Great Warrior: Cheeseekau of the Shawnee

If one of the defining traits of character is the impact left on others, today's Great Warrior was a man among men.  A leader and warrior in his own right, sometimes ranked with Native commanders such as Dragging Canoe and Blue, the son of a noted Shawnee chief and warrior and mentor to two famous younger brothers who were a credit to him in every way. 

Cheeseekau (c 1760-1792) was born to Pukeshinwa and Methoataske along the Tallapoosa River in what is now Alabama.  HIs name is sometimes given as Chiksika, but the spelling on a commemorative coin issued by the Shawnee Nation gives it as Cheeseekau and also accords him the title of chief, so we'll use those identifiers here.  Pukeshinwa was the chief of the Kispoko, a division of the Shawnee and a skilled warrior in his own right.  Some have speculated that Methoataske was Creek, perhaps because the family initially lived in Alabama before returning to Ohio after Cheeseekau was born.  However, the Shawnee ranged far and wide throughout the frontier, so their location is no definite proof.  Pukeshinwa and Methoataske had several children.  The older ones, Cheeseekau and Tecumpease were born several years ahead of their younger brothers, as they wee already adults when Pukeshinwa was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774.  Methatoaske left the family and went back to Alabama, living for several years with the Creek.  This left Cheeseekau and Tecumpease to raise Tecumseh, at least two other younger brothers and Tenskwatawa (Lalekawitha), who was a baby and the sole survivor of a set of triplets.

Descent among the Shawnee was reckoned through the male line, meaning that Cheeseekau, who was still a young man, succeeded his father as chief of the Kispoko Division.  He led his people as far as Missouri, seeking to keep a distance between himself and White settlers, but it was not to be.  If the Shawnee wanted to live in freedom and peace on their own land, they would have to fight for it nonstop.  H

e allied himself and his people with Dragging Canoe's Chickamauga Cherokee.  Cheeseekau would learn a great deal from the older man, and from older colleagues among the Shawnee such as Blue Jacket.  There was plenty of work for a young warrior and war leader during the Cherokee-American war (1776-1795) and Cheeseekau had a younger brother who was bright and eager to learn.  Tecumseh began riding with his brother's war parties when he was a young teenager.  He was in his mid-twenties when tragedy struck.  Cheeseekau was killed during the Battle of Bledsoe's Station, near present-day Nashville, TN on October 1, 1792.  Tecumseh would pick up his people's struggle against White encroachment on their land where his father and brother had left off.