Israel Chapin


Israel Chapin was a general in the American Revolution and later "Deputy Agent to the Five Nations of Indians".

Revolutionary War

Chapin served as Captain of the Hatfield Militia at Boston and Lexington. He fought at the Battles of Saratoga as a major, as Colonel of the Second Regiment of Hampshire County Militia, and as a Brigadier General following the Invasion of Quebec.

Post-war

Chapin was involved in negotiating the Phelps and Gorham Purchase in Western New York in 1788. The following year he settled in Canandaigua. In 1792 Secretary of War Henry Knox appointed Chapin "General Agent for Indian Affairs of the United States." In this capacity he oversaw the negotiations for the Treaty of Canandaigua, which was signed in November 1794. He died shortly after and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Canandaigua. Among others the Seneca chief Red Jacket spoke at his funeral, saying "Brothers, we have lost a good friend. The Six Nations weep with the United States."

Personal

Israel Chapin married Elizabeth Marsh around 1763. The couple had seven children, among them Captain Israel Chapin, Jr., who succeeded his father as Superintendent of Indian Affairs.