Saucunk | |
|---|---|
Historic Native American village | |
| Etymology:Unami:pasakunk "at the mouth or fork of a stream."[1] | |
 Former location of Saucunk, present-day site ofRochester, Pennsylvania | |
  Saucunk Former location of Saucunk in Pennsylvania Show map of Pennsylvania Saucunk Saucunk (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:40°42′11″N80°17′0″W / 40.70306°N 80.28333°W /40.70306; -80.28333 | |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| Present-day Community | Rochester, Pennsylvania |
| Founded | about 1725 |
| Abandoned | August, 1763 |
| Population | |
• Estimate (1758) | 300−400 |
Saucunk orSawcunk (also known asSoh-kon,[2]Sacung,Sankonk,[3]: 141 Sackum,[4] orShingas' Town[5]) was a town established by theLenape andShawnees. It was the site of a Catholic mission and was visited byConrad Weiser,Christian Frederick Post andGeorge Croghan. The Lenape chiefsTamaqua,Pisquetomen,Captain Jacobs andShingas all lived there temporarily. Saucunk was abandoned after theBattle of Bushy Run in 1763.[6]
The name "Saucunk" is acorruption of the Lenape "pasakunk",[1] meaning "at the mouth or fork of a stream."[6][7]: 372
Saucunk was established at the mouth of theBeaver Creek by theLenape andShawnees, possibly as early as 1725, during their westward migration. The settlement extended to the bluff above the Ohio about a mile below the mouth of the Beaver. It was near the site of present-dayRochester, Pennsylvania.[6] The town was for many years the main community of theTurtle Division of the Lenape.[8]: 74 [9]
Conrad Weiser went to Saucunk when on his mission to the Western Indians in 1748. He says in his Journal under date of August 30: "I went to Beaver Creek, an Indian Town, about 8 miles off (fromLogstown), chiefly Delawares, the rest Mohocks, to have some belts ofwampum made...We both (Weiser andAndrew Montour) lodged at this town atGeorge Croghan's trading house."[5]
In 1755 Saucunk was used as a staging area byCaptain Jacobs andShingas for raids on British colonial settlements.[10] After the destruction ofKittanning in August, 1756, Shingas and his brotherPisquetomen lived at Saucunk until 1759, when the ongoingFrench and Indian War led them to move toKuskusky.[11]: 29 During this time, the community was often referred to as Shingas' Town.[5]: 203
Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger, both age 12, were captured during thePenn's Creek massacre on 16 October 1755. In her account of her captivity, Marie Le Roy reports that in November, 1756 she and Barbara Leininger "accompanied our Indian master to Sackum [Saucunk], where we spent the winter, keeping house for the savages, who were continually on the hunt."[4]
Hugh Gibson, 14, was captured in July, 1756, byLenape Indians, outsideRobinson's Fort,[12] near present-daySouthwest Madison Township, Pennsylvania. His mother and a neighbor were killed by the Indians, and he was brought toKittanning, where he was adopted by Shingas' brother Pisquetomen.[13] In the spring of 1757 Gibson and Pisquetomen moved to "Soh’-koon, at the mouth of the Big Beaver," where they lived together with Pisquetomen's Dutch wife for a year, then moved toMuskingum. In March, 1759, Gibson escaped, together with Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger and a Scotsman named David Brackenridge, and walked 250 miles to Fort Pitt (then under construction).[2]
Marie Le Roy states that in October 1758, after French and Indian forces were defeated in an attack on the British outpost ofFort Ligonier, most of the population of theKuskusky towns,Logstown and Saucunk fled to Muskingum.[4] John McCullough was 8 years old when he was captured by Lenape warriors in July, 1756, and brought to "Shenango," (a corruption ofChiningué). In his captivity narrative he reports living there with a Lenape family for two and a half years before moving to "Kseek-he-ooing" (possibly Saucunk) in late 1758. In December, 1764, McCullough was released along with over 200 other captives by order of ColonelHenry Bouquet.[14]
In July, 1757, Jesuit Father Claude Francis Virot founded a Catholic mission at Saucunk,[15]: 395 and was joined for a brief period by Father Pierre Joseph Antonie Rouboud. The Lenape ChiefPakanke, known for his dislike of missionaries, reportedly became jealous of Virot's influence over the community,[16]: 513 however, and the Jesuit was forced to leave afterFort Duquesne was captured by the British in November, 1758.[17]: 93–94 [11]: 1135 Virot is known as the only Jesuit who ever attempted to found a mission on the upper Ohio River.[17]: 95
