HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 7: Mohawk Indian Sites about Fort Plain, by Douglas Ayres, Jr., concluded ...

There is a tradition in the Dutchtown section of Fort Plain that just south of Tenotoge the Mohawks once battled with the Mohicans.

I can quote no exact authority for this statement but I have in my collection what might be considered proof that a battle was fought there.

This consists of two iron trader's axes which were plowed up by Mr. Henry Beck on his farm on a ridge bordering Oak Creek on the north and about a quarter of a mile south of Tenotoge.

This ridge is a small esker, similar in formation to the more prominent esker farther east along the same stream.

This small esker was utilized by the Mohawks as a corn pit site and at least a dozen pits are still discernible.

The esker on the Beck farm is soon lost in the general height of land forming a plateau bordering Oak Creek.

On this plateau the Mohawk-Mohican battle may have been waged.

Along with the axes an iron chisel and what resembles an old-time shotgun barrel have also been found.

The axes are hand forged and bear respectively four and six pointed stars within circles arranged in a triangle on their flat surfaces.

This is evidently a manufacturer's stamp.

It is to be hoped that some one will be able to throw more light on what is perhaps the site of an intense Indian struggle for supremacy.

The Wagners Hollow site on Garoga Creek has yielded some very fine bone implements and many arrowheads.

Farther north the prehistoric Garoga site, situated on a prominent hogsback jutting out into a natural amphitheatre, was once a strong Mohawk fort.

It was of the same period as Otstungo to which an age of 300 to 350 years can safely be ascribed.


Unfortunately but very few relics now remain on the Garoga site as it was thoroughly excavated by the Peabody-Harvard Museum, about 1910.

Within the village limits of Fort Plain are several areas once occupied by the Indians.

The Taregiorus site, or the Middle Village (1700-1755) was on the southeastern point of Prospect Hill near the former Rean bee farm.


A number of graves have been exposed by drawing sand from the garden now owned by Mr. Jesse Brown on Institute Hill in Fort Plain.

The burials were of the historic period.

Scattered burials have also been discovered here and there in the Fort Plain cemetery, where fireplaces have also been uncovered.

There was a fair-sized village of recent occupation on Sand Hill, on the edge of the plateau overlooking the river.

This was Cawoge of the Dutch journal of 1634-35.

Before the Mohawk was dredged for the Barge canal, there was a camp site on the extreme upper end of Lipe's or Abeel Island.


The gravel dredged from the river obliterated this site.

The occupation may have been Algonquin, as a grooved axe was found there.

This specimen might have belonged to an Algonquin captive of the Iroquois, or it might have been acquired by them in trade.

One ceremonial site near the Freysbush road is less well known than the village sites.

This place is near the location of Revolutionary Fort Clyde and is in the woods of what was formerly known as the Robert Nellis farm.

Here the Mohawks came for their annual festival of the green corn dance.


Fifteen years ago the ring of depressed ground where the dance took place was still quite plain.

It reminded one of an old path in which the pine needles and forest debris of the years had collected.

The diameter of the circle was about thirty feet and it was roughly bounded by huge old pine stumps.

Some stumps lay also within the circle.

In recent years all traces of this dance-circle have been destroyed by pasturing cattle in the woods and by cutting down trees.

The Dutch called this site the Danskammer, meaning the "Dance Chamber."

In considering the Indian in his natural forest life as the first traders found him we are impressed by the poetry in his life.

A race who, looking down upon the Mohawk, could name it Canneoganakalonitade — "river which flows like a small continuing sky," when seen through the tree tops — was possessed of an aesthetic sense which the Twentieth century can hardly exceed, even if it has been able to harness the waters of the Mohawk.

The redmen were the true nature lovers.


It is well to keep uppermost in the mind the cultural side of the Indian rather than his worst traits as manifested in warfare.

Much was unrecorded by the early historians of Indian life.

Much was forgotten.

It is only by little fragments of evidence that we can piece together the picture of the Indian as he once lived.

The archaeological evidence gives us bare facts.

But to our imagination we must turn for the background and the color in which to clothe the facts of our findings.

Can it fail to stir the imagination to picture Oak Hill in the days of Tenotoge?

Two warriors toil up the hillside with a deer slung between them.

They are greeted by a cluster of women grinding corn in wooden mortars with stone pestles.

The men drop the deer.

They fling aside their stone axes, and bows, and quivers of arrows.

They enter the Long House and eat.

As the day wanes and the last rays of the sun dance through the swaying pines and the whispering oak leaves, the Mohawks sit about their lodges.

In the distance the Adirondack foothills are purpling in the dusk.

The forest is merging with the shadows.

An Indian nods in slumber.

His pipe falls into the lodge fire.

The dying embers crack it.

The ashes conceal it.

There it has lain through the centuries.

If only it could tell the real story.

Douglas Ayres, Jr.

Fort Plain, N. Y., September 9, 1924.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 8: Legend of the "Great Peace."

The legend of Dekanawida and Hayonwatha, the two adopted Mohawk chieftains and their "great peace" — Gayanashagowa, the great binding law of the council of the great peace — comment on the versions of the legend.

