George Washington and the Resiliency of Indian People "[8][9], Last edited on 11 February 2023, at 23:33, George Washington: A Biographical Companion, From George Washington to Andrew Montour, 10 October 1755, From George Washington to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779, "Madam Sacho: How One Iroquois Woman Survived the American Revolution", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Town_Destroyer&oldid=1138845464, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 23:33. "And to this day when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers," Cornplanter said. By Josh Sippie / July 27, 2022 11:39 pm EST. Nov. 6thBenefit forThe Association of Ramaytush Ohlone Q & A with filmmakers + Jonathan Cordero, chair of Ramaytush Ohlone peoples. facts, In the summer of 1788 Livingston accompanied Phelps to a meeting with the Seneca chiefs at Buffalo Creek, and on 8 July Phelps concluded an agreement to purchase the Indian rights to the eastern third of the area purchased from Massachusetts (Livermore, Early American Land Companies, description begins Shaw Livermore. Several years after the Revolutionary War, Seneca chiefs told Washington, "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer; and to this day when the name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale and our children cling to the necks of their mothers." CODE OF CONDUCT, Workshop: In Our Own Words: Poetry on Film. Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. Forty Indian villagesand a powerful indigenous nationwere razed on the orders of George Washington, Town Destroyer Versus the Iroquois Indians, By 1779, George Washington had already earned the famous moniker "Father of His Country." Both Washington and Jefferson enslaved and waged war against Indigenous nations to dispossess them of their homelands. Conotocaurious(Town Destroyer) was a nicknamegiven to George Washingtonby IroquoisNative Americansin 1753. The saw marks are still visible on the fence scars as enduring as those that the American Revolution and its aftermath left on the Native nations of Turtle Island (North America). Its time to reckon with a US founding father who waged genocidal warfare against Indigenous nations. Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. Like the statue of Christopher Columbus targeted in Boston last month, it was beheaded and the crown finials of its surrounding fence sawn off. He's the first and a reluctant first, at that . Alan Michelson, Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), 2019, video, bonded stone Houdon replica bust, antique surveyor's tripod, artificial turf, sound, 190 183 cm. doc on controversial mural at George Washington High School | Culture Town Destroyer - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core While individual Iroquois tribes continued to launch raids over the next few years, the Revolutionary War broke the power of the Iroquois as a political unit. Become a member. Staked Plains. To the great Councillor of the thirteen fires. Among the many discussions in the podcast, Estes brings up George Washington's reputation amongst indigenous people as "town destroyer" Washington was known as "town destroyer." It has also been translated as 'Town Taker', 'Burner of Towns', 'Devourer of Villages', or 'he destroys the town'. We know that you are strong and we have heard that you are wise; and we wait to hear your answer to what we have said that we may know that you are just. Pennsylvania Archives. Conotocaurious - Iroquois for Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. They told us he resided beyond the great waters where the sun first rises: That he was a King whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was bright as that sun. What Colour was Napoleons horse? Now Arnautoffs Works Progress Administration murals were being decried for depicting slavery and tribal genocide at all, something now criticized as triggering. tr. The name in its original language (s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. New Anti-Colonialist Documentary Asks Big Questions, California Institute for Community, Arts & Nature, The CIAs Changing Take on the Climate Emergency, Emancipation, Hollywoods Best Civil War Film Ever. In other accounts, Washington was given the nickname sometime after the 1779 Sullivan Expedition in the American Revolutionary War, which destroyed at least 40 Iroquois villages. 5.Samuel Street, reportedly born in New England, kept a store at Niagara. Washington was elected with 69 of the 69 first-round votes cast in the United States Electoral College. Washington dined with Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Kaskaskias, Mahicans, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas; in one week late in 1796, he had dinner with four different groups of Indians on four different daysand on such occasions the most powerful man in the United States followed the . At least thats the impression we get from this very slick package, which numbers Spielbergs production company among its makers and isnt so far in cuddly tone from hisE.T. George Washington: Father of His Country? He is silent for he has nothing to answer. To this day, "Town Destroyer" is still used as an Iroquois name for the president of the United States. What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? Kevin McCarthy is No Edward Snowden, But He Should Find the Comparison Flattering, Assessing Nicaraguas Long Haul toward Liberation and Economic Democracy, A National Divorce? What they agreed to has bound our nation. Signed at Philadelphia the first day of December. fort Stanwix, commissioners from Pensylvania, told our chiefs, that they had come there to purchase from us, all the Lands belonging to us within the lines of their State, and they told us that their line would strike the river Susquehanna below Tioga branch. On 29 Oct. 1790 these chiefs appeared before the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania, seeking redress for a number of wrongs allegedly committed against the Seneca. Good luck with that: GWHS is seldom if ever open to the general public. The voice of the Senecca Nation speaks to you the great Councillor, in whose heart, the wise men of the thirteen fires, have placed their wisdom. George Washington, guilty of acts of genocide - Voltaire Network Innocent men of our nation are killed one after another, and of our best families: But none of your people who have committed the murders have been punished. "I am well persuaded," John Sullivan, the leader of the venture, bragged to Congress afterward, "that, except one town situated near the Allegana, about 50 miles from the Chinessee, there is not a single town left in the country of the Five nations." 