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People
who found us!
29 June 2001
I have just watched
"Tecumseh: The Last Warrior" on APT, and then
checked my email only to find your site listed by Cindy's
List; so I had to take a look. I found your access page (with the
reflection) fascinating, and the music is great. Good luck with your
project. I hope all goes well for you.
Sharon
London, Canada
We want to hear from you!
If you have news you would like to share
with your Blue Jacket family members, such as, new additions to your family,
promotions, graduations, your moving, or loss of loved ones, etc., send this
information with pictures (if possible) to:
Chuck Bingham 2701 Fieldbrook Way, Escondido, CA 92027 or e-mail me at: wcbingham@home.com
All pictures will be scanned and returned. Please include a self address
envelope.
Passing
San Jose -
Portia Mary Bingham
retired in March of 2001 to her peaceful home in the Santa Cruz
mountains. She spent two wonderful weeks with her son, David, in
Morocco before beginning the long list of "to do's" she'd
been saving up for many years. Earlier in the week she'd said how she
was enjoying every minute of retirement. She couldn't figure out how
she'd had time for work before.
On a bright, warm morning of May 24th,
Portia was enjoying the beginning of an exquisite day out on her back deck,
sipping coffee, and planning how best to start the new day. She passed
peacefully, in the place she loved best.
Sister of Thomas, Betty and Chuck. Loving
Mother of Alec James and David Andrew Hoag.
Celebrations
Oklahoma - On a warm summer's day
last July 1st the Oklahoma
Blue Jacket's Rendezvous was held at
the Twin Bridges State Park on U. S. Highway 50 about eight miles
southeast of Miami, Oklahoma. Families brought covered dish's, lawn chairs, pictures and
Blue Jacket Memorabilia. More,
Napa, CA -
On Saturday Aug 4th and 5th, 2001 the West
Coast Blue Jacket - Bingham's Pow Wow was held at Carrol
Bingham's 100 acre Hacienda at 4037 Mt.
Veeder Rd. in Napa, California. There was swimming, golf,
horseshoes, fishing and games. Families brought their own nourishment and drink. A
fire was made to roast the hunter's bounty.
Bruce at: hunter@netfeedlcom
Oklahoma - Last September 14, 15, &
16 the 2001 Pow-Wow was held on the ceremonial grounds
behind the Tibal complex. More to come....
Lost
and Found
July 29, 2001
At the Blue Jacket Reunion at Twin Bridges State Park on
July 1, 2001, someone left an Acme Cowboy Boot box full of photographs.
The pictures are not well enough labeled to
identify who did it. Ask around and see if you can help find
the owner. We have them at home here in Norman and will
gladly mail them as soon as we find out where to send.
Carlyle Hinshaw
Blue Jacket
Entries
by Hal ShermanClick
here to find a couple
entries regarding Blue Jacket that were written by Colonel Hamtramck to
General Wilkinson.
December 30, 2001
"George C. Johnston
friend of the Shawnee"
by
Hal Sherman
At the beginning of the story by George
Blue Jacket about the Shawnees, George mentions George C. Johnston
prompting him to write it. In Rayner's "First Century of Piqua",
1916 there is a three page story about him with a portrait and a
photo of his powder horn and Indian note book.
It says of him that he never sold intoxicating liquors to the
Indians, believing that nearly all the trouble from the red men
resulted from its use. He is said to have dealt honestly with them,
and he no doubt did, for he retained their friendship until parted
by their removal across the Mississippi. He was adopted into the
Shawnee tribe, and they gave him the name of Nathe-the-wee-law.
November 29, 2001
"Screen
Show"
on the Web Site
by Chuck Bingham
As seen in the below article from Hal
Sherman (Ernest Spybuck Shawnee Indian Artists) the Blue Jacket and
Shawnee Web Sites have been adding paintings from Shawnee's past.
