Custaloga

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Custaloga
Born
Pakanke or Packanke

Ohio or Pennsylvania
Diedafter October 1774
Custoga's Town in Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Years active1753-1774
Known forRelations with Moravian and Catholic missionaries
TitleWolf Clan chief
SuccessorCaptain Pipe

Custaloga (also known as Kustaloga, Tuscologas, Packanke, or Pakanke) was a chief of the Wolf Clan of the Delaware (Lenape) tribe in the mid-18th century. He initially supported the French at the beginning of the French and Indian War, but after Pontiac's War he participated in peace negotiations. He opposed the presence of Catholic missionaries, but later in life he became favorable to the Moravians. Captain Pipe was his nephew and succeeded him as chief.[1]: 31 

Biography[edit]

Thomas Hutchins' 1778 map of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina showing "Custaloga's Town" in the upper right hand corner, below Lake Erie.

Birth and early life[edit]

Little is known of the early life of Custaloga. Custaloga's family settled in the Ohio River Valley around 1740, and he may have been born there.[2]: 106  He was born as Packanke into the Wolf Clan of his mother. The Lenape had a matrilineal kinship system, in which descent and hereditary leadership were passed through the mother's line. Children were born into the mother's clan and gained their social status there. Custaloga was raised among the Munsee division of the Lenape, which until about 1760 was only loosely associated with the Lenape living to the south and east.[1]: 112–113  The Lenape warrior Keekyuscung once told a Pennsylvania trader that Custaloga was half Mingo.[3]: 96 [4]: 157 

Custaloga's Town[edit]

Custaloga built a sizeable village at the confluence of French Creek and North Deer Creek in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. This town, known as "Custaloga's Town," or sometimes "Ticastoroga,"[5] became his principal seat.[6]: 11  He also started another village known as Cussewago, along French Creek, at the present site of Meadville in Crawford County, Pennsylvania.[7]: 370  The Seneca warrior Guyasuta is believed to have died at, and was buried at Custaloga's Town.[7]: 408 [8][9]

Affliliation with the French[edit]

Custaloga's name is first documented in western Pennsylvania's history in July 1753, when Pennsylvania trader William Trent noted that Custaloga's people were helping the French move their supplies across the portage at Fort Presque Isle.[10][11]: 140  Some of the men at Custaloga's Town relocated to Fort Presque Isle and Fort LeBoeuf in order to work for the French in return for corn, clothing and muskets.[12]: 117  On August 15, the French decided to occupy the trading post of John Fraser, an English fur trader who had lived there for several years, and who provided British trade goods to the residents of Custaloga's Town. Custaloga assisted the French by capturing and handing over two traders who had just arrived at Fraser's trading post. Fraser and his employee Willson were forced to flee, and 75 French soldiers took over Fraser's cabin, allowing Custaloga to confiscate Fraser's trade goods. Fraser reported that Custaloga was "made a Captain by the French."[11]: 141 

In his journal of 1753, the 21-year-old George Washington describes his arrival at Logstown in November.[10] Washington persuaded the Lenape chiefs at Logstown that they should side with the British in the event of war, and he recommended that they return strings of wampum that the French had given them as a sign of friendship.[13]: 147  At that time, Custaloga was in charge of the wampum and kept the belts at his home in Custaloga's Town. He was in favor of remaining allied with the French, and when Washington visited him, he initially refused to give up the wampum,[3]: 52  on the excuse that Shingas had sent no speech for the occasion,[11]: 27  and had to be persuaded to do so by Christopher Gist. Washington, Guyasuta and Tanacharison took the wampum to the French commander at Fort LeBoeuf but the French would not accept it.[10]

In February 1754 Custaloga was sent by the French to visit the construction site of a storehouse, built as preparation for the later construction of Redstone Old Fort by William Trent for the Ohio Company. Custaloga reported "a thousand men building a fort there," a significant exaggeration.[11]: 40  He also stated that when Trent and his men finished the fort at Red Stone, they planned to "build another at the mouth of that same river," referring to Fort Prince George.[14]: 233–34 [11]: 40 

Custaloga was reported to have been present, on the French side, at the Battle of Great Meadows in 1754 and at the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755.[15]: 27 

French and Indian War[edit]

In 1757, Custaloga adopted Christian Hochstetler, a 13-year-old Swiss settler who was taken prisoner after Lenape warriors burned his family's home during the Hochstetler massacre on September 19, 1757. In 1762, Christian's father Jacob learned that Christian was living with "King Kastateeloca" and petitioned Governor James Hamilton for assistance in getting his son back.[16] Christian was released after a peace treaty negotiated by Colonel Henry Bouquet in October 1764.[17]

