USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume I > Part 11
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others pushing westward, in the thought that, after all, the Sene- cas and their allies did not wish to destroy them, but drive them from their homeland. One tribe, the Tamaroas, foolishly decided to remain at the mouth of their river and were attacked, but quickly fled, leaving their women and children as victims to the rage of their enemies. Many were tortured and slain and hun- dreds were made captive and taken back to Iroquoia. The story of this terrible contest is vividly told by Parkman in La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West. Parkman located the site of the Illinois town near Utica, Illinois, and discovered many remains and relics of that occupation. The Illinois were thoroughly whipped, but not exterminated, and later returned to their ancient seats under the protection of the French, who built forts in strate- gic places among them. Nevertheless, the Senecas determined that war against the Illinois should go on, and forty-three chiefs at Montreal, in August, 1683, stood by while the Seneca delegates frankly proclaimed that "the Illinois must die," and De la Barre, the French commander, likewise listened in silence. He resolved to prepare to punish this insolence, and the next year he seized a Seneca ambassador and his escort, on the ground that the Senecas had seized a French boat full of goods. He then made elaborate preparations to equip an expedition to subdue that haughty nation. With his boats and nine hundred men he proceeded, landing at La Famine, on the Salmon River at its junction with Lake Ontario. Here many of his men fell sick with fever. A few Onondagas came to greet him, and their welcome was so characterized by sarcasm and mockery that De la Barre was furious when he understood its import. It was a stream of caustic eloquence that is scarcely equaled anywhere in the history of oratory. If the French came for peace, Garangula (Hotreauate), the orator, stated, why should they have come with so many warriors and weapons? The Iroquois knew what all this preparation really meant and "our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camp, if our warriors had not dis- armed them and kept them back." Then referring to their on- slaughts against the Indian allies of the French, Garangula ex- plained that the Iroquois had merely captured a band that was carrying arms to use against them, and reminded the French that this was a legitimate precaution. He boldly proclaimed that the Iroquois would not be commanded to trade with any nation, but
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make their own choice. "We are born free; we neither depend on Onnondio or Corlear.+ We may go where we please and carry with us whom we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies be your slaves, use them as such!" De la Barre re- turned to Canada, his expedition resulting in a scolding by an old Iroquois. Naturally this did not set well upon the French pride, and De la Barre welcomed the order of Louis XIV to capture a great number of Iroquois and send them to France as galley slaves. French Canada abandoned her Illinois allies now, and at this King Louis was not pleased, for it left a vast territory in the hands of the enemy, and De la Barre was recalled and Denonville sent in his place (1685). His orders were to assist the Illinois and to humble the Iroquois. When he had established himself he began to rule the colony with great vigor, winning the uniform respect of both habitans and natives. He was an organizer as well as a ruler, and soon measured his material. In May, 1687, he began to mus- ter his troops at Quebec and then to build his batteaux. By the 13th of June his army was ready for its journey; and it set out from Montreal and landed on Irondequoit Bay July 10. With him were sixteen hundred experienced French soldiers, four hundred habitans, and nine hundred eighty-three Indian allies-a for- midable military force. As a precaution a fort was built, being finished in two days' time. Here a guard of four hundred and forty men was left in charge of boats and provisions. Three days after landing, the party with reenforcements of Ottawa allies began the march to the Seneca towns, Gannagaro being the first objective. Three defiles were passed, and an attack made at the third by a force of Senecas. These were repulsed and on July 14th the French expedition was held on the battlefield until noon, when it advanced, crossed the lowlands and ascended the hill to the Seneca village, which they found burning and deserted. Here they encamped, sheltering themselves as best they could from a heavy rain storm. What a scene of tumult and tragedy it was! Here lay the charred and blackened village of Gannagaro, the greatest settlement of the Senecas. Most of its one hundred and thirty lodges were flame-eaten wrecks, and evidences of devasta- tion were on every side. The inhabitants had fled into the woods to
4 Corlear is the Indian name for the governor of New York. It is derived from Van Curler, the Dutch commander at Albany.
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the east, seeking refuge in smaller settlements or among the Cayugas. Many of the warriors fled to the stockaded hill a mile and a half across the valley to the west, but when attacked the next day fled in wild terror. Denonville's savages hunted down the old, the weak and the wounded, killing and scalping as they willed. It seemed as if all the enemies of the Senecas had come to witness their humiliation, for even seven Illinois appeared on the scene stripped naked and ready for blood. As for the French militia, they spent their time cutting down cornfields and breaking open corn cribs and public granaries. They determined that no food be left should the Senecas survive and return to Gannagaro.
