IROQUOIS INDIANS

THE IROQUOIS HAD A CONFEDERACY OF 5 TRIBES - MOHAWK, ONEIDA, ONONDAGA, CAYUGA, AND SENECA. IT WAS FOUND ABOUT ABOUT 1400 -1500 WHICH WAS 100 YEARS BEFORE THE TRIBES CAME INTO CONTACT WITH ANGLOS. THIS WAS A MAJOR EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE U.S. THEY AGREED TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER. THEY CREATED A POWERFUL INDIAN ALLIANCE THAT RULED THE NORTHEASTERN U.S. FOR 300 YEARS.

IROQUOIS CALLED THEMSELVES THE PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE. THEIR HOMES WERE A FRAME OF BENT SAPLINGS COVERED WITH ELM BARK.SHINGLES. THEY WERE ABOUT 25FEET WIDE X 80' LONG AND COULD HOLD 50 PEOPLE. SOME OF THE LONGHOUSES WERE UP TO 400' LONG. VILLAGES INCLUDED 30 TO 150 LONGHOUSES SURROUNDED BY A TALL FENCE. OF WOVEN WOOD TO PROTECT THEM. THEY HAD SEVERAL IN THE LONG HOUSE. ABOVE THEIR DOORS THEY HUNG A SYMBOL OF AN ANIMAL THAT REPRESENTED THEIR CLAN. IF A HUNTER OF A CERTAIN CLAN WAS TRAVELING AND CAME UPON HIS CLAN'S LONGHOUSE THEY WOULD TAKE HIM IN AND FEED HIM.

WHEN THEY MARRIED THEY HAD TO CHOOSE SOMEONE FROM ANOTHER CLAN. WOMEN WERE HIGHLY RESPECTED BY THE IROQUOIS. THEY WERE FARMERS OF CORN, BEANS, AND SQUASH. THEY ALSO GATHERED NUTS AND BERRIES AND NATIVE GRAINS AND DRIED SOME TO ADD TO A BATTER FOR THEIR BREAD. THEY POUNDED CORN AND FLAVORED MUSH WITH MAPLE SYRUP.

THE MEN HUNTED MANY ANIMALS AND WERE CLEVER FISHERMEN. THEY WERE PROUD WARRIORS. THEY RAIDED OTHER VILLAGES TO STEAL FOOD AND TAKE PRISONERS. WHEN SOMEONE DIED THE NAME OF THAT PERSON WAS GIVEN TO A NEWBORN TO HONOR THEM. THEIR CEREMONIES WERE ANCIENT. THE GREEN CORN FESTIVAL WAS HELD EACH SUMMER DURING THE HARVEST. THROUGH DANCES AND FEASTS THEY CELEBRATED THEIR CREATOR WHO BLESSED THEM WITH THEIR BOUNTY. THEY GAVE THANKS TO SUPERNATURAL BEINGS WHO HELPED THEM THROUGH THEIR LIVES. IN LATE FEBRUARY WHEN MEN CAME HOME FROM THEIR FALL HUNT, THE IROQUOIS PERFORMED THE MID WINTER CEREMONY IN WHICH ELDER MEN WENT FROM ONE LONGHOUSE TO ANOTHER. THEY TOLD THE FAMILIES TO CLEAN THEIR HOMES. IN THE FOLLOWING DAYS THEY DANCED AND HELD A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING. THEY PERFORMED A RITUAL OF DREAM GUESSING AND BELIEVED THAT DREAMS REVEALED A PERSON'S INNERMOST DESIRES. A PERSON WHO HAD AN UNSETTLED DREAM ASKED OTHERS TO GUESS WHAT THEY HAD DREAMED ABOUT. AN OLD WOMAN DREAMED THAT SHE GAVE A HOE TO A FAMILY. A PERSON GUESSED HER DREAM AND THEY GAVE HER A PIECE LAND TO FARM ON AND THE WOMAN WAS AT EASE.

