Although proof-positive has yet to be found, the writer speculates the popularly known Native American known as "Blue Jacket" was born ca 1738 along the Guyan River in the Wyoming Valley of present-day West Virginia and his mother was a member of the Shawnee Kispoktha tribe. His birth name was Sepettekenathe (Big Rabbit). It is said he was a "Pekowi" and had a half-brother named Red Pole or Reed Pole who was a Mekoche. His use of the term "brother" may not have been because they were, in fact, blood brothers. Research data indicates he had an elder brother, a younger brother, and at least one sister (Sally ?). The sister lived along the Maumee River in the latter days of her life.

Little Turtle, future Chief of the Miamis, was born along the Eel River in Indiana He died in 1812. In John Bennett’s "Blue Jacket" (1943) it states on page 7" "Marmaduke van Swearingen was born in Fayette County, PA about 1752 and his father, John, was born ca 1720." See 1763

Sometime between the time of his birth and 1753 Sepettekenathe, in customary fashion, selected his own name, Wayweyapiersenwaw (Whirlpool). Apparently a tall and fairly well developed youth, and a trader at a young age, he may have "acquired" a blue military uniform coat, cut off the sleeves to facilitate freedom of movement, and when white traders saw him wearing the sleeveless coat they called him "Blue Jacket." For certain the word "Wayweyapiersenwaw" or however it has been spelled, does not mean "Blue Jacket." On page 50 of Kenneth P. Bailey’s "The Ohio Company Papers, 1753-1817" (1947), transcribed from the Frank M. Etting Collection known as "the Suffering Traders Papers," are two entries listing "Blue Jacket’s Eldest Brother" and "His Youngest brother." The name "Blue Jacket" is also found on page 56 on the 1756 list of "goods due the Indians," on page page 57, and on page 157 which lists the losses sustained by Adam Terrence in 1761. Copies of these pages were obtained in October 1978 in Harrisburg, PA. See 1978

Margaret Moore, nine year old daughter of John Moore of Pennsylvania, was taken prisoner by the Shawnees and taken to the Ohio country--probably their village where Piqua, Ohio now stands. Here, ca 1758 , a grief-stricken captive (Mrs Kincaide from Virginia) was sentenced to be burned at the stake because of her continued crying. Peter Larsh, a trader and French descendant , offered his cache of furs for her release and the offer was accepted. In a canoe Larsh took her down the Miami River, down the Ohio, and up the Mississippi to Kaskaskia where they were married. A year later a son, Charles Larsh, was born. See 1781

End of the French and Indian War. Marmaduke Swearingen, son of John and Catherine (Stull) Swearingen, was born near Hagerstown, MD January 2, 1763.

Devoid of proof, the writer estimates 16 year old Margaret Moore may have given birth to Joseph Moore claiming Blue Jacket as his father. Sometime after this Margaret Moore returned to Virginia "enceinte" saying Blue Jacket was the father of her unborn child (Nancy). See "Early Recollections of Nancy Stewart" (pages 327=328) by Mrs. S.M. Moore in "History of Champaign & Logan Counties, Ohio by Joshua Antrim (1872), pub. at Bellefontaine, OH. Also see page 214, "History of Logan County" by W. H. Perrin & J.H. Battle, (1880). Also see "History of Western Ohio" and Howe’s "Historical Collections of Ohio" (1896).

According to John Bennett’s 1943 "Blue Jacket," on page 8 we find "The generally accepted and probably authentic tradition is that in 1769 when about 17 years of age Marmaduke Swearingen was captured by a war-party of Shawnees." Bennett cites the source of his comment as Thomas J. Larsh’s "March 1877" commentary. The commentary was actually published in the Ohio State Journal on Feb. 15, 1877. The commentary of Larsh stated Marmaduke was captured "about 1778."

According to a biographical sketch written by the "Western Traveler" and first published in Cincinnati Chronicle in 1829--and later in the Eaton,Ohio REGISTER, a youth named George Ash was captured near Bardstown, KY by the Shawnees and taken to their camp where he became a loyal friend of Blue Jacket.. See 1951 and article by Leonard Hill published in the Piqua Daily Call Feb. 15, 1951. George Ash’s brother, Benjamin, reportedly participated in St. Clair’s 1791 expedition in an effort to find his brother and, according to the biographical sketch by George Ash, Benjamin was killed in the November 4, 1791 battle and his body left on the field of action along the Wabash River. (Note: brother kills brother story, interesting!)

