Shawnee Topics – Access Genealogy

The Osage Massacre

When the treaty council with the Osage at Fort Gibson broke up in disagreement on April 2, 1833, three hundred Osage warriors under the leadership of Clermont departed for the west to attack the Kiowa. It was Clermont’s boast that he never made war on the whites and never made peace with his Indian enemies. At the Salt Plains where the Indians obtained their salt, within what is now Woodward County, Oklahoma, they fell upon the trail of a large party of Kiowa warriors going northeast toward the Osage towns above Clermont’s. The Osage immediately adapted their course to that pursued by their enemies following it back to what they knew would be the defenseless village of women, children, and old men left behind by the warriors. The objects of their cruel vengeance were camped at the mouth of Rainy-Mountain Creek, a southern tributary of the Washita, within the present limits of the reservation at Fort Sill.

Richard Stewart’s DNA Results

Richard Stewart (Shawnee or Cherokee Descendant) My name is Richard Stewart. I have had several ethnicity DNA tests done, but I find myself less than satisfied with the results. I will attempt to find other test results in my archived mail. My first DNA test showed 8% NA but came out East Asian as is often the case. Another test showed three NA matches out of a total of 20. Below is the last test I’ve taken. This was done in part to determine a baseline for Melungeons. I do not strongly identify as a Melungeon. I was born and raised … Read more

Who Really are the Cherokees?

1718 French Map of North America - Detail

In 1976, while writing his dissertation for a Ph.D. in Anthropology, Archaeologist Bennie Keel was under heavy pressure to state that the Cherokees had lived in western North Carolina for at least 1000 years. That was a new policy adopted by the State of North Carolina. What Keel did say was that only three probable Cherokee structures in North Carolina had produced radiocarbon dates before the 1720. Keel noted that there was a century long gap between the archaeological record of large towns with multi-roomed rectangular houses, large plazas and pyramidal platform mounds, and the small villages typical of the … Read more

Captivity and Escape of Mary Inglis (Ingles) – Indian Captivities

The captivity of Mary Draper Inglis (Ingles) is a third person account of her captivity and eventual escape. Mary was captured by Shawnee Indians along with her two sons, and sister-in-law from Draper’s Meadow in 1755. She eventually made her escape, along with another dutch woman, a few months later. This is her story.

Memoirs of John Pitchlynn

Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was the Choctaw Principal Chief from 1864-1866

John Pitchlynn, the name of another white man who at an early day cast his lot among the Choctaws, not to be a curse but a true benefactor. He was contemporaneous with the three Folsom’s, Nathaniel, Ebenezer and Edmond; the three Nails, Henry, Adam and Edwin; the two Le Flores Lewis and Mitchel, and Lewis Durant. John Pitchlynn, as the others, married a Choctaw girl and thus become a bona-fide citizen of the Choctaw Nation. He was commissioned by Washington, as United States Interpreter for the Choctaws in 1786, in which capacity he served them long and faithfully. Whether he … Read more

Chickasaw Religion

The ancient Chickasaws, unlike their kindred, the Choctaws, entertained no superstitious views in regard to the eclipse of the sun or moon; regarding it as a phenomenon inexplicable, and to be the height of folly to be alarmed and worried over that which they had no control a sensible conclusion indeed. They called an eclipse, either of sun or moon, hushi luma (sun hidden). Sometimes a total eclipse of the sun was termed hushi illi (dead sun), and sometimes hushi kunia (lost sun). They called the moon hushi ninak aya (the sun of the night). The traditions of the Chickasaws … Read more

Moravian Massacre at Gnadenbrutten

In the early part of the year 1763 two Moravian missionaries, Post and Heckewelder, established a mission among the Tuscarawa Indians, and in a few years they had three nourishing missionary stations, viz: Shoenbrun, Gnadenbrutten and Salem, which were about five miles apart and fifty miles west of the present town of Steubenville, Ohio. During our Revolutionary War their position being midway between the hostile Indians (allies of the British) on the Sandusky River, and our frontier settlements, and therefore on the direct route of the war parties of both the British Indian allies and the frontier settlers, they were … Read more

Lord Dunmore’s War

The war in 1774 with the Indians, known as “Dunmore’s War” had its origin from the murders committed upon Indians by the Virginians in the region of the upper Ohio.

The Discovery Of This Continent, it’s Results To The Natives

In the year 1470, there lived in Lisbon, a town in Portugal, a man by the name of Christopher Columbus, who there married Dona Felipa, the daughter of Bartolome Monis De Palestrello, an Italian (then deceased), who had arisen to great celebrity as a navigator. Dona Felipa was the idol of her doting father, and often accompanied him in his many voyages, in which she soon equally shared with him his love of adventure, and thus became to him a treasure indeed not only as a companion but as a helper; for she drew his maps and geographical charts, and also … Read more

The Meeting in 1811 of Tecumseh and Apushamatahah

The meeting in 1811, of Tecumseh, the mighty Shawnee, with Apushamatahah, the intrepid Choctaw. I will here give a true narrative of an incident in the life of the great and noble Choctaw chief, Apushamatahah, as related by Colonel John Pitchlynn, a white man of sterling integrity, and who acted for many years as interpreter to the Choctaws for the United States Government, and who was an eye-witness to the thrilling scene, a similar one, never before nor afterwards befell the lot of a white man to witness, except that of Sam Dale, the great scout of General Andrew Jackson, … Read more

