Kanuksusy
Encyclopedia
Kanuksusy or Kos Showeyha (c. 1701-November 1756) was a member of the Seneca tribe and son of Seneca chieftain Queen Alliquippa
. He acted as a liaison between the Ohio Seneca and the Pennsylvania Colony during the French and Indian War
as well as an intermediary and messenger for the Six Nations among other Native American tribes during the early part of the 18th century.
Known to the English as Captain Newcastle and Colonel Fairfax, Kanuksusy held numerous names among various other Native American tribes including Canachquasy, Cashuwayon, Ah Knoyis, Kosshoweyha, Cashiowaya and Cashunyon.
of the Mingo Seneca and presumably grew up along the three rivers (the Ohio River
, the Allegheny River
, and the Monongahela River
) near present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
He is first recorded as Canachquasy, the leader of a band of ten young Mingo warriors whom he led from Kuskuskies to Philadelphia arriving in the city on November 11, 1747. Delivering news of French activities in western Pennsylvania, the first reports to be heard from outside the colony, he later addressed the Pennsylvania Council that he and his group were representatives of the "Six Nations" and confirmed its neutrality during King George's War
which had earlier been decided at the Onondaga Council. After leaving the capital, he spent the winter living with the Nanticoke Indian Tribe
at the mouth of the Juniata River
.
In November 1753, his name was listed as one of the Mohawk
chieftains "now entrusted with the conduct of public affairs among the Six Nations". As allies of the British, he accompanied his mother to travel with a group of Mingo Seneca to Fort Necessity to assist George Washington
. While staying with Washington in June 1754, his mother requested that he might let her son be taken into Council given her failing health. Calling his Indian allies, Kanuksusy was presented with a medal which Washington asked him "to wear it in remembrance of his great father, the King of England" and was named Colonel Fairfax after the Virginia colonist Thomas Fairfax
. He was told this signified, "the First in Council".
Although neither he or his mother participated in the Battle of the Great Meadows
on July 3-4, during a meeting of the Philadelphia Council he was personally commended by Governor Robert Hunter Morris
as one of seven Indian chieftains who fought under General Edward Braddock
at the Battle of the Monongahela
the following year. He was, however, critical of Braddock's actions during the battle commenting on "the pride and ignorance of that great General that came from England. He is now dead; but he was a bad man when he was alive; he looked upon us as dogs, and would never hear anything that was said to him. We often endeavored to advise him and to tell him of the danger he was in with his Soldiers; but he never appeared pleased with us, & that was the reason that a great many of our Warriors left him & would not be under his Command."
On August 22, Kanuksusy led a delegation to the Pennsylvania state house where he met with Governor Morris and members of the provincial council as well as Andrew Montour
, Conrad Weiser
and other intermediaries to discuss, among other issues, the defeat of General Edward Braddock
by a combined force of French and Native Americans the previous month and efforts to enlist the aid of Indian allies. During this meeting, he was honored by the British for his services and bestowed "an English name" by Governor Morris who stated:
In January 1756, while at another council meeting in Carlisle
with Governor Morris, he was "adopted" by the Iroquois
as a colonial messenger and given the name Ah Knoyis. He and Teedyuscung
were appointed by the Philadelphia council as official agents regarding Indian transactions for the colony on July 20.
Living among the hostile tribes of the Upper Susquehanna
for a year, he acted as a messenger and spy for Governor Morris before returning to Philadelphia where he died from smallpox
in November 1756.
Queen Alliquippa
Queen Alliquippa was a leader of the Seneca tribe of American Indians during the early part of the 18th century.Little is known about Alliquippa's early life...
. He acted as a liaison between the Ohio Seneca and the Pennsylvania Colony during 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...
as well as an intermediary and messenger for the Six Nations among other Native American tribes during the early part of the 18th century.
Known to the English as Captain Newcastle and Colonel Fairfax, Kanuksusy held numerous names among various other Native American tribes including Canachquasy, Cashuwayon, Ah Knoyis, Kosshoweyha, Cashiowaya and Cashunyon.
Biography
Although much of his early life is unknown, he was born to Queen AlliquippaQueen Alliquippa
Queen Alliquippa was a leader of the Seneca tribe of American Indians during the early part of the 18th century.Little is known about Alliquippa's early life...
of the Mingo Seneca and presumably grew up along the three rivers (the 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...
, the Allegheny River
Allegheny River
The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, and the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
) near present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
He is first recorded as Canachquasy, the leader of a band of ten young Mingo warriors whom he led from Kuskuskies to Philadelphia arriving in the city on November 11, 1747. Delivering news of French activities in western Pennsylvania, the first reports to be heard from outside the colony, he later addressed the Pennsylvania Council that he and his group were representatives of the "Six Nations" and confirmed its neutrality during King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
which had earlier been decided at the Onondaga Council. After leaving the capital, he spent the winter living with the Nanticoke Indian Tribe
Nanticoke Indian Tribe
The Nanticoke people are an indigenous American Algonquian people, whose traditional homelands are in Chesapeake Bay and Delaware. Today they live in the northeast United States, especially Delaware; in Canada; and in Oklahoma.-History:...
at the mouth of the Juniata River
Juniata River
The Juniata River is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately long, in central Pennsylvania in the United States. The river is considered scenic along much of its route, having a broad and shallow course passing through several mountain ridges and steeply-lined water gaps...
