A Brief History of the Piqua Shawnee

The state of Alabama has long been the home of Shawnee people.

In Shawnee, Piqua (traditionally spelled Pekowiiθa) means ashes or dust. We are known as the people who rose from the ashes, people who have ashes on their feet, and the ash people. We are the descendants of Ancestral Algonquians. We speak an Algonquian language, which we share with 30 other tribes from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

Our history in Alabama extends past the formation of the state on December 14, 1819. Well beyond the Alabama territory of August 15, 1817, past the Mississippi Territory annexing of that relinquished portion of Georgia in 1804, or the Mississippi Territory’s formation on April 7, 1798.

One of the problems we have with state histories understating our presence within the state is that like most state histories Alabama’s “Official” history really begins with statehood. For Alabama this would be as mentioned above, 1819, eight years after Tecumseh’s visit to Tuckabatchee, five short years from the end of the Creek War and eleven years before the enactment of the Indian removal act in 1830. 1

Historians state that perhaps the Shawnee people have inhabited Alabama for a longer period of time than any other geographic region. Archaeologists set the date of 1685 as the first documented evidence of Shawnee settlements in Alabama. Historically, we lived in east central Alabama, east of the Coosa River valley. Since 1685, settlers have written about our villages along the Savanna, Chattahoochee, and Tallapoosa rivers. Chalakagay was the name of our village in what is today, Sylacauga, a city in Talladega County, Alabama. 2

However, oral tradition states that we have been here much longer than that. One oral tradition among The Creeks state “the Shawnee were the original inhabitants of Tuckabatchee.” (Located at a bend in the Tallapoosa River, 3 miles south of Tallassee in Elmore County, Alabama) Ancient burial sites that use burial methods common to the Shawnee have been located in several sections of the state. Early French and English maps show Shawnee towns in what would be considered Upper Creek territory. Some of the most notable were near Montgomery (Sawonogi), Sylacauga (Chalakagay), and Guntersville (Creek Path). 3

In 1748 Peter Chartier with his band of 450 Piqua established Chalakagay at Sylacauga in Talladega County. In 1750 the French took a census mentioning the Shawnee at Sylacauga as well as enumerating another Shawnee town called Cayomulgi, (currently spelled Kyamulga town) that was located nearby. In 1755 when Chartier relocated the bulk of his band numbering about 270 people to the Cumberland River, many other individuals remained in Alabama with other bands of Shawnee people. 4

A 1761 English census names Tallapoosa Town. This town was also named in a 1792 census by Marbury. There are French military records that mention a Shawnee presence close to Fort Toulouse near present day Wetumpka. 5

Sawonogi (located on the Tallapoosa River, Near Montgomery, Al) is a notable townsite, this is the stated birthplace of Tecumseh’s mother. In 1787 Tecumseh as a young man, spent two years in the settlements of the Cherokees and Creeks, due to those ties in 1811, he would again visit the towns in Alabama, attempting to rally not only our people but our Creek and Cherokee allies. 6

In most cases the traders and Indian agents called Alabama Indians “Creeks” because they lived on the numerous creeks and waterways in the area. Many of these “Creeks” were not of the same tribe or nation. Rather they went by a large number of names. Each group maintained their own unique heritage while living side by side with their neighbors. In Fact, Shawnee people and towns were erroneously enumerated as Creek Indians, has a result of us being closely allied with and our membership in the historic Creek confederacy. Even with this close alliance, we the Piqua have maintained our unique identity and cultural ways. 7

In 1832, the Piqua Shawnee refused to cede their land in Alabama to the United States and move east of the Mississippi River. Instead, we retreated into the caves, forests, and mountains of Alabama. We survived by publicly suppressing our culture and heritage, generation after generation. After almost two centuries of cultural concealment, we continue to survive in our homeland as we have since time immemorial. 8

Today

Now, in the 21st century, there are many of our people who still call Alabama home. Our long-term settlement in Alabama makes us uniquely different from our Shawnee counterparts in Oklahoma. We have maintained our own history, culture, and government. While we as Shawnee people do share a distant common root, due to long-term isolation from one another, we essentially are not the same people. Many of our family stories are varied. Some avoided walking the Trail of Tears. Some families escaped into the Cumberland mountains, others hid in swamps or less traveled places, while others assimilated. While a vast number of people did not escape the removal, many did. Many stories abound of some families returning. Several families chose to live in rural areas. A lot was lost, but our family histories and traditional ways were passed down from generation to generation. 

It is out of that background that like our namesake, we the Piqua rose from the ashes to live and work toward the preservation of our unique heritage and cultural traditions. Our tribe consists of several family groups that are interrelated, a majority of our citizens still reside in Alabama. But today, like most people, we are just as likely to be found anywhere in the world.

While we have a Principal Chief, and Second Chief, our tribal government is maintained by a Tribal Council. The Council is composed of Clan leaders, with the Council of Elders acting as an advisory body. Modern positions such as treasurer and secretary are determined by election for a set period of time.

RESOURCES:
1 Pickett, Albert James, (2018), The Annotated Pickett’s History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and
Mississippi, from the Earliest Period. New South Books, Montgomery, AL
2 Alabama Anthropological Handbook 1920, Alabama State Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL
3 Tukabatchee: Archaeological Investigations at an Historic Creek Town, Elmore County, Alabama, 1984. Vernon J.
Knight, Jr.. Report of Investigations ,1. University, Alabama: Office of Archaeological Research, AL State Museum
Nat Hist. 1985
4 Howard, James, (1925), Shawnee!, Ohio University Press
5 Alabama Anthropological Handbook 1920, Alabama State Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL
6 Alabama Anthropological Handbook 1920, Alabama State Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL
and Pickett, Albert James, (2018), The Annotated Pickett’s History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and
Mississippi, from the Earliest Period. New South Books, Montgomery, AL
7 Swanton, John Reed. 1922. “Early history of the Creek Indians and their neighbors.” Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin. 73:1–492.
8 Kenneth Barnett Tankersley, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anthropology (Retired)
Graduate School Fellow, University of Cincinnati

On July 10, 2001, the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission under the authority of the Davis-Strong Act
recognized the Piqua Shawnee Tribe as an Indian tribe in the state of Alabama, thus making the Piqua the
first petitioning group to be recognized in 17 years and reaffirming our place in Alabama, both past and
present.