Coocoochee

Location of Coocoochee's cabin at the Glaize in 1792

Coocoochee (c. 1740 – after 1800) was a Mohawk leader and medicine woman.[1] She was born in a village near Montreal but lived most of her life in the remote North American Ohio Country among the Shawnee led by the war chief Blue Jacket.[2] She was born into the important Wolf Clan, later marrying a warrior member of the Bear Clan. Her husband Cokundiawsaw was a war chief of the Mohawk.[3]

Among the Shawnee she was renowned for her acquired skills as a healer with special expertise in preparing and using herbal medicines. She was also revered for her ability to contact the powerful world of spirit; she was renowned as a prophet, and warriors would ask her if their ventures would be successful.[4] If she consulted the spirits and predicted success, and the venture did end up successful, she would be given some of the spoils as a sign of gratitude.[2]

In addition to her role as healer, she was often consulted on military and political matters involving Indian/American relatioul.[1]

Warfare broke out during Coocoochee's teenage years. Due to the wars - and ongoing attacks and forced removals by Europeans - she and her family, including the two toddler aged children, had to flee their home, and walked 700 miles central Ohio.[4]

From 1769 to 1777, Coocoochee and her family lived among the Shawnee in Ohio. In Ohio they lived on the west bank of the Scioto River in a town led by Blue Jacket, a Shawnee war chief.[5]

Multiple times throughout her life, she and her family were forced to flee due to encroachment and attacks by American and British colonists.[6] They often were forced to live as refugees.[7] In 1790, her husband was murdered by American soldiers who raided, murdered, and burnt Indigenous people's homes under the command of General Josiah Harmar.[1][3]

Coocoochee advocated for resistance against the attacks, encroachment, and forced removals carried out by Americans and Europeans against Indigenous people.[3][7] She believed that the Europeans and Americans intended eradicate Indigenous people, and witnessed many of her people - and family - murdered.[7][6][4][3]

Family

Sometime between 1754 and 1763 Coocoochee married a Mohawk war chief named Cokundiawsaw.[3] During this time, before leaving for Ohio, they had four children: one daughter and three sons. Two of her sons were named White Loon and Black Loon. [7][1]

Further reading

  • Hornbeck, Helen (1979). "Coocoochee: Mohawk Medicine Woman". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 03 (3): 23-41. doi:10.17953/aicr.03.3.37tk58485187632v.
  • Catalano, Joshua (2019). "Blue Jacket, Anthony Wayne, and the Psychological and Symbolic War for Ohio, 1790-1795". Ohio History. 126 (1): 5–34. doi:10.1353/ohh.2019.0001. S2CID 149840298.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Bataille, Gretchen M.; Lisa, Laurie (2003-12-16). Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-95587-8.
  2. ^ a b Cozzens, Peter (2021-08-03). Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Heroic Struggle for America's Heartland. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-525-43488-7.
  3. ^ a b c d e Willig, Timothy D. (2008-05-01). Restoring the Chain of Friendship: British Policy and the Indians of the Great Lakes, 1783-1815. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-4817-5.
  4. ^ a b c Blaakman, Michael A. (2023-09-19). Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-1-5128-2447-6.
  5. ^ Sonneborn, Liz (2007). A to Z of American Indian Women (Revised ed.). New York: Infobase Publishing. pp. 48–49.
  6. ^ a b Sleeper-Smith, Susan (2018-05-11). Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792. UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-1-4696-4059-4.
  7. ^ a b c d Kugel, Rebecca; Murphy, Lucy Eldersveld (2007-01-01). Native Women's History in Eastern North America Before 1900: A Guide to Research and Writing. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2779-8.