A companion page of the Shawnee Team, part of the Native Americans Project.
For Shawnee profiles see the Shawnee Category page.
For more Shawnee resources see Shawnee Team Research Resources.
Contents |
Historical Overview
The Shawnee (Shawanos, Sawanos, Shawaneu, Shawnees, Shawanoes)[1] are an Eastern Woodlands tribe, known as such for their large historic geographical territories east of the Mississippi River. Historical and archaeological accounts most often place the Shawnee’s original homeland in a wide area of the Ohio Valley. Their traditional language is an Algonquian dialect. [2] [3]
Their original seats are uniformly placed, in all the ancient French maps, on the south side of the Ohio and extending southerly to the Cumberland River, which, in all the French and English maps, as late as that of Hutchins, bears also their name. [4]
At the time of contact various groups were reported in Illinois, on the Ohio, in Maryland, and along the Savannah River. During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries most of the Shawnee assembled in eastern Pennsylvania and gradually worked westward into the upper Ohio drainage. [5]
The “Shawnoes of Pennsylvania” began to migrate to the Ohio area around 1740.[4] The celebrated Shawnee leader Tecumseh was born about 1768 in a Shawnee village along the Mad River in Ohio Country. Around that same time some bands of the “restless” Shawnee were beginning to move across the Mississippi River into what is now Missouri. [6]
The Shawnee are said to have “constituted the most formidable opposition to the advance of settlement in the Ohio Valley, and under Tecumseh and [his brother] Tenskwátawa attempted an extensive alliance of native tribes to oppose the Whites.” [7] Tecumseh emerged as a leader of those among the Shawnee opposed to the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, which brought an end to the Northwest Indian Wars in the Ohio Territory, following General “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Many followers joined Tecumseh and his brother (known also as “The Prophet”) at the village of “Prophetstown” they had established in 1808. They continued to engage in hostilities with the Americans through the War of 1812 until Tecumseh died the Battle of the Thames in 1813. Tecumseh’s death signified the end of united Indian resistance against the Americans.[3]
By 1832 the remaining Shawnee in the Ohio Valley and surrounding areas had been removed to Kansas.[2]
Some Key Moments in Migration and Removal
| 1768 | Treaty of Ft. Stanwix: “settlement of a Boundary Line between the Colonies and Indians, pursuant to His Majesty's orders” |
| 1782 | Blackhoof and Bluejacket establish Council House at Wapakoneta following removal of the Miami to Indiana |
| 1786 | Treaty with the Shawnee: Indians acknowledge the right of U. S. to territory ceded by Great Britain in 1784 |
| 1795 | Treaty of Greenville: ended Northwest Indian Wars in Ohio Territory |
| 1818 | Treaty of St. Mary’s: additional reservations made for the Shawnee at Wapaghkonnetta and Lewistown |
| 1825 | Treaty with the Shawnee: lands originally settled at Cape Girardeau, MO ceded in exchange for lands “situated west of the State of Missouri, and within the purchase lately made from the Osages” |
| 1830 | Indian Removal Act signed into law by President Andrew Jackson |
| 1831 | Treaty of Lewistown: cession of lands at Wapaghkonnetta and removal of Shawnee to land west of the Mississippi |
| 1844 | Land conveyed under 1825 treaty is conveyed to the tribe on 11 May |
| 1854 | Treaty with the Shawnee: cessation of Shawnee reserve lands in exchange for individual allotments; Shawnee given option to stay in Kansas or take land allotments in Oklahoma |
| 1869 | Federal government causes former Kansas Shawnee to join with the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) |
For more information also see the Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation historical timeline.
For complete details on Shawnee treaties and land cessions, search for "Shawnee" in Tribes on the OSU Tribal Treaties Database.
The Shawnee Today
Today there are three federally recognized Shawnee tribes, all headquartered in Oklahoma:
- Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma - official site
- Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma - official site
- Shawnee Tribe - official site
The Alabama Indian Affairs Commission recognizes the Piqua Sept of Ohio Shawnee Tribe as an Indian tribe in the state of Alabama. [8]
There are a number of unrecognized organizations claiming Shawnee ancestry, but none are recognized as a tribe at the federal or state level.
Some Notable Shawnee Profiles
Previous Version
The following unsourced text was moved from the profile of Jacob Castle since it is generally about the Shawnee and not specific to Jacob's profile. An unsourced quotation said to be from Tecumseh was removed since there was no source citation.