The annals of the Mohawks, following the time of their migration to our Valley about 1595 and their location here along the Iroquois Trail, belong to the history of the Mohawk Valley.

In this period, the first great item of historical importance is the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy or League of Five Nations.


This was the Inspiration of Dekanawida, seconded by Hayonwatha, both chiefs of the Mohawk tribe.

The second important event of this period was the coming of the white man and his settlement close to the territory of the Mohawks — the Frenchmen at Quebec in 1608 and the Hollanders at present Albany in 1614.

To these white men as well as to the Iroquois themselves and the world at large, the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy was of the greatest importance.


That it was originated by the Mohawks in the Mohawk Valley is substantiated by the legend of Dekanawida and Hayonwatha, the two great Iroquois heroes — chiefs of the Mohawk nation, who formulated "The Great Peace".

The Mohawk origin of this noted confederacy is further supported by the myths and legends of the other nations of the League.

The white man knows of the legend of Hiawatha through the beautiful poem of that name by Henry W. Longfellow.

Few, however, are conversant with the original Indian legend from which the central idea of Longfellow's epic was derived.

Rarer still is the knowledge that this is an Iroquois legend, that it has a basis of historical truth, that it involves the creation of the Confederacy or League of Five Nations, that the working plan of this "Great Peace" was evolved in the land of the Mohawks, and that the great hero of the Iroquois and of the legend, is Dekanawida and not Hayonwatha (Hiawatha) who was his disciple and spokesman.

Longfellow's poems has an Algonquin setting while he uses the Iroquois name of Hiawatha for his hero.

There can be no doubt that Dekanawida and Hiawatha were actual Mohawk chiefs who developed the idea of a union of the Five Nations in the Mohawk country, where they were adopted as Mohawk chieftains, probably at a date very soon after the entrance of the Mohawks into our Valley, and their location along the Iroquois trail (about 1580 or 1590).

The writer believes that the story of Dekanawida and Hiawatha and their Great Peace, deserves a place here because of its Mohawk Valley background, its mystical and poetic rendering of a great historical event, and because the actual Iroquois interpretation of the legend should be given historical publicity.

There is also much of historical suggestion in the story of the Great Peace, and a very evident mingling of folk lore and wonder tales with matter that is historic.

The making of the Great Peace and the Confederacy of the Five Nations is generally assigned to a period just prior to 1600.

Since that time, the story has taken on a legendary, symbolical and heroic character.

But with all this, the salient facts of the historic event push themselves into view, and even the differing characters of Dekanawida and Hiawatha are somewhat clearly developed.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 8: Legend of the "Great Peace.", continued ...

De-ka-na-wi-da is a Huron who is born of a virgin Huron maiden, or Wyandot, as the latter name is also given.

Because of his handsome face and good mind he was hated by the Hurons and "Their hearts were bitter against a man who loved not war better than all things".

So Dekanawida journeys to the country of the Mohawks bearing the tidings of the Great Peace, which is his mission in the world.

Ha-yon-wat-ha or A-yon-wat-ha is the Iroquois name of Hiawatha who is a Royaneh or Lord of the Onondagas, and is their leader in this legend, who combats the bad influence of Adodarho.

He is the evil spirit of the nation, who lives in a swamp and has a headdress of live snakes and other revolting attributes in keeping with his symbolical character as a "bad mind" or the "bad mind" or evil spirit of the Iroquois Five Nations, as well as of the Onondagas.

A famous Onondaga "dreamer" now tells the troubled chieftains that a newcomer (Dekanawida) will prevail with Hayonwatha, but that all earthly ties must be severed which bind Hayonwatha to love of life, family and his people, so that he will live only for the furtherance of a great ideal.

This is but one of the many symbolistic features of this greatest of savage legends.

According to the dreamer's vision, Hayonwatha loses all of his beloved seven daughters and, in despair, sets out, a wanderer on the face of the earth.

Destiny guides his steps from the Onondaga country to a path along the Mohawk River which he follows to a Mohawk town at the great falls of the Cohoes.

On his journey he has many adventures which probably embody some of the Iroquois wonder tales.

Before Hayonwatha's coming, Dekanawida had already converted the Mohawks to his idea of the Great Peace.

At Cohoes, the two heroes meet, Dekanawida condoles with Hayonwatha over his great sorrow and "the mind of Hayonwatha was made clear".

Mr. A. C. Parker has made an interesting map of the wanderings of Hayonwatha which appears in his "Constitution of the Five Nations."

Dekanawida reveals the Great Peace to Hayonwatha and together they set about its accomplishment.

The breaking down of evil opposition to the union is symbolically expressed when, after a pilgrimage of Dekanawida, Hayonwatha and the Mohawk chiefs, carrying the news of the Great Peace to the Onondaga country, Dekanawida there sings the Peace Hymn "to cure the mind of Adodarho," the Iroquois evil genius.

Again, when Dekanawida rubs the sorcerer's misshapen body, "Adodarho was made straight and his mind became healthy."

