Pisquetomen (died 1762)Colin Gordon Calloway, The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation, Oxford University Press, 2018 was a Lenape chief who acted as interpreter and negotiator for the Lenape in dealings with the Provincial government of Pennsylvania during the mid-eighteenth century. After being rejected in his bid to succeed his uncle Sassoonan as Lenape chief, Pisquetomen joined Shingas and Captain Jacobs in a series of deadly attacks on Pennsylvania settlements at the beginning of the French and Indian War. He eventually participated in peace negotiations that led to the Treaty of Easton in 1758, and is believed to have died in 1762.
Birth and early life
Pisquetomen, his older brother Nenatcheehunt,Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania, and the First Nations: The Treaties of 1736-62. Ukraine: University of Illinois Press, 2006. and his two younger brothers Tamaqua (known to the colonists as "King Beaver") and Shingas ("Wet Marshy Ground") were probably born in the Tulpehocken Creek Valley, in Berks and Lebanon counties, Pennsylvania. One source reports that Pisquetoman had six brothers (Tamaqua, Nenatcheehunt, Shingas, Buffalo Horn, Munhuttakiswilluxissohpon, and Miuskillamize).Timothy Alden, "An Account of the Captivity of Hugh Gibson among the Delaware Indians of the Big Beaver and the Muskingum, from the latter part of July 1756, to the beginning of April, 1759," Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1837 He and his brothers were probably the sons of a sister of Sassoonan, and grandsons of Tamanend.Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 1, Putnam's sons, 1911 "Pisquetomen" means "he who keeps on, though it is getting dark."Grimes, Richard S. The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730–1795: Warriors and Diplomats. Lehigh University Press, 2017. The Lenape living in that area were forced out in 1722 when Governor William Keith invited a group of German immigrants to move from the Schoharie Valley in New York to Tulpehocken. The Lenape already living there had objected that they had not given up the rights to that area and wanted payment.John, J. J.., Bell, Herbert Charles. History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Brown, Runk & Company, 1891. Pisquetomen and Sassoonan negotiated payment, and then relocated to Shamokin.
Encounter with James Logan, 1731
In 1731, the Lenape chief Sassoonan visited Philadelphia accompanied by his nephew Pisquetomen, to meet with James Logan, an influential statesman who was then secretary for the Pennsylvania Provincial Council. Logan immediately disliked him, referring to him as "an ill fellow, [Sassoonan]'s next Relation." When he found out that Pisquetomen was Sassoonan's chosen successor, Logan objected, writing to Thomas Penn: "I concerted measures with Sassoonan, when returned to my house, to have that fellow laid aside and a better substituted in his place, which, 'tis hoped, may take effect." Pisquetomen spoke English well enough that by 1733 he served regularly as an interpreter at conferences in Philadelphia. Even though Logan mistrusted him, he had to admit that he was competent, writing: "They have no Interpreter but Pesqueetoman whom we too well know; yet he seems well enough inclined to interpret faithfully, the contrary of which is a very great crime with them."
Role in the Walking Purchase, 1737
Pisquetomen served as the official interpreter for Chief Nutimus in the Walking Purchase negotiated between the Lenape and the Pennsylvania government in 1737. William Penn's sons John and Thomas Penn had uncovered a deed from 1686 supposedly proving that the Lenape had promised to sell a tract of land beginning at the junction of the upper Delaware River and the tributary Lehigh River (near modern Easton, Pennsylvania) and extending as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half. This document may have been an unsigned treaty or even a forgery, however the Lenape were persuaded to accept it, assuming that a man could only walk about 40 miles in a day. The colonists manipulated the "walk," however, hiring three runners who covered 70 miles, then claiming 1,200,932 acres, which covered all the Lenape's traditional homelands along the Delaware River. The Lenape protested but were eventually forced to relocate to Shamokin. Pisquetomen was seen as a likely successor to Chief Sassoonan, however the colonists were wary of his political influence and knew that he was embittered by the Walking Purchase.
Rejection of Pisquetomen's nomination
In 1741, James Logan and the Iroquois vice-regent Shikellamy rejected the selection of Pisquetomen by Sassoonan to be his future replacement as the principal man of the Lenape.Grimes, Richard S., "The emergence and decline of the Delaware Indian nation in western Pennsylvania and the Ohio country, 1730--1795," Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports, 2005. 4150 Pisquetomen moved to Kittanning—a town slowly becoming the center for Unami-speakers of the Turtle and Turkey phratries. The Lenape regarded Pisquetomen as "high in authority among the Delawares in the West," and Sassoonan believed him a perfect choice to be "the person who is to have the chief command and to be the mouth of his [Lenape] people."Francis P. Jennings, "The Delaware Interregnum," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 89, no 2, April 1965; pp. 174-98
Pisquetomen was also a Lenape leader who could unify the Lenape, both east and west. His experiences represented what the Lenape were facing in Pennsylvania. He had known displacement, when his people were forced from the Tulpehocken Valley in 1732, and then a sense of freedom and independence when he moved his followers west into Kittanning. But Logan saw Pisquetomen as an obstructionist to Pennsylvania’s political agenda, which favored Iroquois power on the frontier.Weslager, Clinton Alfred. The Delaware Indians: A History. Rutgers University Press, 1989.Regula Trenkwalder Schönenberger, Lenape Women, Matriliny, and the Colonial Encounter: Resistance and Erosion of Power (c. 1600-1876), an Excursus in Feminist Anthropology, New York: P. Lang, 1991 Pisquetomen was not a pliable figurehead who would help the Six Nations control the Lenape. Most importantly, both Pennsylvania and the Six Nations saw Pisquetomen as a dynamic leader consistent with the obstinate and independent nature of the western Lenape, who could influence the eastern Lenape to adopt a stance of defiance. Logan, who wanted a leader with the influence and determination to recall all Ohio Lenape back to the Susquehanna region, quickly saw that Pisquetomen, like Sassoonan, lacked the will to bring the western Lenape home.
