4 Shawnee Hostages 1774 in Winchester VA
1774 December 7 A travelling minister Cresswell saw 4 Shawnee Chiefs in Winchester being taken to Williamsburg as hostages to be held in good faith to keep the peace.
An Englishman who saw the four hostages in Winchester in December on their way to Williamsburg described them in detail as “tall, manly, well-shaped men, of a Copper colour with black hair, quick piercing eyes, and good features.” They were dressed as white men except for loincloths instead of “breeches which they refuse to wear” (Cresswell, Journal, 49–50)
Dec. Col. Angus McDonald arrived in Williamsburg with the four hostages and their interpreter. “Three of them are Warriors, viz. Imcatewhawa, or the Black Wolf; Wissecapoway, or Captain Morgan; Genusa, or the Judge; and the other is a young Man, called Neawah, who is the Snake’s Son, a principal Warrior of that Nation” (Pennsylvania Gazette [Philadelphia], 4 Jan. 1775).
Founders online footnote 1
Footnote found in a letter by Crawford to Washington
The journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774-1777.
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Posted originall Sep 27 2016
SHAWNEE HOSTAGES
1774 December 7 Four Shawnee Hostages come through Winchester VA
To George Washington from William Crawford, 14 November 1774
From William Crawford Stewarts Crossing [Pa.] November 14th 1774 Sir I yesterday returd from our Late Expedition against the Shawnees, and I think we may with Propreity Say we have had Great Sucksess as we have maid them Senceable of there Veleny and weekness, and I hop maid peace with them on such a footing as will be Lasting if we make them adhare to the tinner of the agreement which is as follows.
First they have to give up all the Prisoners taken ever by them in war both white People and Negro’s and all the horses Stolen or taken by them Sence Last war, and farther no Endien for the futer is to hunt on the East side of the Ohio nor no white man one the West Side as that Seems to have bin the Cause of Som of the Disturbence between our people and them, and for the performence of the Same the[y] have given up four Chief men, to be Keept as Hostages for there futer behaviour Which is to be Retened yearly or as they may Chuse They Shawnees has Complyd with the Terms but the mingoes Did not Like the Conditions and had a mind to deceive us but Lord Dunmore discoverd there intentions which was to Slip of, while we was Setling matters with the Shawnees the mingoes intended to Slip of to the Lakes and take there Prisoners with them and horses which the[y] had stole.
Lord Dunmore ordred my self with 240 men to set out in the Night which was to march to a Town about 40 Miles Distant from our Camp & up Siotha, where we understood the hole of the mingoes was to Rendevous at the Day following in order to persue there Journey This intelegence came by Johney Mounture Son of Captain Monture hom you formerly Knew.
from the number of Endiens then in our Camp, we marched out of camp under Pretence of going to Hockhaken for more Provision few new of our Seting of any how and none new where we was going to (till the Next day) our march was performd with as much speed as Posable and arived at a Town calld the Salt lick town they ensuing night and at day break we got round the Town (or half) and the remaind was Sent to a small town at half a miles distance, but unfortunetly one of our men was Discoverd by the Endiens ho Lay out from the town at a distance at a Log which the man was Creeping ⟨up⟩ which oblidged they man to Kill the Endien as he was discovered by them this hapned before day light which did us much Damage as Chief part maid there Eascap in the dark but we got 14 Prisoners and Killd 6 and wound Saveral more, got all there bagege and horses 10 of there Guns and ⟨two⟩ white Prisoners, the mount of the Plunder sold for £400 be sids what was returnd to a mohake Endien that was there the hole was ready for to Start and was to have set of on that morning the we attackd them, Lord Dunmore has got 11 Prisoners and has Returnd the rest to the nation, and the reast is to be returnd upon Complyence with his Lord ships Demand⟨e⟩ for other Perticqualors I refair you to Majr Connallys Letter.1
I have Run your Land at the round bottom Again and will Send you a new Draft of it, by Vale Crawford ho is to be at your house in a few Days at or before Christmuss I would send it now but the Bearer cannot wait as he is on his Journey2
Them Drafts of Land on the Litle Kahaway I shall send them to you and Leve you at your Choyce to do as you Like.3
One faviour I would ask you if it did sute, when those Negros of Mercers are Sold and they are Sold at Creadit (12 months) I would be Glad to Purchess a boy and Girle about 14 or 15 years old Each or older if Such are sold Tho. I would not have you put your Self to any Trouble more for me than Sutes you.4
I spooke to Lord Dunmore about your Land at Chartees and the round bottom and it hapned that Mr Cresap was present when we spooke of it Cresap was Laying Down his Claim and I was walking by Cresap wanted it run for him by a warrent which he had Purchest and then told his Lord ship the nature of your Claim before Cresaps faice upon which he Said no more at that time but wanted me to Survay it for him also and return it.
