Cheeseekau (c. 1760–1792) was a war chief of theKispoko division of theShawnee Nation.^[1][2] Also known asPepquannakek (Gunshot),Popoquan (Gun),Sting, andChiksika.^[3][4] Although primarily remembered as the eldest brother and mentor ofTecumseh, who became famous after Cheeseekau's death, Cheeseekau was a well-known leader in his own time, and a contemporary ofBlue Jacket.

Few details are known about Cheeseekau's early life. He may have been born along theTallapoosa River in what is nowAlabama. His parents,Puckeshinwa andMethoataaskee, moved north to theOhio Country around the time of his birth. After Pukeshinwa's death in theBattle of Point Pleasant in 1774, Cheeseekau assumed much of the responsibility for his younger brothers, including Tecumseh andTenskwatawa.^[5][6]

During theAmerican Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Cheeseekau joined with those Shawnees who allied themselves with the British and sought to drive the American settlers out ofKentucky. After the war, as Americans expanded into Ohio, in 1788 Cheeseekau led a group of Shawnees to Missouri. American colonists were moving to Missouri too, and Cheeseekau resettled his band at the village ofRunning Water on theTennessee River, where he joinedDragging Canoe's militantChickamauga Cherokee in fighting American expansion. He died On October 1, 1792 after being mortally wounded during an attack on Bledsoe's Station, a frontier fort nearNashville, TN.^[7][8]

• Brown, John P.Old Frontiers: The Story of the Cherokee Indians from Earliest Times to the Date of Their Removal to the West, 1838. (Kingsport: Southern Publishers, 1938).
• Eckert, Allan W.A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh. (New York: Bantam, 1992).
• Sugden, John.Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Holt, 1997.ISBN 0-8050-4138-9 (hardcover);ISBN 0-8050-6121-5 (1999 paperback).
• Sugden, John. "Cheeseekau".American National Biography. 4:767–68. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.ISBN 0-19-512783-8.

• 1760s births
• 1792 deaths
• Native American people in the American Revolution
• Native American people of the Indian Wars
• Chickamauga Cherokee people
• 18th-century Shawnee people
• Shawnee leaders
• Tecumseh

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata