Noble Warrior of Peace

Clash of Empires

The Native American tribes played an interesting role in the American War for Independence. In some ways, the friction caused by the westward push of European settlers contributed to the friction between the colonists and the British authorities in London, who viewed the Indian Territory west of the Alleghanies as a buffer against Spain. Americans settling the west posed a risk as possible future allies of Spain or a potential cause of war with Spain. The tribes were caught in the middle, especially in the Carolinas and western New York.

In New York, the British had forged strong trade and political alliances with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation, who were strong military allies during the French and Indian War. Most of the tribes aligned with the British. Among these was the Seneca nation. And among these proud people arose a leader who would garner laurels in war and praise in peace. His name was Gyantwakia, which in English was Cornplanter.

Seneca Chief

Cornplanter was born in 1740 to a Dutch trader named John Abeel and a Seneca woman in the village of Conawagaus, current Avon, New York. He grew up a Seneca, living among his mother’s prominent family, the Wolf Clan, which was a warrior clan. He led a war party in support of the British in the French and Indian War and by the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, was an established war chief, having made his bones as a young warrior. The Iroquois were among the most capable warriors of all the native tribes and both sides sought their support. Cornplanter, showing remarkable caution, urged neutrality in the white civil war.

                                                           Gyantwakia aka Cornplanter

Raising the Tomahawk

However, as the struggle grew more bitter, he could not keep the Seneca on the sidelines. In August 1777 the Seneca took up the tomahawk on the side of their former allies, the British.  By then, the war in New York was at its most intense with General John Burgoyne’s three-pronged campaign to seize New York well underway. It would be a campaign that in many ways would decide the course of the war.

                                                   The War Chief addresses the Wolf Clan

Valley of Death

Once committed, Cornplanter was all-in. He soon led a Seneca war party in support of the expedition of Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger’s thrust east through the Mohawk Valley. Standing between him and his objective, Albany, was the tiny bastion known as Fort Stanwix. In this capacity, he participated in the siege of Fort Stanwix, New York, and then helped plan the ambush of Colonel Nicholas Herkimer’s relief column in the dense woods near Oriskany on 6 August 1777. The ambush was classic Indian-warfare. Cornplanter’s braves surprised destroyed the column and mortally wounded Herkimer. But the approach of another column under Benedict Arnold forced the British to withdraw their regular forces from New York and resorted to hit and run guerrilla raids against frontier settlements.

                                    Seneca ambush at Oriskany mortally wounds Col Herkimer

Frontier on Fire

Cornplanter led many raids against American settlements, particularly at Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, where on 3 July 1778, his braves ambushed and wiped out a pursuit-force of 400 militia led by Colonel Zebulon Butler. In November, his Seneca supported Loyalist Captain Walter Butler (no relation to Zebulon) in a brutal attack upon Cherry Valley, New York. The Indian and Loyalist raids were so devastating to American lives, property, and morale, that General George Washington ordered a punitive campaign against the Six Nations the following year.

                                                              Cherry Valley Massacre

Yankee Retribution

American retribution came with the 1779-expedition led by General John Sullivan, who launched a punishing attack on 28 August defeating the Iroquois and Loyalists at Newtown (Elmira), New York.  Sullivan then launched a scorched earth campaign to punish Iroquois villages in the region. Under pressure, he Seneca stood-down for the winter, but the next summer Cornplanter was back on the warpath with raids against the Canajoharie and the Schoharie Valley, New York. At Canajoharie, his band took his father John Abeel prisoner. Cornplanter offered to make him a guest of his clan, but Abeel declined, so the dutiful son released him.

                                                                   Wolf Clan attacks

Smoking the Peace Pipe

At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, things became complicated for the Iroquois as they struggled to come to terms with the new American government. Cornplanter participated in the many treaty signings, that slowly resulted in the loss of his people’s land. The Iroquois had little leverage against the triumphant Americans, who did not forget their depravations in support of the British. Cornplanter argued in defense of his nation and clan with poise and determination. This caused the more bellicose leaders like Red Jacket to denounce him and forcefully oppose land sales hoping to boost his own standing among the clans.

                                                           The  Senecas and the rest of the 

                                                                Six Nations stood-down

A Moderate Influence

The Ohio (Northwest) Territory burst into flames as tribes along the Ohio River began to chafe at American encroachment and British manipulation. The tribes formed a Great Confederation under such leaders as Little Turtle and had initial success, destroying an American army under Revolutionary War General Arthur St. Clair, in 1791. Because of his bearing and fame as a warrior, the new American government appointed him to represent them with the warring tribes at a great peace conference known as the Council on the Auglaize.  But Cornplanter and other moderate native leaders proved unsuccessful. The bitter war continued until former Revolutionary War leader Anthony Wayne broke the back of the confederation at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Ohio tribes made peace at the Treaty of Greeneville. For his services in attempting to reconcile the western tribes, the state of Pennsylvania granted Cornplanter a large tract of land on the Allegheny River.

    Treaty of Greeneville settled Indian Affairs 

in the Northwest Territory

Smoking the War Pipe

With the coming of war with Britain in 1812, the now aged chief Cornplanter offered his services to the United States, but was turned down. However, his son, Henry O’Bail served with some distinction. Cornplanter, one of the fiercest Seneca warriors, now lived peacefully on his land grant for two more decades.

                                                   Monument to Chief of the Wolf Clan

When he died on 18 February 1836, the great war chief was widely mourned as a man of peace. Many decades later, in 1871, Pennsylvania decided to honor the noble Seneca and erected a marble shrine on his grave as a symbol of respect and appreciation.