Person:Hokoleskwa Cornstalk (1)

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the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Cornstalk (born circa 1720? - died November 10, 1777) was a Shawnee leader in the Ohio Country in the 1760s and 1770s. His name in the Shawnee language was Hokoleskwa. Little is known about his early life. He may have been born in the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1763, he reportedly led a raid against British-American colonists in Pontiac's War. He first appears in historical documents in 1764, when he was one of the hostages surrendered to the British as part of the peace negotiations ending Pontiac's War.

When the British-American colonies began expanding into the Ohio Country, Cornstalk played a major part in defense of the Shawnee homeland. He was the primary Shawnee war chief in Lord Dunmore's War (1774), leading Shawnees and other Native warriors against colonists in the Battle of Point Pleasant. After suffering defeat in that battle, he became an advocate for Shawnee neutrality in the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775. Many Shawnees fought against the Americans, hoping to regain lost lands, but Cornstalk was among those who feared that fighting the Americans would prove disastrous for the Shawnees.

In 1777, Cornstalk made a diplomatic visit to Fort Randolph in Virginia (now West Virginia), hoping to learn American intentions. He and three others were imprisoned by the fort's commander. When an American militiaman was killed by Natives in the fort's vicinity, angry soldiers executed Cornstalk and the other prisoners. His murder enraged Shawnees and deprived them of an important voice of moderation.

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Speech of the Shawanese 1775^S12

A Speech of the SHAWANESE, directed to ALEXANDER MCKEE, Esq., GEORGE CROGHAN, Esq., and the Commandant at PITTSBURG, Captain JOHN CONOLLY.

BROTHERS: We are sorry to see so much ill doing between you and us. First you killed our brother Othawakeesquo (or Ben,) next our elder brothers the Mingoes; then the Delawares. All which mischiefs, so close to each other, aggravated our people very much; yet we all determined to be quiet till we knew what you meant; our people were all getting ready to go to their hunting as usual, but these troubles have stopped them. The traders that were amongst us were very much endangered by such doings from the persons injured, but as we are convinced of their innocence, we are determined to protect them, and sent them safe to their relations and other friends, and it will, we hope, be looked upon as a proof of our good intentions. I, the Cornstalk, do send my brother [ Silverheels ] to be along with the traders in case any of the parties injured should be in their way, and in revenge for the loss of their friends, fall on them; therefore, we request that you will present our good intentions to the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and request that a stop may be put to such doings for the future. We likewise request that the Commandant, Captain Conolly, of Pittsturg, will do his endeavour to stop such foolish people from the like doings for the future. And I have with great trouble and pains prevailed on the foolish people amongst us to sit still and do no harm till we see whether it is the intention of the white people in general to fall on us, and shall still continue so to do in hopes that matters may be settled. I did intend to go myself, not to talk, but to carry home the traders, but in my stead I send my brother, and expect that Mr. McKee, Mr. Croghan, and Mr. Conolly, and each other of our brothers will, shew him the same regard that they would me, as in seeing him they see me all the same as if personally present. This is all that I have to say now to you. N. B. what concerned the traders I have said to themselves, as the wampum we have given them will testify.

Kentucky and Ohio Tribe of White Men

Cornstalk allegedly told Col. McKee that Kentucky and Ohio were first inhabited by a race of white men. This has lead to an unsuccessful search for a group of early Americans descended from possibly Celtic explorers. One source for this story by Cornstalk is The natural and aboriginal history of Tennessee^S9:

Cornstock (sic) told Col. McKee, that it was a current and assured condition, that Kentucky and Ohio had once been settled by white people, possessed of arts not understood by the Indians: that after many severe conflicts they were exterminated. He said, the Great Spirit had once given the Indians a book, but they lost it, and had never since regained the knowledge of the arts. He did not know who made the graves on the Ohio and at other places, but that it was not his nation, nor any he had been acquainted with: that it had been handed down from a very long time ago, that there had been a nation of white people inhabiting the country, who made the graves and forts. He said, that some Indians, who had travelled very far west and north-west, had found a nation of people who lived like Indians, although of a different complexion.

1.   Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

   Wikipedia article about Cornstalk

2. ↑ A PROCLAMATION, in Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg). (Williamsburg, Virginia: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1950)
   1, 03 April 1778.