I told him I cold not at any rate do such a thing as I had survayd it for you.5 We have Built you a house at your Land oppesite the mouth of Hockhaking and Cleard a bout 8 acres of Land of all the Small Timber6 my Brother Val Crawford Says if you Proceed on in improving your Land next Summer he would Still do it for you as usel he has had the Misfortune to Loose his son Moses he Died with the Biles fever I am Sir your most Hume Sarvant W. Crawford
ALS, DLC:GW.
Founders Online Footnotes
1. Lord Dunmore, with about twelve hundred men including Maj. William Crawford’s command, was at Fort Gower on the Great Hockhocking from which place he sent messengers to Andrew Lewis with instructions to join him near Chillicothe rather than at Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Great Kanawha as originally planned. Before Lewis could comply with the new orders his division of the army was attacked on 10 Oct. at Point Pleasant by the Shawnee chief Cornstalk and a large force of Shawnee and Mingo warriors. After a hard-fought battle the defeated Indians crossed the Ohio River, headed for the Shawnee towns. The Shawnee chiefs came to Camp Charlotte on the Pickaway Plains where Dunmore was encamped and agreed to a peace treaty, although some of the chiefs were bitterly opposed. The treaty set the Ohio River as the boundary between Indians and white settlers. Shawnee hostages were taken to ensure compliance with the treaty. For Dunmore’s proclamation regarding the treaty and his instructions to protect the Indians, see the Virginia Gazette (Dixon and Hunter; Williamsburg), 28 Jan. 1775. On 17 Dec. Col. Angus McDonald arrived in Williamsburg with the four hostages and their interpreter. “Three of them are Warriors, viz. Imcatewhawa, or the Black Wolf; Wissecapoway, or Captain Morgan; Genusa, or the Judge; and the other is a young Man, called Neawah, who is the Snake’s Son, a principal Warrior of that Nation” (Pennsylvania Gazette [Philadelphia], 4 Jan. 1775). An Englishman who saw the four hostages in Winchester in December on their way to Williamsburg described them in detail as “tall, manly, well-shaped men, of a Copper colour with black hair, quick piercing eyes, and good features.” They were dressed as white men except for loincloths instead of “breeches which they refuse to wear” (Cresswell, Journal, 49–50). The Point Pleasant victory kept the frontiers relatively free from Indian threats during the early years of the Revolution.
Andrew Montour was a mixed-blood Seneca guide and served as a captain with the British forces during the French and Indian War. See Papers, Colonial Series, 1:122. John Montour’s mother was the daughter of a Delaware chief, and so John Montour was considered a Delaware. He was educated in Philadelphia and adhered to the side of the colonists during the Revolution, although his loyalty was sometimes in question. Another John Montour, called Stuttering John, fought with the British in the Revolution and took part in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
The town of Seekonk, or Salt Lick Town, was a Mingo town on the west bank of the Scioto River near present-day Columbus. Crawford, with about two hundred and fifty men, was sent against the town, and Dunmore assured him that “if any plunder was taken it should be equally divided among the captors.” The sale amounted to “35ol. 15s. halfpeny, when the captains of each company became responsible for the purchases made by their men.” However, the commissioners settling the expenses of the war stopped this amount out of the officers’ pay. It was not until 1776 that the legislature agreed that the men were indeed entitled to the money from the sale of the plunder and ordered each officer on Crawford’s expedition to give in a list of men who served on the expedition and to pay to each his share of the money (House of Delegates Journal, 1776, 118, 123). For another account of the attack on Salt Lick Town, see William Christian to William Preston, 8 Nov. 1774, in Thwaites, Dunmore’s War, 301–7. For other contemporary accounts of the Point Pleasant campaign, see William Fleming’s Journal, William Christian to William Preston, 15 Oct. 1774, Dunmore to Dartmouth, 24 Dec. 1774, and William Fleming to William Bowyer, n.d., ibid., 281–91, 261–66, 368–95, 254–57. No letter from Connolly regarding the Point Pleasant battle has been found, but on 9 Feb. 1775 he wrote GW regarding the treaty with the Indians.
