White Eyes (c.1730–November 1778), was a leader of the Lenape (Delaware) people in the Ohio Country during the era of the American Revolution. Sometimes known as George White Eyes, his given name was something like Koquethagechton, which was rendered in many spelling variations. White Eyes was a tireless mediator in turbulent times, negotiating the first Indian treaties with the fledgling United States, always working towards his ultimate of goal of establishing a secure Indian territory. His death under mysterious circumstances during the American Revolutionary War may have been an act of murder covered up by United States officials.

Before the Revolution

Nothing is known about White Eyes's early life. He first enters the historical record near the end of the French and Indian War as a messenger during treaty negotiations. By 1766, he was apparently a tavern keeper and trader in a Delaware town on the Beaver River, a tributary of the Ohio River in present-day western Pennsylvania. This occupation suggests he may have been well suited for interaction between Indians and whites, though he could not read or write, and probably did not speak English—at least not well.

After the French and Indian War, white colonists began settling near the Delaware villages around Fort Pitt in western Pennsylvania, and so the Delawares removed to the Muskingum River valley in present-day eastern Ohio. By this time, many Delawares had converted to Christianity and were living in villages run by Moravian missionaries. The missionary towns also moved to the Muskingum, so that the Delaware people, both Christian and non-Christian, could stay together. Though not a Christian himself, White Eyes made certain that the Christian Delawares remained members of the Delaware nation.

In the early 1770s, the attack upon the Doddridge family farm, along the shores of Chartier's Creek,at Fort Statler(Washington County, Pennsylvania)resulted in the killing and kidnapping of Doddridge family members. Philip Doddridge's daughter, Rachel, was kidnapped. Later, she would marry the Chief White Eyes. Philip's cousin, also named Philip, who later become a member of Congress, met his cousin at a trading post. Regrettbly, Rachel had no interest in meeting her relatives. (Huff- The Doddridge Family in England and America)(Doddridge -Notes on the Settlement and the Indian Wars)

White Eyes established his own town, White Eyes's Town, near the Delaware capital of Coshocton. In 1774, White Eyes was named principal chief of the nation by the Delaware Grand Council.

In the early 1770s, violence on the frontier between whites and Indians threatened to escalate into open warfare. White Eyes unsuccessfully attempted to prevent what would become Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, fought primarily between Shawnee Indians and Virginia. White Eyes served as a peace emissary between the two armies, helping to arrange the treaty that ended the war.

Revolution and death

When the American Revolutionary War erupted soon after Dunmore's War had ended, White Eyes was in the midst of negotiating a royal grant with Lord Dunmore that was intended to secure the Delaware territory in the Ohio Country. Dunmore was forced out of Virginia by American revolutionaries, and so White Eyes had to begin anew with the Americans. In April 1776, he addressed the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on behalf of the Delawares, and eventually negotiated an alliance with the United States in 1778 at Fort Pitt. This treaty called for the establishment of a Delaware Indian state, with representation in the American Congress, provided that the Congress approved. As it turned out, White Eyes would be dead before the matter proceeded further, and the possibility of a Delaware Indian state died with him.

An article of the treaty called for Delawares to serve as guides for the Americans when they moved through the Ohio Country to strike at their British and Indian enemies to the north (in and around Detroit). Accordingly, in early November 1778, White Eyes joined an American expedition under General Lachlan McIntosh as a guide and negotiator. Soon after, the Americans reported to the shocked Delawares of Coshocton that White Eyes had contracted smallpox and died during the expedition. After the death of White Eyes, the Delaware alliance with the Americans eventually collapsed.

Years later, George Morgan, Congressional agent and close associate of White Eyes, revealed in a letter to Congress that White Eyes had been "treacherously put to death" by American militiamen, and his murder had been covered up in order to prevent the Delawares from immediately abandoning the United States. No other details of what happened have survived; historians generally accept Morgan's claim that White Eyes had been murdered, though the reasons remain obscure. White Eyes had placed himself in harm's way during Dunmore's War to prevent bloodshed; a similar effort during the Revolution may have cost him his life.

White Eyes was married; his wife was reportedly murdered by white men in 1788. White Eyes's son, George Morgan White Eyes (1770?–1798) was educated at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) at the expense of the American government.

See also

Gnadenhutten massacre

Frontier warfare during the American Revolution

References

Booth, Russell H. The Tuscarawas Valley in Indian Days: 1750-1797. Cambridge, Ohio, 1994.

Calloway, Colin G. "White Eyes" in American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 1999.

-----. The American Revolution in Indian Country. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Dowd, Gregory Evans. A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1992.

Weslager, C. A. The Delaware Indians. New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1972.

White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815. New York, 1991.

Kaminkow, Marion, ed. Genealogies in the Library ofr Congress . Huff, Earle, and Winifred Huff Wiegand. "The Doddridge Family in England and America; early records from AD 700." 1961.

Doddridge, Joseph. "Notes and the Settlement and the Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virgina and Pennsylvania from 1763-1783, inclusive, together, with a review of the State of Society and Manners of the First Settlers of the Western Country."

External links

Text of the 1778 treaty

Another site with the 1778 treaty

Biographical entry at Ohio History Central

Short entry about the historical marker in Ohio commemorating White Eyes

Category:American Revolutionary War deaths Category:Native American leaders Category:Native Americans in the American Revolution Category:Lenape people Category:Native Americans from Pennsylvania Category:1778 deaths Category:People murdered in Michigan Category:Year of birth uncertain

Name	Brooke Waggoner
Background	solo_singer
Born	1984 (age 26)
Origin	Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano
Genre	Indie pop / folk
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	2007–present
Label	Swoon Moon
Url	Official siteMySpace

Brooke Waggoner (born 1984) is an American singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee.

Biography

Waggoner comes from a classical music background with 17 years of formal training. She graduated with a Music Composition & Orchestration degree from Louisiana State University in 2006. She also closed out the 2008 South by Southwest music festival and is slated to return in 2009. Her music has appeared on the TV show Kyle XY. She has collaborated with musicians such as Matt Slocum.

On June 11, 2010, she announced the forthcoming weekly releases of four b-side singles through digital outlets. The first, entitled "Red-Robin Hood", was released on June 15, 2010. The following weeks brought "Baby Shake-em" (June 22), a remix of "I Am Mine" (June 29), and the original demo of "So-So" (July 6). Her song "Fresh Pair of Eyes" was also featured on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars in season one, episode two "The Jenna Thing."

Waggoner released her first DVD, entitled "And the World Opened Up", on September 29, 2010 and to digital outlets on October 5. It contains a live performance recorded at Nashville's Art House America in late 2009. Waggoner's music from "Go Easy Little Doves" is presented for the first time with a complete live orchestra. The DVD also features biographical interviews with Waggoner, historical footage of her musical development, and animated sections. Production is credited to Charlie Peacock.

Discography

Albums

Heal for the Honey (2008)

Go Easy Little Doves (2009)

EPs

Fresh Pair of Eyes (2007)

DVD

And the World Opened Up (2010)

Singles

"Christmas Moon" (2008)

"Red-Robin Hood" (2010)

"Baby Shake-em" (2010)

"I Am Mine (remix)" (2010)

"So-So (original demo)" (2010)

References

External links

Brooke Waggoner Official Site

Brooke Waggoner Daytrotter Session

Category:American pop singers Category:American female singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Living people Category:1985 births