   Link to Image
   
   Transcribed by David Armstrong
   
   From the VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3 April 1778
   
   By HIS Excellency PATRICK HENRY Governor, or Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA
   
   A PROCLAMATION
   
   WHEREAS a most barbarous murder was on the tenth day of November last committed by a number of persons belonging to a detachment of the militia of this state an Indian chief called CORNSTALK, his son, and two other Indians at Fort Randolph on the Ohio, although the said Indians had been convicted of no hostile act or purpose, and were at that time under the pl ghted (sic) protection of the garrison of the place, whereby a deep wound has been given to the honor and faith of this country, the laws of the state have been most flagrantly violated, and the vengeance of a cruel enemy provoked on the innocent inhabitants of the western frontiers, as well as a dangerous example given to licentious and bloodthirsty men wantonly to involve their country in the horrours of a savage war; and whereas it appears from sundry depositions transmitted to me that James Hall of the county of Rockbridqe, and Malcolm McCown of Augusta, Adam Barnes of Greenbrier, William Roane of Rockbridge and Hugh Galbreath of Rockbridge were deeply concerned in promoting and perpetrating the said outrage, I do by and with the advice of the Council of State issue this my proclamation strictly requiring the citizens of this commonwealth, more especially all officers civil and military, to use the most vigorous exertions to bring these seperate offenders to the punishment due their guilt. And as an encouragement thereto, as well as a proof of the public abhorrence of such detestable crimes, I do offer to such person or persons as shall secure any of the offenders so that they be brought to justice the following rewards that is for James Hall 200 dollars, for Malcolm McCown 150 dollars, for Adam Barnes, William Roane and Hugh Galbreath i00 dollars each.
   Given under my hand at the Council Chamber in the city of Williamsburg this 27th day of March in the second year of the commonwealth, Annogue Dom 1778

3.   Schutz, Noel, and Don Greene. Shawnee Heritage . (Lulu.com, 2008-2015).
   • Sources are not always cited in this book. See author's explanation in the preface. Used here to begin to try to collaborate with other researchers to find primary sources (as the author suggests).
4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Mitchener, Charles Hollowell. Ohio annals: historic events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in other portions of the state of Ohio; adventures of Post, Heckewelder and Zeisberger, legends and tradition of the Kophs, mound builders, red and white men; adventures of Putnam and Heckewelder, founders of the state; local history, growth of Ohio in population, political power, wealth and intelligence. (Strasburg, Ohio: Gordon Print., 1975)
   126-127, 1876.

   Cornstalk meeting Rev. John Jacob Schmick (Smick) at Gnadenhiitten excerpt here

5. ↑ Roosevelt, Theodore. The winning of the West. (G.P. Putnam's sons).

   Chief Cornstalk is defended and mentioned 16 times in this work by Theodore Roosevelt.

6.   Harvey, Henry. History of the Shawnee Indians, from the year 1681 to 1854, inclusive. (Cincinnati, Ohio: Ephraim Morgan, 1855)
   1855.

   Cornstalk family mentioned 15 times. Excerpt: Some of the descendants of Cornstalk are now living on Kanzas river. One of his sons lived to an advanced age. He was a war-chief and a very interesting speaker. He had given over his wandering life before he died, and was for several years a very sober, peaceable man.

7.   Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Virginia: Containing a Collection of the Most Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes &c. Relating to Its History and Antiquities, Together with Geopraphical and Statistical Descriptions ... (Charleston, SC: W.R. Babcock, 1846)
   364-, 1852.

   First hand account of his murder by Col. John Stuart

8.   Withers, Alexander Scott; Lyman Copeland Draper; and Reuben Gold Thwaites. Chronicles of border warfare, or, A history of the settlement by the whites, of northwestern Virginia, and of the Indian wars and massacres in that section of the state with reflections, anecdotes, &c. ( Cincinnati: Steward & Kidd Co., 1912)
   1895.

   Excerpt: In remarking on the appearance and manner of Cornstalk while speaking, Colonel Wilson says," When he arose, he was in no wise confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct, and audible voice, without stammering or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks while addressing Dunmore, were truly grand and majestic; yet graceful and attractive. 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."

9.   The natural and aboriginal history of Tennessee up to the first settlements therein by the white people, in the year 1768
   1823.
10.   Cornstalk, The Shawnee Chief, in Southern Literary Messenger
    Volume 16, Issue 9, pp. 533-540, 1850.

    by Rev. William Henry Foote online transcription

11.   Floyd, N. J. Biographical genealogies of the Virginia-Kentucky Floyd families: with notes of some collateral branches. (Williams & Wilkins Co.: Baltimore , 1912)
    page 12-13, 1912.

