The Shawnees and the War for America: The Penguin Library of American Indian History series

by Colin G. Calloway

Long before the American Revolution, the Shawnees lived in Ohio, hunted in Kentucky, and traveled as far afield as Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Missouri. White settlers, however, sharply curtailed their freedom. With the courage and resilience embodied by their legendary leader Tecumseh, the Shawnee tribe waged a war of territorial and cultural resistance that lasted for more than sixty years. For a time the Shawnees and their allies met American forces on nearly equal terms—but their story is of an embattled nation fighting to maintain its cultural and political independence.

Here is the account of the early American settlers’ drive to occupy the West, the Shawnees’ unwavering defense of their homeland, and the bitter battles that resulted. Here too are the alliances that the Shawnees forged with their Indian neighbors to present a united resistance, as well as instances of cooperation, collaboration, and intermarriage between the opposing forces.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, American History, Native Americans, American Revolution, War

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Colin G. Calloway is John Kimball Jr. 1943 Professor of History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College. His previous books include A Scratch of the Pen and The Victory with No Name.

Reviews

[James Howald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, okay. Most of you could care less about this, but I've always been fascinated with the Shawnees and easily irritated when they don't get their due in museum or history treatments of native American history. Mr Calloway does a great job of putting them into their proper historical context as the early diplomats and leaders for the tribes battling the english, french, and americans in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. It always feels to me like the "most significant tribe" mantal started with the Irriquois and eventually ends up with the Souix and Apache, but there was a pretty significant gap. Techumseh is often mentioned, but briefly, and the signficances of Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, etc are often missed. I thought Mr. Calloway was even handed and even brings up the areas where he obviously has a bias by telling both sides of the story. As is often the case in trying to tell a story that includes the tribes perspective, it is difficult to be 100% sure, so he tells both sides. Well worth the read for anyone slightly interested in the history of white/indian relations in that time period.

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

We really need more of such books: competent, thorough, readable distillations of the latest scholarship, able historical overviews. I read this as a memory-jogger, and while I encountered nothing new, I was most pleased by how much information was presented, well told and well organized. This provides an excellent introduction (or reminder) of the history of the Shawnees and their unique position as the travelers, bridge-builders, and resisters they were as they negotiated the ever-shifting no man's land between Native America, England, and the colonies/United States. This also provides good insights into how the Shawnees of today became established in their current settings and incarnations. Highly recommended.

[Sherry Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calloway's writing style is highly readable and it is refreshing to look at Manifest Destiny from the viewpoint of the Shawnee. Calloway doesn't white wash either side in the conflict over the Old Northwest. The more I read of this period, the more I begin to see the Shawnee and the other tribes not as benighted savages who just sort of struck out opportunistically but as intelligent people who waged an intelligent fight against impossible odds to save their way of life.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's great about this short book is the concise long view, a wider perspective on a series of cultural collisions. Students are not often taught about native American greatness in their American History classes. Tecumseh is way up there in importance, for all time, but there are many souls enumerated here. This book gives context for their tribal history.
Highly recommended.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told by a white historian who acknowledges the desire of indigenous people to tell their own stories, Colin Galloway has put together a very readable and assiduously researched introduction to the Shawnees and their history, focusing on the struggle to preserve their lands and culture as the Americans encroached on one after another of their homes in the Midwest. It is often a sad and also infuriating story of promises broken, needs neglected, and respect denied, but it is also one of resilience and determination that highlights the uniqueness of these well-traveled, strongly independent people who even their enemies had to admire. The stories of Tecumseh and Tenskatawa form a big chapter, but there is more before and still some after it, which helps place those decisive decades in the context of a rich history that began long before settlenment and continues to unfold on this day.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This covers mainly the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. While it may not be a deep look into the times, it does provide the reader with a glimpse as to what life was like and short biographies of the leaders. There is a good bibliography at the end if you wish to dive deeper. I am fascinated by the native Americans.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written story of the Shawnee Nation and its interaction with the British and the early Americans. It paints the picture of a once great nation's being torn apart by deceit and betrayal.