2. See Crawford to GW, 20 Sept., and note 1 of that document.
4. For the sale of George Mercer’s property, see GW to John Tayloe, 30 Nov., n.2. There is no indication in GW’s accounts with Crawford or Mercer that any slaves were purchased for Crawford (Ledger B, 36, 129).
5. For the dispute between GW and Michael Cresap over the Round Bottom tract, see GW to Thomas Lewis, 5 May 1774, n.4, and references.
Founders Online Footnote:
An Englishman who saw the four hostages in Winchester in December on their way to Williamsburg described them in detail as “tall, manly, well-shaped men, of a Copper colour with black hair, quick piercing eyes, and good features.” They were dressed as white men except for loincloths instead of “breeches which they refuse to wear” (Cresswell, Journal, 49–50)
The journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774-1777.
WHEN:
Posted on Facebook and this site
December 7, 2015 all-day
COST:
Free
SHAWNEE CHIEFS HELD AS GOOD FAITH HOSTAGES
Compiled by Jim Moyer 9/25/2016, post 9/27/16, updated 12/7/2019
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Description of a Shawnee? You got one here.
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Hostage Agreement
After the October 10, 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant, the October 19, 1774 Treaty of Camp Charlotte (just south of the center of Ohio) agreed the Shawnee would provide some of their own people to be held as hostage in Williamsburg VA as a symbol of good faith in keeping the peace.
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Their Names?
Imcatewhawa, (Black Wolf), Wissecapoway (Captain Morgan), Genusa, (the Judge), Neawah (Snake’s Son, a principal Warrior of that Nation). Imcatewhawa and Wissecapoway were 2 of 19 children of Cornstalk. See footnote in a letter William Crawford writes to GW 14 Nov 1774.
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Eyewitness
These hostages were seen in Winchester VA by a traveling Englishman, Nicholas Cresswell, recording it in his diary on December 7, 1774. See his description further below.
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By December 17, 1774 they arrived in Williamsburg VA with Angus MacDonald.
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Side note on Angus MacDonald
20 years earlier, Angus is found in Captain George Mercer’s Company of the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War.
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His services starts with enlisting 5 Mar. 1754 in King George County, an recorded as age 21, height 5′10″, seaman, from Scotland; and who was 12 years old during the Battle of Culloden.
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The context of the times?
By March 1775, the legend of Patrick Henry’s alleged Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death occurs.
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Dunmore’s War was over. The treaty resulting from that war agreed that four Shawnee would come to Williamsburg to be held as hostage as proof of desired peace.
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But soon Lord Dunmore would be over in a year. Dec 9, 1775 was the Battle of Great Bridge.
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GOVERNOR’S BALL
Good article on the Shawnee in Williamsburg. More on the plot of “So Far from Scioto.” Excerpt from article:
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In 1774 Virginia’s royal governor Lord Dunmore went to war with the Shawnee, which concluded at the Battle of Point Pleasant. During the peace negotiations, the Shawnee agreed to send four headmen to Williamsburg as a demonstration of their commitment to the peace. These four Shawnee were considered “diplomatic hostages” of the colony and came as part of the “peace bond.” They were not viewed as captives or prisoners—they were royal guests of Dunmore, and the governor hosted them as foreign dignitaries. They attended Williamsburg dinners and a Palace Ball, sailed with Dunmore to Norfolk and attended the theater. Parades were held on their behalf and they socialized with Virginia’s gentry.
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Meanwhile, a formal treaty was planned for the spring of 1775.
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Source for above quote:
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More on “So Far from Scioto”
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Fort Loudoun Description
But first, this eye witness writes about Winchester and Fort Loudoun too.
