BULL. 30] 



SHAMOKIN 



525 



he held several conferences. A friend- 

 ship sprang up between the Iroquois 

 deputy and the Moravian Brethren which 

 lasted during the life of the wise chief, 

 who was one of the most conservative of 

 the leaders of the Six Nations. Zinzen- 

 dorf was very much interested in the Iro- 

 quois vicegerent, and wrote much about 

 this visit to Shamokin in his journal 

 (Mem. Moravian Church, 84 et seq. , 1870). 

 Various missionaries of the Moravian 

 Church labored at Shamokin from this 

 time until its abandonment in 1755, 

 among them being Mack, Post, Pyrlfeus, 

 and Zeisberger. During these days the 

 Indian settlement had a bad reputation. 

 Martin Mack, who with his wife was 

 obliged to flee to the woods nearly every 

 night from the drunken savages, said 

 that it "was the very seat of the Prince 

 of Darkness." David Brainerd, who vis- 

 ited the village each year, said in 1745: 

 "The town lies partly on the east and 

 west shores of the river and partly on 

 the island. It contains upwards of 50 

 houses and 300 inhabitants. The In- 

 dians of the place are accounted the 

 most drunken, mischievous, and ruffian- 

 like fellows of any in these parts — about 

 one-half are Delawares and the others 

 are Senecas and Tutelars" (Mem. Mo- 

 ravian Church, 67, 1870). At the coun- 

 cil at Philadeljihia in 1744 the Delawares 

 stated that the Shawnee had removed 

 to the Ohio, chiefly through the influence 

 of Peter Chartier (Col. Rec. Pa., iv, 757, 

 1851). In the year before a number of 

 the Conoy Indians had removed to Sha- 

 mokin (ibid., 657). In 1747 the Mora- 

 vians built a smithy in the village at the 

 request of Shikellamy. The Delaware 

 "king," Allummapees, died in 1747, and 

 Shikellamy, the Iroquois deputy, died in 

 the year following. In 1749 all the In- 

 dians were obliged to leave Shamokin for 

 want of provisions (Arch. Pa., ii, 23, 

 1852). Taghneghdoarus, Shikellamy's 

 eldest son, at the request of Weiser, be- 

 came the deputy of the Iroquois in the 

 province (see Weiser's Journals of his 

 three visits to Shamokin in 1743, 1744, in 

 Col. Rec. Pa., iv, 640, 646, 680, 1851). 

 At the treaty of Albany (1754) the Iro- 

 quois reserved the lands at Shamokin and 

 W voming as their hunting grounds ( ibid. , 

 VI, 119, 1851). John Shikellamy, the 

 eldest son of the old Oneida vicegerent, 

 was appointed to look after these lands 

 and all Iroquois affairs in the province. 

 Gov. Morris, in a letter to Gen. Shirley, 

 tells of the Indian raids near Shamokin 

 and gives a description of the location as 

 suitable for a fort (ibid., 665). In 1755, 

 after Braddock's defeat, the entire region 

 was at the mercy of the hostile Dela- 

 wares and Shawnee. The former, who 

 were faithful to the English, were obliged 



to leave Shamokin. Scarouady, at the 

 council in Philadelphia in the fall of 

 1755, spoke very plainly concerning the 

 situation, and said that if the English 

 "will not light with us we will go some- 

 where else" (ibid., 686). In the winter 

 of 1755 Gov. Morris spoke of his inten- 

 tion of building a fort at Shamokin to 

 protect the frontier (ibid., 701). At the 

 council at Carlisle (1756), The Belt, a 

 Delaware chief, askecl that a fort be built 

 at Shamokin for the protection of the 

 friendly Indians and as a place of refuge 

 for their wives and children when they 

 were away (ibid., vii, 6, 1851). This re- 

 quest was repeated at the council at Phila- 

 delphia in the spring (ibid., 54). At a 

 council held in April (1756) Scarouady 

 spoke of the importance of the English 

 having a fort at this place to which the 

 friendly Indians could go (ibid., 80). 

 He later informed the governor that he 

 and all the women and children were go- 

 ing to Onondaga, and that they would 

 return when a fort was built at Shamokin 

 (ibid., 90). In May, Gov. Morriswasat 

 Harris Ferry, on his way to Shamokin, 

 where a fort was to be built. During the 

 spring and summer of 1756 the fort was 

 built on the e. bank of the Susquehanna, 

 just below the junction of the North and 

 West branches, at the upper end of the 

 present Sunbury. The French realizing 

 the necessity of holding this point, sent 

 an expedition in the fall of 1756 to build 

 a fort at the place. They reached the 

 mouth of Loyal Sock or., and finding the 

 force at work building Ft Augusta, re- 

 treated. Col. Clapham, who had charge 

 of the building of the fort, was succeeded 

 by Col. James Burd (see Archives Pa., 

 2d s., II, 745-820, 1890). In June, 1756, 

 just previous to the coming of the English 

 force to build the fort, all the houses in 

 the place were burned by hostile Indians 

 (Col. Rec. Pa., vii, 154, 1851). Various 

 Indian agents were appointed to reside at 

 Ft Augusta during this period (ibid., 

 yiii, 99, 128, 501, 1852). A number of 

 important conferences were held with 

 the Indians at Ft Augusta by Col. Francis 

 in 1769 (ibid., ix, 610-620, 1852). After 

 the conclusion of the French and Indian 

 war the clamor of the "peace at any 

 price" element in the province led to 

 the dismantling of the fort. The condi- 

 tions along the frontiers were deplorable; 

 nearly the entire region on the West 

 branch was entirely deserted. After the 

 commencement of the Revolution the 

 fort became the military headquarters 

 for the upper Susquelianna, and during 

 the entire period the authorities at the 

 fort were kept busy. The massacre of 

 Wyoming and the Big Runaway filled Ft 

 Augusta with people who had left their 

 homes to escape the fury of the Indians. 



