. The Mean-e-lench [ young men ] hunted and ran on warpath. The Pash-e-to-the [ old men ] caught the A-ma-tha [ fish ] in the Bo-with-e [ small streams ] and the E-qui-wa [ women ] worked in the Da-me [ maize or corn ]. Then may seasons passed, the tribe always going north, to when Black-hoof was a Mean-e-lench [ young man ] and they were all north of the Great Se-pe [ Great River or the Ohio River ] Here we were given much land by our brothers, the Wyandots. We built many towns and lived long time in peace, till the white man behind the great Se-pe tried to drive us away. They sent their Shem-a-noes [ Long Knives ] to our lodges and killed our E-qui-wa and A-pe-to-the [ women and children ]. ********************************************** to be continued in part 2.