Rick Hill, Behind the Scenes

11/04/2012
Personal Rotinonhsón:ni Stories
War of 1812
Indigenous Knowledge
Centre
Six Nations Polytechnic
On this occasion we lost two Cayuga
Chiefs, one Onondaga warrior and two
Oneidas killed besides several
wounded.
COLONEL WILLIAM CLAUS
December 14, 1813
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• Turtle Clan, Mohawk
Nation (1794 – 1832)
• Said to have been
under the guidance
of Capt. Jacobs, a
well trained warrior,
at Queenston
Heights.
• Was at Beaver Dams,
Chippawa, Lundy’s
Lane and Fort Erie.
• Given Chief’s title
Tekarihó:ken .
• British Lieutenant Francis Hall wrote in 1816:
• "a fine young man, of gentlemanlike appearance, who
used the English language agreeably and correctly,
dressing in the English fashion, excepting only the
moccasins of his Indian habit."
• In 1819 James Buchanan, British consul general to
New York (1817 to 1825) reported that John’s
mother, Adonwentishon, disapproved of his
conforming so much to the habits and customs of
the English. Brant is quoted:
• “I might have married a fine English lady. I was
thought something of there, even by the nobility. I was
considered almost a king. But to . . . bring her here and
let her see the degraded state of the people that I ruled,
would have broken her heart.”
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• Appointed Superintendent of the Six Nations in 1827.
• Became Mohawk Chief Tekarihogen in 1830 and Elected
to Provincial Parliament for Haldimand County in 1832.
• Chiefs gave him this belt warning him to be careful about
what path he was on. He died shortly after.
• Hero or Instigator?
• Half Cherokee and
half Scottish, adopted
Mohawk.
• He defies the Peace
Chiefs.
• He defies the Indian
Department.
• He fades into history.
Portrait of Major John Norton (Teyoninhokarawen)
Painted by Solomon Williams around 1805, Canadian
War Museum
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three or four stand near & sing a particular tune which is accompanied by
the drums; they then get up in pairs & represent a battle; they first
advance leaping from side to side with astonishing rapidity, this kind of zigzag
motion is to prevent the adversary from taking a settled aim with his
rifle. . . . I observed when Mr. Norton danced that his whole appearance
was instantly changed - instead of being mild and humane, his
countenance assumed a most savage & terrific look; he sprang forward to
seize his enemy with amazing ferocity; the action was both manly &
graceful.
Charles Allanson, Lord Headly, 1805
(War Dance: Henry Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, Vol. 1, 1884)
Portrait of Major Norton, the Mohawk Chief
Teyoninhokarawen Mather Brown, c. 1805
Yale Center for British Arts
Bust of Mohawk Indian by Sempronius Stretton
June 30, 1804
National Archives of Canada, Acc. No. 1990-336-1.13V
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RED JACKET, Henry Inman, c.1823, Albany Institute of History and Art
We are not of the same Nations only, but of
the same Families also. We therefore ought
to be united and become one Body….
We seriously recommend that .... you pay due
attention to your Women, who by our
ancient customs have a voice in bringing up
our Young people to the practice of truth and
industry.
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• A.k.a Onondaga George
or Capt. Sam George.
• Without rest or sleep,
he ran 150 miles from
Buffalo to Canandaigua
and back, to bring an
important message to
the American army.
• Elected Vice President
for New York
delegation at 1855 War
of 1812 Reunion in DC.
• Well over 100 Oneidas (out of a total
population of some 650) fought on the
American side during the war.
• 14 year-old warrior known as “Leaning
Body,” later to be called Daniel Bread, along
with Tekaytilu (Tega-wir-tiron or
Tekawyati:ron), Henry Cornelius, Adam
Skenandoah and Peter Elm (Pagan Peter)
fought at the Battle of Big Sandy Creek.
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“Bread a chief of his people,” George Catlin,
1831 (Smithsonian American Art Museum,
1985.66.270)
“Oneida Chief Daniel Bread,” Samuel Brookes
and Thomas Stevenson 1856, (Wisconsin
Historical Museum)
• At age of 17, he was
first Seneca warrior to
enlist and fight for
the United States,
under the leadership
of Little Billy and
Farmer's Brother.
• Severely wounded in
the shoulder, he
continued to fight for
the remainder of the
war.
• Father of Ely S. and
Caroline Parker
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• Warriors from the Onondaga Nation, the capital
of the Confederacy, were led by Hoh-a-hoa-qua,
(Capt. La Fort), and fought at Chippawa and
served as scouts at Lundy's Lane.