Life and travels of Colonel James Smith – Indian Captivities

James Smith, pioneer, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1737. When he was eighteen years of age he was captured by the Indians, was adopted into one of their tribes, and lived with them as one of themselves until his escape in 1759. He became a lieutenant under General Bouquet during the expedition against the Ohio Indians in 1764, and was captain of a company of rangers in Lord Dunmore’s War. In 1775 he was promoted to major of militia. He served in the Pennsylvania convention in 1776, and in the assembly in 1776-77. In the latter year he was commissioned colonel in command on the frontiers, and performed distinguished services. Smith moved to Kentucky in 1788. He was a member of the Danville convention, and represented Bourbon county for many years in the legislature. He died in Washington county, Kentucky, in 1812. The following narrative of his experience as member of an Indian tribe is from his own book entitled “Remarkable Adventures in the Life and Travels of Colonel James Smith,” printed at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1799. It affords a striking contrast to the terrible experiences of the other captives whose stories are republished in this book; for he was well treated, and stayed so long with his red captors that he acquired expert knowledge of their arts and customs, and deep insight into their character.

Eyewitnesses who were never called to the witness stand

Between about 1585 and 1600 AD, something catastrophic happened in the Southern Highlands. The effects are most notable in northwest Georgia, southeast Tennessee and the northwestern North Carolina Mountains. A native population remained in the heartland of the Apalache “kingdom” in the north-central and northeast mountains of Georgia. In fact the large town of Ustanoli on an island in the Tugaloo River was not sacked and burned until after 1700. It was eventually replaced by a Cherokee hamlet. All mound building stopped. Some of the largest indigenous towns north of Mexico were suddenly abandoned. Archeologists working in northwestern Georgia found a … Read more

The Tippecanoe War of 1812 – Indian Wars

British influence and the exertions of two remarkable Indians were the causes of the next important war between the Americans and their western neighbors. The two Indians were Tecumseh, a Shawnese chief, and his brother, the Prophet, Oliwachica. These men commenced their intrigues in 1806.

The War with the Indians of the West during Washington’s Administration

After the termination of the Revolutionary War, the hardy settlers of the west had still a contest to maintain, which often threatened their extermination. The Indian tribes of the west refused to bury the hatchet when Great Britain withdrew her armies, and they continued their terrible devastation. The vicinity of the Ohio River, especially, was the scene of their operations.

War Between the Colonies and The Western Indians – From 1763 To 1765

A struggle began in 1760, in which the English had to contend with a more powerful Indian enemy than any they had yet encountered. Pontiac, a chief renowned both in America and Europe, as a brave and skillful warrior, and a far-sighted and active ruler, was at the head of all the Indian tribes on the great lakes. Among these were the Ottawas, Miamis, Chippewas, Wyandott, Pottawatomie, Winnebago, Shawanese, Ottagamie, and Mississagas. After the capture of Quebec, in 1760, Major Rodgers was sent into the country of Pontiac to drive the French from it. Apprised of his approach, Pontiac sent … Read more

Treaty of November 7, 1825

Articles of a convention made between William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and the undersigned Chiefs and Head Men of the Shawonee Nation of Indians, residing within the State of Missouri, duly authorized and empowered by said Nation, at the City of St. Louis, on the seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five. Whereas the Shawnee Indians were in possession of a tract of land near Cape Geredeau, in the State of Missouri, settled under a permission from the Spanish Government, given to the said Shawnees and Delawares by the Baron … Read more

Wyandot and Shawnee Indian Lands

A Schedule embracing the names of Wyandot Indians of the Incompetent Class and Orphan Class under the Wyandot Treaty of January 31, 1855, the sales of whose lands, assigned and patented to them under said Treaty, have been confirmed by the Secretary of the Interior, upon a full examination of the report of Commissioners, Irwin and Cobb dated October 3rd 1870 and hearing of the parties interested in accordance with the 15th article of the treaty of February 23rd 1867, with certain Wyandot and other Indians in Kansas.

Treaty of July 22, 1814

A treaty of peace and friendship between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanoese, Senecas, and Miamies. The said United States of America, by William Henry Harrison, late a major general in the army of the United States, and Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan territory, duly authorized and appointed commissioners for the purpose, and the said tribes, by their head men, chiefs, and warriors, assembled at Greenville, in the state of Ohio, have agreed to the following articles, which, when ratified by the president of the United States, by and with … Read more

Illinois Burial Customs

The term Illinois Indians as used by some early writers was intended to include the various Algonquian tribes, encountered in the “Illinois country,” in addition to those usually recognized as forming the Illinois confederacy. Thus, in the following quotation from Joutel will be found a reference to the Chahouanous – i. e., Shawnee – as being of the Islinois, and in the same note Accancea referred to the Quapaw, a Siouan tribe living on the right bank of the Mississippi, not far north of the mouth of the Arkansas. Describing the burial customs of the Illinois, as witnessed by him … Read more

Indian Confederacy Of 1781

The spring of 1781 was a terrible season for the white settlements in Kentucky and the whole border country. The natives who surrounded them had never shown so constant and systematic a determination for murder and mischief. Early in the summer, a great meeting of Indian deputies from the Shawanees, Delawares, Cherokees, Wyandot, Tawas, Pottawatomie, and diverse other tribes from the north-western lakes, met in grand council of war at Old Chilicothe. The persuasions and influence of two infamous whites, one McKee, and the notorious Simon Girty, “inflamed their savage minds to mischief, and led them to execute every diabolical scheme.”