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90-557: Under pressure from English settlers and Seneca Iroquois , they joined with other Virginia Siouan tribes in the late 17th century and became collectively known as the Nahyssan. By 1740, they had largely left Virginia and migrated north to seek protection from their former Iroquois opponents. They were adopted by the Cayuga tribe of New York in 1753. Ultimately, their descendants migrated into Canada. The English name Tutelo comes from

180-675: A King of the Sapony Nation". Spotswood continued to take a keen interest and later started building his own house nearby, bringing his family there at one point in 1717. The monopoly of the Virginia Indian Company on trading soon aroused the ire of private merchants such as William Byrd II , who had inherited his father's lucrative Indian trade. While back in London, he lobbied the Lords of Trade , arguing that Christanna

270-772: A Seneca war party ambushed a British supply train and soldiers in Battle of Devil's Hole , also known as the Devil's Hole massacre, during Pontiac's Rebellion . After the American Revolutionary War broke out between the British and the colonists, the Seneca at first attempted to remain neutral but both sides tried to bring them into the action. When the rebel colonists defeated the British at Fort Stanwix , they killed many Seneca onlookers. The Seneca Tribe before

360-762: A Tutelo chief who established a village in New York state. Their village was attacked during the Sullivan Expedition , an American operation to destroy the pro-British elements of the Six Nations in New York. John Key, also known as Gostango (meaning "Below the Rock") and Nastabon ("One Step") survived Nikonha as the last recorded fluent speaker of the Tutelo language. He died on March 23, 1898, at 78 years old. Chief John Buck ( Onondaga /Tutelo, ca. 1818–1893)

450-485: A clan is called the "clan mother". Despite the prominent position of women in Iroquois society, their influence on the diplomacy of the nation was limited. If the "clan mothers" do not agree with any major decisions made by the chiefs, they can eventually depose them. Arrows from the area are made from split hickory, although shoots of dogwood and Viburnum were used as well. The eastern two feather style of fletching

540-647: A covenant belt. The Americans attempted a similar wine and dine method on the Tuscarora and Oneidas. In the end, the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca sided with the British, and the Tuscarora and Oneida sided with the Americans. From this point on, the Iroquois would have a serious role in the American Revolution. The war divided them and now they would be fighting against each other from 1777 till

630-526: A detailed account of his observations on the Indians, and also recorded about 45-50 words and phrases of their Tutelo-Saponi language . He saw the fort at the peak of its success, and described hordes of "happy Indian children shrieking through the rain". Another visitor, Rev. Hugh Jones, reported that the 77 Indian students could read, write and say their catechisms tolerably well, and that the natives adored Griffin so much, they "fain would have chosen him for

720-528: A dissolution of their traditional society under pressure of disease and encroachment by European Americans. But fieldwork at the 1715–1754 Seneca Townley-Read site near Geneva, New York , has recovered evidence of "substantial Seneca autonomy, selectivity, innovation, and opportunism in an era usually considered to be one of cultural disintegration". In 1756, the Confederacy directed the Munsee to settle in

810-627: A fairly recent arrival to their home region at the time of contact and they probably did not come to Virginia with it, as they may have with other seed varieties. This shows in their word for corn- mandahe- seemingly being an amalgamation of the Algonquian word Mandamin and the Iroquoian word nehe. Tutelo oral history states that they originated in Ohio and likely only a few centuries before European arrival. Their language shares many loan words with

900-536: A new satellite town in Seneca territory called Assinisink (where Corning developed) on the Chemung River. In this period, they developed satellite towns for war captives who were being assimilated near several of their major towns. The Seneca received some of the Munsee's war prisoners as part of their negotiations. At a peace conference in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1758, the Seneca chief Tagashata required

990-474: A part of this confederacy with the Cayuga , Onondagas , Oneidas , Mohawks , and, later on, the Tuscaroras . However, although the Seneca and Iroquois tribes had ceased fighting each other, they still continued to conduct raids on outsiders, or rather their European visitors. Despite the Iroquois continuing raids on their new European neighbors, the Iroquois tribes struck up profitable relationships with