Thanks to Hal and others we have placed a special page showing this
art. Click
here a see the gallery page. More
pictures will be added as they come in.
November 19, 2001
Ernest Spybuck
Shawnee Indian Artists
by Hal Sherman
The Museum of the American Indian Heye
Foundation in New York, owns many of the paintings that Ernest
Spybuck 1883-1948 painted of Shawnee life. He was a Shawnee Indian.
Photo courtesy of the Museum.
November 10, 2001
"Block That Squaw"
Sent by
Hal Sherman
This mural illustrates the game as described in an account of Judge
Jacob Burnet who observed the game being played in a village in
West-Central Ohio. The clothing and headdresses are representative of
what the Indians would wear in the fall of the year.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FOOTBALL
by G. Carlyle Hinshaw
As the Oklahoma Sooners vie for the top rung of the Football Bowl
Championship
ratings, it may be of interest to
football aficionados that
Native Americans
such as my ancestor, Chief Blue Jacket, often witnessed a game akin
to present-day football more than two hundred years ago.
An account written by Judge Jacob Burnet, concerning the game
played in West Central Ohio, indicates the Shawnee War Chief, Blue
Jacket, sometimes treated his guests to a game of "football" with a
purse of trinkets given the winner. Contrary to present-day
football, the game in the 1700s involved men playing against women
with the former not permitted to touch the football with their hands
under penalty of for-feiting the purse. Women had the privilege of
picking up the ball, running with it, and throwing it as far as they
could. When a woman had the ball the men were permitted to catch
and shake her, and even throw her to the ground, in their attempt to
free the ball. The men were not allowed to touch or move the ball
except by their feet. At the opposite ends of the playing field
stakes were erected about six feet apart and the team that succeeded
in driving the ball through the stakes, or goal of their opponents,
was declared the winner and received the purse.
Standing in the center of the playing field with the two
"teams" lined up parallel to their goal line, the village chief
would throw the ball in the air and the contest would start. As
many as one hundred contestants would participate on each team. The
game would often last more than an hour until one of the teams
succeeded in getting the ball through the stakes at their end of the
playing field.
The young ladies were generally the more active and often
caught the ball, whereupon a brave would seize her, drag her, throw
her upon the ground, and do his best to extricate the ball from her
grasp.
When one of the parties succeeded in driving the ball through
the "goal" at their end of the playing field, feelings of
exultation were always depicted in the faces of the victors and the
"losers" joined in a subsequent feast.
Such "football games" were often enjoyed by white men who
visited the villages of Native Americans two hundred years ago in
present-day Ohio where Hal Sherman snapped this photograph of a
painting in the Hueston Woods State Park near Oxford, Ohio.
November 7,
2001
by
Hal Sherman
I think this could have applied to the Shawnees as well
when they were moved from this area. I'm not much into poetry but this
one I've read a number of times.
FAREWELL SONG OF THE
WYANDOT INDIANS
James Rankins, Upper Sandusky
"Adieu to the graves where my fathers now
rest!
For I must be going to the far distant west.
I've sold my possessions; my heart fills with woe
To think I must leave them, Alas! I must go.
Farewell ye tall oaks in whose pleasant
green shade
In childhood I sported, in innocence played;
My dog and my hatchet, my arrows and bow,
Are still in remembrance, Alas! I must go.
Adieu ye loved scenes, which bind me like
chains,
Where on my gay pony I chased o'er the plains.
The deer and the turkey I tracked in the snow,
But now I must leave them, Alas! I must go.
Adieu to the trails which for many a year
I traveled to spy the turkey and deer,
The hills, trees and flowers that pleased me so
I must now leave, Alas! I must go.
Sandusky, Tymochtee, and Brokensword
streams,
Nevermore shall I see you except in my dreams,
Adieu to the marshes where the cranberries grow
O'er the great Mississippi, Alas! I must go.
Adieu to the roads which for many a year
I traveled each Sabbath the gospel to hear,
The news was so joyful and pleased me so,
From hence where I heard it, it grieves me to go.