The people of the United States could hark back to some national crises, involving certain ethical principles, and express the triumph of right in much the same sort of metaphor.

One of the interesting phases of the legend is that the Mohawk town to which Dekanawida and Hayonwatha both journeyed and where they developed the plan of the Great Peace, is stated to have been "on the lower fall of the river of the Flint (Mohawk) nation — a short way from the fall".

There is generally some basis for such locality designations and the Cohoes Falls town of the Mohawks may have been one where the Canienga lived temporarily, during their migration from the banks of the St. Lawrence to their final locations in the middle Mohawk Valley.

When Dekanawida and Hayonwatha and their Mohawk companions start on their mission of the Great Peace, they pass old Mohawk town locations.

These, however, may have been of a later date and, in the years intervening, have become involved in the legend.

The Dekanawida Legend is taken from "The Constitution of the Five Nations," by Mr. Arthur Caswell Parker, State Archaeologist, and himself (Gawasowaneh), a chief of the Seneca nation of the New York State Iroquois.

The version printed here is that given precedence in Mr. Parker's work.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 8: Legend of the "Great Peace.", continued ...

Mr. Parker comments as follows on the Great Binding Law, "Gayanashagawa," adopted by the Five Nations at the Council of the Great Peace.

"The Great Peace as a government system was an almost ideal one for the stage of culture with which it was designed to cope."

"I think it will be found to be the greatest ever designed by barbaric man on any continent."

"By adhering to it the Five Nations became the dominant native power east of the Mississippi and, during the Colonial times, exercised an immense influence in determining the fate of English civilization on the continent."

"They, as allies of the British, fought for it and destroyed all French hopes for colonization."


"The authors of the great immutable law gave the Iroquois two great culture heroes almost without equal in American Indian annals."

"Through the law, as a guiding force and through the heroes as ideals, the Iroquois have persisted as a people, preserved their national identity and much of their native culture and lore."

"Today, in their various bodies, they number more than 16,000 souls."

"This is a remarkable fact when it is considered that they are entirely surrounded by a dominant culture whose encroachments are persistent and unrelenting in the very nature of things."

"The Canadian Iroquois indeed govern themselves by the laws contained in these codes, proving their utility even in modern days."

"The two principal manuscripts that form the basis of this work were found in the Six Nations Reservation, Ontario, Canada, in 1910."

"The first manuscript was a lengthy account of the Dekanawida legend and an account of the Confederate Iroquois laws."

"This material has been brought together by Seth Newhouse, a Mohawk, who has expended a large amount of time and given the subject a lengthy study."

"His account, written in Indian English, was submitted to Albert Cusick, a New York Onondaga-Tuscarora, for review and criticism."

"Mr. Cusick had long been an authority on Iroquois law and civic rites, and had been a chief informant for Horatio Hale, William M. Beauchamp and, in several instances, for the present writer."

"Mr. Cusick was employed for more than a month in correcting the Newhouse manuscript until he believed the form in which it is now presented fairly correct and at least as accurate as a free translation could be made."

"In examining this code of Iroquois law it will be noted that no reference is made in the Canadian code to the 'Long House of the Five Nations.'"

"Various reasons are assigned for this."

"Mr. Newhouse cut out all reference to it from his original manuscript because some of the older chiefs said that Handsome Lake, the destroyer of the old religious system, had successfully associated his religious teachings with the Long House."

"The force of this fact is apparent when we learn that a follower of the Handsome Lake religion is called among other names, Ga-nun-sis-ne-ha, 'Long House Lover'."

"Another reason is that the historic Long House territory is in New York State and that the Ontario Iroquois who left New York after the Revolution to cling to the British, dislike any reference to their former habitation that seems to bind them to it."

"The Dekanawida code provides a refuge for the confederacy in distress, and in Canada they believe they have found 'the great elm' under which they may gather in safety to continue their national existence."

"In presenting these documents the original orthography has been retained."

The legend of Dekanawida and Hayonwatha follows in the next chapter, together with the first seven sections of Guyanshagowa, which shows the prominent part the Mohawks bore in this "Great Binding Law", and in "The Council of the Great Peace."

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resou ... y/008.html updated June 10, 2018

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resou ... y/008.html
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 9: Dekanawida and Hiawatha.

The heroic legend of the formation of the league of Five Nations — Hayonwatha's journey to Dekanawida at the Mohawk town near Cohoes Falls — Adodarho subdued — the two Iroquois heroes unite the tribes at Onondaga

North of the beautiful lake (Ontario) in the land of the Crooked Tongues, was a long winding bay and at a certain spot was the Huron town, Ka-ha-nah-yenh.

Near by was the great hill, Ti-ro-nat-ha-ra-da-donh.

In the village lived a good woman who had a virgin daughter.

Now strangely this virgin conceived and her mother knew that she was about to bear a child.

The daughter about this time went into a long sleep and dreamed that her child should be a son whom she should name Dekanawida.

