Saucunk

The name "Saucunk" is a corruption of the Lenape "pasakunk",[1] meaning "at the mouth or fork of a stream."[6][7]^: 372

Saucunk was established at the mouth of the Beaver Creek by the Lenape and Shawnees, possibly as early as 1725, during their westward migration. The settlement extended to the bluff above the Ohio about a mile below the mouth of the Beaver. It was near the site of present-day Rochester, Pennsylvania.[6]

Conrad Weiser went to Sauconk when on his mission to the Western Indians in 1748. He says in his Journal under date of August 30: "I went to Beaver Creek, an Indian Town, about 8 miles off (from Logstown), chiefly Delawares, the rest Mohocks, to have some belts of wampum made...We both (Weiser and Andrew Montour) lodged at this town at George Croghan's trading house."[5]

In 1755 Saucunk was used as a staging area by Captain Jacobs and Shingas for raids on British colonial settlements.[8] After the destruction of Kittanning in August, 1756, Shingas and his brother Pisquetomen lived at Saucunk until 1759, when the ongoing French and Indian War led them to move to Kuskusky.[9]^: 29

Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger, both age 12, were captured during the Penn's Creek massacre on 16 October 1755. In her account of her captivity, Marie Le Roy reports that in November, 1756 she and Barbara Leininger "accompanied our Indian master to Sackum [Saucunk], where we spent the winter, keeping house for the savages, who were continually on the hunt."[4]

Hugh Gibson, 14, was captured in July, 1756, by Lenape Indians, outside Robinson's Fort,[10] near present-day Southwest Madison Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania. His mother and a neighbor were killed by the Indians, and he was brought to Kittanning, where he was adopted by Shingas' brother Pisquetomen.[11] In the spring of 1757 Gibson and Pisquetomen moved to "Soh’-koon, at the mouth of the Big Beaver," where they lived together with Pisquetomen's Dutch wife for a year, then moved to Muskingum. In March, 1759, Gibson escaped, together with Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger and a Scotsman named David Brackenridge, and walked 250 miles to Fort Pitt (then under construction).[2]

Marie Le Roy states that in October 1758, after French and Indian forces were defeated in an attack on the British outpost of Fort Ligonier, most of the population of the Kuskusky towns, Logstown and Saucunk fled to Muskingum.[4] John McCullough was 8 years old when he was captured by Lenape warriors in July, 1756, and brought to "Shenango," (a corruption of Chiningué). In his captivity narrative he reports living there with a Lenape family for two and a half years before moving to "Kseek-he-ooing" (possibly Saucunk) in late 1758. In December, 1764, McCullough was released along with over 200 other captives by order of Colonel Henry Bouquet.[12]

In July, 1757, Jesuit Father Claude Francis Virot founded a Catholic mission at Saucunk,[13]^: 395 and was joined for a brief period by Father Pierre Joseph Antonie Rouboud. The Lenape Chief Pakanke, known for his dislike of missionaries, reportedly became jealous of Virot's influence over the community,[14]^: 513 however, and the Jesuit was forced to leave after Fort Duquesne was captured by the British in November, 1758.[15]^: 93–94[9]^: 1135 Virot is known as the only Jesuit who ever attempted to found a mission on the upper Ohio River.[15]^: 95

Moravian priest Christian Frederick Post visited Saucunk when on his mission to the Lenape in the summer and autumn of 1758.[5] He found the tribals there hostile towards him due to Post arriving from the Thirteen Colonies, as they believed that the British were planning to take control of Lenape territory. Post writes:[3]

We set out from Kushkushkee for Sankonk. My Company consisted of 25 Horsemen and 15 Foot. We arrived at Sankonk in the Afternoon. The People of the Town were much disturbed at my coming, and received me in a very rough Manner. They surrounded me with drawn Knives in their Hands, in such a Manner that I could hardly get along; running up against me with their Breasts open, as if they wanted some Pretence to kill me. I saw by their Countenances they sought my Death. Their Faces were quite distorted with Rage, and they went so far as to say I should not live long.[16]^: 43

The French burned and abandoned Fort Duquesne on 26 November and British forces led by John Forbes occupied it the next day. On 27 November, George Croghan and Andrew Montour crossed the Allegheny River and reached Saucunk On the 29th, where they were joined by Christian Frederick Post and Lieutenant John Hays.[17]^{: 300–301} Croghan's journal states that, "at Beaver Creek [Saucunk] there is thirty-eight houses, all built by the French for the Indians, some with stone chimneys. When all their men is at home they can Send out One Hundred Warriors."[18]^: 43

1755 map by John Mitchell showing "Shingoes T.," just left of map's center.

On 7 February 1759, Colonel Hugh Mercer received a report from a Mohican scout that he had observed "at the Salt Spring above Kaskaskias Kuskusky a large number of [French] troops." Mercer then held an important council with the Delawares at Fort Pitt.

At that time, Tamaqua (also known as King Beaver) was living at Saucunk. At this council on February 24, he announced that the Delawares wanted to move in order to avoid any fighting between the French and the British, stating, "The Six Nations and you desire that I would sit down and smoke my pipe at Kuskusky. I tell you this that you may think no ill of my removing from Saucunk to Kuskusky, for it is at the great desire of my brothers, the English, and my uncles, the Six Nations, and there I shall always hear your words."

Mercer reportedly replied, "Your Brothers, the English, desire to see you live in Peace and Happiness, either at Saucunk, Kuskusky, or wherever you think proper, and by no means intend to Limit you to one Place or another." In the spring of 1759, the Delawares moved from Saucunk and Kuskuskee to communities on the Muskingum River and the Scioto River in Ohio.[9]^: 29

The town was deserted after the Battle of Bushy Run, August 5 and 6, 1763. When Colonel Henry Bouquet's expedition passed through the place in the autumn of 1764 on its way to the Tuscarawas, the chimneys of the houses which the French had built for the Indians were still standing. In his journal, Bouquet wrote:

October 6: Big Beaver Creek...runs through a rich vale, with a pretty strong current, its banks high, the upland adjoining it very good, the timber tall and young. About a mile below [Beaver Creek's] confluence with the Ohio stood formerly a large town, on a steep bank, built by the French, of square logs, with stone chimneys, for some of the Shawanese, Delawares and Mingo Tribes, who abandoned it in the year 1758, when the French deserted Fort Du Quesne. Near the fording of Beaver Creek stood about seven houses, which were deserted and destroyed by the Indians after their defeat at Bushy Run (August 6, 1763) when they forsook all their remaining settlements in this part of the country.

In 1778, British general Lachlan McIntosh ordered Fort McIntosh to be constructed at the site of the village.[5] The fort became the headquarters for the Department of the West. The construction of the fort likely destroyed any evidence of the occupation of the historic Native Americans at this location.[19]

• Logstown
• Kuskusky
• Kittanning (village)
• Shannopin's Town
• Shamokin (village)

• Mark Grago, "The Arrival of the Native Americans in Beaver County," Beaver County Indians, 16 November 2020
• Joseph Makarewicz, "History is Alive and Well in Beaver County," Pennsylvania Heritage, September 1976

40°42′11″N 80°17′0″W