THEY MADE HOMEMADE MEDICINES. MEN SANG SONGS TO COMBAT WITCHES' EVIL. THE GREAT COUNCIL CHIEFS MADE DECISIONS FOR THIS CONFEDERACY AS A WHOLE. THEIR WERE 48 MEMBERS WHO MET AT ONONDEGA IN THE CENTER OF THEIR TERRITORY CLAN MOTHERS HELD THE REAL POWER. WAMPUM WERE WHITE AND PURPLE BEADS MADE FROM SEA SHELLS AND STRUNG INTO WIDE BELTS. THE DESIGNS HELPED ELDERS REMEMBER IMPORTANT EVENTS.

THE FRENCH CAME INTO IROQUOIS VILLAGES AND BROUGHT METAL POTS AND AXES WITH BLADES OF IRON. INDIANS TRADED FURS FOR THEM. IN 1609 THE FRENCH CAME INTO IROQUOIS VILLAGE AND BROUGHT METAL POTS AND AXES WITH BLADES OF IRON. INDIANS TRADED FURS FOR THEM. IN 1609 THE FRENCH KING SAMUEL CHAMPION BUILT A TRADING PARTNERSHIP WITH ALGONQUIN AND HERON INDIANS. THEY WANTED HIM TO HELP FIGHT HIS ENEMIES - THE MOHAWK AND THE IROQUOIS. SOME FRENCH AND 60 HURON WARRIORS ATTACKED SEVERAL 100 MOHAWK NEAR LAKE CHAMPLAIN. CHAMPLAIN SHOT THREE MOHAWK LEADERS. THEY INDIANS HAD NEVER SEEN A GUN BEFORE. ALTOGETHER 50 MOHAWK WERE SHOT. THEY DID BECOME ALLIES WITH THE DUTCH IN THE 1600'S. THEY ACQUIRED GUNS!

BY 1640 THE FRENCH ALLIED TO THE HURON IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO WHO HAD GROWN RICH IN THE FUR TRADE. THEY OBTAINED THICK FURS FROM NORTHERN INDIAN HUNTERS. HURONS TRADED FURS TO FRENCH FOR A PROFIT. IN 1648 THE IROQUOIS WERE JEALOUS OF THIS MONEY FROM FURS. THEY KILLED 700 HURON AND CAPTURED MUCH OF THEIR STORED FOOD AND DESTROYED THEIR FIELDS.
THEIR GREAT COUNCIL OF CHIEFS MADE DECISIONS FOR THIS CONFEDERACY AS A WHOLE. THEIR WERE 48 MEMBERS WHO MET AT ONONDAGA IN THE CENTER OF THEIR TERRITORY. CLAN MOTHERS HELD THE REAL POWER . WAMPUM WERE WHITE AND PURPLE BEADS MADE FROM SEA SHELLS AND STRUNG INTO WIDE BELTS. THE DESIGNS HELPED ELDERS REMEMBER IMPORTANT EVENTS.

THE FRENCH CAME INTO IROQUOIS VILLAGES AND BROUGHT METAL POTS AND AXES WITH BLADES OF IRON. INDIANS TRADED FURS FOR THEM. IN 1609 THE FRENCH KING SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN BUILT A TRADING PARTNERSHIP WITH ALGONQUIN AND HURON INDIANS. THEY WANTED HIM TO HELP FIGHT HIS ENEMIES - THE MOHAWK AND IROQUOIS. SOME FRENCH AND 60 HURON WARRIORS ATTACKED SEVERAL 100 MOHAWKS NEAR LAKE CHAMPLAIN. CHAMPLAIN SHOT 3 MOHAWK LEADERS. THE INDIANS HAD NEVER SEEN A GUN BEFORE. ALTOGETHER 50 MOHAWK WERE SHOT. THEY DID BECOME ALLIES WITH THE DUTCH IN THE 1600'S. THEY ACQUIRED GUNS!

BY 1640 THE FRENCH ALLIED HURON IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO HAD GROWN RICH IN THE FUR TRADE. THEY OBTAINED THICK FURS FROM NORTHERN INDIAN HUNTERS. HURONS TRADED FURS TO FRENCH FOR A PROFIT. IN 1648 THE IROQUOIS WERE JEALOUS OF THIS MONEY FROM FURS. THEY KILLED 700 HURON AND CAPTURED MUCH OF THEIR STORED AND DESTROYED THEIR FIELDS. 1000 ESCAPED AND THEY LEFT. THE NEXT YEAR THEY WARRED AGAINST STARVING HURON AND THEY MADE A SURPRISING ATTACK ON THEM AND DESTROYED A VILLAGE. THE HURON FOUGHT VIOLENTLY. THE IROQUOIS SUFFERED SO MANY CASUALTIES THAT AFTER TAKING TWO OF THE HURON VILLAGES THEY WERE READY TO RETREAT. THE HURON FLED INTO OTHER TERRITORIES AND WERE ABSORBED BY OTHER TRIBES.

