The Shawnee nation were a tribe of Native Americans that lived in the Ohio Valley. The Shawnee inhabited western Pennsylvania and Ohio at the time of the French and Indian War and American Revolutionary War, but they were forced into Oklahoma by the United States' expansion.
History[]
At the time of the French and Indian War, the people of the Shawnee nation were mostly living in and around the Ohio Valley - the territory surrounding Fort Duquesne. Traditionally, their hunting grounds had extended into Pennsylvania and Virginia, but they were being slowly moved from their lands by the advancing lines of British colonization. Hoping to stop - or at least slow - settlement, some of the Shawnee entered the war, siding with their traditional trading partners, the French.
By 1758, some Shawnee negotiated peace with the British in the Treaty of Easton. However, the treaty wasn't respected, leading to another war - Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763. By the time the American Revolution started, many of the Shawnee opted to remain neutral, although some sided with the British - again hoping for help pushing back Colonists. Unfortunately, the result was the same as many other indigenous peoples - the Shawnee were forced to leave their lands, with the majority eventually settling in Oklahoma.