Farewell my white friends who first
taught me to pray.
And worship my Savior and Maker each day.
Pray for the poor native whose eyes overflow,
With tears at our parting, Alas! I must go."
-------------------------
Hal;
Funny you should send me the Wyandot poem. In July, 1843, 664 Wandots
began their "trail of tears" from Upper Sandusky for Kansas
Territory. The Muster Roll contained Shawnees James Blue Jacket and
three other Blue Jackets, none listed as being over the age of 25. The
ages probably are not accurate.
James Blue Jacket was the son of Chief Blue Jacket and half French-half
Indian wife named Baby. James married a Wyandot girl and they had
Nancy and James (Jim) Blue Jacket. James the elder's wife died at
Kansas Landing, Missouri in August 1843, on the trek from Ohio.
James' mother, Ms Baby, travelled with the group, survived the trip,
but died soon after they reached Kansas Territory. She was close to
100 years old. Nancy never married. Jim Blue Jacket had a son,
Stephen, and a daughter, Rebecca, neither of which procreated.
The family of James did not survive the fourth generation. George,
younger brother of James, made up for lost time and all persons named
Blue Jacket living today, are from the loins of George - what a guy!
Bllue Jacket and Ms Baby had other children and Mary married Jacques
Lasselle. Their family stayed in southeast Michigan Territory. The
surviving family of Margaret McGrath of Wyandotte MI are found all
over the Detroit area.
The remainder of Blue Jacket/Baby children died early with no
issues. The family of Blue Jacket and Margaret Moore did not survive
the third generation.
The Blue Jacket family today is found in the Cherokee Nation as Adopted
Shawnee, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe and the Shawnee Tribe. All are
progeny of George Blue Jacket, son of Blue Jacket, last principal War
Chief of the Shawnee Tribe. That is today's lesson on Shawnee History
and don't you forget it!
Carlyle Hinshaw
WILDCAT
BIRTHDAY PARTY
was at
WICHITA KANSAS
on
DECEMBER 29 2001
GAYLORD CARLYLE HINSHAW
now an aged 68 and
failing, failed again
DIRECTOR OF FUN AND GAMES
Patricia Lou (Stephens) Hinshaw
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Did you know?
Usoma is
a good luck symbol by
which the individual is guided and blessed through out his or her
life. A social symbol within the tribe only. Click here
to view the page.
Question
and Answer!
Question: Do you think Stephen and Emma were born
there?
Answer: Yes, I think that Stephen S. and Emma were born
at Blue Jacket's Crossing of the Wakarusa River.
Henry, George and Charles were the gold dust triplets of the
Blue Jackets. They were tribal leaders and they all three signed
treaties with the U. S. Government for the Shawnee Tribe. They
also represented the interest of the Absentee Shawnee during this time.
We have yet to develop much detail about Henry but this was a family
that lived together, fought together and played together. There is
no question in my mind that we living descendants of these brothers, and
rather direct cousins today. inherited those family traits.
Emma was born in 1854, the year the triplets went to Washington DC and
Henry died in 1855. His son Joseph, was born after Henry died.
The George's and Charles's took care of them. Stephen S. almost
had to be part of this as he was born in 1838, the oldest child of the
Henry family.
I know for sure that Emma, Gertie and Felix lived just a short distance
north of Stephen S's hotel in Vinita. Their home was on Bull
Creek. They lived near a grade school and the background of that
picture of Emma and brood almost had to be that school building.
I got more to come on this crossing business and am in the middle of
research on it. Keep tuned for further developments.
Carlyle
14 Jul 2001
Question: Carlyle, I
met Randy Noe at the McDonald's Restaurant in Vinita the morning of the
Shawnee celebration in Big Cabin. After breakfast, from the McDonalds
Restaurant, we walked one block east to the railroad tracks, then south
along some retail stores which faced the railroad tracks. About a block
north, there was an east-west railroad track which crossed
the north-south railroad. Is that the vicinity of the old Blue Jacket
hotel? And did the old historic Highway 66 run along that east-west
street that passes the McDonalds?