Each of the four great villages was visited in turn and each pillaged and burned, all valuable utensils and food being de- stroyed. Denonville in his journal describes the immense quantity of corn, estimating that one million two hundred thousand bushels, new and old, were destroyed by fire. With Denonville were a number of Mohawks, among them the great chief, Kryn, and the grandfather of Chief Brant. These were not averse to killing their Seneca kinsfolk, for whom they never had great love. But, after all, the French and their red allies did not achieve their end, for the Senecas were not destroyed. This the savages who came with the French perceived with bitterness, for they had been cheated of their bloody ambition to kill every Seneca in the land of the Genesee. It was with disgust that they returned to their base on the bay of Irondequoit, and they were jeering the French as "corn cutters" instead of slayers of men. Still, the red allies bore away with them a good supply of scalps, and there were few whose knives were not red with blood. The Senecas suffered much, it is true, and their season's supply of food was gone, yet, like hornets whose nest has been crushed, the Senecas were in the woods and filled with a spirit of revenge. The French, they deter- mined, should feel their sting, and in time New France knew that the Senecas could remember and strike back with vigor. Denon- ville took his expedition from Irondequoit to Niagara, where he built a fort which he garrisoned with one hundred men, that the country might be held in the name of France. He then returned to Quebec, taking the north shore of Lake Ontario. When the Senecas sullenly returned to their towns they found them in ashes. Gannagaro, Gannondata, Gandougarae and Totiakton were but blood and cinders. All the Iroquois were alarmed, for it had been
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demonstrated that their country could be invaded and destroyed. The Iroquois were matchless in attack when against the enemy, but scarcely knew how to defend their own homes against large forces equipped with firearms. Then they appealed to the Eng- lish for protection. In November, 1687, the English King re- ceived the Five Nations as his subjects and hostilities against them were forbidden. It is to be doubted that any of the Iroquois knew what the term "subjects" meant. They held themselves in- dependent, but reserved the right to act as allies and be considered as such. To have accepted the status as subjects even pressed by great distress was unthinkable to them.
Time has gone on and the stains of battle have been erased. The forest sprang up again and covered these ancient townsites. The Yankee settler cleared the land and laid out his farms and his villages. Then when the twentieth century had dawned the archaeologist with his spade and trowel came to uncover the buried evidences of Seneca occupation and material culture. All these old sites have been excavated and made to reveal their secrets. Frederick Houghton, George L. Tucker, Alvin H. Dewey, Samuel P. Moulthrap, Walter Cassabeer, Harrison C. Follett and other members of the New York State Archeological Association have sought for the buried history in these Seneca towns. The writer, with his friend, Everett R. Burmaster, has opened scores of ancient refuse pits and tombs in this Genesee Country. In 1919-20 Gannagora was explored and many beautiful specimens found, including three antler combs upon which were carved representa- tions of the French and Dutch. The writer has spent many a week camping on these beautiful spots, and has dreamed the old scenes until it seemed as if he were living the old life again. Then to bring a rude awakening a high powered automobile would draw up at his tent and call attention to an aeroplane race passing by overhead." So has time wrought its changes.
But the Senecas had other causes for which they sought re- venge. It will be remembered that King Louis had requested that Iroquois captives be sent to France as galley slaves. Captives were sent as directed, and the French and their allies by many acts of treachery showed that they were determined to subdue the
5 This actually happened in 1920 when Mr. George K. Staples, Trustee of the Buffalo Historical Society, visited the expedition.