The messenger in the dream told her that he should become a great man and that he should go among the Flint people [Mohawks] to live and that he should also go to the Many Hill Nation [Onondagas] and there raise up the Great Tree of Peace.

It was true as had been said the virgin gave birth to a boy and the grandmother greatly disliked him and she rebuked her daughter.

"You refuse to tell me the father of the child," she said, "and now how do you know that great calamity will not befall us, and our nation?"

"You must drown the child."

So then the mother took the child to the bay and chopped a hole in the ice where she customarily drew water and thrust him in, but when night came the child was found at his mother's bosom.

So then the mother took the child again and threw him in the bay but at night the child returned.

Then the third time the grandmother herself took the child and drowned him but in the morning the child nestled as before on his mother's own bosom.

So the grandmother marveled that the child, her grandson, could not be drowned.

Then she said to her daughter:

"Mother, now nurse your child, for he may become an important man."

"He can not be drowned, we know, and you have borne him without having marriage with any man."

"Now I have never heard of such an occurrence nor has the world known of it before."

Beginning with that time the mother took great care of her child and nursed him.

She named him Dekanawida in accord with the instruction of her dream.

The child rapidly grew and was remarkably strong and healthy.

His appearance was noticed for its good aspect and his face was most handsome.

When Dekanawida had grown to manhood he was greatly abused by the Huron people because of his handsome face and his good mind.

He was always honest and always told what he believed was right.

Nevertheless he was a peculiar man and his people did not understand him.

Many things conspired to drive him away for the Crooked Tongues had no love for such a man.

Their hearts were bitter against a man who loved not war better than all things.

After a journey by canoe across the lake he came into the hunting territory of the Flint Nation.

He journeyed on to the lower fall of the river of the Flint Nation and made a camp a short way from the fall on the flat land above it.

He sat beneath a tall tree and smoked his pipe in quiet meditation.

A man of the Flints passed by and seeing the fire and the stranger approached him cautiously to discover what weapon he bore, if any.

Carefully the man of the Flint reconnoitered but saw no weapon, but only the stranger quietly smoking.

Returning to the town a short distance away the presence of the odd stranger was reported.

Then the chiefs and their men went out and assembled about the man who smoked.

One of the head men was delegated to question the stranger and so he asked, "From whence came you?"

"I am from Ka-ka-na-yenh," the stranger replied.

"I am of the Wyandots, whom you call the Crooked Tongues because our speech is slightly different," answered the stranger, "My mother is a virgin woman."

"Then," said the speaker, "By what name are you known?"

"I am Dekanawidah, so named because my virgin mother dreamed that it should be so and no one else shall ever be named by this name."

"What brought you here to us," asked the speaker.

So then Dekanawidah answered, "The Great Creator from whom we all are descended sent me to establish the Great Peace among you."

"No longer shall you kill one another and nations shall cease warring upon each other."

"Such things are entirely evil and he, your Maker, forbids it."

"Peace and comfort are better than war and misery for a nation's welfare."

Then answered the speaker of the Flints, "All that you say is surely true and we are not able to contradict it."

"We must have proof, however, before we submit ourselves to you whereby we may know that you indeed possess rightful power to establish the Great Peace."

So answered Dekanawida, "I am able to demonstrate my power, for I am the messenger of the Creator and he truly has given me my choice of the manner of my death."

"Choose then," said the speaker, "a manner of destruction, for we are ready to destroy you."

Dekanawida replied, "By the side of the falls at the edge of a precipice stands a tall tree."

"I will climb the tree and seat myself in the topmost branches."

"Then shall you cut down the tree and I shall fall into the depths below."

"Will not that destroy me?"

Then said the speaker, "Let us proceed at once."

Dekanawida ascended the tree and it was chopped down.

A multitude of people saw him fall into the chasm and plunge into the water.

So they were satisfied that he was surely drowned.

Night came but Dekanawida did not appear and thus were the people sure of his death, and then were they satisfied.

The next morning the warriors saw strange smoke arising from the smoke hole of an empty cabin.

They approached cautiously and peering in the side of the wall where the bark was loosened they saw Dekanawidah.

He was alive and was not a ghost and he was cooking his morning meal.

So the watchers reported their discovery and then were the chiefs and people truly convinced that indeed Dekanawidah might establish the Great Peace.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 9: Dekanawida and Hiawatha., continued ...

The Troubled Nations

The Ongwe-oweh had fought long and bravely.

So long had they fought that they became lustful for war and many times Endeka-Gakwa, the Sun, came out of the east to find them fighting.

It was thus because the Ongwe-oweh were so successful that they said the Sun loved war and gave them power.

All the Ongwe-oweh fought other nations sometimes together and sometimes singly and, ah-gi! ofttimes they fought among themselves.

The nation of the Flint had little sympathy for the Nation of the Great Hill, and sometimes they raided one another's settlements.

Thus did brothers and Ongwe-oweh fight.

The nation of the Sunken Pole fought the Nation of the Flint and hated them, and the Nation of the Sunken Pole was Ongwe.

Because of bitter jealousy and love of bloodshed sometimes towns would send their young men against the young men of another town to practice them in fighting.

