[Note: This is a single part of what will be, by my classification, about 240 compact tribal histories (contact to 1900). It is limited to the lower 48 states of the U.S. but also includes those First Nations from Canada and Mexico that had important roles (Huron, Micmac, Assiniboine, etc.).This history's content and style are representative. The normal process at this point is to circulate an almost finished product among a peer group for comment and criticism. At the end of this History you will find links to those Nations referred to in the History of the Iroquois.
Using the Internet, this can be more inclusive. Feel free to comment or suggest corrections via e-mail. Working together we can end some of the historical misinformation about Native Americans. You will find the ego at this end to be of standard size. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your comments...Lee Sultzman]
The original homeland of the Iroquois was in upstate New York betweenthe Adirondack Mountains and Niagara Falls. Through conquest andmigration, they gained control of most of the northeastern UnitedStates and eastern Canada. At its maximum in 1680, their empireextended west from the north shore of Chesapeake Bay through Kentuckyto the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; then northfollowing the Illinois River to the south end of Lake Michigan; eastacross all of lower Michigan, southern Ontario and adjacent parts ofsouthwestern Quebec; and finally south through northern New Englandwest of the Connecticut River through the Hudson and upper DelawareValleys across Pennsylvania back to the Chesapeake. With twoexceptions - the Mingo occupation of the upper Ohio Valley and theCaughnawaga migration to the upper St. Lawrence - the Iroquois didnot, for the most part, physically occupy this vast area but remainedin their upstate New York villages.
During the hundred years preceding the American Revolution, wars withFrench-allied Algonquin and British colonial settlement forced themback within their original boundaries once again. Their decision toside with the British during the Revolutionary War was a disaster forthe Iroquois. The American invasion of their homeland in 1779 drovemany of the Iroquois into southern Ontario where they have remained.With large Iroquois communities already located along the upper St.Lawrence in Quebec at the time, roughly half of the Iroquoispopulation has since lived in Canada. This includes most of the Mohawkalong with representative groups from the other tribes. Although mostIroquois reserves are in southern Ontario and Quebec, one small group(Michel's band) settled in Alberta during the 1800s as part of the furtrade.
In the United States, much of the Iroquois homeland was surrendered toNew York land speculators in a series of treaties following theRevolutionary War. Despite this, most Seneca, Tuscarora, and Onondagaavoided removal during the 1830s and have remained in New York. Thereare also sizeable groups of Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, and Caughnawagastill in the state. Most of the Oneida, however, relocated in 1838 toa reservation near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Cayuga sold their NewYork lands in 1807 and moved west to join the Mingo relatives (Senecaof Sandusky) in Ohio. In 1831 this combined group ceded their Ohioreserve to the United States and relocated to the Indian Territory. Afew New York Seneca moved to Kansas at this time but, after the CivilWar, joined the others in northeast Oklahoma to become the modernSeneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.
Considering their impact on history, it is amazing how few Iroquoisthere were in 1600 - probably less than 20,000 for all five tribes.Their inland location protected them somewhat from the initialEuropean epidemics, but these had reached them by 1650 and, combinedwith warfare, cut their population to about half of its originalnumber. However, unlike other native populations which continued todrop, the Iroquois, through the massive adoption of conquoredIroquian-speaking enemies (at least 7,000 Huron, and similar numbersofNeutrals,Susquehannock,Tionontati, andErie), actually increasedand reached their maximum number in 1660, about 25,000. Absorption ofthis many outsiders was not without major problems - not the least ofwhich was the Iroquois became a minority within their own confederacy.
For the moment, the Iroquois talent for diplomacy and political unitykept things under control, but forces which would destroy them hadbeen set in motion. On the positive side, the adoptions gave theIroquois a claim to the lands of their former enemies beyond mere"right of conquest." Mass adoption, however, was not extended tonon-Iroquian speaking tribes, and from this point the Iroquoispopulation dropped. Despite the incorporation of 1,500 Tuscarora in1722 as a sixth member of the League, the Iroquois numbered only12,000 in 1768. By the end of the Revolutionary War, they were lessthan 8,000. From that point there has been a slow recovery followed bya recent surge as renewed native pride has prompted many to reclaimtheir heritage. The 1940 census listed only 17,000 Iroquois in bothNew York and Canada, but current figures approach 70,000 at about 20settlements and 8 reservations in New York, Wisconsin, Oklahoma,Ontario, and Quebec.
Approximately 30,000 of these live in the United States. Of 3,500Cayuga, 3,000 are in Canada as part of the Six Nations of the GrandRiver Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. The 500 in the United Stateslive mostly on the Seneca Reservations in western New York. There arealso Cayuga among the 2,500 member Seneca-Cayuga tribe in northeasternOklahoma - descendents of the Mingo of Ohio. The Oneida were once oneof the smaller Iroquois tribes but currently number more than 16,000.The largest group (almost 11,000) lives on or near their 2,200 acrereservation west of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Another 700 still live nearOneida, New York, but since their 32 acre reserve is so small, manyare forced to live with the nearby Onondaga. Ontario has 4,600 Oneidasplit between the 2,800 Oneida of the Thames near London and the GrandRiver Reserve with the Six Nations.
1,600 Onondaga still live in New York, mainly on a 7,300 acrereservation just south of Syracuse. Another 600 are at the Grand RiverReserve in Ontario which has members from all six Iroquois tribes.This includes 200 Tuscarora, but the majority (1,200) live on theTuscarora Reservation (5,000 acres) near Niagara Falls, New York. TheSeneca were once the largest tribe of the Iroquois League - the numberof their warriors equal to the other four tribes combined. Theircurrent enrollment stands at 9,100, 1,100 of whom are in Ontario atGrand River. There are four Seneca Reserves in western New York:Allegheny, Cattaraugus, Oil Springs, and Tonawanda (total 60,000acres). There was once a fifth Seneca reservation, but only 100 of theoriginal 9,000 acres of the Cornplanter grant in northern Pennsylvaniaremain after it was flooded by a dam project in the 1960s. The Seneca,however, are the only Native American tribe to own an American city -Salamanca, New York.
The Mohawk are the largest group of Iroquois with more than 35,000members. Some estimates of pre-contact Mohawk population range as highas 17,000 although half this is probably closer to the truth. War andepidemic took a terrible toll, and by 1691 the Mohawk had less than800 people. A large group of Caughnawaga live in Brooklyn(ironworkers), but the only American Mohawk reservation is at St.Regis on the New York-Quebec border with 7,700 members. Straddling theborder as the Akwesasne reserve, the Canadian part has a population of5,700. Almost 12,000 Mohawk live in Ontario as Six Nations of theGrand River, Watha Mohawk Nation, and the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinteat Tyendenaga (Deseronto) on the north shore of Lake Ontario west ofKingston. The remainder of the Canadian Mohawk live in Quebec nearMontreal: 8,200 at Kahnawake (Caughnawaga); and 1,800 at Oka(Kanesatake, Lac des Deaux Montagnes).
Iroquois is an easily recognized name, but like the names of manytribes, it was given them by their enemies. The Algonquin called themthe Iroqu (Irinakhoiw) "rattlesnakes." After the French added theGallic suffix "-ois" to this insult, the name became Iroquois. TheIroquois call themselves Haudenosaunee meaning "people of the longhouse." Other names: Canton Indians; Confederate Indians; Ehressaronon(Huron); Five Nations; Massawomeck (Powhatan); Matchenawtowaig (Ottawa"bad snakes"); Mengue (French); Mingo, Minqua, Mingwe (Delaware);Nadowa, Nadowaig, Nautowa (Ojibwe "adders"); and after 1722, the SixNations.
Iroquian - Northern. The languages of individual tribes were closelyrelated and, although not identical, mutually intelligible. Thegreatest similarities existed between the Mohawk and Oneida and theCayuga and Seneca.
Five . After 1722 theTuscarora were added to the League as a sixth, but non-voting, member.Villages New York State unless otherwise noted. A number indicates more thanone village of the same name, while a tribal name shows a mixedpopulation.Gweugwehono. Translated variously as "people of Oiogouen; where theboats were taken out; people at the landing; or people of the muckyland." Also referred to as "those of the great pipe."Names Ouioerrhonon (Huron)Villages Chondote, Gandasetaigon (ONT), Ganogeh, Gayagaanhe, Gewauga,Goiogouen, Kawauka, Kente (ONT), Kiohero (Thiohero, Tiohero),Neodakheat, Oiogouen (Jesuit mission of St. Joseph), Oneniote,Onnontare (Onotare) (Jesuit mission of St. Rene), Owego, andSkannayutenateKahniankehaka (Ganiengehaka) "people of the flint." Spoken of withinthe League as the "keepers of the eastern door."Names Agnier (French), Agnierrhonon (Huron), Maqua (Abenaki and Dutch),Mohowaanuck (Narragansett "man eaters")Villages Canajoharie, Canastigaone, Canienga, Caughnawaga (ONT and NY-2),Churchtononeda, Kanagaro, Kowogoconnughariegugharie, Nowadaga,Onekagoncka, Onoalagona, Oquaga, Osquake, Saratoga, Schaunactada(Schenectady), Schoharie, Teatontaloga (Jesuit mission of Ste. Marie),Tewanondadon, Tionnontoguen, and UnadillaOnayotekaono (Onyotaaka) "people of the standing stone"Names Onoiochronon (Huron)Villages Awegen, Cahunghage, Canowaroghere, Canowdowsa, Chittenango,Cowassalon, Ganadoga, Hostayuntwa, Oneida (Upper Castle), Opolopong(PA), Oriska, Ossewingo, Ostogeron, Schoherage, Sevege, (Tuscarora),Solocka (PA), Tegasoke, Teseroken, Tetosweken, Tkanetota, andTolungowon (WI).Onundagaono "people of the hills; place on the hill; people on themountain." The "keepers of the fire" and "wampum keepers."Names Onontaerrhonon (Huron)Villages Ahaouet, Deseroken, Gadoquat, Gannentaha, Gistwiahna, Kanadaseagea(Canandaigua), Kanatakowa, Onondaga, Onondaghara, Onondahgegahgeh,Onontatacet, Otiahanague, Teionontatases, Tgasunto, Touenho, andTueadasso.Nundawaono "great hill people." The "keepers of the western door."Names Senecars, Sonnontoerrhonon (Huron)Villages Buckaloon (PA), Canadasaga, Caneadea, Catherine's Town, Cattaraugus,Chemung, Cheronderoga, Condawhaw, Connewango (2-PA), Cussewago (PA),Dayoitgao, Deonundagae, Deyodeshot, Deyohnegano (2), Deyonongdadagana,Dyosyowan (PA), Gaandowanang, Gadaho, Gahato, Gahayanduk, Ganagweh,Ganawagus, Ganeasos, Ganedontwan, Ganos, Ganosgagong, Gaonsagaon,Gaousge, Gaskosada, Gathtsegwarohare, Geneseo, Gistaquat, Gwaugweh,Honeoye, Jennesedaga (PA), Joneadih, Kahesarahera, Kanaghsaws,Kannassarago, Kashong (Cashong), Kaskonchiagon, Kaygen, Keinthe (ONT),Little Beard's Town, Middle Town, New Chemung, Newtown, Nondas, Oatka,Old Chemung, Onnahee (Onaghee), Onoghsadago, Onondarka, Owaiski,Skahasegao, Skoiyase, Sonojowauga, Tekisedaneyout, Tioniongarunte,Tonawanda, Totiakton, Yorkjough, and Yoroonwago (PA)"shirt wearing people." Not an original member of the Iroquois League,the Tuscarora joined as a non-voting member in 1722 after they hadbeen forced to leave North Carolina in 1714 after a war with theEnglish colonists.Names Akotaskaroren (Mohawk), Aniskalall (Cherokee), Ataskalolen (Oneida),Tewohomomy (Keewahomomy) (Saponi)Villages ShawiangtoThe name comes from "Minqua," a Delaware word meaning treacherous usedfor the Susquehannock and other Iroquian-speaking tribes. The Mingowere groups of independent Iroquois - mixed Seneca and Cayuga hunterswith a heavy percentage of descendents of Neutrals, Huron, and Eriewho had been adopted by the Iroquois during the 1650s. They settled inOhio and western Pennsylvania in the early 1700s and formed mixedvillages with the Delaware and Shawnee who arrived later.Names Cowskin Seneca, Neosho Seneca, Ohio Iroquois, and Seneca of SanduskyVillages Logstown (Chininqué) (Delaware-Shawnee-PA), Mingo Town (OH), Pluggy'sTown (OH), Sawcunk (Saukunk) (Delaware-Shawnee-PA), Sewickley(Shawnee-Delaware-PA), Scoutash's Town (Shawnee-OH), Seneca Town (OH),Sonnontio (Delaware-Shawnee-OH), Wakatomica (Shawnee-OH), Wasps (OH),White Mingo Town, and Yellow Creek (OH)Collectively, the Iroquois (mostly Mohawk but with sizeable numbers ofOneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga) who, after being converted toChristianity by French Jesuits, separated from the Iroquois Leagueafter 1667 and settled along the St. Lawrence River near Montreal.
Sub-Tribes Bay Quinte, Caughnawaga (Caughnawena, Conewaga, Coghnawagee,Kahnawake, Sault St. Louis for the Mohawks). La Montagne, La Prairie,Oka (Kanesatake, Lac des Deaux Montagnes, Lake of the Two Mountains,Scawendadey, Scenodidi), Oswegatchie (La Presentation mission), Saultau Recollet, St. Francois Xavier des prés, St. Jerome, and St. Regis(Akwesasne)Pennsylvania Mixed Iroquois-Delaware Villages Chinklacamoose (Seneca), Goshgoshunk (Seneca-3), Hickorytown (Munsee),Jedakne, John's Town (Munsee), Kickenapawling, Kittaning (Attigué)(Caughnawaga), Kushkuski (Kuskuski), Lawunkhannek (Seneca),Loyalhannon, Mahusquechikoken (Munsee-Seneca), Nescopeck (Shawnee),Ostonwackin (Cayuga-Oneida), Shamokin (Shawnee-Tutelo), Shenango (3),Sheshequin (Seneca), Skenandowa, Tioga, Venango(Seneca-Shawnee-Wyandot-Ottawa), Wyalusing (Munsee), and Wyoming(Munsee-Shawnee-Mahican-Nanticoke)Ohio Mixed Iroquois-Delaware Villages Coshocton (Koshachkink) (Munsee-Delaware-Shawnee-Seneca), New Town(Newtown) (1-NY and 3-OH), and Tullihas (Caughnawaga-Mahican-OH)Unspecified Villages Adjouquay, Anpuaqun, Aratumquat, Chemegaide, Churamuk, Codocararen,Cokanuk, Conaquanosshan, Conihunta, Connosomothdian, Conoytown(Conoy-PA), Coreorgonel (Tutelo), Cowawago, Ganadoga (ONT),Ganagarahhare (PA), Ganeraske (ONT), Ganneious (ONT), Glasswanoge,Indian Point, Janundat (OH), Jonondes, Juniata, Juraken (2-PA),Kahendohon, Kanatiochitiage, Kanesadageh, Kannawalohalla, Karaken,Karhationni, Karhawenradonh, Kayehkwarageh, Manckatawangum (PA),Matchasaung (PA), Mohanet (PA), Newtychanning (PA), Ohrekionni,Onaweron, Onkwe Iyede, Oskanwaserenhon, Otseningo (Delaware),Otskwirakeron, Ousagwentera, Runonvea, Schohorage (PA), Sconassi (PA),Sittawingo (PA), Swahadowri, Taiaiagon (ONT), Tohoguse's Town (PA),Tonihata (ONT), Tuskokogie, Wakerhon, Wauteghe, and YouchamSimply put, the Iroquois were the most important native group in NorthAmerican history. Culturally, however, there was little to distinguishthem from their Iroquian-speaking neighbors. All had matrilinealsocial structures - the women owned all property and determinedkinship. The individual Iroquois tribes were divided into three clans,turtle, bear, and wolf - each headed by the clan mother. The Senecawere like the Huron tribes and had eight (the five additional beingthe crane, snipe, hawk, beaver, and deer). After marriage, a man movedinto his wife's longhouse, and their children became members of herclan. Iroquois villages were generally fortified and large. Thedistinctive, communal longhouses of the different clans could be over200' in length and were built about a framework covered with elm bark,the Iroquois' material of choice for all manner of things. Villageswere permanent in the sense they were moved only for defensivepurposes or when the soil became exhausted (about every twenty years).
