Person:Nonhelema Cornstalk (2)

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Nonhelema Hokolesqua (–1786) was an 18th century Shawnee leader and sister of Cornstalk. She was a participant in Pontiac's War and advocated Shawnee neutrality during the American Revolutionary War. Following the war, and despite her support for the United States, Nonhelema's village was attacked. Her husband, Shawnee Chief Moluntha, was killed, and Nonhelema was captured. She died later that year.

Born in 1718 into the Chalakatha (Chilliothe) division of the Shawnee nation and spent her early youth in Pennsylvania. Her brother Cornstalk, and her metis mother Katee accompanied her father Okowellos to the Alabama country in 1725. Their family returned to Pennsylvania within five years. In 1734 she married her first husband, a Chalakatha chief. By 1750 Nonhelema was a Shawnee chief, having significant influence within the Shawnee settlement in Kentucky known as Lower Shawneetown.^[1]

Nonhelema had three husbands. The first was a Shawnee man. The third was Shawnee Chief Moluntha.^[2] She had a son, Thomas McKee, through her relationship with Indian agent Colonel Alexander McKee and another son, Captain Butler/Tamanatha, through her relationship with Colonel Richard Butler.

Nonhelema, known as a warrior, stood nearly six feet, six inches (198 cm). Some called her "The Grenadier" or "The Grenadier Squaw", due to the large height of 18th-century grenadiers. She was present at the Battle of Bushy Run in 1763. Nonhelema and Cornstalk supported neutrality when their land became the Western theater of the American Revolutionary War. In Summer 1777, Nonhelema warned Americans that parts of the Shawnee nation had traveled to Fort Detroit to join the British.

Despite Cornstalk's 1777 murder at Fort Randolph, Nonhelema continued to support the United States, warning both Fort Randolph and Fort Donnally of impending attacks. She dressed Phillip Hamman and John Pryor as natives so they could go the 160 miles to Fort Donnally to give warning. In retribution, her herds of cattle were destroyed. Nonhelema led her followers to the Coshocton area, near Lenape Chief White Eyes.^[3] In 1780, Nonhelema served as a guide and translator for Augustin de La Balme in his campaign to the Illinois country.^[2]

In 1785, Nonhelema petitioned Congress for a 1,000-acre grant in Ohio, as compensation for her services during the American Revolutionary War. Congress instead granted her a pension of daily rations, and an annual allotment of blankets and clothing.^[2]

Nonhelema and Moluntha were captured by General Benjamin Logan in 1786. Moluntha was killed by an American soldier, and Nonhelema was detained at Fort Pitt. While there, she helped compile a dictionary of Shawnee words.^[2] She was later released, but died in December 1786.^[2]

Known as Kate, she was called the Grenadier Squaw by the British because of her height (said to be 6'6"). She was a messenger and translator for American colonists.

(After her brother Cornstalk was murdered) "she abandoned her people and moved to that place where she asked permission to live. She brought nearly fifty head of cattle, some horses, and other property. This gesture indicated her good faith and the Virginians accepted her as one of them." ^N1

For her service she requested 2,000 acre land grant which she did not receive. She was offered a blanket every year and rations if she could travel to an Ohio fort every year.

A novel based on her life has been published: Warrior Woman: The Exceptional Life Story of Nonhelema, Shawnee Indian Woman Chief by Dark Rain Thom and James Alexander Thom.

Association with White Eyes

After her brother Cornstalk's murder in 1777, she led her followers to the Coshocton area, near Lenape Chief White Eyes. ^S4

Historical marker

Marker is near Circleville, Ohio, in Pickaway County. Inscription. Grenadier Squaw was chief of the largest Shawnee Indian village, located on the south bank of Scippo Creek, upon the Pickaway Plains in 1774. Born about 1720, Non-hel-e-ma, sister of Chief Cornstalk, was named “Grenadier Squaw” by white traders because of her imposing stature, regal bearing and unflinching courage. She spoke three languages, serving as peacemaker and interpreter between Indians and whites. Because of her friendship, she accepted Christianity. After the peace treaty in 1774, she was disowned by her people and became a homeless exile. Erected by Pickaway County Bicentennial Women's Organizations.

1. ↑ Boone: a biography.
2.   Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present.
3.   Wabash 1791: St Clair's defeat.

