Cornstalk (Hokoleskwa)

Notable people · Native Leader · Diplomat

Cornstalk (Hokoleskwa)

Shawnee war leader of the Mekoche division whose town stood on the Pickaway Plains; he led the Shawnee and their allies at Point Pleasant in 1774, made peace at Camp Charlotte, and was murdered by American militia while held hostage at Fort Randolph in 1777.

Born Unknown (sometimes given as c. 1720, which is undocumented), Possibly Pennsylvania
Died November 10, 1777, Fort Randolph, Point Pleasant, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: Unknown (sometimes given as c. 1720, which is undocumented), Possibly Pennsylvania source
Died: November 10, 1777, Fort Randolph, Point Pleasant, Virginia (now West Virginia) source
Buried: Tu-Endie-Wei State Park, Point Pleasant (reburied there in 1954) source
Also known as: Hokoleskwa, Keigh-tugh-qua, Keightughqua, Colesqua
Known as: Native Leader, Diplomat

Life story

Cornstalk, Hokoleskwa, was a Shawnee leader born around 1727. His family included his sister Nonhelema, his brothers Nimwha and Silver Heels, and sons Elinipsico and Wolf.

He appears in records in 1764 as a hostage in peace talks. In 1773 he warned surveyor Thomas Bullitt against surveying Shawnee land and in 1774 led the Shawnee at Point Pleasant on October 10.

After the defeat he agreed to the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, handing over a son as hostage, and later worked to keep the Shawnee neutral in the Revolution, speaking at Fort Pitt in 1775.

In 1777 he went to Fort Randolph to warn the garrison of the unrest and was held there. Soldiers killed him on November 10, 1777. He was reburied in 1954 at Tu-Endie-Wei State Park in West Virginia. A monument at the Logan Elm in Ohio also honors him.

Ohio ties

Cornstalk's Town, north bank of Scippo Creek, Pickaway Plains (c. 1760s-1777)
his town, among the primary Shawnee settlements in Ohio Pickaway County · source
Grenadier Squaw Village, Pickaway Plains (1770s)
town of his sister Nonhelema, between Cornstalk's Town and Scippo Creek Pickaway County · source
Camp Charlotte, east of Circleville (1774)
agreed to the treaty ending Dunmore's War at Lord Dunmore's camp Pickaway County · source
Logan Elm State Memorial (1978 (Nonhelema marker))
memorial park with a Cornstalk monument beside those for Logan and Nonhelema Pickaway County · source
Coshocton (1778)
his followers moved there after his murder Coshocton County · source

Timeline

1764 In November Henry Bouquet held him and five others as hostages at Fort Pitt after Pontiac's War; he escaped and went home. source
1774 After the Yellow Creek killings of April 30 he tried to prevent open war and sent his brother Silver Heels to escort traders to safety; militia shot and wounded Silver Heels. source
1774 On October 10 led a force of Shawnee and Delaware against Andrew Lewis's Virginia militia at Point Pleasant; after hours of fighting the warriors withdrew across the Ohio to the Pickaway Plains. source
1774 Agreed to the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, accepting the Ohio River as the boundary, returning prisoners and giving four hostages, including his son. source
1775 Attended a council with John Connolly at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh) in July and with Virginia's commissioners that autumn. source
1776 Visited the British at Detroit while still arguing for Shawnee neutrality. source
1777 In October came to Fort Randolph at Point Pleasant with the Delaware Red Hawk and was detained as a hostage by Capt. Matthew Arbuckle. source
1777 On November 10, after a soldier was shot near the fort, militiamen ignored Arbuckle's orders and killed Cornstalk, his son Elinipsico and two other men. source
1778 In the spring the Rockbridge County court examined James Hall and three other men and found them not guilty when no witness would testify; a week later Hall was made a militia captain. source
1840 Builders unearthed his presumed grave near the fort site, and the remains were moved to the Mason County courthouse grounds. source
1954 His remains were moved again, to Tu-Endie-Wei State Park on the Point Pleasant battlefield. source
1978 On October 1 a marker to his sister Nonhelema was dedicated in Logan Elm Park, near those for Cornstalk and Logan. source

What Cornstalk is known for

Led Shawnee at Point Pleasant 1774
Peace negotiator after Dunmore's War

Stories

Murder of a hostage at Fort Randolph

In October 1777 Cornstalk came to Fort Randolph, the American post at the mouth of the Kanawha, with the Delaware Red Hawk. Capt. Matthew Arbuckle held them as hostages. While Cornstalk's son Elinipsico was visiting him, warriors shot a soldier near the fort, and a crowd of militiamen pushed past Arbuckle's orders into the cabin and killed Cornstalk, his son and two other men on November 10. Governor Patrick Henry denounced the killings and offered a reward for the killers. In the spring of 1778 the Rockbridge County court examined James Hall and three others, but no witness would testify, the court found them not guilty, and a week later Hall became a militia captain.

Source

Two towns on Scippo Creek

The Pickaway Plains south of present Circleville held the main Shawnee settlements in Ohio in the 1770s. Cornstalk's Town stood on the north bank of Scippo Creek, and between it and the creek was the town of his sister Nonhelema, called the Grenadier Squaw for her height, who spoke four languages and worked as an interpreter and peacemaker. A council house stood a little to the northwest, and on a hill just south of her village was the 'Burning Ground' where captives were put to death. After Cornstalk's murder Nonhelema stayed allied with the Americans. In 1978 she was given her own marker in Logan Elm Park beside those for Cornstalk and Logan.

