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Kuskusky, also known as the Kuskuskies Towns, Kuskuskie Towns, or Kuskuskies' Indian Town, with a wide variety of other spellings, were several Native American communities inhabited near New Castle, Mahoning, and Edinburg, Pennsylvania, and Youngstown, Ohio, during the mid-18th century. It was not one town, but three or four contiguous towns of the , Lenape, and Seneca people, located along the Beaver River, at and above the junction of its east and west branches, the Mahoning River and the Shenango River. It is usually referred to in the plural. Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 2, Putnam's sons, 1911
On 11 November 1747 the Seneca leader Kanuksusy traveled from Kuskusky to Philadelphia with ten young Mingo warriors to deliver news of French activities in western Pennsylvania. These were the first reports to be heard from outside the colony. He later addressed the Pennsylvania Council, declaring that he and his group were representatives of the Iroquois and confirmed its neutrality during King George's War, which had earlier been decided at the Onondaga Council. Chester Hale Sipe, The Indian chiefs of Pennsylvania, or, A story of the part played by the American Indian in the history of Pennsylvania: based primarily on the Pennsylvania archives and colonial records, and built around the outstanding chiefs, Butler, Pa.: Ziegler Print. Co., Inc., 1927
In April, 1748 Orontony and 119 Wyandot people warriors, together with Miami Indian warriors led by Memeskia, attacked and burned the French Fort St. Philippe (Fort Miami). William A. Hunter, "Orontony," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed June 2, 2021 Orontony then abandoned his community of Junundat and set off for the Ohio valley. About 70 of the warriors and their families settled at Conchake (present-day Coshocton, Ohio). The remainder went farther east to build a new town at Kuskusky. Michael N. McConnell, "Kuskusky Towns and Early Western Pennsylvania Indian History," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 116:33-58
After destroying Fort St. Philippe, Orontony and other Wyandot leaders had no choice but to seek an alliance with the English, but Orontony was anxious to get assurances from Philadelphia that the English would offer military support as well as abundant trade goods, on which the Indians were growing increasingly dependent. Michael N. McConnell, "Peoples 'In Between': The Iroquois and the Ohio Indians, 1720-1768," in Daniel K. Richter and James H. Merrell, eds., Beyond the Covenant Chain: The Iroquois and Their Neighbors in Indian North America, 1600-1800, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1987 As Tanacharisson's influence in negotiating terms with Pennsylvania grew, Orontony and other Iroquois leaders in Kuskusky wanted to get the attention of Philadelphia. Soon after Weiser arrived at Logstown, he received a message on 1 September 1748: "Andrew Montour came back from Coscosky with a message from the Indians there to desire of me that the ensuing Council might be held at their town." Tanacharisson insisted that "the Indians at Coscosky were no more Chiefs than themselves, and that last spring they had nothing to eat, & expecting that they shou'd have nothing to eat at our arrival." In any case, Weiser's instructions bound him to negotiate with the Indians at Logstown, and he replied to the request, saying that "the Shawonese and Twightwees would be offended if the Council was to be held at Coscosky." "Colonial Records: Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania from the organization to the termination of the proprietary government. v. 11-16 Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania from its organization to the termination of the revolution," vol V: Dec. 1745 to Mar 1754. Harrisburg: Theo. Fenn, 1851 On 15 September Orontony and five other Wyandot chiefs arrived in Logstown and met with Weiser, presenting him with a gift of seven beaver skins. Weiser wrote that they "behav’d like People of good Sense & Sincerity; the most of them are grey-headed." Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed. "Conrad Weiser's journal of a tour to the Ohio, August 11, October 2, 1748," in Early Western Journals 1748-1765, Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1904 Another chief from Kuskusky, Canajachrera or Oniadagarehra (Broken Kettle or Big Kettle), met Weiser on 19 September. In 1750, after Orontony's sudden death from smallpox, Canajachrera became the acting leader at Kuskusky. In late 1748 the Pennsylvania Council sent the Indians at Kuskusky (Gas-Cagh-Sa-Gey) 12 barrels of gunpowder as a gift and a peace-offering after having rejected their request to hold the council at their town. Brodhead, John Romeyn, Fernow, Berthold, O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey, Documents relative to the colonial history of the state of New York, vol. 7. New York State Legislature, Albany, N.Y.: Weed, Parsons and Co. 1853
Last night came here from Allegheny one John Hays, who informs us that the night before he left it, the Indians killed one of Mr. Hugh Parker's a hands...Mr. Parker had a large quantity of liquor up with him, which he was tying up in his goods, in order to send to the Lower Shawna Town; and the Indians kept pressing into his house...Some he turned out, and others, as they came in, he pushed the door in their faces; upon which they were determined to take his liquor...They brought him wampum, and offered to leave it in pledge; but he refused to let them have it; upon which they took a quantity from him. A great many of them got drunk, who then insisted upon revenge for the ill-treatment he gave them; and accordingly took Parker prisoner and tyed him, and determined to scalp him. But the rest of the whites who were in the town rescued him. He immediately went off...to the Logstown. The Indians imagined that he was gone into his house. One of them laid wait for him at the door, with his gun. At last, one Brown, one of Mr. Parker's hands, came out...which the Indian took for Parker...and shot him down. This happened at Coscoske.