'Town Destroyer' contra los indios iroqueses Cuarenta aldeas indgenas, y una poderosa nacin indgena, fueron arrasadas por orden de George Washington Para 1779, George Washington ya se haba ganado el famoso apodo de "Padre de su pas". In Wolf Nation, my 2019 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, I marked the 240th anniversary of Washingtons ruthless invasion with an augmented reality version of this work. Town Destroyercontextualizes this fight within a landscape where similar battles are occurring (like over Confederate monuments), though often for different reasons. For this Land Phelps agreed to pay us Ten thousand dollars in hand and one thousand dollars a year for ever. The Mohawks saw the colonial settlements in violation of the Proclamation Line and trespassers in their territory. The film highlights the debate about controversial murals at George Washington High School. that assembled at them told us you were all brothers, the children of one great Father who regarded also the red people as his children. Screen Grabs: 'Town Destroyer' dives into the George Washington Murals Bob Spiegelman has been a freelance author and film producer, screenwriter, project-developer, multimedia advisor, research director and story consultant on a growing array of film, museum and multimedia projects. "Town Destroyer" sheds new light on our first president. George Washington (1700s), also known as Hanadaguyus , had become famous as an Indian killer during the French and Indian War. The British agent George Beckwith reported to Lord Dorchester from New York on the course of Streets mission, noting that The application of Mr. Street in behalf of the Indians of the Five Nations by means of Mr. Wadsworth has drawn a declaration from the President, expressive of his intentions to pay every attention to the Indians in general, and Mr. Street is assured by General Knox, that his business will be taken into immediate consideration. Beckwith subsequently reported, however, that Mr. Washington himself was given or assumed an Indian name, Conoto carious, meaning "Town Destroyer" or "Devourer of Villages," and an Indian messenger who arrived at Fort Harmar in July 1788 was identified as "George Washington, a Delaware." He was not the only Indian to bear Washington's name. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? During the American Revolution, some Mohawks led by Joseph Brant chose to fight with the British and to defend the Proclamation Line. After some days he proposed to run a line at a small distance Eastward of our western boundary which we also refused to agree to. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") The exploration vehicle/device dubbed Opportunity was sent into space in 2003, landed on the Red Planet six months later, and sent a steady stream of photos and intel back to NASA long after. At the time Cornplanter and the other Seneca presented their address to GW, Phelps was in Philadelphia negotiating with Robert Morris about selling the preemption rights to the residual four million acres of the Phelps-Gorham purchase. The last reason he assigned for continuing to refuse paying us was, that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires and that he had bought them from you and paid you for them. The documentary also provides a platform for experts about the representations and misrepresentations of Indians in American culture, including commercial advertisements and the names of military helicopters like Apache and Comanche to Barbie Dolls with feathers and beads. Advertise . He had been commissioned by the Five Nations in the spring of 1790 to seek redress of grievances against the New York lessees. Its like a midpoint betweenWall-Eand those old Disney True-Life Adventures, which manipulated nature footage into sentimental narrative shapes. Our chiefs were unable to contend at that time, & therefore they sold the Lands up to the line which was then shewn to them as the line of that State. LS (signed with mark), DLC: Thomas Jefferson Papers; Town Destroyer explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of racial reckoning. The Then and Now project examines three case studies of dispossession: the He lives in New York. Town Destroyer (2022) The Movie Database (TMDB) By the standards of the era, the work was indeed pretty progressive in content, mixing a standard, celebratory depiction of early US history with images that clearly indicted treatment of Native Americans, the institution of slavery, and so forth. Sr William Johnson came and took that Fort from the French; he became our father and promised to take care of us and did so till you were too strong for his King. He wants to remind Washington that Cornplanter understands that he is a powerful warrior and has defeated the Seneca in the past. When we saw we were deceived and heard the invitation which you gave us to draw near to the fire you had kindled and talk with you concerning peace we made haste towards it. The Current TikTok Ban Doesnt Go Far Enough. It did not leave our 1st POTUS unblemished as a participant in both those officially sanctioned wrongs. Our nation empowered John Livingston to let out a part of our lands on rent. For first one, and then another, come and take it away, by order of that people, who promised to secure it to us. You told us say they, that the line drawn from Pensylvania, to lake Ontario, would mark it for ever on the East, and the line running from Beaver Creek, to Pensylvania, would mark it on the west; and we see that it is not so. The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. We saw that we were wrong: we wished for peace. 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And at this moment his wife and children are lying on the Ground in want of food. Best of the Bay The elder Washington's reputation was remembered and when they met his great-grandson in 1753 they called George Washington by the same name, Conotocarious.[2][3]. It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages . Alan Michelson is a Mohawk artist and a member of Six Nations of the Grand River. No such document has been found, but the presence of the cover letter to Wadsworth in the Knox Papers suggests that Wadsworth gave the document to GW, who referred it to Knox. N MA F AU -K O N S g or W TI n. O a T C I fm SN ODU w-kau o PR nit.