In July 1757, Jesuit Father Claude Francis Virot founded a Catholic mission at Saucunk,[18]: 395  and was joined for a brief period by Father Pierre Joseph Antonie Rouboud. Custaloga, known for his dislike of missionaries, reportedly became jealous of Virot's influence over the community,[19]: 513  however, and the Jesuit was forced to leave after Fort Duquesne was captured by the British in November, 1758.[20]: 93–94 [21]: 413 [22]

Pontiac's War[edit]

William Trent mentions in his journal that from July 22-24, 1763, during the Siege of Fort Pitt, "Custaluga" attended a council meeting with "Gray Eyes, Wingenum, Turtle's Heart and Mamaultee."[23] There is some evidence that Custaloga was among the leaders of the Native American forces defeated at the Battle of Bushy Run in August 1763.[24]: 449 

Postwar negotiations[edit]

During the various meetings with Bouquet in 1764, Tamaqua and Custaloga had central roles in mediating peace with the British. Custaloga, Guyasuta, Tamaqua, and Custaloga's brother Turtleheart met with Bouquet at his camp on the Muskingum River on October 17, 1764.[2]: 75  Custaloga agreed to the release of eighteen captives.[3]: 95 [3]: 101  Other Lenape leaders, in particular Killbuck, considered Custaloga to be "an old Woman" for quickly agreeing to peace with Bouquet.[3]: 97 [24]: 109  Custaloga maintained his support for the French, however, as indicated by a report he sent to Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial, Governor General of New France, describing his meeting with Bouquet on December 4, 1764. In his report, transcribed by a French officer and sent under the name "Casteogain," he said that the British apologized for their intrusion into the Ohio Valley and, instead of expecting the captives to be returned, told the chiefs that those captives already adopted or married could remain with them, except for the aged, who would be returned once peace was confirmed.[25]: 210  Custaloga also claimed that Bouquet openly requested Lenape assistance in persuading the French to abandon the Ohio Country. It remains unclear whether Custaloga was present at the meeting with Bouquet on December 4, or whether he heard this story from someone else or was, in fact, only telling the French what he thought they wanted to hear.[26][27]: 134–37 

On May 10 1765, Custaloga attended a conference at Fort Pitt, together with Tamaqua, Netawatwees, Wingenund, Guyasuta, White Eyes, Captain Pipe, and other chiefs of the western tribes, for the purpose of resuming trade relations between Pennsylvania and the Lenape after the end of Pontiac's War.[7]: 307  Since Custaloga had aided Pontiac in his rebellion,[7]: 369  the Iroquois Confederacy sent the Seneca sachem Garistagee to live at Custaloga's Town, to maintain a watchful eye on Custaloga.[3]: 75  By this time the Confederacy seemed to believe they had a kind of overlordship over the Lenape.[1]

Relations with missionaries[edit]

Moravian missionary David Zeisberger preaching to the Indians.

In 1769, Custaloga brought a small group of Munsees from the Cuyahoga River Valley to settle at the former site of Kuskusky, abandoned since 1759, probably in order to be near the English trading post at Pittsburgh. The growing influence of the Moravian missionaries at Freidensstadt caused many Munsees to relocate there, creating conflict in Custaloga's community.[28] In 1770, Custologa's friend Glikhikan, a former warrior who served as a speaker for the Lenape community at Kuskusky, decided to confront the Moravian missionaries about their teachings, which he wanted to refute. He went to the Moravian mission at Friedensstadt and listened to David Zeisberger, planning to dispute the missionary's doctrine, but found himself persuaded that Zeisberger was telling the truth.[21]: 418–19  He returned to Custaloga and announced that he planned to move to Friedensstadt, where he was eventually baptized. Custaloga was initially angry, but when other Lenape chose to move to Friedensstadt, his opinion of the missionaries grew more favorable.[29]: 109–111  Shortly after this, he took Zeisberger to the valley surrounding the Beaver River, where the Lenape owned a large tract of open land, to which Zeisberger was given access. The Moravians established a town there which eventually became Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.[30] Soon afterwards, a dispute erupted among the Lenape over the growing number of Christian converts in Lenape communities, which sometimes led to conflicts as the Christians were opposed to the use of alcohol and objected to some traditional customs. At a Grand Council meeting in 1771, it was proposed that the Christians move to separate communities in the Ohio Valley. Custaloga opposed this, but eventually many Christian Lenape relocated to new communities on the Tuscarawas River and the Muskingum River in eastern Ohio.[1]: 159–60 

