Cornstalk (c. 1720? – November 10, 1777) was a Shawnee leader in the Ohio Country in the 1760s and 1770s. His name in the Shawnee language was Hokoleskwa. Little is known about his early life. He may have been born in the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1763, he reportedly led a raid against British-American colonists in Pontiac's War. He first appears in historical documents in 1764, when he was one of the hostages surrendered to the British as part of the peace negotiations ending Pontiac's War. When the British-American colonies began expanding into the Ohio Country, Cornstalk played a major part in defense of the Shawnee homeland. He was the primary Shawnee war chief in Lord Dunmore's War (1774), leading Shawnees and other Native warriors against colonists in the Battle of Point Pleasant. After suffering defeat in that battle, he became an advocate for Shawnee neutrality in the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775. Many Shawnees fought against the Americans, hoping to regain lost lands, but Cornstalk was among those who feared that fighting the Americans would prove disastrous for the Shawnees. In 1777, Cornstalk made a diplomatic visit to Fort Randolph in Virginia (now West Virginia), hoping to learn American intentions. He and three others were imprisoned by the fort's commander. When an American militiaman was killed by Natives in the fort's vicinity, angry soldiers executed Cornstalk and the other prisoners. His murder enraged Shawnees and deprived them of an important voice of moderation. Background and early life Little is known of Cornstalk's early life, as he does not clearly appear in historical records until 1764. His year of birth is unknown; some early writings estimate it at 1720, although this date is undocumented. His name in the Shawnee language, Hokoleskwa ("a blade of corn"), was also recorded in colonial records as Colesqua, Keightughqua, and Semachquaan, with several spelling variations. In the 1680s, decades before Cornstalk's birth, the Shawnees were driven out of the Ohio Country by the Iroquois. One Shawnee band resettled in the Wyoming Valley along the Susquehanna River in the Province of Pennsylvania, near present-day Plymouth. A leader of this group was Paxinosa, a noted Shawnee chief. Moravian missionaries who knew Cornstalk said he was Paxinosa's son or grandson, so Cornstalk might have been born in that area. Shawnees of Cornstalk's era belonged to one of five tribal divisions: Mekoche, Chalahgawtha (Chillicothe), Kispoko, Pekowi, and