Cornstalk or Hokoleskwa was born in Pennsylvania, though his family, including his sister Nonhelema, immigrated to the Ohio Territory. He may have taken part in the French and Indian War (1755-1762) and Pontiac's War (1764-67), though his presence in the latter is only documented as far as the peace negotiations. During the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, where the Iroquois gave up their claims to the Ohio Territory, other tribes such as the Shawnee were not consulted. As Settlers poured into the Ohio River Valley, precious hunting ranges of the Shawnee, Delaware and others were being depleted. The friction led to Lord Dunmore's War (1774). Cornstalk led Shawnee and Mingo warriors at the Battle of Point Pleasant in October, 1774, where they were defeated. He agreed to further land concessions at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, which ended the War. His presence at those negotiations struck everyone who met him. Tall, commanding and good-looking, he was also a skilled orator and diplomat. One visitor wrote that Cornstalk was a better speechmaker than Patrick Henry. When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, Cornstalk wished to keep his people neutral. Some Shawnee, such as Blue Jacket, actively fought for the British, hoping to reclaim their hunting grounds. A rift developed within the tribe over whether to fight or stay on the sidelines. In the fall of 1777, Cornstalk visited Fort Randolph at Point Pleasant in what is now West Virginia on a diplomatic mission. He was instead taken hostage and detained at the fort. He was allowed comfortable quarters, but not his freedom. Later, his son Elinipsico along with another Shawnee leader named Red Hawk and an unnamed Shawnee visited Cornstalk in prison. They were also detained.
On November 10, 1777, soldiers outside the Fort heard gunfire in the surrounding woods. When they went to investigate, they found a Settler apparently killed by Natives, though that was never certain. Not bothering with collecting the facts, the enraged soldiers returned to the Fort and burst into the room where Cornstalk and the others were being held. Elinipsico, sitting on a stool with his back to the door, was the first to be shot. Red Hawk attempted to escape out a window or chimney, but was pulled back into the room and either strangled or stabbed to death, as was the other unnamed Shawnee. Cornstalk had stood to face his attackers and took eight shots at point-blank range, collapsing to the floor. He soon died and was buried on the Fort grounds. The others were buried in a mass grave outside the Fort and their resting place was soon forgotten. Later, Cornstalk's remains were removed at least twice, first at the Mason County courthouse grounds and, later, at a cemetery in Point Pleasant. Realizing that they had a Shawnee uprising on their hands, Virginia officials led by Governor Patrick Henry demanded that Cornstalk's murderers be tried for the crime. However, fellow soldiers refused to testify and the soldiers were acquitted.
And, as usual with Natives who die violently at the hand of White men, or whose graves are disturbed, rumors began to circulate about a curse. Point Pleasant and the surrounding environs have a reputation for tragic and deadly incidents, everything from mine collapses to train wrecks to unsolved murders. According to legend, as Cornstalk lay dying, he made last, lengthy speech pronouncing a curse on the White men who settled in the area. Assuming that a man who'd just taken eight musket balls at point-blank range was still in a position to say anything, he may have given the men who shot him and his son a piece of his mind, but whatever he said wasn't recorded. Native curses are yet another stereotype, retold and embellished over time. There is no evidence that he indeed pronounced such a curse. Ditto for the Mothman, which is a crypto-zoological creature that supposedly haunts the area. No evidence exists that Cornstalk had or has anything to do with that either.
No comments:
Post a Comment