Answer: Just
as I was settling down to do something constructive, along comes someone
who reminds me of my checkered past. Now I am going to have to spend all
afternoon reliving it. So, here we go!
Celebrations
by
Carlyle Hinshaw
Oklahoma - On Sunday July 1st the Oklahoma
Blue Jacket's Rendezvous was held at
the Twin Bridges State Park on U. S. Highway 50 about eight miles
southeast of Miami, Oklahoma. A
great time was had by all, including two local coon hounds who wouldn't
miss a Shawnee feed for anything!
About 50 family members showed up, from 91 year old Cindarella Florence
(Mills) Brown of Centralia Illinois to 11/2 year old Britney Danielle
Hubbard of Dexter Missouri.
I will add many to the Address Book and update many for the Blue Jacket
Genealogy and Chuck will upload the new stuff on the web site.
Ron Sparkman, Georgie Honey and Greg Pitcher from the Shawnee Tribal
Office joined us and will be getting their new activities posted on the
Shawnee Tribe web page so be watching for that. Their monthly
business meeting is tonight July 2 and we hope to have minutes for that
posted directly. The Annual Business Meeting will be at 10:00 AM
on Saturday, September 15th in White Oak.
The next Blue Jacket Reunion will be at Twin Bridges two years hence and particulars
will be continued. Many thanks goes to Betty Sullivan for her work
in making this event happen.
It will take a little while to get this stuff assimilated but will have
a list of attendees and other interesting things put on the Pen and
Pencil Newsletter.
Napa, CA -
On Aug 4th and 5th 2001 the West
Coast Blue Jacket - Bingham's Pow Wow will be held at 4037 Mt.
Veeder Rd. in Napa, California. There will be swimming, golf,
horseshoes, fishing and games. Bring your own nourishment and drink. A
fire will be made to roast the hunter's bounty. For information e-mail
Bruce at: hunter@netfeedlcom
October 1,
2001
Letter to: The President of the LOGAN COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
October 1, 2001
Mr. David Wagner, President
LOGAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
West Chillicothe and Seymore St.
Bellefontaine, Ohio 43311
Dear Mr. Wagner:
Reference the announcement in the LOGAN COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWS-
LETTER (Vol. XIV Issue 5 October 2001) regarding Allan
Eckert’s forthcoming book signing on October 21st. In my opinion it is a
travesty that an organization dedicated to the perpetuation of
historical accuracy would be a party to the untruths related as "fact,
not fiction" in A. Eckert’s "THE FRONTIERSMEN" (1967).
Consider, for example, there never was anyone by the
name of Marmaduke Van Swearingen or Charles Van Swearingen. Charles
Swearingen (born 1767), brother of Marmaduke Swearingen (born January 2,
1763), was in Pennsylvania on November 4, 1791 and later lived in
southwest Ohio with his wife and son, Joseph (born 1808). Charles could
not have been killed Nov. 4, 1791 by anyone let alone Chief Blue Jacket.
