Blue Jacket Fact Or Fiction

     The controversial "battle" concerning "the Blue Jacket story" has been shrouded in    uncertainty for years. Even publication of a revised editon of BANKS OF THE WABASH    ISBN  978-09616282-3-9 (2007), with documentation showing the Kispotha born Shawnee War   Chief could not have been Marmaduke Van Swearingen, alias the "Blue Jacket"alleged to    have killed his own brother, Charles, didn't dampen the conviction of some who insist they   are related to Blue Jacket.    Understandably proud they might be related to the Shawnee   War Chief, and despite facts to the contrary,   some still insist the life sap of a white man
flowed in the veins of Blue Jacket.   The "story" robs Blue Jacket of his birthright.
      But now perhaps modern science has fired the last shot--the coup d'etat! DNA (deoxy-
ribonucleic acid) tests indicate Blue Jacket and Marmaduke Swearingen could not have   been the same person.   In June of 2000 Dr. Dan E. Krane, a Professor of Biology at Wright State University, and a recognized DNA expert in more than 18 states, expressed a 99.9%   confidenc in genetic tests using samples from male descendants of both lineages.
     So how did "the story" get started? More than twenty years of research indicates "the
story" has its roots in a self-serving and unsupported genealogical "letter to the editor" by
68 year old Thomas Jefferson Larsh of Eaton, Ohio which was published February 15,1877
in THE DAILY OHIO STATE JOURNAL at Columbus, Ohio. Although repeated in both the
1884 and 1894 editions of THE FAMILY REGISTER OF GERRET VAN SWERINGEN AND    DESCENDANTS and TRANSACTIONS OF THE KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY--
1907-08 (Volume X),"the story" first gained wide-spread regional recognition in 1943 when
john Bennett published his BLUE JACKET WAR CHIEF OF THE SHAWNEES. His account
was contrary to what a military acquaintance, M/Sgt Donald Eugene Bluejacket(1923-1963),
told me in 1945.   Saying he was a direct descendant of Chief Blue Jacket, Donald insisted
"the story" that his progenitor was a white man was not true. On June 25th, 2000 Robert Denton Bluejacket of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a descendant of Chief Blue Jacket, sent a letter to
Allan W. Eckert in Bellefontaine, Ohio saying he "had no white blood in his veins" and   challenged Eckert to provide the source of his tale of fratricide in THE FRONTIERSMEN
(1967) prefaced as "fact, not fiction." The outdoor drama east of Xenia, Ohio titled "BLUE
JACKET''portrays the same historically inaccurate tale which tarnishes the memory of the
Captain Van Sweringen who died in the service of our country. A very sad commentary on
respect for our nation's honored dead.
        Prefaced as "true," on page 5 of Allan Eckert's BLUE JACKET, WAR CHIEF OF THE
SHAWNEES (1969) a footnote wrongly states "the Van Sweringen cabin was located near
present day Richwood, West Virginia."    Fact is John Swearingen's homestead was located
west of Morris Crossroads northeast of present day Point Marion, Pennsylvania. And here
Marmaduke Swearingen, not Marmaduke Van Swearingen, disappeared---his family never
heard from him again.   And no one else did either.
      In 1916 the Pennsylvania Commission to locate Pioneer Forts located and marked the
site of Fort Swearingen built ca 1774 on the John Swearingen property which is located    along present day Route #119 west of Hope Hollow Road. Here John Swearingen made his   Last Will and Testament on August 3, 1784 bequeathing to his son Marmonduke (sic) use
of a slave for one year.   Hardly the bequeath of a person whose son is said to have been    captured by Indians years before.    John and Catherine (Stull) Swearingen brought their
family west to this site in 1771 when Marmaduke was eight years old.   Marmaduke was     born near Hagerstown, Maryland January 2, 1763.
     According to transcribed records of the SUFFERING TRADERS contained in Kenneth     P. Bailey's "THE OHIO COMPANY PAPERS, 1753-1817" (1947), one of the Native Amer-
icans (page 99) at the mouth of the Scioto River in 1752 was called "Blue Jacket." And     Reverend Jones, a missionary, visited the Scioto River area in the winter of 1772-1773
and reported having visited in late January 1773 "an Indian village the English called 'Blue
Jacket's Town.'" Born of a Kispotha mother, the Native American called "Blue Jacket"     is said to have "married" a captured white girl from Virginia named Margaret Moore and     was the father of two children called "Joseph Moore" and "Nancy." In-depth research in-     dicates both of the children were proven "half bloods." Biologically, two whites would not     have mixed blood children.   Think about it!
     Documentation concerning the above remarks and conclusions is contained in BANKS
OF THE WABASH (Revised 2007) ISBN 978-09616282-3-9


				*Blue Jacket Fact Or Fiction*



	Home \| Fort Recovery Gunsmith \| News Paper Articles \| Pictures By Van Trees \| Paintings By Van Trees