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Cornstalk (1720?–November 10, 1777) was a prominent leader of the Shawnee people in the era of the American Revolution. His Indian name was Hokoleskwa ("blade of corn"), rendered in innumerable spelling variations by contemporary chroniclers. Cornstalk's murder by American militiamen during the Revolutionary War outraged Indians and whites alike, and eliminated any remaining possibility (already remote) that the Shawnee might remain neutral in that conflict. // Events January 6 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings February 11 - Sweden and Prussia sign the (2nd Treaty of Stockholm) declaring peace. ...
November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ...
1777 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
The Shawnee, or Shawano, are a people native to North America. ...
The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. ...
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was a war fought primarily between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. ...
Early years
Historians can only speculate on Cornstalk’s early years. He may have been born in present-day Pennsylvania, and migrated to the Ohio Country as the Shawnee gave ground in the face of expanding white settlement. There are stories of Cornstalk's involvement in the French and Indian War as part of a Shawnee effort to reclaim lands in Pennsylvania and Virginia, though these are likely apocryphal. Likewise, his active participation in Pontiac's Rebellion is unverifiable, though he played a role in the peace negotiations. State nickname: The Keystone State Official languages None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Governor Ed Rendell (D) Senators Arlen Specter (R) Rick Santorum (R) Area - Total - % water Ranked 33rd 119,283 km² 2. ...
The Ohio Country, showing the present-day U.S. state boundaries The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake...
The French and Indian War is the American name for the decisive nine-year conflict (1754-1763) in North America between the Kingdom of Great Britain and France, which was one of the theatres of the Seven Years War. ...
State nickname: Old Dominion Official languages English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Governor Mark R. Warner (D) Tim Kaine (D-Governor Elect) Senators John Warner (R) George Allen (R) Area - Total - % water Ranked 35th 110,862 km² 7. ...
Pontiacs Rebellion was a war launched in 1763 by Native Americans who were dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region and the Ohio Country after the British victory in the French and Indian War. ...
Dunmore's War Cornstalk played a central role in Dunmore's War of 1774. After the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, white settlers and land speculators began moving into the lands south of the Ohio River in present-day Kentucky. However, the Shawnee and other Indians living in Ohio had not been party to the Fort Stanwix negotiations, and they still considered the Kentucky lands to be their hunting territory. Violence soon erupted. Cornstalk tried to prevent further escalation of the hostilities, to no avail. Dunmores War (or Lord Dunmores War) was the result of several collisions that took place in the spring of 1774, on the Ohio River above the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, between Native American peoples (particularly Shawnee, Miami, and Wyandot) and parties of Anglo-American settlers who...
Two different treaties between Native Americans and European-Americans were signed at Fort Stanwix, which was located near present-day Rome, New York. ...
The Ohio River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, 1,579 km (981 mi) long in the eastern United States. ...
State nickname: Bluegrass State Official languages English Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) Senators Mitch McConnell (R) Jim Bunning (R) Area - Total - % water Ranked 37th 104,749 km² 1. ...
Attempting to check a Virginian invasion of Ohio, Cornstalk led a group of Shawnee and Mingo warriors at the Battle of Point Pleasant in present day West Virginia. According to tradition, Cornstalk was a reluctant war leader. He realized that the Shawnee were not strong enough without allies to stop the Virginians, but since his young men were determined to make a stand, he led the way. His attack was not successful; Cornstalk withdrew, and was forced to accept the Ohio River as the boundary line at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte. // Tribal Name Mingo is thought to be a corruption of mingwe, which is an Algonquian word meaning stealthy or treacherous. ...
The Battle of Point Pleasant was an action in Lord Dunmores War between Virginia militia and the Indians fought on October 10, 1774 near modern Point Pleasant, West Virginia. ...
State nickname: Mountain State Official languages English Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Governor Joe Manchin (D) Senators Robert Byrd (D) Jay Rockefeller (D) Area - Total - % water Ranked 41st 62,809 km² 0. ...
Cornstalk's commanding presence often made quite an impression upon American colonists. One Virginia officer wrote of Cornstalk at Camp Charlotte: "I have heard the first orators in Virginia, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, but never have I heard one whose powers of delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk on that occasion." Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was a prominent figure in the American Revolution, known and remembered primarily for his stirring oratory. ...
Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732–June 19, 1794) was the sixth President of the United States in Congress assembled under the Articles of Confederation, holding office from November 30, 1784 to November 22, 1785. ...
American Revolution With the coming of the American Revolutionary War, Cornstalk worked to keep the Shawnee nation neutral, representing his people at treaty councils at Fort Pitt in 1775 and 1776, the first Indian treaties negotiated by the nascent United States. However, many Shawnees hoped to take advantage of the war and use British aid to reclaim lands lost to the Americans. By the winter of 1776, the Shawnee were effectively divided into a neutral faction led by Cornstalk, and militant bands led by men such as Blue Jacket. Fort Pitt refers to two forts: Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania, and Fort Pitt, Kent. ...
Blue Jacket or Weyapiersenwah (c. ...
Murder In the fall of 1777, Cornstalk made a diplomatic visit to Fort Randolph, an American fort at present-day Point Pleasant, seeking as always to maintain his faction's neutrality. Cornstalk was detained by the fort commander, who had decided on his own initiative to take hostage any Shawnees who fell into his hands. When, on November 10, an American militiaman from the fort was killed nearby by unknown Indians, angry soldiers brutally executed Cornstalk, his son, and two other Shawnees. Point Pleasant is a city located in Mason County, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. ...
American political and military leaders were alarmed by the murder of Cornstalk; they believed he was their only hope of securing Shawnee neutrality. At the insistence of Patrick Henry, the governor of Virginia, Cornstalk’s killers (whom Henry called “vile assassins”) were eventually brought to trial, but since their fellow soldiers would not testify against them, all were acquitted.
Cornstalk is buried in Point Pleasant. Legends arose about his dying "curse" being the cause of misfortunes in the area (later supplanted by local "mothman" stories), though no contemporary historical source mentions any such utterance by Cornstalk. An eyewitnesss sketch of Mothman Mothman was the name given to a strange creature sighted many times in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia, on the border with Ohio between November 1966 and November 1967. ...
References - Downes, Randolph C. Council Fires on the Upper Ohio. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1940.
- Sugden, John. "Cornstalk" in American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 1999.
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