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Winchester in 1777. Map drawn by a very interesting Hessian prisoner. Touch or Click to Enlarge.
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Wednesday, December 7th, 1774. Went to Winchester. It is one of the largest towns I have seen in the Colony, the capital of this Colony. Regularly laid out in squares, the buildings are of limestone. Two Churches, one English and one Dutch, but the Dutch Church is not finished. General Braddock built a stockade Fort here, in the year 1755, but it is now demolished.
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Map drawn 3 years later shows the fort outlines. The Barrack buildings were still there. And a stockade of sorts was built later for the Revolutionary War prisoners.
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George Washington’s original plans for Fort Loudoun.
General Braddock did not build that fort.
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Colonel George Washington designed it and supervised the building of it, May 18, 1756-1758.
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The Fort Loudoun construction began 18 May 1756 and went on for 2 years and sporadically if necessity dictated after that —- not 1755.
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Stockade is incorrect.
The original walls of Fort Loudoun were 1 foot wide hewn squared off logs placed sideways with dirt and stone and rock filled in between 2 walls. .
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18 years later a stockade was erected for prisoner in the War for Independence. .
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A stockade model displayed for years at the Washington Office Museum on Cork and Braddock was both wrong and right.
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Wrong –
because that model does not represent the Fort Loudoun being built between 1756 to 1758 for the French and Indian War.
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Right –
because that model might come closer to representing a palisade stockade wall built to house Revolutionary War prisoners
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Demolished?
1774 is 15 years after the last work on building it. As a practical matter, yes it was demolished. Some of the barracks were still standing. And maybe all the walls were taken down to be used as building material for homes nearby. But perhaps the outline of some of the wall was there, because whatever existed was noticeable enough to be drawn prominently by a Hessian prisoner held at Fort Loudoun 3 years later in 1777.
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BACK TO THOSE SHAWNEE HOSTAGES
See pictures below of Shawnee 60+ years later matching this written description by Nicholas Cresswell visiting Winchester VA in his diary entry 7 December 1774:
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Saw four Indian Chiefs of the Shawnee Nation, who have been at War with the Virginians this summer, but have made peacewith them, and they are sendingthese people to Williamsburgas hostages.
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In 1836, Kishkalwa was between 85 and 90 years old, still the head of the Shawnee nation and living on the Kansas River, in the neighborhood of the Sabine. See Sources further below in this story. If he was 85 in 1836, then in 1774 at the time of the Battle of Point Pleasant and the subsequent Treaty of Camp Charlotte, he would have been 23 years old. .
They are tall,
2. manly,
3. wellshaped
4. men,
5. of a Copper colour
6. with
7. black hair,
8. quick piercing eyes,
9. and good features.
10. .
11. They have rings of silver in their nose
12. and bobs to them
13. which hang over
14. their upper lip.
15. .
16. Their ears are cut
17. from the tips two thirds of the way round
18. and the piece
19. extended with
20. brass wire till it
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Picture by George Catlin of Ten-sqúat-a-way, The Open Door, Known as The Prophet, Brother of Tecumseh, 1830 Shawnee. He was not one of the 4 Shawnee who walked through Winchester VA. He is a good example of the description of those 4 who did walk through Winchester VA in 1774.
1. touches their shoulders,
2. in this part
3. they hang a
4. thin silver plate,
5. wrought in flourishes
6. about three inches diameter, with plates of silver
7. round their arms
8. and in the hair,
9. which is all cut off
10. except a long lock on the top of the head.
11. .
12. They are in white men’s dress,
13. except breeches
14. which they refuse to wear,
15. instead of which
16. they have a girdle
17. round them
18. with a piece of cloth
19. drawn through their legs
20. and turned over the girdle,
21. and appears like
22. a short apron be- fore and behind.
23. .
24. All the hair is pulled
25. from their eyebrows
26. and eyelashes
27. and their faces painted
28. in different parts with Vermilion.
29. .
30. They walk remarkably straight and cut a grotesque appearance in this mixed dress.
See pages 49-50
Text version:
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See pages 49-50
Open book image:
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Wiki entry on
Nicholas Cresswell
(5 January 1750 – 26 July 1804) :
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Portraits OF SHAWNEE 60+ YEARS LATER
These portraits are NOT the 4 Shawnee who came through Winchester VA that 7 December 1774.