Agriculture provided most of the Iroquois diet. Corn, beans, andsquash were known as "deohako" or "life supporters." Their importanceto the Iroquois was clearly demonstrated by the six annualagricultural festivals held with prayers of gratitude for theirharvests. The women owned and tended the fields under the supervisionof the clan mother. Men usually left the village in the fall for theannual hunt and returned about midwinter. Spring was fishing season.Other than clearing fields and building villages, the primaryoccupation of the men was warfare. Warriors wore their hair in adistinctive scalplock (Mohawk of course), although other styles becamecommon later. While the men carefully removed all facial and bodyhair, women wore theirs long. Tattoos were common for both sexes.Torture and ritual cannibalism were some of the ugly traits of theIroquois, but these were shared with several other tribes east of theMississippi. The False Face society was an Iroquois healing groupwhich utilized grotesque wooden masks to frighten the evil spirtsbelieved to cause illness.
It was the Iroquois political system, however, that made them unique,and because of it, they dominated the first 200-years of colonialhistory in both Canada and the United States. Strangely enough, therewere never that many of them, and the enemies they defeated in warwere often twice their size. Although much has been made of theirDutch firearms, the Iroquois prevailed because of their unity, senseof purpose, and superior political organization. Since the IroquoisLeague was formed prior to any contact, it owed nothing to Europeaninfluence. Proper credit is seldom given, but the reverse was actuallytrue. Rather than learning political sophistication from Europeans,Europeans learned from the Iroquois, and the League, with itselaborate system of checks, balances,, and supreme law, almostcertainly influenced the American Articles of Confederation andConstitution.
The Iroquois were farmers whose leaders were chosen by their women -rather unusual for warlike conquerors. Founded to maintain peace andresolve disputes between its members, the League's primary law was theKainerekowa, the Great Law of Peace which simply stated Iroquoisshould not kill each other. The League's organization was prescribedby a written constitution based on 114 wampums and reinforced by afuneral rite known as the "Condolence" - shared mourning at thepassing of sachems from the member tribes. The council was composed of50 male sachems known variously as lords, or peace chiefs. Eachtribe's representation was set: Onondaga 14; Cayuga 10; Oneida 9;Mohawk 9; and Seneca 8. Nominated by the tribal clan mothers (who hadalmost complete power in their selection), Iroquois sachemships wereusually held for life, although they could be removed for misconductor incompetence. The emblem of their office was the deer antler headdress, and guided by an all-male council, the sachems ruled in timesof peace. War chiefs were chosen on the basis of birth, experience,and ability, but exercised power only during war.
The central authority of the Iroquois League was limited leaving eachtribe free to pursue its own interests. By 1660, however, the Iroquoisfound it necessary to present a united front to Europeans, and theoriginal freedom of its members had to be curtailed somewhat. Inpractice, the Mohawk and Oneida formed one faction in the council andthe Seneca and Cayuga the other. The League's principal sachem(Tadodaho) was always an Onondaga, and as "keepers of the councilfire" with 14 sachems (well out of proportion to their population),they represented compromise. This role was crucial since all decisionsof the council had to be unanimous, one of the League's weaknesses.There was also a "pecking order" among members reflected by theeloquent ritual language of League debate. Mohawk, Onondaga, andSeneca were addressed as "elder brothers" or "uncles," while Oneida,Cayuga, and Tuscarora were "younger brothers" or "nephews."
In this form, the Iroquois used a combination of military prowess andskilled diplomacy to conquer an empire. Until their internal unityfinally failed them during the American Revolution, the Iroquois dealtwith European powers as an equal. The League was a remarkableachievement, but it also had flaws, the most apparent was itsinability to find a satisfactory means to share political power withits new members. As mentioned, the Iroquois incorporated thousands ofnon-league Iroquian peoples during the 1650s. Political power wasretained by the original Iroquois to such an extent that the adopteesremained second-class citizens. The resulting dissatisfactioneventually led to the Mingo separating and moving to Ohio to freethemselves from League control. Others found refuge with the French atCaughnawaga and other Jesuit missions along the St. Lawrence.
The League's massive adoptions also explains why it was so relentlessin its pursuit of the remnants of defeated enemies. So long as onesmall band remained free, the Iroquois were in danger of aninsurrection from within. Perhaps because they considered themselves"Ongwi Honwi" (superior people), the Iroquois never offered wholesaleadoption to the non-Iroquian speaking peoples who came under theircontrol. Instead they offered membership in the "Covenant Chain," aterminology first suggested by the Dutch at a treaty signed with theMohawk in 1618. By 1677 the Iroquois had extended this form of limitedmembership to the Mahican andDelaware and later would offer it toother Algonquin and Siouan tribes. Essentially, the Covenant Chain wasa trade and military alliance which gave the Iroquois the authority torepresent its members with Europeans, but there was no vote or directrepresentation in the League council, Worse yet, the Iroquois wereoften arrogant and placed their own interests first. A system of"half-kings" created to represent the Ohio tribes in the 1740s neverreally corrected this problem.
A list of all noteworthy Iroquois would be too long to be includedhere. The Seneca chief, Eli Parker (Donehogawa) was the Commissionerof Indian Affairs during the Grant Administration. Educated as alawyer, he was admitted to the bar but not allowed to practice in NewYork. He served on Grant's staff during the Civil War and is believedto have written the terms of Lee's surrender at Appomattox. CatherineTekawitha, the Lily of the Mohawk (1656-80) has reached the finalstage before recognition as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. TheMohawk have gained fame as structural ironworkers. Hired as laborersin 1896 during the construction of the Dominion Bridge at Montreal,they showed no fear of height and have since been involved in theconstruction of every major bridge and skyscraper. 35 Mohawk wereamong the 96 killed in 1907 when a bridge being built across the St.Lawrence at Quebec collapsed.
Archeological evidence indicates the Iroquois had lived in upstate NewYork for a long time before the Europeans arrived. Longhouseconstruction dates to at least 1100 A.D. The maize agriculture wasintroduced in the 14th century prompting a population surge and otherchanges. By 1350 villages had become larger and fortified due toincreased warfare, and ritual cannibalism began around 1400. TheOnondaga were the first of the Iroquois tribes that can be positivelyidentified in New York and seems to have begun after the merger of twovillages sometime between 1450 and 1475. The origin of the other fourtribes is not as certain. According to Iroquois tradition, they wereonce a single tribe in the St. Lawrence Valley subject toAlgonquin-speaking Adirondack who had taught them agriculture. Toescape Algonquin domination, the Iroquois say they left the St.Lawrence and moved south to New York where they split into opposingtribes.
The exact date of this migration is uncertain. When Jacques Cartierfirst explored the St. Lawrence in 1535, there were Iroquoian-speakingpeoples living in at least eleven villages between Stadacona (Quebec)and Hochelaga (Montreal). Hochelaga was a large fortified village withlarge corn fields and a population over 3,000. It was still thereduring Cartier's second visit (1541-42), but when the French returnedto the area in 1603, Hochelaga and the other Iroquois villages on theSt. Lawrence had disappeared. In their place were Montagnais andAlgonkin. For lack of a better term, these Iroquian people have beencalled the Laurentian Iroquois, but their exact relationship to otherIroquian groups has never been established. Both the Huron and Mohawktraditions claim them as their own. Linguistic evidence tends tosupport the Huron, but it is quite possible the Laurentian Iroquoismay have been part of the Mohawk.
Equally confused is the exact date of the founding of the IroquoisLeague. Some estimates put this as far back as 900 A.D., but thegeneral consensus is sometime around 1570. There is no question,however, that all of the Iroquoian confederacies (Neutrals,Susquehannock, Huron, and Iroquois) were established prior to Europeancontact. Nor is there any dispute over why this occurred. Althoughstill threatened by the Adirondack after moving to upstate New York,the greatest danger for the Iroquois was themselves. Relationshipsbetween the tribes had deteriorated into constant war, blood feuds,and revenge killings. In danger of self-destruction, the Iroquois weresaved by the sudden appearance of a Huron holyman known as the"Peacemaker." Deganawida (Two River Currents Flowing Together)received a vision from the Creator of peace and cooperation among allIroquois. Apparently he was hindered by either a language or speechdifficulty, but Deganawida eventually won the support of Hiawatha(Ayawentha - He Makes Rivers), an Onondaga who had become a Mohawk warchief.
With considerable effort, they were able to convince the otherIroquois tribes to end their fighting and join together in a league.Legend tells that Deganawida blotted out the sun to convince thereluctant. A solar eclipse visible in upstate New York occurred in1451 suggesting another possible date for these events. The formationof the League ended the warfare between its members bringing theIroquois a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity. It alsobrought political unity and military power, and unfortunately,Deganawida's "Great Peace" extended only to the Iroquois themselves.For outsiders it was a military alliance and the "Great War" againstany people with whom the Iroquois had a dispute, and during the first130 years of the League's existence, there were very few tribes whomanaged to avoid a dispute with the Iroquois.
The Iroquois were only required to maintain peace with each other, theindividual members of the League were free to pursue their owninterests, and at first, the Iroquois functioned as two alliances: theSeneca, Cayuga, and, to a lesser extent, the Onondaga combined as thewestern Iroquois; while the Mohawk and Oneida united in the east.Despite this division, the Iroquois still possessed a unity andpurpose which their enemies could not match. During a 50-year warbeginning sometime around 1570, the eastern Iroquois drove theAlgonquin from the Adirondack Mountains and the upper St. LawrenceRiver - a possible explanation of the movement of the Pequot andMohegan into southern New England just after 1600. There were alsoskirmishes with the powerfulMahican Confederacy to the south over thewampum trade, and most likely because they were Adirondack or Mahicanallies, thePocumtuc in western New England were attacked by theMohawk in 1606. After establishing a settlement at Quebec, the Frenchreached west to the vicinity of Montreal in 1609. What they foundthere was a war zone where it was possible to travel along the St.Lawrence for days without seeing another human being. The Algonkin andMontagnais were so harassed by Mohawk war parties that they usuallyremained well-clear of the river.
The French only wanted to trade for fur. Their potential tradingpartners, however, wanted help fighting the Mohawk which trapped theFrench into winning their loyalty by jumping into someone else's war.It must have seemed a trivial at the time, but it proved a fatefuldecision. In July, 1609 Samuel de Champlain accompanied a Huron,Montagnais, and Algonkin war party which moved south along the shoresof Lake Champlain. When they encountered Mohawk warriors, a battlefollowed during which French guns broke the massed Mohawk formationkilling several war chiefs. The following year, Champlain joinedanother attack against a Mohawk fort on the Richelieu River. Althoughthe Mohawk soon discarded mass formations, wooden body armor, andcountered French firearms by falling to the ground just before theydischarged, they were driven from the St. Lawrence after 1610. TheAlgonkin and Montagnais took control of the area and its fur trade forthe next twenty years. Meanwhile, the French pushed west to the Huronvillages and, in a similar error in 1615, participated in an attack onthe Onondaga.
During the years following, the French paid dearly for theirintervention. Iroquois hostility prevented them from using LakeOntario and forced a detour through the Ottawa River Valley to reachthe western Great Lakes. For the moment, however, the Iroquois neededguns and steel weapons to protect themselves, but these were availableonly through a fur trade controlled by their enemies. In 1610 Dutchtraders arrived in the Hudson Valley of New York, and the Iroquois hadsolved a part of their problem. Still pressed from the north by theHuron, Algonkin, and Montagnais, the Mohawk in 1615 were also fightingtheir traditional Susquehannock rivals to the south. Suspecting theFrench were behind this, the Dutch helped the Mohawk against theSusquehannock. This attached the Mohawk to the Dutch, but there wereproblems. Located on the Hudson, the Mahican blocked Mohawk access toDutch traders unless tribute was paid to cross their territory.
This unhappy arrangement did not sit well with the Mohawk andperiodically erupted into war. Since this affected their fur trade,the Dutch arranged a truce in 1613. Four years later, renewed fightingbetween the Mohawk and Mahican forced the closure of Fort Nassau nearAlbany until another peace was made in 1618. Meanwhile, the Dutchdemand for fur had created competition for previously-shared huntingterritory, and Mohawk encroachment had led to fighting and subjugationof some the northern groups of Munsee Delaware during 1615. How longthe Dutch could have "kept the lid on" this situation is questionable.The Mohawk were acting as middlemen for other Iroquois and had evengreater ambitions. In 1624 the Dutch built a new post at Fort Orangewhich was actually closer to the the Mohawk. Unfortunately, they alsotried to take some of the St. Lawrence fur trade from the French byusing Mahican middlemen to open trade with the Algonkin.
Trade with their enemies was too much for the Mohawk, and in 1624 theyattacked the Mahican in a war the Dutch could not stop. Fightingcontinued for the next four years with the Mahican calling in theirPocumtuc and Sokoki (WesternAbenaki) allies. The Dutch at firsttended to favor the Mahican. Dutch soldiers from Fort Orange joined aMahican war party in 1626. A Mohawk ambush resulted in several deadDutchmen, but rather than retaliate, the Dutch decided to remainneutral. By 1628 the Mohawk had defeated the Mahican and driven themeast of the Hudson River. Under the terms of peace, the Mahican wereforced to pay tribute in wampum, or at least share their profits fromwampum trade with the Delaware on Long Island. The Dutch accepted theMohawk victory and made them their principal ally and trading partner.The Iroquois homeland occupied a very strategic position - sittingbetween the Dutch in the Hudson Valley and furs of the Great Lakes.Already able to force the French to stay well north, the Iroquois wereready to try to dominate the French trade on the St. Lawrence.
The result was the Beaver Wars - 70 years of violent intertribalwarfare for control of the European fur trade. Largely forgottentoday, the Beaver Wars were one of the critical events in NorthAmerica history. With the Mahican defeated and subject, the Mohawk in1629 continued the war against the Mahican's Sokoki and Pennacookallies. This may have continued for some time if not for the actionsof third European power, Great Britain, which had begun colonizing NewEngland in 1620. During a war in Europe between Britain and France,English privateers under Sir David Kirke captured Quebec in 1629.Without French support, the Algonkin and Montagnais were vulnerable,and after concluding a truce with the Sokoki, the Mohawk tookadvantage by destroying the Algonkin-Montagnais village at TroisRivieres. By late 1630 the Algonkin and Montagnais desperately neededhelp against the Mohawk. For three long years none came until theTreaty of St. Germaine en Laye restored Quebec to France in 1632.
