The Shawnee, or Shawano, are a people native to North America. They originally inhabited the areas of Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
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After the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755, the Shawnee fought with the French during the early years of the French and Indian War until they signed the Treaty of Easton in 1758. When the French were defeated in 1763 the Shawnee joined Pontiac’s Rebellion against the British, which failed a year later.
The Shawnee people continued to fight against white settlers that entered, without authorization by their own government (¹) , into the Shawnee homeland. During Dunmore's War in 1774 an Anglo-American force defeated the Shawnee under Chief Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant. Between 1774 and 1779 large groups of Shawnee relocated to Missouri due to the increasing pressure of white settlers. In 1782 the Ohio Shawnee fought with the British and other Native American tribes from the Ohio valley at the Battle of Blue Licks, and defeated an American force under the command of John Todd.
In the Northwest Indian War (Little Turtle's War) between the United States and a Confederation of Native American tribes, the Shawnee combined with the Miamis into a great fighting force. After the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, most of the Shawnee bands signed the Treaty of Greenville a year later, in which large parts of their homeland were turned over to the United States. Other Shawnee groups rejected this treaty and joined their brothers and sisters in Missouri and settled near Cape Girardeau. By 1800 only the Chillicothe and Mequachake tribes remained in Ohio while the Hathawekela, Kispokotha, and Piqua had migrated to Missouri.
From 1805 on many Shawnees joined the pan-tribal movement of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, which led to Tecumseh's War and his death in 1812. This was the last attempt (in vain) of the Shawnee nation to fight off the white man.
In 1817 the Ohio Shawnee signed the Treaty of Fort Meigs, ceding their remaining lands in exchange for three reservations in Wapaughkonetta, Hog Creek (near Ada) and Lewistown (here together with the Seneca).
Missouri joined the Union in 1821 and after the Treaty of St. Louis in 1825 the 1,400 Missouri Shawnees were forcibly relocated from Cape Girardeau to south-east Kansas, close to the Kansas River. Only the Black Bob's band of Shawnee resisted, went south into Arkansas, and settled in northeastern Kansas near Olathe during the year 1833.
Around 200 of the Ohio Shawnee followed the Prophet Tenskwatawa and joined their Kansas brothers and sisters in 1826, but the main body followed Black Hoof, who fought every effort to give up the Ohio homeland. In 1831 the Lewistown group of Seneca-Shawnee left for the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). After the death of Black Hoof the remaining 400 Ohio Shawnee in Wapaughkonetta and Hog Creek surrendered their land and moved to the Shawnee Reserve in Kansas.
During the American Civil War the Black Bob's band fled from Kansas and joined the Absentee Shawnee in Oklahoma to escape the war. After the Civil War the Shawnee in Kansas were once again dispeled and moved to Oklahoma-- whereupon the Shawnee part of the former Lewistown group became known as the Eastern Shawnee and the former Missouri Shawnee became known as the Loyal Shawnee (due to their allegiance with the Union during the war). The latter group was regarded as part of the Cherokee nation by the United States because they were also known as the Cherokee Shawnee.
Today the largest part of the Shawnee Nation still resides in Oklahoma.
Due to the wars with the United States during the 18th and 19th century this division changed. Today there are three federally recognized tribes.
There is also a Shawnee tribe called United Remnant Band (URB), consisting of approximately 600 people. This group claims to be descendants of Shawnees that evaded the 1830 expulsion from Ohio. This group is acknowledged by neither the BIA nor one of the other three official Shawnee tribes. However, they are recognized by the State of Ohio, having been given official recognition by the Ohio General Assembly in 1979.
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The Shawnee language is part of the Algonquian family and is closely related to Mesquakie-Sauk (Sac and Fox) and Kickapoo.