Pickaway Plains

Last updated

Pickaway Plains is a wide area of rolling hills beginning about 3 miles south of Circleville, Ohio, and extending several miles to the north and south. This geological area was formed by sand and gravel deposited by melting water from the last glacier to retreat from the region during the Ice Age. During the time of inhabitation by the Shawnee, the Pickaway Plains were covered by prairie vegetation, mainly grasses.

Contents

Villages

This area was inhabited most recently by the Shawnee, who founded at least three villages here:

Dunmore's War

In 1774, the Shawnee and allied nations sent around 300-500 men from the Pickaway Plains area to meet Lord Dunmore's army of Virginia militia. Lord Dunmore was attempting both to subdue the Shawnee and Mingo, and to prevent Pennsylvania from laying claim upon present-day Ohio. This conflict became known as Dunmore's War. At Point Pleasant, West Virginia, Cornstalk and his army met a detachment of Dunmore's army under command of Colonel Andrew Lewis.

The forces met on October 10, 1774, at what became known as the Battle of Point Pleasant. After several hours of intense fighting, Lewis's detachment drove Cornstalk and his men northward, across the Ohio River. Dunmore then led his army in pursuit of the Shawnee.

Cornstalk and his men retreated to Pickaway Plains, with Dunmore's army still in pursuit. As they reached the villages, Dunmore requested that Cornstalk discuss a peace treaty. Cornstalk agreed after he received word that Lewis's detachment had destroyed several villages along the Ohio River. At the treaty, held at Camp Charlotte, Cornstalk agreed to honor the Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, ceding the Shawnee hunting lands of present-day Kentucky to Virginia.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pickaway County, Ohio</span> County in Ohio, United States

Pickaway County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,539. Its county seat is Circleville. Its name derives from the Pekowi band of Shawnee Indians, who inhabited the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashville, Ohio</span> Village in Ohio, United States

Ashville is a village in Pickaway County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,097 at the 2010 census. Ashville is located five miles south of Columbus and six miles north of Circleville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chillicothe, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Chillicothe is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio. It is the only city in Ross County and is the center of the Chillicothe, OH Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,059 at the 2020 census. Chillicothe is a designated Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Pleasant, West Virginia</span> City in West Virginia, United States

Point Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Mason County, West Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. The population was 4,101 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Point Pleasant, WV-OH Micropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tecumseh</span> Shawnee Native American military leader

Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and promoting intertribal unity. Even though his efforts to unite Native Americans ended with his death in the War of 1812, he became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian popular history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scioto River</span> Waterway in Ohio

The Scioto River is a river in central and southern Ohio more than 231 miles (372 km) in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets the Ohio River at Portsmouth. Early settlers and Native Americans used the river for shipping, but it is now too small for modern commercial craft. The primary economic importance for the river now is for recreation and drinking water. It is the longest river that is entirely within Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawnee</span> Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, based in Oklahoma

The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky and Alabama. By the 19th century, they were forcibly removed to Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and ultimately Indian Territory, which became Oklahoma under the 1830 Indian Removal Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Dunmore's War</span> Conflict between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations

Lord Dunmore's War—or Dunmore's War—was a 1774 conflict between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations.

Chalahgawtha was the name of one of the five divisions of the Shawnee, a Native American people, during the 18th century. It was also the name of the principal village of the division. The other four divisions were the Mekoche, Kispoko, Pekowi, and Hathawekela. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Point Pleasant</span> Battle between Virginian militia and Indigenous Americans

The Battle of Point Pleasant, also known as the Battle of Kanawha, was the only major action of Dunmore's War. It was fought on October 10, 1774, between the Virginia militia and Shawnee and Mingo warriors. Along the Ohio River near modern-day Point Pleasant, West Virginia, forces under the Shawnee chief Cornstalk attacked Virginia militiamen under Colonel Andrew Lewis, hoping to halt Lewis's advance into the Ohio Valley. After a long and furious battle, Cornstalk retreated. After the battle, the Virginians, along with a second force led by Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, marched into the Ohio Valley and compelled Cornstalk to agree to a treaty, which ended the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornstalk</span> Shawnee leader in the American Revolution