.
In November 1753, his name was listed as one of the Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
chieftains "now entrusted with the conduct of public affairs among the Six Nations". As allies of the British, he accompanied his mother to travel with a group of Mingo Seneca to Fort Necessity to assist 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...
. While staying with Washington in June 1754, his mother requested that he might let her son be taken into Council given her failing health. Calling his Indian allies, Kanuksusy was presented with a medal which Washington asked him "to wear it in remembrance of his great father, the King of England" and was named Colonel Fairfax after the Virginia colonist Thomas Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway....
. He was told this signified, "the First in Council".
Although neither he or his mother participated in the Battle of the Great Meadows
Battle of the Great Meadows
The Battle of Fort Necessity, or the Battle of the Great Meadows took place on July 3, 1754 in what is now the mountaintop hamlet of Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The engagement was one of the first battles of the French and Indian War and George Washington's only military surrender...
on July 3-4, during a meeting of the Philadelphia Council he was personally commended by Governor Robert Hunter Morris
Robert Hunter Morris
Robert Hunter Morris, born 1700 in Trenton, New Jersey, died 27 January 1764 in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, was a prominent governmental figure in Colonial Pennsylvania, serving as governor of Pennsylvania and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court....
as one of seven Indian chieftains who fought under General Edward Braddock
Edward Braddock
General Edward Braddock was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for the 13 colonies during the actions at the start of the French and Indian War...
at the Battle of the Monongahela
Battle of the Monongahela
The Battle of the Monongahela, also known as the Battle of the Wilderness, took place on 9 July 1755, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, at Braddock's Field in what is now Braddock, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh...
the following year. He was, however, critical of Braddock's actions during the battle commenting on "the pride and ignorance of that great General that came from England. He is now dead; but he was a bad man when he was alive; he looked upon us as dogs, and would never hear anything that was said to him. We often endeavored to advise him and to tell him of the danger he was in with his Soldiers; but he never appeared pleased with us, & that was the reason that a great many of our Warriors left him & would not be under his Command."
On August 22, Kanuksusy led a delegation to the Pennsylvania state house where he met with Governor Morris and members of the provincial council as well as Andrew Montour
Andrew Montour
Andrew Montour , also known as Henry Montour, Sattelihu, and Eghnisara, was an important métis interpreter and negotiator in the Virginia and Pennsylvania backcountry in the 1750s and 1760s....
, Conrad Weiser
Conrad Weiser
Weiser's colonial service began in 1731. The Iroquois sent Shikellamy, an Oneida chief, as an emissary to other tribes and the British. Shikellamy lived on the Susquehanna River at Shamokin village, near present-day Sunbury, Pennsylvania. An oral tradition holds that Weiser met Shikellamy while...
and other intermediaries to discuss, among other issues, the defeat of General Edward Braddock
Edward Braddock
General Edward Braddock was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for the 13 colonies during the actions at the start of the French and Indian War...
by a combined force of French and Native Americans the previous month and efforts to enlist the aid of Indian allies. During this meeting, he was honored by the British for his services and bestowed "an English name" by Governor Morris who stated:
- "In token of our Affection for your parents & in expectation of Your being a useful man in these perilous Times, I do in the most solemn manner adopt you by the name of Newcastle ..., because in 1701 I am informed that your parents presented you to the late Mr William Penn at Newcastle."
In January 1756, while at another council meeting in Carlisle
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
with Governor Morris, he was "adopted" by the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
as a colonial messenger and given the name Ah Knoyis. He and Teedyuscung
Teedyuscung
Teedyuscung was known as King of the Delawares. He worked to establish a permanent Lenape home in eastern Pennsylvania in the Lehigh, Susquehanna and Delaware River valleys. Teedyuscung participated in the Treaty of Easton which resulted in the loss of any Lenape claims to all lands in Pennsylvania...
were appointed by the Philadelphia council as official agents regarding Indian transactions for the colony on July 20.
Living among the hostile tribes of the Upper Susquehanna
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
for a year, he acted as a messenger and spy for Governor Morris before returning to Philadelphia where he died 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"...
in November 1756.
Further reading
- Horn, William Franklin. The Horn Papers: Early Westward Movement on the Monongahela and Upper Ohio, 1765-1795. Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: Greene Co. Historical Society, 1945.
- Sargent, Winthrop. The History of an Expedition Against Fort Du Quesne, in 1755: Under Major-General Edward Braddock. Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo & Co., 1855.
- Sipe, Chester Hale. Fort Ligonier and Its Times: A History of the First English Fort West of the Allegheny Mountains. Harrisburg: Telegraph Press, 1932.
- Wallace, Paul A.W. Conrad Weiser, 1696-1760: Friend of Colonist and Mohawk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1945.
- Wallace, Paul A.W. King of the Delawares: Teedyuscung, 1700-1763. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949.