    It may be well to state, out of its proper chronological order, that many years after the period of the marriages of the young people noted above, the truth of the tradition concerning the ancestry of Princess Nicketti was denied in Kentucky. The cause of this denial originated at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, when the allied tribes, the Shawnees, the Guyandottes and Delawares, under the great war-chief Cornstalk, were defeated by the Virginians and the Kentucky pioneers under General Andrew Lewis. Cornstalk was regarded as a ferocious and vindictive tool of the Lieutenant-Governor of Canada and no Indian could have been more thoroughly detested. Prisoners taken in that epoch-making battle stated that he was a descendant of Powhatan, through his youngest daughter.* The Virginians and Kentuckians who It is quite probable that Cornstalk's tradition was a fact. Although he was the great war-chief of the Shawnees he was not a member of that tribe, but was by birth a chief of a small tribe which, giving way before the admired the character of the gentle Pocahontas as cordially as they despised Cornstalk, indignantly denied the tradition, and asserted that Pocahontas, if not the only daughter of Powhatan, was certainly the youngest, and the child of his old age. When the Floyds removed to Kentucky and heard the denial, being no longer in touch with those who knew the facts in Virginia, and therefore not prepared to discuss the point, they simply ignored the matter and "let it go at that." Hence it came about that later generations of nearly all the descendants of Nicketti ultimately came to doubt the perfect accuracy of the old tradition, as no historical or other writing known to them credited Powhatan with a younger daughter than Pocahontas; nor had any name been heard as that of such daughter. The descendants of Charles Floyd, however, at whose home in Kentucky his mother, Abadiah Davis Floyd, died, never for a moment doubted the entire accuracy of the tradition.

12. ↑ Peter Force. American Archives: Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America
    Series 4, Volume 1, Page 0288.

    A Speech of the SHAWANESE, directed to ALEXANDER MCKEE, Esq., GEORGE CROGHAN, Esq., and the Commandant at PITTSBURG, Captain JOHN CONOLLY.
    
    BROTHERS: We are sorry to see so much ill doing between you and us. First you killed our brother Othawakeesquo (or Ben,) next our elder brothers the Mingoes; then the Delaware’s. All which mischief’s, so close to each other, aggravated our people very much; yet we all determined to be quiet till we knew what you meant; our people were all getting ready to go to their hunting as usual, but these troubles have stopped them. The traders that were amongst us were very much endangered by such doings from the persons injured, but as we are convinced of their innocence, we are determined to protect them, and sent them safe to their relations and other friends, and it will, we hope, be looked upon as a proof of our good intentions.
    
    I, Cornstalk, do send my brother [ Silverheels ] to be along with the traders in case any of the parties injured should be in their way, and in revenge for the loss of their friends, fall on them; therefore, we request that you will present our good intentions to the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and request that a stop may be put to such doings for the future. We likewise request that the Commandant, Captain Connolly, of Pittsburg, will do his endeavor to stop such foolish people from the like doings for the future. And I have with great trouble and pains prevailed on the foolish people amongst us to sit still and do no harm till we see whether it is the intention of the white people in general to fall on us, and shall still continue so to do in hopes that matters may be settled. I did intend to go myself, not to talk, but to carry home the traders, but in my stead I send my brother, and expect that Mr. McKee, Mr. Croghan, and Mr. Connolly, and each other of our brothers will, show him the same regard that they would me, as in seeing him they see me all the same as if personally present. This is all that I have to say now to you.
    
    N. B. what concerned the traders I have said to themselves, as the wampum we have given them will testify.
    
    SOURCE
    http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/amarch/getdoc.pl?/var/lib/philologic/databases/amarch/.217

13.   Drake, Benjamin. Life of Tecumseh and of His Brother, the Prophet: with a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians. (Cincinnati: H. S. & J. Applegate & Co., 1852).
14.   .

    One descendant: Hawk at the Setting Sun Pope
    https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Jerry_Pope_%282%29

15. ↑ ^15.0 15.1 The Death of Chief Peter Cornstalk (III) Blog post by Freda Cruse Phillips
16.   NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN & MELUNGEON HISTORY - GENEALOGY
17.   Metcalf Family Mews
18.   Dahnmon Whitt
19.   Cornstalk (essay on his name variations) by Carlyle Hinshaw. Excerpt: Moravian missionary records indicate that he was the son or grandson of noted headman Paxinosa, and circumstances suggest this to be true.
20. ↑ ^{20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4} My Baker-Harrison-Carroll Ancestors