A grand council of the confederate Iroquois was held last week, at
the Indian Council House on the Tonawanda Reservation, in the county
of Genesee. Its proceedings occupied three days—closing on the 3d
instant. It embraced representatives from all the Six Nations—the
Mohawk, the Onondaga, the Seneca; and the Oneida, the Cayuga and the
Tuscarora. It is the only one of the kind which has been held for
a number of years, and is, probably, the last which will ever be
assembled with a full representation of all the confederate nations.
With the expectation that the council would commence on Tuesday, two
or three of us had left Rochester so as to arrive at the Council House
Monday evening; but owing to some unsettled preliminaries, it had been
postponed till Wednesday. The Indians from abroad, however, had arrived
at the Council Grounds, or in their immediate vicinity, on Monday;
and one of the most interesting spectacles of the occasion, was the
entry of the different nations upon the domain and hospitality of the
Senecas, on whose ground the council was to be held. The representation
of Mohawks, coming as they did, from Canada, was necessarily small. The
Onondagas, with the acting Tod-o-dah-hoh of the confederacy, and his
two counsellors, made an exceedingly creditable appearance. Nor was
the array of Tuscaroras, in point of numbers at least, deficient in
attractive and imposing features.
Monday evening we called upon and were presented to Blacksmith, the
most influential and authoritative of the Seneca sachems. He is about
60 years old—is somewhat portly, is easy enough in his manners, and is
well disposed and even kindly towards all who convince him that they
have no sinister designs in coming among his people.
Jemmy Johnson is the Great High Priest of the confederacy. Though now
69 years old, he is yet an erect, fine looking, and energetic Indian,
and is both hospitable and intelligent. He is in possession of the
medal presented by Washington to Red Jacket in 1792, which, among other
things of interest, he showed us.
It would be incompatible with the present purpose to describe all the
interesting men who there assembled, among whom were Capt. Frost,
Messrs. Le Fort, Hill, John Jacket, Dr. Wilson and others. We spent
most of Tuesday, and indeed much of the time during the other days of
the week in conversation with the chiefs and most intelligent Indians
of the different nations, and gleaned from them much information of
the highest interest in relation to the organization, government and
laws, religion, customs of the people, and characteristics of the
great men, of the old and once powerful confederacy. It is a singular
fact, that the peculiar government and national characteristics of the
Iroquois is a most interesting field for research and inquiry, which
has never been very thoroughly, if at all, investigated, although the
historic events which marked the proud career of the confederacy, have
been perseveringly sought and treasured up in the writings of Stone,
Schoolcraft, Hosmer, Yates and others.
Many of the Indians speak English readily; but with the aid and
interpretations of Mr. Ely S. Parker, a young Seneca of no ordinary
degree of attainment, in both scholarship and general intelligence,
and who, with Le Fort, the Onondaga, is well versed in old Iroquois
matters, we had no difficulty in conversing with any and all we chose
to.
About mid-day on Wednesday, the council commenced. The ceremonies
with which it was opened and conducted were certainly unique—almost
indescribable; and as its proceedings were in the Seneca tongue,
they were in a great measure unintelligible, and in fact profoundly
mysterious to the pale faces. One of the chief objects for which the
council had been convoked, as has been heretofore editorially stated
in the American, was to fill two vacancies in the sachemships of the
Senecas, which had been made by the death of the former incumbents;
and preceding the installation of the candidates for the succession,
there was a general and dolorous lament for the deceased sachems, the
utterance of which, together with the repetition of the laws of the
confederacy—the installation of the new sachems—the impeachment and
deposition of three unfaithful sachems—the elevation of others in
their stead, and the performance of the various ceremonies attendant
upon these proceedings, consumed the principal part of the afternoon.
At the setting of the sun, a bountiful repast, consisting of an
innumerable number of rather formidable looking chunks of boiled fresh
beef, and an abundance of bread and succotash, was brought into the
council house. The manner of saying grace on this occasion was indeed
peculiar. A kettle being brought, hot and smoking from the fire, and
placed in the centre of the council house, there proceeded from a
single person, in a high shrill key, a prolonged and monotonous sound,
resembling that of the syllable _wah_ or _yah_. This was immediately
followed by a response from the whole multitude, uttering in a low
and profoundly guttural but protracted tone, the syllable _whe_ or
_swe_, and this concluded grace. It was impossible not to be somewhat
mirthfully affected at the first hearing of grace said in this novel
manner. It is, however, pleasurable to reflect that the Indian
recognizes the duty of rendering thanks to the Divine Being in some
formal way, for the bounties and enjoyments which He bestows; and were
an Indian to attend a public feast among his pale faced brethren, he
would be affected, perhaps to a greater degree of marvel, at witnessing
a total neglect of this ceremony, than we were at his singular way of
performing it.
