Queen Alliquippa
Encyclopedia
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. Her date of birth has been estimated anywhere from the early 1670s to the early 18th century.
By the 1740s, she was the leader of a band of Mingo
Seneca living along the three rivers (the Ohio River
, the Allegheny River
, and the Monongahela River
) near what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
By 1753, she and her band were living at the junction of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny
Rivers near the present site of McKeesport, Pennsylvania
.
George Washington
wrote of his visit to Alliquippa in December 1753 stating:
"As we intended to take horse here [at Frazer's Cabin on the mouth of Turtle Creek], and it required some time to find them, I went up about three miles to the mouth of the Youghiogheny to visit Queen Alliquippa, who had expressed great concern that we passed her in going to [Fort LeBouef]. I made her a present of a match-coat and a bottle of rum, which latter was thought much the better present of the two."
Queen Alliquippa was a key ally of the British leading up to the French and Indian War
. Alliquippa, her son Kanuksusy
, and warriors from her band of Mingo Seneca traveled to Fort Necessity to assist George Washington
but did not take an active part in the Battle of the Great Meadows
on July 3–4, 1754.
After the British defeat at the Battle of the Great Meadows and the evacuation of Fort Necessity, Alliquippa moved her band to the Aughwick Valley of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
for safety. She died there on December 23, 1754.
The city of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
was named in her honor by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
. However, she herself had no connection to the land upon which the city was built http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyCommunities/Aliquippa/AliquipBeginsMSP92.html.
Note: In 1752, Conrad Weiser reported visiting Queen Aliquippa, at “Aliquippa's Town” located on the Ohio at the mouth of Chartier’s Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River near McKees Rock and Pittsburgh. In January, 1754, George Washington, was sent by Virginia’s Lt. Governor Dinwiddie to ask the French to leave the Ohio region, and he met with Iroquois leaders at Logstown, whilst there Washington failed to pay his respects to Queen Aliquippa. Washington arrived at the Great Meadows (Fort Necessity) 24 May 1754 A Virginia regiment arrived at the Great Meadows with the Half King on 9 June 1754. Battle of Fort Necessity occurred 3 July 1754. On the 4th of July, Washington surrendered to the French and accepted defeat. The British troops left Fort Necessity for Wills Creek on the morning of July 4, from there they marched back to Virginia. To understand the events of the day, a hearing conducted by Virginia's Lt. Governor Dinwiddie was held. On August 27, 1754, a deposition was filed by a Captain John B. W. Shaw that stated the Native Americans, including Queen Alquippa, loyal to the British were going to "Jemmy Arther" for protection. "Jemmy Arther" was Aughwick or George Croghan's settlement. In a letter dated 16th of August 1754, Croghan wrote to the governor of the province of Pennsylvania that the Half King and his fellow Mingo Seneca people had been staying with him at Aughwick since Washington’s defeat (Hazard 1897, 140-141). Conrad Weiser visited Croghan’s homestead at Aughwick on September 3, 1754 to investigate the situation and reported to Governor Hamilton. In Wiser's report to the Governor he reported to the Governor that; “…he had encountered about twenty cabins about Croghan’s house, and in them at least 200 Indians, men, women and children…” (Hazard 1878, 149). On December 23, 1754, Queen Alquippa died at Aughwick (Fort Shirley). Croghan's blunt journal entry records her passing, "Alequeapy, ye old quine is dead."
Burns, Jonathan A., Drobnock, George John, and Smith, Jared M. 2008. Croghan at Aughwick: History, Maps, and Archaeology Collide in the Search for Fort Shirley. Paper Presented Pioneer America Society October 2008.
Hazard, Samuel. 1851. Pennsylvania Archives, vol. II. Joseph Severns and Co., Philadelphia, PA.
Hazard, Samuel. 1878. Pennsylvania Archives, vol. VI. Joseph Severns and Co., Philadelphia, PA.
Hazard, Samuel. 1851. The Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vol. VI, Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania. Theodore Fenn and Co., Harrisburg, PA.
Little is known about Alliquippa's early life. Her date of birth has been estimated anywhere from the early 1670s to the early 18th century.
By the 1740s, she was the leader of a band of Mingo
Mingo
The Mingo are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans made up of peoples who migrated west to the Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century. Anglo-Americans called these migrants mingos, a corruption of mingwe, an Eastern Algonquian name for Iroquoian-language groups in general. Mingos have also...
