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Seneca Indian
Chiefs and Leaders
Blacksnake (Thaonawyuthe, 'needle or awl
breaker'). A chief, about the close of the 18th century, of the
Seneca Indians, who lived on their reservation along the Alleghany r. in
Cattaraugus co., N. Y. His residence was a mile above the village of Cold
Spring. The date of his birth is not known, but is supposed to have been about
1760, as it is stated that in 1856 he had reached the age of 96 years. He was
present on the English side at the battle of Oriskany, N. Y., in 1777, and it is
said that he participated in the Wyoming massacre of 1778, but he fought on the
American side in the battle of Ft George, N. Y., Aug. 17, 1813. He died in 1859.
(C. T.)
Farmer's Brother. A Seneca chief, known among his
people as Honanyawus, of vulgar meaning, born in 1716, or 1718, or 1732,
according to varying authorities; died in 1814 (Drake, Biog. and Hist. Inds.,
bk. v, 108, 1837; Haines, Am. Indian, 579, 1888). He is often
mentioned in connection with Red Jacket, but does not appear to have come into
prominence until about 1792. One of his most celebrated speeches was delivered
before a council at Genesee r., N. Y., in 1798. He signed the
treaties of Genesee, Sept. 15, 1797, and
Buffalo cr., June 30, 1802. He espoused the cause of the United States in
the war of 1812, and although 80 years of age engaged actively in the strife and
was present in the action near Ft George, N. Y. , Aug. 17, 1813. He died soon
after the battle of Lundy's Lane and was buried with military honors by the
fifth regiment of U. S. infantry. Farmer's Brother was always an advocate of
peace and more than once prevented his tribe from going on the warpath. (C. T.)
Cornstalk. A celebrated
Shawnee chief (born about 1720, died in 1777) who held authority over those of
the tribe then settled on the Scioto, in Ohio. He was brought most prominently
into notice by his leadership of the Indians in the battle of Point Pleasant, at
the mouth of Great Kanawha river, West Virginia, Oct. 10, 1774. Although
defeated in a battle lasting throughout the day, his prowess and generalship on
this occasion—where his force, mostly Shawnee, numbering probably 1,000, was
opposed to 1,100 Virginia volunteers—won the praise of the whites. After this
battle he entered into a treaty of peace with Lord Dunmore in Nov., 1774, at
Chillicothe, Ohio, although strenuously opposed by a part of his tribe, and
faithfully kept it until 1777. In the latter year the Shawnee, being incited to
renew hostilities, he went to Point Pleasant and notified the settlers that he
might be forced into the war. The settlers detained him and his son as hostages,
and they were soon after murdered by some infuriated soldiers in retaliation for
the killing of a white settler by some roving Indians, thus arousing the
vindictive spirit of the Shawnee, which was not broken until 1794. Cornstalk was
not only a brave and energetic warrior, but a skilful general and an orator of
considerable ability. A monument was erected to his memory in the courthouse
yard at Point Pleasant in 1896.
Cornplanter (Kaiioñtwa‘'kon,
'by what one plants' Hewitt; variously written Garganwahgah,
Koeentwahka, etc.). A Seneca chief known also as John O'Bail, supposed to
have been born between 1732 and and 1740 at Conewaugus, on Genesee river,
N,Y. Drake (Biog. and Hist. Ind., 7th ed., iii, 1837) says he was a warror
at Braddock's defeat in 1755, which is evidently a mistake, though he may
have been present a a boy of 12 or 15 years. His father was a white
trader named John O'Bail or O'Beel, said by some to have been an
Englishman, although Harris (Buffalo Hist. Soc. Pub., vi, 416, 1903) says
he was a Dutchman, named Abeel, and Tuttenberer (Tribes Hudson R., 317,
1872) also say he was a Dutch trader. His mother was a full-blood
Seneca. All that is known of Cornplanter's early days is contained
in a letter to the governor of Pennsylvania, in which he says he played
with Indian boys who remarked the difference between the color of his skin
and theirs; his mother informed him that his father reside at Albany.
He visited his father, who it appears, treated him kindly but gave him
nothing to carry back; nor did he tell me," he adds, "that the United
States were about to rebel against the Government of England." He states
that he was married before this visit. He was one of the parties
to the treaty of Ft Stanwix in 1784, when a large cession of land was made
by the Italians; he also took part in the treaty of Ft Harmar in 1789, in
which all extensive territory was conveyed to the United States (although
his name is not among the signers); and he was a signer of the treaties of
Sept. 15, 1797, and July 30, 1802. These acts rendered him so unpopular
with his tribe that for a time his life was in danger. In 1790 he,
together with Halftown, visited Philadelphia to lay before Gen. Washington
the grievances complained of by their people. In 1816 he resided just
within the limits of Pennsylvania on his grant 7 miles below the junction
of the Connewango with the Allegheny, on the banks of the latter. He then
owned 1,300 acres, of which 640 formed a tract granted to him by
Pennsylvania, Mar. 16, 1796, "for his many valuable services to the
whites." It is said that in his old age he declared that the "Great
Spirit" told him not to have anything more to do with the whites, nor even
to preserve any mementos or relics they had given him. Impressed with this
idea, he burned the belt and broke the elegant sword that had been given
him. A favorite son (Henry Obeal ), who had been carefully educated,
became a drunkard, thus adding to the troubles of Cornplanter's last
years. He received from the United States, for a time, a pension or grant
of $250 per year. He was perhaps more than 90 years of age at the time of
his death, Feb. 18, 1836. A monument erected to his memory on his
reservation by the state of Pennsylvania in 1866 bears the inscription
"aged about 100 years."