Even in his own town a warrior's own neighbor might be his enemy and it was not safe to roam about at night when Soi-ka-Gakwa, our Grandmother, the Moon, was hidden.

Everywhere there was peril and everywhere mourning.

Men were ragged with sacrifice and the women scarred with the flints, so everywhere there was misery.

Feuds with outer nations, feuds with brother nations, feuds of sister towns and feuds of families and of clans made every warrior a stealthy man who liked to kill.

Then in those days there was no great law.

Our founder had not yet come to create peace and give united strength to the Real Men, the Ongwe-oweh.

In those same days the Onondagas had no peace.

A man's life was valued as nothing.

For any slight offense a man or woman was killed by his enemy and in this manner feuds started between families and clans.

At night none dared leave his doorways lest he be struck down by an enemy's war club.


Such was the condition when there was no Great Law.

South of the Onondaga town lived an evil-minded man.

His lodge was in a swale and his nest was made of bulrushes.

His body was distorted by seven crooks and his long tangled locks were adorned by writhing living serpents.

Moreover, this monster was a devourer of raw meat, even of human flesh.

He was also a master of wizardry and by his magic he destroyed men but he could not be destroyed.

Adodarhoh was the name of the evil man.

Notwithstanding the evil character of Adodarhoh the people of Onondaga, the Nation of Many Hills, obeyed his commands and though it cost many lives they satisfied his insane whims, so much did they fear him for his sorcery.

The time came, however, when the Onondaga people could endure him no longer.

A council was called to devise a way to pacify him and to entreat him to cease his evil ways.

Hayonwatha called the council for he had many times sought to clear the mind of Adodarhoh and straighten his crooked body.

So then the council was held in the house of Hayonwatha.

It was decided that half the people should go by boat across the creek where it widens and that others should skirt the shore.

Adodarhoh was not in his nest in the swale but in a new spot across the wide place in the creek.

The boats started and the people walked.

From the bushes that overhung the shore a loud voice sounded: "Stand quickly and look behind you for a storm will overwhelm you."

In dismay the people arose in their canoes and turned about.

As they did so the canoes overturned and the men were plunged into the water and many were drowned.

A few escaped and then all survivors returned to the village.

So had Adodarhoh frustrated the attempt to meet with him.

Again the people prepared to conciliate Adodarhoh.

Three times they agreed to attempt the undertaking.

So on the second occasion they go by canoe and by land, those who go by canoe follow the shore and those who go by land walk on the pebbles close to the water's edge.

Again the cunning Adodarhoh sees them and calling down Hagoks he shook him, and the people in a wild rush scramble for the feathers, for the plumes of Hagoks are most beautiful and men are proud when their heads are adorned with them.

There is a tumult and blows are struck.

Evil feelings arise and in anger the people return to the village still contending.

The mission of conciliation is forgotten.

The next day Hyonwhatha called the people to their promise and for the third time to attempt a council with Adodarhoh.

Moreover, they promised to obey every instruction and listen neither to a voice outside nor an omen nor any commotion.

Another council was held in the lodge of a certain great dreamer.

He said, "I have dreamed that another shall prevail."

"He shall come from the north and pass to the east."

"Hayonwhatha shall meet him there in the Mohawk country and the two together shall prevail."

"Hayonwhatha must not remain with us but must go from us to the Flint land people."

So when the journey across the lake was attempted there was a division and the dreamer's council prevailed.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 9: Dekanawida and Hiawatha., continued ...

Then the dreamer held two councils and those who believed in him conspired to employ Ohsinoh, a famous shaman.

Hayonwhatha had seven daughters whom he loved and in whom he took great pride.

While they lived the conspirators knew he would not depart.

With the daughters dead they knew the crushing sorrow would sever every tie that bound him to Onondaga.

Then would he be free to leave and in thinking of the welfare of the people forget his own sorrow.

Hayonwhatha could not call the people together, for they refused further to listen to his voice.

The dreamer's council had prevailed.

At night Osinoh climbed a tree overlooking his lodge and sat on a large limb.

Filling his mouth with clay he imitated the sound of a screech owl.

Calling the name of the youngest daughter he sang:

"Unless you marry Osinoh
You will surely die, whoo-hoo!"

Then he came down and went to his own home.

In three days the maiden strangely died.

Hayonwhatha was disconsolate and sat with his head bowed in his hands.

He mourned, but none came to comfort him.

In like manner five other daughters passed away and the grief of Hayonwhatha was extreme.

Clansmen of the daughters then went to the lodge of Hayonwhatha to watch, for they knew nothing of Osinoh's sorcery.

They gathered close against the large trees and in the shadows of bushes.

The clansmen suspected some evil treachery and were there to discover it.

There was no moon in the sky when Osinoh came.

Cautiously he came from habit but he was not afraid.

He drove his staff in the ground, he breathed loud like a magic totem animal snorting and then he climbed the tree.

He spat the clay about the tree to imitate the screech owl and as he did he said: "Si-twit, si-twit, si-twit."

