Shawnee History Timeline

The Shawnee initially participated in the opening phase of the French and Indian War as allies of the French.

Image source: French and Indian War

In 1758, the Shawnee shifted their alliance and made formal peace with the British colonies through the Treaty of Easton.

Image source: Treaty of Easton

After Britain's defeat of France and assumption of French territories east of the Mississippi, Pontiac's War erupted in 1763.

Image source: Pontiac's War

The Crown's Proclamation of 1763 reaffirmed the 1758 boundary as the western limit of British settlement and reserved lands beyond it for Native Americans.

Image source: Royal Proclamation of 1763

Rising violence between settlers and Native Americans culminated in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774.

The treaty ending Lord Dunmore's War compelled Cornstalk and the Shawnee to recognize the Ohio River as their southern boundary.

When the United States declared independence in 1776, Shawnee communities were divided in their responses during the American Revolutionary War.

The Shawnee fought the United States in the Northwest Indian War in an effort to retain their ancestral homelands.

Image source: Northwest Indian War

U.S. forces defeated the Shawnee and other Native forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.

Image source: Battle of Fallen Timbers

Most Shawnee bands signed the Treaty of Greenville the year after Fallen Timbers, although Tecumseh did not sign it.

Image source: Treaty of Greenville

In the early 19th century, Tecumseh gained prominence by organizing an intertribal alliance opposing American expansion into Native American lands.

Image source: Tecumseh's confederacy

Representatives of the Potawatomi, Lenape, Eel River people, and Miami signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne, ceding more than 3,000,000 acres to the United States.

Image source: Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809)

Tecumseh led approximately 400 armed warriors to confront Indiana Territory governor William Henry Harrison at Vincennes.

Image source: Tecumseh

The Great Comet of 1811 appeared in March. Tecumseh later told several Native nations that the comet signaled his coming.

Tecumseh met Harrison in August 1811 and assured him that the Shawnee intended to remain at peace with the United States.

Harrison led approximately 1,000 men toward Prophetstown, Indiana, intending to disperse Tecumseh's confederacy.

Image source: Battle of Tippecanoe

The New Madrid earthquake shook Muscogee lands and much of the Midwestern United States.

Image source: 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes

The Shawnee conflict became part of the broader War of 1812 when open fighting broke out between American forces and the Red Stick faction of the Creek.

Image source: War of 1812

After Tecumseh's death and the end of the War of 1812, the Shawnee signed several treaties ceding land to the U.S. federal government.

A substantial detachment of Harrison's army was defeated by British and Native forces at Frenchtown along the River Raisin.

Image source: Battle of Frenchtown

Procter and Tecumseh besieged Fort Meigs in northern Ohio during the War of 1812.

Image source: Siege of Fort Meigs

Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a British squadron at the Battle of Lake Erie.

Image source: Battle of Lake Erie

Harrison's invasion of Upper Canada culminated in an American victory at the Battle of the Thames.

Image source: Battle of the Thames

The Ohio Shawnee ceded their remaining lands in exchange for reservations at Wapaughkonetta, Hog Creek, and Lewistown.

After Missouri joined the Union, a treaty led to the forced relocation of approximately 1,400 Missouri Shawnee from Cape Girardeau to southeastern Kansas near the Neosho River.

Through the Treaty of Lewistown, the Shawnee and Seneca agreed to exchange western Ohio lands for territory west of the Mississippi River in what later became Indian Territory.

Around 200 Ohio Shawnee who followed the prophet Tenskwatawa joined their Kansas relatives in the area that later became Indian Territory.

Image source: Tenskwatawa

Under the 1830 Indian Removal Act, the United States removed the Shawnee to lands west of the Mississippi River, later associated with Missouri, Kansas, and Texas.

Image source: Indian Removal Act

The Lewistown group of Seneca–Shawnee departed for Indian Territory, in present-day Kansas and Oklahoma, under terms negotiated largely by interpreter Joseph Parks.

By 1833, only Black Bob's band of Shawnee continued to resist removal.

Although allied with the Cherokee led by The Bowl, Shawnee chief John Linney remained neutral during the 1839 Cherokee War.

Historian Henry Harvey described the Shawnee as ruled by kings or sachems who succeeded to office through a matrilineal line.

The Indian Appropriations Bill allocated $64,366 for Shawnee treaty obligations, including annuities, education, and other services.

A 1935 study reported that the Shawnee consisted of five septs and six clans or name groups based on kinship.

In the late 20th century, the Loyal or Cherokee Shawnee began a movement seeking federal recognition as a tribe independent of the Cherokee Nation.

The Ohio legislature held hearings in 1979 and 1980 regarding state recognition of the United Remnant Band.

The 113th Ohio General Assembly adopted a joint resolution recognizing the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band.

In 2002, Shawnee, an Algonquian language, was in decline but was still spoken by approximately 200 people.

In 2008, there were 7,584 enrolled Shawnee, with the majority living in Oklahoma.

Shawnee language advocates, including tribal member George Blanchard, estimated that fewer than 100 people spoke the language.

Great Council State Park opened at the former Shawnee town of Old Chillicothe in Greene County, Ohio, with participation from the three federally recognized Shawnee tribes.