The Shawnee were originally in the southern Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania area.  They were driven from this area by the Iroquois sometime around the 1600's and scattered in all directions.  By 1730, most of the Shawnee had returned to their homeland only to be forced to leave once again - this time by American settlement.  Moving first to Missouri and then Kansas, the main body finally settled in Oklahoma after the Civil War.  There were 5 sub nations among the Shawnee.  They were:  the Chillicothe, the Hathawekela, the Kispoko, the Mequchake, and the Piqua.

In 1805, a Shawnee drunk named Lalawethika underwent a spiritual awakening in which he received a religious vision.  Afterwards, he stopped drinking and changed his name to Tenskwatawa.  The white man simply called him the Shawnee Prophet.  His message was to return to traditional ways and forsake the white man's whiskey and trade goods.  While his own people watched this sudden transformation with amazement, Tenskwatawa gathered a large following among the Shawnee and Delaware.  However, there was a dark side to his revolution.  Americans were children of an evil spirit, the Great Serpent, and anyone who disagreed with him was likely to be killed as a witch or traitor.  After he accurately predicted a solar eclipse, his influence spread for another 2 years as thousands visited him at Greenville.  His brother (Tecumseh) added a political element to his religion:  an alliance of all tribes to halt the surrender of land to the Americans.  As Tecumseh began a trip to the south to enlist the aid of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek, he left instructions with the Prophet not to engage in any confrontations with the Americans.

Unfortunately, no sooner had Tecumseh left than Tensquatawa and his followers attacked settlements in Illinois bringing the frontier to the point of war.  William Henry Harrison assembled 1,000 regulars and militia and moved against Prophetstown (where Tensquatawa resided).  They camped across the river at Tippecanoe creek.  Still ignoring his brother's orders, Tensquatawa ordered a suicide squad to attack the Americans and kill Harrison.  The attack failed.  The Warriors were forced to retreat back to Prophetstown.  The Americans pushed in and drove them out.  They then proceeded to burn the town.  Though this was not really a significant victory for the Americans, it did destroy the Prophets reputation.  When Tecumseh returned, he found his carefully worked alliance in a shambles.  Also, the War of 1812 was just starting.  Tecumseh took the 1,000 warriors with him and joined the British.  He and his warriors were killed in battle on October 6, 1813.

After the war, the Shawnee lost more and more of their land.  Finally, in 1817 they signed the Fort Meigs Treaty ceding their remaining lands in Ohio for reservations.  After the Indian Removal act of 1830, they were moved to Kansas.  In 1854, preparations were underway to open Kansas and Nebraska for white settlement to facilitate construction of a transcontinental railroad.  In April, the Shawnee received a proposal from the government to purchase most of their reserve.  The following month, they signed a treaty surrendering 1,600,000 acres for $829,000 (less than $1 per acre) while receiving 200,000 acres to be distributed in individual allotments.  After passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, large numbers of white Americans poured into the area to fight over the slavery issue.  The Shawnee's chose to side with the anti-slavery forces.  By 1857, only 70,000 of the 200,000 acres were under Shawnee ownership.  The remaining 130,000 acres were sold for white settlement.  After the Civil War, the government made a treaty with the Cherokee that was a punishment for their support of the Confederate forces.  They were forced to sell lands in Oklahoma.  The Shawnee saw this as an opportunity to leave Kansas.  The Shawnee were able to purchase Cherokee land and move out of Kansas.