By the time the French returned to the St. Lawrence that year, theIroquois (with uninterrupted trade with the Dutch) had reversed theirearlier losses and were dangerously close to gaining control of theupper St. Lawrence and southern Ontario. The Iroquois had exhaustedmost of the beaver in their homeland (they never had that many tobegin with). If they were to continue trade for the European goods onwhich they become dependent, they desperately needed to find newhunting territory. As large Iroquois war parties ranged freely throughsouthern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley, the French tried to restorethe balance of power in the region by selling firearms to theirtrading partners for "hunting." For obvious reasons, the Europeans atfirst had avoided trading firearms to the natives, although they werepretty free with steel knives and hatchets. With growing competitionin the fur trade, however, their reluctance rapidly gave way.
Initially, the French took the precaution of restricting guns toChristian converts and limiting the amount of ammunition to precludeany use against themselves. Even a limited supply was sufficient atthe time to allow the Huron, Algonkin, and Montagnais to counter theIroquois, while the French rebuilt their fur trade. The firearms andsteel weapons, however, soon found their way into the hands of thetribes for which the Huron acted as a middleman, and as the number ofbeaver dwindled in the eastern Great Lakes, Neutral, Tionontati, andOttawa warriors used them to seize territory from Algonquin and Siouantribes in lower Michigan and the Ohio Valley. The Beaver Wars spreadwestward during the 1630s and 40s. The Iroquois were Dutch allies.Because of this and past hostility, the French continued to avoidthem. Despite a limited trade agreement concluded with the Mohawk in1627, they concentrated their efforts on trade with the Huron who hadstrong trading ties to the western Great Lakes.
Stymied by Huron military power, the Iroquois wanted their permissionto hunt in the prime beaver territory to the north and west of theirhomeland so they could maintain their trade with the Dutch. At thevery least, the Iroquois needed the Huron to cooperate and trade someof their furs with them - something the two rival confederations haddone for many years before arrival of the French and Dutch. Resortingto diplomacy, the League sent its requests to the Huron council. TheHuron, however, sensed their growing advantage and refused. After theHuron killed an Iroquois hunting party in disputed territory, all-outwar erupted. Although the Huron and their allies outnumbered them morethan two to one, Iroquois war parties moved into southern Ontariotrying to cut the Huron link through the Ottawa Valley to Frenchtraders at Quebec. Some French settlements along the St. Lawrence werealso attacked in 1633, but these were never the main target. For themost part, the Iroquois shrewdly tried to keep the French neutral,while they eliminated their native allies.
A peace arranged with Algonkin in 1634 failed almost immediately whenthe Algonkin renewed efforts to open trade with the Dutch in theHudson Valley. Two separate Iroquois offensives during 1636 and 1637drove the Algonkin deep into the upper Ottawa Valley and forced theMontagnais to retreat east towards Quebec. Smallpox from New Englandin 1634 slowed the Mohawk offensive, but the Seneca inflicted a majordefeat on the Huron the following year. Between 1637 and 1641, theHuron paid a horrendous price for European contact and fur trade whena series of epidemics swept through their villages. When these ended,the Huron had lost many experienced leaders and almost half theirpopulation which seriously weakened their ability to defend themselvesagainst the Iroquois. When the French had begun to provide firearms tothe Huron and Algonkin, the Dutch had kept pace in supplying them tothe Iroquois. The resulting arms race had remained on a relatively lowlevel until the Swedes established a colony on the lower DelawareRiver in 1638.
To compensate for their late start in the fur trade, the Swedes placedfew restrictions on the amount of firearms they sold to theSusquehannock. Suddenly confronted by a well-armed enemy to the southin Pennsylvania, the Iroquois turned to the Dutch for more and betterfirearms. Already angry the Swedes had settled on territory claimed bythemselves and taken over their trade, the Dutch provided additionalguns and ammunition and in the process gave the Iroquois a definitearms advantage over the Huron. The first victim of this new armamentwas not the Huron, but the small Iroquian-speakingWenro tribe ofwestern New York. Abandoned by their Erie and Neutral allies, theywere overrun by the Iroquois in 1639. Resistance continued until 1643,but the surviving Wenro were finally forced to seek refuge with theHuron and Neutrals. The major change came in 1640, when the othernewcomers to the fur trade, New England traders from Boston, tried tobreak the Dutch trade monopoly with the Mohawk by selling themfirearms.
Although this sale would have violated British law, the Dutch startedselling the Iroquois all the guns and powder they wanted. The level ofviolence in the Beaver Wars escalated dramatically, with the Iroquois,now even better armed than the French, holding a clear advantage infirepower. Despite this the Huron won two major victories against theIroquois in 1640 and 1641. but within a year, the Mohawk and Oneidahad driven the last groups of Algonkin and Montagnais from the upperSt. Lawrence. The French responded by building forts, but these provedinadequate to protect even their own settlements which were comingunder attack. The founding of Montreal at the mouth of the OttawaRiver in 1642 shortened the distance the Huron had to travel to trade,but the French were vulnerable to attack in this new location. TheIroquois easily compensated during 1642 and 1643 by moving large warparties into the Ottawa Valley to attack the French and Huron tryingto move furs to Montreal.
As if the French did not have enough trouble, a long-standinghostility between the Montagnais and Sokoki (Western Abenaki) haderupted into war in 1642 when the Montagnais attempted to keep theSokoki from trading directly with the French at Quebec. Since theMohawk were already at war with the Montagnais, the Sokoki put asidepast differences and formed an alliance with the Mohawk. This alsobrought the Mahican (Mohawk allies since 1628) into the fighting, andin 1645 a combined Mohawk, Sokoki, and Mahican war party raided themain Montagnais village near Sillery, Quebec. The Dutch in 1640 hadalso begun providing large quantities of firearms to the Mahican. By1642 both the Mohawk and Mahican were using these weapons to demandtribute from the Munsee and Wappinger Delaware on the lower Hudson. Toescape this harassment, the Wiechquaeskeck (Wappinger) moved southduring the winter of 1642-43 to Manhattan Island and the Tappan andHackensack villages at Pavonia (Jersey City) for what they thought wasthe protection of the Dutch settlements.
The Dutch, however, became alarmed and in February, 1643 made asurprise attack on the Wiechquaeskeck village killing more than 100 ofthem. The Pavonia Massacre ignited the Wappinger War (Governor Kieft'sWar) (1643-45). The fighting spread to include Munsee in New Jerseyand Unami (Delaware) and Metoac of western Long Island, and the Dutchwere forced to call upon the Mahican and Mohawk for help. Aftersigning a formal treaty of alliance with the Dutch that year, theMohawk and Mahican set to work. By the time a peace was finally signedat Fort Orange in the summer of 1645, more than 1,600 Wappinger,Munsee, and Metoac had been killed, and the Mohawk and Mahican hadgained control of the wampum trade of western Long Island. Munseeresentment continued to smolder during the final 20 years of Dutchrule, but the Mohawk stood ready to crush an uprising. Violencefinally came when five Munsee tribes combined to fight the new Dutchsettlements in the Esopus Valley. The Mohawk attacked the Munseevillages killing hundreds, and when the Esopus War (1660-64) ended,the Munsee had been conquered and made subject to the Iroquois.
For the French, 1644 was an especially grim year. The Atontrataronnon(Algonkin) were driven from the Ottawa River and forced to seek refugewith the Huron, and three large Huron canoe flotillas transporting furto Montreal were captured by the Iroquois. The fur trade on the St.Lawrence had come to almost a complete halt, so the French were readyto listen when the Iroquois proposed a truce. The peace treaty signedin 1645 allowed the French to resume the fur trade, and the Mohawk,who had suffered heavy losses from war and epidemic, got the releaseof their warriors being held prisoner by the French. However, thetreaty failed to solve the main cause of the war. The Iroquoisexpected peace would bring a resumption of their earlier trade withthe Huron. Instead, the Huron ignored Iroquois overtures for trade andsent 60 canoe-loads of fur to Montreal in 1645 followed by 80 loads in1646. After two years of increasingly-strained diplomacy failed tochange this, all hell broke loose.
While their diplomats took great care to reassure the French and keepthem neutral, the Iroquois destroyed the Arendaronon Huron villages in1647 and cut the trade route to Montreal. Very few furs got throughthat year. In 1648 a massive 250-man Huron canoe flotilla fought itsway past the Iroquois blockade on the Ottawa River and reached Quebec,but during their absence, the Iroquois destroyed the Huronmission-village of St. Joseph torturing and killing its Jesuitmissionary. This scattered the Attigneenongnahac Huron. Sensing acomplete Iroquois victory, the Dutch provided 400 high-qualityflintlocks and unlimited ammunition on credit. The final blow cameduring two days in March, 1649. In coordinated attacks, 2,000 Mohawkand Seneca warriors stuck the Huron mission-villages of St. Ignace andSt. Louis. Hundreds of Huron were killed or captured, while two moreFrench Jesuits were tortured to death. Huron resistance abruptlycollapsed, and the survivors scattered and fled to be destroyed orcaptured.
The Iroquois, however, were not about to just let the Huron go. After20 years of war and epidemic, they had paid a high price for victory.Down to less than 1,000 warriors, the League had decided on massiveadoptions to refill their ranks. The "Great Pursuit" began thefollowing December when the Iroquois went after the AttignawantanHuron who had taken refuge with the Tionontati. The main Tionontativillage was overrun, and less than 1,000 Tionontati and Huron managedto escape to a temporary refuge on Mackinac Island near Sault Ste.Marie (Upper Michigan). The Iroquois followed, and by 1651 the Huronand Tionontati refugees (who together would become the Wyandot) wereforced to relocate farther west to Green Bay, Wisconsin. The followingspring the Nipissing suffered the same fate (survivors fled north tothe Ojibwe), and the last groups of Algonkin abandoned the upperOttawa Valley and disappeared into safety of the northern forests withthe Cree for the next twenty years.
Meanwhile, the Tahonaenrat Huron had moved southwest among thevillages of the Neutrals. Throughout the many wars between Iroquoisand Huron, the Neutrals had refused to take sides. Huron and Iroquoiswar parties passed through their homeland to attack each other, butthe Neutrals remained neutral - hence their name. Perhaps alarmed bythe sudden Iroquois victory over the Huron, they made no effort toprevent the Tahonaenrat from continuing to make war on the Iroquois.After not-so diplomatic requests for the Neutrals to surrender their"guests" were ignored, the Iroquois attacked them in 1650. For thefirst year of the war, the Neutrals had the support of theSusquehannock who had been Huron allies before 1648. However, thisended in 1651 when the Mohawk and Oneida attacked the Susquehanna. Themain Neutral fort of Kinuka fell to the Seneca that year, and theother Neutrals either surrendered or were overrun.
The Tahonaenrat surrendered enmass and were incorporated into theSeneca, but large groups of Neutrals and Huron fled south to the Erie.Their reception was less than cordial, but they were allowed to stayin a status of semi-slavery. The "Great Pursuit" continued, and theIroquois demanded the Erie turn the refugees over to them. Relationsbetween the Iroquois and Erie apparently had never been friendly, andreinforced with hundreds of new warriors, the Erie flatly refused. Thematter simmered for two years with growing violence. In 1653 an Erieraid into the Iroquois homeland killed a Seneca sachem. A last minuteconference was held to avoid war, but in the course of a heatedargument, an Erie warrior murdered an Onondaga, and Iroquoisretaliated by killing all 30 of the Erie representatives. After this,peace was impossible, and the western Iroquois prepared for war.However, having great respect for the Erie as warriors, they firsttook the precaution of arranging a peace with the French.
When the Huron were overrun in 1649, the French fur trade empirecollapsed. The Jesuits had been killed, their native trading partnersand allies destroyed or scattered, and the flow of fur stopped. TheFrench still encouraged the natives to come to Montreal for trade, butvery few tried with the Iroquois controlling the Ottawa River. Theoffer of peace did not include the Mohawk and Oneida, but the Frenchgrabbed at a chance to end hostilities with the other three Iroquoistribes. With the French pacified and the Mohawk and Oneida keeping theonly possible ally, the Susquehannock, from giving any aid, theSeneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga were free to deal with the Erie. Theirinitial caution proved justified. Without firearms, the Erie held outfor three years until resistance ended in 1656. The survivors wereincorporated into the Iroquois.
At this point, no power in North America could have stood against theIroquois League, even the Europeans. However, rather than choosing toconfront the Europeans, the Iroquois decided to deal with them asequals and use their firearms and trade goods to their own advantage.To this end, it should be noted the Iroquois never tried to eliminateone European power for the benefit of another. Instead, they attemptedto maintain a working relationship with each one, even the French.Rather than being a Dutch ally, the Iroquois were in business forthemselves to dominate the fur trade with the Europeans and set aboutcreating an empire for this purpose. Details of how they did this havebeen mostly lost, since no European was present to record whathappened. Oral traditions provide only partial answers, butarcheological evidence indicates the western Great Lakes and OhioValley were rather heavily populated before contact. The first Frenchexplorers in the area during the 1660s and 70s, however, found fewresidents and many refugees.
It is also unclear how much warfare by the Huron, Neutrals, Ottawa,Erie and Susquehannock in pursuit of beaver fur prepared the way forthe Iroquois conquest of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, but in onlyten years, the western Iroquois cleared the region of most of itsremaining native inhabitants. By 1667, the following tribes had beenforced to relocate from their original locations:
1. The Potawatomi, Fox, Sauk, and Mascouten had left lower Michiganand were living in mixed refugee villages in Wisconsin.
2. The Shawnee,Kickapoo, and part of theMiami had been forced fromOhio and Indiana. The Kickapoo and Miami moved to Wisconsin, but theShawnee scattered to Tennessee, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and SouthCarolina.
3. Attacked by the Seneca in 1655 for giving refuge to Huron andNeutrals, the Illinois were forced west of the Mississippi River. Theyreturned later but went no further than the Illinois River Valleywhich was well to the west of their original territory.
4. The Dhegiha Sioux (Osage, Kansa, Ponca, Omaha, and Quapaw)abandoned the lower Wabash Valley and moved west to the MissouriRiver. The Quapaw, however, separated from the others, went south, andsettled at the mouth of the Arkansas.
5. The Huron, Tionontati, Wenro, Neutrals, and Erie had been defeatedand absorbed into the Iroquois. Approximately 1,000 Huron andTionontati who escaped capture moved first to Wisconsin, then inlandto the Mississippi in Minnesota, and finally to the south shore ofLake Superior.
6.The Ottawa had left their original location on the islands of LakeHuron and moved west to upper Michigan. The Nipissing and southernbands of the Ojibwe had also been forced north to the vicinity ofSault Ste. Marie.
7. Some tribes in the Ohio Valley just disappeared and are known onlyby name: Casa, Cisca, Iskousogom, Moneton, Mospelea, Ouabano,Teochanontian, Tomahitan, and Tramontane. Who they were and exactlywhat happened to them is unknown.
While the western Iroquois were conquering the Ohio Valley, the Mohawk andOneida were busy in the east. In 1647 their war with the Algonkin andMontagnais had spread to the Abenaki in Maine who were helping theMontagnais.