THE IROQUOIS WARRED AGAINST MANY OTHER TRIBES EXPANDING THEIR TERRITORIES. THEY DROVE OFF THE PETUN, NEUTRAL, AND ERIE AND OTHER GROUPS. IN 1653 THEY NEGOTIATED A PEACE TREATY WITH THEIR OLD FRENCH ENEMIES. IN 1722 THE TUSCARORA JOINED THE CONFEDERACY MAKING THE 5 NATIONS INTO SIX NATIONS. THEY HAD LIVED WITH THE ONEIDA BEFORE COMING MEMBERS OF THE IROQUOIS.

DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR THE IROQUOIS BECAME DIVIDED AGAIN. SOME FOUGHT FOR THE ENGLISH AND OTHERS JOINED THE AMERICAN SIDE . IN 1779 WASHINGTON SENT TROOPS TO INVADE THE WESTERN IROQUOIS TERRITORIES. SOLDIERS BURNED ALL OF THEIR VILLAGES AND THEIR FIELDS. HALF OF THEIR PEOPLE DIED DURING THE S WAR. THIS WAS AN OBVIOUS DISASTER FOR THEM AS THEY BATTLED EACH OTHER!

TO PUNISH THE PRO ENGLISH IROQUOIS THE NEW U.S. GOVERNMENT FORCED THEM TO SIGN A TREATY OF FORT STAN WIS IN 1784. THEY GAVE UP LAND IN NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, AND OHIO. BY 1800 THEY WERE LIVING ON A FEW RESERVATIONS IN NEW YORK AND CANADA AND THEIR HUNTING GROUNDS WERE COVERED WITH CABINS OF SETTLERS.

ONCE THEY WERE ON RESERVATIONS SOME OF THE MEN WERE WERE NO LONGER HUNTERS AND FELT WORTHLESS. IN 1799 A SENECA MAN NAMED HANDSOME LAKE COLLAPSED FROM HEAVY DRINKING. HOURS LATER HANDSOME LAKE CAME BACK TO LIFE SAYING HE HAD AN AMAZING VISION. THERE WERE FOUR MESSENGERS WHO HAD GIVEN HIM A MESSAGE FROM THE CREATOR. HE SET DOWN RULES FOR HOW THE IROQUOIS SHOULD LIVE. FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE HE PREACHED HIS VISION. GIVE UP ALCOHOL, WITCHCRAFT, AND GAMBLING. HE ALSO ENCOURAGED THE NATIVES TO STRENGTHEN TIES TO THEIR FAMILIES. HIS TEACHINGS WERE KNOWN AS THE LONGHOUSE RELIGION AND ARE OBSERVED BY MANY TODAY. FOR RELIEF FROM STRESS OF WAR AND BEING ON THE RESERVATION LIFE MANY TURNED TO RELIGION.

BY THE 1800'S THEY HAD THEIR KIDS IN SCHOOLS. THEY BEGAN WEARING NON INDIAN CLOTHING, THEY LIVED IN CABINS INSTEAD OF LONG HOUSES. THEIR MEN
STARTED TO DO THE FARMING THAT THEIR WIVES USED TO DO. THE CHILDREN LEARNED TO READ AND WRITE. EVEN THOUGH THEY LOOKED MORE LIKE ENGLISH THEY REMEMBERED THEIR HERITAGE. IN THE1900'S THE MEN BEGAN WORKING OFF THE RESERVATIONS AS CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, TEACHERS, AND EVEN LAWYERS AND GOVERNMENT WORKERS. TODAY THERE ARE 70,000 IROQUOIS LIVING IN THE U.S. AND CANADA.


LIZ SONNEBORN