That story is a figment of a creative imagination and not "fact," it
is fiction! And those young men lived with their parents, John and
Catherine (Stull) Swearingen northeast of present-day Point Marion in
southwest Pennsylvania--not near present-day Richwood, WV
as footnoted on page 5 of Allan W. Eckert’s "BLUE JACKET" (1969)
As for "the story" that Marmaduke Van Swearingen was
captured in 1771 (or 1778) when 17years of age, became the Shawnee War
Chief, and was called "Blue Jacket" because he wore a a blue jacket when
taken prisoner, consider the "fact" on page 99 of "THE OHIO COMPANY
PAPERS, 1753-1817" (1947) by Kenneth P. Bailey. .. (I am attaching a
copy of this page for your ready examination.) Bailey’s treatise is a
transcription of original information included in ‘THE PAPERS OF
THE SUFFERING TRADERS OF PENNSYLVANIA’ in ‘THE ETTING
COLLECTION which is in the archives of the Pennsylvania
State Historical Society. As you can see, a Shawnee trader named
Blue Jacket" was involved in trading with an agent of THE OHIO
COMPANY in 1752. In addition, the diary of Rev. Jones’ visit in the Ohio
country in the 1752-1753 indicates a visit to "Blue Jacket’s
village" in January of 1753. These accounts negate the possibility there
is any truth to the story of a blue-jacketed lad being captured in 1771
or 1778 and becoming the Shawnee War Chief, Blue Jacket.
Perhaps Mr. Eckert will shed some light on the above
"facts" and will disclose the "source" of his story that a person
present on the battlefield November 4, 1791 heard a mortally wounded
person gasp: "Duke, its me, Charlie, your brother" as related in THE
FRONTIERSMEN.
Seeking historical truth, I remain
Yours truly,
C. Michaels
Springfield OH
-----------
October 5,
2001
Robert Denton Blue Jacket
9759 East 3rd St.
Tulsa, OK 74128
Editor
THE BELLEFONTAINE EXAMINER
127 East Chillicothe Ave.
Bellefontaine, OH 43311
Dear Sir:
As a proud descendant of Chief Blue Jacket, I have been
reliably informed the LOGAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY is offering for
sale, autographed copies of Allan W. Eckert’s "FRONTIERSMEN" which is
prefaced "fact, not fiction." This book contains a historically
inaccurate account of my ancestor, the Shawnee War Chief, Blue Jacket,
as having killed and scalped "his white brother," Charles Van
Swearingen. This is absolutely not true.
First, my ancestor, Blue Jacket, was not a white man. To
become a Shawnee War Chief he had to have been a bona fide Native
American. The white man’s "story" to the contrary is not true. Second,
in depth research indicates there never was was a "Charles Van
Swearingen." Charles Swearingen, born in 1767, had a son name Joseph
born in 1808. Charles died in 1848 and is buried at Yountsville,
Indiana. His brother, Marmaduke Swearingen, was born January 2nd, 1763.
Both were distant cousins of the Captain Van Swearingen
who died in the service for his country on November 4th in 1791 along
the banks of the Wabash during the attack led by Chief Blue Jacket.
As indicated on page 99 et al of Kenneth P. Bailey’s
"THE OHIO COMPANY PAPERS, 1753-1817" (1947)," the
Papers of the Suffering Traders of Pennsylvania( " (in archives
of the Pennsylvania Historical Society) show a Native American trader
named "Blue Jacket" was in the Ohio country as early as 1752. The "tale"
of a white man being captured in 1771 or 1778 and being named "Blue
Jacket" because he was wearing a blue jacket is just baloney. And Rev.
Jones diary concerning his 1772-1773 visit to the Ohio country tells of
his visit to "Blue Jacket’s town" in January of 1773
Why doesn’t your newspaper tell the public the "truth?"
A true descendant of Blue Jacket,
Robert Denton Blue Jacket
"Shawnee Greens"
by Hal Sherman
Indians cooked the roots of numerous plants for food.
The edible foliage of other plants were palatable to both the Indians
and the whites. Poke, lamb's-quarter, wild mustard, wild lettuce, and
some of the cresses were eaten. Water cress was used for what George
Washington called a "sallet." The early traders and settlers ate
"Shawnee Salad" made from wild lettuce and peppergrass. The bulbous
roots of artichokes and wild onions were used. Wild rice was especially
valuable. In some communities beech and blackberry sprouts were eaten.
In modern times, turnip tops are still favored for greens. Fred Lamke of
Blanchester remembers that he ate milkweed greens when he was a boy, and
one of his neighbors recalled eating crowfoot bulbs.