The Mohawk's alliance with the Sokoki against the Montagnais ended withfighting over hunting territory east of Lake Champlain. The suddencollapse of the Huron in 1649 had alarmed everyone, and the French atQuebec tried to assemble whatever allies they could against the Iroquois.The Mohawk struck outlying French settlements and kept attacking the smallgroup of Christian Huron living just outside the gates of Quebec. In 1650the French sent a Montagnais sachem and Jesuit missionary into northernNew England to encourage an alliance between the Sokoki, Pennacook,Pocumtuc, and Mahican against the Iroquois. The New England colonies werealso asked to participate, but the British were not interested. The Frenchgot the alliance they were seeking and began providing firearms to itsmembers. Despite occasional raids against the Sokoki in Vermont, thealliance was not tested initially. The Mohawk after 1651 had all theycould handle in their war in Pennsylvania with the Susquehannock.
The Susquehannock had always been formidable warriors. In 1651 they hadbeen well-armed by Swedish traders from the lower Delaware River. Afterfour years of fighting with heavy losses to both sides, the Mohawk andOneida only succeeded in capturing part of the upper part of SusquehannaRiver. The war was a stalemate, until the Dutch took the Swedish coloniesin 1655. Suddenly deprived of their source of weapons, the Susquehannockasked for peace. The Mohawk readily agreed. Peace with the Susquehannockfreed the Mohawk and Oneida to turn on their enemies in western NewEngland, and the alliance received its first test. New fighting betweenthe Mohawk and Mahican concerned the Dutch, and at their insistence, theMahican left the alliance in 1658 and made peace with the Mohawk. However,the Mohawk soon discovered the Mahican were arranging trade between theDutch and the Montagnais and Sokoki. Diplomacy failed to stop this, and in1662 the Mohawk attacked the Mahican. Two years of war forced the Mahicanto abandon most of the Hudson Valley, including their capital at Shodacnear Albany.
Supplied by both French and British, the Sokoki,Pennacook, Pocumtuc, andMontagnais continued fighting the Mohawk and were holding their own.Iroquois and Algonquin war parties moved back-and-forth across western NewEngland attacking each other's villages. By 1660 the war had spread toinclude the Abenaki in Maine who were allies of the Montagnais. After anattack against a Mohawk village failed in 1663, the Pocumtuc found theywere running out of warriors and asked the Dutch to arrange a truce.Nothing came of this, and in December a large Mohawk and Seneca war partystruck the main Pocumtuc village at Fort Hill (Deerfield, Massachusetts).The assault was repulsed with the loss of almost 300 warriors, but thebattered Pocumtuc abandoned Fort Hill in the spring and sued for peace.The Mohawk agreed, but someone (not the Pocumtuc) murdered the Iroquoisambassadors enroute to the peace conference. The Mohawk renewed theirattacks forcing the Pocumtuc from the middle Connecticut River.
In the midst of this, the British seized New York in 1664. The Dutchrecaptured it in 1673, but it was returned to the British by the Treaty ofWestminster the following year. The important role of the Dutch in NorthAmerica ended at this point. The British concluded their own treaty offriendship with the Mohawk in 1664 and, most importantly, left the Dutchtraders at Albany in charge of the trade essential to the Iroquois warmachine. British traders at Boston saw greater opportunity trading withthe powerful Iroquois than New England Algonquin and moved west to Albany.Their departure left the Sokoki, Abenaki, and Pennacook without supportother than the French. No longer concerned about getting into a war withthe British, the Mohawk took advantage and began to drive the Sokoki andPennacook from the upper Connecticut River, one raid even reaching thevicinity of Boston in 1665.
The French had noted the British capture of New York and their subsequenttreaty with the Mohawk. Worried the British would gain control of the furtrade and tired of being threatened by the Iroquois, the French Crown tookformal possession of New France and in June, 1665 sent the 1,200-manCarigan-Saliéres regiment to Canada. The French soldiers had much tolearn, and their first offensive against the Iroquois got lost in thewoods. However, during the winter of 1665-66, they invaded the Iroquoishomeland with devastating effect and burned the Mohawk villages ofTionnontoguen and Kanagaro. By the following spring the Mohawk were askingthe English for help. The governor of New York (also concerned aboutFrench) agreed to an alliance but only on condition the Mohawk first makepeace with Mahican and Sokoki. The Mahican were ready, but the Sokokirefused. That summer, the Mohawk struck the Pennacook, while the Sokokiand Kennebec attacked Mohawk villages.
The French army resumed their attacks in the fall but ran into a Mohawkambush. The attacks still had their effect, and the Iroquois agreed to ageneral peace with the French in 1667. This freed the western Iroquois toconcentrate on the still-dangerous Susquehannock while the Mohawk wentafter western New England. During 1668 the Mohawk drove the Pennacookacross New Hampshire to the protection of the Abenaki in Maine. Thefollowing year an alliance of New England Algonquin (including Sokoki andMahican) retaliated, but the attack on a Mohawk village was ambushed ontheir return home. With the exception of Missisquoi on the north end ofLake Champlain, by the time peace was arranged in 1670, most Sokoki wereliving under French protection along the St. Lawrence. The peace theMahican agreed to in 1672 with the Iroquois was actually surrender.Afterwards, the Iroquois handled all Mahican relations with Europeans. In1677 the Mahican became the first member of the Covenant Chain.
The alliance of the British and Iroquois served to protect both from theFrench. It also gave the Iroquois the support of the British in extendingits authority over other tribes by gathering them into the Covenant Chainwhich greatly increased the League's power and influence. There wereseveral advantages for the British: it kept the Covenant Chain tribes fromfalling under French influence; negotiations with Native Americans weresimplified since the British only had to deal with the Iroquois; and italso allowed the British to call upon the League a "policeman" in case oftrouble. When the Wampanoag tried to use the Mahican village atSchaghticoke as a refuge during the King Philip's War (1675-76), thegovernor of New York called on the Mohawk to force them back toMassachusetts. The Mohawk later helped New England force Philip's Sokokiand Pennacook allies to retreat into northern Maine and Canada.Unfortunately, this also drove these peoples into an alliance with theFrench.
After destroying the Erie in 1656, the western Iroquois had turned on theAlgonquin in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes and driven them west of LakeMichigan. The peace the French had signed with the western Iroquois in1653, had not given the French access to the western Great Lakes and leftthem besieged in Montreal and Quebec by the Mohawk and Oneida. What littlefur reached them came from the Ottawa who, after the destruction of theHuron, had assumed the middleman's role in trade with the French. Thiseventually annoyed the Iroquois, and they attacked the Ottawa living onthe islands of Lake Huron forcing them west to Wisconsin and upperMichigan. The only French to visit the western Great Lakes during thisperiod were Radisson and Groseilliers who reached the west end of LakeSuperior in 1658 (only to be arrested when they returned to Quebec fortrading without a license). The French peace with the Iroquois came to anend in 1658 with the murder of a Jesuit ambassador, and it was not until1665 that Nicolas Perot and Father Claude-Jean Allouez (6 French and 400Huron, Ottawa, and Ojibwe) fought their way up the Ottawa River and madetheir way to Green Bay.
What they found was appalling. More than 30,000 refugees (Fox, Sauk,Ottawa, Mascouten, Miami, Kickapoo, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi) hadoverwhelmed both the resident Winnebago and Menominee and the resources ofthe area. Too far north for growing corn, the area was over-hunted, andthe starving refugees were fighting among themselves over the little thatwas left. War had also started with the Dakota (Sioux) to the west asAlgonquin hunters encroached on their territory. The refugees were alsosubject to periodic attacks by the Iroquois whose "Great Pursuit" hadfollowed the Wyandot to Wisconsin. In 1653 the Seneca had attacked aWyandot and Potawatomi fort near Green Bay, but the Iroquois were forcedto withdraw after they ran out of food. TheWyandotretreated inland tothe Mississippi and finally to the south shore of Superior. However, theIroquois continued to strike without warning. A Fox village had beendestroyed in 1657, although in 1662 the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Nipissingsurprised and annihilated a large Mohawk and Oneida war party at IroquoisPoint (east end of Lake Superior).
The peace signed between the French and Iroquois in 1667 was significant.It not only included all five members of the Iroquois League but extendedto French allies and trading partners in the western Great Lakes. Therelentless Iroquois pursuit of the Wyandot ended, and the French were ableto rebuild their fur trade. French traders and Jesuit missionariesimmediately went west and began to bring some order to the chaos inWisconsin. The French were also able to explore the Ohio Valley for thefirst time in 1669 which provided the basis for their later claim to thearea. The Iroquois, of course, already claimed it by right of conquest.Marquette and Joliet reached the Mississippi in 1673, and LaSalle claimedLouisiana for France in 1682. More importantly, as fur began to reach themarkets at Montreal and Quebec once again, the French became the mediatorin intertribal disputes - the first step towards organized Algonquinresistance to the Iroquois.
While the French used the peace to rebuild, the British becameincreasingly concerned with French military power and expansion. When theybegan to increase their own military strength, the stage was set for the100-year struggle between Britain and France for control of North America.For the Iroquois, the events of 1664-67 changed the manner in which theLeague functioned. By 1677 the Iroquois had signed their first treaties asthe "Five Nations," and members afterwards rarely negotiated separatetreaties or conducted their own wars. Relations with European powers grewmore complex, and the League found it necessary to first resolve itsinternal differences in order to present a united front to outsiders. Thepeace signed with the French in 1667 also had advantages for the Iroquois.They settled in the old Huron homeland of southern Ontario - uninhabitedsince 1650. While men had fought each other, the beaver were at peace, andthe area had recovered to once again become a prime fur area.
It also freed the western Iroquois for a war with the oneIroquian-speaking neighbor who had remained independent of the League. TheSusquehannock's long war against the Mohawk and Oneida had barely ended in1655, when a new conflict began with the Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga. Thewestern Iroquois found them just as stubborn as had the Mohawk.Outnumbered three-to-one, the Susquehannock enlisted support from theirtributary Algonquin and Siouan tribes (Shawnee, Delaware, Nanticoke,Conoy, Saponi, and Tutelo), and although they had lost the Swedes in 1655,alliances with Maryland colonists in 1661 and 1666 provided the necessaryweapons. The Mohawk had their own wars in the tribes in New England andcontinued to honor their peace with the Susquehannock. The Mohawk,however, helped the Dutch during the Esopus War and, in crushing theMunsee Delaware, deprived the Susquehannock of one of their allies in 1664.
The Susquehannock concentrated in a single impregnable fort for defense,so the Iroquois went after their allies and attacked the Delaware livingalong the Delaware River during the 1660s. The Shawnee also came underattack and were scattered. The pursuit of these Susquehannock allies southinto South Carolina and Tennessee soon had Iroquois war parties fightingwith Cherokee and Catawba. In the end the Susquehannock were just too few.The greatest blow, however, was not military defeat but epidemic whensmallpox struck their single, crowded village with devastating effect in1661. When the western Iroquois were free to prosecute the war with theirfull strength in 1668, the Susquehannock had only 300 warriors. Still,they continued to fight for another seven years, and it was not until 1675that the Iroquois were finally able to force their surrender.
The first phase of the Beaver Wars ended with the Iroquois conquest of theSusquehannock. During the next ten years, the Iroquois finished off thelast of their Nanticoke and Conoy allies and incorporated them into theCovenant Chain. Maryland made peace with the League in 1682, but raids(which had begun in 1671) against the Saponi and Tutelo in Virginia andthe Catawba in South Carolina continued. Iroquois power reached its peakin 1680. By this time they had won a vast empire, and their warriors hadfought battles in every state east of the Mississippi. They never crossedthis river, but the Iroquois already knew trails leading to South Dakota'sBlack Hills. After their war with the Susquehannock, the Iroquois turnedtheir attention west again, but were unhappy with what they saw. Withpeace in the region after 1667, the French fur trade was going well, andthe Algonquin had, for the most part, stopped fighting each other.
It had not been a perfect peace - the Seneca had attacked Mackinac in 1671and the Dakota were fighting the Ojibwe and Fox along the shores ofSuperior, but it was a major improvement over the chaos the French haddiscovered in 1665. In 1680 Robert LaSalle had opened Fort Crèvecoeur onthe upper Illinois River to trade with the tribes of the IllinoisConfederation, and thousands of Algonquin had gathered in the vicinity.This many potential enemies bothered the Iroquois, but of greater concernwere Illinois hunters moving into Ohio, Indiana and lower Michigan(claimed by the Iroquois) and taking every beaver they could. Since thisincluded the young beaver, there was no breeding stock to replace the oneskilled. Iroquois protests resulted the murder of a Seneca sachem by theIllinois at an Ottawa village beginning the second phase of the BeaverWars in 1680.
Back in western New York, the Seneca formed an enormous war party andstarted west to teach the Illinois a lesson they would never forget.Enroute they added warriors from the Miami (Illinois enemies) and set outfor the Illinois villages near Fort Crèvecoeur. Warned of their approach,the French evacuated their trading post and left for Wisconsin. Most ofthe Illinois also moved to safety west of the Mississippi, but the Tamora,Espeminkia, and Maroa chose to remain - a fatal mistake. After the Senecahad finished their deadly work, the French returned to find the valleylittered with bodies and burned villages. Thousands of Illinois had beenmassacred. Only a few Tamora and Maroa survived, and the Espeminkiadisappeared completely. The Seneca returned in 1681, but Henri Tonti builtFort St. Louis on the upper Illinois during 1682, and the new strongholdbrought the Illinois back from west of the Mississippi. Meanwhile, theMiami had allowed Shawnee (Iroquois enemies) to settle in their midst.Threatened by the Iroquois over this, they switched sides and allowed theFrench to arrange a peace with Illinois allowing the Miami to move closerto the French fort.
By 1684 the native population near Fort St. Louis had grown to more than20,000. The Iroquois returned in force that year, but the Algonquin stoodand fought. The Iroquois siege failed to capture the fort, and they wereforced to retreat - the turning point of the Beaver Wars. Elated by thisvictory, the French began to organize a formal alliance against theIroquois. The first offensive failed so miserably, that Joseph La Barre,the French governor of Canada, panicked and signed a treaty with theIroquois ceding most of Illinois. La Barre was replaced by Jacques-ReneDenonville who renounced the treaty, built new forts, strengthened oldones, and provided guns to the Great Lakes Algonquin. The strengthenedalliance (Ojibwe, Ottawa, Wyandot, Potawatomi, Missisauga, Fox, Sauk,Miami, Winnebago, Menominee, Kickapoo, Illinois, and Mascouten) took theoffensive in 1687. Following important alliance victories in massivebattles fought between canoe fleets on Lake St. Clair and Erie, theIroquois were clearly on the defensive by the 1690s and falling backacross the Great Lakes towards New York. By 1696 the Iroquois had beenforced to abandon most of their southern Ontario villages to theMissisauga (Ojibwe) and, except for eastern Ohio and northernPennsylvania, had retreated to their homeland.
The last part of the Beaver Wars coincided with King William's War(1688-97) between Britain and France. This meant warfare was not confinedjust to the Great Lakes, and in 1687 the French had struck the Seneca andOnondaga villages in the Iroquois homeland. More than 1,200 Iroquoiswarriors retaliated in August, 1689 with a massive raid against Lachinejust outside Montreal which killed more than two hundred French settlers.The following year the French and and their allies attacked Schenectady.The Mohawk attacked the Sokoki at St. Francois (the main French ally inthe east) in 1690 and 1692, but three separate campaigns launched fromQuebec by Louis Frontenac 1693-96 carried the war to the Iroquoisvillages. Under intense pressure from both the east and west, smallpoxbroke out among the Iroquois in 1690. The Iroquois made overtures for aseparate peace to the French in 1694, but these were ignored because theoffer did not include French allies.
