The Murder and Curse of the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk

• Cornstalks Curse - "I was the border man’s friend. Many times I have saved him and his people from harm. I never warred with you, but only to protect our wigwams and lands. I refused to join your paleface enemies with the red coats. I came to the fort as your friend and you murdered me. You have murdered by my side, my young son.... For this, may the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its peoples be paralyzed by the stain of our blood."

   Cornstalk (the elder) was a Shawnee chief of bravery and distinction, and one of the leaders 

of his tribe at the battle of the Kanawha (Point Pleasant), Va., in 1776. He had tried before 
that disastrous engagement to induce his people to bury the hatchet, but in vain. After that,

 however, his efforts were crowned with success. He submitted in good faith to the whites, 
joined in the treaty and observed it faithfully, and lived quietly and at peace. Some of the

Indians, however, remained hostile, and such was the temper of the times and so ready 

were the whites to commit atrocities against the helpless "red men," that, in 1777, when 

Cornstalk and his son, Enilipsco, both of excellent character, of kindly disposition, 

and entirely and sincerely friendly and peacable, entered, in amity and good will, the

American fort at Point Pleasant, they were murdered in cold blood. Cornstalk himself 

foil pierced by seven or eight bullets. His grave is said yet to be visible at Point Pleasant 

near the site of the ancient fortress. 

                            57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and torture