Expert horsemanship is exhibited as Shawnee warriors thunder across the stage in Blue Jacket Photo: First Frontier, Inc.
|
Blue Jacket Outdoor Drama
An outdoor drama in Xenia, Ohio, which presents the
Ohio Valley, specifically the Greene County, Ohio, area as it was
in the late 1700s and the struggle between the advancing
frontiersmen and the Indians who fought to retain their homeland
through the portrayal of the life of the Shawnee War Chief, Blue
Jacket.
In the drama, Blue Jacket is portrayed as a white man
named Marmaduke Van Swearingen. At age 17, he and his younger
brother Charlie were surprised by a Shawnee hunting party and
Marmaduke was taken to Kispoko Town to undergo the adoption ritual
of the Shawnee while Charlie was allowed to return to his home.
Marmaduke went willingly, as he had long been enamored by the
Indian way of life and was eager to become a part of it. Because of
the blue hunting jacket he was wearing, he was given the Shawnee
name,
Wey-yah-pih-ehr-sehn-weh -- Blue Jacket.
In the drama, Blue Jacket lived his life as a
Shawnee, and was ultimately named War Chief of the Shawnee Nation.
Blue Jacket's story is really about the land. The Shawnee strongly
believed that the earth was sacred; that they did not own the land,
but were custodians of it, and when they died, they became a part
of it. This belief that the land was sacred would eventually lead
to conflict with the white man.
As the white settlers flooded into the Ohio Valley in
the late 1700s, the Shawnee and other Indians who shared their
beliefs, were determined to stand and fight. It was during these
turbulent years that Blue Jacket became a respected Shawnee warrior
and eventually the War Chief of the Shawnee Nation. It is his story
that
Blue Jacket tells.
* * *
In addition to information on the drama, the project
also contains letters from the family of Chief Blue Jacket that
contest the historical accuracy of the drama, and which note
genealogical studies showing that Blue Jacket was a Shawnee Indian,
not a white man.
Originally submitted by: David L. Hobson, Representative (7th District).
More Local Legacies... |
|
|
The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.
|