Tanacharison
He was an integral leader of migrated Iroquois tribespeople, known as "Mingos," that settled in the Ohio Country of Pennsylvania/Virginia during the French and Indian War. He was referred to as the Half King because of his position in conducting diplomacy with the British on behalf of the Iroquois Six Nations' Grand Council. In 1753, a young George Washington was sent to demand the French leave the territory and requested the assistance of a guide and interpreter. He traveled with Washington all the way to Fort LeBoeuf near Lake Erie but the French again resisted the British attempts to remove them from the land.
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By May 27, 1754, a French encampment was seen nearby and the Half-King, along with Washington and forty men, were to attack the enemy near Great Meadows, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The French surrendered, and their commander, Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, was killed by Tanacharison, who used his tomahawk and then scalped him. Washington constructed Fort Necessity nearby as a defensive maneuver. Half-King remarked that the young commander was brash and did not listen to his advice, that Indians were being used and not appreciated, and he called the structure, "that little thing upon the meadow." Afterwards, the native leader moved his people toward the Aughwich Valley, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania and would remain uninterested in the ensuing conflict. However, he passed away of pneumonia on October 4, 1754 in nearby Paxtang.