Custaloga

Custaloga, also known as Packanke, was a chief of the Delaware (Lenape) tribe in the mid-18th century. He was a member of the Wolf Clan through his mother. Captain Pipe was his nephew and succeeded him as chief.

Little is known of the early life of Custaloga. He was born as Packanke into the Wolf Clan of his mother. The Delaware had a matrilineal kinship system, in which descent and hereditary leadership were passed through the mother's line. Children were born into the mother's clan and gained their social status there.

Custaloga, as he was documented by Indian agent George Croghan and other British colonists, settled in western Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century and built a sizeable village with his band at the confluence of French Creek and North Deer Creek in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. This town, known as "Custaloga's Town," became his principal seat. He also started another village known as Cussewago, along French Creek, at the present site of Meadville in Crawford County, Pennsylvania.

Custaloga's name first appeared in western Pennsylvania's history in George Washington's Journal of 1753. When the 21-year-old Washington arrived at Fort Machault in the village of Venango (present Franklin, Pennsylvania), Custaloga was in charge of the wampum of his nation under Chief Shingas.

Since Custaloga had aided Pontiac in his rebellion, the white settlers were wary of his actions. They asked Guyasuta of the Seneca to live among his people at Custaloga's Town to maintain a watchful eye on Chief Custaloga. The Seneca, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, were powerful. By this time the Confederacy seemed to believe they had a kind of overlordship over the Delaware.

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