traditionally a prime hunting and battle
ground for the Cherokee and Shawnee peo-
ples. The Indians repeatedly warned the set-
tlers not to cross the Ohio River into their
homeland, and they massacred illegal survey-
ing parties whenever they were encountered.
These acts only served to stir up the cauldron
of racial hatred, and settlers frequently mur-
dered parties of Indians, whether hostile or
not. By the spring of 1774 both sides antici-
pated an all-out frontier war of unprece-
dented scope and violence.
To stop the mounting bloodshed, Cornstalk
offered to parley with John Murray(Lord
Dunmore), the royal governor of Virginia. De-
spite several provocative attacks against the
Shawnee, the chief deliberately restrained his
warriors until he determined “whether it is
the intention of the white people in general to
fall on us.” Lord Dunmore responded with a
full-scale mobilization of the militia in prepa-
ration for war. As a final insult, when Silver
Heels, Cornstalk’s brother, approached Fort
Pitt as a friendly emissary, he was shot and
killed. At this juncture the young Shawnee
braves were calling for vengeance, and Corn-
stalk had little recourse but to prepare his
people for war.
So intensely did the colonists covet Ken-
tucky that they carefully orchestrated a diplo-
matic offensive to keep the Shawnee isolated.
Noted Indian agent Sir William Johnson duti-
fully kept the mighty Iroquois Confederacy
placated, while others bought off Cherokee
Chief Oconostota’s neutrality. Cornstalk’s
only aid was in the form of 500 Mingo war-
riors commanded by Chief James Logan,
whose family had been recently murdered by
whites. Opposing him were two columns of
Virginia militia. The first, 1,500 strong, was
commanded by Lord Dunmore and ap-
proached the Shawnee villages from the east.
The second, smaller force of 1,000 militia,
under Col. Andrew Lewis, was approaching
from the south. Rather than be caught in a
pincer movement, the outnumbered Corn-
stalk decided to strike out against the smaller
column. On October 10, 1774, he ambushed
Andrews at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of
the Kanawha River, and a tremendous conflict
ensued. Losses were heavy on both sides, but
the Shawnee, having come close to victory,
were finally beaten off and withdrew. Seeing
the hopelessness of his situation, Cornstalk
then sued for peace. He later signed the
Treaty of Camp Charlotte, near Chillicothe,
Ohio, whereby the Shawnee renounced all
claims to Kentucky and recognized the Ohio
River as the new boundary of their nation.
Within a year, colonial resentment over
tightening British rule boiled over into the
American Revolution. Through astute fron-
tier diplomacy, the British brought many of
the Northwest Indian tribes over to their
side. Cornstalk, sharing a common border
with the Americans, decided war would be
too hazardous and remained stridently neu-
tral despite the clamoring of prowar fac-
tions. Furthermore, over the next two years
he strove to keep his former antagonists ap-
prised of British machinations in Indian
country and made other peaceful gestures.
Nonetheless, attacks upon Indian parties,
and the inevitable retribution that followed,
kept the frontier in turmoil. In the fall of
1777, Cornstalk felt compelled to visit Fort
Randolph at Point Pleasant to ascertain if
the Americans intended to make war against
him. The garrison commander promptly ar-
rested the chief, his son Allanawissica, and
two others, imprisoning them. During this
impasse, a vengeful party of Shawnee killed
a militiaman in the nearby woods. Enraged, a
body of soldiers stormed the jail and exe-
cuted Cornstalk, his son, and the hostages in
cold blood. Reputedly, the chief’s last act
was telling his son “not to be afraid for the
Great Spirit above sent him there to be
killed.” Cornstalk’s untimely death inflamed
the Shawnee against the United States and
was especially resented by warriors like
Blue Jacket and Tecumseh. These men and
their followers precipitated a bloody frontier
struggle that lasted two decades, one that
was not quelled until the Battle of Fallen
Timbers in 1795.CORNSTALK