Then he sang:

"Unless you marry Osinoh
You shall surely die, whoo-hoo!"

The morning came and Osinoh descended.

As he touched the ground a clansman shot an arrow and transfixed him.

Prostrate fell Osinoh and the clansman rushed at him with a club.

Osinoh looked up.

"You are unable to club me," he said.

"Your arm has no power at all."

"It weakens."

"Today I shall recover from this wound."

"It is of no purpose to injure me."

It was true indeed; the clansman could not lift the club to kill Osinoh.

Then Osinoh arose and went home and in three days the daughter died.

So perished all by the evil magic arts of Osinoh.

The grief of Hayonwhatha was terrible.

He threw himself about as if tortured and yielding to the pain.

No one came near him so awful was his sorrow.

Nothing would console him and his mind was shadowed with the thoughts of his heavy sorrow.

"I shall cast myself away, I shall bury myself in the forest, I shall become a woodland wanderer," he said.

Thus he expressed his desire to depart.

Then it was known that he would go to another nation.

Hayonwhatha "split the heavens," Watanwhakacia, when he departed and his skies were rent asunder.

Toward the south he went and at night he camped on the mountain.

This was the first day of his journey.

On the second day he descended and camped at the base of the hill.

On the third day he journeyed onward and when evening came he camped in a hickory grove.

This he named O-nea-no-ka-res-geh, and it was on the morning he came to a place where round jointed rushes grew.

He paused as he saw them and made three strings of them and when he had built a fire he said: "This would I do if I found any one burdened with grief even as I am."

"I would console them for they would be covered with night and wrapped in darkness."

"This would I lift with words of condolence and these strands of beads would become words with which I would address them."

So at this place he stayed that night and he called the spot O-hon-do-gon-wa, meaning Rush-land.

When daylight came he wandered on again and altering the course of his journey turned to the east.

At night he came to a group of small lakes and upon one he saw a flock of ducks.

So many were there and so closely together did they swim that they seemed like a raft.

"If I am to be truly royaneh (noble)," he said aloud to himself, "I shall here discover my power."

So then he spoke aloud and said: "Oh you who are 'floats' lift up the water and permit me to pass over the bottom of the lake dryshod."

In a compact body the ducks flew upward suddenly and swiftly, lifting the water with them.

Thus did he walk down the shore and upon the bottom of the lake.

There he noticed lying in layers the empty shells of the water snail, some shells white, and others purple.

Stooping down he filled a pouch of deer skin with them, and then passed on to the other shore.

Then did the ducks descend and replace the water.

It was here that Hayonwhatha desired for the first time to eat.

He then killed three ducks and roasted them.

This was the evening of the fifth day.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 9: Dekanawida and Hiawatha., continued ...

In the morning he ate the cold meat of the roasted ducks and resumed his journey.

This was the sixth day and on that day he hunted for small game and slept.

On the morning of the seventh day he ate again and turned his way to the south.

Late in the evening he came to a clearing and found a bark field hut.

There he found a shelter and there he erected two poles, placed another across the tops and suspended three shell strings.

Looking at them he said: "Men boast what they would do in extremity but they do not do what they say."

"If I should see any one in deep grief I would remove these shell strings from the pole and console them."

"The strings would become words and lift away the darkness with which they are covered."

"Moreover what I say I would surely do."

This he repeated.

A little girl discovered smoke arising from the field lodge and she crept up and listened.

She advanced and peered in a chink in the bark.

Then she ran homeward and told her father of the strange man.

"The stranger must be Hayonwhatha," said the father, "I have heard that he has departed from Onondaga."

"Return, my daughter, and invite him to our house."

The girl-child obeyed and Hayonwhatha went to her house.

"We are about to hold a council," the father said.

"Sit in that place on one side of the fire and I will acquaint you with our decisions."

The council was convened and there was a great discussion.

Before darkness every evening the council dissolved and at no time was Hayonwhatha called upon for advice nor was anything officially reported to him.

On the tenth day of his journey during the debate in the council Hayonwhatha quietly left and resumed his wandering.

Nothing had been asked of him and he felt himself not needed by the people.

Late in the evening he came to the edge of another settlement and as was his custom he kindled a fire and erected a horizontal pole on two upright poles.

On this he placed three strings of the wampum shells.

Then he sat down and repeated his saying: "Men boast what they would do in extremity but they do not do what they promise."

"If I should see any one in deep grief I would remove these shells from this pole and console him."

"The shells would become words and lift away the darkness with which they are covered."

"Moreover, I truly would do as I say."

This he repeated.

The chief man of the village saw the smoke at the edge of the forest and sent a messenger to discover who the stranger might be.

Now when the messenger reached the spot he saw a man seated before a fire and a horizontal pole from which three strings of small shells were suspended.

He also heard the words spoken as the stranger looked at the strings.

So then when he had seen all he returned and reported what he had seen and heard.

Then said the chief man, "The person whom you describe must truly be Hayonwhatha whom we have heard left his home at Onondaga."

"He it is who shall meet the great man foretold by the dreamer."