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1080-730: Is overgrown with brush. In the early 1920s, the material that made up the Bare Hill fort was used by the Town of Middlesex highway department for road fill. The Seneca historically lived in what is now New York state between the Genesee River and Canandaigua Lake . The dating of an oral tradition mentioning a solar eclipse yields 1142 AD as the year for the Seneca joining the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee). Some recent archaeological evidence indicates their territory eventually extended to

1170-641: Is typical from this region. During the colonial period, the Seneca became involved in the fur trade , first with the Dutch and then with the British. This served to increase hostility with competing native groups, especially their traditional enemy, the Huron (Wyandot), an Iroquoian-speaking tribe located near Lac Toronto in New France . In 1609, the French allied with the Huron (Wyandot) and set out to destroy

1260-753: The Allegheny River in present-day northwestern Pennsylvania, particularly after the Iroquois destroyed both the Wenrohronon and Erie nations in the 17th century, who were native to the area. The Seneca were by far the most populous of the Haudenosaunee nations, numbering about four thousand by the seventeenth century. Seneca villages were located as far east as current-day Schuyler County (e.g. Catherine's Town and Kanadaseaga ), south into current Tioga and Chemung counties, north and east into Tompkins and Cayuga counties, and west into

1350-811: The Chemung River to the Susquehanna River. At Tioga the Seneca had access to every corner of Munsee country. Seneca warriors traveled the Forbidden Path south to Tioga to the Great Warrior Path to Scranton and then east over the Minnisink Path through the Lorde's valley to Minisink . The Delaware River path went straight south through the ancient Indian towns of Cookhouse , Cochecton and Minnisink, where it became

1440-550: The Christopher Wren Building at William and Mary. Another lesser cannon attributed to Christanna was taken to Lawrenceville, Virginia and fired to celebrate the election of Grover Cleveland in 1887, at which time it accidentally exploded; its remains in 1975 were said to be buried in the filled-in cellar of a former home. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, as

1530-574: The Delaware Water Gap and the western Catskills. The men of both branches of the Seneca wore the same headgear. Like the other Haudenosaunee, they wore hats with dried cornhusks on top. The Seneca wore theirs with one feather sticking up straight. Traditionally, the Seneca Nation's economy was based on hunting and gathering activities, fishing, and the cultivation of varieties of corn , beans , and squash . These vegetables were

1620-402: The Genesee River valley. The villages were the homes and headquarters of the Seneca. While the Seneca maintained substantial permanent settlements and raised agricultural crops in the vicinity of their villages, they also hunted widely through extensive areas. They also executed far-reaching military campaigns. The villages, where hunting and military campaigns were planned and executed, indicate

1710-937: The Huron (Wyandot) To the South, the Iroquoian -speaking tribes of the Susquehannock (Conestoga) also threatened constant warfare. The Algonquian tribes of the Mohican blocked access to the Hudson River in the east and northeast. In the southeast, the Algonkian tribes of the Lenape people (Delaware, Minnisink and Esopus) threatened war from eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Lower Hudson. The Seneca used

1800-525: The Lenape Indians, an Algonquian-speaking people whose territory extended deep along the coastal areas of the mid-Atlantic coast, up into present-day Connecticut. They occupied the western part of Long Island as well. The Lenape nation was Algonkian -speaking and made up of the Delaware , Minnisink and Esopus bands, differentiated according to their territories. These bands later became known as

1890-671: The Minsi Path . Using these ancient highways, the Seneca exerted influence in what is today Ulster and Sullivan counties from the Dutch colonial era onward. Historical evidence demonstrating Seneca presence in the Lower Catskills includes: In 1657 and 1658, the Seneca visited, as diplomats, Dutch colonial officials in New Amsterdam. In 1659 and 1660, the Seneca interceded in the First Esopus War , which

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1980-612: The Mosopelea language , the only Fort Ancient language on record, suggesting that they were once neighboring cultures. Since Tutelo housing was similar to that of Monongahela culture , and their burial mounds were similar to those found in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The Tutelo historic homeland was said to include the area of the Big Sandy River on the West Virginia – Kentucky border, which they called

2070-612: The Munsee , based on their shared dialect. (Folts at pp 32) The Munsee inhabited large tracts of land from the middle Hudson into the Delaware Water Gap , and into northeast Pennsylvania and northwest New Jersey . The Esopus inhabited the Mid-Hudson valley (Sullivan and Ulster counties). The Minnisink inhabited northwest New Jersey. The Delaware inhabited the southern Susquehanna and Delaware water gaps. The Minnisink-Esopus trail, today's Route 209 , helped tie this world together. To

