Blue Jacket: War Chief of Shawnees

by Allan W. Eckert

Book Overview

In the year 1771, a white boy named Marmaduke Van Swearingen was captured by Shawnee Indians in what is now West Virginia, but was then the edge of the American frontier. Impressed with his bravery, he was not killed but instead was taken to Ohio where he was adopted into the tribe and given the name Blue Jacket, from the blue shirt he was wearing at the time of his capture. The boy grew to excel as a warrior and leader and became the only white to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0913428361
• ISBN13: 9780913428368
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Landfall Press
• Length: 177 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Truth and historical narrative

NO young man in those days WANTED to be an indian. What do you think this is? The 50's? Captured? Semantics. After seeing what he saw, it was "come with us." And he did. Much like what's happening in Iraq. You do what you have to do to stay alive. Those of you incapable of writing a book, keeping continuity, and using past records of how the Shawnee lived, give a very poor idea of Marmaduke Van Swearingen's life. (Blue Jacket, War Chief of the Shawnee)It's only when he kills his own blood is when he realizes how brainwashed he was. The technique is still used to this day.

An unforgetful tale of an Indian legend.

I have read this book three times now. Needless to say it is my favorite. It is the story of a seventeen-year-old boy, who in exchange for his life and his younger brother, gladly agrees to be adopted into the Kispokotha sept of the Shawnee Indians.This book depicts the life of Blue Jacket very well; it seems that Eckert has left out very little details of his life and the lives of those around him.

Great Book about my great,great,great,great,grandfather!

Yes, it's true this book is about my great,great,great,great grandfather! His granddaughter married a Bingham & that's how I became to be down the line! But, if you want to read a book about a brave boy who became one of the greatest war chiefs in Shawnee history this is the book for you! Mr. Eckert did a wonderful job telling the story about Blue Jacket's life. This is a treasured book in my family! And I hope that it becomes one of yours! Please read & enjoy! :-)

A great factual book made into a great story

It tells the life of Blue Jacket as a story other than listing facts, you live with Blue Jacket and understand how he came from being a white settler boy that no one understood to War Chief of the Shawnee Indians. I definatly recommend this book.

An excellent account of a truly amazing individual's life.

This outstanding piece of literature gives the reader a true feeling of understanding for one of our nation's most amazing, yet forgotten, individuals. Eckert's work turns the facts of Marmaduke VanSwearingen's (Blue Jacket) life into a panoramic view of a different time and place. He realizes that in order to truly appreciate Blue Jacket, one must first understand the times in which he lived. Eckert expertly sets the stage and tells the tale of a young nation whose expanding borders cannot contain two cultures, and of a complex man who fights for what he believes in. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Ohio Valley or the Shawnee Culture.