The Cornplanter spent his early years at the council-fires, and became one of the most celebrated orators in the Confederation of the Six Nations. He traveled from village to village and sought wisdom from the sages of the Iroquois. It was during this portion of his life that he listened to the traditions that had descended from chief to chief over a period of three centuries. When he had acquired a reputation for bravery and woodcraft second to none of his race, he was unanimously chosen Chief of the Senecas, and came at once into prominence as the leader of the war-parties of that nation in alliance with the French against the English. He was present at the defeat of Braddock, and, for a long time, by the most daring and cruel raids on the frontier settlements, spread destruction in the Mohawk Valley and in Western New York. He was at that time an implacable foe to all white people, and the names of Cornplanter, Brant, and Red Jacket were synonymous with capture, torture and massacre. They were the chief councilors and leaders of their people and fought against every overture made by the whites. In 1779, near the mouth of Redbank Creek, in Pennsylvania, the Cornplanter, with a large force of Indians, engaged in battle against a party of whites, led by Captain Samuel Brady. The engagement terminated in favor of the whites, and many of the Indians were killed or wounded. The survivors fled to the river, then swollen with the spring rains, and dashed into its current. Few succeeded in crossing; one by one they were swept down the stream or sank, pierced by the bullets of Brady's men. The Cornplanter reached the opposite shore almost alone. From that moment the high spirit of the daring chieftain began to falter and he sought peace, making, in 1791, a treaty with "The Great Chief of the Thirteen Fires." The medal and other mementos given him by Washington are still preserved by the descendants of the chief. He was put in possession of the island that bears his name, and ever afterwards devoted himself to farming and pursuits of peace. For many years he labored faithfully to eradicate the habits of intemperance into which his people had fallen, and, strange as it may seem, was the first temperance lecturer in the United States. He entertained the highest respect for Washington, and visited him several times in Philadelphia.
It was during the last twenty years of the Cornplanter's life that the legends herein contained were recalled and told. He did not speak of them generally, for he held them sacred, but reserved them for the ears of those in full sympathy with the people of which he was one of the last true representatives. He told them with an intensity of feeling that was pitiful, for it was plain he realized that the greatness of his people had disappeared, leaving neither monuments nor achievements to mark their place in the history of the world.
The Cornplanter died a strong believer in the religion of the red men, and looked forward with an eye of faith towards the Happy Hunting-Grounds, for which countless generations of his people had been taught to hope.
[The Legends]
[THE CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS]