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Iroquois. Stirred by these insults, the Iroquois drew together for revenge, raising the cry that there could be no peace until their enslaved brothers were freed. The bloody war of 1689 fol- lowed, and nine hundred Iroquois besieged Fort Frontenac, but did not take it. They then invested Montreal, capturing three or four hundred prisoner. In one battle lasting an hour they killed two hundred French soldiers and habitans. Later at Lachine fif- teen hundred Iroquois ravished the country without opposition for two days. During November that year one hundred and fifty returned to Montreal, where they killed all in their path and took a small fort. It was in October that Frontenac returned with the galley slaves. The Iroquois ceased their hostility for a few months, for winter and a scourge of smallpox were upon them with all their attendant bitterness.
The years dragged on, bringing misery to the French and sapping the numbers of the Iroquois, who had no friends, save their conquered tributaries, in all the world. Yet the Senecas and their allies stoutly maintained their independence and superiority as a race. The English and their Dutch friends were now beginning to penetrate the Iroquois country and to spread their influence. Before this the Indians had generally come to Albany for their councils. By 1698 the English began to see what the French had long seen, the necessity of having forts and agents in every Iroquois canton, in some strategic position.
On April 21, 1699, Capt. John Schuyler, Capt John Bleeker, John Baptist VanEpps and Arnout Cornelisse Viele set out for Onondaga, as agents of the British interests, and reached the capital of the Iroquois on April 28. A council was held and the French wampum belts kicked out; the proposals of the English were accepted and the Iroquois agreed to come to Albany to carry on further discussions. They kept their word and at the Albany council of June 13, 1699, agreed that the English could build a fort in their midst and send a minister to them, that they might learn the religion of England. Thus ended the important events of the seventeenth century. The Iroquois were revenged and the English were established among them as their allies and pro- tectors.
CHAPTER VI. THE SENECAS IN THEIR OWN HOME LAND.
BY ARTHUR CASWELL PARKER, M. S.
We cannot understand the position and power of the Genesee Country aborigines, the Senecas, unless we have some definite in- sight into the structure of the Iroquois Confederacy. To know the Senecas we must understand the greater group to which they belonged.
The Iroquois were a people with positive ideals. Indeed, the whole structure of their confederacy was based upon ideals, some of them faulty, it is true, and some of them with an amazing loftiness. So deeply did ideals affect the structure of the con- federacy that it became an organization of grouped principles and customs, rather than an organization of blood-related tribesmen. In this lay the great moral strength of the Iroquois, as will be seen.
The nations were subdivided into clans, each with certain com- mon clans. Where there were clans with different heraldic de- vices, these knew to what phratry they belonged when visiting brother nations. The Senecas had two phratries or grand divi- sions, grouped as follows: The right side of the fire, the Turtle, the Bear, the Wolf, the Beaver ; the left side of the fire, the Deer, the Snipe, the Heron, the Hawk.
The first group was considered the superior one and the first three clans named were thought to be the oldest and original. Indeed, the Mohawks had no others. Each of these clans claimed to be the oldest and possessed of prior authority, though there was never any dispute about it and no animosity. Lewis H. Morgan gave the order of priority as Wolf, Bear, Turtle and Beaver, and in all his Iroquois lists the Wolf has first place.
The clan was the political family or, in other words, a group of matrilinear families, assumed to have sprung from a common female ancestress whose totemic or heraldic device has passed to
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her descendants. The clan was the civil unit and was possessed of definite authority. The clan owned the property of its deceased members; it had the right to elect civil chiefs, and to depose them ; it regarded an injury to any member, if inflicted by a person with- out the clan, as an injury to the whole clan; it had the right of adopting strangers and investing them with the rights and obli- gations of the clan; it buried its dead in its own burial plot; it had the right of convoking a clan council.
Certain groups of blood-related females in the clan had the right to nominate the civil chief when the office became vacant, but usually two candidates were selected upon which all members of the clan, both male and female, voted. Usually the choice of the principal matron or "name holder" was confirmed, not only by the clan itself, but by the national council. The duty of the civil chief was to concern himself with the internal civil affairs of the clan, to conserve its traditions, to uphold its rights and dignity, and to execute the orders of his clan council, and also to sit as a member of the national council, and to represent, with his brother chiefs, his nation in the Confederated Council of the League.
