Andrew Montour

Andrew Montour (c. 1720–1772), also known as Henry Montour, Sattelihu, and Eghnisara, was an important métis interpreter and negotiator in the Virginia and Pennsylvania backcountry in the 1750s and 1760s.

Montour's date of birth is unknown; historian James Merrell estimated it to be 1720. Montour was of European and Native American ancestry. His mother was Madame Montour, a well-known, influential interpreter whose exact identity is uncertain; she was probably of French and Native ancestry. She spoke several languages and often served as an interpreter between Europeans and Native Americans. Andrew Montour's father was Carondawanna, an Oneida war chief.

Montour shared his mother's gift for languages. He spoke French, English, Delaware, Shawnee, and at least one of the Iroquois languages. Comfortable with both Native Americans and Europeans, he made a good living as a translator for several colonial governments. In 1742 when Count Zinzendorf met Montour he wrote that Montour looked "decidedly European, and had his face not been encircled with a broad band of paint we would have thought he was one."

In 1745 he accompanied Weiser and Shikellamy on a mission to Onondaga where the federal capital of the Iroquois confederation was established. In 1748 Weiser recommended Montour as a person especially qualified to act as an interpreter or messenger and Montour was presented to the Pennsylvania council of the proprietary government.

Throughout the French and Indian War Montour sided with the British and worked, at various times, for Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Sir William Johnson's Indian Department. He was with George Washington before the battle at Fort Necessity, and was also one of the few Native Americans to travel with Edward Braddock. So strong was his influence with tribes in the Ohio River Valley that the French put a bounty on his head. Montour was murdered by a Seneca Indian in 1772.

Montour County, Pennsylvania, is named for Andrew Montour. The Montour School District, a comprehensive public school system located 16 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also bears his name.

Andrew had a number of children, who he hoped would also live in both white and Native American worlds. His son John Montour followed in his footsteps and became a well-known negotiator, translator and go-between.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Hagedorn, Nancy L."'Faithful, Knowing, and Prudent': Andrew Montour As Interpreter and Cultural Broker, 1740–1772". In Margaret Connell Szasz, ed., Between Indian and White Worlds: The Cultural Broker, 44–60. University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
• Kelly, Kevin P. "John Montour: Life of a Cultural Go-Between". Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter, Volume 21, No. 4 (2000/01).
• Lewin, Harold. "A Frontier Diplomat: Andrew Montour" (pdf). Pennsylvania History Volume 33, Number 2 (April 1966): 153–86.
• Merrell, James. "'The Cast of His Countenance': Reading Andrew Montour." In Ronald Hoffman, et al., eds., Through a Glass Darkly: Reflections on Personal Identity in Early America, 13–39. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.

External links

• Fort Necessity National Battlefield biographies (National Park Service)
• Colonel Washington's Frontier Forts Association: Prelude to the French and Indian War Part 2
• Campbell, Helen. "Revolutionary War Hero Captain John Montour."