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But these portraits are shown here to show the nose ring and hair and the earrings as described in 1774 by Nicholas Cresswell, quoted above.
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Kishkalwa, a Shawnee Chief, signatory to the 1825 treaty at St Louis. Portrait by Charles Bird King (1785 – 1862).
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In 1836, Kishkalwa was between 85 and 90 years old, still the head of the Shawnee nation and living on the Kansas River, in the neighborhood of the Sabine. See Source.
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If he was 85 in 1836, then in 1774 at the time of the Battle of Point Pleasant and the subsequent Treaty of Camp Charlotte, he would have been 23 years old.
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Painted in 1825 by Charles Bird King. See Source. And was printed in McKenney and Hall’s “History of the Indian Tribes of North America,” published from 1836 to 1844.
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Poster available at:
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See Biography of Kishkalwa.
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Here are 2 more Shawnee Chief portraits by another famous artist, George Caitlin.
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Again, look at how the images still match Nicholas Cresswell’s description of seeing the Shawnee in Winchester VA on 7 December 1774.
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Picture by
George Catlin
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Draw in 1830 of this
great Shawnee
leader.
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To be found at
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
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George Catlin Ten-sqúat-a-way, The Open Door, Known as The Prophet, Brother of Tecumseh, 1830 Shawnee Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
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Portraits found in this link:
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More George Caitlin links:
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http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/george-catlin-american-indian-portraits/exhibition.php . http://www.georgecatlin.org/search .
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NAMES OF THE 4 SHAWNEE
who were seen in Winchester VA
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On 7 December 1774, in Winchester VA, Nicholas Cresswell observes:
Saw four Indian Chiefs of the Shawnee Nation, who have been at War with the Virginians this summer, but have made peace with them, and they are sending these people to Williamsburg as hostages
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We learn their names from the Pennsylvania Gazette 4 January 1775 in a footnote provided by Founders Online for a letter William Crawford writes to George Washington 14 November 1774:
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On 17 Dec.
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Imcatewhawa, or the Black Wolf; [our note: one of 19 children of Cornstalk ]
Wissecapoway, or Captain Morgan; [our note: one of 19 children of Cornstalk]
Genusa, or the Judge;
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and the other is a young Man, called Neawah, who is the Snake’s Son, a principal Warrior of that Nation”
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(Pennsylvania Gazette [Philadelphia], 4 Jan. 1775)
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An Englishman who saw the four hostages in Winchester in December on their way to Williamsburg described them in detail as “tall, manly, well-shaped men, of a Copper colour with black hair, quick piercing eyes, and good features. They were dressed as white men except for loincloths instead of breeches which they refuse to wear” (Cresswell, Journal, 49–50). The Point Pleasant victory kept the frontiers relatively free from Indian threats during the early years of the Revolution.
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The above is a Footnote to a letter from William Crawford to George Washington. The Footnote is research provided by Founders Online.
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The letter itself that William Crawford writes has a lot packed in it.
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William Crawford is updating George Washington on the events following the Battle of Point Pleasant and the results of the Camp Charlotte Treaty.
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William Crawford has a quite a story himself. And the place he is writing from, Stewart’s Crossing is one of the points along Braddock’s Expedition in 1755, some 19 years earlier.
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Source:
William Crawford at Stewarts Crossing (PA)
writes to George Washington 14 November 1774:
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The 4 Shawnee Arrive in Williamsburg VA
17 December 1774
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Good article on the Shawnee in Williamsburg. More on the plot of “So Far from Scioto.” Excerpt from article:
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In 1774 Virginia’s royal governor Lord Dunmore went to war with the Shawnee, which concluded at the Battle of Point Pleasant.
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During the peace negotiations, the Shawnee agreed to send four headmen to Williamsburg as a demonstration of their commitment to the peace. These four Shawnee were considered “diplomatic hostages” of the colony and came as part of the “peace bond.”
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They were not viewed as captives or prisoners—they were royal guests of Dunmore, and the governor hosted them as foreign dignitaries.