"We have heard that this man should work with the man who talks of the establishment of peace."

So then the chiefs sent a messenger who should say, "Our principal chief sent me to greet you."

"Now then I wish you would come into our village with me."

Hayonwhatha heard the messenger and gathered up his goods and went into the village and when he had entered the chief's house the chief said, "Seat yourself on the opposite side of the fire so that you may have an understanding of all that we do here in this place."

Then Hayonwhatha sat there for seven days and the chiefs and people talked without arriving at any decision.

No word was asked Hayonwhatha and he was not consulted.

No report was made officially to him.

So he did not hear what they talked about.

On the eighteenth night a runner came from the south.

He was from the nation residing on the seashore.

He told the chiefs of the eminent man who had now come to the town on the Mohawk River at the lower falls.

Then the messenger said: "We have heard of the dream of Onodaga which told of the great man who came from the north."

"Now another great man who shall now go forward in haste to meet him shall change his course and go eastward to meet in the Flinty land village (Kanyakahake), the great man."

"There shall the two council together and establish the Great Peace."

So said the messenger from the salt water seashore, who came to tell Hayonwhatha to journey east.

So the chiefs of the town where Hayonwhatha was staying chose five men as an escort for Hayonwhatha.

They must go with him until he reached the house where Dekanawida was present.

So then on the next day the chief himself went with the party and watched carefully the health of Hayonwhatha.

The journey lasted five days and on the fifth day the party stopped on the outskirts of the town where Dekanawida was staying and then they built a fire.

This was the custom, to make a smoke so that the town might know that visitors were approaching and send word that they might enter without danger to their lives.

The smoke was the signal of friends approaching.

The Mohawks (People of the Flinty Country) knew the meaning of the signal so they sent messengers and invited the party into the village.

When Hayonwhatha had entered the house where the people had gathered the chief asked him whom he would like to see most.

Then Hyonwhatha answered, "I came to see a very great man who lately came from the north."

The chief said, "I have with me two men who shall escort you to the house where Dekanawida is present."

Then the people went out and the two men escorted Hayonwhatha to Dekanawida.

This was on the twenty-third day.

Then Dekanawida arose when Hayonwhatha had entered and he said: "My younger brother, I perceive that you have suffered from some deep grief."

"You are a chief among your people and yet you are wandering about."

Hayonwhatha answered, "That person skilled in sorcery, Osinoh, has destroyed my family of seven daughters."

"It was truly a great calamity and I am now very miserable."

"My sorrow and my rage have been bitter."

"I can only rove about since now I have cast myself away from my people."

"I am only a wanderer."

"I split the heavens when I went away from my house and my nation."

Dekanawida replied, "Dwell here with me."

"I will represent your sorrow to the people here dwelling."

So Hayonwhatha had found some one who considered his distress and he did stay.

Then Dekanawida told of his suffering and the people listened.

The five escorts were then dismissed and Hayonwhatha gave thanks to them and told them to return to their own region again.

Then the escorts said, "Now today it has happened as was foretold in a dream."

"The two are now together."

"Let them now arrange the Great Peace."

Then they returned home.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

Post by thelivyjr »

History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 9: Dekanawida and Hiawatha., continued ...

When Dekanawida laid the trouble before the council he promised to let Hayonhwatha know their decision.

The chiefs deliberated over the sad events and then decided to do as Dekanawida should say.

He then should remedy the trouble.

Then Dekanawida went in perplexity to his lodge and as he came to it he heard Hayonhwatha say, "It is useless, for the people only boast what they will do, saying, 'I would do this way,' but they do nothing at all."

"If what has befallen me should happen to them I would take down the three shell strings from the upright pole and I would address them and I would console them because they would be covered by heavy darkness."

Dekanawida stood outside the door and heard all these words.

So then Dekanawida went forward into the house and he went up to the pole, then he said: "My younger brother, it has now become very plain to my eyes that your sorrow must be removed."

"Your griefs and your rage have been great."

"I shall now undertake to remove your sorrows so that your mind may be rested."

"Have you no more shell strings on your pole?"

Hayonhwhatha replied, "I have no more strings but I have many shells in a tanned deer's skin."

So he opened his bundle, and a great quantity of shells fell out.

So then Dekanawida said, "My younger brother, I shall string eight more strands because there must be eight parts to my address to you."

So then Hayonhwatha permitted the stringing of the shells and Dekanawida made the strings so that in all there were thirteen strings and bound them in four bunches.

These must be used to console the one who has lost by death a near relative.

"My younger brother, the thirteen strings are now ready on this horizontal pole."

"I shall use them."

"I shall address you."

"This is all that is necessary in your case."

So then he took one bunch off the pole and held it in his hand while he talked.

While he talked, one after another he took them down and gave one to Hayonwhatha after each part of his address.

The words that he spoke when he addressed Hayonwhatha were eight of the thirteen condolences.

When the eight ceremonial addresses had been made by Dekanawida the mind of Hayonhwatha was made clear.

He was then satisfied and once more saw things rightly.

