Captain Jacobs

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Captain Jacobs (died September 8, 1756) was a Delaware (Lenape) chief during the French and Indian War. His real name was Tewea.[1]:174 Jacobs received his English moniker from a Pennsylvania settler named Arthur Buchanan, who thought the chief resembled a "burly German in Cumberland County."[2]

English settlements[]

Lewistown, Pennsylvania is located where there once was a considerable Delaware settlement, at the confluence of the Kishacoquillas Creek and the Juniata River. It was in 1754 that the English, led by Buchanan, came to the area. Captain Jacobs, being the head chief, was at first reluctant to sell any of the nearby land to the English settlers. With the assistance of a keg of rum, a few trinkets, and some tobacco, Buchanan convinced Jacobs to give them the land.[2]

Captain Jacobs initially professed great friendship toward the British colonists, but was swayed by the French to think otherwise. As the number of English settlers grew, so did Jacobs' dissatisfaction with them. Without notice or incident, the Delawares destroyed their own settlement and left the area, which the English noted with caution.[2]

French and Indian War[]

Captain Jacobs led the Delaware warriors against the English settlements in multiple raids following Braddock's defeat throughout the valleys of central Pennsylvania. Jacobs boasted that he "could take any fort that would catch fire, and would make peace with the English when they had learned him to make gunpowder."[2] It was Jacobs who burned Fort Granville under the direction of the French commander. The Pennsylvania Provincial Council took months to organize the Kittanning Expedition in hopes of killing both Shingas and Captain Jacobs.[3]

Raid on Kittanning[]

On the morning of September 8, 1756, Colonel John Armstrong led a force of 307 Pennsylvanians to attack the village of Kittanning in hopes of disrupting the raids against the English. Chief Shingas was away during the battle, so Jacobs took command and fought Armstrong's men from his log cabin. One of Armstrong's soldiers, John Ferguson, managed to set fire to Jacobs' house.[4]:163 Jacobs and his family remained inside until the magazine erupted and their guns took fire. When they emerged, Jacobs' spouse was killed first, followed by Jacobs himself, and then their son.[5]

Captain Jacobs was scalped and his head carried back to Philadelphia where Armstrong received 600 pounds in bounty for it.[6]

In January 1758 Pennsylvania proprietor Thomas Penn wrote to Richard Peters mentioning the Kittanning Raid, and adding:

I also received...the scalp of Captain Jacobs for which I am greatly obliged to Colonel Armstrong to whom it's a valuable trophy. I have thought of sending it to the British Museum with a plate engraved giving an account of the action.[7]

It is unknown what happened to the scalp.[8]

References[]

  1. ^ Preston, David L., The Texture of Contact: European and Indian Settler Communities on the Frontiers of Iroquoia, 1667-1783. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Jones, Uriah James (1889). History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley. Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Company. p. 66.
  3. ^ William Albert Hunter, "Victory at Kittanning," Pennsylvania History, vol. 23, no. 3, July 1956; pp 376-407
  4. ^ Robert Robison, "Colonel J. Armstrong's Attack on the Kittaning," in A Selection of some of the most interesting narratives of outrages committed by the Indians in their wars with the white people, Archibald Loudon, ed. Carlisle: A. Loudon Press, 1811
  5. ^ Jones, pp. 360-1.
  6. ^ Lindley Homol, "Win, Lose, or Draw: The Battle of Kittanning", The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Pennsylvania State University, Fall 2009
  7. ^ Thomas Penn to "Richard Peters about government papers, sending a scalp to the British Museum," Thomas Penn letters collection, Massachusetts Historical Society
  8. ^ Felix Barnes, "Send his scalp to the British Museum," Adam Matthew Digital, 8 September 2016
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