2160-584: The Roanoke River . It was just above the territory of the Occaneechi . For a time, the Tutelo had a settlement on the banks of the New River . Many of the sherds collected there and the small triangular points, suggest a mid- to late 16th-century or an early 17th-century date. Between 1671 and 1701, Tutelo abandoned their homelands and joined the Occaneechi . In 1701, they were noted as living at

2250-870: The Seneca Nation of Indians , with five territories in western New York near Buffalo ; and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation . The Seneca-Cayuga Nation is in Oklahoma , where their ancestors were relocated from Ohio during the Indian Removal . Approximately 1,000 Seneca live in Canada, near Brantford, Ontario , at the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation . They are descendants of Seneca who resettled there after

2340-550: The animal side, and the Deer, Hawk, Snipe, and Heron are the bird side. The Iroquois have a matrilineal kinship system ; inheritance and property descend through the maternal line. Women are in charge of the clans. Children are considered born into their mother's clan and take their social status from her family. Their mother's eldest brother was traditionally more of a major figure in their lives than their biological father, who does not belong to their clan. The presiding elder of

2430-570: The "Totteroy River." The Iroquois drove them from this region during the later Beaver Wars (c. 1670), after which the Iroquois established the Ohio Valley as their hunting ground by right of conquest. Charles Hanna believed their name, first appearing as Oniasont on 17th-century French maps, to be a variation of the name of the tribe recorded in West Virginia and western Virginia at the same time period, as Nahyssan and Monahassanough, i.e.

2520-521: The 1730s and 1740s. After the Tuscarora War broke out in 1711, Spotswood conceived the idea of a fort where he would settle the Siouan and Iroquoian tribes of Virginia that had been Tributary since 1677. The fort would offer them protection from hostile tribes, act as a trading center, and also provide schooling to their children to learn English culture. In late 1713, he got his idea approved by

2610-552: The Algonquian variant of the name that the Iroquois used for all the Virginia Siouan tribes: Toderochrone (with many variant spellings). The Tutelo autonym (name for themselves) was Yesañ, Yesáh, Yesáng, Yesą, Yesan, Yesah, or Yesang . This may also be connected with the name Nahyssan, as well as earlier colonial-era spellings, such as Monahassanough (John Smith). The name Oniasont appeared on 17th-century French maps. Amateur historian Charles A. Hanna believed that name of

2700-495: The American Revolution had a prosperous society. The Iroquois Confederacy had ended the fighting amongst the war-based Iroquois tribes and allowed them to live in peace with each other. Yet, despite this peace amongst themselves, the Iroquois tribes were all revered as fierce warriors and were reputed to control together a large empire that stretched hundreds of miles along the Appalachian Mountains. The Seneca were

2790-567: The American Revolution, as they had been allies of the British and forced to cede much of their lands . The Seneca's own name for themselves is O-non-dowa-gah or Onödowá’ga , meaning "Great Hill People" The exonym Seneca is "the Anglicized form of the Dutch pronunciation of the Mohegan rendering of the Iroquoian ethnic appellative" originally referring to the Oneida. The Dutch applied

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2880-780: The American Revolution. Notable raids like the Cherry Valley massacre and Battle of Minisink , were carefully planned raids on a trail laid out "from the Susquehanna to the Delaware Valley and over the Pine Hill to the Esopus Country". In 1778 Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Mohawk warriors conducted raids on white settlements in the upper Susquehanna Valley. Although the Iroquois were active participants, Seneca like Governor Blacksnake were extremely fed up with

2970-606: The British as a conflict meant to include only them. The Albany Council occurred in August, and the Iroquois Confederacy debated about the Revolution from August 25 to August 31. The non-Iroquois present at the council consisted of important figures like Philip Schuyler , Oliver Wolcott , Turbutt Francis , Volkert Douw , Samuel Kirkland , and James Dean. The Iroquois at the council were representatives from all

3060-553: The British, were disliked by the Seneca because of their continual disregard for the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. Specifically, the Iroquois were enraged by the Americans movement into the Ohio Territory. However, despite their continual encroachment on established Iroquois land, the Americans respected their skills at warfare and attempted to exclude them from their conflict with the British. The Americans viewed their conflict with