SHAWNEE STUDENTS
AT CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL
(1879-1918)
sent by Carlyle Hinshaw
Seventy Carlisle Indian
School students enrolled with affiliation to the "Shawnee" tribe
according to the documents found at NARA and CCHS.
Click here for
enrollment list.
DAYS
IN SHAWNEE LIVES
Fort Finney ------- Dismayed by
most Shawnee Indians, Mekoche Chief Malunthy (Moluntha) and seven other
Shawnees, signed a treaty here at the mouth of the Great Miami River
with the U. S. Government on January 31, 1786, ceding certain lands
north of the Ohio River to the Americans. Click
here
to read the treaty.
Treaty of Fort Finney 1786, which depicts Butler, Clark, Parsons, Zane,
Droullar. Moluntha, Tarhee and many others.
Painted by: Hal Sherman
Artist: Hal Sherman
Click below to see other paintings by Hal
Paintings by Hal Sherman
Six months later, in early
October, Benjamin Logan led 800 Kentuckians against the Miami country
villages, descending on Mackachak, Malunthy’s place of residence, where
Col. Hugh McGary murdered Malunthy with a hatchet and scalped him.
Malunthy’s wife was taken prisoner along with many others.
You reckon the Kentuckians left saying, "Have a nice day"?
Read all about it on pages 68-75 of the following book:
Sugden, John, 2000, Blue Jacket, Warrior of the Shawnees,
University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 350p. ISBN 0-8032-4288-3
Twin
Bridges Reunion
A REUNION with a TOMAHAWK
by Carlyle Hinshaw
Edited on August 3, 2001 by Robert Harry
Withrow, Jr.
Twin Bridges State Park --- On July 1,
2001, the Shawnee Indian Blue Jacket family held its biennial reunion at
this lovely place eight miles southeast of Miami, Oklahoma. The picnic
was comprised of 60 relatives and other Shawnee friends and two fine
Ottawa County Coon Hounds who know a Shawnee repast when they see, er,
smell one! Blue Jackets from the Cherokee Nation (Cherokee Adopted
Shawnee), Eastern Shawnee Tribe and Shawnee Tribe gathered to celebrate
their long, illustrious history. Several excellent stories arose and are
being told as time allows for the telling.
Robert Harry Withrow, Jr., of Kanab, Utah,
brought a Pipe Tomahawk used by and handed down through, his family from
Shawnee days in northeastern Kansas Territory during the middle 1800’s.
Robert also brought along the story of the Pipe Tomahawk.
On November 30, 1831, a group of 334
Shawnees, including families of Chief John Perry, Henry and James (Jim)
Blue Jacket, Peter Cornstalk and John Woolf arrived at the Shawnee Agency
in Kansas after a three month "Trail of Tears" from Allen County, Ohio.
Most of the adults rode horseback and the children in baggage wagons.
These Wapaghkonetta and Hog Creek Shawnees had ceded (August 8, 1831)
their homelands to the
U. S. Government for 100,000 acres within
or contiguous to, the existing Shawnee Reserve south of the Kansas (Kaw)
River. The following year, 24 Shawnees of the River Huron in Michigan
Territory made their trek to the new Shawnee country. In 1833, 14 more
followed suit and in 1839, the total of River Huron Shawnees in the
Shawnee Reserve was 38. (Louise Barry, THE BEGINNING OF THE WEST, p.
223-24, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, 1972).
The new Shawnee lands were however, smack
dab in the middle of the great western migration. Starting with a fur
party path in 1827 (Sublette’s Trace), several trails headed up in the
Independence, Missouri – confluence of the Kaw and Missouri rivers area
and the main trace of the Oregon California Road crossed Shawnee lands
south of the Kaw. Westward Ho traffic steadily increased and reached a
crescendo after the discovery of gold in California in 1849. Settlement
along the various trails began and Indian lands became more and more
desirable to emigrants wanting to establish roots.