The Treaty of Ryswick, which ended the war between Britain and France in1697, placed the League under British protection (not something theIroquois had requested). The French worried their continuing war with theIroquois might bring another confrontation with the British and began toconsider the Iroquois peace offers with greater interest. However, theirfirst attempts to urge a settlement on their allies created suspicion thatthey would abandon their allies and make a separate peace. There was goodreason for the Algonquin to feel this way since the Iroquois had alreadyattempted to break the alliance with offers of peace and trade to theOttawa and Wyandot. The main problem was the return of prisoners taken andadopted by the Iroquois. Sensing the League was about to collapse, theAlgonquin wanted total victory, and the fighting continued until 1701.
The peace signed with the Iroquois that year included both the French andtheir allies. The French agreed to mediate any disputes which might arisebetween the League and Algonquin, while the Iroquois promised to remainneutral in any future war between Britain and France. That future warwould start that very year - Queen Anne's War (1701-13). In their hurry toinsure Iroquois neutrality before the outbreak of hostilities, the Frenchneglected to extinguish Iroquois claims to the Ohio Valley in favor oftheir own, and the British would soon claim this area since the Iroquoiswere supposedly under their protection. For the most part, the Iroquoishad been a British ally during the King William's War, but only to theextent they were engaged in a separate war with the French. Fightingduring the Queen Anne's War was mostly in New England and CanadianMaritimes, and keeping its word, the League remained neutral and waited tosee who won.
Not everything was peaceful, however. The powerful Missisauga expandedsouth along the shores of Lake Huron into southern Ontario and seizedterritory from the Iroquois. Concerned with other matters, the Frenchignored the League's protests about this, and by 1713 the Iroquois wereconsidering an invasion of Canada. Fortunately, the Queen Anne's War endedwith the Treaty of Utrecht that year, and the French finally got around tomediating a settlement. This dispute, however, was one of the least oftheir problems. France had emerged from the King William's War as thewinner in North America. It then proceeded to discard the fruits of itsvictory. A glut of beaver fur in Europe had caused a drastic drop inprice, and the French monarchy suddenly "got religion." For years, theJesuits had been protesting the destruction which the fur trade wascausing among Native Americas, but no one listened until a drop in pricemade fur unprofitable.
A royal proclamation was issued curtailing fur trade in the western GreatLakes. Realizing the disaster this was for the Algonquin alliance,Frontenac, the governor of Canada, delayed implementation to such extenthe was removed. His successor obediently closed forts and trading posts,and the French surrendered their main source of power and influence -trade goods and presents. Their hard-won alliance in the Great Lakesquickly began to unravel. The Iroquois may have been down in 1701, butcertainly not out, and they immediately sensed the French dilemma. Stillcontrolling access to British and Dutch traders at Albany, they proceeded,after military force had failed them, to attack the French with trade.Even before the peace was signed in 1701, the Iroquois had used trade withthe British as a weapon to break the unity of the alliance. When theFrench finally put the proclamation into effect, Iroquois traders went towork.
The French responded in 1701 to this challenge from the "neutral" Iroquoiswith a new post at Detroit, Fort Pontchartrain. Just about every tribe inthe French alliance immediately moved nearby, and the resulting frictionsplaced further strains on the alliance. The French lost control, and thetense situation exploded in 1712 when the Fox attacked Fort Pontchartrain.The Fox Wars (1712-16 and 1728-37) marked a period of intertribal warfarebetween members of the French alliance. Living under the "Great Peace,"the Iroquois must have enjoyed the spectacle of their enemies fightingamong themselves. They continued to make inroads into the French tradeempire with British trade goods which were not only of higher quality thanthe French, but lower in price. The Ottawa began to trade with theIroquois and British in 1717, and other French allies followed. By thetime the French rescinded the royal degree, it was too late. The Iroquoisallowed the British in 1727 to build Fort Oswego in their homeland toshorten the travel distance for the Great Lakes tribes. By 1728, 80% ofthe beaver on the Albany market was coming from French allies.
The British accepted Iroquois neutrality after 1701 but still found themuseful as a buffer between themselves and French Canada. With the Frenchalliance in disarray, the Iroquois soon realized they represented thebalance of power between the British and French in North American. Bytaking advantage of this fact until the final French defeat in 1763, theymanaged to maintain their power and independence. A remarkableachievement, and the diplomatic skills they demonstrated were at least theequal of any European statesman. While they weakened the French witheconomic warfare, the Iroquois used British fear of French influence amongNative Americans in the British colonies to gain support for the CovenantChain. The British government actually pushed these tribes into joining,and membership eventually included (at different times): Shawnee, Miami,Delaware, Conestoga (Susquehannock), Nanticoke, Saponi, Tutelo, Munsee,Mahican, Conoy (Piscataway),Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw,Catawba, andChickasaw.
The League's actual power to speak for some tribes was far from absolute.No amount of threat and intimidation could force the Chickasaw, Creek,Cherokee, Catawba, or Choctaw to submit to the League's authority, andIroquois attempts to enforce their will often led to warfare. Perhaps theCovenant Chain's worst feature was the Iroquois often placed their own (orBritish) interests ahead of tribes they were supposed to represent. Anexception was the Iroquois threat of intervention on behalf of theTuscarora during the Tuscarora War (1712-13) with the Carolina colonists.The Iroquois stopped short of a war but remained defiant. In 1714 theyallowed the Iroquian-speaking Tuscarora to join them in western New York,and for years afterwards Iroquois war parties went south to punish theCatawba for helping the British against the Tuscarora. By 1722 theTuscarora had become the sixth, but non-voting, member of the IroquoisLeague. Four years later, the Iroquois began to secretly organize amassive uprising by all tribes east of the Mississippi against the Frenchand British. The response from other tribes, however, was mostly negative,and the idea was dropped.
The political unity of the Iroquois was the source of their power, but itwas by no means perfect. Divisions appeared over religion after FrenchJesuit missionaries began to make regular visits to Iroquois villagesduring the 1640s. This proved to be very dangerous work for the"blackrobes". Suspicion of French in general and smallpox in particularfrequently caused the Iroquois to protect themselves from what theyperceived as witchcraft, with fatal results for the priest. However, theJesuits kept coming and began to make converts. The mission of St. Mariewas established at the Mohawk village of Teatontaloga in 1642 but wasdestroyed three years later during an epidemic. Father Jogues was warnedto stay away, but he attempted to rebuild the mission and was murdered in1643. Despite this, missionary work resumed among the Mohawk, but it wasthe League's incorporation of large numbers of Christian Huron,Tionontati, and Neutrals during the 1650s which really opened the door forthe Jesuits.
Through the efforts of Father Le Moine, Notre Dame de Ganentaa, the firstmission among the Onondaga was opened in 1654. Two years later Father RenéMénard built Etienne for the Cayuga, and separate missions were alsoestablished for the Seneca and Oneida in 1656. As the number of convertsrose, there was increasing conflict between traditional and ChristianIroquois. Meanwhile, the French had signed a peace with the westernIroquois but still avoided trade with them, preferring to get their fursfrom the Ottawa. As tensions increased, the French tried using Jesuits asgo-betweens in dealings with the League. This made the Jesuits appearpartisan to the Iroquois, and following the murder in 1658 of a Jesuitserving as a French ambassador, peace between the French and Iroquoisended. Most of the missions were abandoned temporarily. With renewedhostilities, the Iroquois began to question the loyalty of Christiantribesmen pressuring them to renounce their new religion and return totraditional Iroquois ways. Many did, but others were forced from theIroquois villages. Eventually, many left entirely and settled near theFrench in the St. Lawrence Valley.
The first of these settlements was at La Prairie near Montreal. In 1667the Jesuits convinced some Christian Oneida to spend the winter. MoreOneida and several Mohawk families came later, and other ChristianIroquois followed. This new Iroquois settlement grew very rapidly, but thesoil at La Prairie proved unsuitable for corn. In 1673 they moved a shortdistance to Sault St. Louis (Lachine) calling the new village Caughnawaga.The Caughnawaga population was mixed (at one point it included Huron fromNotre Dame de Foy), but the vast majority were Mohawk. By 1680 more Mohawkwarriors were living near the French at Caughnawaga than in the Mohawkhomeland. Although many had been forced to leave their homeland overreligion, the Caughnawaga Mohawk still observed the "Great Law of Peace"and remained neutral in wars between the French and the Iroquois League.This changed with the massive Iroquois raid against the French at Lachinein 1689, after which the Caughnawaga entered the war as French allies.
During the remainder of the war, Caughnawaga warriors participated in theFrench retaliatory raids against Albany and Schenectady and even guidedFrench expeditions against the Iroquois homeland. However, the "GreatPeace" was still observed, and Iroquois and Caughnawaga warriors took careto avoid confrontations where they would have to kill each other. TheCaughnawaga paid a high price for their support of the French in the KingWilliam's War, and by 1696 they had lost half of their warriors. TheFrench war with the Iroquois League dragged on until 1701, but theCaughnawaga were instrumental in arranging the terms of the peace treatysigned that year. While the Iroquois League agreed to remain neutral infuture wars between Britain and France, no such restrictions were placedon the Caughnawaga. By the outbreak of the Queen Anne's War, theCaughnawaga had allied with the Abenaki, and as French allies, their jointwar parties raided New England. The worst blows were in Massachusetts.Deerfield was destroyed in February, 1704 (59 killed and 109 captured),and Groton burned in 1710.
The Iroquois have often described as a British ally during the four majorconflicts between Britain and France. In truth, after 1701, more Iroquoiswere fighting for the French than British. The League (except the Mohawk)was neutral in these conflicts, while the Caughnawaga were a major Frenchally. The original Caughnawaga grew so rapidly part of the populationmoved across the St. Lawrence in 1676 to start a second village atKanesatake. By 1720 the Lake of the Two Mountains mission was built forthe Iroquois of the Mountain who would become the modern Mohawk communityof Oka. Caughnawaga was moved slightly in 1716 to its present locationafter soil at the old site became exhausted. Other sites were added as thenumber of pro-French Iroquois along the St. Lawrence continued to grow:Sault Recollet in 1721; Oswegatchie and the La Presentation mission(Ogdensburg, New York) in 1748 for the Onondaga, Oneida, and Cayuga; andSt. Regis in 1756 to relieve overcrowded conditions among the Mohawk atCaughnawaga.
Besides the defection of most of the Christian Iroquois to the Frenchalong the St. Lawrence, the League was further weakened when anotherportion of its population began moving to the Ohio Valley. The massiveadoptions of the 1650s had actually made the original Iroquois a minoritywithin the League, but they had retained political power sincerepresentatives to the League's council were chosen from certain "royal"families, all of which were part of the original Iroquois. For the mostpart, this excluded adoptees from positions of authority, and thissecond-class status caused dissatisfaction. Rather than outright revolt,many chose to separate themselves from the League. Groups of Iroquoishunters, mainly Seneca and Cayuga, but to a large degree descendents ofadopted Huron Susquehannock, Neutrals, and Erie, began to move to Ohio andwestern Pennsylvania during the 1720s and establish permanent villagesoutside the Iroquois homeland. By the 1730s their numbers had becomesignificant, and the British traders had started calling them by acorrupted form of their Delaware name - Mingo.
The Iroquois League made little objection to the Mingo migration so longas they continued to acknowledge its authority. Actually, it was to theLeague's advantage to have tribesmen living there to keep the French andtheir Algonquin allies from claiming the Ohio Country. The Iroquois didnot object when part of the Wyandot left Detroit and settled along theSandusky River in northwest Ohio. Instead, the Iroquois saw an opportunityto lure an important member of the Great Lakes alliance from the Frenchand into the Covenant Chain. Within a few years, Wyandot ambassadorsroutinely spoke in the League's councils (a major change from the days ofthe "Great Pursuit") and were considered by other tribes in the area asthe de facto Iroquois viceroy of Ohio. By 1740 there were almost athousand Mingo living in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Althoughconsidered part of the Iroquois, they had begun to think and act like aseparate tribe.
From its peak of 25,000 in 1660, Iroquois population had gone into asteady decline from war and epidemic to about 14,000 by 1740. The 1,500Tuscarora added in 1722 did not compensate for the defection of 1,000Mingo to Ohio and 2,000 Caughnawaga to Canada. Both the British and Frenchwere aware of this decline, but on paper the Iroquois were stillformidable because of the Covenant Chain. As mentioned, the League oftenabused its responsibility to represent member tribes, and there never wasa clearer example than its support of the British in the infamous WalkingPurchase in 1737. Pennsylvania "discovered" an old treaty supposedlysigned by the Delaware which gave it the right to claim a large part ofthe remaining Delaware homeland. Through fraud and trickery, the colonistsenlarged the claim to include almost all of the land the Delaware hadleft. As members of the Covenant Chain, the Delaware turned to the Leaguefor help.
What they got instead was intimidation and insult. Furious the Delawarehad dared to sell land without their permission, the Iroquois took thebribes offered by Pennsylvania and supported the British. The Delawarecontinued to protest, but at a 1742 meeting with the Pennsylvaniagovernor, the Iroquois representative Canasatego silenced the Delawaresachem Nutimus as he rose to complain about the Walking Purchase, calledthe Delaware women, and ordered him to leave. This left the Delaware andsome Shawnee landless. The Iroquois ordered them to the upper Susquehannain north-central Pennsylvania where the League was running its own "Indianreservation" for Covenant Chain tribes displaced by British settlement.The Iroquois were generous to provide land for these tribes butself-serving to the extent it gave them additional warriors in case of warwith the French. In any case, the Susquehanna was crowded and deadly frommalaria which had been introduced to the area after 1700.
The Shawnee hunting parties were the first to leave for westernPennsylvania and Ohio. When the Mingo living there made no objection andeven shared their villages, the Shawnee became permanent residents andinvited the Delaware to join them. Between 1742 and 1749, many Delawareleft the Susquehanna and moved west to form mixed villages with theShawnee and Mingo. Once again, the League did not oppose this migrationbecause the presence of Covenant Chain tribes in western Pennsylvania onlystrengthened their claim versus the French and their allies. The Wyandotsoon extended an invitation for the Shawnee and Delaware to settle inOhio, and the Mingo, as part of the Iroquois, were already living there.The "republics," or mixed Mingo-Delaware-Shawnee (Ohio tribes) villageswhich formed, were outside the French alliance, but what the Iroquois andBritish did not realize at first was that they were also outside their owncontrol. By 1750 the "republics" had a population of 10,000 with 2,000warriors and had become a power to be reckoned with.
Trade competition in Ohio had been building with the British gaining onthe French by virtue of superior goods and lower prices. Three powersclaimed the area: the Iroquois by right of conquest during the 1650s and60s; the French by right of discovery in the 1670s; and the British sincethe Iroquois were placed under their protection by the Treaty of Ryswickin 1696. The key to control of the area, however, were the Ohio tribes wholived there. The French realized this and began efforts to gain theirallegiance. For the most part, the Ohio tribes did not wish to becomesubject to anyone - French, British, or Iroquois. The French had somesuccess using the Métis Pierre Chartier to lure some of the Shawnee totheir cause as well as the Cuyahoga Mingo. This was enough, however, toalarm the British who urged the Iroquois to command the Delaware andShawnee to return to the Susquehanna. When the League council finallyagree to this, it was stunned to discover its orders were ignored, and theDelaware, Shawnee, and Mingo stayed right where they were and refused toleave.
