Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy

“ In 1715, the Tuscaroras, a branch of the Iroquois family, in the Carolinas, united with the Five Nations, after which the confederacy was known as the Six Nations, of which the other five tribes were named in order of their rank, Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, and Cayugas.
Iroquois government was vested in a general council composed of fifty hereditary sachems, but the order of succession was always in the female and never in the male line. Each nation was divided into eight clans or tribes. ”

“ At this time the confederacy of the Iroquois was formed, and this place of peace was ordained for the purpose, it may be, to alleviate the distress and commotion of the nations of the forest.
The laws were that there shall be no nation or nations of the Iroquois make war against any nation or nations of the same league, under any circumstances; and the Iroquois must not make war with any alien nation without the consent of the Queen. This fort must ever be held sacred, as it is a place of peace, by never allowing the shedding of blood within the inclosure. ”

“ The Iroquois league—The Iroquois league consisted originally of a confederacy of five kindred tribes, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, in what is now the state of New York; to these were added the cognate Tuscarora after their expulsion from Carolina about 1715. The name Iroquois, by which they were known to the French, is supposed to be a derivative from some Indian term. To the English they were known as the Five, afterward the Six Nations. They called themselves by a name commonly spelt Hodenosaunee, and interpreted “People of the Long House.” ”

“ The native tribes dwelling around the shores of Lake Michigan entertained a deep and ancient jealousy of the powerful confederacy of the Iroquois or Five Nations, who aspired to universal dominion over the Northern Continent; they, therefore, held themselves equally interested with the French in the destruction of those formidable warriors. ”

“ Few nations have ever existed, who have evinced more indomitable courage or hardihood, or shown more devotion to the spirit of independence than the Iroquois.
But all their efforts would have ended in disappointment, had it not been for that principle of confederation, which, at an early day, pervaded their councils, and converted them into a phalanx, which no other tribe could successfully penetrate, or resist. It is this trait, by which they are most distinguished from the other hunter nations of North America ”

“ Like an island in the midst of the vast Algonquin territory was the region occupied by the Huron-Iroquois family. In thrift, intelligence, skill in fortification, and daring in war, this stock stands preëminent among all native Americans. It included the Eries and Hurons, in Canada; {9} the Susquehannocks, on the Susquehanna; and the Conestogas, also in Pennsylvania. But by far the most important branch was the renowned confederacy called the Five Nations. This included the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, and Mohawks. ”

“ The French sought to undo their own influence of this sort when it became necessary for them to try to win over the Iroquois to their own interest in the fur traffic. The Confederacy which existed among the Five, and afterwards the Six, Nations was roughly tried when there was so sharp a bidding for alliances between one or another of the tribes by their European tempters. ”

“ Moreover the Iroquois confederacy of the Five Nations, which held the valley of the Mohawk and the lakes south of Ontario, were not friendly at heart to the Europeans. They had not forgotten nor forgiven the invasion by Champlain; yet, recognizing the value of friendly relations with a power which could supply them with firearms for their contests with the fierce tribes with whom they were at perpetual war, they welcomed the French to dwell among them. French policy had declared itself, even before England made [394] her first move for a consolidation of her power in America. ”

“ From the historical documents recently obtained by the State from France, and deposited in the public offices at the capitol, it is seen that this people are sometimes called the Nine nations of the Iroquois. Algonquin tradition, which I have recently published, denotes that they originally consisted of Eight tribes. (Oneota.) Whatever of truth or error, there may be in these terms, it is certain that, at the period of the Dutch discovery and settlement referred to, they uniformly described themselves as the Five Nations, or United People, under the title of Akonoshioni. ”

“ The fierce and implacable Iroquois, who formed that wonderful confederation called the Five Nations, consisting of the Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and the Cayugas, and later the Tuscaroras, were the most powerful of all the Indian tribes. They were the deadly enemies of the Canadas, and during the whole period of the French wars were the irreconcilable foes of the latter, and more or less the faithful allies of the English, though their paleface friends did not always show them that consideration which was their due. ”

“ The new administration established by him was not content with the uncertain relations existing with the Iroquois, which the fierce hostility of the Mohawks, the most important and powerful of the confederate tribes, constantly threatened to turn into direct enmity. A policy of conquest was determined upon. An embassy sent by the Iroquois to Montreal to treat for peace in 1664 was coldly received, and the next year the instructions of the French King declared the Five Nations to be “perpetual and irreconcilable enemies of the colony.” ”

“ In the drama of European colonisation they stood for nearly two centuries with an unshaken front against the devastations of war, the blighting influence of foreign intercourse, and the still more fatal encroachments of a restless and advancing border population. Under their federal system, the Iroquois flourished in independence, and were capable of self-protection long after the New England and Virginia races had surrendered their jurisdictions and fallen into the condition of dependent nations ”

“ The union of the tribes into one confederacy was discussed and unanimously adopted. To denote the character and intimacy of the union they employed the figure of a single council-house, or lodge, whose boundaries be co-extensive with their territories. Hence the name of Ako- no-shu-ne, who were called the Iroquois.
The great bird which visited them from heaven brought a precious gift to the warriors in the white plumes which she shed at the visit. Every warrior, as he approached the spot where they fell, picked up a feather of snowy white to adorn his crown ”

“ The Iroquois were the salvation of New York. Their raids into Canada safeguarded the rival colony, and when the Five Nations were not on the warpath, the French hesitated to attack their English allies, for fear of provoking a fresh incursion of savages. It has been seen that the Iroquois tended more and more to a policy of neutrality, worn by constant fighting, tired of English inaction, and discerning that their true interest lay in siding with neither French nor English. ”

