Person:Puckeshinwa Unknown (1)

Shawnee indian chief; name means "I light from flying"

[from "A Pioneer History of Wirt County" by Tommie Sewell, in the Wirt County Journel, Vol 78, No 52, c 1978]

The father of this famous family was Pukesheno, a name signifying "I light from flying." He was a chief of more than passing fame, having won his laurels of Braddock's Defeat in 1755, while fighting under chief Black Hoof. The mother [spouse of Pukesheno] was Methelasche, a name signfying "a turtle laying her eggs in the sand." She was a Cherokee and is described as a woman of strong character and ability. Pukesheno was born prior to 1730. The children were Tecumopeas who was much esteemed by her tribe, Chesetau, Sauwaseekau, Tecumseh, Tellskwatawa, Kumekaukau, and Nehasemo. This family was a prominent one in history. The father and four sons perished in battle. The Shawnees were the most remarkable people of all who resided east of the Mississippi. Thirty-one of them were present at William Penn's Treaty in 1682. At one time the tribe held sway over the greater part of West Virginia, from the Blue Ridge to the Ohio and beyond. They are said to have had a village of considerable size, known as Shawnetown, new the mouth of Old Town Creek, three miles above Point Pleasant.

Another tradition relates that the Shawnees battled their neighbors, the Iriquois, on the site of the present village of Evans, in Jackson County, for possesion of the coveted hunting grounds of that region, a fight in which the Shawnees lost heavily.

But returning to the family of Pukesheno, who is said to have spent the first of his married life on the Tennesse River, we find them removing to the Indian territory, north of the Ohio. Here at Old Chillicothe in 1750 Pukesheno erected his teepee. His family then consisted of only his daughter, Tecumopeas who was then about one year old. This was 18 years before the birth of Tecumeseh. There is a story that Methelashe, the mother, transplanted a beautiful Cherokee rose from the banks of the Tenessee River to those banks of the Scioto where it flourished and spread far and wide. Evidently the family later removed to the Mad River for it was during these troubled times that warfare with the whites along the border had become serious. Pukesheno had set himself up as keeper of the gates to stem the tide of white emigration and he and his warriors were now patrolling the banks of the Ohio. It was about this time that Stephen Reddell was taken prisioner of the Licking River during one of the frequent raids of Pukesheno and his braves. Stephen was adopted by the Pukesheno family at the age of six years, being only a few months younger than Tecumseh with whom he played and became a lifelong friend.

Pukesheno continued to retaliate against the whites for wrongs his people had suffered. This warfare was temporarily ended with the Battle of Point Pleasant. It was there, October 10, 1774, that Pukesheno died, fighting at Cornstalk's side. Virgil A. Lewis, in his description of the battle, speaks of Pukesheno as the "noblest warrior of them all who perished on that fateful day." The bodies were left to decay on the ground, exposed to the birds and beasts of prey. The mountain eagle, Lord of the feathered race, from his lofty flight, with piercing eye, surveyed the feast prepared for his use. The gaunt wolf, grim tyrant of the wilderness, paused in his midnight revelry to howl a funeral dirge."

During the life of Pukesheno, the family traveled frequently and extensively from one hunting ground to another. He is said to have possessed a two hundred thousand acre hunting preserve in the Shenandoah Valley, where he had hunting lodgers and to which the family journied at certain seasons of the year. Pukesheno had his favorite daughter, but not to give away. When Mr. Collins sought the hand of Tecumopeas in marriage, the old chief became crafty, his eyes had wandered to some horses owned by Collins. In the trade consumimated both were pleased and happy.

Notes

Chief Pukeshenwa Shawnee (Taken from the Wirt County Journal). His name signifies "I-light-from-flying." He was born before 1730 and was Chief of the Shawnee. He earned his laurels at Braddocks defeat in 1755, while fighting under Chief Black Hoof. He died in the Battle of Point Pleasant when fighting under Cornstalk.

Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~deemfamily/p589.htm

Confusion with Paxinosa

There has been some confusion between Puckeshinwa and Paxinosa (AKA Chief Okowellos Paxinosa Cornstalk) because their names are similar, they lived at about the same time and they were both considered to be Shawnee. [1]

Sources

http://www.svic.net/robice/tecumseh.htm

1. ↑ West, Elliot. Tecumseh's Last Stand. American History (magazine). Leesburg, Virginia. ISSN: 1076-8866
   volume 47, number 5, page 34, Dec 2012.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} 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).
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Cozzens, Peter. Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2020).