Buckongahelas (c. 1720 – May 1805) together with

Little Turtle Little Turtle ( mia, Mihšihkinaahkwa) (1747 July 14, 1812) was a Sagamore (chief) of the Miami people, who became one of the most famous Native American military leaders. Historian Wiley Sword calls him "perhaps the most capable Indian leader ...

Blue Jacket Blue Jacket, or Weyapiersenwah (c. 1743 – 1810), was a war chief of the Shawnee people, known for his militant defense of Shawnee lands in the Ohio Country. Perhaps the preeminent American Indian leader in the Northwest Indian War, i ...

, achieved the greatest victory won by Native Americans, killing 600. He was a regionally and nationally renowned

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...

, councilor and warrior. He was active from the days of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

(Seven Years' War) through the

Northwest Indian Wars The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

, after the United States achieved independence and settlers encroached on territory beyond the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...

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 Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

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.

Early life and education

Buckongahelas was born in present-day Delaware around the year 1720 to Lenape parents. The British colonists called the people the Delaware, after the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

, 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 Virginia Upshur County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,816. Its county seat is Buckhannon. The county was formed in 1851 from Randolph, Barbour, and Lewis counties and named for Abel Parke ...

."Buckongahelas"
''The West Virginia Encyclopedia,'' ed. Ken Sullivan, West Virginia Humanities Council, 2006, accessed 26 October 2011 His son Mahonegon was killed there in June 1773 by Captain William White, a native of

Frederick County, Virginia Frederick County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,419. Its county seat is Winchester. The county was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. It is Virginia's northernmost county ...

. Local legend states that the current Upshur County Courthouse was built over the grave of Mahonegon. McWhorter, Lucullus Virgil. ''Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia,'' Parsons, West Virginia: McClain Printing, 1915 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 The Buckhannon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Tygart Valley River in north-central West Virginia, USA. Via the Tygart Valle ...

. 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 War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Buckongahelas led his followers against the Continentals. He broke away from the neutral and pro-American Lenape led by

White Eyes White Eyes, named ''Koquethagechton'' (c. 1730 – 5 November 1778), was Chief Sachem of the Lenape (Delaware) people in the Ohio Country during the era of the American Revolution. Sometimes known as George White Eyes, or Captain Grey Eyes al. S ...

. He took his band west to establish a town near the war chief

of the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

. The two men became close allies.Sugden, John. ''Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees''. University of Nebraska Press, 2000 During the war years, a number of Lenape who had converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

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.Blaisdell, Bob. "Buckongahelas", in ''Great Speeches by Native Americans'', Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2000, pp. 27 – 28 The Delaware did not heed his words.

John Heckewelder John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder (March 12, 1743 – January 21, 1823) was an American missionary for the Moravian Church. Biography John Heckewelder was born in Bedford, England and came to Pennsylvania in 1754. After finishing his education, ...

, 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.

Post-war tensions

After the Revolutionary War, the United States claimed the Ohio Country 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

. Buckongahelas led his warriors to win the most devastating military victory ever achieved by

Native Americans in the United States Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States ( Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United State ...

, in 1791 against General Arthur St. Clair, who lost 600 troops. The Delaware described Buckongahelas as their own

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

. Standing 5 feet, 10 inches tall, he was strong with powerful muscles and was said to resemble the statesman

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

. The confederacy were finally defeated at the

Battle of Fallen Timbers The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United State ...

in 1794. The British failed to support the Indian confederacy after this battle, and Buckongahelas signed the

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples ...

on August 3, 1795. By this treaty, his band and other Lenape ceded much land in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

to the United States.White, Richard. ''The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815''
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991 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 Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

; 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 The Treaty of Vincennes is the name of two separate treaties. One was an agreement between the United States of America and the Miami and their allies, the Wea tribes and the Shawnee, and was signed on June 6, 1803. The purpose of the treaty w ...

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 Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

or influenza. Many local Native Americans thought the

epidemics An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

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 In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Tenskwatawa Tenskwatawa (also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was a ...

,'' 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.

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 Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

. The statue depicts the chief cradling the body of his son.

Popular culture references

* 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.

References

Inline citations

Sources

* McWhorter, Lucullus Virgil. ''Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia.'' McClain Printing, Parsons, West Virginia, 1915. *Blaisdell, Bob. "Great Speeches by Native Americans." Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, 2000. *Sugden, John. ''Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees''. University of Nebraska Press, 2000. *Sugden, John. "Buckongahelas" in ''American National Biography''. Oxford University Press, 1999, subscription only online. *Weslager, C. A. ''The Delaware Indians''. New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1972. *White, Richard. ''The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815''. New York, 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckongahelas 1720 births 1805 deaths Native American leaders Native Americans in the American Revolution Native American people of the Indian Wars Lenape people People from Muncie, Indiana Native Americans of the Northwest Indian War Infectious disease deaths in Indiana Deaths from smallpox Deaths from influenza