Israel Chapin
American general (1740-1795)

Israel Chapin (4 Dec 1740, Hatfield, Massachusetts – 7 Mar 1795, Canandaigua, New York) 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.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Israel Chapin” as american general (1740-1795). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q59130576. VIAF identifies the subject as 5601161514251670750001. The Library of Congress control number is no2021024320. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1740, 1795, 1788 and 1792.
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This entry incorporates text from “Israel Chapin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.