3150-457: The British: "[I]mmediately after arrival the officers came to see us to See what wanted for to Support the Indians with prvisions and with the flood of Rum. they are Some of the ... warriors made use of this intoxicating Drinks, there was several Barrel Delivered to us for us to Drinked for the white man told us to Drinked as much as we want of it all free gratus, and the goods if any of us wishes to get for our own use." Contingent to this generosity

3240-402: The Burgesses; it was to be under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Virginia Indian Company , which had a monopoly. In 1714 Spotswood himself visited the site and successfully persuaded the Siouan tribes, who included the Saponi , Tutelo , Occaneechi , and Eno (Stuckenock), to occupy the tract that was surveyed. while the Nansemond were on the north side of the Meherrin River. However,

3330-457: The Cayuga until Coreorgonel, along with many other Iroquois towns, was destroyed during the American Revolutionary War by the Sullivan Expedition of 1779. It was retaliation for British-Iroquois raids against the American rebels. The Tutelo went with the Iroquois to Canada , where the British offered land for resettlement at what became known as the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation . In 1785, 75 Tutelos lived among 1,200 residents on

3420-402: The Delaware to trade with the Dutch in New Amsterdam ( Manhattan ). In 1634, war broke out between the Delaware and the Susquehannock, and by 1638, the defeated Delaware became tributaries to the Susquehanna. The Iroquois Confederacy to the north was growing in strength and numbers, and the Seneca, as the most numerous and adventurous, began to travel extensively. Eastern Seneca traveled down

3510-427: The Europeans, especially the English. In 1677, the English were able to make an alliance with the Iroquois league called the "Covenant Chain". In 1768, the English renewed this alliance when Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. This treaty put the British in good favor with the Iroquois, as they felt that the British had their best interests in mind as well. The Americans, unlike

3600-519: The Genesee and Allegheny rivers, as well as the Great Indian War and Trading Path (the Seneca Trail ), to travel from southern Lake Ontario into Pennsylvania and Ohio (Merrill, Arch. Land of the Senecas ; Empire State Books, 1949, pp. 18–25). The eastern Seneca had territory just north of the intersection of the Chemung , Susquehanna , Tioga and Delaware rivers, which converged in Tioga. The rivers provided passage deep into all parts of eastern and western Pennsylvania, as well as east and northeast into

3690-474: The Indian school at the College of William & Mary . The Saponi and Tutelo remained on the tract for several more years, at a village called Junkatapurse (Tutelo: chunketa pasui , "horse's head"). They began moving elsewhere in small bands around 1730. The largest part of them moved to Shamokin, Pennsylvania in 1740, where they joined the Iroquois, and were formally adopted by the Cayuga nation in New York in 1753. Meanwhile, colonists had begun moving to

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3780-440: The Iroquoian tribes in Virginia, the Nottoway and Meherrin , refused to take up their portion, saying they would not live with the Siouans. Spotswood even contemplated abducting them to make them live at the fort, but they eluded all efforts. He named the fort "Christ-Anna" after Christ , and after Queen Anne , who died later that year. It was built according to state-of-the-art principles of fort construction at that time, in

3870-473: The Iroquois Confederacy Council. The western Seneca lived predominantly in and around the Genesee River , gradually moving west and southwest along Lake Erie and the Niagara River , then south along the Allegheny River into Pennsylvania. The eastern Seneca lived predominantly south of Seneca Lake . They moved south and east into Pennsylvania and the western Catskill area. The west and north were under constant attack from their powerful Iroquoian brethren,

3960-525: The Iroquois and other Native Americans as savages and lesser people. An example of this rhetoric came in the Declaration of Independence: "the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions." As a result of this terrible rhetoric, many Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Seneca prepared to join the British. However, many Oneida and Tuscarora were able to be swayed by an American missionary, Samuel Kirkland . The Iroquois nation began to divide as

4050-455: The Iroquois chose to remain neutral for the time being. They felt it would be best to stand aside while the Colonists and the British battled. They did not wish to get caught up in this supposed "family quarrel between [them] and Old England". Despite this neutrality, the anti-Native American rhetoric of the Americans pushed the Iroquois over to the side of the British. The Americans put forth an extremely racist and divisive message. They viewed

