site of Cornplanter’s land grant. His grave and
marker were relocated to higher ground be-
forehand.
See also
Brant, Joseph; Little Turtle
Bibliography
Abler, Thomas S., ed. Chainbreaker: The Revolutionary
War Memoirs of Governor Blacksnake as Told to
Benjamin Williams. Lincoln: University of Ne-
braska Press, 1989; Beck, Harold T. Cornplanter
Chronicles: A Tale of the Legendary Seneca Chief. 3
vols. Custer City, CA: H. T. Beck, 1994–1997; Burk,
Duane A. “The Life and Times of Conrplanter, the
Seneca Warchief.” Unpublished master’s thesis, Slip-
pery Rock University, 1994; Calloway, Colin G. The
American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis
and Diversity in Native American Communities.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995; Fran-
cello, Joseph A. Chief Cornplanter (Gy-ant-wa-kin)
of the Senecas. Allentown, PA: Glasco, 1998; Gray-
mount, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American Rev-
olution.Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press,
1972; Grinde, Donald A. The Iroquois and the
Founding of the American Nation.San Francisco:
Indian Historian Press, 1977; Jenkins, Francis, ed.
Iroquois Indians: A Documentary History of the
Six Nations and Their League.Woodbridge, CT: Re-
search Publications, 1984; Mintz, Max M. Seeds of
Empire: The Revolutionary Conquest of the Iro-
quois.New York: New York University Press, 1999;
Overton, Albert G. “Cornplanter Speaks to the Thir-
teen Fires.” Pennsylvania Heritage6, no. 2 (1980):
20–24; Swatzler, David. A Friend Among the
Senecas: The Quaker Mission to Cornplanter’s Peo-
ple.Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000; Wal-
lace, Anthony F.C. The Death and Rebirth of the
Seneca.New York: Knopf, 1970.CORNSTALK
Cornstalk
(ca. 1720–November, 1777)
Shawnee War Chief
C
ornstalk was a capable warrior but is
best remembered for his efforts to keep
peace along the Ohio frontier. His mur-
der at the hands of vengeful settlers triggered
a war that lasted 20 years and consumed hun-
dreds of lives.
Cornstalk (Hokoleskwa, or “Blade of
Corn”) was born probably in western Penn-
sylvania around 1720 into the Mekoche divi-
sion of the Shawnee nation. He matured into a
capable warrior during a period of escalating
violence and hostility with English settlers
along the frontier. For this reason, his tribe
sided with France throughout the French and
Indian War of 1756–1763, in which Great
Britain was ultimately victorious. He also dis-
tinguished himself during Pontiac’s Rebellion
(1763–1765), initiated by the Ottawa chief.
When this, too, was crushed, he became a for-
mal hostage and was briefly interred at Fort
Pitt. Cornstalk managed to escape from cap-
tivity and returned home to his village near
present-day Scioto, Ohio. Thereafter, this vet-
eran warrior acknowledged the relative weak-
ness of the Shawnee nation and, whenever
possible, sought peaceful accommodation
with whites.
In response to Indian complaints, the En-
glish government issued the Proclamation of
1763, which strictly forbade European emi-
gration over the Appalachian Mountains. En-
forcement of the decree, unfortunately,
proved another matter, and over the next
decade whites continued encroaching upon
Indian lands. Nowhere was this more appar-
ent than in the region now called Kentucky,