Cornstalk (1720-10 November 1777), also known as Hokoleskwa, was a prominent chief of the Shawnee tribe during Lord Dunmore's War and the American Revolutionary War.
Biography[]
Cornstalk was born in 1720 in Philadelphia, and he later moved to Chillicothe in the Ohio Country, taking part in the peace negotiations after Pontiac's Rebellion. He played a central role in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, failing to prevent an escalation of hostilities and being defeated at the Battle of Point Pleasant. Cornstalk was a peaceful man, negotiating with the patriots during the American Revolutionary War to reaffirm his neutrality, and he visited Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant in November 1777 to negotiate with the Americans. When an American militiaman was killed by unknown natives, Cornstalk was murdered by angry militiamen and two other Shawnees in revenge, leading to the Shawnee siding with Great Britain in the war.