According to some stories, in 1771 a white youth of 17 years by the name of Marmaduke Van Swearingen was captured by Indians near the Swearingen cabin (near present day Richwood, WV according to page 5 of A. W.Eckert’s 1969 "Blue Jacket").  The John Swearingen cabin was actually located about two miles northeast of present day Point Marion, PA near the mouth of the Cheat River. Here John and his neighbors built Fort Swearingen in 1774. The property was surveyed in 1786 following John Swearingen’s death in August of 1784.

Rev. David Jones "Journal of Two Visits in 1772-1773" (1774) Arnos Press, Inc 1971 Reprint, page52, discusses his January 12, 1773 visit to "a village the English called Blue Jacket’s Town" located about three miles W.N.W. of Pickaweeke on or near Deer Creek.

Blue Jacket accompanied Cornstalk on visit to Pittsburgh. Lord Dunmore’s Treaty, signed October 27, 1774 by Shawnees 1778--unconfirmed story indicates Blue Jacket was named War Chief. James Perry, Springfield, Ohio says only a Kispokotha born Native American could be War Chief.

The writer was under the impression, erroneously perhaps, it was in 1782 that George Ash was captured by Shawnees near Bardstown, Kentucky and became a confidant of Chief Blue Jacket. George was present at the November 4, 1791 battle in which, according to the George Ash biographical sketch, his brother was killed.

Treaty of Fort Finney signed January 31, 1786 by Commissioner Richard Butler, Samuel Parsons, George Rogers Clark and sachems of various Shawnee villages. In April Blue Jacket led a war party toward the mouth of the Great Miami River to destroy Fort Finney but Nature intervened and a flood that wiped out the Fort before the Shawnees arrived. An Indian council at Detroit held that the provisions of the Treaty of Fort McIntosh and Treaty of Fort Stanwix were null and void.

Ordinance of 1787 signed July 13, 1787 and Arthur St. Clair was appointed as Governor of the vast Territory of the U. S. Northwest of the River Ohio created by this legislation. ..... (See R. V. Van Trees, "Ordinance of Freedom" (1985)

In January Governor St. Clair held treaty conference with Indian sachems and a resultant treaty with those in attendance (not the Shawnees or Miamis) reaffirmed the provisions of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. On April 30, 1789 George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. In a memorandum to the President dated May 29, 1789, Secretary Henry Knox advised President George Washington: "The Indians relinquish title to land upon the principle of purchase--the British Crown followed this practice."

In October of 1790 General Josiah Harmar led an unsuccessful attack against the the Miami Indian villages (Kekionga or Miamitown) where Fort Wayne, IN stands today. Secretary of War Knox called Kekionga "a nest of villains." Thirty-eight year old Little Turtle led the Miamis in a Brittaint counter-attack that prompted the army to withdraw to Fort Washington. Gov. St. Clair headed to Philadelphia.

On August 4, 1791 in Berkeley County, VA (Bk2, pg 140) Captain Van (his given name) penned his Will and then led a company of troops from Winchester, VA to Pittsburgh where they were transported by boat to Fort Washington. U. S. Military Archives contain proof of his participation in the November 4, 1791 battle and him having been KIA. There is no proof of a Charles Van Swearingen being in General St. Clair’s command. The first mention of a "Captain Charles Van Swearingen" is in Allan W. Eckert’s "The Frontiersmen" (1967) prefaced as "fact, not fiction."

Governor of the Territory of the U. S. Northwest of the River Ohio, and appointed as a Major General and Commander of the U S Army, Arthur St. Clair led a poorly trained and ill-equipped expedition of regulars, levies, militia, and civilian men, women, and children northwest from Cincinnati toward Kekionga. And marching southeast toward the approaching expedition, the Miamis were joined by Chief Blue Jacket and his Shawnee warriors , Buckongahelas and his Delawares, Tarhe the Crane and his Wyandot warriors, Potawatomies, Ottawas, and Kickapoos. The two "forces"met on the banks of the Wabash River and the Indians attack St. Clair’s encampment just before dawn November 4th, 1791. It was not an "organized" attack in one sense of the word--Indians follow their own leader, i.e. the Miamis followed Little Turtle and the Shawnees took their cue from Blue Jacket. Regardless, the three hour attack left more than 950 men, women, and children dead along the Wabash and the"victorious" Indians withdrew allowing the white survivors to flee back toward the recently constructed Fort Jefferson, Fort Hamilton, and on to Cincinnati. Although most of the officers, including General Richard Butler, were KIA, General St. Clair escaped. An unconfirmed story indicates Mohawk Joseph Brant was a Mason and had requested Blue Jacket and Little Turtle to try and see that no harm befell his Masonic brother, Arthur St. Clair.