A clansman or clanswoman was obligated to marry a member belonging to another clan. Thus, a Wolf was forbidden marriage with a Wolf, but must mate with a Bear or other clan member. In this manner clan interests were interlinked, and the clan per- petuated through the mother lines. The children took the clan of their mother. Thus, the son of a civil chief did not inherit his father's position and title, since the son was not of his father's clan. This son, if possessed of ability and if his mother belonged to the group entitled to bestow a nomination, might also become a sachem by the election of his own clan, but his office was never an inheritance from his father.
In the matter of property inheritance, the children received, under the sanction of the clan, what had belonged to their mother, though to other blood-related clansfolk were apportioned some of the goods. Children did not inherit their father's property, and even the widow could not claim anything that had belonged to . her husband. It went to the husband's mother, sisters and other kin and clans-people.
Within the clan were certain official nameholders, and also minor nameholders. These were matrons who received into their
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keeping the names of deceased clan members. When a child was born its name was chosen from a list of clan names. The name could be only an authorized clan name ; it could not be the name of any other living person. The name bestowed had nothing to do with the personality of the child or adult, nor was it in any man- ner descriptive of him or of his experiences. When the child had grown to the age of puberty, a new clan name was given in one of the two festival councils. Then should the person be elected to some official clan position, through the death, deposition or resig- nation of the former incumbent, the official name was bestowed.
The right of naming its members was rigidly held by the clan, and the ceremony of naming was well established. It will be seen that, as names were a clan possession, the individual, as such, was accorded little recognition; his identity was merged in the com- munal interests of the clan. Names might even be taken away from a mature adult because the clan saw that an honored title had been sullied or might become so, or because the individual had failed to perform the functions of the office which was the right of the name.
The names of the eight Seneca civil chiefs or rulers1 are as follows: 1, Ga-ne-o-di-yo, HANDSOME LAKE, Wolf Clan; 2, Sa-da-ga-o-yase, LEVEL HEAVENS, Snipe Clan; 3, Ga-no-gi-e, HE THREATENS, Turtle Clan; 4, Sa-geh-jo-wa, GREAT FOREHEAD, Hawk Clan; 5, Sa-de-a-no-wus, HE HELPS TO HOLD, Bear Clan; 6, Nis-ha-ne-a-nent, FALLING DAY, Snipe Clan; 7, Ga-no-go-e-da-we, HAIR BURNED OFF, Snipe Clan; 8, Do-ne-ho-ga-weh, OPEN DOOR, Wolf Clan.
The authorized war chiefs of the league were Senecas and entitled to a seat in the Confederate Council, and though they had a voice they had but one vote, and that only in case war were pro- posed by the league itself. Their names were Ta-wan-ne-ahs, AWL BREAKER, Wolf Clan; and So-no-so-wa, GREAT OYSTER, Turtle Clan.
Several things of interest should be noted here, among them that each clan was not entitled to a civil chief, some clans, as the Wolf and Snipe, having two or more each, also that the name was employed merely as a name, and its literal meaning had nothing
1 Taken from Morgan's League of the Iroquois. No attempt is made to record these names in the accepted scientific spelling, the older orthography of historical works being retained.
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to do with the individual's personality or office. We of today smile at the strange sounding Indian names, forgetting that if we translated our own they would be equally absurd. Indeed, the Senecas themselves in endeavoring to translate European names are frequently amused, and yet from their own customs realize that such names as Longfellow, Greenleaf, Younghusband, Smith, Carpenter, Black, Blue, Green, etc., have nothing but appellative application and value. They gave no more thought to the literal meaning of their names than do Europeans of today.
In common with other nations of the Iroquois, and indeed, the whole Huron-Iroquois family, the Senecas had long lists of clan names of several classes, and so familiar were they with the type of name or its allusion that no well versed Iroquois had any dif- ficulty in knowing to what clan a person belonged, once his name was known. The only possible difficulty arose when some clan matron adopted a child and gave it a clan adoption and care. The name then temporarily went into the adopting clan, as it did with Handsome Lake, the Seneca prophet, who, when a child, though born a Wolf, was adopted by the Turtles and reared by them. The clan from which the person dimitted, if it concurred, placed the wampum necklace in the hands of the adopting clan matron, trust- ing in her honor, or that of her successor, to return it when the person died. When Handsome Lake, the prophet, died, his wam- pum necklace (ceremonially called "horns of office") was lifted from his coffin, not by the Wolves entitled to it, but by the Turtles, who thus retained the name and transmitted it by "raising up," i. e., electing a successor to the name.
