Chronology of American Indian History

invade the Chickamauga Cherokee’s new homeland
and destroy the villages.

Summer

Seneca and Cayuga Indians aid in raids on
Wyoming Valley settlements.
British soldiers and Seneca and Cayuga warriors
under an English officer, John Butler, launch a
series of brutal attacks in the Wyoming Valley of
Pennsylvania. The force captures eight stockades.
At most forts, the inhabitants surrender quickly and
are allowed to escape unharmed, though many later
die of starvation. At one stockade called Forty Fort,
however, the Americans take on Butler’s men. More
than 200 militiamen are killed in the battle.

September 17

The United States negotiates its first
Indian treaty.
At Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), repre-
sentatives of the United States and the Lenni Lenape
(Delaware) sign the first of the 370 treaties the U.S.
government will negotiate with Indian nations. In
return for the Lenni Lenape’s allegiance during the
American Revolution, the treaty offers the possibility
that Lenni Lenape territory could enter the Union as
the 14th state. This provision will not be acted upon.

November 11

Iroquois warriors massacre Americans at
Cherry Valley.
Mohawk leader Joseph Brant (see entry for JULY
1777) and British captain Walter Butler lead a com-
bined Iroquois-British force in an attack on Cherry
Valley, a town about 40 miles west of Albany, New
York. Brant instructs his warriors to destroy the town,
loot the inhabitants’ possessions, and take captives.
Many Seneca in Brant’s force, however, are eager for
revenge against the Americans for previous raids on
their villages. They ignore their leader’s orders and
slaughter and mutilate some 30 women and children.
One eyewitness account holds that Brant “turned

round & wept” when he saw what his warriors had

done. News of the Cherry Valley Massacre will terrify

colonists throughout New York. Many will abandon

their homes and flee south to escape further attacks.

Winter

Skenandoah delivers food to soldiers at

Valley Forge.

As General George Washington’s troops suffer

through a harsh winter at the American army’s

headquarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Oneida

leader Skenandoah provides relief by bringing them

300 bushels of corn. Washington will later honor

Skenandoah by naming Virginia’s Shenandoah Val-

ley after him.

1779

The remains of Cahokia are discovered.

During his military campaign in the Northwest Ter-

ritory, General George Rogers Clark comes upon

the remains of the ancient Indian city of Cahokia

(see entry for CA. 700 TO 1550) near the conflu-

ence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. With a

population of at least 20,000 Cahokia was the larg-

est urban center north of present-day Mexico before

non-Indians arrived in North America. The city

contained more than about 100 mounds, including

the enormous Monks Mound, whose base was larger

than that of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Unable to

believe that Indians of the region could create such

monumental structures, many whites conclude that

Cahokia’s mounds were built by either the Aztec of

Mesoamerica (see entry for CA. 1430 TO 1521) or

by the biblical lost tribes of Israel.

July 10

American troops destroy the Shawnee

village of Chillicothe.

While most of its warriors are out raiding, an Amer-

ican force of 250 men under Colonel John Bowman

attack Chillicothe, one of the Shawnee’s most