Teedyuscung
Teedyuscung | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Lenape leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1700 near Trenton, New Jersey |
| Died | April 19, 1763 |
| Cause of death | murder by arson |
| Resting place | Wyoming, Pennsylvania |
| Children | Chief Bull |
Known for | Treaty of Easton, French and Indian War in Pennsylvania |
| Nickname | Gideon |
Teedyuscung (c. 1700–1763) was a Lenape (Delaware) leader known as the "King of the Delawares" who worked to establish a permanent home for the Lenape in northeastern Pennsylvania. Teedyuscung was born in New Jersey but settled near the Lehigh Gap by the early 1730s. He was baptised by Moravian missionaries in 1750 and for a few years lived at the mission settlement of Gnadenhütten on the Lehigh River. Disillusioned with the Moravians, he brought a group of Lenape and Mahican to the North Branch of the Susquehanna River Susquehanna River in 1754. During the French and Indian War, Teedyuscung led a raid that destroyed three isolated farmsteads but afterwards turned to diplomacy. He represented his people at peace talks with Pennsylvania's governor where he repeatedly claimed that the Lenape had been defrauded of their traditional territory. He advocated for the Wyoming Valley to be set aside as a Lenape homeland. At the conference at Easton in 1758, he was berated by the Haudenosaunee for presuming to speak for them. On April 19, 1763, several months after he warned off surveyors and labourers from the Susquehanna Company, Teedyuscung was murdered by arsonists. Six months later, Teedyuscung's son Captain Bull raided a new settlement in the Wyoming Valley, although it is unclear whether this was an act of vengeance for his father's murder or a part of Pontiac's War.
Early life
Teedyuscung, whose name means "as far as the wood's edge", was born circa 1700 near present-day Trenton, New Jersey.[1][2] He was raised among a group of Lenape who were acculturated to the ways of the colonists by the time he reached adulthood. Teedyuscung and his family wore European-style clothing and used other European goods in their daily lives. Many of them had converted to Christianity and spoke English.[2] Liquor introduced by traders deeply affected the rest of Teedyuscung's life.[2] The Lenape were driven out of the Trenton area by 1730 and Teedyuscung migrated with his wife and son to a piece of land located near the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers in what is now Northampton County, Pennsylvania.[1]
Leadership
After Teedyuscung moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, he came in contact with fellow Lenape who had not become accustomed to the ways of the colonial settlers. These Lenape still practiced many of the ceremonies and rituals of their ancestors. Teedyuscung became a spokesman for the Lenape who were forced to negotiate with the government of Colonial Pennsylvania.[1]
The Lenape lost most of the Lehigh Valley following the Walking Purchase of 1737. Teedyuscung remained with his fellow Lenape until 1749 or 1750 when he joined the Moravian Church at Lehighton. He did not remain with the Moravians for long. His biographer, Anthony F. C. Wallace, wrote,
Teedyuscung was of two minds, as far as white people were concerned, and what satisfied one offended the other. He was driven to identify himself with the Europeans by an acute sense of his insecurity and inferiority as a member of the broken Delaware society. But this same anxious sense of shame produced a belligerent, stubborn denial of the authority of the very people he admired.[1][3]: 52
Teedyuscung left the Moravian settlement in 1754 and settled farther north in the Wyoming Valley.[2] It was while living among other displaced Indians that Teedyuscung would declare himself "King of the Delawares" and assume a vital role in the negotiations between the Natives of Pennsylvania and the colonial government in Philadelphia.[4]
Conflict
Colonists continued to move onto Indian lands throughout eastern Pennsylvania and the Indians of the Wyoming Valley began to fight back. The Lenape in the Wyoming Valley felt pressure from three fronts. From the east came settlers from Connecticut which claimed the Wyoming Valley and all of Northern Pennsylvania. From the west were the French and their Indian allies who sought to prevent British expansion into the mountains of Pennsylvania.[1] And from the south came colonists with land grants from the colonial government in Philadelphia. The Lenape were also under pressure from a severe drought that affected their crops. Teedyuscung had turned to the Pennsylvania colonial government for aid. Pennsylvania referred him to the Iroquois Six Nations government. Neither the Iroquois or Governor Robert Morris were able to provide aid to the Lenape, who were attacked by French-allied Native Americans. Ultimately Teedyuscung chose to align his warriors with the western Delaware and French.[1]
Teedyuscung and other leaders commenced periodic raids on colonial settlements in Eastern Pennsylvania. The Natives sought retribution for the series of "purchases" that resulted in massive loss of land to the colonists.[4] Finally Teedyuscung and other leaders met in conferences in Philadelphia and Easton.[2]
This very Ground that is under me (striking it with his Foot) was my Land and Inheritance, and is taken from me by Fraud.
