While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
There has been much said by different
writers of aboriginal forts, and fort
builders of western New York, in availing
themselves of steeps, gulfs, defiles, and
other marked localities, in establishing
works for security or defense. This trait
is, however, in no case more strikingly
exemplified than in the curious antique work
of Kienuka. The term "Kienuka," means the
stronghold or fort; but the original name of this fort is
Gau-strau-yea, which means bark laid down; this has a
metaphorical meaning, in the similitude of a freshly peeled
slippery elm bark, the size of the fort and laid at the bottom
as a flooring, so that if any person or persons go in they must
be circumspect, and act according to the laws of the fort, or
else they will slip and fall down to their own destruction.
The citadel of Kienuka is situated about four miles
eastward of the inlet of Niagara gorge at Lewiston, on a natural
escarpment of the ridge on the Tuscarora reservation, known at
present by the name of the Old Saw Mill.
There is quite an interesting tradition connected with the
antique fort Gau-strau-yea. At the formation of the confederacy
of the Iroquois, there was a virgin selected from a nation which
was called Squawkihaws (a remote branch of the Seneca nation),
and was ordained a Queen or Peacemaker, who was stationed at
this fort to execute her office of peace, her official name was
Ge-keah-saw-sa.
The fort was built by the Senecas aided by the
Squawkihaws, on an eminence on the north side of a steep of
perpendicular rocks, which was about eight or ten feet down; and
on the east, south and west sides they dug a trench four or five
feet deep, and in this trench were placed timbers which were put
up perpendicularly and jointed as close as possible, they
projected above the ground ten or twelve feet, inclosing a place
of about twenty by fifty rods. The house for the Queen was in
the center of this enclosure or fort, and adjacent houses were
built in two rows, with a trail or path between them directing
towards the Queen's house; on each end and inside of the fort,
which ran lengthwise east and west, was an entrance
corresponding with the trail prepared leading to the house of
the Queen.
Then a suitable number of warriors were selected from
the Squawkihaws' nation, the ablest bodied, the swiftest runners
and the most expert in the arts of war, which were stationed at
this fort (and made their dwelling in the adjacent houses), to
keep it in order and execute its regulations and laws; they were
to be supported with subsistence and all other necessaries of
life, and furnished with suitable implements of war by the
Iroquois.
In order more fully to understand the laws and
regulations of the fort or place of peace, it must be observed
that at this period there were contentions, strife and wars
between all the different known nations of the continent; nation
against nation, like fishes of the waters, the larger ones
eating the smaller. The warrior who can report in his rehearsal
in the war-dance of having obtained the greatest number of
scalps from the enemy, was the most honored and had the most
laurels in his crown; consequently, they were constantly forming
companies for an expedition to some nation in quest of honor and
the applause of their nation. At this time the confederacy of
the Iroquois was formed, and this place of peace was ordained
for the purpose, it may be, to alleviate the distress and
commotion of the nations of the forest.
The laws were that there shall be no nation or nations
of the Iroquois make war against any nation or nations of the
same league, under any circumstances; and the Iroquois must not
make war with any alien nation without the consent of the Queen.
This fort must ever be held sacred, as it is a place of peace,
by never allowing the shedding of blood within the enclosure.
All executions decreed by the Queen should be made outside of
the fort. And any person or persons, aside from the keepers of
the fort, should, on entering, never go any faster than a walk.
And the Queen must always have meals ready at every hour of the
day and night allegorically speaking, it is called a kettle of
hominy hanging, for all fugitives and pursuers from any nation
on the continent to partake. All fugitives, irrespective of
their nationalities, fleeing for life, from their enemy, when
once their feet touch the threshold of the fort, their life is
safe; then the Queen conducts him or them into one end of her
house, which is lengthwise east and west, with a door at each
end and a partition in the center of the room by a curtain made
of deer skin, and when the pursuer comes, she also conducts him
or them to the other end of the room. She then gives to each of
these parties, which are enemies to each other, sustenance to
eat; when, this being done, she rolls away the curtain, so that
each party can see the other; when they have done eating they
pass out and go home to their respective nations in peace. It is
contrary to law after a fugitive arrives at this fort and has
gone out, for the enemy to execute their death scheme without
the consent of the Queen; and if this be violated, then the
Iroquois demand the trespasser from the nation to which he or
they belong. If this is acceded to, 'tis well; then the
trespassers are executed, of which the penalty is death. But
should the nation harbor the trespasser, then the nation must
suffer the devastations of war at the hands of the Iroquois.
I would here say a few words in relation to the
question often asked, "Who were the Squawkihows, Kah-Kwahs, and
the Eries?" There has been much controversy on the question.
These three named tribes were of one language and of one nation
a remote branch of the Seneca nation and spoke the same language
as the Seneca, varying but very little in a few words. These
three tribes originally were called Squawkihows. In time they
became very numerous and powerful. They had their settlement
from the chores of Lake Ontario and along the Niagara River, and
up Lake Erie as far as a place now called Erie, and as far east
as to the Genesee river. This was their domain, within these
limits.