Source

Peace at Camp Charlotte

After the battle at Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774, the Shawnee fell back across the Ohio to their towns on the Pickaway Plains. Lord Dunmore, who had come down the Hocking with a second army, set up Camp Charlotte east of present Circleville to negotiate. To keep his towns from being destroyed, Cornstalk agreed to terms: the Shawnee gave up their claims south of the Ohio, which opened Kentucky to Virginia settlement, promised to let boats pass on the river, returned prisoners and property, and gave hostages, one of them his own son. He kept to the agreement afterwards, though other Shawnee leaders did not.

Source

Honors and things named for them

Chief Cornstalk Wildlife Management Area, WV
Tu-Endie-Wei State Park, WV
Monument at Logan Elm State Memorial, OH

Family

sister: Nonhelema
son: Elinipsico

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Ohio Historical Marker 7-65, Grenadier Squaw Village / Cornstalk Town
Near 4074 Emerson Road, Circleville Pickaway County · source
2 Ohio Historical Marker 6-65, Treaty of Camp Charlotte
Camp Charlotte Farm, 10104 State Route 56 E, Circleville Pickaway County · source
3 Logan Elm State Memorial (Cornstalk monument)
State Route 361, about 5 miles south of Circleville Pickaway County · source
4 Cornstalk grave, Tu-Endie-Wei State Park (Point Pleasant Battleground, NRHP 70000656)
Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia source

Places in Ohio to see

Logan Elm State Memorial (Cornstalk and Logan monuments) (marker)
State Route 361, Circleville, Pickaway County ZIP 43113 · Circleville · Pickaway County

Ohio places

Where Cornstalk (Hokoleskwa) was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Lived: Chillicothe, Ross County (Own Scioto River settlement of the 1760s (stand-in)) ZIP 45601 (approximate) · Chillicothe · Ross County
Lived: Coshocton, Coshocton County (Relocated followers here after 1777 (stand-in)) ZIP 43812 (approximate) · Coshocton · Coshocton County
Connected: Circleville, Pickaway County (Logan Elm State Memorial (monument to Cornstalk)) ZIP 43113 · Circleville · Pickaway County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Cornstalk (Hokoleskwa), and what the record shows.

Often said Cornstalk was the principal chief of the Shawnee.

The record He was the leading war chief in Dunmore's War and a Mekoche leader, but Wikipedia, drawing on John Sugden and Colin Calloway, states that he 'was not the principal chief of the Shawnees, as is sometimes thought'. source

Often said Cornstalk laid a dying curse on Point Pleasant that explains its later disasters and the Mothman sightings.

The record These are legends. Wikipedia editors who checked in 2004 found no reference to a curse before the late twentieth century, and an 1850 account of his last words has him speaking to his son, not cursing the town. The Dictionary of Virginia Biography, the standard short life, does not mention any curse. source

Often said Familiar engravings show what Cornstalk looked like.

The record No authentic portrait is known. One engraving captioned 'Cornstalk' is actually of the Seneca leader Cornplanter, and an 1872 engraving in Frost's Pictorial History of Indian Wars is a fictitious portrait. source

Often said Aracoma, heroine of the Logan County, West Virginia outdoor drama, was Cornstalk's daughter.

The record e-WV calls Aracoma Cornstalk's 'legendary daughter'. The story first appears in print in George Bickley's 1852 history and was probably embellished by the poet Thomas Dunn English in the 1850s; there is no firm evidence she existed. source

Often said Cornstalk's murder drove the Shawnee into war with the United States.

The record John Sugden writes that 'the significance of Cornstalk's death has been misinterpreted': militant Shawnee under Blackfish were already fighting, so the murder did not cause the war, though it removed a moderate voice and deepened distrust of Americans. source

Disputed: His birth year is uncertain, with earlier estimates near 1720, and he may have been born in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania rather than Ohio.

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

Reuben Gold Thwaites and Louise Phelps Kellogg, eds., The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775-1777 (Draper Manuscripts) 1908, Wisconsin Historical Society; scan by Internet Archive via Wikimedia Commons
Livia Simpson-Poffenbarger, The Battle of Point Pleasant, October 10th 1774 1909, Internet Archive, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

I have isolated and cropped the character on the far left assuming that the caption "Chiefs Cornstalk, Logan a...
Public domain
The historical marker for Chief Cornstalk's Village, located on the southwestern corner of U.S. Route 231 and ...
Public domain
Location of Camp Charlotte in Pickaway County, Ohio.
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0
Camp Charlotte location plaque in Pickaway County, Ohio.
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0
Gravesite of Cornstalk, Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Photographed 2005. Category:United States history image...
Kevin Myers at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
Susan Matheny / CC BY-SA 4.0
Cornstalk Town Ohio Historical Marker located on Emerson Road in Pickaway County, Ohio.
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0
Logan Elm State Memorial in Pickaway County, Ohio.
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0
Logan Elm State Memorial in Pickaway County, Ohio.
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0
Logan Elm State Memorial in Pickaway County, Ohio.
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0
Mansion House
NicoleBeckett / CC BY-SA 4.0
Nonhelema monument
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0