   "He (Major-General Richard Butler) and the famous Shawnee female chief Nonhelema, also known as the "Grenadier Squaw," had a son, Captain Butler (Tamanatha), who fought at the battle (St. Clair's Defeat) as a Shawnee warrior."

4.   The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America.

   "A small number of Cornstalk's followers (his sister included) and the Turtle Clan of the Delaware, led by George White Eyes, moved to Coshocton, on the Muskingum River. There they maintained allegiance to the Americans under the guardianship of Moravian missionaries."

5. ↑ .

   Nonhelema “Grenadier Squaw” Nonhelema
   Birth: 1720 USA
   Death: Dec 1786 (aged 65–66) Pennsylvania, USA
   Burial: Logan Elm State Memorial Park, Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, USA
   Memorial #: 166165770
   Bio: Native American Chieftess
   Nonhelema was an 18th century Shawnee female warrior who stood about six-and-a-half feet tall. Her stature earned her the nickname Grenadier Squaw or The Grenadier because grenadier soldiers were typically quite tall. She was sister to Shawnee Nation Chief Hokoleskwa (Cornstalk). She was present at the Battle of Bushy Run near present-day Harrison City, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where a combined Ohio Country native force of Shawnee, Delaware, Huron and Mingo warriors fought and lost to the British. She later served as a peacemaker, guide and translator between the native Nations and the American military. In 1785, Nonhelema petitioned Congress for a 1,000-acre grant in Ohio as compensation for her services during the American Revolutionary War. Congress instead granted her a pension of daily rations, and an annual allotment of blankets and clothing. [Cook, Bernard A. (ed); Gundersen, Joan (2006). Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present. ABC-CLIO. p. 434.] Nonhelema had three husbands:
   1. Unknown Shawnee man;
   2. Indian Agent Col. Alexander McKee with whom she had a son, Thomas McKee;
   3. Shawnee chief Moluntha.
   She also had a relationship with Continental Army Gen. Richard Butler with whom she had a son, "Captain Butler" or Tamanatha.
   Nonhelema is the subject of Warrior Woman, a novel authored by James Alexander Thom and Dark Rain Thom.
   
   Family Members
   Spouses
   COL Alexander "The Great White Elk" McKee 1734-1799
   Chief Moluntha 1740-1786
   Children
   Thomas McKee 1770-1814
   Created by: Pam Acquaviva Kalbfleisch (47746714)
   Added: 2016-06-28T12:04:02.000Z
   URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166165770/nonhelema-nonhelema
   Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166165770/nonhelema-nonhelema: accessed August 21, 2025), memorial page for Nonhelema “Grenadier Squaw” Nonhelema (1720–Dec 1786), Find a Grave Memorial ID 166165770, citing Logan Elm State Memorial Park, Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Pam Acquaviva Kalbfleisch (contributor 47746714).

6.   .

   https://epa.ohio.gov/divisions-and-offices/surface-water/reports-data/scioto-river-watershed
   Where is the Scioto River? Hardin, Auglaize, Franklin, Marion, Delawar, Pickaway, Ross, Pike, and Scioto Counties of Ohio.
   
   The Scioto River watershed is located in central and southern Ohio. It drains a total of 6,513 square miles and flows through all or part of 31 counties. Major municipalities partially or fully in the watershed include Columbus and many of its suburbs, Delaware, Marysville, Chillicothe, Circleville, Jackson, and Portsmouth.

7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} The Grenadier Squaw
   KNOW YOUR STATE, Greenbrier Independent, November 2,1962
   By Phil Connelly, President Education Foundation, Incorporated
8. ↑ Revolution and conquest: Politics, violence, and social change in the Ohio ... By John Robinson Harper, The University of Wisconsin - Madison
9.   My Baker-Harrison-Carroll Ancestors She was a guide and consort to George Morgan, as he tried to build trading colonies from the mountains to the Mississippi. She had borne him a son, Morgan. She also had a son by Alexander McKee, named him Thomas McKee, after his grandfather.
10.   I am beginning to enter numerous sources that have "Grenadier Squaw" married to Joshua Renick AKA Chief Maluntha. It doesn't quite add up yet because I think we have the correct birthdate - 1718 - and that would make her marriage with two children born when she was in her 50s unlikely. Perhaps her birthdate is wrong? I will continue to find sources to see if this works out. user:cthrnvl