This distinguished Shawnee chief was not only present when his warriors annihilated Braddock's expedition in 1755 but also fought in every border conflict until peace was declared in 1795. Like Tecumseh, he hated and feared the white man.

After General Wayne's victory over the Ohio tribes at Fallen Timbers, Black Hoof signed a peace treaty with the American general who admired the Shawnee's military skill. Once he had signed, Black Hoof promised Wayne that he would never again lift his tomahawk against the United States; it was a promise he never broke.

When Tecumseh began his tour of the Indian nations to form an Indian confederacy and make war on the white man, Black Hoof, while agreeing with the famous Shawnee's political philosophy, disagreed with his intense desire for war. Both Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, held many meetings with Black Hoof in an attempt to get him to join their forces. British agents came to his village with gifts and whiskey, but the Shawnee smashed their kegs and drove them into the forest.

Black Hoof also gained a singular reputation for his faithfulness to one woman. When he was a young warrior he wooed and finally won the daughter of a chief. He lived with her for forty years and raised a large family. Colonel McKenney, accostumed to chiefs with as many as five wives, was astounded when Black Hoof told him he had lived with one woman all his life.

Black Hoof signed the famous Greenville, Ohio, treaty with general Wayne on August 3, 1795; another at Fort Wayne, June 7, 1803, and a whole series of treaties up to the final one in September 1818.

Althogh McKenney included the chief's portrait in his Indian Gallery, there is no evidence Black Hoof visited Washington. McKenney claimed that when he died in 1831 at Wapakoneta, Ohio, he was one hundred and twelve years old. This appears to be exaggerated; ninety would be more accurate. He was born about 1740.