4140-486: The Iroquois. The Iroquois-Huron war raged until approximately 1650. Led by the Seneca, the Confederacy began a near 35-year period of conquest over surrounding tribes following the defeat of its most powerful enemy, the Huron (Wyandot). The Confederacy conducted Mourning Wars to take captives to replace people lost in a severe smallpox epidemic in 1635. Through raids, they stabilized their population after adopting young women and children as captives and incorporating them into

4230-401: The Mid-Hudson valley. By 1712, the Esopus Indians were reported to have reached the east Pepacton branch of the Delaware River , on the western slopes of the Catskill Mountains . From 1720 to the 1750s, the Seneca resettled and assimilated the Munsee into their people and the Confederacy. Historical accounts had noted the difficulties encountered by the Seneca during this period and noted

4320-425: The Munsee and Minnisink to conclude a peace with the colonists and "take the hatchet out of your heads, and bury it under ground, where it shall always rest and never be taken up again". A large delegation of Iroquois attended this meeting to demonstrate that the Munsee were under their protection. In 1759, as colonial records indicate, negotiators had to go through the Seneca in order to have diplomatic success with

4410-427: The Munsee. Despite the French military campaigns, Seneca power remained far-reaching at the beginning of the 18th century. Gradually, the Seneca began to ally with their trading partners, the Dutch and British , against France 's ambitions in the New World. By 1760 during the Seven Years' War , they helped the British capture Fort Niagara from the French . The Seneca had relative peace from 1760 to 1775. In 1763

4500-446: The Nahyssan recorded in West Virginia and western Virginia during the same period, i.e. the Tutelo, a Siouan language-speaking people. Others theorize that Honniasont may have been considered an Iroquoian language. Aside from getting many native plants from their natural habitat, the Tutelo people have been linked to Tutelo Strawberry Corn and may have grown predecessor varieties of Boston Mallow Squash and Oronoco Tobacco. Boston Mallow

4590-425: The Revolution continued and, as a result, they extinguished the council fire that united the six Iroquois nations, therefore ending the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois ended their political unity during the most turbulent time in their history. Two powers in the midst of battle pulled them apart to gain their skill as warriors. This divided the Iroquois and the tribes chose sides based on preference. In addition to

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4680-400: The Seneca Indians. The traces of an ancient fort, covering about an acre, and surrounded by a ditch, and formerly by a formidable wall, are still to be seen on top of Bare Hill. They indicate defenses raised by Indian hands, or more probably belong to the labors of a race that preceded the Indian occupation. The wall is now about tumbled down, the stones seem somewhat scattered, and the ground

4770-401: The Seneca had hegemony in these areas. Major Seneca villages were protected with wooden palisades . Ganondagan , with 150 longhouses , was the largest Seneca village of the 17th century, while Chenussio , with 130 longhouses, was a major village of the 18th century. The Seneca nation has two branches: the western and the eastern. Each branch was individually incorporated and recognized by

4860-426: The Seneca homelands. In 1650, the Seneca attacked and defeated the Neutrals to their west. In 1653, the Seneca attacked and defeated the Erie to their southwest. Survivors of both the Huron and Erie were subjugated to the Seneca and relocated to the Seneca homeland. The Seneca took over the vanquished tribe's traditional territories in western New York. In 1675, the Seneca defeated the Andaste (Susquehannock) to

4950-503: The Seneca warriors and Continental Army soldiers by noting that Blacksnake "was not unlike" known Revolutionary veterans " Joseph Plumb Martin and James Collins and other white American [veterans] who could never finally resolve whether killing was right or wrong". As the war went on, many more brutal attacks and atrocities would be committed by both sides, notably the Sullivan Expedition , which devastated Iroquois and Seneca lands. The Iroquois were involved in numerous other battles during

5040-403: The Six Nations reserve. They continued to live among the Cayuga and were eventually absorbed by them through intermarriage. The last known full-blooded Tutelo speaker, Nikonha or Waskiteng ("Old Mosquito") died in 1870 at the age of 105. He had given extensive linguistic material to the scholar Horatio Hale , who confirmed the Tutelo language as a Siouan language. His father's name was Onusowa,

