Shikellamy

Shikellamy (died December 6, 1748), also spelled Shickellamy and also known as Swatana, was an Oneida chief and overseer for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In his position as chief and overseer, Shikellamy served as a supervisor for the Six Nations, overseeing the Shawnee and Lenape tribes in central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River and protecting the southern border of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. While his birth date is not known, his first recorded historical appearance was in Philadelphia in 1728. In 1728 he was living in a Shawnee village in Pennsylvania near modern Milton, and moved in 1742 to the village of Shamokin, modern day Sunbury, at the confluence of the West and North Branches of the Susquehanna. Shikellamy was an important figure in the early history of the Province of Pennsylvania and served as a go-between for the colonial government in Philadelphia and the Haudenosaunee chiefs in Onondaga. He welcomed Conrad Weiser to Shamokin and served as Weiser's guide on his journeys into the frontier of Pennsylvania and New York.

Emissary for the Haudenosaunee in Pennsylvania Shikellamy's portrait from the Appletons article on “Swatane” Although it is not known when or where Shikellamy was born, his first appearance in the historical record is his 1728 visit to Philadelphia, the provincial capital of Pennsylvania.

Shikellamy was rewarded for his efforts in the Walking Purchase and other treaties by the colonial government of Pennsylvania. In 1744 Conrad Weiser supervised the construction of a house for Shikellamy at Shamokin. The house was long, wide, and was covered with a shingle roof. "The Spreading Oak" known to the white men as John Shikellamy; and in Jones' History of the Juniata Valley, known as Captain Logan. The second son, Tah-gah-jute or Sayughtowa, meaning "his eyebrows stick out and over", hence spying or "The Beetling Brow," better known as James Logan, renamed for Secretary Logan of Germantown, the Secretary of the Provincial Council, but in later life and to history-Logan, the Mingo. Another son was Arahhot, probably identical with "Unhappy Jake" who was killed in the war with the Catawbas in 1744. John Petty or Sogogeghyata, was the youngest of the four brothers, and bore the name of a Shamokin Indian Trader. Dr John W Jordan states that a fifth son was also killed in battle. Shikellamy also had a daughter, the widow of Cajadies, known as "the best hunter among all the Indians" who died in November 1747. Shikellamy's wife is known as Neanoma, a Cayuga whom he married in New York State a dozen years before removing to Pennsylvania. The children taking the clan or tribe of the mother are referred to as Cayugas as was the tradition.

After his death, Shikellamy was succeeded by his son John Shikellamy, also known as John Logan and Tachnachdoarus (spreading oak). Another one of Shikellamy's sons, James Logan, was named for James Logan, the Quaker Provincial Secretary of Pennsylvania and de facto Superintendent of Indian Affairs. One of these two sons — historians have disagreed which one — later became well known in American history as "Chief Logan," who played a pivotal role in Dunmore's War in 1774 and issued an oft-quoted speech known as "Logan's Lament." A third son was named John Petty, after a trader. Two of his sons were killed in battle.

Statement of Jesse Logan, aged 106 years old and Great Grandson of Chief Shikellamy

Legacy

Shikellamy is a prominent name in Northumberland County today. Shikellamy State Park, Shikellamy High School, and Chief Shikellamy Elementary School carry on his name. In fact, the Shikellamy School District, which owns and operates both of the aforementioned schools, was named after him when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania commissioned it in 1964. In Berks County, there was a local Boy Scout camp named after Shikellamy (Shikellamy Scout Reservation) that closed in 1978. Above the camp, there is a rock outlook named Shikellamy Summit along the Appalachian Trail.