With the outbreak of the King George's War (1744-48) between Britain andFrance, only the Mohawk, due to the influence of the British trader,William Johnson, supported the British. The League itself chose to remainneutral which was fortunate for the British, since at the time, theIroquois were angry with them and could easily gone over to the French.Both Pennsylvania and Virginia had chosen to interpret the Treaty ofLancaster (1744) as an Iroquois cession of Ohio to themselves, when allthe League had intended was to give permission for the British to build atrading post at the forks of the Ohio River (Pittsburgh). Pennsylvania andVirginia ignored the League's protests and both claimed the entire region.Pennsylvania's claim was more modest and extended only to eastern Ohio,but Virginia's included the entire Ohio Valley west to the Illinois Riverincluding Kentucky and lower Michigan.
As with the Queen Anne's War, most of the fighting during the KingGeorge's War was confined to New England and the Canadian Maritimes. TheCaughnawaga were not only loyal to the French but allies of the Sokoki andAbenaki. When Dummer's War (1722-26) had broken out between the easternAbenaki and New England, it was followed shortly by a separate, butrelated, conflict in western New England - Grey Lock's War (1723-27).Beyond supplying weapons and refuge in Canada, the French never becamedirectly involved, but the Caughnawaga joined the Sokoki in their raidsagainst western New England. The British asked the Iroquois to intervene,but the League was no longer willing to be a British "policeman," mainlybecause of a reluctance to become involved in fighting with theCaughnawaga - a violation of the "Great Peace." They did, however, ask theAbenaki to stop and offered to mediate.
Twenty years later, the Caughnawaga - who claimed western Vermont as partof their homeland - had 250 warriors and stood by the French during theKing George's War. In 1744 they formed war parties with the Sokoki andAbenaki to raid the British settlements in southern Vermont and NewHampshire. Much of the New England frontier had to be abandoned during thenext four years. In August, 1746 Fort Massachusetts on Hoosac River wascaptured, and almost all of the settlement on the east of the Hudson Riverin New York also had to be abandoned as a result. The Mohawk fought forthe British, but after one of their raids struck just south of Montreal,the Caughnawaga and other Canadian Iroquois formally declared war on theBritish colonies in 1747. The war finally ended with the Treaty ofAix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
There was little fighting in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes during thewar and was limited to pro-French Shawnee and Mingo attacks on Britishtraders. Otherwise, the French allies (Ottawa, Menominee, Winnebago,Illinois, Saulteur and Mississauga Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Wyandot) senttheir warriors east to Montreal to defend Canada against the British.Despite the lack of combat, the war was a disaster for the French in thewest after the British began a naval blockade of Canada in 1745. Thiscompletely cut the supply of French trade goods, and without these, theFrench alliance fell apart by 1747. French traders without goods werekilled, and British were quick to take advantage of the situation. Bywar's end, British traders had entered Ohio and were trading directly withFrench allies like the Wyandot and Miami.
All of which boded well for the Iroquois and British to keep the Frenchout of Ohio and western Pennsylvania. A major concern was the refusal ofthe Shawnee and Delaware to obey the League's order to return to theSusquehanna. Something needed to be done about this. At the Treaty ofLancaster with the Iroquois, Shawnee and Delaware (and indirectly - Mingo)in 1748, Pennsylvania urged the Iroquois to restore the Ohio tribes to theCovenant Chain as a barrier against the French. The Iroquois created asystem of half-kings - special Iroquois emissaries (usually Mingo), onefor the Shawnee and one for the Delaware - to represent the Ohio tribes inthe Iroquois council. This regain the allegiance of the Delaware andShawnee to the League. When the French sent Pierre-Joseph Céloron in 1749to expel British traders and mark the Ohio boundary with lead plates, hisreception was openly hostile. Two years later, Chabert de Joncairetravelled through Ohio demanding the expulsion of British traders, and theMingo wanted to know by what authority the French were claiming Iroquoisland.
Of course, the French were not the only Europeans claiming Iroquois landin the Ohio Valley. After the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster, Virginia hadchartered the Ohio Company in 1747 to begin settlement around Pittsburgh.Investors included most of the important families of Virginia, includingLawrence Washington, the older half-brother of George. Pennsylvania hadsimilar plans, and to the Iroquois it appeared the British and French weretwo thieves fighting over their land. It also did not help matters thatthe British had reduced annual presents to the Iroquois after the KingGeorge's War. The French, however, felt they were losing Ohio and decidedon drastic action. In June, 1752 the Métis Charles Langlade led a warparty of 250 Ottawa and Ojibwe from Mackinac in an attack which destroyedthe Miami village and British trading post of Pickawillany (Piqua, Ohio).The French allies ended trade with the British, and after apologies,rejoined the French alliance. Immediately afterwards, the French beganbuilding a line of new forts across western Pennsylvania designed to blockBritish access to Ohio.
The Mingo, Shawnee, and Delaware had no wish to fall under French controland turned to the Iroquois to stop this. Deciding the French were animmediate threat, the Iroquois cast their lot with the British and signedthe Logstown Treaty in 1752 confirming their earlier cession of Ohio atLancaster in 1744. They also gave permission for the British to build ablockhouse at Pittsburgh. This was not even completed before Frenchsoldiers forced its surrender and burned it. In December, 1753 GovernorDinwiddie of Virginia sent 21-year-old militia major George Washington toFort Le Boeuf to order the French to abandon their forts and leave Ohio.The French commander received Washington with perfect courtesy but refusedthe demand. He also warned him not to come back.
The following May Washington was sent west again with a detachment of 130militia guided by Mingo warriors under Half-King (Tanacharisson) andMonacatoocha (Scarrooyady). His mission was to force the surrender of FortDuquesne at the forks of the Ohio, but he never got there. Enroute theygot into a fight with 50 French soldiers commanded by Joseph Villier deJumonville. Jumonville was killed in the brief engagement, and with theFrench in pursuit, Washington beat a hasty retreat. Disregarding the Mingoadvice to keep going until he reached Virginia, Washington stopped andbuilt Fort Necessity. After an argument, the Mingo decided Washington wasa fool and left him. The French quickly surrounded the tiny fort andforced its surrender, but Washington was released after unknowinglysigning a confession of murdering a French ambassador on a mission ofpeace. The incident started the French and Indian War (1755-63).
That same month, a conference was held at Albany between representativesof the British colonies and Iroquois League to prepare for a war with theFrench. Needing British help to defend Ohio from the French, the Iroquoishad ceded it to Pennsylvania with the exception of the Wyoming andSusquehanna Valleys which they were determined to keep for the tribes ofthe Covenant Chain. Unfortunately, an Albany trader managed to get someminor Iroquois representatives drunk, and when they sobered up, theydiscovered they had signed an agreement with Connecticut (which by itscharter also claimed northern Pennsylvania) land companies opening theSusquehanna and Wyoming Valleys to settlement. Rather than achieving unityfor war against the French, the conference ended with the Iroquois furiousat the British for the fraudulent treaty, Pennsylvania protestingConnecticut's attempt to claim its territory, and the Delaware stillliving on the upper Susquehanna threatening to kill any white who tried tosettle in the Wyoming Valley.
Despite their long history as a French ally, the Caughnawaga attended theAlbany Conference as part of the Iroquois delegation and agreed, on behalfof the Abenaki and Sokoki to remain neutral in the coming war.Unfortunately, they were unable to keep this promise for either themselvesor their allies. The French had also been busy organizing their allies andthe result was an alliance known as the Seven Nations of Canada (SevenFires of Caughnawaga) composed of the Iroquois mission villages on the St.Lawrence (Caughnawaga, Kanesatake, Oswegatchie, and St. Regis); theAbenaki at St. Francois and Bécancour; and the Huron at Lorette. Althoughthe Caughnawaga clearly dominated this coalition, they were over-ruled bythe pro-French majority after the outbreak of war. The Caughnawaga werenot as active as in previous conflicts, but the Christian Onondaga fromOswegatchie attacked German Flats (Herkimer, New York) in 1758.
When news of the Iroquois cession of Ohio at the Albany Conference reachedthe Ohio tribes that fall, they decided the British were also enemies andthe Iroquois could no longer be trusted. Only a few Mingo remained loyalto British. Despite the fact many Caughnawaga had moved in with the Mingoduring the early 1750s, there was no sudden switch of allegiance to theFrench. The Mingo remained hostile to the French who had difficulty in1755 supplying their forts or finding allies in the area willing to defendthem from the British army being assembled under General Edward Braddock.The policy of the Mingo, Shawnee, and Delaware in Ohio was one ofbelligerent neutrality towards both sides. As Braddock's 2,200-man armybegan its march towards Fort Duquesne, the French were forced to bring in600 native allies from Canada and the Great Lakes. This, however, provedmore than adequate. Braddock disdained using savages as scouts, and inJuly just south of Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh), he blunderedinto an ambush in which almost half his command was killed, includinghimself.
News of the defeat was met with stunned disbelief in the British coloniesfollowed by anger. The Shawnee and Delaware picked an incredibly bad timeto send a delegation to Philadelphia to protest the Iroquois sale of Ohio.Pennsylvania seized and hanged them, and the Shawnee and Delawareretaliated with raids on frontier settlements in Pennsylvania, Maryland,and Virginia. The Delaware still under Iroquois control on the upperSusquehanna did not participate at first but, by December, 1755 had joinedthe war in defiance of the Iroquois council. The Susquehanna Delaware madepeace in August, 1756, but the Delaware, Shawnee and Munsee continuedfighting and by the end of the year more than 2,500 colonists had beenkilled. Another peace conference was held with the eastern Delaware atEaston, Pennsylvania in October, 1758. The Treaty of Easton paid forDelaware lands taken by New Jersey, and Pennsylvania unilaterallyrenounced all claim to land west of the Appalachians that had been cededby the Iroquois at the Albany in 1754. The news soon reached Ohio, andwhen General John Forbes captured Fort Duquesne in November, the Delawareand Shawnee offered no resistance.
In the hysteria following Braddock's defeat in 1755, a Seneca war partyenroute to attack Catawba in the Carolina had been treacherously killed byVirginia militia. Coupled with anger over the fraudulent land cessionsexacted at the Albany, many of the Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga joined theFrench, and for the first time in almost two centuries, Iroquois foundthemselves on opposite sides of a war. Only the Mohawk of Hendrick(Soiengarahta) and the Oneida stayed loyal to the British. This was mainlydue to William Johnson, an Irishman who had immigrated to New York in 1734and established himself as a planter and fur trader in the Mohawk Valley.After taking a Mohawk wife (Molly Brant), Johnson became known to theIroquois for honesty. He not only learned their language but mastered theritual courtesies of their councils. The Mohawk called him Waraghiyaghey,meaning "Big Business."
The Mohawk were no less angry by the drunken cession of the Wyoming Valleythan other Iroquois, but because they trusted Johnson, they answered hiscall in 1755 to help New York and New England militia take the French fortat Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Leading 200 of his Mohawk warriors,Hendrick was killed in this battle. The Caughnawaga were also there withthe French, but when they saw Mohawk fighting for the English, theysuddenly retired and sat out the fight. Despite the loss of their sachem,the Mohawk did likewise leaving the French and British to fight eachother. There was be no violation of the Great Law of Peace that day. TheMohawk also accompanied Johnson in the capture of Fort Niagara in July,1759. Quebec fell that September, and Montreal surrendered the followingyear. After these British victories, the war in North American was over.
British soldiers occupied the remaining French forts in the Ohio Valleyand Great Lakes, but rather than leave after defeating the French, theystayed as an occupying army. Fort Duquesne was rebuilt as Fort Pitt andgarrisoned with 200 men. William Johnson was appointed the British Indianagent in the north and wanted to continue the French system of dealingwith Native Americans through trade and annual presents. Unfortunately,the British commander in North America, Lord Jeffrey Amherst, despisedIndians - friend or foe. Ignoring Johnson, Amherst ended annual gifts totreaty chiefs in 1760, increased prices on trade goods, and restricted thesupply - especially firearms, powder and rum. By 1761 the Seneca werepassing a war belt calling for an uprising against the British, but onlythe Delaware and Shawnee responded. Johnson discovered the plot from theWyandot during a meeting at Detroit with tribes of the old Frenchalliance. Other belts were circulated by Caughnawaga and Illinois, but ittook the religious movement of Neolin, the Delaware Prophet, to providethe unity for a general revolt.
Neolin taught rejection of the white man's trade goods (especiallywhiskey) and a return to traditional native ways. Pontiac, chief of onethe most important tribes of the old French alliance, the Ottawa atDetroit, seized on this and began to secretly organize an uprising. Whenit hit in 1763, the Pontiac Rebellion caught the British entirely bysurprise, and six of nine forts west of the Appalachians were capturedduring May. However, the failure to take the other three ultimately causedthe revolt to fail. The Iroquois were still healing their recent divisionsand tried to remain neutral, but the Seneca joined the uprising andbesieged Fort Niagara. A British column trying to reach the fort wasambushed followed by a massacre of prisoners and wounded, but Niagaraheld. The Mingo and Wyandot captured Fort Venango in northwestPennsylvania, but the siege of Fort Pitt by Delaware, Shawnee, and Mingodragged on, and the British defended it by introducing a smallpox epidemicwith gifts of infected blankets and handkerchiefs to their besiegers.
While continuing the siege, the Delaware, Shawnee, and Mingo also attackedthe Pennsylvania frontier killing 600 colonists. Pontiac had reserved forhimself the responsibility of taking Fort Detroit but failed to achievesurprise when an informer warned the garrison. As the forts continued tohold and the British recovered from their initial surprise, the rebellionbegan to unravel. After a three-day battle at Bushy Run, Colonel HenryBouquet broke the siege of Fort Pitt. Allies began to desert, and Pontiacwas forced to end his siege of Detroit and retreat west to Indiana wherehe still had a considerable following among the Kickapoo and Illinois.While reorganizing, he asked the French at Fort de Chartes on theMississippi for help, but the commandant refused and urged him to stop. InNovember Amherst was replaced by Thomas Gage who listened to WilliamJohnson. Gage restored trade goods to previous levels and lowered prices.
Badly shaken, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763 halting all newsettlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Seneca ended their siegeof Fort Niagara and were forced to sign a humiliating surrender. Pontiacsigned a peace in 1765 but was disgraced as a result. He never returned toDetroit and moved to northern Illinois in 1766. Three years later he wasmurdered by a Peoria (Illinois) during a visit to Cahokia. William Johnsonemerged from the Pontiac Uprising in control of British Indian policy inNorth America. His influence was so great among the Iroquois councils thatthe Mohawk were literally his private army, and at his urging in 1763,they had destroyed the Delaware village of Kanhanghton as punishment fortheir support of Pontiac. After the war, almost all of the Delaware in theSusquehanna Valley left and moved west to Ohio.