5130-472: The Susquehanna River and were assimilated into the Seneca and Cayuga people . In 1694, Captain Arent Schuyler , in an official report, described the Minnisink chiefs as being fearful of being attacked by the Seneca because of not paying wampum tribute to these Iroquois. Around 1700, the upper Delaware watershed of New York and Pennsylvania became home of the Minnisink Indians moving north and northwest from New Jersey, and of Esopus Indians moving west from

5220-423: The Tutelo, a Siouan language-speaking people. Although previously known to the Virginia colonists by their other names, a form of Tutelo first appeared in Virginia records in 1671, when the Batts and Fallam expedition noted their visit to "Totero Town" near what is now Salem, Virginia . A few years later, the Tutelo joined the Saponi to live on islands located where the Dan and Staunton rivers join to become

5310-402: The attack, the Seneca moved further west, east and south down the Susquehanna River. Although great damage was done to the Seneca homeland, the Seneca's military might was not appreciably weakened. The Confederacy and the Seneca moved into an alliance with the British in the east. In and around 1600, the area currently comprising Sullivan , Ulster and Orange counties of New York was home to

5400-403: The battle from the viewpoint of the victorious Indians: "as we approach to a firghting we had preparate to make one fire and Run amongst them we So, while we Doing it, feels no more to Kill the Beast, and killed most all, the americans army, only a few white man Escape from us ... there I have Seen the most Dead Bodies all it over that I neve Did see." Author Ray Raphael made a connection between

5490-469: The brutality of the war. He noted particularly on his behavior at Oriskany, and how he felt "it was great sinfull by the sight of God". Warriors like Blacksnake were feeling the mental toll of killing so many people during the American Revolution. As Raphael noted in his book, "warfare had been much more personal" for the Iroquois before the American Revolution. During the revolution, these once proud Iroquois were now reduced to conducting brutal acts such as

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5580-595: The central aisle, and two families shared a hearth. Over time they began to build cabins, similar to those of their American neighbors. The main form of social organization is the clan , or ka'sä:te' , nominally each descended from one woman. The Seneca have eight clans: Bear ( nygawai' ), Wolf ( aga̓ta:yö:nih ), Turtle ( ha'no:wa:h ), Beaver( nöganya'göh ), Deer ( neogë ), Hawk ( gaji'da:s ), Snipe ( nödzahgwë' ), and Heron ( jo̙äshä' ). The clans are divided into two sides ( moieties ) – the Bear, Wolf, Turtle , and Beaver are

5670-421: The colonized area of Virginia. Located in what became Brunswick County, Virginia , near Gholsonville , the fort was completed in 1714 and enjoyed three successful years of operation as the westernmost outpost of the British Empire at the time, before being finally closed by the House of Burgesses in 1718. However, the Saponi and Tutelo continued to live on the allotted land, 6 miles square (36 sq. mi), into

5760-413: The end on opposite sides. The Seneca chose to side with the British in the American Revolution. One of the earliest battles the Iroquois were involved in occurred on August 6, 1777, in Oriskany During the Battle of Oriskany , Native Americans led a brutal attack against the rebel Americans where they "killed, wounded, or captured the majority of patriot soldiers". The Seneca Governor Blacksnake described

5850-427: The five Great Lakes in North America . Their nation was the farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League ( Haudenosaunee ) in New York before the American Revolution . For this reason, they are called “The Keepers of the Western Door.” In the 21st century, more than 10,000 Seneca live in the United States, which has three federally recognized Seneca tribes. Two of them are centered in New York:

5940-431: The future Lackawanna and into the land of the Minnisink on the New York /New Jersey border. The Seneca tried to curtail the encroachment of white settlers. This increased tensions and conflict with the French to the north and west, and the English and Dutch to the south and east. As buffers, the Confederacy resettled conquered tribes between them and the European settlers, with the greatest concentration of resettlements on

6030-430: The headwaters of the Yadkin River in North Carolina . After 1714, the Saponi and Tutelo, collectively known as a Nahyssan, resided at Junkatapurse around Fort Christanna in Brunswick County, Virginia , near the border with North Carolina. After the signing of the 1722 Treaty of Albany , the Iroquois ceased their attacks upon the Tutelo. In the 1730s, Tutelo people moved north to Shamokin , Pennsylvania , and sought

