Cornplanter

Chief Cornplanter portrait by Frederick Bartoli, 1796

Gaiänt'wakê (Kaintwakon; generally known as Cornplanter; ca. 1730s–February 18, 1836) was a Seneca war chief during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War.

Early life

He was the son of a Seneca mother, Aliquipiso, and a Dutch father, Johannes Abeel. He also carried the name John Abeel (sometimes spelled O'Bail) after his fur trader father. His Seneca name, Gaiänt'wakê (often spelled Gyantwachia), means “the planter,” and another variation, Kaintwakon, means “by what one plants.” He was born at Canawaugus (now in the Town of Caledonia) on the Genesee River in present-day New York State around 1750 and was raised by his mother with the Seneca.

War Chief

Cornplanter first became known as war chief of the Seneca when they allied with the French against the English during the French and Indian War (part of the Seven Years War between the European nations). He was present at Braddock's defeat.

During the American Revolution, both Cornplanter and his uncle, Chief Guyasutha, wanted the Iroquois to remain neutral. He felt the Iroquois should stay out of the white man's war. "War is war," he told other Iroquois. "Death is death. A fight is a hard business." Both the British and the American Patriots had urged the Iroquois nations to stay neutral.

But, both sides tried to recruit the Iroquois as allies. The British offered large amounts of goods. The Iroquois League met together at Oswego in July 1777, to vote on their decision. Although Guysutha and Cornplanter voted for neutrality, when the majority voted to side with the British, they both honored the majority decision. Because of the status of the Seneca as War Chiefs among the Iroquois, most of the Iroquois Confederacy followed suit. The Iroquois named Sayenqueraghta and Cornplanter as war chiefs of the Iroquois. Four of the Iroquois nations were allies of the British: the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga.

Cornplanter joined forces with Loyalist Lt. Colonel John Butler and his rangers at the 1778 Battle of Wyoming Valley in present-day Pennsylvania. They killed many settlers and their properties, in what became known in United States history as the Wyoming Valley Massacre.

Fighting on the frontier was fierce. Patriot forces under Colonel Thomas Hartley burned Tioga. In reprisal, Cornplanter and Joseph Brantparticipated in the 1778 Loyalist-Iroquois attacks led by Captain Walter Butler and Butler's Rangers in Cherry Valley, New York, later called the Cherry Valley Massacre. During this campaign, Cornplanter's men happened to capture his father Johannes Abeel after burning his house. Cornplanter, who had once gone as a young man to see Abeel, recognized him and offered apology. He invited him to return with the Seneca or to go back to his white family. When his father chose the latter, Cornplanter had Seneca warriors accompany him in safety.

After the victories of the Loyalist and Iroquois forces, commander-in-chief General George Washington commissioned Major General John Sullivan to invade Six Nation territory throughout New York and destroy Iroquois villages. At the Battle of Newtown Iroquois and British troops were decisively defeated, but greater damage was in the scorched earth campaign by Sullivan and his army of 5,000 men. They methodically destroyed Iroquois villages, farms, stored crops and animals between May and September 1779 throughout the Iroquois homeland (upstate New York). Cornplanter, along with Brant, Old Smoke, and Lt. Colonel John Butler fought a desperate delaying action in order to allow the escape of many refugees, both Native and non-Native, who went to Canada. Surviving Iroquois suffered terribly during the following months in what they called “the winter of the deep snow.” Many froze or starved to death. Cornplanter and Seneca warriors continued to fight with the British against the Patriots, hoping to eject the colonists from their territory..

Post-Revolutionary War years

With Britain's final defeat in the war, Cornplanter recognized the need for a positive diplomatic relationship with the fledgling government of what the Iroquois called the "Thirteen Fires." He became a negotiator in disputes between the new "Americans" and the Seneca as well as other indigenous tribes. He participated in meetings with both presidents George Washington and Jefferson, and was a signatory of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784).

After the American Revolution, Native Americans west of the Allegheny Mountains mounted a resistance in the Northwest Indian War in Ohio and Indiana, hoping to repulse the Americans. Cornplanter kept the Iroquois neutral. In addition, he tried to negotiate with the Shawnee on behalf of the U.S.