On the site of "St. Clair’s Defeat" which focused the fledgling nation’s attention on the so-called "Indian problem" standing squarely in the face of westward expansion and prompting this nation’s first Congressional Investigation, during the latter days of December in 1793 Major Burbeck led a contingent northwest from Fort Greene Ville and erected a stockade along the Wabash River called "Fort Recovery." Blue Jacket and Little Turtle’s scouts watched every move.

Angered by the white man erecting a wilderness fort in their backyard so to speak, a group of Indians led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket met along the banks of the Miami of the Lake (the Maumee) and concluded they should again march against the encroaching whites. Prompted by "whispers" that told him the white men were winning the fight against the Indian’s attempt to halt their encroachment, Little Turtle--the younger of the two--stepped aside and allowed Blue Jacket to lead the "planned" attack against a supply pack train reported moving out of Fort Greene-Ville toward Fort Recovery. On the morning of June 29th, 1794 the Indians attack the supply train led by Major McMahon as they departed Fort Recovery and the battle was on. For two days it continued and then the Indians withdrew. For all practical purposes this unsuccessful attack broke the back of the Indian’s resistance to the white man’s advance and the Battle of Fallen Timbers six weeks later was merely a "mopping up action" in the writer’s opinion.

Blue Jacket was instrumental in helping General Anthony Wayne summon Indians to a treaty conference at Fort Greene Ville and the Treaty of Greene Ville was signed in August of 1795. Tecumseh did not attend.

Chief Blue Jacket and his brother or half-brother, Red Pole, traveld east to Philadelphia where they met with President Washington Dec. 2, 1796. A life-size wax sculpture of the two men was made and stood in the Charles Wilson Peale Museum until they were later destroyed in a fire. Somewhere the writer read, or heard, an unconfirmed story that President Washington once bowed as he passed the sculpture. Concluding their visit to Philadelphia where they were "wined and dined," enroute home Red Pole (Mio-Qua-Goo-Na-Gaw) became sick and died of pneumonia at Pittsburgh January 28, 1798. He was buried there with full military honors. (See "Native Americans at the Greene Ville Peace Treaty, 1795" by the the knowledgeable historian, Mrs. Toni Seiler, curator of the Garst Museum at Greenville, Ohio.

Blue Jacket visited Chillicothe, gave a speech on September 14, 1807, and visited the home of Thomas Worthington, future governor of Ohio 1814-1818. The writer found no mention of Blue Jacket being reported as a white man turned Indian but several accounts do report that the old chief was not very conversant in the English language but always enjoyed a bit of the grape.

Blue Jacket is reported to have enjoyed the friendship of the Wyandots in the area south of Detroit and had a cabin where he would sit and watch the boats on the Detroit River and have a drink. By the writer’s estimate, the Shawnee War Chief must have been about 70 years of age and his cabin was located near the intersection of Orange Street and Biddle Avenue in present-day Wyandot, Michigan just across the river from the northern tip of Grosse Ile. This would have afforded Blue Jacket a sweeping view of the Detroit as he enjoyed a glass of Autumn Leaves and cogitated his counsel to forty year old Tecumthe. The old chief’s son, George, lived a few miles south of Blue Jacket’s cabin near the present-day intersection of Van Horn Road and West Jefferson Avenue with a view of the Detroit River. Chief Blue Jacket may have died in the winter of 1808 according to an interview Lyman C. Draper reported having with Captain William Caldwell. The Indian agent, John Johnston, informed Draper he thought Blue Jacket died in 1810.

According to page 321 of "Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society" Vol. XIII (1889), Blue Jacket and the Wyandot chief, Walk-In-The-Water, were buried not far from the Blue Jacket cabin. This writer speculates, but has no proof positive, that the old chief died in late January of 1809. However, the mortal remains of the latter were removed to Canada later and the writer is of the opinion those of Blue Jacket may also have been moved to Sandwich (Windsor, Ontario) where relatives of his wife, Clear Water Baby or Baubee--a Metis daughter of Jacques Duperon Baby--lived. This may account for some reports that Blue Jacket was buried in, or near, Sandwich in Ontario.

