IROQUOIS LEAGUE

The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the “League of Peace and Power”, the “Five Nations”; the “Six Nations”; or the “People of the Longhouse”) is a group of First Nations/Native Americans that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after the original five nations were formed. Although frequently referred to as the Iroquois, the Nations refer to themselves collectively as Haudenosaunee in Tuscarora, Rotinonsionni in Mohawk.

Warfare was endemic among most prehistoric Woodland Indians. The Iroquois revered war, although from about 1500 on, give or take 50 years or so, it was reserved for non-natives and tribes outside of the Iroquois League. The ritual torture of captives was common. Some groups also engaged in cannibalism. Both of these activities were associated with sun sacrifice and may show Mesoamerican influences. Among many groups, captives were frequently adopted to make up for population losses.

Many Indians seem to have preferred taking their enemies prisoner rather than killing them. The seventeenth century Iroquois placed capture of prisoners above other war objectives as a means of maintaining population levels, which were under stress from disease and the new level of violence brought on by wars to control the fur trade. This concern with population shaped Iroquois military practice. Their warriors did not take unnecessary risks and were prepared to yield an apparent victory in the field if the cost in life was too high. The emphasis on “skulking war” was consistent with these concerns.

Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, is asked by some Indians he is visiting (members of the Huron tribe), for help against their enemies, members of the formidable Iroquois confederacy. Champlain loads his gun, a long heavy device that bears no resemblance to the early hand cannons, with a charge of powder and three bullets. He joins the army of his new friends, and they confront the Iroquois army. Both armies consist of naked warriors armed with bows and arrows. Two of the Iroquois chiefs advance to challenge the Hurons. One of the chiefs lifts his bow. Champlain fires.

Both chiefs fall to the ground. The Iroquois flee.

Champlain’s shot, hitting two enemies at once, was probably the best the explorer ever made. It was also one of the most historic in North American history. It started the centuries-long hostility between the Iroquois and the French, a development that had the most profound effect on colonial North America.

Expeditions by the Patriots, such as John Sullivan’s campaign against the Iroquois in 1779, were often unsuccessful, in Sullivan’s case in large part because of the logistical problems facing expeditions deep into the interior, especially a lack of transport. Nevertheless, thanks to careful reconnaissance, Sullivan’s army was able to avoid ambush. The frontier war was a brutal exercise in no quarter, slash and burn tactics. The Iroquois visited Wyoming and Cherry Valley with the flame and tomahawk, and Sullivan returned the loan with interest.