Moravian missionaryChristian Frederick Post visited Saucunk in the summer and autumn of 1758.[5] He found the people there hostile towards him, as they believed that the British were planning to take control of Lenape territory. Post writes:[3]
We set out fromKushkushkee for Sankonk. My Company consisted of 25 Horsemen and 15 Foot. We arrived at Sankonk in the Afternoon. The People of the Town were much disturbed at my coming, and received me in a very rough Manner. They surrounded me with drawn Knives in their Hands, in such a Manner that I could hardly get along; running up against me with their Breasts open, as if they wanted some Pretence to kill me. I saw by their Countenances they sought my Death. Their Faces were quite distorted with Rage, and they went so far as to say I should not live long.[18]: 43
Post then met withWhite Eyes andGelelemend, the two principal war captains of the Turtle tribe at Saukunk, who had once been very hostile to Post's peace negotiations, but who now "received me very kindly" and "apologized for their former rude behaviour." The two warriors then escorted Post back to Kuskusky for a Grand Council meeting.[8]: 80
The French burned and abandonedFort Duquesne on 26 November and British forces led byJohn Forbes occupied it the next day. On 27 November, George Croghan and Andrew Montour crossed the Allegheny River and reached Saucunk on the 29th, where they were joined by Christian Frederick Post and Lieutenant John Hays.[19]: 300–301 Croghan's journal states that, "at Beaver Creek [Saucunk] there is thirty-eight houses, all built by the French for the Indians, some with stone chimneys. When all their men is at home they can Send out One Hundred Warriors."[20]: 43
On 7 February 1759, ColonelHugh Mercer received a report from aMohican scout that he had observed "at the Salt Spring above KaskaskiasKuskusky a large number of [French] troops." Mercer then held an important council with the Delawares atFort Pitt.
At that time,Tamaqua (also known asKing Beaver) was living at Saucunk. At this council on February 24, he announced that the Delawares wanted to move in order to avoid any fighting between the French and the British, stating, "The Six Nations and you desire that I would sit down and smoke my pipe at Kuskusky. I tell you this that you may think no ill of my removing from Saucunk to Kuskusky, for it is at the great desire of my brothers, the English, and my uncles, the Six Nations, and there I shall always hear your words."
Mercer reportedly replied, "Your Brothers, the English, desire to see you live in Peace and Happiness, either at Saucunk, Kuskusky, or wherever you think proper, and by no means intend to Limit you to one Place or another." In the spring of 1759, the Delawares moved from Saucunk and Kuskuskee to communities on theMuskingum River and theScioto River in Ohio.[11]: 29
The town was deserted after theBattle of Bushy Run, August 5 and 6, 1763. WhenColonel Henry Bouquet's expedition passed through the place in the autumn of 1764 on its way to the Tuscarawas, the chimneys of the houses which the French had built for the Indians were still standing. In his journal, Bouquet wrote:
October 6: Big Beaver Creek...runs through a rich vale, with a pretty strong current, its banks high, the upland adjoining it very good, the timber tall and young. About a mile below [Beaver Creek's] confluence with the Ohio stood formerly a large town, on a steep bank, built by the French, of square logs, with stone chimneys, for some of the Shawanese, Delawares and Mingo Tribes, who abandoned it in the year 1758, when the French deserted Fort Du Quesne. Near the fording of Beaver Creek stood about seven houses, which were deserted and destroyed by the Indians after their defeat at Bushy Run (August 6, 1763) when they forsook all their remaining settlements in this part of the country.
In 1778, British generalLachlan McIntosh orderedFort McIntosh to be constructed at the site of the village.[5] The fort became the headquarters for theDepartment of the West. The construction of the fort likely destroyed any evidence of the occupation of the historic Native Americans at this location.[21]
40°42′11″N80°17′0″W / 40.70306°N 80.28333°W /40.70306; -80.28333
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