Captain Pipe

Captain Pipe (1725 ?-1818 ?), also called Hopocan, was an 18th Century chief of the Lenape ("Delaware") Indians, and a member of the Wolf Clan.

The Lenape were reluctant to tell their real names, and the use of nicknames was very common. The real name of Captain Pipe was Konieschquanoheel (which translates to "Maker of Daylight.") His nickname, however, was Hopocan meaning "tobacco pipe" -hence his historical name of Captain Pipe.

Biography

Before the Revolution

Some say Hopocan or Captain Pipe was born about 1725; others put his birth at 1740. Little is known of his early years. He was probably born near the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. His uncle was Chief Custaloga, whom he succeeded as Chief. Captain Pipe likely spent his early years either at Custaloga's Town, along French Creek in Mercer County, PA, or Custaloga's other main village, Cussewago, at the present site of Meadville, PA in Crawford County.

Captain Pipe is first mentioned historically in 1759 among the warriors at a conference held at Fort Pitt, July, 1759, between the agent of Sir William Johnston, Hugh Mercer, the Iroquois, Delawares and Shawnees.

Custaloga had moved from French Creek into what is now Ohio. There is some evidence that he may have moved back to Pennsylvania to the Kuskuskies, on the Shenango River near present day New Castle, PA.

In 1762, When Fredrick Christian Post was given permission by the Delaware to build a cabin on the Tuscarawas River at present Bolivar, Ohio, Pipe was given the job of marking out the land he was to receive.

In 1765 he attended a conference at Fort Pitt, at which about six hundred chiefs and warriors and many women and children were present. In 1768 he again met in conference at Fort Pitt, George Croghan, the sub-agent of Sir William Jonhston, and over one thousand Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots and Mohegans.

By 1773, Captain Pipe replaced Custaloga as Chief.

The Revolutionary War

During the American Revolution, Captain Pipe first tried to remain neutral to both the British and the Americans. He refused to take up arms against the Americans even after General Edward Hand killed his mother, brother, and a few of his children during a military campaign in 1778. The Delawares that Hand attacked were neutral, but he sought to protect American settlers in the Ohio Country from Indian attacks, including killing innocent natives.

Also in 1778 Captain Pipe was with White Eyes and Killbuck when they signed the first-ever treaty between the Continental Congress and Native people.

Later that same year, General Lachlan McIntosh, the American commander at Fort Pitt, requested permission from the Delaware Indians to march through their territory to attack Fort Detroit. Captain Pipe and other Delaware chiefs agreed, as long as the soldiers would build a fort to protect the Delaware form both the British and white settlers. McIntosh agreed and had Fort Laurens built near the Delaware villages in eastern Ohio. After constructing the fort, McIntosh demanded that the Ohio Country natives assist the Americans in capturing Fort Detroit. If the Indians refused, McIntosh threatened them with extermination.

Realizing how weak McIntosh's force was and believing that the Americans could not protect them from the British and their native allies, Captain Pipe and many other Delaware Indians began to form a friendlier relationship with the English. Also in 1778, Pipe, and the warlike members of his tribe, departed from the Tuscarawas and located on the Walhonding River, about fifteen miles above the present site of Coshocton, Ohio.

The Americans pushed Captain Pipe solidly to England's side in 1781, when Colonel Daniel Brodhead attacked and destroyed this village. Captain Pipe became the leader of those natives who supported the British and moved his people to the Tymochtee Creek near the Sandusky River. This village was known as "Pipe's Town," located near the village of Crawford in Wyandot County. He spent the remainder of the war trying to thwart American expansion into the Ohio Country.

In 1782, he participated in the defeat of the Crawford Expedition headed by William Crawford. Seeking vengeance for the Gnadenhutten Massacre, Captain Pipe was probably the one who marked Crawford for death by painting his face black. He also threatened to kill Simon Girty if he tried to intercede on Crawford's behalf while the natives first tortured and then executed Crawford. Pipe was said to be a merciless foe.

After the Revolution

Following the Revolution, Captain Pipe continued to resist white settlement of the Ohio Country (known as the Northwest Territory at this point). By the 1810s and 1820s, Captain Pipe realized his people had little chance against the Americans and began to negotiate treaties. The settlers violated these agreements, moving onto land set aside for the Delaware.

In 1788, when the pioneer settlers landed at what is now Marietta, Ohio they found Captain Pipe and about seventy warriors encamped in the neighborhood. At that time General Josiah Harmar described him as a "manly old fellow, and much more of a gentleman than the generality of the frontier people." Here he is already described as "Old Pipe." According to the most reliable accounts, Captain Pipe was then only about forty-eight years of age. During this time, he also spent time at both "Birds Run" and "Indian Camp" both still there located on Ohio State Route 658 and "Flatridge" also about 10 miles NW of present day Cambridge, Ohio. This was the location of many ceremonies, some artifacts still remain at those locations. He was believed to last visited around 1800.

This sighting leaves Captain Pipe quietly navigating the Muskingum and its branches, hunting and making annual trips, at the proper season, to exchange furs and peltry for such goods and supplies as were needed by himself and people. Whether he visited Marietta at a later period than 1790 does not seem quite clear, though it is possible he may have done so.

This famous war chief, in his later years, appears to have resided on the upper branches of the Mohican River, the head branches of the Black River, the Vermillion River and the Cuyahoga River all in Ohio. It is believed that some time between 1793 and 1795, he made his headquarters at Jerometown, Ohio.

In 1808-09 early white settlers to the area of what is now Jeromesville in Ashland County, Ohio, on the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River found Delaware people living at the old Mohican village of Johnstown (about three-fourths of a mile southwest of the present site of Jeromesville) near which was located the home of Old Captain Pipe. Many stories of the settlers and the remaining Delaware talk of Old Captain Pipe living there until 1812.

In the spring of 1812 Old Captain Pipe and his people quietly removed westward, locating near the present town of Orestes in Madison County, Indiana.

The Treaty of St. Mary's in 1818 gave the tribes three years before having to be removed from this area. They departed peacefully in 1821 and it is uncertain if Chief Pipe was still alive.

It is said that he died around 1818 near Orestes and is supposedly buried there. Other reports claim that he removed to Canada and died there.

Captain Pipe had a son also named Captain Pipe who signed many treaties and moved with the Delaware people to Kansas. [ [http://zenas4.tripod.com/orestesindianahistory/id170.html Orestes Indiana History - Captain Pipe] ]

References

*Barnholth, William I ; "Hopocan (Capt. Pipe) the Delaware chieftain"; Akron, Ohio, Summit County Historical Society, 1966. OCLC|1078414

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Chiefs of the Lenape - Wolf Clan
before=Custaloga
years=1774–1818
after=Hockingpomska