The Shawnee were the great travelers of the Native American Nations but they always kept contact with their country that we call Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio. Like most I heard the stories of Daniel Boone in school. He was a early hero. I have since read about him in more depth. Boone first brought settlers into the Kentucky territory. He brought awareness of the great hunting in that area. Boone attempted to make money opening up the area to settlers. He failed in making money but succeeded in opening the area to awareness and settlers. The Shawnee were already there. And so they decline started.

This book puts forward the story of the great Shawnee Nation and makes it interesting. Contemporary accounts are related to help the reader understand the feelings of the time. First the British promised them their land would remain and then the British deserted them. Then the new Americans made promise after promise and broke all. It is interesting and tragic that a country that stated it was for equality and justice destroyed a country that was as egalitarian as a society could be.

I picked up this book because I had a great etc grandfather who was captured by "Indians" and spent many years living as a member of that nation before returning to the KentuckyWest Virginia area to live again as a member of the "white" community. I wanted to know more of the time and area and the Native Americans there. I found more. I found an interesting and important story of all of our early American history. Well worth reading.

[Uncleg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though called the most widely traveled Indians in America, the Shawnee’s homeland was in Ohio, an area in which they were pushed farther west and into smaller and smaller areas. On the losing side in the French and Indian War (French), betrayed by their allies (British) after the Revolutionary War and finally, under the leadership of Tecumseh, defeated for good by the Americans in the War of 1812. Remnants of the nation ended up in Oklahoma. Recorded Books. Read by George K. Wilson.

[Al Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise overview of the Shawnees from the time of their involvement with European settlers. The most notable of the tribes: Bluejacket's defeat of Arthur St. Clair was the worst defeat of American forces at the hands of Native Americans, and Tecumseh almost succeeded in creating an Indian Confederacy.

[Tim Schannauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book along with any books about the Shawnee’s and the other natives to America. It’s sickening to see how the colonies used the manifest destiny to just keep fucking over the indigenous people and giving them treaty’s of land while continuing to push them into a corner until they had almost nothing. It’s scarier that many Americans today still have the same thought patterns as back in the day and for some reason think that we are almighty and this land is destined for us over other minorities. One day I hope that history can be taught honestly and not just from the facade of the victor/oppressor. “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it”. Without knowing the true history we will repeat time and time again.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully concise history of the Shawnee peoples of Ohio from the early 18th century through the present day. It traces the war against American colonization and their forced (and often coerced) removal from their ancestral homes. Including an overview of the lives of some of the most famous Native American peoples of Ohio, such as Blue Jacket, Tecumseh, and Tenskwatawah, this quick read was incredibly informative in the history of the state of Ohio and those indigenous to it.

[The White Tiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thesis: The long-running Shawnee struggle with European colonists and later American's was a war for independence that pitted two opposing ways of life and world views to determine the fate of America.

Style: Clear accessible prose.

Thoughts: While the Calloway centers on the Shawnee, his account is balanced. It illustrates the multiple divisions within the Shawnee and other nations showing that they were not just victims, but, at times, somewhat responsible for their own fate.

[A.M. Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick and accessible read. The book tells the tragic story of the political and military struggles between the Shawnee and the European powers and later the U.S.A in the Ohio Valley. It touches only briefly on ethnographic and economic history of the people The author drew on historical sources (treaty's, journals, and other written sources) as opposed to archeological sources, thus the focus is on the Shawnee's-Euro conflict.

[Aisha Manus · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars because I love reading about an influential group in history that is often left out because they weren’t the victors or aids of the victor. But naturally I hated this book because it made me angry to read about the past actions of Americans and the fact that I’m not Native American so I can’t fight the continued oppression they face today. Grr.

[Angela Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply breathtaking.

Calloway retold the tragedy of the Native Americans struggle brilliantly. I listened avidly to how the Shawnee tried to survive, and tried to adapt. This was not a dry retelling of tragic tales, it was captivating and full of details I had not known previously.