• Ho-ha-hoa-qua (“He Lived With Them”) was
killed at Battle of Chippawa on July 6, 1814.
• His 20 year-old son, Abram La Forte (De-hat-katons
– Looking All Over) was by his father’s side
and carried his body from the field.
• Abram latter became the Onondaga FireKeeper.
• Cornelius Doxtator, an Oneida chief, was pursued by five or
six mounted Wyandots. They passed near him, and
knowing well the Indian rules of warfare, he stood erect and
firm, looking them full in the face; they passed him
unharmed. Doxtater was shot just as he leaped a fence near
by, upon which the Wyandots wheeled and rode off
• (Clark 1849 1:340).
• Doxtator was shot, when a Chippawa ran up, tomahawked
& scalped him; & with others, captured Doxtator's two boys,
Daniel and George, respectively 17 & 15, who were near
their father. But some Oneidas shot the Chippawa as he was
clambering a fence, tomahawked & scalped him, &
recovered the prisoner boys.
• (Draper: 200)
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• A.k.a Thiathoharongouan,
meaning “his body is taken
down from hanging”
• “He unhangs himself from
the group ”
• “One who pulls down the
people”
• Also known as Black Louis,
Half Abenaki and Half
American-American.
Sketch by John Trumbull, 1785 (Yale University Art Gallery)
Detail from John Trumbull's The Death of General
Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December
31, 1775 (Yale University Art Gallery)
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• “He has made the mist disappear for
them” or “Disappearing of the Indian
summer mist".
• Bear Clan, Lower Mohawk
• At 21 years-old, he set a building on
fire in Buffalo in 1813.
• Was given a special medal “in
recognition of your loyalty in battling
for your people even as your
ancestors battled for the British
Crown” given to him by Prince
Edward, Duke of Kent and
Strathearn.
• Appointed by the Crown as Speaker
of the Six Nations.
Reading Wampum 1871 (Woodland Museum)
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Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)
• “This was by Col. Claus on behalf of the
Canadian Government, after he had studied the
wampum records, at which he must have been
looking and understood their significance. It
was given as a token that the government
would never force the Indians to change their
customs.”
• Chief John Buck, Wampum Keeper, July 20, 1887
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July 1882 - Surviving Six Nations warriors who fought with the British in the War
of 1812 (Library and Archives Canada / C-085127)
John Smoke
Johnson,
born ca.
1792
Young
Warner,
born ca.
1794
John Tutela, born ca. 1797
Seneca Veterans of the War of 1812, John L.D. Mathies oil painting, 1820
Ne-gun-ne-au-goh (Beaver); Se-gous-ken-ace (I like her); Teki-cue-doga (Two Guns); Sta-cute (Steep Rock); Senung-gis
(Long Horns, the Chief) and Ne-gui-e-et-twafaaue (Little Bear) - Memorial Art Gallery
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Tommy Jimmy, by Col. Wm. Wilgus, c1840
Dartmouth College
• Sho-nauk-ga-nes,
or, Sonoongise
• Tommy Jimmy
toured England in
1818-1819.
• Tommy Jemmy,
Black Squirrel, and
Teki-cue-doga
("Two Guns“) were
veterans of the war.
• Performance of
pantomimes of
making war and
making peace.
• At Royal Opera
House they met
Queen Victoria.
• “Earth that Upholds
Itself”
• She served as a cook, 14
others were known to
have served in the same
capacity: Julia John
(Seneca), Susan Jacob
(Onondaga), Poly
Cooper (Oneida) and
Dolly Schenandoah
(Oneida)
• She was eccentric, kind
hearted, simple and frank
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• Her husband served in
two different units: Tall
John’s company of New
York Indians; Capt Cold’s
(Ut-ha-wah) company of
New York Militia.
• He went off to battle four
times at Chippewa, Fort
Erie and was wounded at
Lundy’s Lane.
• She sought her widow’s pension for decades.
• A 1871 law required her to swear allegiance to
the US Constitution in order to get her pension,
which she refused to do.
• Her application was turned down. Congress
passed a new law in 1878 that removed the
loyalty oath requirement.
• A year before she died she finally received her
$8 per month, with a $400 back payment. She
died in 1883.
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To make our Friendship lasting, we put the Tomahawk
the depth of a Pine Tree under ground; and that it may not
be removed we place over it a Tree that the roots may so
cover it that it cannot be found again.
We condole with you from the bottom of our hearts for
the loss of your friends, and wipe the tears from your eyes,
we open your throats so no obstruction shall remain, that
you may speak your mind freely and with the same
friendship which formerly existed between us, as we now
in the name of the Nations already mentioned address you
as friends.
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