Thomas Jeffeson Larsh, son of Paul (1782-1867) and Mercy (Minor) Larsh, was born near Eaton, Ohio on September 20, 1809 and married Margaret Manning on May 11, 1831. Issue: Angeline, Ollitippa, Black Hawk, White Cloud, Jaand Blue Jacket who died during the Civil War on October 25, 1864 at Florence, SC.

On October 10,1810 four chiefs and head men of the Shawnee nation (Black Hoof, The Snake, The Wolf, and Captain Lewis) signed a deed granting a 640 acre tract along the Miami to Joseph Moore, a half breed of the Shawanoe tribe.

Tecumseh was killed along the Thames River near present-day Chatham, Ontario and his burial place remains unknown although some Shawnee descendants say they know but will not tell. Suffice by 1813 Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, and Tecumseh were gone. Nancy Stewart, a half breed, given deed to land along the Miami River.

Cato Hardin returned from War of 1812 to his home in southwest Pennsylvania saying he "thought he saw "Duke Swearingen" with the Indians near present-day Sandusky, Ohio." The name "Duke" does not necessarily man he referred to called "Duke" was named Marion Michael Morrison when born.

According to Mrs. Edith Morris Toland of Piqua, Ohio, Issue No. 10 of Vol. No. 1 of "The Eaton Register" dated November 19, 1829 contained an article written by "The Western Traveler" concerning a white boy named George Ash who captured by Shawnees. The biographical sketch was initially published in "The Cincinnati Chronicle" in 1829. The writer has not found that 1829 edition. See 1951.

The writer has been unable to find a copy of "The Weekly Register" published at Eaton, Ohio on May 11, 1871 and reportedly including an article by Thomas J. Larsh titled "Blue Jacket, The Indian Chief." Maybe 1872.

At Bellefontaine, Ohio the Bellefontaine Press Printing Company printed "The History of Champaign and Logan Counties" by Joshua Antrim (1872). Pages 327 and 328 offer a commentary by Mrs. S. M. Moore titled "Early Recollections of Nancy Stewart" which details how nine year old Virginia born Margaret Moore was taken prisoner by the Shawnees and became the wife of "Blue Jacket, or Captain John" and was the mother of two half bloods, Joseph Moore and--upon Margaret’s release from captivity--Nancy who married James Stewart. According to Mrs. S. M. Moore, "Nancy had decidely Indian features and had had small pox." She married James Stewart ca 1894-95 and had four children: Elizabeth, Henry, Margaret, and John--none married and all are buried with their parents in Mud Creek Cemetery southwest of present-day West Liberty, Ohio. (The writer found no grave stones.)

Thomas Jefferson Larsh, Eaton, OH wrote a "letter to the editor" published Feb. 15, 1877 in the Daily Ohio State Journal" at Columbus, Ohio. Completely devoid of supporting data, Larsh said his grandmother Sarah’s brother named Marmaduke Van Swearingen had been taken prisoner by Shawnees about 1778 when wearing a  blue linsey blouse or hunting shirt from which he got his name of "Blue Jacket." There is no mention of the "Margaret Moore had children by Blue Jacket" story. Larsh sent a copy of the commentary to his friend since 1832, Reverend Charles Blue Jacket in Blue Jacket, OK and Charles gave it to his daughter, Sally, who had married Jonathan Gore in 1858 and she presented it to the Kansas State Historical Society as proof she had "white blood." Henry A. Thacher of Chillicothe, Ohio sent Larsh’s "letter to the editor" to Henry H. Swearingen in Washington, D.C.

The 1884 and 1894 editions of Henry H. Swearingen’s "Swearingen Family Register"included Thomas J. Larsh’s"letter to the editor" verbatim.

Samuel Kercheval wrote and published the first edition of his "History of the Valley of Virginia" in 1833 and the second edition in 1851. Neither included a thing about a white man becoming Blue Jacket. However, the third edition was amended to include a brief referral to John Moore having two daughters captured by Indians and the youngest having two children by Blue Jacket. The fourth edition, (1925) on page 369 reads: "There were two female children, daughters of John Moore, taken by Indians and grew up with them. The elder had two children by a white trade and the younger became the wife of the distinguished war chief Blue Jacket. She left a son with his father, was enceint (sic) when she came home, and had a daughter who grew up and married John Stuart (sic). Her father, Blue Jacket, secured her a tract of land on the waters of Lake Erie to which Stuart removed and settled." A number of those the writer of this chronology contacted, Native Americans and Swearingens, cited this as their proof they are related to Chief Blue Jacket.