A settlement of this nation in the neighborhood of,
now, North Evans, south of Buffalo, a place called by them
Kah-kwah-ka, and the Squawkihow living in this vicinity were
called Kah-kwah; and the Squawkihow living further on along the
shores of Lake Erie were called cats or Eries, a name that
originated from the name of the lake. By this explanation you
will better understand my story.
There was a time when the Kah-kwahs' branch of that
nation made a challenge to the Seneca nation, another very
powerful nation having their settlement on the east side of the
Genesee river, to play a game of ball, which the Seneca readily
accepted and a day was appointed; accordingly, the combat
ensued, and was a hotly contested game; but the Seneca finally
came out victorious. The Kah-kwahs immediately made another
challenge, that of having a foot race, which the Seneca also
accepted. Each nation chose their swiftest runners, then the
flyers went which and tucker for a ways, but the Seneca finally
came out glorious. The Kah-kwahs being mortified by the defeat
of the two contests made the third challenge, that of wrestling,
with the understanding that an umpire must be chosen from each
nation and both to have a war club in hand, and the one that is
defeated should suffer death by having his head struck with the
war club while down, by the umpire opponent to the one defeated
and should be best two in three.
Even in this the Seneca accepted the challenge, and in
this remarkable contest they were also victorious. With this the
assemblage dispersed.
The defeats of the Kah-kwahs considerably alienated the
Squawkihows from the Seneca; the report, of course, reached the
ears of the Queen, which also alienated her feelings from the
Seneca, she being by birth a Squawkihow, but the office to which
she was ordained was by the Iroquois.
After this in one of the scouting tours of the Seneca
across the Niagara river, among the Masassauka Indians, on their
return at night to the "place of peace" or Gau-strau-yea, they
were pursued by a number of the Masassaukas; when both parties
had arrived and had their repast, they all lodged there to rest
in peace for the night, as they were wont to do. But in the
slumber and stillness of the midnight hour, was tested the
treachery of the Queen, by the Masassaukas, in asking her
consent to massacre the Seneca in their unsuspecting slumber;
her feelings having been previously somewhat alienated from the
Seneca, she was induced to give her consent, whereupon they were
massacred; their number I have not been able to obtain. They
were buried southwest from the Queen's house, the mound of which
was perceptible until a few years ago, when it was cultivated.
This breach of the law of that fort by the Queen giving
consent in the shedding of blood in that sacred place, grated
the conscience of the Squawkikows, and being alienated by the
defeat they experienced a short time previous by the matches
they had with the Seneca.
This affair was kept secret for a while. At the same
time the Squawkihows urged the consent of the Queen for them to
exterminate the Seneca nation and to take them on surprise, for,
they said when they hear of the massacre, they will at once wage
war against us. They finally prevailed on her, so she condemned
the Seneca nation to be exterminated.
At this time there was one warrior of the Seneca who had married
into the Squawkihows' nation and lived among them. When he heard
that the Queen had given up the Seneca nation into the hands of
the Squawkihows, to be exterminated, he resolved to go to a
place called Tah-nyh-yea, among the Seneca east side of Genesee
river, on the Seneca river where dwelled the head Sachem of the
Seneca nation, by the name of Onea-gah-re-tah-wa, and make his
report to that venerable Sachem, the decision of the Queen,
which was final. To accomplish this, without exciting the
suspicion of his family and neighbors, he went under the
pretense of going away to hunt on the lake shore of Ontario, and
would not be expected home in two or three days. Early one fine
morning this warrior started on his high mission from his house,
which was located near the fort (Gau-strau-yea). He went
northerly and touched Lake Ontario, where he had a canoe for the
purpose of hunting and fishing, in which he embarked and rowed
eastward to the mouth of the Oswego river, and up the river as
far as the Seneca river: then up that river to the settlement of
the Seneca. He there left his canoe and made for Tah-nyh-yea,
and went directly to the Sachem, (Onea-gah-re-tah-wa's) wigwam
in the dead of night, and called him out doors. He there related
to the Sachem the decree of the Queen, concerning the Seneca
nation and the massacre, and requested him to keep secret the
way he had received the message. The warrior immediately
returned home in the same way that he came.
In the morning the venerable Sachem went out early and
gave the war cry, which denoted that they were massacred, that
war was inevitable, and for the warriors to rally and prepare
for war. The nation soon gathered. He then related the message
he had received during the night, and said he had heard that
some of their warriors were massacred at the fort (Gau- strau-yea),
and that the Queen had decreed their extermination at the hand
of the Squawkihows. He then appointed four warriors of the best
runners to go and spy the fort and the settlement if there was
any indication of preparation for war, with instructions that
with the very first indication of a preparation for war that
they should at once dispatch one of their number home to make
his report, and the others to go on and to observe the progress
of the preparation and make their reports accordingly.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations and History of the Tuscarora Indians