In 1790, Cornplanter and his brother Half-Town (also a chief) traveled to Philadelphia to meet with President George Washington and Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin; they were protesting the current treatment of their people. Cornplanter and Half-Town extracted an agreement from Washington and Mifflin to protect Iroquois land. [see: The speech of the Cornplanter ..., December 1, 1790, at external links.]

Cornplanter made many trips to the cities to strengthen relationships and talk with those who were interested in his people. He tried to learn the ways of the European Americans, as he saw it necessary for future relations between the Haudenosaunee and Americans. He was impressed by the beliefs and practice of the Quakers. He invited them to educate his son and develop schools in Seneca territory. He and his half-brother, the religious leader Handsome Lake, strongly opposed liquor among the Seneca.

During the War of 1812, Cornplanter supported the American cause, convincing his people to do so as well. At one point he offered to bring two hundred warriors to assist the U.S., but his offer was refused.

He allowed Quakers into his village to help the Seneca learn new skills when they could no longer rely on hunting or the fur trade as a way of life. He also encouraged men to join the women working in the fields to help increase their farming economy.

Eventually, Cornplanter became disillusioned with his relationship with the Americans. To help fight the drunkenness and despair experienced by many Indians, his half-brother Handsome Lake preached that the Iroquois must return to the traditional Indian way of life and take part in religious ceremonies. Cornplanter felt his people were poorly treated by the Americans. He heeded Handsome Lake's prophecy that they should return to tradition and turn away from assimilation to white ways. He burned his military uniform, broke his sword, and destroyed his medals. He closed the schools but did not completely break relations with the Quakers; he retained a relationships of love and respect with them.

Cornplanter died in Warren County, Pennsylvania in 1836. He requested a grave with no marker. A monument was later constructed over his grave.

The Cornplanter Tract

In gratitude for his assistance to the state, Cornplanter was given a grant of 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) by Pennsylvania in 1796 along the western bank of the Allegheny River (about three miles (5 km) below the southern boundary of New York state) to him and his heirs "forever". By 1798, 400 Seneca lived on the land, which was called the Cornplanter Tract or Cornplanter Grant. In 1821 Warren County, Pennsylvania tried to force Cornplanter to pay taxes for his land, which he protested on the basis that the land had been "granted" to him by the U.S. government. After much talk, the state finally agreed that the Cornplanter Tract was exempt.

Family

Cornplanter was half-brother to Handsome Lake, a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois, and uncle to Governor Blacksnake, a Seneca warchief. Cornplanter's last living direct descendant was the Seneca artist and traditionalist, Jesse Cornplanter (1889–1957).

Legacy

In 1965, the new Kinzua Dam at Warren, Pennsylvania permanently flooded the Cornplanter Tract and created Allegheny Reservoir. Cornplanter's grave was subsequently moved to higher ground. The State of Pennsylvania erected an honorary marker in 1966. Most of the Seneca moved to the Allegany Reservation in New York.

• The relocation of his remains and gravesite figure in the song, "As Long As The Grass Shall Grow" that Johnny Cash recorded in 1964; it was originally written by Peter LaFarge.
• The Chief Cornplanter Boy Scout Council, headquartered in Warren, as well as their Order of the Arrow lodge, Gyantwachia Lodge #255 are named in his honor.
• Cornplanter State Forest in Forest County, Pennsylvania is also named for him and comprises 1,256 acres (5.08 km²) of land.
• His portrait is held in the collection of the New-York Historical Society in New York City.

References

Wallace, Anthony, The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca, 1969, ISBN 0-394-71699-X

• The Speech of the Cornplanter, Half-Town, and the Great-Tree, Chiefs and Councillors of the Seneca Nation, to the Great Councillor of the Thirteen Fires. Signed at Philadelphia, the first day of December, 1790 – Library of Congress: pgs. 140–142,
• [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=007/llsp007.db&recNum=141

External links

• John C. Mohawk, "Cornplanter", The Encyclopedia of North American Indians
• "Kiontwogky or Corn Plant". Retrieved 2012-01-14.