SHAWNEE INDIANS

SHAWNEE ARE ALGONQUIN SPEAKING PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN OHIO, VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA, WEST MARYLAND, KENTUCKY, INDIANS, WEST MARYLAND AND PENNSYLVANIA. TODAY THEY'RE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INTO THREE TRIBES AND ARE HEADQUARTERED IN OKLAHOMA. THE PALEO - INDIANS LIVED IN THIS MIDWEST AREA. THEY HUNTED AND GATHERED CHASING MEGA FAUNA THAT BECAME EXTINCT `12,000 YEARS AGO. THESE FOLKS WERE VERY MOBILE. SCHOLARS BELIEVE THE SHAWNEE ARE ANCESTORS OF FORT ANCIENT CULTURE IN OHIO, BUT SOME DISAGREE. THE FORT ANCIENTS FLOURISHED FROM 1100 - 1650 AD ALONG THE OHIO RIVER AND IN WEST VIRGINIA. THEY BELIEVED THEY WERE DESCENDED FROM THE HOPEWELL CULTURE OF 100 TO 500 AD, THE MOUND BUILDERS. THE MOUND BUILDERS SUCCEEDED IN PREHISTORIC SOCIETIES AS THEIR MOUNDS WERE BUILT FOR BURIALS, ELITE RESIDENTIAL AND CEREMONIAL PURPOSES. MOUND BUILDERS INCLUDED THE ARCHAIC PERIOD, WOODLAND OR ADENA AND HOPEWELL CULTURES, AND MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD DATING TO 3000 AD TO 16TH CENTURY. THE FORT ANCIENT MAY HAVE FADED AWAY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES DUE TO THE SPANISH EXPLORERS. AFTER1525 THEIR HOUSE SIZES WERE SMALLER AND LESS HORTICULTURE. THE SHAWNEE THOUGHT OF THE LENAPE AS THEIR GRANDFATHERS. AFTER 1600 EUROPEANS SAW THE SHAWNEE IN MANY STATES. MANY REPORTED ALONG THE HUDSON RIVER AS FRENCH EXPLORERS MET THEM. ACCORDING TO LEGENDS THE SHAWNEE DESCENDED FROM A RULER OF POWATAN CONFEDERACY IN 1620'S. BY THE TIME OF THE EUROPEAN AMERICAN SETTLERS ARRIVED IN THE VALLEY. THE SHAWNEE WERE THE SOLE RESIDENTS OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE VALLEY. PRIOR TO 1754 THE SHAWNEE'S HEAD QUARTER'S WERE AT SHAWNEE SPRINGS. THE IROQUOIS NAMED OHIO AS THEIR HUNTING GROUNDS AND TREATED THE SHAWNEE AS THEIR DEPENDENT TRIBES. A TREATY GREVILED ENDED THE WAR OF 1812. TECUMSEH DID NOT HAVE SIGN IT. MUCH OF THE OF THE SHAWNEE AND OTHER TRIBAL LANDS WENT TO GOVERNMENT. MANY INDIAN LEADERS ACCEPTED

THE TERMS. THE TREATY OF FORT WAYNE WAS PASSED IN 1809 SELLING 3 MILLION ACRES OF INDIAN LAND TO THE GOVERNMENT. TECUMSEH WAS OUTRAGED AND EMERGED AS A PROMINENT POLITICAL LEADER. HE REVIVED THE IDEA THAT AMERICAN LAND WAS OWNED IN COMMON BY ALL TRIBES AND NO LAND COULD BE SOLD WITHOUT AGREEMENT BY ALL. TECUMSEH 'S ADVERSARIES WERE THE NATIVE AMERICAN LEADERS WHO SIGNED THE TREATY . HE THREATENED TO KILL THEM, HE BEGAN TO TALK ABOUT HIS BROTHER'S TEACHINGS THAT CALLED FOR THE TRIBES TO RETURN TO THEIR ANCESTRAL WAYS AND WANTED A PAN-TRIBAL ALLIANCE. HE TRAVELED WIDELY URGING WARRIORS TO ABANDON THE CHIEFS AND JOIN THE RESISTANCE GROUP.

IN 1810 TECUMSEH AND 400 ARMED WARRIORS MET HARRISON IN VINCENNES. THE WARRIORS WORE THEIR PAINT AND THEY FRIGHTENED THE SOLDIERS. TECUMSEH ASKED HARRISON TO NULLIFY THE TREATY. HARRISON TOLD HIM THE MIAMI WERE THE OWNERS AND COULD SELL IT IF THEY WANTED . HE REJECTED TECUMSEH'S IDEA THAT ALL THE INDIANS FORMED ONE NATION. TECUMSEH LAUNCHED AN IMPASSIONED REBUTTAL AND A SHAWNEE ALERTED HARRISON THAT HIS SPEECH WAS LEADING TO TROUBLE. AN ARMY LIEUTENANT THAT COULD SPEAK TECUMSEH'S LANGUAGE WARNED HARRISON HE WAS ENCOURAGING THE WARRIORS TO KILL HARRISON. HARRISON PULLED A SWORD AND THE WARRIORS PULLED THEIR WEAPONS. BUT WHEN THE OFFICERS PULLED THEIR GUNS TO DEFEND HARRISON.NATIVE AMERICANS BACKED DOWN. CHIEF WINNEMAC TOLD THE NATIVE WARRIORS TO RETURN IN PEACE. TECUMSEH TOLD HARRISON UNLESS THE TREATY WAS NULLIFIED, HE WOULD RETURN TO SEEK AN ALLIANCE WITH THE BRITISH.

A COMET APPEARED IN 1811 AND THE SHAWNEE LEADER, TECUMSEH WAS CALLED "SHOOTING STAR". HE TRAVELLED AND TOLD MANY OTHERS THAT THE COMET SIGNALLED HIS COMING. AFTER HE LEFT THE SOUTHEAST THEY HAD AN EARTHQUAKE. THAT YEAR HE MET WITH HARRISON ASSURING HIM THEY WERE TO REMAIN IN PEACE. SOME OF THE CREEKS JOINED IN THE WAR OF 1812 WHEN HE DELIVERED MANY SPEECHES. THE EARTHQUAKE AND IT'S AFTERSHOCKS HELPED TECUMSEH'S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT THAT THE SHAWNEE MUST BE SUPPORTED. SIXTY ANGLOS WERE KILLED IN 1813 - A RAISIN RIVER MASSACRE. FINALLY TECUMSEH RETREATED TO CANADA. IN 1817 THE SHAWNEE SIGNED A TREATY OF FORT MEIGS CEDING THE REMAINING LANDS IN EXCHANGE FOR THREE RESERVATIONS NEAR LEWISTOWN, OHIO. THEY SHARED IT WITH THE SENECA.

MISSOURI JOINED THE UNION IN 1821 WITH 1400 MEMBERS. THE SHAWNEE FORCIBLY RELOCATED FROM CAPE GIRARDEAU TO SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

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