Pisquetomen was a Lenape chief who acted as interpreter and negotiator for the Lenape in dealings with the Provincial government of Pennsylvania during the mid-eighteenth century.
19 Facts About Pisquetomen
1.
2.
Pisquetomen eventually participated in peace negotiations that led to the Treaty of Easton in 1758, and is believed to have died in 1762.
3.
Pisquetomen, his older brother Nenatcheehunt, and his two younger brothers Tamaqua and Shingas were probably born in the Tulpehocken Creek Valley, in Berks and Lebanon counties, Pennsylvania.
4.
In 1731, the Lenape chief Sassoonan visited Philadelphia accompanied by his nephew Pisquetomen, to meet with James Logan, an influential statesman who was then secretary for the Pennsylvania Provincial Council.
5.
Pisquetomen served as the official interpreter for Chief Nutimus in the Walking Purchase negotiated between the Lenape and the Pennsylvania government in 1737.
6.
Pisquetomen was seen as a likely successor to Chief Sassoonan, however the colonists were wary of his political influence and knew that he was embittered by the Walking Purchase.
7.
Pisquetomen was a Lenape leader who could unify the Lenape, both east and west.
8.
Pisquetomen's experiences represented what the Lenape were facing in Pennsylvania.
9.
Pisquetomen had known displacement, when his people were forced from the Tulpehocken Valley in 1732, and then a sense of freedom and independence when he moved his followers west into Kittanning.
10.
Pisquetomen was not a pliable figurehead who would help the Six Nations control the Lenape.
11.
Pisquetomen's rejection did not sit well with many western Lenape.
12.
Gibson says that Pisquetomen was disabled due to "a wound received by his knife in skinning a deer," and adopted Gibson to assist him.
13.
Rather than have him killed, Pisquetomen instead took Gibson to live with him in a tent outside Kuskusky, probably to avoid a conflict with Pisquetomen's brother.
14.
On one occasion, Gibson refused an offer of marriage to a Lenape woman, and Pisquetomen beat him with a hickory rod.
15.
In late 1757, Pisquetomen accused Gibson of planning to escape, and threatened to have him burned alive, until Gibson apologized.
16.
Gibson shamed Pisquetomen by calling him "brother," and meekly accepting the punishment.
17.
Pisquetomen was instructed by Deputy Governor Denny to offer amnesty to all Lenape who had participated in frontier raids against Pennsylvania if they would now support the British.
18.
Pisquetomen is mentioned several times in the journal of James Kenny, a Quaker frontiersman who was hired by Israel Pemberton Jr.
19.
Kenny reports that Pisquetomen "often called himself a Quaker," although it does not appear that Pisquetomen ever formally converted to Christianity.