"The History of West Central Ohio" (3 Vol.) by Orton G. Rust briefly mentions the story of Blue Jacket being a white man. Page 425 reads: "It is frequently asserted and generally conceded that Blue Jacket was a white man, named Marmaduke Sweringen (sic), that he and his brother were captured as small children and his brother released later." On the same page he mentions Oliver Spencer’s description of Blue Jacket during the youngster’s captivity in 1792. On page 568 of Vol. II Rust discusses LOGAN COUNTY, OHIO and states: "Logan County is the most interesting county in Ohio; the crown of the state, the high point, topographically, historically, and romantically." In Vol. II Rust reports that Pickawillany was destroyed June 21, 1752 by a Frenchman named Charles Langlade and "Old Britain was killed, boiled, and eaten." On page 62 Rust reports "the Miamis later killed Langlade and ten of the Frenchmen with him, two being negroes." Rust added: "One can imagine the chefs asking: "Will you have the white meat or dark meat?" The Shawnees drove the Miamis out of the Ohio country in 1763 (page 594 Vol. II)

William A. Galloway’s "Old Chillicothe" (1934). 1979 reprint in the Greene Room of the Xenia, OH Library is dedicated to his friend, Thomas Wildcat Alford (Gan-waw-pea-se-ka), great grandson of Tecumseh. Wm A. Galloway, born April 8,1860, is widely cited for his biographical sketch of "WEH-YAH-PIH-EHR-SEHN-WAH Blue Jacket -- Marmaduke Van Sweringen" (sic) which headlines his commentary. On pages 298-303. Galloway states "the ultimate detals of this history of Chief Blue Jacket and his descendants were obtained from Rev. Charles Blue Jacket’s daughter Mrs. Sally Gore." He repeats almost verbatim the Thomas Larsh "story changing the name of one of Marmaduke’s brothers from "Stull" to "Steel" and repeating the remainder in a manner most readers would believe were his own words. He then relates how, in 1800, Blue Jacket visited his father’s home near Old Chillicothe (north of Xenia, Ohio) and mentions the Blue Jackets and Galloways later became related by marriage. On page 300 of "Old Chillicothe" a footnote by the author indicates the source of his information concerning Chief Blue Jacket as "Kansas State Hist. Soc. Transactions, 1877." He must have meant 1907-08.

John Bennett (1865-1956) at Chillicothe, Ohio published his "Blue Jacket, War Chief of the Shawnees" citing as one of his references Thomas J. Larsh and the "Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-08." In his book Bennett refers to the Shawnee chief as being "Marmaduke Van Sweringen" and "Van Sweringen" on the same page (7) and indicates his birth date as 1752. Bennett also identified the location of John Swearingen’s 468 acre tract of land as being "about a mile from Moore’s Cross-Roads." It was a mile west of "Morris Cross-Roads." On page 8 the author states: "The generally-accepted and probably authentic tradition is that in 1769, when about seventee years of age, a strong, hardy, well developed youth, Marmaduke Swearingen, while driving home the cows accompanied by a younger brother, was captured by a war-party of Shawnees returning from an unprofitable raid upon the Cherokees of Tennessee and North Carolina. He cites Thomas J. Larsh as a source for his information and say Marmaduke was given the name of "Blue Jacket"at Chillicothe-town because of the blue linsey-woolsey hunting blouse he was wearing. Bennett states on page 9 that the first authentic reference to Blue Jacket was the account written by Rev. David Jones who in 1772-1773 visited the Indian villages. On page 10 Bennett relates how a "daughter of John Moore, Margaret or Peggy," was captured by the Shawnees when nine years of age and became the wife of Blue Jacket and "undoubtedly the head of Blue Jacket’s home when Rev. Jones visited in 1773." In this book we find the first combination of several "tales" and William F. Horn, at Waynesburg, PA undoubtedly became knowledgeable of this story as he worked on "The Horn Papers" published 1945.

