Buckongahelas
Encyclopedia
Buckongahelas was a regionally and nationally renowned Lenape
chief
, councilor and warrior. He was active from the days of the French and Indian War
(Seven Years' War) through the Northwest Indian Wars, after the United States achieved independence and settlers encroached on territory beyond the Appalachian Mountains
and Ohio River
. He became involved in the Western Confederacy of mostly Algonquian
-speaking peoples, who were seeking to repel American settlers. The chief led his Lenape band from present-day Delaware
westward, eventually to the White River area of present-day Muncie, Indiana
. One of the most powerful war chiefs on the White River, Buckongahelas was respected by the Americans as a chief, although he did not have the position to do political negotiations.
, which was the heart of their territory. The Algonquian-speaking Lenape lived throughout the mid-Atlantic area. Buckongahelas in the Lenape language means a "Giver of Presents." He was also known as Pachgantschihilas and Petchnanalas, meaning a "fulfiller" or "one who succeeds in all he undertakes."
.
His son Mahonegon was killed there in June 1773 by Captain William White, a native of Frederick County, Virginia
. Local legend states that the current Upshur County Courthouse was built over the grave of Mahonegon.
Local legend suggests Buckongahelas took revenge on White after trailing his son's killer for a period of nine years (1773–1782). The captain was killed March 8, 1782 within sight of Bush Fort in the vicinity of the Buckhannon River
. But, historic documentation places Buckongahelas in Ohio by 1781, as he was moving his band west to escape European-American encroachment.
, Buckongahelas led his followers against the Continentals. He broke away from the neutral and pro-American Lenape led by White Eyes
. He took his band west to establish a town near the war chief Blue Jacket
of the Shawnee
. The two men became close allies.
During the war years, a number of Lenape who had converted to Christianity
were living in frontier villages run by Moravian missionaries. In April 1781, at the Ohio village of Gnadenhütten
, Buckongahelas warned the Lenape that an American militia from Pennsylvania was likely to execute any Indians in their path and would not pay attention to whether they were Christians. He urged the Lenape to follow him further west away from the encroaching colonists. Moving westward "from the rising sun," the people could live where the land was good and his warriors would protect them. The Delaware did not heed his words.
John Heckewelder
, a Moravian missionary, wrote in his account that Buckongahelas' oration to the Christian Indians was told "with ease and an eloquence not to be imitated." He continued, "Eleven months after this speech was delivered by this prophetic chief, ninety-six of these same Christian Indians, about sixty of them women and children, were murdered at the place where these very words had been spoken, by the same men he had alluded to, and in the same manner that he had described." On March 8, 1782, state militia attacked and killed the Lenape in what is known as the Gnadenhütten massacre
.
by right of conquest through its defeat of Great Britain. In the late 1780s, Buckongahelas joined a Shawnee-led confederacy to try to repel the American settlers who had begun migrating west of the Appalachian Mountains, using the Ohio River to penetrate the territory.
They won several battles against the Americans in the Northwest Indian Wars. Buckongahelas led his warriors in helping to win the most devastating military victory ever achieved by Native Americans in the United States
, in 1791 against General Arthur St. Clair
, who lost 600 troops. The Delaware described Buckongahelas as their own George Washington
. Standing 5 feet, 10 inches tall, he was strong with powerful muscles and was said to resemble the statesman Benjamin Franklin
.
The confederacy were finally defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
in 1794. The British failed to support the Indian confederacy after this battle, and Buckongahelas signed the Treaty of Greenville
on August 3, 1795. By this treaty, his band and other Lenape ceded much land in Pennsylvania
and Ohio
to the United States. At times, competing tribes tried to control the lands and villages, and it was not clear that the chiefs who signed the treaties had authority over the lands they were ceding.
On June 7, 1803, Buckongahelas signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne
in Indiana
; the US set new boundaries for the Lenape and other nations. They also ceded salt springs. Algonquian tribes ceded large land tracts to the United States. Lastly, he signed the Treaty of Vincennes
on August 18, 1804, in Vincennes, Indiana. The Lenape ceded lands between the Ohio and Wabash
rivers. The treaty helped open the Ohio and Indiana territories to European-American settlement. Not able to read and write, Buckongahelas made "X" signatures on the three treaties.