“ The struggle 405 which would discourage the boy is but zest to the man. Among the Indians themselves, however, we find an exception to the rule suggested in the fact that the Iroquois or the Six Nations of New York, in their tribal organization and alliances of offence and defence probably surpassed even the Aztecs and Mayas. In physical strength and endurance, and in mental powers, so far as government and oratory are concerned, the Iroquois probably surpassed all other Indians ”

“ Chief Johnson was of the renowned Mohawk tribe, and of the "Blood Royal," being a scion of one of the fifty noble families which composed the historical confederation founded by Hiawatha upwards of four hundred years ago, and known at that period as the Brotherhood of the Five Nations, but which was afterwards named the Iroquois by the early French missionaries and explorers. These Iroquois Indians have from the earliest times been famed for their loyalty to the British Crown, in defence of which they fought against both French and Colonial Revolutionists ”

“ Some of the tribes numbered several thousand warriors, and in more than one instance a number of tribes formed a confederacy. The Iroquois, or Six Nations, whose headquarters were in the present State of New York, was the most powerful union of this kind that ever existed among the American Indians. ”

“ This more active type dwelt in a physical environment notable for two features—the abundance of cyclonic storms bringing rain or snow at all seasons and the deciduous forest which thickly covered the whole region. Unlike the Mexican, the civilization of the Iroquois was young, vigorous, and growing. It had not learned to express itself in durable architectural forms like those of Mexico, nor could it rival the older type in social and religious organization. In political organization, however, the Five Nations had surpassed the other aboriginal peoples of North America. ”

“ To increase the influence and extend the possessions of their own tribe, to humble and, if possible, to destroy those hostile to them, are the constant aims of every member of those little commonwealths. For these ends, not only deeds of daring valour are achieved, but schemes are deeply laid, and pursued with the most accurate calculation. There is scarcely a refinement in European diplomacy to which they are strangers. The French once made an attempt to crush the confederacy of the Five Nations by attacking each in succession ”

“ It would be difficult to find a man more Canadian than any one of the fifty chiefs who compose the parliament of the ancient Iroquois nation, that loyal race of Redskins that has fought for the British crown against all of the enemies thereof, adhering to the British flag through the wars against both the French and the colonists.
Arthur Duke of Connaught is the only living white man who to-day has an undisputed right to the title of "Chief of the Six Nations Indians" (known collectively as the Iroquois) . ”

“ Moreover the president of the Onondagas, Hiawatha, formed these five nations into the federal republic of the Iroquois, and they admitted the Tuscaroras into that United States which was created to put an end to war. In the art of government we have not yet caught up with the Iroquois.
They were farmers, with rich fisheries, had comfortable houses, and fortified towns. In color they were like outdoor Spaniards, a tall, very handsome race, and every bit as able as the whites. ”

“ It must not be forgotten that from the missionaries of France, who had at various times lived among the Indians for over a hundred years, and from the traders, gunsmiths, and friendly whites of various disposition and ability, supported by the British government, the Iroquois Indians had reached a comparatively high point of progress. Even when the white men first met them these federated warriors were the most advanced of all others within the limits of the United States. ”

“ When a neighboring people would neither join the confederacy nor enter into a treaty of alliance with it, the almost inevitable result would be, sooner or later, a deadly war. Among the nomadic or unsettled Indian tribes, especially the Algonkins and Sioux, the young men are expected to display their bravery by taking scalps; and a race of farmers, hunters, and fishermen, like the Iroquois, would be tempting victims. Before the confederacy was formed, some of its members, particularly the Caniengas and Oneidas, had suffered greatly from wars with the wilder tribes about them. ”

“ What restrains the Iroquois from striking a blow at any of the savage tribes is, that they know, that by our efforts they will not have the opportunity of destroying these nations one after another, as they did formerly, but that they will have all of them on their back, at one and the same time. ”

“ It is well known that the Iroquois tribes, whom our ancestors termed the Five Nations, were, when first visited by Europeans, in the precise condition which, according to all the evidence we possess, was held by the inhabitants of the Old World during what has been designated the Stone Age. ”

“ Thus, with the close of the seventeenth century, came in effect the close of the life-and-death struggle between the Five Nation Indians and the Canadian settlers. What were the causes which brought the Iroquois to terms? The first and most potent was loss of numbers. Continual bloodshed had reduced the male population of the confederates by half;15 and mixture by adoption, it may well be supposed, had brought some alloy into the old fighting breed. When white men meet coloured men in war, there is always the same tale to tell. ”

“ No peace could be secured from the Iroquois, except by their conquest, the utter breaking down of their power. They were not susceptible to the influence of reason. They were implacable, and had been brutalized by long-inherited habits of cruelty. In the total annihilation of their power was the only hope of peace. This being accomplished, the surviving remnant would, according to the usual custom among the Indians, readily amalgamate with the victorious tribes, and then a general alliance with the French could be easily secured. ”

“ The Hurons [21] were really of the same group (as regards language and descent) as the Iroquois (Irokwá) , but in those days held aloof from the five other tribes who had formed a confederacy [22] and alliance under the name of Ongwehonwe—"Superior Men". The Iroquois (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Kayugas, and Senekas) dominated much of what is now New York State, and from the mountain country of the Adirondaks and Catskills descended on the St. Lawrence valley and the shores of Lakes Ontario and Huron to rob and massacre. ”