In spite of this event, Parker maintained his trading post at Kuskusky and in 1749 employed Barnaby Curran to manage it after Brown was killed.
Although the French expedition was never attacked, the potential for violence remained throughout the journey, and Céloron was conscious that his mostly inexperienced troops would probably not have performed well. On the other hand, the Indians chose not to attack, as they did not want to risk bringing a stronger French military force into the Ohio country, which likely would have been the response. They therefore confined themselves to shooting holes in the French flag when Céloron visited Lower Shawneetown a week later. However, on his return to Canada, Céloron reported that "the nations of these localities are very badly disposed towards the French, and are entirely devoted to the English." This led to the destruction of Pickawillany in June, 1752 and the killing of Memeskia, one of Orontony's allies, and to the decision by the Governor-General of New France to send a sizeable French military force under the command of Paul Marin de la Malgue W. J. Eccles, "Paul Marin de La Malgue," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed June 4, 2021 to build a road and construct Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Machault in 1753 and 1754. Kathleen Lugarich, "Constructing the French Forts of the Ohio Country," Fort Pitt Museum, October 9, 2015 Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 2, Putnam's sons, 1911
Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger, both age 12, were captured during the Penn's Creek massacre on 16 October 1755. They were taken to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, then to Kittanning, where they lived until Armstrong's attack in September 1756. After Kittanning was destroyed, the Indians moved for a time to Fort Duquesne, then in the spring of 1757 the two girls were brought to "Kaschkaschkung, an Indian town on the Beaver Creek." There they had to "clear the plantations...to plant corn, and to do other hard work of every kind." They lived at Kuskusky for about eighteen months. In late August, 1758 they were visited by the Moravian Church Christian Frederick Post, but not permitted to speak with him. On 12 October 1758, French and Indian forces from nearby Fort Duquesne were defeated in an attack on the British outpost of Fort Ligonier, and the population of the Kuskusky towns fled, taking the girls to Muskingum in Ohio. They escaped with Hugh Gibson in March 1759. At the end of their captivity narrative, Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger listed by name twenty-one others then held at the Kuskuskies.
.|300px]]Hugh Gibson, 14, was captured in July, 1756 by Lenape Indians, outside Robinson's Fort, D. A. Kline, Luke Baker, "Account of Fort Robinson," Historical Society of Perry County, Pennsylvania, 1924 near present-day Southwest Madison Township, Pennsylvania, north of Carlisle, 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, a Delaware chief (who Gibson refers to as "Bisquittam"). Gibson was living in Kittanning when it was attacked by Colonel John Armstrong's forces on 8 September 1756. "An Account of the Captivity of Hugh Gibson," in Archibald Loudoun, A Selection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives, of Outrages, Committed by the Indians, in Their Wars with the White People, A. Loudoun Press, Carlisle, 1811; pp. 181-186 After the attack, he was taken to "Kuskuskin Hog-Town on the Mahoning." While there, Gibson one day remarked that "he had heard that the white people were coming against the Indians," which was overheard by Pisquetomen's brother and his wife, who said they would see Gibson burnt alive as soon as Pisquetomen returned. Pisquetomen instead took Gibson to live with him in a tent outside Kuskusky, rather than have him killed. 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).