— Teedyuscung to Colonial Officials, 1756[5]
At the 1758 negotiations for the Treaty of Easton, Teedyuscung claimed to represent the French allied Delaware Indians and the Six Nations of the Iroquois, the Shawnee, the Mahican, and the Christian Munsee.[6] He sought a promise from the Pennsylvania government that the lands of the Wyoming Valley would be reserved for the displaced Indians of the area.[4] Teedyuscung encountered opposition in the talks at Easton and in later talks with the William Penn's family, and the Iroquois Confederacy that he claimed to "represent" in the negotiations.[4] The powerful Iroquois Confederacy claimed the Wyoming Valley and that the Lenape simply lived there with its permission. A combination of competing interests led to the eventual demise of Teedyuscung and his settlement at Wyolutimunk.[1]
Diplomat
Teedyuscung made several attempts to act as an intermediary between the Western Lenape and the Pennsylvania government. He dispatched several messengers, including his son, to the Ohio Country; however, his peace overtures were snubbed due to a failure to follow protocol. Teedyuscung wanted to broker peace with the western Lenape to bolster his reputation, but he failed to provide his messengers with wampum belts, meaning they had no formal standing. He also interfered with Governor Denny's attempts at peace. In 1757, he discouraged the government's emissary, Christian Frederick Post, from proceeding to the Ohio Country. The following year Teedyuscung again tried to stop Post from travelling west as he did not want to "share the glory of securing peace."[7] In 1760, Post and militia Lieutenant John Hays were asked to accompany Teedyuscung to a "great concourse in the west. They followed the Forbidden Path along the Chemung River from Tioga but at the Mingo village of Conisteo (Secaughcung), they were warned not to proceed further. Hays recorded that the Mingos said "if we Came any farther they would Rost us in the fire." Post and Hays turned back but Teedyuscung was allowed to continue. While the "great concourse" on the Mahoning River achieved nothing, Teedyuscung was an observer at the conference at Fort Pitt in August that resulted in a formal peace agreement between the British and the Indigenous nations of the Ohio Country.[3]
Death
The Iroquois were not pleased that Teedyuscung claimed to negotiate on their behalf and they refused to recognize the Lenape claim to any lands in the Wyoming Valley. The Quaker founders of Pennsylvania were losing control of their colony. As pacifists they did not fight against those who were willing to fight for the colony and settle on lands that the Quakers had promised to the Indians. The Colonies of Virginia and Connecticut settled lands in Pennsylvania that were part of their charters.[1] The competing interests of the Iroquois, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Virginia did not allow Teedyuscung and his people to live in the peace that was promised.[1]
Teedyuscung was a casualty of the peace that brought about the end of the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania. The colonists agreed to pull back from settlements in the Ohio country in exchange for peace east of the Appalachians. The Iroquois refused to grant a permanent home for Teedyuscung and his people in the Wyoming Valley.[1] The promised investigation into the Walking Purchase was passed from the colonial government in Philadelphia to the British government in London, where it was eventually dropped. Teedyuscung was left unsupported and unprotected.[1]
On April 19, 1763 his cabin and 20 others were burned to the ground by arsonists. Teedyuscung was asleep in his cabin at the time and perished in the blaze. The residents of Teedyuscung's village fled and settlers from the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut soon took their place. Teedyuscung's dream of a Lenape home in the Wyoming Valley ended with his death.[1]
Legacy
A historical marker, located on Pennsylvania Route 92, marks the location of Wyolutimunk, a Lenape hamlet where Teedyuscung, Post and Hays encamped on May 17, 1760 while on their way to Tioga and the "great concourse in the West."[8]
A marker in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was erected in 2005 to commemorate Teedyuscung's efforts to "uphold the dignity of Native Americans" and protect their right to land.[9]
According to local folklore, a marble statue in Philadelphia's Wissahickon Valley Park depicts Teedyuscung. The statue is perched halfway up a cliff on a rocky protrusion known as Council Rock and was carved by noted Scottish-American sculptor John Massey Rhind. It depicts a minimally clothed Indigenous male wearing a war bonnet — an ornate headdress never worn by the Lenape. Neither Rhind, nor Charles W. Henry who commissioned the 1902 work, intended it to represent Teedyuscung. It was instead meant as a tribute to local Indigenous history. The statue replaced an earlier painted board sculpture erected in 1856 by local landowner Joseph Middleton who had embraced the folklore that the site was the location of Lenape councils attended by Teedyuscung. There is no documentary evidence, however, that suggests the Lenape leader ever visited the Wissahickon Valley.[10][11]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Linda Matys O'Connell; David Venditta (2006-11-27). "How peace was made". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Wyolutimunk". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
- 1 2 Wallace, Anthony F.C. (1949). King of the Delawares: Teedyuscung (1700–1763). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. OCLC 1428901. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via Internet Archive.
- 1 2 3 4 "The Indians of Pennsylvania". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ↑ "Wyolutimunk Historical Marker". explorepahistory.com. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
- ↑ Mark Turdo (2006-11-27). "How Indians, colonists found common ground". Morning Call. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ↑ Champion, Walter T. (1980). "Christian Frederick Post and the Winning of the West". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 104 (3): 308–25.
- ↑ "Wyolutimunk Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved August 22, 2026.
- ↑ "Teedyuscung Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved August 22, 2026.
- ↑ Wallace, Ethan (2013). "A Monument to Ignorance". Hidden City: Exploring Philadelphia's Urban Landscape. Retrieved August 22, 2026.
- ↑ O'Gorman, Alexander (2021). Teedyuscung, a Man, a Statue: Folklore, Stories, and Native American Commemorative Statues and Monuments (MA thesis). Philadelphia: Temple University.