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They attended Williamsburg dinners and a Palace Ball, sailed with Dunmore to Norfolk and attended the theater. Parades were held on their behalf and they socialized with Virginia’s gentry. Meanwhile, a formal treaty was planned for the spring of 1775.
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LATER ON IN WILLIAMSBURG
On January 19, 1775, the royal governor of Virginia, John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, stood at the pinnacle of his popularity.
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Fresh from his October 1774 victory over the Shawnee at the Battle of Point Pleasant on the Ohio River, Dunmore opened the Palace in Williamsburg for a
grand ball celebrating
the Queen’s birthday
and the christening of his newest daughter, Virginia.
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[Our Note: Queen Charlotte came from Mecklenberg in the area of what was to become Germany. Vandals were thought to be her ancestors and so a colony of Vandalia was being planned of which our Captain George Mercer, George Washington’s aid de camp was to become Governor.]
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Within six months of that Thursday-evening gala, however, the movement toward independence and the actions of Patrick Henry would force Dunmore and his family to flee the Palace as the royal government of the Old Dominion collapsed at their heels. . . .
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… June 29, 1776 elected Patrick Henry as the first governor of the independent Commonwealth of Virginia
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Source:
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Even Shenandoah County was named Dunmore County. But not for long.
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CHAIN OF EVENTS
Leading to the appearance of these
4 Shawnee in Winchester VA 7 December 1774
on their way to Williamsburg 17 December 1774.
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The invasion of the White Europeans was not going to stop. Land grabs, misunderstandings, violence, revenge, followed by further retaliation constitutes the chain of events here.
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After the expensive French and Indian War, England thought to reduce future costs of defense by ensuring a peaceful frontier. So they drew a line its colonists cannot pass.
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From George Washington on down, no one thought that line of 1763 was going to stay.And in 1768 they were right.
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The Cherokee ceded land south of the Ohio in Treaty of Hard Labour and the Six Nations at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix gave away land they really didn’t own or live on.
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The nations of Shawnee and Mingo, continued to inhabit that land sold out by the Iroquois, the Six Nation in the New York area.
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The Whites found it convenient to believe the Six Nations controlled the land the Shawnee and Mingo and other nations inhabited. The Six Nations found it convenient too.
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So, fast forward to 1774.
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The Yellow Creek massacre was a brutal killing of several Mingo Indians by Virginia frontiersmen on April 30, 1774. The atrocity occurred across from the mouth of the Yellow Creek on the upper Ohio River in the Ohio Country, near the current site of the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort
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The Whites were still crossing the Ohio River.
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The massacre of the Sluss family occured at Sharon Springs in what was then Fincastle County(now Bland)near the present village of Ceres, Virginia, August 02, 1774.
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Logan, however, was not kept from his vengeance, Shawnee and Seneca-Cayuga leaders did not stop him from attacking British colonists living south and east of the Ohio River.
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Logan took approximately two dozen warriors to seek revenge on the colonists in western Pennsylvania. There his followers killed thirteen settlers before returning back west of the Ohio River.
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Captain John Connolly, commander of Fort Pitt, immediately prepared to attack the Ohio Country American Indians. John Murray, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, offered his colony’s assistance. Dunmore hoped to prevent Pennsylvania’s expansion into modern-day West Virginia and Kentucky. He wished to place Virginia militiamen in these regions. He also hoped to open these lands to white settlement.
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In August 1774, Pennsylvania militia entered the Ohio Country and quickly destroyed seven Seneca-Cayuga villages, which the Seneca-Cayuga had abandoned as the soldiers approached.
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At the same time, Lord Dunmore sent one thousand men to the Kanawha River in modern-day West Virginia to build a fort and to attack the Shawnee.
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Cornstalk, who had experienced a change of heart toward the white colonists as the soldiers invaded the Ohio Country, sent nearly one thousand warriors to drive Dunmore’s force from the region. The forces met on October 10, 1774, at what became known as the Battle of Point Pleasant. After several hours of intense fighting, the British drove Cornstalk’s followers north of the Ohio River.