Whites replaced them, and settlers from Connecticut finally took advantageof the drunken treaty signed by the Iroquois at Albany in 1754 and beganto occupy the Wyoming Valley - conflicting claims of Connecticut andPennsylvania resulted in pitched battles between rival frontier militiasin 1768. With the whites fighting among themselves for the land, it was noplace for Indians, and the remaining tribes of the Covenant Chain(Nanticoke, Saponi, Tutelo, Munsee, Delaware, and some Iroquois) left theWyoming Valley to crowd into the rapidly shrinking Iroquois homeland inNew York. With the French gone and the British controlling Canada,Caughnawaga lands were also being overrun by settlement in 1763. Aftertheir village at St. Francois had been destroyed by Rogers Rangers in 1759during the French and Indian War, the Sokoki had found refuge with theCaughnawaga at St. Regis.
By 1763 white settlement had taken the Sokoki's lands, as well as those ofthe Caughnawaga, along the shores of Lake Champlain. With St. Francoisalready overcrowded, there was no place for these people to go. TheCaughnawaga had good reason to consider joining the Pontiac rebellion in1763 but stayed out and in the end advocated peace. They may have donebetter if they had fought. William Johnson supported some Caughnawagaclaims to the upper Champlain Valley but ruled the Proclamation of 1763did not apply to lands claimed by the Sokoki in Vermont and New Hampshire.The Proclamation was doomed from the moment it was issued, and theresentment it created among the colonists was one of the main reasons forthe American Revolution. Frontiersmen seeking new land simply ignored itand moved into native lands, and the British, trying to avoid arevolution, were powerless to stop the encroachment. Under pressure fromthe Americans to open more land for settlement, the British decided in1768 to rescind the Proclamation and negotiate a new treaty with theIroquois for Ohio.
Although other tribes were invited to send representatives, Johnsonadhered to custom and negotiated only with the Iroquois. With the Frenchno longer a threat, the League had lost much of its previous advantageand, with white settlement encroaching upon its own homeland, was anxiousto sign an agreement to protect themselves. Johnson (himself a landspeculator) had no trouble in getting them to part with their claim toOhio in exchange for a defined boundary of their lands. The Treaty of FortStanwix in 1768 ceded much of western Pennsylvania and the the entire OhioValley. This self-serving agreement was between two parties who could nolonger control the people they represented - the British for the Americansand the Iroquois for the Ohio tribes - and condemned both to a fifty-yearsof war which claimed more than 30,000 lives.
The Iroquois attempt to protect their homeland brought them nothing butgrief. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix Treaty not only destroyed theircredibility as a representative of the Ohio tribes, but many Iroquois lostfaith in the League's decisions. Shawnee protests to the Iroquois councilwent unanswered except for a threat of annihilation if they opposed theagreement. The Shawnee turned to others for support and, in what provedthe opening move towards the western alliance, made overtures to the:Illinois, Kickapoo, Wea, Piankashaw, Miami, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Ottawa,Delaware, Mascouten, Ojibwe, Cherokee and Chickasaw. Meetings were held atthe Shawnee villages on the Sciota River in Ohio in 1770 and 1771, butJohnson was able to prevent the formation of an actual alliance by threatsof war with the Iroquois. Frontiersmen flooded across the mountains intothe new lands. By 1774 there were 50,000 whites west of the Appalachiansand more coming. The British closed many of their forts in the area andwithdrew their garrisons as an "economy measure."
Most of the first settlements were along the Ohio River between Pittsburghand Wheeling. Isolated by Johnson, the Shawnee, Delaware, and Mingo in thearea stood alone against the Long Knives (Virginia and Pennsylvaniafrontiersmen) and got along as best they could with them, but the tensionwas building. Problems began after treaties signed with the Cherokeeopened the way for more settlement in Kentucky. Virginia sent survey teamsinto the area in 1773, and there were clashes with the Shawnee. Virginiamilitia took over abandoned Fort Pitt early in 1774 to use as a base incase of war. There was more fighting that the spring, and believing a warhad already started, Michael Cresap and a group of vigilantes attacked aShawnee trading party near Wheeling in April killing a chief.
The following month, another group of frontiersmen massacred a band ofMingo at Yellow Creek (Stuebenville, Ohio). Among the victims were thewife, brother, and sister of Logan, a Mingo war chief. The Shawnee chiefCornstalk wanted to avoid a war and visited Fort Pitt to ask theVirginians to "cover the dead," but Logan went to the Shawnee-Mingovillage of Wakatomica and recruited a war party. While Cornstalk was atFort Pitt talking peace, Logan took a gruesome revenge by killing 13settlers near the mouth of the Muskingum River. Lord Dunmore's (Cresap's)War (1774) began in June. Logan assured colonial officials in July thekilling was over, but by then whites had gathered into forts waiting forhelp to arrive. Spurning both Iroquois and Delaware offers to mediate,Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, brought a large army of militia westto the Ohio.
With the Iroquois and most of the Delaware remaining neutral, the Shawneeand their Mingo allies sent a war belt to the Detroit tribes who refusedit. William Johnson kept the Miami and other possible allies at bay withthreats of Iroquois intervention if they helped the Shawnee. Dunmore'smilitia destroyed Wakatomica and five other villages, and in October wasgathering at Point Pleasant (West Virginia) on the Ohio River for a secondinvasion. The Shawnee and Mingo launched a sudden attack. The battlelasted most of the day with heavy casualties on both sides, but theShawnee were finally forced to withdraw. A month later, they signed atreaty relinquishing all their claims south of the Ohio River which openedKentucky for settlement.
The American Revolution (1775-83) began the following year with fightingat Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts just as the first Kentuckysettlements were established at Harrodstown and Boonesborough. The QuebecAct of 1774 had made the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes part of Canada andbrought Virginia and Pennsylvania to the point of revolution. With theoutbreak of war, the British ceased being a bystander and began urging theShawnee and Mingo to attack the Americans. Some tribes chose neutrality,but by arguing the Americans intended to take their land, the Britishsucceeded with the Detroit tribes, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe. They also gotan alliance between the Shawnee and Cherokee (Chickamauga) war factions.In July, 1776 the Chickamauga attacked two forts in the Carolinasprovoking American retaliation against all Cherokee. Meanwhile,Chickamauga and Shawnee war parties roamed through Kentucky attackingAmericans.
In the midst of an impassioned speech to incite the Mohawk against theAmericans in 1774, William Johnson suffered a stroke and died a few dayslater. His duties as the British Indian commissioner passed to hisson-in-law, Guy Johnson, while his wealth and 100,000 acre estate went tohis son John - both were loyalists. Neither had as much influence over theMohawk as Sir William, but they had the help of his protégé, the Mohawksachem Joseph Brant (Thayendanega), brother of Sir William's Mohawk wife,Molly. With the outbreak of war, both the British and Americans tried towin the support of the Iroquois. The League listened respectfully to botharguments, but although they recognized the new United States in 1776,their decision was to remain neutral. They even ordered the Shawnee tostop attacking Americans in Kentucky. Nothing stopped, but by this timethe League had gotten used to its orders being ignored. If the League hadbeen able to remain neutral, it probably would have survived the war.However, this was not to be. The "Great Peace" ended in 1777, and theIroquois League was destroyed two years later. The Caughnawaga and theother members of the Seven Nations of Canada also intended to remainneutral in the beginning but were drawn into the war during which itsmembers fought on both sides.
William Johnson had treated Joseph Brant like his own son and sent him toan English school on Connecticut. Rising to leadership among the Mohawkafterwards, Brant was convinced the Iroquois would lose their land if theAmericans won and strongly opposed the council's decision to remainneutral. After accepting a captain's commission in the British army, hevisited England in 1775 and returned in time to participate in the Battleof Lang Island in 1776. Angered by the American arrest of Sir John Johnson(William's son) for loyalist activities, Brant defied the Iroquois counciland led his warriors north to stop the American attempt to capture Canadaduring the winter of 1776-77. Opposing Brant on the council were theOneida and Tuscarora who, because of the missionary Samuel Kirkland,favored the Americans. The crisis came with a British effort in 1777 tocut New England off from the other colonies by seizing the Hudson Valley.
The plan called for three British armies to meet at Albany. GeneralWilliam Howe was to come north from New York City, while General JohnBurgoyne marched south from Montreal and Colonel Barry St. Leger movedeast through the Mohawk Valley. St. Leger's role in the campaign whichprovoked a crisis on the League council since he would need theirpermission to move through the Iroquois homeland. Unfortunately, a recentepidemic had deprived the council of several important sachems. Stillopposed by the Oneida and their sachem Skenandoah, Brant was able to winover the Seneca and Cayuga. Unable to resolve the differences between themembers, the Onondaga extinguished the council fire and joined themajority going to the British. The Iroquois League had come to an end,with each tribe free to go its own way. The "Great Peace" which hadprevailed among the Iroquois for centuries ended shortly afterwards atOriskany.
Joined by Iroquois and other native allies, St. Leger moved down theMohawk valley towards Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler to the Americans). OnAugust 6th, 1777 American and British forces met at the Battle ofOriskany. Oneida warriors with the Americans and Mohawk and Senecawarriors with the British fought and killed each other. St. Leger's defeatat Oriskany and his failure to take Fort Stanwix forced him to abandon hispart in the offensive and return to Canada. In October the Oneida servedas scouts in the American victory over Burgoyne at Saratoga - the turningpoint of the Revolutionary War. They rendered further service that winterby bringing food to Washington's starving army at Valley Forge and in May,1778 participated in the Battle of Barren Hill under the command ofLafayette. Despite the setbacks at Saratoga and Oriskany, the British andIroquois launched a series of raids against the frontier that put theAmericans on the defensive in New York and Pennsylvania during the summerand fall of 1778.
In July Brant's Mohawk attacked the Cherry Valley on the upper Susquehannain New York. He followed this with a raid on the settlement at MinisinkIsland on the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey whichleft several farms in flames. The real damage, however, was done duringhis retreat when only 30 of the 150 militia pursuing escaped an ambush. Atthe same time, McDonald's tories and native warriors hit settlements inNorthampton County and the Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania. InSeptember Brant struck again - this time at German Flats in the MohawkValley. Forewarned, the Americans rushed to Forts Dayton and Herkimerwhere they sat helplessly inside while smoke rose from their burninghomes. Two weeks later the Americans destroyed Brant's villages atUnadilla and Oquaga on the Susquehanna. Brant joined forces with ToryRangers commanded by Walter Butler and attacked the Cherry Valley for asecond time in November. Known as the Cherry Valley Massacre, the attacktook the Americans by surprise. Homes were burned, 30 settlers killed, and71 prisoners taken. An assault on the American fort killed 16 soldiers,but the British and Mohawk withdrew the following day when reinforcementsarrived.
Brant became known as "Monster Brant," but his reputation was undeserved.Most of the killing at Cherry Valley was done by Walter Butler's men whoBrant later admitted were far more "savage" than any of his Mohawk. Thetendency towards brutality seemed to run in the Butler family. It wasWalter's father, John Butler, who orchestrated what was by far the worstmassacre in the Wyoming Valley that July. Brant and his Mohawk were notpresent at Wyoming, and Butler's men returned to Fort Niagara with 267scalps. This much death and destruction on the frontier could not betolerated, and during the summer of 1779, George Washington sent threeconverging armies to destroy the Iroquois homeland: from the south GeneralJohn Sullivan proceeded up the Susquehanna with 4,000 troops; GeneralJames Clinton moved west through the Mohawk Valley; and Colonel DanielBrodhead pushed up the Allegheny River from Fort Pitt.
Guided by Oneida scouts, the Americans brushed aside Brant's 500 warriorsand John Butler's 200 tories at the second Battle of Oriskany and inSeptember captured the League's capital at the Onondaga village ofKanadaseagea. Destroying everything, the Americans burned over 40 townsearning George Washington his Iroquois name of Caunotaucarius "towndestroyer." The Iroquois never recovered from this disaster. Their homesand crops destroyed, the survivors spent a cold and hungry winter asrefugees in the vicinity of the British fort at Niagara. Brant, however,enlisted a large war party that winter to punish the Oneida and attackedtheir villages. Hundreds were killed in this Iroquois civil war, and theOneida fled to the Americans at Schenectady. They spent the rest of thewar in brutal poverty and misery but continued to serve as American scouts.
Brant was able to block an attempt by the Seneca Red Jacket to make peacewith the Americans, and the Iroquois continued to attack the frontier insupport of the British. Both Guy and John Johnson led raids into theMohawk Valley during summer and fall of 1780. The Butlers were also activeuntil Walter was killed by an Oneida warrior near Johnson Hall in October,1781. The Americans so hated him they refused to bury his body and left itto rot. Brant fought in the Ohio Valley during 1781 and in August ambusheda group of Pennsylvania militia near the mouth of the Miami River(Cincinnati, Ohio). He also tried to ambush George Rogers Clark on theOhio River, but Clark avoided this and reached safety at Fort Nelson(Louisville, Kentucky). Returning east, Brant's final foray into theMohawk Valley was stopped at Johnstown during 1783, the last year of thewar.
The war in the Ohio Valley was almost a separate conflict from the oneeast of the Appalachians and continued, despite the Treaty of Paris in1783, with few interruptions until 1795. Shortly after the start of thewar, the British began supplying arms and paying bounties for Americanscalps. The Chickamauga (Cherokee) and Shawnee launched the first attacks,but indiscriminate retaliation by Americans drew the other tribes into thefighting. By the time the Iroquois entered the war in the east in 1777,the Mingo had joined the Shawnee and would remain a part of the alliancefighting the Americans until 1794. Many of the raids against Kentuckyduring this period originated from Pluggy's Town, a Mingo village locatednear present-day Delaware, Ohio. In September, 1777 Fort Henry (Wheeling)was attacked by 400 Shawnee, Mingo and Wyandot. Half of the 42-mangarrison was killed, and the war party burned the nearby settlement beforewithdrawing. After the Americans built Fort Laurens in eastern Ohio in1778, Mingo and Wyandot warriors surrounded it and kept it under siegeuntil abandoned as indefensible in August, 1779. A Mingo war party alsoburned Hannastown, Pennsylvania in 1782. Raids and counter-raids continueduntil 1783 with the Mingo and other British allies moving their villagesinto northwest Ohio to distance them from the Americans along the OhioRiver.
At the end of the war, Joseph Brant crossed into Canada with almost 2,000followers - mostly Mohawk and Cayuga but including parts of all sixmembers of Iroquois League as well as a few Delaware, Munsee, Saponi,Nanticoke, and Tutelo. A second group of Iroquois settled at Tyendenaga onthe north shore of Lake Ontario just west of Kingston, Ontario. Brantsettled along the Grand River in southern Ontario on 675,000 acres givenby Governor Frederick Haldimand of Canada as compensation for the landsthe Iroquois had lost in New York. Unfortunately, Haldimand's term ofoffice ended before he could provide legal title. Brant went to England in1785 to correct this, but the problem has persisted ever since. Totallydestitute after the war, Brant ultimately had to sell 300,000 acres tofeed his people (only 45,000 acres remain). From a pre-war population of8,000, fewer than 5,000 Iroquois survived the war, 2,000 of whom had movedto Canada.