Pisquetomen’s rejection did not sit well with many western Lenape. They refused to accept a puppet chief assigned by the Iroquois and the provincial government in Philadelphia. Logan, Shikellamy, and Indian agent Conrad Weiser worked hard to block Pisquetomen’s appointment. Within a month of Sassoonan’s death in September 1747, Weiser considered Lappapitton "to be the fittest" as successor to Sassoonan. Lappapitton, out of respect for Pisquetomen, declined the offer.Sipe, Chester Hale. The Indian chiefs of Pennsylvania, or, A story of the part played by the American Indian in the history of Pennsylvania: based primarily on the Pennsylvania archives and colonial records, and built around the outstanding chiefs. Butler, PA: Zeigler Press, 1880.
Interregnum 1747-1752
Following the rejection of Pisquetomen, an interregnum existed among the western Lenape. They would not give in to the demands of the colonial authorities, but they also knew that until the crisis was resolved, the western Lenape were in a state of diplomatic limbo, and that they had no voice or influence with the Pennsylvania government. Patience wore thin within the alliance. Governor James Hamilton was eager to settle the matter and hoped they would choose a new leader acceptable to all parties: "You must inform the said Chiefs that...their Brethren in Philadelphia...advise them to recommend such persons to us...with whom publick business shall be transacted, and that their Brethren in Philadelphia will look upon them so recommended as Chief or Chiefs of the Delawares."Governor Hamilton to George Croghan and Andrew Montour, Feb. 7, 1750, in Pennsylvania Archives, 4th Series, 2: 146-147
At the Logstown Treaty talks on May 28, 1751, George Croghan, speaking on behalf of the Six Nations and Governor Hamilton, asked the Lenape to "choose amongst Yourselves one of your wisest Counsellors and present to your Brethren the Six Nations and me [Hamilton] for a Chief, and he so chosen by you shall be looked upon by us as your King." Remembering the Pisquetomen debacle, the Lenape were hesitant. Tamaqua was aware of the importance of a leader who would represent all Lenape, east and west, and would negotiate their concerns with the Six Nations and Pennsylvania. He reminded Andrew Montour that "it would take some time to consider on a Man that was fit to undertake to rule a Nation of People" such as the Lenape, "but that as soon as possible they would make a selection." He also wanted a leader who was not opposed by the Pennsylvania-Six Nations alliance.
The interregnum continued into the spring of 1752. The second treaty talks held at Logstown ended the crisis. In May, 1752, Virginia commissioners met with Lenape at Shannopin's Town on the east bank of the Allegheny River (two miles from current-day Pittsburgh). They noted that the Lenape had no king, but were represented by Shingas and his brother Tamaqua, both of whom, supplied with coats and hats by the commissioners, "were dressed after the English fashion." Both wore "silver Breast Plates and [had] a great deal of Wampum about them." They made favorable impressions with the commissioners, who informed the Lenape that they were to meet the Six Nations at Logstown to improve relationships between the King’s representatives and the Ohio Indians."The Treaty of Logg's Town, 1752." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 13, 1906; Pp 154–174.
The Logstown Treaty conference, 1752
At the Logstown Treaty talks in June and July 1752, the Ohio Land Company of Virginia and Virginia commissioners sought to gain confirmation of the 1744 Lancaster Treaty in which the Six Nations supposedly gave up territory to Virginia that bordered the Ohio River on the southeast.Lois Mulkearn, ed., George Mercer Papers relating to the Ohio Company of Virginia. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1954 The Six Nations refused to attend, sending instead their "half-kings" (Ohio Senecas or Mingos) to supervise the affairs of the Ohio tribes and to protect Iroquois interests. Tanacharison, the Seneca supervisor of the Lenape, sensed that the Virginia commissioners were recognizing the prominence and autonomy of the Ohio tribes, so he made a point of asserting the rights of the Iroquois to administer the affairs of the Ohio Indians. Tanacharison scolded both the Lenape and Shawnees for their war excursions into Cherokee country after they had made peace with them: “I take the Hatchet from you; you belong to me, & I think you are to be ruled by me, & I joining with your Brethren of Virginia, order you to go to war no more."