About the Shawnee
The name Shawnee means "southerner". It was said that the Shawnee, a large and united tribe were on of the early historic groups of southern Indiana, but this has been questioned due to conflicting reports. The Shawnee considered the Delaware the "grandfathers" of the Shawnee tribe and the source for all the Algonquin tribes. Shawnee comes from the Algonquin word "shawun" (shawunogi) meaning "southerner." However, this referred to their original location in the Ohio Valley relative to other Great Lakes Algonquin rather than a homeland in the American southeast. Shawnee usually prefer to call themselves the Shawano - sometimes given as Shawanoe or Shawanese. South Carolina colonists knew them as the Savannah or Savannuca. Other names: Ani-Sawanugi (Cherokee), Chaouanons (Chauenon) (French), Chaskpe (Chaouesnon) (French), Chiouanon (Seneca), Cumberland Indians, Ontwagnnn (Iroquois "one who stutters"), Oshawanoag (Ottawa), Satana (Iroquois), Shawala (Lakota), and Touguenha (Iroquois). More about the history of the Shawnee.
Pekowi (Bicowetha or Pequa) was the name of one of the five divisions (or bands) of the Shawnee, a Native American people, during the 18th century. The other four divisions were the Chalahgawtha, Mekoche, Kispoko, and Hathawekela. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe.
All five Shawnee division names have been spelled in a great variety of ways. Variations of the name "Pekowi" are reflected in many place names in the United States, including Piqua, Pickawillany, Pickaway, and Pequea.
The Shawnee were living in northwestern Indiana by 1788, but some bands of the tribe roamed around Indiana and in April of that same year, Kakinathucca’s band were hunting and making sugar in the southwestern part of Indiana. When the sugar making was done they the moved toward Vincennes, near where the Ohio and White Rivers meet and here the women of the tribe planted their crops. The men of the tribe were warriors and the care of the crops was the responsibilities of the women. Many of the tribal ceremonies were centered around the agricultural cycle. In the spring when it was time to plant they performed the corn dance. When the crops were ripe they did the Green Corn Dance and at harvest time it was the Autumn Bread Dance to celebrate the harvest. When the harvest was done the band moved again, north toward Fort Wayne. It was in the village near the White River where the Shawnee "Prophet" had his vision and he and his brother started their campaign among the central woodland tribes for the tribes return to the native way of life. The Prophet gained many followers but only a few Shawnee supported his ideas.
The Shawnee were divided into five divisions, the Pekowi, Chalakatha, the Theawikila, Kispola, and Miskohe. Each division had their own war chief, peace chief, woman chief, messenger and sacred bundle.
The Chalakatha and the Pekowi had established villages in Indiana and TECUMSEH and his brother the Prophet belonged by birth to the Kishpolo division.
The tribal chiefs were chosen from either the Chalakatha or the Thawikila divisions. Each division was divided into a number of patrilineal or gens groups. An individual’s name referred directly to some the animal or a characteristic of the animal that the gen took their name.
Sources
- ↑ Benjamin Drake, Life of Tecumseh, and His Brother the Prophet; with A Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians (Cincinnati: E. Morgan & Co., 1841), 9; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/lifetecumsehand00unkngoog : accessed 03 June 2024).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma History," at Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma (https://www.astribe.com/ : accessed 03 June 2024), section "About Us."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "About the Eastern Shawnee Tribe" at Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma (https://estoo-nsn.gov/ : accessed 03 June 2024), section "Eastern Shawnee History."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Albert Gallatin, A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes in North America East of the Rocky Mountains, and in the British and Russian Possessions in North America (Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society, 1836), 65; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/synopsisofindian01gall : accessed 03 June 2024).
- ↑ Charles Callender, "Shawnee", in Trigger, Bruce (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians Volume 15 Northeast (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1978) 622; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/handbookofnortha0000bruc : accessed 03 June 2024).
- ↑ Joab Spencer, “The Shawnee Indians: Their Customs, Traditions and Folk-lore.” in Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908 Vol. X (Topeka: State Printing Office, 1908), 386; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionskans00socigoog : accessed 03 June 2024).
- ↑ John R. Swanton, The Indian tribes of North America ((Washington and London: Smithsonian Press, 1979 [reprint edition]), 229; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/indiantribesofno00swan_0 : accessed 03 June 2024).
- ↑ "The Piqua Shawnee Tribe" at State of Alabama Indian Affairs Commission (https://aiac.alabama.gov/ : accessed 05 June 2024), section "Tribes, Chiefs & Commissioners."
