The Shawnees were the only Indians of the northwest who had a tradition of a foreign origin, and for some time after the whites became acquainted with them they held annual festivals to celebrate the safe arrival in this country of their remote ancestors. Concerning the history of the Shawnees there is considerable conflicting testimony, but it is generally conceded that at an early date they separated from the other Lenape tribes and established themselves in the south, roaming from Kentucky to Florida. Afterward the main body of the tribe is supposed to have pushed northward, encouraged by their friends, the Miamis, and to have occupied the beautiful and rich valley of the Scioto until driven from it in 1672 by the Iroquois. Their nation was shattered and dispersed. A few may have remained upon the upper Scioto and others taken refuge with the Miamis, but by far the most considerable portion again journeyed southward and, according to the leading historians, made a forcible settlement on the head waters of the Carolina. Driven away from that locality they found refuge among the Creeks. A fragment of the Shawnees was taken to Pennsylvania and reduced to a humiliating condition by their conquerors. They still retained their pride and considerable innate independence, and about 1740, encouraged by the Wyandots and the French, carried into effect their long cherished purpose of returning to the Scioto. Those who had settled among the Creeks joined them and the nation was again reunited. It is probable that they first occupied the southern portion of their beloved valley, and that after a few years had elapsed the Delawares peacefully surrendered to them a large tract of country further north.[8] It is conjectured by some students that the branch of the Shawnees who lived for a term of years in the south were once upon the Suanee River, and that the well known name was a corruption of the name of the nation of Tecumseh. This chief, whose fame added lustre to the annals of the tribe, is said to have been the son of a Creek woman whom his father took as a wife during the southern migration. The Shawnees were divided into four tribes[9] the Piqua,[10] Kiskapocke, Mequachuke, and Chillicothe.