Treaty of 1854
Successful in their continual efforts to
displace Indians, the U. S. Government had Shawnee leaders travel to
Washington DC and sign a treaty on May 10, 1854, ceding 1, 600,000 acres
of their land for 200,000 within the same area. Now that was a hell of a
deal for the governmental's! Shawnee signers of the document included:
Joseph Parks, Black Hoof (was he still around?), George McDougal,
Silverheels, Paschal Fish, Long Tail, George Blue Jacket, Graham Rogers,
Wa-wah-che-pa-e-kar (or, Black Bob), Tooly and Henry Blue Jacket.
Witness’s to the signatures included Agent Benjamin F. Robinson and
Interpreter Charles Blue Jacket. Each Shawnee was awarded, in severalty,
200 acres and that included Absentee Shawnees and Adopted Shawnees.
Figure 1.
Hughmongous tracts of lands immediately
became available for settlement and many new areas were incorporated,
including Lawrence in 1854 and Eudora in 1857. German settlers purchased
land for the latter town from Paschal Fish, who, along with John
Blue Jacket, had been assistant gun and blacksmiths for the Leavenworth
Agency in 1837. Quick to take advantage of this new situation, the
Blue Jacket brothers, Henry, George and Charles, went into the hotel and
ferry business. George and storekeeper William "Dutch Bill or Billy" Greiffenstein incorporated the town of Sebastian, six miles SE of
Lawrence in the SE1/4 of the SW1/4 of Section 12 - Township 13 South -
Range 20 East. The town did not survive and is not shown on modern maps.
Henry died at Blue Jacket’s Crossing of the Wakarusa River on May 3,
1855, leaving his wife, Eliza, with six children and expecting a
seventh. The latter was born in early 1856.
On the afternoon of May 19, 1855, the first
steamboat to ply the Kansas River, the EMMA HARMON, left Kansas
City en-route to Topeka and other way landings. Stopping to re-supply
wood around noon the next day, they slipped into the stream again and
almost immediately were hailed by an Indian wanting a tow up river for
his flatboat. They stopped, made the small boat fast and proceeded west
up river. The flatboat had just been made by Tooly, a Shawnee who had
operated a ferry where the Delaware River, coming from the north, joined
the Kaw between Lawrence and Topeka. Upon reaching the confluence of the
Kaw and Wakarusa, they cast the Indian loose in his craft. Amidst
cheering and waving from the passengers, the red man poled his way up
the smaller stream. That Indian boat captain had to be one of two
cousins, both strapping 21 year olds, Stephen S. Blue Jacket, eldest son
of Henry, or William George Blue Jacket, eldest son of George! Thus began
operations of Blue Jacket’s Ferry. (Kansas Historical Quarterly, V. 6, p.
17-19)
Figure 2.
Civil War
The Free State – Slave State concept became
an overriding one at this time, as anti-slavery Kansas Jayhawkers
actively worked with the underground railroad bringing freedom to many
and pro-slavery Missouri Bushwhackers fought to bring the freedmen back
into slavery. With Lawrence as the "free state" capitol, local traffic
added to the depth of Oregon California Road ruts. Kansas in fact became
a free State in 1861 as the Civil War broke out.
On the night of August 21, 1863,
Confederate Captain William Clarke Quantrill led 400 raiders from
successes at Independence, Missouri against Union troops, toward
Lawrence to punish the anti-slavery zealots of many years standing. The
inhabitants of Blue Jacket’s Crossing got wind of Quantrill’s sweep
across northeastern Kansas and took precautions. Eliza Silverheels, wife
of David Likens Blue Jacket, had a one year old boy at the time but took
it upon herself to round up the children and some older protectors,
loaded them with provisions and the very youngest and sent them into the
hills south of the Wakarusa.