6120-429: The killing of women and children at the Cherry Valley massacre and the clubbing of surviving American soldiers at Oriskany. Although Seneca like Governor Blacksnake felt sorrow for their brutal actions, the Americans responded in a colder and more brutal fashion. This retaliation came in the Sullivan Expedition . Fort Christanna Fort Christanna was one of the projects of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood , who

6210-422: The lands around the fort in such numbers that in 1720, Brunswick County was formed there as a separate county. The five large cannon once at the fort are supposed to have been buried in the well; its location is currently uncertain. A lesser cannon said to be from Christanna was for years in the front yard of a private home in the vicinity, fired every July 4 and Christmas, and in 1900, was moved to sit in front of

6300-444: The lower Susquehanna. In 1685, King Louis XIV of France sent Marquis de Denonville to govern New France in Quebec. Denonville set out to destroy the Seneca Nation and in 1687 landed a French armada with "the largest army North America had ever seen" at Irondequoit Bay . Denonville struck straight into the seat of Seneca power and destroyed many of its villages, including the Seneca's eastern capital of Ganondagan . Fleeing before

6390-421: The name Sennecaas promiscuously to the four westernmost nations, the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, but with increasing contact the name came to be applied only to the latter. The French called them Sonontouans . The Dutch name is also often spelled Sinnikins or Sinnekars , which was later corrupted to Senecas. Seneca oral history states that the tribe originated in a village called Nundawao, near

6480-438: The nineteenth century, many Seneca adopted customs of their immediate American neighbors by building log cabins , practicing Christianity, and participating in the local agricultural economy. The Seneca traditionally lived in longhouses , which are large buildings that were up to 100 feet long and approximately 20 feet wide. The longhouses were shared among related families and could hold up to 60 people. Hearths were located in

6570-462: The protection of the Oneida viceroy, Shickellamy (had a Tutelo wife). After 1753, the Cayuga formally agreed to take in the Tutelo, who moved to the south side of Cayuga Lake and eastern Cayuga Inlet , near present-day Ithaca, New York . The Tutelo village of Coreorgonel was located near present-day Ithaca, New York and Buttermilk Falls State Park . There they lived under the protection of

6660-441: The push of American bigoted rhetoric, the British also continued to attempt to sway the Iroquois towards their side. One British attempt to sway the Iroquois was described by two Seneca tribesmen, Mary Jemison and Governor Blacksnake . They both described the grandeur of the lavish gifts that the British bestowed upon the Iroquois. Governor Blacksnake's account held many details about the luxurious treatment that they received from

6750-461: The shape of a pentagon, and a blockhouse with 1400-lb cannon at each of the 5 corners, 100 yards apart, so as to enable each to command within sight of the next two. Inside the fort was a school for Indian children, taught by a Charles Griffin , where they learned to speak and write English, and to read the Bible and Book of Common Prayer. Lieut. John Fontaine, who spent some time there 1715–1716, left

6840-606: The south and southeast. The Confederacy's hegemony extended along the frontier from Canada to Ohio, deep into Pennsylvania, along the Mohawk Valley and into the lower Hudson in the east. They sought peace with the Algonquian-speaking Mohegan (Mahican), who lived along the Hudson River. Within the Confederacy, Seneca power and presence extended from Canada to what would become Pittsburgh, east to

6930-585: The south end of Canandaigua Lake , at South Hill. Close to South Hill stands the 865-foot-high (264 m) Bare Hill, known to the Seneca as Genundowa . Bare Hill is part of the Bare Hill Unique Area, which began to be acquired by the state in 1989. Bare Hill had been the site of a Seneca (or Seneca-ancestral people) fort. The first written reference to this fort was made in 1825 by the Tuscarora historian David Cusick in his history of

7020-456: The staple of the Haudenosaunee diet and were called "the three sisters " (työhe'hköh). Seneca women generally grew and harvested varieties of the three sisters, as well as gathering and processing medicinal plants, roots, berries, nuts, and fruit. Seneca women held sole ownership of all the land and the homes. The women also tended to any domesticated animals such as dogs and turkeys. Seneca men were generally in charge of locating and developing

7110-429: The town sites, including clearing the forest for the production of fields. Seneca men also spent a great deal of time hunting and fishing. This activity took them away from the towns or villages to well-known and productive hunting and fishing grounds for extended amounts of time. These hunting and fishing locations were altered and well maintained to encourage game; they were not simply "wild" lands. Seneca men maintained

