Buckongahelas

Buckongahelas (c. 1720 – May 1805) was a regionally and nationally renowned Lenape chief, councilor and warrior. He was active from the days of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) through the Northwest Indian Wars, after the United States achieved independence and settlers encroached on territory beyond the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio River. He became involved in the Western Confederacy of mostly Algonquian-speaking peoples, who were seeking to repel American settlers. The chief led his Lenape band from present-day Delaware westward, eventually to the White River area of present-day Muncie, Indiana. One of the most powerful war chiefs on the White River, Buckongahelas was respected by the Americans as a chief, although he did not have the position to do political negotiations.

Buckongahelas was born in present-day Delaware to Lenape parents. The British colonists called the people the Delaware, after the river, which was the heart of their territory. The Algonquian-speaking Lenape lived throughout the mid-Atlantic area. Buckongahelas in the Lenape language means a "Giver of Presents." He was also known as Pachgantschihilas and Petchnanalas, meaning a "fulfiller" or "one who succeeds in all he undertakes."

Buckongahelas married as a young man and started his family. Under pressure from colonial settlers, he began to move his band westward. He was believed to have lived some time with his people in what is now Buckhannon in Upshur County, West Virginia.

His son Mahonegon was killed there in June 1773 by Captain William White, a native of Frederick County, Virginia. Local legend states that the current Upshur County Courthouse was built over the grave of Mahonegon. Local legend suggests Buckongahelas took revenge on White after trailing his son's killer for a period of nine years (1773–1782). The captain was killed March 8, 1782 within sight of Bush Fort in the vicinity of the Buckhannon River. But, historic documentation places Buckongahelas in Ohio by 1781, as he was moving his band west to escape European-American encroachment.

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