In April 1771, smallpox began killing large numbers of Lenape.[29]: 187–88  Custaloga argued that witchcraft had caused the epidemic and that "by embracing Christianity the contagion would cease." He even recommended that the Moravian preachers be adopted as full-fledged Lenape,[3]: 107 [29]: 188  and told his own children to listen to the missionaries when they preached.[31][32]: 112–113, 117  In 1774, Netawatwees sent Custaloga a message, asking him to convert to Christianity: "You and I are both old and know not how long we shall live. Therefore, let us do a good work before we depart, and leave a testimony to our children and posterity, that we have received the word of God. Let this be our last will and testament."[29]: 207  Custaloga's son Eschenanahunt was baptized Isaac in 1775.[31]: 609 

Later life and succession[edit]

Sign at the site of Custaloga's Town in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

By late 1773 at a conference of Indian nations at Fort Pitt, the tribe was discussing the succession of the aging principal chief, Netawatwees. George Croghan, sub-agent to Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Relations, and Seneca representatives reported to Johnson about the debate. They wrote that Chief Custaloga was too old to replace Netwawatwees when that should become necessary.[1][31]: 312  In January 1774, during a conference of the Six Indian Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy at Johnson Hall near present-day Albany, New York, Croghan announced that Custaloga was to be succeeded as chief by his nephew Captain Pipe,[31]: 239  a noted war leader who had been nominated by Custaloga himself.[33]: 64 

Following this date little is recorded about Custaloga. On May 1, 1774 a message was sent to Custaloga and various other Delaware leaders, apologizing for the Yellow Creek Massacre, and Custaloga replied from Custaloga's Town on May 16.[34]: 203, 206  On October 14, "King Custalogo" was among Native American leaders who met with Lord Dunmore in Williamsburg.[34]: 219  After this, some sources think he moved to Custalogas Town, Ohio, then perhaps returned to Kuskusky. In February 1778, Custaloga's sister (the mother of Captain Pipe) was killed at Kuskusky during the Squaw Campaign of General Edward Hand.[35][36]: 73–75 [37]: 141  On November 29 1778, Colonel James Smith led 400 troops on the French Creek Expedition from Fort Pitt to Custaloga's Town, but found it evacuated.[38]: 138 

Custaloga may have died as early as 1775.[1]

