Disclaimer: There’s much debate, uncertainty, myths, and misinformation around the history of this land. We’ve done our best to synthesize knowledge compiled by both Indigenous and non-Native scholars, recounted verbal history from members of the tribes, as well as the only known information from archaeological digs in the area. We are always open to hearing new information and understanding the history of this land the people more fully.  If you have something to share, please reach out to us directly.

Kentucky’s history does not begin with European exploration. The first known people to reside on this land were hunters following the retreat of the Ice Age glaciers. Contrary to the "empty hunting ground" myth, the land supported continuous, thriving populations with evidence of Indigenous people going back nearly 12,000 years.

While the larger land now known as Kentucky was home to many known tribes and nations over the millennia, the Shawnee trace their story back to this area the most recently. What we know as the middle Ohio Valley is the Shawnee homeland they were forced off.

Unfortunately, the negative impacts of colonization arrived to the Shawnee even before white settlers even got here. European diseases like smallpox decimated up to 90% of some village populations, traveling ahead of white colonizers along native trade routes. Colonization also fueled the Beaver Wars, which encouraged and forced the Haudenosaunee southwest from their original home. As they reached the Ohio River Valley from the North a conflict with the Shawnee over access to this land emerged. This led to the abandonment of some long-term agricultural areas on and around the Ohio River. 

Thus, by the time white, European descended colonial settlers arrived, the Shawnee presence in this land had been disrupted for decades by the consequence of their arrival. 

When they did arrive, conflict between settlers and the Shawnee was persistent, including with the Virginia and Kentucky militias- who made a practice of destroying structures and crops of the Shawnee. Settlers justified their encroachment into Shawnee territory by the Treaty of Stanwix- an agreement where the land now known as Louisville was ceded to colonizers moving West. Trouble was, no Shawnee representatives negotiated or signed that treaty–it was signed by members of the Haudenosaunee (usually referred to as the Iroquois in this context)- who had been fighting with the Shawnee for control of the area but didn’t actually live here at all. 

Unknowing or unbothered by this reality, white settlers continued to take and destroy. Tribes including the Shawnee continued defending their homes and eventually joined with other tribes in fighting the encroaching colonizers. This fighting came to a head at the battle of Fallen Timbers where Shawnee fought alongside warriors from the Miami, Lanape, Wyandotte, and the Three Fires people (Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi) and were defeated. With backs against the fall, the Treaty of Greenville was signed in 1795 that stole strategic land from many of those other tribes north of this area. Settlers already believed in their claim to this land from the Treaty of Stanwix. This false claim was reinforced by yet another treaty created and signed by folks who were not Shawnee and did not live on this land. The treaty of Sycamore Shoals was signed by Cherokee chiefs in 1775, relinquishing control over roughly 20 million acres of what’s now Kentucky.

In the midst of these conflicts, George Rogers Clark “founded” Louisville- essentially by placing a military fort here in the middle of contested, unceded territory.  As such, fighting continued in and around this land.  The strategic importance of land along the Falls of the Ohio fueled violence and harassment that made long-term fighting with the settlers unsustainable for the Shawnee. 

By the early 1800s, most tribes had been eliminated from Kentucky either through warfare or resettlement to other territories, allotments, or reservations.  Then the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a catalyst for the forced migration of Indigenous peoples including the Shawnee remaining in this area. 

The three federally recognized Shawnee tribes are: the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Shawnee Tribe. They share a common heritage but diverged due to different migration patterns and timelines.

• Those who moved to reservations in Ohio who would merge with other tribes for some years and later become known and recognized as the Eastern Shawnee.

• Those who went south to Mexico (now Texas) in an attempt to continue their culture away from white settlers, were later known and recognized as the Absentee Shawnee.

• Those removed directly to Kansas, then later Oklahoma are now known and recognized as the Shawnee Tribe.

The three tribal governments remain in Oklahoma to this day. The Shawnee Honor Fund is governed by a board of directors that is majority-Shawnee and includes Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes and Eastern Shawnee Chief Glenna Wallace. 

Sources: Native America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia v.1 (Chapter 17, Kentucky) by Gwynn Henderson and David Pollack; Kentucky Native American Heritage Council resources; Dispelling the Myth: 17th and 18th Century Indian Life (from the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society); Native Languages (dot) org; history (dot) com (slash) articles (slash) kentucky; cherokeenation dot com; University of Louisville Land Acknowledgement; and conversations with Indigenous peoples from each of the three Shawnee Tribes.