After supper, commenced the dances. All day Tuesday, and on Wednesday,
up to the time that the places of the deceased sachems had been
filled, every thing like undue joyfulness had been restrained. This
was required by the respect customarily due to the distinguished dead.
But now, the bereaved sachemships being again filled, all were to
give utterance to gladness and joy. A short speech from Capt. Frost,
introductory to the enjoyments of the evening, was received with
acclamatory approbation; and soon eighty or ninety of these sons and
daughters of the forest—the old men and the young, the maidens and
matrons—were engaged in the dance. It was indeed a rare sight.
Only two varieties of dancing were introduced the first evening—the
trotting dance and the fish dance. The figures of either are
exceedingly simple, and but slightly different from each other. In the
first named, the dancers all move round a circle, in a single file, and
keeping time in a sort of trotting step to an Indian song of yo-ho-ha,
or yo-ho-ha-ha-ho, as sung by the leaders, or occasionally by all
conjoined. In the other, there is the same movement in single file
round a circle, but every two persons, a man and a woman, or two men,
face each other, the one moving forward, the other backward, and all
keeping step to the music of the singers, who are now, however, aided
by a couple of tortoise or turtle shell rattles, or an aboriginal drum.
At regular intervals, there is a sort of cadence in the music, during
which a change of position by all the couples takes place, the one who
had been moving backward taking the place of the one moving forward,
when all again move onward, one-half of the whole, of course, being
obliged to follow on by _advancing backwards_!
One peculiarity in Indian dancing would probably strongly commend
itself to that class among pale faced beaux and belles denominated the
bashful; though perhaps it would not suit others as well. The men, or a
number of them, usually begin the dance alone; and the women, or each
of them, selecting the one with whom she would like to dance, presents
herself at his side as he approaches, and is immediately received into
the circle. Consequently, the young Indian beau knows nothing of the
tact required to handsomely invite and gallantly lead a lady to the
dance; and the young Indian maiden, unannoyed by obnoxious offers, at
her own convenience, gracefully presents her personage to the one she
designs to favor, and thus quietly engages herself in the dance. And
moreover, while an Indian beau is not necessarily obliged to exhibit
any gallantry as towards a belle, till she has herself manifested her
own good pleasure in the matter, so, therefore, the belle cannot
indulge herself in vascillant flirtations with any considerable number
of beaux, without being at once detected!
On Thursday the religious ceremonies commenced; and the council from
the time it assembled, which was about 11 o’clock, A. M., till 3 or 4
o’clock, P. M., gave the most serious attention to the preaching of
Jemmy Johnson, the Great High Priest, and the second in the succession
under the new revelation. Though there are some evangelical believers
among the Indians, the greater portion of them cherish the religion
of their fathers. This, as they say, has been somewhat changed by the
new revelation, which the Great Spirit made to one of their prophets
about 47 years ago, and which, as they also believe, was approved
by Washington. The profound regard and veneration which the Indian
has ever retained towards the name and memory of Washington, is most
interesting evidence of his universally appreciated worth; and the
fact that the red men regard him not merely as one of the best, but as
the very best man that ever has existed, or that will ever exist, is
beautifully illustrated in a singular credence which they maintain even
to this day, viz: that Washington is the only white man who has ever
entered Heaven, and is the only one who will enter there, till the end
of the world.
Among the Senecas, public religious exercises take place but once a
year. At these times, Jemmy Johnson preaches hour after hour, for
three days; and then rests from any public discharge of ecclesiastical
offices the remaining 362 days of the year. On this, an unusual
occasion, he restricted himself to a few hours in each of the last two
days of the council. We were told by young Parker, who took notes of
his preaching, that his subject matter on Thursday abounded with good
teachings, enforced by appropriate and happy illustrations and striking
imagery. After he had finished, the council took a short respite.