Seneca living 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 what is now 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...
.
By 1753, she and her band were living at the junction of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny
Youghiogheny River
The Youghiogheny River , or the Yough for short, is a tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
Rivers near the present site of McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...
.
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...
wrote of his visit to Alliquippa in December 1753 stating:
"As we intended to take horse here [at Frazer's Cabin on the mouth of Turtle Creek], and it required some time to find them, I went up about three miles to the mouth of the Youghiogheny to visit Queen Alliquippa, who had expressed great concern that we passed her in going to [Fort LeBouef]. I made her a present of a match-coat and a bottle of rum, which latter was thought much the better present of the two."
Queen Alliquippa was a key ally of the British leading up to 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...
. Alliquippa, her son Kanuksusy
Kanuksusy
Kanuksusy or Kos Showeyha 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...
, and warriors from her band of Mingo Seneca traveled 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...
but did not take an active part 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, 1754.
After the British defeat at the Battle of the Great Meadows and the evacuation of Fort Necessity, Alliquippa moved her band to the Aughwick Valley of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Huntingdon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. In 2010, its population was 45,913.Huntingdon County was created on September 20, 1787, from part of Bedford County. Its county seat is Huntingdon.-Geography:According to the U.S...
for safety. She died there on December 23, 1754.
The city of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Aliquippa is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 9,438 at the 2010 census. Formerly a borough, it was formally named a city in 1987 by the Aliquippa Council.-History:...
was named in her honor by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad , also known as the "Little Giant", was formed on May 11, 1875. Company headquarters were located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The line connected Pittsburgh in the east with Youngstown, Ohio at nearby Haselton, Ohio in the west and Connellsville, ...
. However, she herself had no connection to the land upon which the city was built http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyCommunities/Aliquippa/AliquipBeginsMSP92.html.
Note: In 1752, Conrad Weiser reported visiting Queen Aliquippa, at “Aliquippa's Town” located on the Ohio at the mouth of Chartier’s Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River near McKees Rock and Pittsburgh. In January, 1754, George Washington, was sent by Virginia’s Lt. Governor Dinwiddie to ask the French to leave the Ohio region, and he met with Iroquois leaders at Logstown, whilst there Washington failed to pay his respects to Queen Aliquippa. Washington arrived at the Great Meadows (Fort Necessity) 24 May 1754 A Virginia regiment arrived at the Great Meadows with the Half King on 9 June 1754. Battle of Fort Necessity occurred 3 July 1754. On the 4th of July, Washington surrendered to the French and accepted defeat. The British troops left Fort Necessity for Wills Creek on the morning of July 4, from there they marched back to Virginia. To understand the events of the day, a hearing conducted by Virginia's Lt. Governor Dinwiddie was held. On August 27, 1754, a deposition was filed by a Captain John B. W. Shaw that stated the Native Americans, including Queen Alquippa, loyal to the British were going to "Jemmy Arther" for protection. "Jemmy Arther" was Aughwick or George Croghan's settlement. In a letter dated 16th of August 1754, Croghan wrote to the governor of the province of Pennsylvania that the Half King and his fellow Mingo Seneca people had been staying with him at Aughwick since Washington’s defeat (Hazard 1897, 140-141). Conrad Weiser visited Croghan’s homestead at Aughwick on September 3, 1754 to investigate the situation and reported to Governor Hamilton. In Wiser's report to the Governor he reported to the Governor that; “…he had encountered about twenty cabins about Croghan’s house, and in them at least 200 Indians, men, women and children…” (Hazard 1878, 149). On December 23, 1754, Queen Alquippa died at Aughwick (Fort Shirley). Croghan's blunt journal entry records her passing, "Alequeapy, ye old quine is dead."
Burns, Jonathan A., Drobnock, George John, and Smith, Jared M. 2008. Croghan at Aughwick: History, Maps, and Archaeology Collide in the Search for Fort Shirley. Paper Presented Pioneer America Society October 2008.
Hazard, Samuel. 1851. Pennsylvania Archives, vol. II. Joseph Severns and Co., Philadelphia, PA.
Hazard, Samuel. 1878. Pennsylvania Archives, vol. VI. Joseph Severns and Co., Philadelphia, PA.
Hazard, Samuel. 1851. The Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vol. VI, Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania. Theodore Fenn and Co., Harrisburg, PA.