On the Six Nations Reserve at Grand River, Brant rekindled the League'scouncil fire which had been extinguished in 1777. At the same time back inNew York, a second council fire was started at Buffalo Creek leading to aquestion of which represented the original confederacy with its claim tothe Ohio Valley. George Rogers Clark's capture of the Illinois country in1778 had extended the boundary of the new United States to theMississippi, and the Americans had no doubts about which one counted. Theyinformed the Iroquois in New York that they were now a "conquered people"and forced them to sign another treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1784 ceding muchof their homeland and confirming the earlier cession of Ohio made to theBritish in 1768. Brant's Mohawk and the Canadian Iroquois were conspicuousby their absence at the signing of this treaty, and the Iroquois Leaguehad split into two parts. The Canadian and American branches graduallygrew farther apart, until by 1803 the Canadian Iroquois were no longerincluded in meetings of the American portion of the League.
After the Treaty of Paris, the British asked the Ohio tribes to stop theirattacks on Americans. In truth, neither they nor the American frontiersmenconsidered the question of Ohio had been decided. As early as 1782, theBritish agent at Detroit, Simon De Peyster, had urged the tribes to forman alliance to keep the Americans out of Ohio. To this end, he broughtJoseph Brant west in 1783 as a representative of the Six Nations(Canadian) to attend a meeting of the Ohio tribes at Sandusky. The Britishdid not attend themselves, but Brant's influence was important in theformation of the western alliance. Its first council fire was at theShawnee village of Waketomica. After Waketomica was burned by theAmericans in 1786, it moved to Brownstown, a Wyandot village south ofDetroit.
Refusing to comply with the Paris treaty until the Americans compensatedBritish loyalists for their losses in the war, the British continued tooccupy their remaining forts on American territory. Of course, there wasno way the Americans could pay these, or their other debts from theRevolution, until they sold the land in Ohio. The British were aware ofthe American dilemma and let it be known to the alliance tribes they wouldsupport them in any conflict with the Americans. When the Ohio tribeslearned of the second Treaty of Fort Stanwix signed by the New YorkIroquois in 1784, American intentions became quite clear. They also lostfaith in that part of the Iroquois League's ability to represent theirinterests, while the influence of Brant and the Six Nations in Canada grew.
Unsure of how much authority the New York Iroquois still had in Ohio, theAmericans wanted to confirm the League's cession with the resident tribes.The problem was the Americans thought of the western alliance as a Britishplot -which it was - and would only negotiate with individual tribes. TheFort McIntosh and Fort Finney treaties signed with the Wyandot, Delaware,Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Shawnee were useless because they did not reflect theconsensus of the alliance or, in some cases, the tribes who signed. TheAmerican position was also at odds with its frontier citizens. Most of thealliance warriors wanted the Ohio River, not the Muskingum as the boundaryof settlement, while the frontiersmen were not going to be satisfied untilthey had taken the entire Ohio Valley.
Sensing trouble, the New York Iroquois called for a meeting with the Ohiotribes at Buffalo Creek in the spring of 1786. No one came, althoughalliance representatives attended the League's meeting in July to ask forhelp against the Americans. Congress, meanwhile, sold the land rights to aNew Jersey syndicate and the Ohio Company to pay war debts. Americansflooded into Ohio and took native land as squatters making treatyboundaries worthless. 12,000 whites were north of the Ohio in 1785, andshort of civil war, the government could not stop them. In response tothis encroachment, Shawnee and Mingo raids resumed against Kentucky. Afteran inspirational speech by Brant at the meeting of western alliance inNovember, 1786, a consensus formed demanding the Ohio as a boundary.However, the alliance council also agreed to a truce until the spring toallow its demands to reach the American Congress. For some reason, themessage did not make it to Philadelphia until July, and by that time, thefighting had resumed.
A final attempt to resolve the dispute by treaty was made in December,1787 when the American governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St.Clair, called for a meeting at Fort Harmar. The tribes of the westernalliance were divided on how to respond. In the meeting of the council,Brant demanded the repudiation of all treaties ceding any part of Ohio,but the Wyandot wanted to negotiate and gained support from the Delaware,Detroit Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi. Brant left the meeting in disgustand went back to Ontario deferring his role to the Shawnee and Miami. Theconference finally took place in January, 1789, and the Treaty of FortHarmar set the Muskingum River as the boundary of the frontier. Thissatisfied no one, and the raids continued. After the Americans retaliatedagainst the Kickapoo, Wea, and Piankashaw villages on the lower Wabashduring the summer of 1789, the Miami and Shawnee war factions dominatedthe alliance.
At this point the Americans decided to settle the dispute by force. Thealliance again asked the New York Iroquois for help. When this wasrefused, the League lost whatever influence it still had with the Ohiotribes. Little Turtle's War (1790-94) began with two horrendous Americandefeats: Harmar (October, 1790); and St. Clair (November, 1791). TheAmericans could not quit, because they could not afford to lose. PresidentWashington sent "Mad Anthony" Wayne to take command in Ohio. Wayne begantraining his Legion, a large force of trained regulars to back theundisciplined militia which had contributed to the earlier defeats. At thesame time, the Americans were making peace overtures to the alliance in1792 through the Iroquois. Flush with their recent victories, the alliancewas in no mood to listen. At the conference, they threw the Americanproposal in the fire and called the Iroquois representatives "coward redmen." The role of the Iroquois League in the Ohio Valley had definitelyended, and they were fortunate to leave the meeting with their lives.
However, Brant and the Six Nations from Canada continued to have influencewithin the alliance, but after watching Wayne's careful preparations todestroy them, the Ohio tribes began to have doubts whether they could win.After Wayne began his advance into northern Ohio in the fall of 1793, thealliance council asked Brant to negotiate a peace with the Americans. TheBritish had reached the same conclusion and were ready to resolve theirdifferences with the United States. Unfortunately, this was done insecret, and as far as Brant knew, the British would still support thealliance if it chose to fight. He urged war, and the majority of thealliance reluctantly agreed. In August, 1794 Wayne's Legion and thealliance faced each other at Fallen Timbers. Driven from the field, theretreating warriors were refused refuge at the nearby British fort. InNovember the Jay Treaty was signed between Great Britain and the UnitedStates, and the British withdrew their garrisons from American territory.Abandoned, the alliance signed the Fort Greenville Treaty the followingAugust ceding most of Ohio.
The ownership of Ohio was finally decided after 40-years of war. The 1784Fort Stanwix Treaty which surrendered Ohio for a second time did notprotect the Iroquois homeland. Over the next 60 years, it was surrenderedto a "feeding frenzy" of land speculators whose names included most of therich and politically powerful founding families of New York. Among thefirst victims were the Oneida who had served the Americans so faithfullyduring the Revolution and suffered as a result. Washington had promisedthe Oneida they would be "forever remembered" for their contributions andsacrifices and assured them their sovereignty and land rights would berespected. Nice words, but the Oneida were living in poverty after thewar, and the United States did not compensate them for their losses until1795. Meanwhile, the Oneida by 1785 had taken in the Christian Stockbridgeand Brotherton Indians from New England. Desperate for money to feedthemselves, the Oneida signed a treaty with New York governor GeorgeClinton ceding most of their original 6 million acres in exchange for asmaller reservation.
For similar reasons, New York was able to make similar agreements with theOnondaga in 1788, and Cayuga the year following, buying their land andconfining them to reservations. The rate at which Iroquois land wasdisappearing into the hands of land speculators was one reason Congresspassed the Non-Intercourse Act in 1790 forbidding the sale of native landsto anyone but the federal government. To stabilize the situation, theUnited States signed the Canandaigua (Pickering) Treaty in 1794 toestablish definite boundaries for Iroquois. The earlier New York treatieswere acknowledged, but this failed to stop the land loss. There was enoughNew York political power that federal law and treaties were either ignoredor permission to disregard them was routine. Three years afterCanandaigua, the Seneca surrendered a large tract at Big Tree. More wassold in 1802 and 1823. By 1807 the Cayuga had sold the last of their NewYork lands. Many went west to Ohio to live with the Mingo, now known asthe Seneca of the Sandusky. The others scattered to the Iroquois in NewYork or crossed the border into Canada.
Only two Mohawk signed the Fort Stanwix Treaty in 1784. The others werewith Joseph Brant in Canada. Still at war with the Americans, at least inthe Ohio, the Mohawk homeland was overrun by settlement after 1783. Itseemed obvious the Mohawk were never going to get back their lands in NewYork. Already forced to sell part of the Grand River Reserve in Ontario tofeed his people, Brant finally agreed to cede the Mohawk lands in New Yorkin a treaty signed at Albany in 1797. The Onondaga sold much of theirreservation to New York in 1822. About the same time, the Oneida haddisagreements over Quaker missions versus traditional religion. In 1822they sold their land and half agreed to relocate to Wisconsin. TheChristian Stockbridge and Brotherton went with them. Problems with thegovernment purchase of land from the Menominee delayed the move, but by1838 more than 600 Oneida were living near Green Bay. The Tuscarora alsoagreed to removal, but most chose to stay in New York or move to Canada.
The final blow came with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Pressure built toremove the remaining Iroquois from New York. The result was the Treaty ofBuffalo Creek (Treaty with the New York Indians) signed in 1838 where theIroquois agreed to move to southeastern Kansas. In truth, much of thisagreement never went into effect. Influential Quakers blocked itsimplementation, and by 1846 only 210 New York Seneca had moved to Kansas.In 1873 the Iroquois lands in Kansas were declared forfeited and therights of 32 Iroquois living there were repurchased by the government.Seneca and Onondaga who fought the Americans in the Revolution stayed inNew York, but the Oneida had a more difficult time. After the treaty, 250New York Oneida purchased land near London, Ontario in 1839. By 1845 theirnumbers had grown to more than 400. The other 200 remained near Oneida,New York or moved in with the Onondaga. Despite federal laws, the Senecacontinued to lose land to whites due to incompetence and corruption oftribal leadership. Reaction to this ended their traditional system ofhereditary chiefs, and they separated from the rest of Iroquois League in1848.
The Mingo in Ohio fought as part of the western alliance until afterFallen Timbers, and in 1795 they had made peace with the Americans at FortGreenville. In 1805 the Wyandot signed the Treaty of Fort Industry cedingthe eastern part of northern Ohio which forced the remaining Mingovillages there to relocate to northwest Ohio. The Mingo were joined in1807 by a large group of Cayuga from New York. The continuing loss ofnative lands in the Ohio Valley to Americans gave rise to the movement ofTecumseh and his brother, Tenskwatawa, the Prophet. Some Mingo joined thisand fought for the British during the War of 1812 (1812-15). Most Mingo,as well as the Iroquois League in New York, remained neutral. Late in thewar, the Seneca declared war on the British after they had occupied GrandIsland in the Niagara River which was claimed by the Seneca. As a result aBritish attack burned the Tuscarora settlement near Niagara Falls, NewYork.
After the war the Mingo who followed Tecumseh into Canada signed theTreaty of Indian Springs (1815) allowing them to return to the UnitedStates. Two years later, the Ohio tribes surrendered their last Ohio landsat Treaty of Fort Meigs (Maumee Rapids) in exchange for reservations.There were two groups of Mingo at the time - the mixed Shawnee-Seneca bandreceived a reserve at Lewistown, Ohio, while the Seneca of the Sanduskytook a 30,000 acre reserve on the Sandusky River north of Wyandot.Treaties signed at St. Marys the following year actually added to theseholdings. The 100-year Mingo residence in Ohio came to an end in 1830 withthe passage of the Indian Removal Act. In February 1831 the Seneca of theSandusky signed a treaty agreeing to removal to the northeast part of theIndian Territory adjacent to the Western Cherokee.
In July Shawnee-Seneca band at Lewistown also agreed to move to the samearea. In 1857 they allowed 200 Kansas Wyandot to settle at the NeoshoAgency. Unfortunately, these Wyandot were pro-Union, and in June, 1862Confederate soldiers invaded the Seneca Reserve forcing the Wyandot, aswell as many of the Seneca, to leave. The Seneca spent the Civil War inrefugee camps on the Marais des Cygnes River in eastern Kansas. Giving inafter the war to demands by Kansas for the removal of all Indians frominside its borders, the government in 1867 negotiated a treaty with theeastern tribes which had been removed to Kansas during the 1830s. Mostmoved to Oklahoma, including the 200 Seneca who had arrived from New Yorkin 1846. The treaty separated the mixed Shawnee-Seneca band, and thedifferent groups Seneca of Sandusky merged to form the modernSeneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.
The Caughnawaga signed only one treaty with the United States. This was atNew York City in 1796 on behalf of the Seven Nations of Canadarelinquishing their claims to land in New York with the exception of 36square miles on the New York-Quebec border which was preserved as the St.Regis Reservation. St. Regis was also excluded from the removal provisionsof the 1838 treaty and exists today as the the only Mohawk reservation inthe United States. The Caughnawaga and other Canadian Iroquois were activeduring the 1800s as trappers in the western fur trade with both the HudsonBay and Northwest companies. Mohawk from near Montreal were regularlyemployed as voyageurs and laborers for the long canoe routes from Montrealto the Mackenzie Delta and Pacific Coast. The fierce competition betweenthese two companies ended when they merged in 1821.
Besides trapping, the Iroquois had frequent contact with western tribesand frequently intermarried with them. In 1840 a Caughnawaga Iroquois,Ignace Lamoose, was responsible for Jesuit missionaries being sent to theFlathead and Kalispel in Montana. Several Iroquois employees of the HudsonBay Company settled in the Willamette Valley of Oregon during the 1840s.Beginning about 1800, the Northwest Company convinced Iroquois familiesfrom the St. Lawrence River to move west and settle in Alberta. TheCanadian government established a reserve for the Iroquois band of ChiefMichel Calihoo near Villeneuve in 1877. Parts were sold to whites in 1903and 1906. After the band surrendered its aboriginal status in 1952, thereserve was broken up into individually owned plots.
The ten-year period between Fort Stanwix and Canandaigua (1784-1795) wasprobably the lowest point for the Iroquois people. From there, however,they began a slow recovery which has continued to the present. In 1799 theSeneca Handsome Lake (Ganiodayo) had a spiritual vision which not onlychanged his life but the Iroquois history. Afterwards, he preached the"Kaiwicyoch" (Good Message) and founded the Longhouse religion - a blendof the traditional Iroquois values and Christianity. The religious valueshe espoused were so universal and commendable that Handsome Lake evenreceived a letter of appreciation from President Thomas Jefferson. Becausethere was also an element of accommodation in his message, many Americansinterpreted the Longhouse religion as the Iroquois coming around to theirway of thinking. However, this was definitely not the case, since HandsomeLake strongly opposed Christian missionaries among his people. TheLonghouse Religion carries a strong message of tolerance, but it is firstand foremost a traditional native religion.
As such it has been responsible for the Iroquois being able to retain muchof the their culture and tradition despite adversity and defeat. There isstill division as to whether the council fire belongs with the Six Nationsin Canada or the Onondaga in New York (New York finally returned thewampum belts of the Confederacy to the Onondaga in 1989). Many Iroquois,however, still consider themselves a distinct nation from either Canada orthe United States. Canada imposed an election system on the Six Nations in1924, but many Iroquois tribes have retained their traditional system ofhereditary leadership. The Iroquois opposed American citizenship when itwas finally extended by the Congress in 1924 to all Native Americans inthe United States. They also fought the Wheeler-Howard IndianReorganization Act (1934) which would have required federal approval oftheir tribal governments.
First Nations referred to in this Iroquois History:
Abenaki
Delaware
Catawba
Cherokee
Erie
Kickapoo
Mahican
Miami
Neutrals
Pennacook
Pocumtuc
Susquehannock
Wenro
Wyandot