Soon, however, a company of warriors ready and eager to engage in the
celebrated “corn dance,” made their appearance. They were differently
attired. While some were completely enveloped in a closely fitting
and gaudy colored garb; others, though perhaps without intending it,
had made wonderfully close approaches to an imitation of the costume
said to have been so fashionable in many parts of the State of Georgia
during the last hot summer, and which is also said to have consisted
simply of a shirt collar and a pair of spurs. But in truth, these
warriors, with shoulders and limbs in a state of nudity, with faces
bestreaked with paints, with jingling trinkets dangling at their knees,
and with feathered war-caps waving above them, presented a truly
picturesque and romantic appearance. When the center of the council
house had been cleared, and the musicians with the shell rattles had
taken their places, the dance commenced; and for an hour and a half,
perhaps two hours, it proceeded with surprising spirit and energy.
Almost every posture of which the human frame is susceptible, without
absolutely making the feet to be uppermost, and the head for once, to
assume the place of _the understanding_, was exhibited. Some of the
attitudes of the dancers, were really imposing, and the dance as a
whole, could be got up and conducted only by Indians! The women in the
performance of the corn dance, are quite by themselves—keeping time to
the beat of the shells, and gliding along sideways, without scarcely
lifting their feet from the floor.
It would probably be well, if the Indian every where, could be
inclined to refrain at least from the more grotesque and boisterous
peculiarities of this dance. The influence of these cannot be
productive of any good; and it is questionable whether it will be
possible, so long as they are retained, to assimilate them to any
greater degree of civilization or to more refined methods of living
and enjoyment, than they now possess. The same may be said of certain
characteristics of the still more vandalic war dance. This, however,
was not introduced at the council.
A part of the proceedings of Friday—the last day of the council, bore
resemblance to those of the preceding day. Jemmy Johnson resumed his
preaching; at the close of which the corn dance was again performed,
though with far more spirit and enthusiasm than at the first. Double
the numbers that then appeared—all hardy and sinewy men, attired
in original and fantastic style, among whom was one of the chiefs
of the confederacy, together with 40 or 50 women of the different
nations—now engaged and for two hours persevered in the performance
of the various, complicated and fatiguing movements of this dance. The
appearance of the dusky throng, with its increased numbers, and, of
course proportionably increased resources for the production of shrill
whoops and noisy stamping, and for the exhibition of striking attitudes
and rampant motions, was altogether strange, wonderful and seemingly
super-human.
After the dance had ceased, another kind of “sport,” a well contested
foot race, claimed attention. In the evening, after another supper
in the Council House, the more social dances,—the trotting, the
fish—and one in which the women alone participated, were resumed.
The fish dance seemed to be the favorite; and being invited to join
it by one of the chiefs, we at once accepted the invitation, and
followed in mirthful chase of pleasure, with a hundred forest children.
Occasionally the dances are characterised with ebullitions of merriment
and flashes of real fun; but generally a singular sobriety and decorum
are observed. Frequently, when gazing at a throng of 60 or perhaps an
hundred dancers, we have been scarcely able to decide which was the
most remarkable, the staid and imperturbable gravity of the old men
and women, or the complete absence of levity and frolicsomeness in the
young.
The social dances of the evening—with occasional speeches from the
Sachems and Chiefs, were the final and concluding ceremonies of this
singular but interesting affair. Saturday morning witnessed the
separation of the various nations, and the departure of each to their
respective homes.
The writer would like to have said a word or two in relation to the
present condition and prospects of the Indians, but the original design
in regard to both the topics and brevity of this writing having been
already greatly transcended, it must be deferred. The once powerful
confederacy of the Six Nations, occupying in its palmy days the greater
portion of New-York State, now number only a little over 3,000.[110]
Even this remnant will soon be gone. In view of this, as well as of the
known fact that the Indian race is every where gradually diminishing in
number, the writer cannot close without invoking for this unfortunate
people, renewed kindliness and sympathy and benevolent attention.
It is true, that with some few exceptions, they possess habits and
characteristics which render them difficult to approach; but still,
they are only what the Creator of us all has made them. And, let it be
remembered, it must be a large measure of kindliness and benevolence,
that will repay the injustice and wrong that have been inflicted upon
them.
[110] 3,753, vide preceding census.