Cornstalk was a Shawnee leader in the Ohio Country in the 1760s and 1770s. His name in the Shawnee language was Hokoleskwa. Little is known about his early life. He may have been born in the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1763, he reportedly led a raid against British-American colonists in Pontiac's War. He first appears in historical documents in 1764, when he was one of the hostages surrendered to the British as part of the peace negotiations ending Pontiac's War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western theater of the American Revolutionary War</span> Area of conflict west of the Appalachian Mountains

The Western theater of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was the area of conflict west of the Appalachian Mountains, the region which became the Northwest Territory of the United States as well as what would become the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Spanish Louisiana. The western war was fought between American Indians with their British allies in Detroit, and American settlers south and east of the Ohio River, and also the Spanish as allies of the latter.

Blackfish, was a Native American leader, war chief of the Chillicothe band of the Shawnee tribe.

Wakatomika was the name of two 18th century Shawnee villages in what is now the U.S. state of Ohio. The name was also spelled Wapatomica, Waketomika, Waketomica, and Waketameki, among other variations, but the similar name Wapakoneta was a different Shawnee village. Both Wakatomikas were destroyed in raids, the first by colonial Virginians in 1774, the second by Kentuckians in 1786.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Shawneetown</span> Historic Native American village on the Ohio River

Lower Shawneetown, also known as Shannoah or Sonnontio, was an 18th-century Shawnee village located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. The population eventually occupied areas on both sides of the Ohio River, and along both sides of the Scioto River in what is now Scioto County, Ohio. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 28 April, 1983. It is near the Bentley site, a Madisonville Horizon settlement inhabited between 1400 CE and 1625 CE. Nearby, to the east, there are also four groups of Hopewell tradition mounds, built between 100 BCE and 500 CE, known as the Portsmouth Earthworks.

Kispoko is the name of one of the five divisions of the Shawnee, a Native American people. The Kispoko were the smallest of the five septs or divisions during the 18th century. They lived among the Creek in the Upper South and Southeast as early as 1650, having been driven from their Ohio country homeland by the Iroquois Confederacy during the Beaver Wars. They returned to Ohio about 1759. The other four divisions were the Chalahgawtha, Mekoche, Pekowi, and Hathawekela. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe. The septs tended to serve different functions for the overall confederacy.

Snake was the English language name of two Shawnee leaders prominent in the history of the Ohio Country: Peteusha and Shemanetoo. They were both commonly referred to as "Snake" in historical records, or by variations such as "Black Snake" or "Captain Snake," so it is often difficult to determine which individual was being referred to. On a number of occasions, the two Snakes both signed a letter or appeared together, so it is clear they were two different people. There may have been additional Shawnees called "Snake," further complicating the matter. According to historian John Sugden, "it is unlikely if the biographies of these chiefs will ever be completely disentangled."

William Ward was the founder of Urbana, Ohio, and one of the original settlers in Kentucky's Mason County and Ohio's Mad River Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lewis (Shawnee leader)</span> Shawnee leader

Quatawapea or John Lewis, also known as Captain Lewis and Colonel Lewis and ‘’’Captain Johnny’’’, was a Shawnee leader for whom Lewistown, Ohio, is named. Lewis fought in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and the Northwest Indian War (1785–1795) as part of Shawnee opposition to the expansion of the United States into Shawnee territory. After the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, he sought to preserve Shawnee autonomy by promoting accommodation with the U.S., working with Black Hoof, the principal Shawnee spokesman.

References

  1. Mark Howes. "Stage's Pond Local Lore". Stage's Pond State Nature Preserve. Archived from the original on 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  2. "Birthplace of Tecumseh Marker". HMdb.org, The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
  3. James Everett Seaver, Charles Delamater Vail, A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison: The White Woman of the Genesee, American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 1918.
  4. Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 1, Putnam's sons, 1911