Richard and Catharine Bard were captured by Lenape Indians at their mill in York County, Pennsylvania, on 13 April 1758. Six others, including two children and Thomas Potter, brother of General James Potter, were also captured, and the mill was burned. The prisoners were taken to Fort Duquesne, but on the way Thomas Potter, one of the children and another man were killed, and Richard Bard escaped. Catharine Bard was taken to Kuskusky where she was forced to watch the torture and death of another male prisoner. After a few days she was taken to Shomoken, a Lenape village near Crosswicks, New Jersey, Charles Williams, The Missionary Gazetteer. Comprising a Geographical and Statistical Account of the Various Stations of the Church, London, Moravian, Wesleyan, Baptist, and American, Missionary Societies, Etc., London: Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis, 1828 where she lived until her husband returned to ransom her. Archibald Bard, "Summary of an Account of the Captivity of Richard Bard, Esq., late of Franklin County, Penn., deceased, with his wife and family, and others. Collected from his papers by his son Archibald Bard," in Joseph Pritts, Incidents of Border Life: Illustrative of the Times and Condition of the First Settlements in Parts of the Middle and Western States. Lancaster, PA: G. Hills, 1841.
The French came and would speak with me. There were then 15 of them building Houses for the Indians. The Captain is gone with 15 to another Town. He can speak the Indian Tongue well. The Indians say he is a cunning Fox; that they get a great deal of Goods from the French; and that the French cloath the Indians every Year, Men Women, and Children, and give them as much Powder and Lead as they want. Christian Frederick Post, The journal of Christian Frederick Post, in his journey from Philadelphia to the Ohio, on a message from the government of Pennsylvania to the Delaware, Shawanese and Mingo Indians settled there, and formerly in alliance with the English. Philadelphia, 1867 Walter C. Champion, Jr., "Christian Frederick Post and the Winning of the West," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 104, No. 3, July, 1980
Post assured Tamaqua and the other Delaware leaders that the English wanted peace. Post then left Kuskusky for a few days to visit Saucunk and Logstown, and to address a group of Indians in front of Fort Duquesne, with French officers watching. He then returned to Kuskusky to discuss the Treaty of Easton with the Delaware leaders. On 6 September he was presented to the two captives, Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger, but they did not speak. Post left Kuskusky on 8 September and continued down the Ohio to address other Delawares and their Shawnee and Mingo allies.
In October, 1758 the Treaty of Easton was signed between British colonials and representatives of 13 Indian nations, including the chiefs of the Iroquois, the eastern and western Lenape and the Shawnee. Negotiations over more than a week were concluded on October 26, 1758, at a ceremony held in Easton, Pennsylvania, between the British colonial governors of the provinces of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and tribal leaders. The treaty shifted the balance of power in favor of the British by removing several important Native tribes from the fighting, and was one of several factors leading to the surrender of Fort Duquesne in late November.
Christian Frederick Post returned to Kuskusky in November to celebrate with Delaware leaders who had helped him bring the Delawares to the treaty, but some warriors were angry with Post over a letter he had written which had been captured by the French, the contents of which had been misrepresented in order to discredit Post. Post writes:
These three Days past was precarious Time for Us. We were warned not to go far from the House, because the People...were possessed with a murdering Spirit, which led them as in a Halter in which they were catched, and with bloody Vengeance were thirsty and drunk.On 22 November, word reached the town that General John Forbes was approaching Fort Duquesne and that the French had set fire to the fort and were retreating. The Indians were overjoyed and danced until midnight, and Post's letter was forgotten. Post left Kuskusky on 29 November and returned to Philadelphia.
Charles A. Hanna (1911) describes the archaeology of the Kuskusky region:
It is at least certain there was a village where Edinburg stands, which was divided into two parts, one a short distance farther up the river than the other...In the vicinity have been picked up gun-flints, oxidized bullets, flattened and battered, old gun-locks and gun-barrels, bayonets, etc....Many bones have also been found. Near the Town was a burial ground, containing, among other relics, an interesting mound, originally some fifty feet in circumference, and about six feet high. This mound was examined some years since, and found to contain several layers of human skeletons; flag-stones were placed in regular order around the bodies, and the whole covered with earth. Nearby were quite a large number of bodies, buried separately. Large numbers of flint chips and arrow-heads have been picked up in the vicinity.
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