Legacy and honors[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wellenreuther, Hermann. "The Succession of Head Chiefs and the Delaware Culture of Consent: The Delaware Nation, David Zeisberger, and Modern Ethnography", In A. G. Roeber, ed., Ethnographies and Exchanges: Native Americans, Moravians, and Catholics in Early America. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008. 31–48
  2. ^ a b C. H. Mitchener, ed. Ohio Annals: Historic Events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in Other Portions of the State of Ohio; Adventures of Post, Heckewelder and Zeisberger; Legends and Traditions of the Kophs, Mound Builders, Red and White Men; Adventures of Putnam and Heckewelder, Founders of the State; Local History, Growth of Ohio in Population, Political Power, Wealth and Intelligence, Dayton, OH: Thomas W. Odell, 1876.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Richard S. Grimes, "The emergence and decline of the Delaware Indian nation in western Pennsylvania and the Ohio country, 1730--1795," Doctoral Dissertation, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 2005
  4. ^ John W. Jordan, ed., "Journal of James Kenny, 1761–1763," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 37 (1913)
  5. ^ Clarence M. Busch, Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, State Printer of Pennsylvania, 1896
  6. ^ Michael N. McConnell, "The search for security: Indian-English relations in the Trans-Appalachian region, 1758-1763," Doctoral dissertation, College of William & Mary, Dept. Arts & Sciences, 1983
  7. ^ a b c d C. Hale Sipe, 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. Ziegler Printing Co., Inc. Butler, PA, 1927
  8. ^ Marsha Fleeger, "Researchers believe Seneca leader buried at Custaloga Town," Record-Argus News, July 16, 2018
  9. ^ "History Recalled as Guyasuta's Grave Goes to Historical Society," The News-Herald, Franklin, Pennsylvania; Sat, June 26, 1965; p. 8
  10. ^ a b c George Washington, "Journey to the French Commandant: Narrative," Founders Online, National Archives. Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 1, 11 March 1748 – 13 November 1765, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976, pp. 130–161.
  11. ^ a b c d e Hunter, William Albert. Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier: 1753–1758, (Classic Reprint). Fb&c Limited, 2018; pp 313-19
  12. ^ Grimes, Richard S. The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730–1795: Warriors and Diplomats. Lehigh University Press, 2017.
  13. ^ C. Hale Sipe, The Indian wars of Pennsylvania: an account of the Indian events, in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian war, Pontiac's war, Lord Dunmore's war, the revolutionary war, and the Indian uprising from 1789 to 1795; tragedies of the Pennsylvania frontier based primarily on the Penna. archives and colonial records, Harrisburg: The Telegraph Press, 1929
  14. ^ Kasecamp, Emily Hager, "Company, Colony, and Crown: The Ohio Company of Virginia, Empire Building, and the Seven Years' War, 1747-1763," Doctoral thesis, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History, 2019.
  15. ^ Bell, Herbert C., History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including its aboriginal history; the French and British occupation of the country; its early settlement and subsequent growth; a description of its historic and interesting localities, its rich oil deposits and their development; sketches of its cities, boroughs, townships, and villages; neighborhood and family history; portraits and biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co., 1890
  16. ^ Dan Hochstetler, "The Hochstetler Massacre," Descendents of Jacob Hochstetler website, 2024
  17. ^ "Examination of (Jacob) Hochstattler," in Richard MacMaster, Samuel Horst and Robert Ulle, Conscience in Crisis: Mennonite and Other Peace Churches in America, 1739-1789, Interpretation and Documents. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2001; pp 125-26
  18. ^ History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: Including Its Early Settlement and Progress to the Present Time, with Portraits of Some of Its Prominent Men, and Biographies of Many of Its Representative Citizens, vol 1. Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, United States: Unigraphic, 1889.
  19. ^ James Constantine Pilling, Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages, Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1891.
  20. ^ A. A. Lambing, "Father Virot, A Forgotten Missionary," in Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol 3, no 1, January 1930. Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
  21. ^ a b Joseph M. Bausman, History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania and Its Centennial Celebration, vol. 1, New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1904
  22. ^ a b Craig Doda, "Native Americans-Early Contact 1600-1771," Historical Marker Database, July 11, 2021
  23. ^ A. T. Volwiler, "William Trent's Journal at Fort Pitt, 1763," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Dec., 1924, Vol. 11, No. 3, Dec., 1924, pp. 390-413
  24. ^ a b Chester Hale Sipe, "The Principal Indian Towns of Western Pennsylvania," Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, v. 13, no. 2; April 1, 1930; pp. 104-122
  25. ^ Merrell, James H. Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000.
  26. ^ McConnell, Michael. To Risk It All: General Forbes, the Capture of Fort Duquesne, and the Course of Empire in the Ohio Country. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020.
  27. ^ Donald H. Kent, and Sylvester K. Stevens. Wilderness Chronicles of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Frontier Forts and Trails Survey. Harrisburg: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Public Instruction, Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1941
  28. ^ Michael N. McConnell, "Kuskusky Towns and Early Western Pennsylvania Indian History," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 116:33-58
  29. ^ a b c d Loskiel, George Henry. The History of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians in North America: From Its Commencement to the Present Time. with a Preliminary Account of the Indians. London: T. Allman, 1838
  30. ^ Jeffrey Snedden. "Histories & Mysteries: Stories from the 'Falls of the Beaver'". Beaver County Times. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  31. ^ a b c d Zeisberger, David; Hermann Wellenreuther and Carola Wessel, ed. The Moravian Mission Diaries of David Zeisberger. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-271-02522-0
  32. ^ Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus. A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians: From Its Commencement, in the Year 1740, to the Close of the Year 1808; Comprising All the Remarkable Incidents which Took Place at Their Missionary Stations During that Period; Interspersed with Anecdotes, Historical Facts, Speeches of Indians, and Other Interesting Matter. McCarty & Davis, 1820.
  33. ^ Weslager, Clinton Alfred. The Delaware Indians: A History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1972.
  34. ^ a b Iscrupe, William L.., Rupp, Israel Daniel., Iscrupe, Shirley G. M.. Early History of Western Pennsylvania. Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, 1989.
  35. ^ "General Edward Hand: The Squaw Campaign," Emerging Revolutionary War Era
  36. ^ Butts, Edward. Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior. Canada: Dundurn, 2011.
  37. ^ Paul R. Misencik, Sally E. Misencik, American Indians of the Ohio Country in the 18th Century, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020 ISBN 1476638500
  38. ^ James Smith, An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Colonel James Smith (late a Citizen of Bourbon County, Kentucky) During His Captivity with the Indians in the Years 1755, '56, '57, '58 & '59, Philadelphia: Grigg and Elliott, 1834
  39. ^ William S. Snyder, The Rattlesnake and The Ramsey: The History of the Lorain, Ashland, & Southern Railroad, Ashland, Ohio: Custaloga Press, 2004 ISBN 0974085006
  40. ^ Lee Calvin, "Remembering Custaloga as a railroad terminal," Times-Gazette, Aug 9, 2016
  41. ^ Photos of the Custaloga Railway station around 1900
  42. ^ Custaloga Town Scout Reservation website
Custaloga
Preceded by
unknown
 Chiefs of the Lenape - Wolf Clan
unk.–1774 		Succeeded by
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