Half King (Scruniyatha, Seruniyattha, Tanacharison,
Tannghrishon, etc.). A Seneca chief; born about 1700; died at the house of John
Harris, at the site of Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 1, 1754. He appears to have first
come into notice about 1748, at which time he lived at or in the vicinity of
Logstown, Pa. (q. v.). According to some statements his residence was in this
village, but according to others it was on Little Beaver cr., about 15 m.
distant. It was to Half King that most of the official visitors to the Indians
of the Ohio region, including Weiser, Gist, Croghan, and Washington, applied for
information, ad vice, and assistance, Logstown being their stopping place for
this purpose. He ac companied Washington both on his journey of 1753 and on his
expedition of 1754.
Half King claimed that he killed Jumonville, the French officer, during the
skirmish at Great Meadows, Pa., May 28, 1754, in revenge of the French, who, he
declared, had killed, boiled, and eaten his father; and it was he who had
advised Ensign Ward, when summoned by Contracoeur, the French officer, to
surrender Ft. Necessity, at the site of Pittsburg, Pa., to reply that his rank
did not invest him with power to do so, thus obtaining delay. Half King was a
prominent figure on the Indian side in the treaty with the Virginia
commissioners in 1752, and for this and other services was decorated by Gov.
Dinwiddie and given the honorary name "Dinwiddie," which, it is said, he adopted
with pride. On the advice of Croghan, he with other Indians removed to Aughquick
(Oquaga) cr., Pa., in 1754. Half King has been confused with the Huron Half King
of Sandusky, Ohio, known also as Pomoacan, also with Schoroyady (Scarouady,
etc.), the Oneida Half King, and with Monakatuatha (Monacatootha, etc.). See
Drake, Aborig. Races, 531, 1880; Rupp, Hist. West. Pa., 71, 1846;
Dinwiddie Papers, i, 148, 1883; Col. Records Pa., v, 358, 1851.
(C. T.)
Onondakai ('Destroy Town'). A Seneca chief who signed the treaty of
1826. His name is also given as Gonondagie, and, more exactly, as Oshagonondagie.
He Destroys the Town,' written "Straw Town" in the treaty of 1815, Oosaukaunendauki in 1797. He was one of those whose remains were reinterred at
Buffalo in 1884. The name was a favorite one, but, as applied to George
Washington and some French governors, has a slightly different form.
Red Jacket. A noted
Seneca orator and chief of the "merit"
class of the Wolf clan, born
about 1756, probably at Canoga,
in Seneca co., N. Y., where a
monument commemorates his birth;
died on the former "Buffalo reservation" of the Seneca, on lands
now within the limits of Buffalo, N. Y.,
Jan. 20, 1830. In civil life his Indian name
was Otetiani, probably meaning 'prepared' or `ready'. On'
his elevation to a chiefship, he
received the name `Shagoiē'wātthă.' (commonly spelled Sa-go-ye-wat-ha), signifying literally 'be them
causes to be awake,' and, as a name, `he
who causes them to be awake,' a designation having no reference to his reputed ability as an effective speaker,
although this seems to be the
popular inference. Being a
member of the Wolf clan of the
Seneca, the Indian names received by
Red Jacket belonged, according to custom,
exclusively to this important clan. And, institutionally, clan names were
in large measure designations
descriptive of some distinctive
feature, attitude, habit, or
other phenomenon characteristic of the clan tutelary. So it being one of
the marked habits of the wolf to disturb or
awaken people at night by howling or
by other weans, there naturally
would be a personal name belonging to the Wolf
clan which embodied this lupine trait
and which in this case became the name
of a tribal but not federal chiefship
therein. This is also an
official name among the Cayuga.
In the American Revolution, his
tribe, the Seneca, having, reluctantly espouse the cause of Great
Britain, Red Jacket, although strongly
opposed to this course of his
people, took the field with his fellow warriors. At
once his ability and intelligence
attracted the attention of
British officers, one of whom gave him a brilliant red jacket,
which, when worn out, was replaced by a
second, and so on until this
distinctive dress became a
characteristic feature of its wearer, whence his popular name.
Red Jacket was frequently employed in
carrying dispatches, but he took
no very active part in the
actual fighting; indeed, he was
even reproached with being a
coward for certain conduct in the field
by the great fighting chief,
Cornplanter.
During the invasion of the Seneca country by Gen. Sullivan in
1779, Cornplanter sought to make a stand
against the American forces on
the shore of Canandaigua Lake, but on the
approach of the American troops, a number of Indians, including
Red Jacket, began to retreat. Seeing
the ill effect of this movement, Cornplanter
endeavored to rally the fugitives. Placing himself in front of Red Jacket,
he sought to persuade him and his fellow
refugees to turn back to fight, but his
efforts were fruitless; in
anger, the baffled chief,
turning to Red Jacket's young wife,
exclaimed, "Leave that man; he is a
coward!
"
Red Jacket was reputed to have had a
most tenacious memory and a quick wit,
and, being a ready and effective speaker, he possessed a remarkable gift
for defensive debate; but, judging from his interpreted
speeches and from his course in
life, it is
evident he was not a deep, broad-minded
thinker, and so justly he could hardly be called a great orator. He
was at all times an egotist, and his
mind was of so narrow a cast
that he failed to see that he and
his people had reached a point where they had to strive to adjust
themselves so far as practicable to
the new conditions brought about by the
coming of the white race. And
so he likewise failed to read
aright the lesson taught by the
cataclysm that engulfed the institutions of the Iroquois of the
League when the avenging army of Sullivan
desolated their homes, their orchards, and their harvests in 1779.
The meager measure of importance that finally
attached to Red Jacket arose
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or NationsFree
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