Chapter Five - Iroquois
Then There Was Peace . . . and Then There Was War
The Iroquois were in a constant state of war, so when they stopped fighting they “declared peace.” Europeans, on the other hand, considered peace the norm, so when they started fighting they “declared war.”
After the Tracy raid there was a quarter century of peace between
the Mohawks and New France. During that time the English took power from
the Dutch; the Jesuits established missions throughout Iroquois-dom and
were subsequently driven out by the English; the Mohicans attacked the
Mohawks, the French burned Schenectady, and under a succession of governors,
failed to subjugate the Iroquois Federation in a series of generally failed
raids on villages in what is now central and western New York State. Peace
ended in the Mohawk Valley soon after the Iroquois, including Mohawks,
attacked New France in 1689.
Count
Frontenac Was Not a Fun Fellow
When
Count Louis de Baude Frontenac was appointed Governor of New France in
1672, at the age of 50, he was a Marshal of the King’s Camps and Armies,
having served in several European campaigns. As Governor he extended French
influence well beyond the Saint Lawrence Valley and the Great Lakes . .
. and antagonized almost every class of society. Civil officials, traders
and religious leaders complained so vehemently that Frontenac was ordered
back to France in 1682.
His successors failed so miserably that, the now
67-year old, Frontenac was recalled to New France in 1689 with orders to
contain the English and punish the Iroquois. Within a year he launched
attacks on the English in New England and New York, destroying Schenectady
in the process. He followed up with attacks on the Oneidas, Onondagas .
. . and Mohawks.
After a protracted illness, Frontenac died in 1698
in Quebec City. He was revered by France and French Canadians as the savior
of New France. Statues were erected and buildings named in his honor.
Count de Frontenac was ordered to
contain the English and punish the Iroquois.
Mohawks
Surprised in the Dead of Winter
After a grueling march on snowshoes, through the wilderness and over
frozen Lake Champlain and Lake George, Frontenac’s army attacked the Mohawk
Castles in January 1693.
Bochart de Champigny was with the French army. He reported the following.
“THE IROQUOIS not liking to wage war except secretly,
ordinarily select the season when the trees are full of leaves, to approach
the French settlements on the frontier of the Colony. When they see the
leaves fall and the ground covered with snow, they retire home and do not
appear any more, or at least very rarely, during the winter.
“Count de Frontenac being desirous to take advantage
of the season of their retreat in order to strike a heavy blow on them,
dispatched from Montreal in the month of January a force of six hundred
and twenty-five men, consisting of one hundred soldiers, two hundred Indians,
and the remainder the most active young men of the country, under the command
of Sieurs de Mantet, Courtemanche and de Lanoue, Canadian officers, accompanied
by Sieur de L’Invilliers and twenty officers, with orders to proceed against
and destroy, and afterwards to commit as great ravages as possible around
Orange. This party provided with everything necessary for long and
fatiguing a march on snow shoes through the woods and over frozen rivers,
dragging their provisions after them, were guided so correctly by our Indians
that they arrived near the three Mohawk villages, within 15 leagues of
Orange without being discovered. At nightfall, on arriving, our Indians
in company with some Frenchmen went to reconnoiter two of the Villages,
situate a quarter of a league the one from the other. On approaching these,
they heard the enemy sing which obliged them to wait until the Indians
should retire in order to surprise them whilst sleeping. The main body,
in the meantime, advanced in two divisions, so as to be able to make a
simultaneous attack on both Villages. Our scouts did not delay reporting
that the enemy made no more noise. The Villages, which were surrounded
by strong palisades and closed with gates, were approached; our Indians
scaled the inclosure in order to open the gates. A crowd entered and became
masters of the cabins with resistance. The small Village, after having
been burnt with all its contents, was abandoned at day break, and the Indians
and their families brought prisoners to the large Village where the commanders
left a portion of their force to guard them. Early next morning our party
set off for the third Village, distant seven or eight leagues, where they
arrived in the evening, and surprised it on the following night in the
same manner as they had the others; set it on fire and brought the prisoners
to the principal Village.
“The Count’s orders were not to give quarter
to the men who would be under arms, and to bring away the women and children
for the purpose of augmenting our Indian villages. But the order was not
strictly executed because they surrendered at discretion and expressed
themselves pleased at having this opportunity to come live with our Indians,
to whom they were closely related; so that of about eighty fighting men
found in those three villages, only eighteen or twenty were killed, and
the others, with their women and children, were made prisoners to the number
of two hundred and eighty persons. “
Champigny does not report that some of
“our Indians” were in fact Christian Mohawks who lived in the Saint Lawrence
Valley. These former residents of the Mohawk Valley led the French to the
villages but refused to kill Mohawk prisoners. The Mohawks and an English
militia followed the French Army north, inflicting casualties and freeing
prisoners along the way. (For more information read In Mohawk Country
by- Snow, Gehring & Starna)
Mohawks
Relocate to the South Side of the River
All
of the Mohawk villages on the north side of the river were destroyed, so
the Mohawks moved to the south side of the river. The Upper Castle, called
Canajoharie, was relocated to Prospect Hill at present day Fort Plain.
An associated village was located near the mouth of East Canada Creek and
called Dekanohage. The Lower Castle was relocated near the mouth of Schoharie
Creek and called Tionondoroge. Some Mohawks, and refugees from New England
tribes, later built villages further up Schoharie Valley near present-day
Middleburgh.
The Lower Mohawk Castle was relocated to the mouth of Schoharie Creek near present day Fort Hunter.
At first the villages were palisaded, however, by
the early1700s the palisades were gone and most Mohawks lived in European-style
cabins. Mohawk settlements consisted of central villages---still called
Castles ---surrounded by widely dispersed cabins. While the Lower Castle
remained at the mouth of Schoharie Creek, the Upper Castle moved to the
village site opposite the mouth of East Canada Creek. It was at these two
locations that the English built European-style forts for the protection
of the Mohawks. The Lower Castle fort---built in 1712 and enlarged in 1755---was
called Fort Hunter, and the village was thenceforth called by that name.
The Upper Castle fort---built in 1747---was named Fort Hendrick in honor
of the Mohawk Chief, King Hendrick, but the village retained the name Canajoharie.
The Mohawks remained at or near these two Castles until the start of the
Revolutionary War.
Anglican
Churches at Mohawk Castles
A
small chapel was built in the first Fort Hunter, but it was the stone church
that was built in 1741 that was thenceforth called Queen Ann’s Chapel in
honor of the Queen of England who provided “the communion set, altar cloth
and other needful articles.” Although the church was destroyed during
the construction of the Erie Canal in the 1820s, the stone parsonage survives
to this day. During the Revolutionary War the Mohawks took their “communion
set” to Canada.
In 1769 an Anglican Mission Church was
built for the Mohawks near the Upper Castle. The land was provided by Joseph
Brant, and construction funded by Sir William Johnson. This Indian Castle
Church survived the Revolution and still stands near Nowadaga Creek and
the community of Indian Castle.
Return to Chapter 5 - Iroquois