[Paul Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a well-written book, but makes the common mistake of not realizing when the word 'Indian' is and is not appropriate (it usually is not, unless quoting people who themselves have used the word, or in reference to legal matters).

[Сисилота А. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up to 5. I enjoyed reading this book and learned a lot from it. I found some of the statements repetitive and also it was a bit dry but then again, I don't read many history books so maybe that's how they go...?

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding short history that integrates the Shawnees into the struggle for empire in North America along with the French, British, and Americans.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and very enjoyable. Lots of great information packed into
short work. Afterward/Op-Ed brought down the quality of this book.

[AlegnaB † · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0

[Steve Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enlightening history of a native nation I knew little about...a nation that dominated the area wherein I grew up. It’s well worth reading if you’re an American history buff.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about United States History. It is written in a very approachable, yet rigorously researched, format. You could easily read this in a weekend and gain a lot of new perspectives about indigenous history and politics. For more information, check out this episode of the podcast "From the Archives" https://soundcloud.com/anthropologyar....

[Madison · Rating 1 out of 5]

So incredibly boring, hard to follow, and criminally repetitive.

[Cassy]

Who recommended this book to me: Interest in reading entire series curated by Calloway, first discovered at Smithsonian

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful information, but overall it is marred by the constant use of biased language and the inattention to important details.

[Ó Ruairc · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brief history of the Shawnee Nation at war. For all its short length, the book does give some good information about the turbulent history of the Shawnee. The author seems to come across as somewhat biased, though. For instance, when writing about atrocities performed by the whites and the Shawnee, the whites tend to "butcher", "torment", and "desecrate"; whereas the Shawnee "ritually torture". Too, the author marks Daniel Boone as the man "who played a key role in destroying the Shawnees' world in Kentucky". This may be partially true, but it doesn't seem fitting to write Daniel Boone's name and the word 'destroyed' in the same sentence. Based upon everything I've read of Boone, the esteemed frontiersman was an upstanding man who loved the wilderness and his personal freedom as much as the Shawnee did; in truth, it's hard to imagine Daniel Boone destroying anything.
The most interesting part of this book is in the end whereat the author gives a good account of the Shawnees' last years in the Ohio country, followed by their subsequent migration to Kansas, thence to Oklahoma where the last remnants of that fabled tribe reside today.

[John Majors · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Indian/American relationship is so complex and fascinating, just about anything I read on the topic pushes me to expand my understanding a little bit more. This book was good, but a bit tedious at times. Not nearly as story based as some of the better books of this type (i.e. Empire of the Summer Moon). But having grown up in Louisville, Ky, where one of the main municipal parks is named after the Shawnees, it caused me to wonder, how many Indian tribes are lost to history because they don't have anything named after them? It's a tragic and sad tale from any way you slice it. Could it have gone differently in hindsight? Who knows. Without a doubt, every American would be appalled if a similar conquest were in progress today on the other side of the globe. Is that progress, hypocrisy, or both?

[Kathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry reading, but a factual account of how the Shawnees were deceived and manipulated and had their lands "stolen" by the French, Brits, Colonials, and Americans. Governments made treaties with them to guarantee them peace and land and several years later would force them to move again. "The Shawnees earned a reputation for stiff resistance against encroachment on their territory and for staunch defense of their way of life." They lived in Ohio and hunted in Pennsylvania and Kentucky but the Americans wanted this land for expansion. The Shawnees were forced from hunter warriors to farmers in logged cabins and fenced in property. They moved to Missouri, and eventually ended up in Oklahoma.

[Micah Fretz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for American history buffs as well as the casual reader looking for interesting and of course tragic story of a civilization that once occupied large areas of the Ohio Valley, Kentucky, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, and the Delaware. Out of all the Indian nations the Shawnees was one tribe that refused to conform to the ways of the West or allow them to take their land. As someone that grew up with string American pride, these book are sometimes difficult as you read of all betrayals, broken treaties, and genocides all executed straight from the quills of Washington,Jefferson,Jackson, and the other national icons of this country. A very different story of our forefathers from what they teach you in middle school American history.