7200-428: The traditional title of war sachems within the Haudenosaunee. A Seneca war sachem was in charge of gathering the warriors and leading them into battle. Seneca people lived in villages and towns. Archaeological excavations indicate that some of these villages were surrounded by palisades because of warfare. These towns were relocated every ten to twenty years as soil, game and other resources were depleted. During

7290-400: The tribes, but the Mohawk, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras had the most representatives. The Iroquois agreed with the Americans and decided at their Albany Council that they should remain as spectators to the conflict. A Mohawk Chief named Little Abraham declared that "the determination of the Six Nations not to take any part; but as it is a family affair, to sit still and see you fight it out". Thus,

7380-415: The tribes. By the winter of 1648, the Confederacy, led by the Seneca, fought deep into Canada and surrounded the capital of Huronia . Weakened by population losses due to their own smallpox epidemics as well as warfare, the Huron (Wyandot) unconditionally surrendered. They pledged allegiance to the Seneca as their protector. The Seneca subjugated the Huron (Wyandot) survivors and sent them to assimilate in

7470-655: The west of the Delaware nation were the Iroquoian -speaking Andaste/ Susquehannock . To the east of the Delaware Nation lay the encroaching peoples of Dutch New Netherland . From Manhattan, up through the Hudson, the settlers were interested in trading furs with the Susquehannock occupying territory in and around current Lancaster, Pennsylvania . As early as 1626, the Susquehannock were struggling to get past

7560-683: Was a Haudenosaunee firekeeper at the Oshweken Longhouse on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. He recounted Tutelo stories to American ethnologists John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt and Frank Speck . Seneca people The Seneca ( / ˈ s ɛ n ɪ k ə / SEN -ik-ə ; Seneca : O-non-dowa-gah/Onöndowa'ga:' , lit.   'Great Hill People') are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian -speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario , one of

7650-552: Was an unnecessary expense, and calling on them to return to independent trade and dissolve the company. Despite Spotswood's objections, they did so on November 12, 1717. In May 1718, a treaty was signed with the Iroquois of New York, whereby they agreed not to come east of the Blue Ridge, and the Burgesses thereupon voted to discontinue manning the fort. Mr Griffin remained until September, then transferred to become master of

7740-565: Was developed by horticulturalists in Boston, MA in the 19th century from seed said to have been traceable back to a group of Natives in the vicinity of Buffalo, NY around the end of the Revolutionary War. Some documents seem to suggest the Iroquois had sent a group of people there to reestablish farms ravaged during the war and they were led by the then chief of the Tutelo and may have therefore been mostly Tutelo. Corn would have been

7830-556: Was going on between the Dutch and Esopus at current-day Kingston. The Seneca chief urged Stuyvesant to end the bloodshed and "return the captured Esopus savages". In 1675, after a decade of warfare between the Iroquois (mainly the Mohawk and Oneida ) and the Andaste/Susquehannock, the Seneca finally succeeded in vanquishing their last remaining great enemy.(Parker at pp 49) Survivors were colonized in settlements along

7920-536: Was governor of the Virginia Colony 1710–1722. When Fort Christanna opened in 1714, Capt. Robert Hicks was named captain of the fort and relocated his family to the area. His homestead Hicks' Ford is located near the municipality of Emporia in Greensville County, VA . The fort was designed to offer protection and schooling to the tributary Siouan and Iroquoian tribes living to the southwest of

8010-492: Was the loyalty of the Iroquois to the British. The Iroquois debated whether to side with the British or not. An argument to remain neutral until further development came from Governor Blacksnake's uncle Cornplanter , but Joseph Brant twisted his recommendation to wait as a sign of cowardice. The British noticed that the Indian warriors were divided on the issue, so the British presented them with rum, bells, ostrich feathers, and

8100-430: Was used, although three radial feathers were also used. The Smithsonian Institution has an example of a Seneca bow, which was donated 1908. It is made of unbacked hickory , and is 56.25 inches (142.9 cm) tip to tip. Although the string is missing for the specimen, when strung it would make a good "D" shape with slightly recurved tips, and was obviously made for bigger game. The tips are irregular in shape, which

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