Dekanawida then said, "My younger brother, these thirteen strings of shell are now completed."

"In the future they shall be used in this way: They shall beheld in the hand to remind the speaker of each part of his address, and as each part is finished a string shall be given to the bereaved chief (Royaneh) on the other side of the fire."

"Then shall the Royaneh hand them back one by one as he addresses a reply; it then can be said, 'I have now become even with you.'"

Dekanawida then said, "My junior brother, your mind being cleared and you being competent to judge, we now shall make our laws and when all are made we shall call the organization we have formed the Great Peace."

"It shall be the power to abolish war and robbery between brothers and bring peace and quietness.

"As emblems of our Royaneh titles we shall wear deer antlers and place them on the heads of Royaneh men."

Hayonhwatha then said, "What you have said is good, I do agree."

Dekanawida said, "My younger brother, since you have agreed I now propose that we compose our Peace song."

"We shall use it on our journey to pacify Adodarhoh."

"When he hears it his mind shall be made straight."

"His mind shall then be like that of other men."

"This will be true if the singer remembers and makes no error in his singing from the beginning to the end, as he walks before Adodarhoh."

Hayonhwatha said, "I do agree, I truly believe the truth of what you say."

Then Dekanawida said, "My younger brother, we shall now propose to the Mohawk council the plan we have made."

"We shall tell our plan for a confederation and the building of a house of peace."

"It will be necessary for us to know its opinion and have its consent to proceed."

The plan was talked about in the council and Dekanawida spoke of establishing a union of all the nations.

He told them that all the chiefs must be virtuous men and be very patient.

These should wear deer horns as emblems of their position, because as he told them their strength came from the meat of the deer.

Then Hayonwhatha confirmed all that Dekanawida had said.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
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Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY

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History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925

Chapter 9: Dekanawida and Hiawatha., continued ...

Then the speaker of the Mohawk council said, "You two, Dekanawida and Hayonhwatha, shall send messengers to the Oneida (People of the Stone) and they shall ask Odatshedeh if he will consider the plan."

When Odatshedeh had been asked he replied, "I will consider this plan and answer you tomorrow." [meaning a year from that time].

When the tomorrow of the next year had come, there came the answer of the Oneida council, "We will join the confederation."

So then the Mohawks (Kanyenga) sent two messengers to Onondaga asking that the nation consider the proposals of Dekanawida.

It was a midsummer day when the message went forth and the Onondaga council answered, "Return tomorrow at high sun."

So the two great men returned home and waited until the next midsummer.

Then the midday came and the Onondaga council sent messengers who said, "We have decided that it would be a good plan to build the fire and sit about it with you."

Dekanawida and Hayonhwatha heard this answer.

So then at the same time Dekanawida and Hayonhwatha sent messengers to the Cayuga nation and the answer was sent back.

The Cayugas said they would send word of their decision tomorrow, upon the midsummer day.

The next year at midsummer the Cayugas sent their answer and they said, "We do agree with Dekanawida and Hayonhwatha."

Now the People of the Great Hill were divided and were not agreed because there had been trouble between their war chiefs, but messengers went sent to them but the Senecas could not agree to listen and requested the messengers to return the next year.

So when the messengers returned the councils did listen and considered the proposals.

After a year had passed they sent messengers to say that they had agreed to enter into the confederacy.

Then Dekanawida said, "I now will report to the Mohawk council the result of my work of five years."

Hayonhwatha then said, "I do agree to the report."

The Establishment of the Great Peace

Dekanawida requested some of the Mohawk chiefs to call a council, so messengers were sent out among the people and the council was convened.

Dekanawida said, "I, with my co-worker, have a desire to now report what we have done on five successive midsummer days, of five successive years."

"We have obtained the consent of five nations."

"These are the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas and the Senecas."

"Our desire is to form a compact for a union of our nations."

"Our next step is to seek out Adodarhoh."

"It is he who has always set at naught all plans for the establishment of the Great Peace."

"We must seek his fire and look for his smoke."

The chief speaker of the council then said, "We do agree and confirm all you have said and we wish to appoint two spies who shall volunteer to seek out the smoke of Adodarhoh."

Two men then eagerly volunteered and Dekanawida asked them if they were able to transform themselves into birds or animals, for such must be the ability of the messengers who approached Adodarhoh.

The two men replied, "We are able to transform ourselves into herons and cranes."

"Then you will not do for you will pause at the first creek or swamp and look for frogs and fish."

Two men then said, "We have magic that will transform us into humming birds."

"They fly very swiftly."

"Then you will not do because you are always hungry and are looking for flowers."

Two other men then said, "We can become the Dare, the white crane."

"Then you will not do because you are very wild and easily frightened."

"You would be afraid when the clouds move."

"You would become hungry and fly to the ground looking about for ground nuts."

Then two men who were crows by magic volunteered but they were told that crows talked too loudly, boasted and were full of mischief.

So then in the end two men who were powerful by the magic of the deer and the bear stepped before the council and were chosen.

The speaker for the council then reported to Dekanawida that the spies were ready to go.

Then they went.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
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