The clan, as well as the nation, enforced its customs and edicts by social pressure, and woe to any tribesman who offended by his practices or behavior any of the laws of custom or the edicts of council. There were no jails, no marshals or police; the law of behavior was enforced by means of ostracism and by subtile per- secution. Anxious to retain position, respect and the love of his fellows, the offender soon mended his ways before some irate war- rior slew him as an enemy of society. Indeed, any person might kill or maim an offender of tribal customs who had been held up to public odium. Even a chief might be slain after the women had given him three warnings; the fourth warning was the death cry of his punisher. Such executions were not to be revenged. In this manner the integrity of the tribe and nation was preserved;
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it was kept uniform by eliminating the irregular. Such was the primitive jurisprudence of the Genesee Country ; even then it was a land where obedience to the law was held a sacred obligation.
Among the Senecas, as among all the Five Nations, there were many ceremonial associations. Some of these were well known to the public and others performed their rites alone and in secret. Many of the societies and companies held public rites on the occa- sion of the midwinter thanksgiving and performed their magical rites for the benefit of the populace. Each association claimed to hold the magical means by which certain spirits or forces of nature might be invoked and induced to come to the aid of man. Certain societies possessed charms and fetiches which were em- ployed at regular intervals. The rites of these organizations were in honor of their guardian spirits or heroes. No person was ever asked to join; all came of their own free will and accord and were initiated when they had been found well qualified and worthy.
Among the well known associations were: The Company of Bears, The Company of Otters, The Sisters of the Sustainers of Life, Talkers With the Spirits, The False Face Company, The Society of the Great Sharp Point (Mystic Animals), and several others, fourteen in all, including the Ancient Guards of the Mystic Potence, sometimes called the Little Water Company or Grand Medicine Lodge. This last named society has received consider- able prominence due to its alleged similarity in some ways to the Masonic rites. Its ceremony has three sections performed in total darkness, and the mysterious spirits of the animals who founded it are supposed to return and make their presence seen and felt in the gloom of the incense-filled room. The hero of this society was slain by enemies who demanded the secret of his power. The creatures of the forest whom he befriended, finding him, sac- rificed their lives that the life essence of their beings might enter the body of the slain hero and give him new life. This done, those who remained behind to help composed their ritual and chanted it until it entered the sub-conscious mind of the hero. Then the Bear stood at his feet and grasped his hand, raising him to life.2
In this ceremony the rushing sound of the cataract is simu- lated by the shaking of gourd rattles, while the story of the rite is chanted in unison by the members. When morning comes, the
2 A fuller account of these ceremonies is contained in the "Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet," State Museum Bulletin 163.
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society is given portions of the feast for breakfast and depart with their pails of food.
Fraternities and ceremonial associations did much to knit the clans, tribes and confederacy into a cohesive whole, but the in- fluence of sports and games must not be overlooked. There were many popular games and all who possessed physical vigor entered into them with eagerness. The Senecas loved their games and out-of-door sports, for they were assured that these games were pleasing to the Great Ruler and that he enjoined the Sun to tarry to watch the happiness of the people and the skill of the players.
Among the favorite games were lacrosse, crotch and crook- stick, hoop and javelin, rolling stone game, and archery during the warm season, and snow-shoeing races, football, shinney, ice ball, snow snake and whipping top during the winter. Foot races were always popular. The gambling games, as platter dice, were usually played in winter. The moccasin and jackstraw games were sometimes played for amusement. Besides there were many minor children's games and pastimes. Games of skill as well as pure gambling games were often played by one phratry, or one clan, against the other, while lacrosse, racing and archery were sometimes used as inter-tribal games. There are many references in the documentary histories of the Genesee Country to Indian games and their influence. One of the most terrible was the gauntlet which preceded an adoption, and we have the examples of Horatio Jones and Van Campen as gauntlet runners who won out.
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