Buckongahelas spent his final years living with his people on the White River
near present-day Muncie, Indiana
. He died in May 1805 at the age of 85 from smallpox
or influenza
.
Many local Native Americans thought the epidemics of fatal illnesses to be related to witchcraft, as their traditional remedies and medicine men had no effect on the course of the diseases. They conducted a witch-hunt and executed several Lenape suspected of witchcraft. The conditions of defeat and despair were the grounds for the rise of the Shawnee prophet
Tenskwatawa
, who promised renewed power for the American Indians against the European Americans. His brother Tecumseh
became an influential chief leading a new Indian confederacy against the Americans in the early 19th century.
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
, councilor and warrior. He was active from the days of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
(Seven Years' War) through the Northwest Indian Wars, after the United States achieved independence and settlers encroached on territory beyond the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
and Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. He became involved in the Western Confederacy of mostly Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
-speaking peoples, who were seeking to repel American settlers. The chief led his Lenape band from present-day Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
westward, eventually to the White River area of present-day Muncie, Indiana
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
. One of the most powerful war chiefs on the White River, Buckongahelas was respected by the Americans as a chief, although he did not have the position to do political negotiations.
Early life and education
Buckongahelas was born in present-day Delaware to the Lenape people. The British colonists called the people the Delaware, after the riverDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, which was the heart of their territory. The Algonquian-speaking Lenape lived throughout the mid-Atlantic area. Buckongahelas in the Lenape language means a "Giver of Presents." He was also known as Pachgantschihilas and Petchnanalas, meaning a "fulfiller" or "one who succeeds in all he undertakes."
Marriage and family
Buckongahelas married as a young man and started his family. Under pressure from colonial settlers, he began to move his band westward. He was believed to have lived some time with his people in what is now Buckhannon in Upshur County, West VirginiaUpshur County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 23,404 people, 8,972 households, and 6,352 families residing in the county. The population density was 66 people per square mile . There were 10,751 housing units at an average density of 30 per square mile...
.
His son Mahonegon was killed there in June 1773 by Captain William White, a native of Frederick County, Virginia
Frederick County, Virginia
Frederick County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is included in the Winchester, Virginia-West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. For ten years it was the home of George Washington. As of 2010, the population was...
. Local legend states that the current Upshur County Courthouse was built over the grave of Mahonegon.
Local legend suggests Buckongahelas took revenge on White after trailing his son's killer for a period of nine years (1773–1782). The captain was killed March 8, 1782 within sight of Bush Fort in the vicinity of the Buckhannon River
Buckhannon River
The Buckhannon River is a tributary of the Tygart Valley River in north-central West Virginia, USA. Via the Tygart Valley, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau...
. But, historic documentation places Buckongahelas in Ohio by 1781, as he was moving his band west to escape European-American encroachment.
American Revolutionary War
During the American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, Buckongahelas led his followers against the Continentals. He broke away from the neutral and pro-American Lenape led by White Eyes
White Eyes
White Eyes, named Koquethagechton , was a leader of the Lenape people in the Ohio Country during the era of the American Revolution. Sometimes known as George White Eyes, his given name in Lenape was rendered in many spelling variations in colonial records...
. He took his band west to establish a town near the war chief Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket or Weyapiersenwah was a war chief of the Shawnee people, known for his militant defense of Shawnee lands in the Ohio Country...
of the Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
. The two men became close allies.
During the war years, a number of Lenape who had converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
were living in frontier villages run by Moravian missionaries. In April 1781, at the Ohio village of Gnadenhütten
Gnadenhütten
Gnadenhütten , the name of settlements founded by the German Moravian Church. The word was transliterated as Canatanheat by the missionary John Brainerd in his account.The proper German spelling without the umlaut ü is Gnadenhuetten...
, Buckongahelas warned the Lenape that an American militia from Pennsylvania was likely to execute any Indians in their path and would not pay attention to whether they were Christians. He urged the Lenape to follow him further west away from the encroaching colonists. Moving westward "from the rising sun," the people could live where the land was good and his warriors would protect them. The Delaware did not heed his words.
John Heckewelder
John Heckewelder
right|thumb|350px|sketch by [[Henry Howe]]John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder was an American missionary.He was born in Bedford, England. He came to Pennsylvania in 1754, and, after finishing his education, was apprenticed to a cooper. After a visit to Ohio with Christian F...