William F. Horn had his three volume donation to posterity, "The Horn Papers" published in 1945 sponsored by the Greene County Historical Society at Waynesburg, PA. It was no surprise to find Horn echoed the "Blue Jacket story" told in "The Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society" and John Bennett’s "Blue Jacket" (1943) but Horn changed the location of where Marmaduke was captured and the names of some of the family in an attempt to personalize his writings. Various genealogists found errors in Horn’s writings and in 1948 the Genealogical Society warned researchers against taking as proof positive the information in the genealogical portion of The Horn Papers. See 1972

M/Sgt Donald Eugene Blue Jacket, USMC bummed a ride on a C-47 the writer was flying from Olmsted Field near Harrisburg, PA to St. Louis. When advised that we would RON at Dayton (Wright Patterson) and the writer intended to visit his parents in Fort Recovery, Ohio, Sergeant Blue Jacket indicated his ancestor had fought against General St. Clair there. In the conversation in the cockpit Blue Jacket told the writer the story told in John Bennett’s book about his ancestor being white was not true. He also said a book by a William Horn told the same untrue story. In April of 1963 Sergeant Blue Jacket was hospitalized at Wright Patterson with adenocarcinoma. Lt. David E. Bazil, USAF and Barbara Clay witnessed Donald’s Last Will and Testament on April 23, 1963. Before he died on July 16, 1963 he told the writer again that he "had no white blood in his veins" and the story about Chief Blue Jacket being a white man named Marmaduke Van Swearingen was not true. M/Sgt. Donald E. Blue Jacket was buried in Fairfield Cemetery at Fairborn, Ohio and the hereabouts of his wife, Myra Eunice, and their son, Mike, is not known to the writer. Donald E.Blue Jacket was born Nov. 10, 1923 in Kansas, the son of Michael P. and Vida (Grimes)

Assigned as Commander of the Air Force Contract Training School at Vale Technical Institute in Blairsville, PA, the writer spent a lot of time involved in historical research in southwest Pennsylvania during which time the location of the John Swearingen homestead was determined to be northeast of the junction of the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers straddling Route 119 not far from Point Marion. At Waynesburg, PA the writer read portions of THE HORN PAPERS about Blue Jacket whichSergeant Blue Jacket had said were not true.

During the latter years of the 1950s Allan W. Eckert was employed as a news reporter for the DAYTON JOURNAL in Dayton, Ohio with residence in Huber Heights. W. L. "Rusty" Mundell, retired from the military service and graduated from Waynesburg College at Waynesburg, PA. The writer speculates Mundell must have become acquainted with THE HORN PAPERS and the story about Chief Blue Jacket during the period he was in Waynesburg and later picked up the story of "brother killing brother" from "The Frontiersmen" (1967) which is portrayed in the outdoors drama near Xenia, Ohio since 1982. The dates of Mundell’s service are not known or the dates he attended college.

The writer copied pages of Kenneth P. Bailey’s THE OHIO COMPANY PAPERS, 1753-1817 at the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Harrisburg, PA Various pages list the name of Blue Jacket and on page 50 is a list of traders with entries "Blue Jacket’s Eldest Brother" followed by an entry that reads "His Youngest Brother." These entries would indicate there was a person named "Blue Jacket" in the Ohio country as early as 1753 and old enough to be a trader. THE GLAIZE IN 1792 by Helen Hornbeck Tanner (1978) has a "note" (#3) on page 36 re the "inconsistency in the matter of Blue Jacket’s age" and apparently doubts that he was a white man named Marmaduke Swearingen.

The writer interviewed Donald Blue Jacket of Claremore, OK in Xenia, Ohio where he was attending the opening of the outdoors drama, "Blue Jacket," near Xenia, Ohio. He did not know M/Sgt. Donald Eugene Blue Jacket although my research indicated they must be cousins. Asked about his confidence in the "truth" of the story in the outdoors drama, he expressed confidence in the story. Confident "the Blue Jacket story" was full of "holes" the writer talked with Donald again in 1987 when he visited Xenia and found him less enthusiastic about the or at least the writer thought he was and offered to show him the chartings of the Blue Jacket lineage which had been compiled. He indicated he had no time for looking at the charts which showed he was a cousinof Sergenant Donand Blue Jacket and both were descendants of Rev. Charles Blue Jacket, grandson of the the Shawnee War Chief.

Genealogical information on the chartings of the Swearingen and Blue Jacket lineages exchanged with John Kiccaid, Norman, OK who is working on a computer listing. On Aug. 24, 1987 Terry Morris, Dayton Daily News, published a less than encouraging article regarding his interview with the writer.