Shikellamy - PLAQUE
Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Erected as a memorial to Shikellamy, also Swataney, "Our Enlightener," in the province. First sent to Shamokin (Sunbury) in 1728; appointed vice-gerent in 1745. Died Dec. 6, 1758; He was buried near this spot. This diplomat and statesman was a firm friend of the Province of Pennsylvania.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
This memorial honors Shikellamy — also called Swataney, 'Our Enlightener' — the Oneida leader the Iroquois Confederacy sent to oversee the Susquehanna peoples from Shamokin, on the site of present-day Sunbury. First stationed here in 1728 and named vice-gerent in 1745, he became a skilled diplomat who kept the peace between the Six Nations and colonial Pennsylvania until his death in 1758. He was buried near this spot, remembered as a steadfast friend of the province.
Why it matters
Shikellamy embodied the delicate diplomacy that held together relations between the Iroquois Confederacy and colonial Pennsylvania, a Native statesman whose work shaped the peace of the mid-eighteenth-century frontier.
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Related people
- · Shikellamy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Shikellamy
Sunbury, PA · est. 1947
Shikellamy was an Oneida leader who served as the Six Nations' overseer on the Susquehanna, managing the Iroquois Confederacy's authority over the Delaware and other peoples displaced into the region. From about 1728 until his death in 1748 he lived at the important Native town of Shamokin, on the site of present-day Sunbury, a hub of diplomacy between Native nations and colonial Pennsylvania.
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