Custaloga

Custaloga (also known as Kustaloga, Tuscologas, Packanke, or Pakanke) was a chief of the Wolf Clan of the Delaware (Lenape) tribe in the mid-18th century. He initially supported the French at the beginning of the French and Indian War, but after Pontiac's War he participated in peace negotiations. He opposed the presence of Catholic missionaries, but later in life he became favorable to the Moravians. Captain Pipe was his nephew and succeeded him as chief.

Biography

Thomas Hutchins' 1778 map of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina showing "Custaloga's Town" in the upper right hand corner, below Lake Erie.

Birth and early life

Little is known of the early life of Custaloga. Custaloga's family settled in the Ohio River Valley around 1740, and he may have been born there. He was born as Packanke into the Wolf Clan of his mother. The Lenape had a matrilineal kinship system, in which descent and hereditary leadership were passed through the mother's line. Children were born into the mother's clan and gained their social status there. Custaloga was raised among the Munsee division of the Lenape, which until about 1760 was only loosely associated with the Lenape living to the south and east.

Custaloga's Town

Around 1749, when Custaloga was living at Cussewago, (along French Creek, at the present-day site of Meadville, Pennsylvania), he established a sizeable village at the confluence of French Creek and North Deer Creek in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. This town, known as "Custaloga's Town," or sometimes "Ticastoroga," became his principal seat. The Seneca warrior Guyasuta is believed to have been buried at Custaloga's Town.

Affliliation with the French

Custaloga's name is first documented in western Pennsylvania's history in July 1753, when Pennsylvania trader William Trent noted that Custaloga's people were helping the French move their supplies across the portage at Fort Presque Isle. Some of the men at Custaloga's Town relocated to Fort Presque Isle and Fort LeBoeuf in order to work for the French in return for corn, clothing and muskets. On August 15, the French decided to occupy the trading post of John Fraser, an English fur trader who had lived there for several years, and who provided British trade goods to the residents of Custaloga's Town. Custaloga assisted the French by capturing and handing over two traders who had just arrived at Fraser's trading post. Fraser and his employee Willson were forced to flee, and 75 French soldiers took over Fraser's cabin, allowing Custaloga to confiscate Fraser's trade goods. Fraser reported that Custaloga was "made a Captain by the French." At that time, Custaloga was in charge of the wampum and kept the belts at his home in Custaloga's Town. He was in favor of remaining allied with the French, and when Washington visited him, he initially refused to give up the wampum, on the excuse that Shingas had sent no speech for the occasion,

French and Indian War

In 1757, Custaloga adopted Christian Hochstetler, a 13-year-old Swiss settler who was taken prisoner after Lenape warriors burned his family's home during the Hochstetler massacre on September 19, 1757. In 1762, Christian's father Jacob learned that Christian was living with "King Kastateeloca" and petitioned Governor James Hamilton for assistance in getting his son back. Christian was released after a peace treaty negotiated by Colonel Henry Bouquet in October 1764.

In July 1757, Jesuit Father Claude Francis Virot founded a Catholic mission at Saucunk, and was joined for a brief period by Father Pierre Joseph Antonie Rouboud. Custaloga, known for his dislike of missionaries, reportedly became jealous of Virot's influence over the community, however, and the Jesuit was forced to leave after Fort Duquesne was captured by the British in November, 1758.

Pontiac's War

William Trent mentions in his journal that from July 22-24, 1763, during the Siege of Fort Pitt, "Custaluga" attended a council meeting with "Gray Eyes, Wingenum, Turtle's Heart and Mamaultee." There is some evidence that Custaloga was among the leaders of the Native American forces defeated at the Battle of Bushy Run in August 1763. Custaloga maintained his support for the French, however, as indicated by a report he sent to Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial, Governor General of New France, describing his meeting with Bouquet on December 4, 1764. In his report, transcribed by a French officer and sent under the name "Casteogain," he said that the British apologized for their intrusion into the Ohio Valley and, instead of expecting the captives to be returned, told the chiefs that those captives already adopted or married could remain with them, except for the aged, who would be returned once peace was confirmed. Custaloga also claimed that Bouquet openly requested Lenape assistance in persuading the French to abandon the Ohio Country. It remains unclear whether Custaloga was present at the meeting with Bouquet on December 4, or whether he heard this story from someone else or was, in fact, only telling the French what he thought they wanted to hear.

On May 10 1765, Custaloga attended a conference at Fort Pitt, together with Tamaqua, Netawatwees, Wingenund, Guyasuta, White Eyes, Captain Pipe, and other chiefs of the western tribes, for the purpose of resuming trade relations between Pennsylvania and the Lenape after the end of Pontiac's War. In 1770, Custologa's friend Glikhikan, a former warrior who served as a speaker for the Lenape community at Kuskusky, decided to confront the Moravian missionaries about their teachings, which he wanted to refute. He went to the Moravian mission at Friedensstadt and listened to David Zeisberger, planning to dispute the missionary's doctrine, but found himself persuaded that Zeisberger was telling the truth. Shortly after this, he took Zeisberger to the valley surrounding the Beaver River, where the Lenape owned a large tract of open land, to which Zeisberger was given access. The Moravians established a town there which eventually became Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Soon afterwards, a dispute erupted among the Lenape over the growing number of Christian converts in Lenape communities, which sometimes led to conflicts as the Christians were opposed to the use of alcohol and objected to some traditional customs. At a Grand Council meeting in 1771, it was proposed that the Christians move to separate communities in the Ohio Valley. Custaloga opposed this, but eventually many Christian Lenape relocated to new communities on the Tuscarawas River and the Muskingum River in eastern Ohio. In 1774, Netawatwees sent Custaloga a message, asking him to convert to Christianity: "You and I are both old and know not how long we shall live. Therefore, let us do a good work before we depart, and leave a testimony to our children and posterity, that we have received the word of God. Let this be our last will and testament."

Following this date little is recorded about Custaloga. On May 1, 1774 a message was sent to Custaloga and various other Delaware leaders, apologizing for the Yellow Creek Massacre, and Custaloga replied from Custaloga's Town on May 16. On October 14, "King Custalogo" was among Native American leaders who met with Lord Dunmore in Williamsburg. On November 29 1778, Colonel James Smith led 400 troops on the French Creek Expedition from Fort Pitt to Custaloga's Town, but found it evacuated.

Custaloga may have died as early as 1775. A Boy Scout camp, Custaloga Town Scout Reservation, is named for him and located at the former site of Custaloga's village along French Creek in French Creek Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Chief Pakanke is mentioned on a historical marker in Beaver, Pennsylvania, in relation to his expulsion of Catholic Missionaries from Saukunk.