, a Moravian missionary, wrote in his account that Buckongahelas' oration to the Christian Indians was told "with ease and an eloquence not to be imitated." He continued, "Eleven months after this speech was delivered by this prophetic chief, ninety-six of these same Christian Indians, about sixty of them women and children, were murdered at the place where these very words had been spoken, by the same men he had alluded to, and in the same manner that he had described." On March 8, 1782, state militia attacked and killed the Lenape in what is known as the Gnadenhütten massacre
Gnadenhütten massacre
The Gnadenhutten massacre, also known as the Moravian massacre, was the killing on March 8, 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, of 96 Christian Lenape by colonial American militia from Pennsylvania. The militia attacked Lenape at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhütten, Ohio.The...
.
Post-war tensions
After the Revolutionary War, the United States claimed the Ohio CountryOhio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
by right of conquest through its defeat of Great Britain. In the late 1780s, Buckongahelas joined a Shawnee-led confederacy to try to repel the American settlers who had begun migrating west of the Appalachian Mountains, using the Ohio River to penetrate the territory.
They won several battles against the Americans in the Northwest Indian Wars. Buckongahelas led his warriors in helping to win the most devastating military victory ever achieved by Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, in 1791 against General Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair was an American soldier and politician. Born in Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office...
, who lost 600 troops. The Delaware described Buckongahelas as their own George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. Standing 5 feet, 10 inches tall, he was strong with powerful muscles and was said to resemble the statesman Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
.
The confederacy were finally defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...
in 1794. The British failed to support the Indian confederacy after this battle, and Buckongahelas signed the Treaty of Greenville
Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville , on August 3, 1795, between a coalition of Native Americans & Frontiers men, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It put an end to the Northwest Indian War...
on August 3, 1795. By this treaty, his band and other Lenape ceded much land in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
to the United States. At times, competing tribes tried to control the lands and villages, and it was not clear that the chiefs who signed the treaties had authority over the lands they were ceding.
On June 7, 1803, Buckongahelas signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne
Treaty of Fort Wayne (1803)
The Treaty of Fort Wayne was a treaty between the United States and several groups of Native Americans. The treaty was signed on June 7, 1803 and proclaimed December 26, 1803.-Parties:...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
; the US set new boundaries for the Lenape and other nations. They also ceded salt springs. Algonquian tribes ceded large land tracts to the United States. Lastly, he signed the Treaty of Vincennes
Treaty of Vincennes
The Treaty of Vincennes is the name of two separate treaties. One was an 1803 agreement between the United States of America and the Miami and their allies, the Wea tribes and the Shawnee...
on August 18, 1804, in Vincennes, Indiana. The Lenape ceded lands between the Ohio and Wabash
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
rivers. The treaty helped open the Ohio and Indiana territories to European-American settlement. Not able to read and write, Buckongahelas made "X" signatures on the three treaties.
Buckongahelas spent his final years living with his people on the White River
White River (Indiana)
The White River is a two-forked river that flows through central and southern Indiana and is the main tributary to the Wabash River. Via the west fork, considered to be the main stem of the river by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the White River is long.-West Fork:The West Fork, long, is...
near present-day Muncie, Indiana
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
. He died in May 1805 at the age of 85 from smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
or influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
.
Many local Native Americans thought the epidemics of fatal illnesses to be related to witchcraft, as their traditional remedies and medicine men had no effect on the course of the diseases. They conducted a witch-hunt and executed several Lenape suspected of witchcraft. The conditions of defeat and despair were the grounds for the rise of the Shawnee prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa, was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as The Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was the brother of Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee...
, who promised renewed power for the American Indians against the European Americans. His brother Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
became an influential chief leading a new Indian confederacy against the Americans in the early 19th century.
Legacy and honors
- Chief Buckongahelas' loss of his son Mahonegon was memorialized in a 650-pound bronze statue installed in Buckhannon’s Jawbone Run Park, because settlers admired his alliance with British colonists during the Seven Years War. The statue depicts the chief cradling the body of his son.
Represented in media
- The killing of the chief's son was represented in the historical romance novel The Scout of the Buckongehanon (1927), written by John Camillus McWhorter (1866–1937), a judge in Buckhannon.