Shikellamy, Vicegerent of Six Nations, Died in Shamokin, December 17, 1748

Shikellamy is the most picturesque and historic Indian character who ever lived in Pennsylvania. His early life is shrouded in mystery.

It has been claimed that he was a Susquehannock by birth, but others claim his father was a Frenchman. John Bartram, who accompanied Conrad Weiser and Lewis Evans to Onondaga in 1743, wrote of Shikellamy in his journal: “July 10, 1743—He was of the Six Nations, or rather a Frenchman born at Montreal, and adopted by the Oneidoes after being taken a prisoner, but his son told me that he (the son) was of the Cayuga Nations.”

Dr. Crantz, in the “History of the Brethren,” 1768, writes of Shikellamy:

“When he was spoken to concerning baptism, he said he had been baptized in infancy. We were informed afterward that he was born of European parents in French Canada, taken prisoner when a child two years old and brought up among the Indians. He was so much altered in his way of life that he was hardly distinguished from other savages.”

His name, according to Dr. George P. Donehoo, State Librarian and an eminent authority on the Indians of Pennsylvania, is a much corrupted form of the Oneida chieftain title, Ongwaternohiat-he, meaning, “It has caused the sky to be light for us.” The other name, Swataney, is a corrupt form of Onkhiswathe-tani, “He causes it to be light for us.”

The official spelling of the name is Skikellamy.

He was early trained in war, and for his valor was rewarded by adoption into the Oneida tribe, of which he eventually became the chief, an exceptional distinction for one not a member of the tribe and possibly not a full-blooded Indian by birth. It is not probable that he was appointed vicegerent before 1728. He was not present at the treaty with the Five Nations in Philadelphia in July of the preceding year, and James Le Tort does not mention him among the Indians of consequence whom he met “on the upper parts of the River Susquehanna” in the winter of 1727–28.

885The first conference that he attended in Philadelphia was that of July 4–5, 1728, but it does not appear that he took any part in the proceedings. He was present on a similar occasion in the following October, when, after the close of the conference, the Council considered “what present might be proper to be made to Shikellamy, of the Five Nations, appointed to reside among the Shawnese, whose services had been and may yet further be of great advantage to this Government.”

At the close of a conference several years later, the Governor having represented that Shikellamy was “a trusty good man and a great lover of the English,” commissioned him as a bearer of a present to the Six Nations and a message inviting them to visit Philadelphia. This they accordingly accepted, arriving August 18, 1732.

Shikellamy was present on this occasion and he and Conrad Weiser were employed to transact business between the Indians and the Provincial Government. He was a great friend of James Logan, and named one of his sons after this popular provincial officer.

In August, 1740, he went to Philadelphia to inquire against whom the British were making preparations for war, rumors of which had reached the great council at Onondaga. He was also present at the conference in Philadelphia July, 1742, at the treaty in Lancaster in June and July, 1744, and at Philadelphia conference in the following August. On April, 1748, accompanied by his son and Conrad Weiser, he visited Philadelphia for the last time, but no business of a public nature was transacted.

One of the chief facts of his life as vicegerent of the Iroquois confederation was his great friendliness to the cause of the Moravian missionaries among the Indians. All the prominent leaders of the Moravian Church who came to the Susquehanna region, visited him at his home at Shamokin, and were kindly received. Count Zinzindorf was among these and none was more favorably impressed with the old Oneida diplomat. His journal for September 22, 1742, reads:

“He was truly an excellent and good man, possessed of many noble qualities of mind, that would do honor to many white men, laying claims to refinement and intelligence. He was possessed of great dignity, sobriety and prudence, and was particularly noted for his extreme kindness to the inhabitants with whom he came in contact.”

Loskiel, who knew him well, thus speaks of him: “Being the first magistrate, and head chief of all the Iroquois Indians living on the banks of the Susquehanna, as far as Onondaga, he thought it incumbent upon him to be very circumspect in his dealings with the white people. He assisted the missionaries in building, and defended them against the insults of the drunken Indians; being himself never addicted to drinking, because, as he expressed it, he never wished to become a fool.”

He had built his house upon pillars, for safety, in which he always shut himself up when any drunken frolic was going on in the village.

886He had been taken ill on a trip to Philadelphia, but so far recovered that he had visited Conrad Weiser at Tulpehocken, April, 1748, and completed the trip to Philadelphia.

He was again taken ill upon his return to Shamokin, and, in June, Council was advised he was so ill that he might lose his eyesight, but he recovered sufficiently to make a trip to Bethlehem early in December. On his return he became so ill that he only reached his home by the assistance of Bishop Zeisberger.

His death occurred December 17, 1748, and was extremely pathetic. His daughter and the Reverend David Zeisberger were with him during his last illness and death.

Bishop Zeisberger and Henry Fry made him a coffin, and the Indians painted the body in their gayest colors, bedecked it with his choicest ornaments, and placed with him his weapons, according to Indian custom. Then after Christian rites conducted by the good Bishop, he was buried in the Indian burying ground of his people, near the site of old Fort Augusta, in the present Sunbury.

Shikellamy left to mourn him three sons and a daughter. Another son, Unhappy Jake, was killed in the war with the Catawba in 1743. The three sons who survived were Taghneghdoarus, also known as John Shikellamy, who succeeded his distinguished father in authority, but never gained the confidence in which he was held by Indians or whites; Tahgahjute or Sayughtowa, better known as James Logan, the most celebrated of the children of Shikellamy, and John Petty. His daughter was the widow of Cajadies, the “best hunter among all the Indians,” who died in November, 1747.

After the death of Shikellamy, Shamokin declined as a center of Indian affairs. His death was the beginning of evil days. His son Taghneghdoarus was made chief, but was unable to restrain his people.