“WE HAVE GREAT REASON TO BELIEVE YOU INTEND TO DRIVE US AWAY. WHY DO YOU COME TO FIGHT IN THE LAND GOD HAS GIVEN US? WHY DON’T YOU FIGHT IN THE OLD COUNTRY AND ON THE SEA? WHY DO YOU COME TO FIGHT ON OUR LAND?” SHINGAS 

Shingas (1740-1763?) was a noted chief of the Turkey Clan of the Delaware; he was also a brother of King (Tamaqua) Beaver (an immensely famous chief as well in our region).  Many authorities (chiefs) of the Ohio Valley region proclaimed him a nephew of the infamous Sassoonan, another famous chief of the region. Shingas carved a bloodthirsty reputation in the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio valley region, and he had reason to.

Shingas did become a king in 1752 (this claim was announced at Logstown by Tanacharison, a well-known chief in the Beaver County and surrounding areas), a time when Beaver County was not in existence, but had accrued a bloody and violent history between White Settlers and various Iroquois and Algonquin tribes. The direct quote from Chief Tannacharison is as follows, “that is our right to give you a King” to represent the Lenape in “all publick Business” between the Lenape, the Six Nations, and the British.” Tanacharison announced to the Virginia commissioners, “we have given our Cousins, the Delawars, a King, who lives there, we desire you will look upon him as a Chief of that Nation.” Shingas was absent from the treaty conference, so Tamaqua (Shingas brother, King Beaver) “stood proxy for his brother and was presented with a lace hat and jacket and suit.” In another preserved journal by the Virginia Commissioners, the following is recorded verbatim, “The Journal of the Virginia Commissioners to this treaty, under date of June 11th, describes his coronation as follows: “Afterwards the Half King [Tanacharison] spoke to the Delawares: ‘Nephews, you received a speech last year from your brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania and from us, desiring you to choose one of the wisest councellors, and present him to us for a King. As you have not done it, we let you know it is our right to give you a King, and we think proper to give you Shingas for your King, whom you must look upon as your head chief, and with whom all public business must be transacted between you and your brethren, the English. On which the Half King put a laced hat on the head of The Beaver, who stood proxy for his brother, Shingas, and presented him with a rich jacket and a suit of English clothes, which had been delivered to the Half King by the Commissioners for that ¹purpose.” 

The trouble and conflict with white settlers escalated with the building of Fort Pitt. (Present day Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh.) The struggle to control this area of Beaver and Allegheny County was between Great Britain and France and the Six Nations of the Iroquois (“Haudenosaunee”, Iroquois name pronounced HOH-din-oh-SHOH-nee); at this time, the Delaware Tribes (Delaware were Algonquian Indians) were looked upon as inferior to the Iroquois who claimed to the French and English that they owned the lands. (This would include ALL present-day Allegheny and Beaver and Butler County.) Shingas, however, did not recognize Iroquois authority; consequently, he began his own raids on the white settlements established in the areas, even as far as Virginia. Shingas and a band of loyal followers took part in a dark and bloody campaign throughout all the frontier country of Pennsylvania, carving out a fearless and violent reputation as a warrior and zealous Delaware Indian. Even declining to assist George Washington at Fort Necessity, Shingas continued his terrible campaign through regions of Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Beaver County, Butler County, and even as far as Crawford County. ² However, there is mention of him by Washington himself in his journal in 1753 when he travelled to the French forts in the region; he discovered Shingas residing in what is now McKees Rocks near present-day Pittsburgh and commented on the following, “About two miles from this [the Forks of the Ohio], on the Southeast side of the River at ‘a place where the Ohio Company intended to erect a fort, lives Shingas, King of the Delawares. We called upon him to invite him to council at the Logs Town. Shingas attended us to the Logs Town, where we arrived between sun setting and dark on the 25th day after I left Williamsburg.” Shingas did participate in the discussions at Logstown and then left for the villages of Venango and Le Beouf.

In 1754, we discover Shingas again in the history of our area. He met with two diplomats by the names of George Croghan and Andrew Montour at Logstown. For this occasion, Shingas was joined by two other famous chiefs by the names of “Delaware George” and “Scarouady”. The primary purpose for Shingas was to present a requisition to the Governor of Virginia to consider building a “strong-house” at the forks of the Ohio River; just before the closing of these proceedings, Shingas rose from his place and spoke the following, “Brother Onas: I am glad to hear all our people here are of one mind. It is true I live on the river side, which is the French road, and I assure you by these strings of wampum [gave them strings of wampum] that I will neither go down or up, but will remove nearer to my brethren, the English, where I can keep our women and children safe from the enemy.” Shingas did not keep this promise; he sided with the French. After Braddock’s defeat, Shingas continued his bloody and ruthless reputation on the Ohio Valley frontier in unfathomable ways. During much of the French and Indian War, he spent his time convincing other tribes of the region such as Kittanning, Logstown and Sawkunk (a now famous Indian village near present-day Bridgewater/Rochester) to indulge in resisting against any white settler arriving in the region.

Unsurprisingly, the white settlers in our region were not able to effectively extinguish Shingas hit and raid tactics that he and his warriors were infamously known for. As his reputation grew, the colonial governments of both Pennsylvania and Virginia offered a substantial reward for his capture or death. His two most famous acts of cruelty are the burning of Fort McCord and the capture and killing of members of the Knox and Martin families. In one incident, some members of the families were sold like cattle to other frontiersman for rum or blankets.

However, it was during the Kittanning Expedition that Shingas mystically vanished from history. This incursion of the French and Indian War left the Delaware’s without an official residence in the area, forcing them to relocate to present day Ohio. According to some unverifiable accounts, Shingas may have contracted smallpox and met his end. Still, some say he was killed by White Settlers while on route to Ohio, as his fearless and bloody reputation had finally caught up with him. In another account, his brother, King Beaver (remember, whom the town of Beaver is referred), may have manipulated his brother into moving out of the area as they did not agree on how White Settlers should be dealt with. There is no evidence in existence at this time of how Shingas met his end. In the last of authentic historical narrative, Shingas is mentioned in taking part in the siege of Fort Pitt in July of 1763; from this incident, he is mentioned no longer.

Shingas bloodthirsty and despicable reputation entertains a higher level of indifference among scholars and local historians; however, his legacy on the Pennsylvania/Ohio frontier is legendary. He is, perhaps, the first ‘outlaw’ in our area; albeit, to his people, he was a man of intense loyalty, courage, and compassion who protected them from the expansion and settlements of White Authority.

On a final note, although Shingas and King Beaver are ‘credited’ as being Kings, it is highly unlikely, because of the Delaware traditions in place at the time, which could not have made them so. To be a TRUE KING, you had to be a ‘member’ of the ‘Turtle Clan’ and not the ‘Turkey Clan’ in order to be a TRUE KING of the DELAWARE. Does this tarnish the brothers’ reputations or their contributions to the development of our area? I think not. 

In closing, I think it proper to include of what we have of Shingas reputation as a warrior. It is from Reverend Heckewelder (A missionary of the Moravian Church in Pennsylvania), one of the LEADING authorities on Delaware Indian history and custom. He wrote the following on Shingas:

“Were his war exploits on record, they would form an interesting document, though a shocking one. Conococheague, Big Cove, Sherman’s Valley, and other settlements along the frontier, felt his strong arm sufficiently that he was a bloody warrior, cruel his treatment, relentless his fury. His person was small, but in a point of courage and activity, savage prowess, he was said to have never been exceeded by anyone.”

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