The Ohio Shawnee reversed the trend of their diplomacy in going to war with the British colonies in 1754. This move has been misunderstood as general resentment against settler encroachment and/or an opportunistic acceptance of French incentives. The clear trigger was the imprisonment in South Carolina of six Shawnee warriors who were intent on attacking the Catawba. The death of the most prominent of them, Itawachcomequa, or The Pride, prompted a declaration of a war that became an intermittent duel with the “Long Knives” over the next sixty years. Unfortunately, Shawnee fury at an unjust confinement by allies was not adequately understood by British officials, European contemporaries, or subsequent historians of either the war or the Shawnee.
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