Cornplanter

For other uses, see Cornplanter (disambiguation).

Chief Cornplanter portrait by Frederick Bartoli, 1796

Gaiänt'wakê (Kaintwakon; generally known as Cornplanter; ca. 1730s–February 18, 1836) was a Seneca war-chief. 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. 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.^[1]

Cornplanter decided that he would plant crops and live peacefully; hence his English name, Cornplanter.^{[citation needed]} His Seneca name, Gaiänt'wakê (often spelled Gyantwachia), means “the planter,” and another variation, Kaintwakon, means “by what one plants.”

Cornplanter was half-brother to Handsome Lake, a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people, and uncle to Governor Blacksnake, a Seneca warchief.

American Revolutionary War

As a war chief, Cornplanter had been hesitant about fighting during the American Revolution. 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." He finally gave in to pressure and several times helped the British.

During the American Revolution, Chief Cornplanter and his uncle, Chief Guyasutha, wanted the Iroquois to remain neutral, as both the British and the American Patriots had originally urged them to. However, soon both sides wanted the Iroquois to fight with them, and the British offered them 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.

Cornplanter joined forces with Loyalist Lt. Colonel John Butler and his rangers at the 1778 Battle of Wyoming Valley, which came to be known as the Wyoming Valley Massacre.

After the burning of Tioga by Patriot forces under Colonel Thomas Hartley, Cornplanter and Joseph Brant also participated in the 1778 Loyalist-Iroquois reprisal led by Captain Walter Butler and Butler's Rangers in Cherry Valley, later called the Cherry Valley Massacre. During this campaign, Cornplanter's men incidentally captured his father after burning his house. Cornplanter, who had once gone to see him as a young man, recognized him and offered apology, inviting him to return with the Senecas or to go back to his white family. His father chose the latter, and Cornplanter sent Seneca warriors to take Johannes Abeel there in safety.^{[citation needed]}

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 and "destroy" Iroquois villages. There was one brief battle of this campaign in which the Iroquois and British troops were decisively defeated at Newtown. Sullivan and his army of 5,000 men conducted a scorched earth campaign, methodically destroying Iroquois villages, farms, and animals between May and September of 1779 throughout the Iroquois homeland (upstate New York).^[2] 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^{[citation needed]}. The Patriot revenge was successful, and those who survived suffered terribly during the following months in what they called “the winter of the deep snow.” Many froze or starved to death. Cornplanter's people continued to fight with the British against the Patriots.

Post-Revolutionary War years

After the devastating loss to the Iroquois brought about by the Sullivan Expedition as well as Britain's final defeat in the war, Cornplanter recognized the advantage of 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, even participating in meetings with both Presidents Washington and Jefferson. He was one of the signers of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784).^[1]

During the Northwest Indian War in Ohio and Indiana immediately after the American Revolution, Cornplanter was able to keep the Iroquois neutral and 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 and protest 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 dialog with those who were interested in his people. He took it upon himself to understand the ways of the white men, as he saw it necessary for future relations between the Haudenosaunee and Americans. He was particularly impressed by the beliefs and practice of the Quakers, and invited them to educate his son and develop schools. He and his half-brother, the religious leader Handsome Lake, strongly opposed liquor.

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 Senecas 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 receiving increasingly poor treatment at the hands of the Americans, and this confirmed for him Handsome Lake's warning 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. While he also closed the schools, he never broke off relations with the Quakers and 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 has been 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".^[1] By 1798, 400 Seneca lived on the land, which was called the Cornplanter Tract or Cornplanter Grant. In 1821 Warren County, Pennsylvania attempted to require Cornplanter 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.

Legacy

Cornplanter's last living direct descendant was Seneca artist and traditionalist, Jesse Cornplanter (1889–1957).^[3]

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.^[1] Most of Cornplanter's people moved to the Allegany Reservation in New York.

The moving of his grave (which conflicted with the promise that his land grant would be his and his heirs "forever") figures 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.

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Chief Cornplanter". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/people/4277/chief_cornplanter/443542. Retrieved 2010-02-26. 
2. ^ Stanley J. Adamiak. "The 1779 Sullivan Campaign: A Little-Known Offensive Strategic To The War Breaks The Indian Nations' Power". http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/1998/sullivan.html. Retrieved 2006-11-11. 
3. ^ Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Tulsa, OK: SIR Publications, 1995: 125

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

• "Cornplanter" by John C. Mohawk at The Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Persondata
Name	Cornplanter
Alternative names	Corn Plant, Gyantwaia, Garganwahgah, John O'Bail
Short description	Seneca war chief
Date of birth	1730s—1750
Place of birth	Conewaugus, New York
Date of death	18 Feb 1836
Place of death	Pennsylvania