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Dunmore, with a large force of his own, quickly followed the Shawnee across the river into the Ohio Country. Upon nearing the Shawnee villages on the Pickaway Plains north of modern-day Chillicothe, Ohio, and near what is now Circleville, Ohio, Dunmore stopped. From his encampment named Camp Charlotte, Dunmore requested that the Shawnee come to him and discuss a peace treaty.
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The Shawnee agreed, but while negotiations were under way, Colonel Andrew Lewis and a detachment of Virginia militia that Dunmore had left behind at Point Pleasant crossed the Ohio River and destroyed several Shawnee villages. Fearing that Dunmore intended to destroy them, the Shawnees immediately agreed to terms before more blood was shed.
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SOURCE: http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Lord_Dunmore’s_War_and_the_Battle_of_Point_Pleasant?rec=514
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This conflict led to Dunmore’s War in 1774, ended by the Treaty of Camp Charlotte where these tribes agreed to accept the Ohio River as the new boundary.
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Restrictions on settlement were to become a flash point in the American Revolutionary War, following the Henderson Purchase of much of Kentucky from the Cherokee in 1775.
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The renegade Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe did not agree to the sale, nor did the Royal Government in London, which forbade settlement in this region. As an act of Revolution in defiance of the crown, white pioneer settlers began pouring into Kentucky in 1776, opposed by Dragging Canoe in the Cherokee–American wars, which continued until 1794.
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HISTORICAL MARKERS for Treaty of Camp Charlotte
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“By the terms of the Treaty of Camp Charlotte (19 October 1774), the Shawnee agreed to cease hunting south of the Ohio and to discontinue harassment of travellers on the River. Although Chief Logan said he would cease fighting, he would not attend the formal peace talks. After the Mingo refused to accept the terms, Major William Crawford attacked their village of Seekunk (Salt Lick Town, near present Steubenville, Ohio). His force of 240 men destroyed the village.[15]“
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Source:
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This treaty stipulated the Shawnee would provide some of its own people to be held as hostage as a show of good faith to keep the peace.
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This is the provision that led to our Englishman
being an eyewitness
of those 4 Shawnee coming through Winchester VA
on 7 December 1774
and who reached Williamsburg VA
on 17 December 1774 to be held hostage there.
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This is not a still photo. Navigate with your Mouse or Touchscreen to see the site of the Treaty of Camp Charlotte in Ohio.
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Remarkable Ohio site
Shows pictures of the memorial site and its historical markers
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HMDB site
Historical marker Treaty of Camp Charlotte
Longitude latitude 39° 32.287′ N, 82° 50.616′ W
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WAYMARKING site
Side A : “Treaty of Camp Charlotte” In an effort to maintain peace with Native Americans, the British imposed the Proclamation Line of 1763, which prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. Some settlers did not recognize British authority and continued to move westward. Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore, realizing that peace with Native Americans was improbable, amassed troops and headed west, camping at the Hocking River to meet with a unit commanded by Andrew Lewis. En route, Lewis’s troops were attacked on October 10, 1774 at present day Point Pleasant, West Virginia, by a force of Delaware and Shawnee led by Cornstalk.
Side B : “” After intense battle, the Native Americans retreated north across the Ohio River to villages on the Pickaway Plains. At this point, Dunmore headed to the Shawnee villages to negotiate peace and set up camp at this site. The resulting Treaty of Camp Charlotte ended “Dunmore’s War” and stipulated that the Indians give up rights to land south of the Ohio River and allow boats to travel on the river undisturbed. The Treaty of Camp Charlotte established the Ohio River as Virginia’s boundary line, aiding in the settlement of Kentucky.
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HMDB site
This one shows the 1928 monument text:
Inscription. Near this spot the famous treaty was made between Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia and Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnees and Allied Tribes in October 1774.
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NO PHYSICAL RECORD OF THE TREATY
No record of the original treaty has been found.
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“Rick Hartinger, past chapter president and project coordinator of The Camp Charlotte Cahpter of the Ohio Society Sons of the Revolution . . . has compiled about 3 years worth of research into this event, Oct 19, 1774 and was basically held as an informal ceremony . . . “The original Camp Charlotte Treaty may be lost to time,” Hartinger said. “I wanted to personally examine it.”