Defending Hearth and Home
Eliza was determined to guard her home,
stayed there and lay in wait for the band of guerillas prancing toward
Lawrence. This great-great grandmother of Robert Harry Withrow, Jr., was
armed with a Pipe Tomahawk, most assuredly obtained from her
father-in-law, the Rev. Charles Blue Jacket, by now an ordained Methodist
Minister.
As the raiders crossed the Wakarusa at this
Shawnee enclave, one, bent on looting Eliza’s home and perhaps intent on
doing bodily harm to any inhabitants, tried to enter by a window. A
young, enraged Shawnee Indian woman brandishing a wicked looking
Tomahawk confronted him! With great effort, Eliza gave a mighty swing of
her weapon, so mighty in fact, that when the axe met the raider, her arm
broke. The haft of the Tomahawk broke at the same time. The Quantrillian
was not so fortunate, as the blow to his head did him in for good!
The Confederates hit Lawrence at 5 AM,
killing upwards of 200 men, looting, raping and setting fire to the
entire town in an atrocity of the worst kind. Quantrill later was
abandoned by most of his men and killed by Union troops in Kentucky.
Lawrence began recovery immediately, regardless of the heartbreak
foisted upon them by those monsters.
Pipe Tomahawks
The successful defender passed the family
Pipe Tomahawk on to daughter Cindarella Blue Jacket who passed it to her
daughter Cindarella Florence (Mills) Brown. Mrs. Brown’s daughter, Betty
June, married Robert Harry Withrow and they parented Robert, Jr., who is
the current keeper of the family heirloom. The Withrow family and 90
year old grand mom, Cindarella Florence, all attended the picnic and all
contributed to this story.
European and Americans developed pipe
Tomahawks for the Indian trade. Made with a smoking handle and a tobacco
bowl insert at the head, they served, among other things, as "badges of
prestige" given to Indian leaders at treaty signings and other
occasions. Giver and receiver ornately decorated most. Modern artisans
reproduce them and can be acquired at less than $50.00 to $500.00.
Documented historical antiquities sell for upwards of $35,000!
Figure 3.
Robert Withrow’s Pipe Tomahawk does not
have the original smoking haft, thanks to Eliza’s mighty blow, however,
its origin is documented by makers marks.
The maker was a Vickers metal smith in
London, England in 1833. The head was cast in the Naylor, Vickers and
Company’s Sheffield foundry.
Figure 4.
Both sides of the head
have the "Bleeding Heart" symbol, which is a common decoration on the
antique ones.
Figure 5.
The Masonic emblem was
probably etched by gun and black smithy, John Blue Jacket, brother of the
Rev. Charles Blue Jacket, who, along with many other Shawnees, was active
in that organization.
Figure 6.
The other side is
scribed with a man in the moon, which is a bit unusual. The French Moon
or crescent moon was, however, a common inscription, sometimes included
when the head was cast.
Robert Withrow, Jr. is a
teacher of survival skills across the country, both to private and
military groups. It is fitting that he continues to preserve Shawnee
history and heritages.
Figure 7.
Top L-R: Robert Withrow, Robert
Withrow, Jr ., Robert John Brown
Bottom, L-R: Betty Withrow,
Cindarella Brown, Saundra Davis.
The elder Withrows live in Chetopa KS,
Robert and Saundra in Centralia IL and Cindarella in Centralia.
Cindarella had the good fortune to remember
her grandparents. She was born in 1911 and David Likens Blue Jacket
passed away on April 4, 1919 and Eliza (Silverheels) Blue Jacket on June
12, 1929. Great historical events were told directly to their daughter Cindarella (Blue
Jacket) Mills and to their grand daughter Cindarella
Mills. Now, at 90 years of age, the latter is still able to give us
insight to our Shawnee heritage. Thank you Cindarella Florence (Mills)
Brown.
Gaylord Carlyle Hinshaw
1713 Baron Dr
Norman OK 73071
405-364-4584
bjexploration@swbell.net
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