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He soon learned, though, that no one seemed to know the treaty’s physical whereabouts, and as an independent researcher, he began a quest to obtain information.
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The early volumes of the Ohio Archeological Society published in 1922 revealed a potential clue. In one report, it suggested that Lord Dunmore placed the treaty into his saddlebags after the successful conclusion of the event and rode off headed back to Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia at the time. . . .
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Hartinger met up with two of the nation’s leading authorities and expert scholars on Lord Dunmore — Dr. James Glanville from Virginia Tech University and Dr. Pete Wrike from the University of Virginia”
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October 9, 2014 Circleville Herald article
Source:
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BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT
Read all about this battle by clicking on the icons on this map.
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This is the battle that led to the Treaty at Camp Charlotte,
which led to 4 Shawnee good faith hostages
showing up in Winchester VA,
who then went to Williamsburg
as “ambassadors” of good faith.
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END OF THE STORY
Below are related links to pursue more.
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RELATED LINKS
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Report of a Treaty with the Western Indians
Conducted at Pittsburgh September 12–October 21, 1775 and now for the first time published . Commissioners: from the Colonial Congress —
Lewis Morris, James Wilson, and Thomas Walker;
. from the Virginia House of Burgesses —
Thomas Walker, James Wood, Andrew Lewis, John Walker, and Andrew Stephen . Reprinted from “The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775- 1777” edited and annotated by Reuben Gold Thwaites LL. D., and Louise Phelps Kellogg, Ph. D., of the staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society] . MADISON Wisconsin Historical Society February. 1908
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CORNSTALK BIO IN 1850
Published by Reverend William Henry Foote
Southern Literary Messenger Volume 16, Issue 9, pp. 533-540, Richmond, Virginia. 1850
Transcribed by Valerie F. Crook, 1998
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SHAWNEE DEMOGRAPHICS
Shawnee divisions and population:
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SO FAR FROM SCIOTO
Many hundreds of tourists visiting Virginia’s historic revolutionary city of Colonial Williamsburg have benefitted from a live presentation of “So Far From Scioto,” a story that chronicles the lives of three Shawnee emissaries who came to Williamsburg in 1774 as part of an agreement with Lord Dunmore to cease raids on the Ohio Frontier.
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CORNSTALK’S CHILDREN
Lots of references and sources listed and particularly a list of all of Corstalk’s children
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GOVERNOR’S BALL
Good article on the Shawnee in Williamsburg. More on the plot of “So Far from Scioto.” Excerpt from article:
In 1774 Virginia’s royal governor Lord Dunmore went to war with the Shawnee, which concluded at the Battle of Point Pleasant. During the peace negotiations, the Shawnee agreed to send four headmen to Williamsburg as a demonstration of their commitment to the peace. These four Shawnee were considered “diplomatic hostages” of the colony and came as part of the “peace bond.” They were not viewed as captives or prisoners—they were royal guests of Dunmore, and the governor hosted them as foreign dignitaries. They attended Williamsburg dinners and a Palace Ball, sailed with Dunmore to Norfolk and attended the theater. Parades were held on their behalf and they socialized with Virginia’s gentry. Meanwhile, a formal treaty was planned for the spring of 1775.
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The Governor’s Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia
Published 1900
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GOVERNOR’S BALL
On January 19, 1775, the royal governor of Virginia, John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, stood at the pinnacle of his popularity. Fresh from his October 1774 victory over the Shawnee at the Battle of Point Pleasant on the Ohio River, Dunmore opened the Palace in Williamsburg for a grand ball celebrating the queen’s birthday and the christening of his newest daughter, Virginia. Within six months of that Thursday-evening gala, however, the movement toward independence and the actions of Patrick Henry would force Dunmore and his family to flee the Palace as the royal government of the Old Dominion collapsed at their heels. . . . June 29, 1776 elected Patrick Henry as the first governor of the independent Commonwealth of Virginia
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PROCLAMATION AGAINST PATRICK HENRY
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At a council, held at the Palace, May 2, 1775. Present his Excellency the Governor, Thomas Nelson, Ricard Corein, William Byrd, Ralph Wormeley, Junior, John Camm, clerk, and John Page Esquire …
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