Summary: George Washington (1732-1799), nicknamed the "American Cincinnatus", was the 1st American President and served in office from 1789-1797. The six Nations were powerful & compelled them to peace: The Lands for a great extent were given up to them, but the nations which were not destroyed, all continued on those Lands and claimed the protecti[on] of the six Nations, as the brothers of their fathers. In the American Revolutionary War, General Washington led Patriot forces to victory over the British and their allies. https://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/06/27/town-destroyer-versus-the-iroquois-indians, Massacre & Retribution: The 1779-80 Sullivan Expedition, How a Native American Prophecy Over George Washington Affected the Country. "Town Destroyer" sheds new light on our first president. Washington was elected with 69 of the 69 first-round votes cast in the United States Electoral College. With the Haudenosaunee standing in the way of westward expansion of the new Republic and with General George Washington seeking revenge against the raids of colonial homes, he ordered the termination of the Haudenosaunee and sent these orders to General Sullivan, known today as the Sullivan Campaign. In 2019, he had a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. He insisted in killing as . 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 was surrendered to you as the price of peace and we ought to have peace, and possession, of the little Land which you then left us. copy, PHi: Gratz CollectionIndian Commissioners Papers. The Onondagas, who were honoring the neutrality agreement, were not prepared for the attack. The artist, Victor Arnautoff, was a Russian emigre whod studied under Diego Rivera, and whose work reflected both that masters visual style and leftist politics. Nov. 5thBenefit forPrecita Eyes Muralists Q & A with filmmakers + Precita Eyes founder Susan Cervantes. For my 2018 video installation Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), I projected video referencing this scorched-earth campaign onto a replica portrait bust of Washington. 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. This address was signed by the Allegheny Seneca chief, Cornplanter (for an identification, see GW to Timothy Pickering, 4 Sept. 1790), and the minor chiefs Half Town (Gahgeote, Achiout) and Great Tree (Kiandoch-gowa, Big Tree, Big Log, not to be confused with a more important Seneca chief named Big Tree or Great Tree; see Henry Knox to GW, 27 Dec. 1790, n.4). 3.By the terms of the Second Treaty of Fort Stanwix, completed in October 1784, the Six Nations agreed to relinquish a small tract of land in western New York and all that part of Pennsylvania north and west of the Indian boundary established by the First Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, an area including all of the land in Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny River. 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. 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. We told you we would open our hearts to you. For this Land Phelps agreed to pay us Ten thousand dollars in hand and one thousand dollars a year for ever. Crushed power. On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. (Being an Appendix to Report of the Minister of Agriculture. 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. What Happens When Art Gets Competitive on Television? 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. 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. You must log in or register to reply here. The father of his country massacred men, women and children. 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. 2.At this point the copyist inadvertently repeated the words and so long.. It also opens Fri/4 at the Roxie, with some screenings attended by Davenport and producer Keith Wilson. On the one hand, things were said like If you support this mural, you have a colonized mentality and (on a signboard) Stop Protecting White Supremacy. On the other, the whole situation was termed identity politics gone off the rails, and the suggestion that the murals were traumatizing an easy way to justify the erasure of things you dont like.. And it is not the Six nations only, that reproach those Chiefs, with having given up that Country; the Chipaways and all the nations who lived on those lands westward, call to us & ask us brothers of Since that day, the Haudenosaunee have referred to all of the Presidents of the United States as Hanadagyas The Town Destroyer. TOWN DESTROYER less than 1 minute read To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. No doubt he meant to deceive us. Pennsylvania Archives. . 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. held a Council and they agreed that no event of war could be worse than being driven with our wives & children from the only Country which we had any right to. Pennsylvania Archives. What Colour was Napoleons horse? The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late seventeenth century. George "Town Destroyer" Washington Hulton Archive/Getty Images The first president holds the leftmost spot on the Mount Rushmore memorial carving, the center of the US one-dollar bill, and a controversial spot in the hearts of the indigenous people of America. 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. The long-running Mission arts venue's charms come through in diverse music, poetry, dramatic readings, and comedy shows. On June 4, 1779, the General of the Revolutionary Army, George Washington, violated the treaty and ordered the invasion of the territory of the Iroquois confederation. Privacy Policy MVFF is an acclaimed eleven-day cinema event celebrating the best in US . It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages", or "he destroys the town". Through its grants program, the NHPRC supports a wide range of activities to Ryan Whites documentary about the data-gathering land rover that was only expected to function on Mars surface for about 90 days, yet wound up lasting a remarkable 15 years. Hundreds perished of starvation, disease and exposure a Haudenosaunee Trail of Tears. The name in its original language (s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. In the summer of 1790, Street was in New York to present these grievances to GW. nD. They called us brothers and invited us to his protection. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? Answer (1 of 4): The most famous nickname (really, more of an honorary title) associated with George Washington was The Father of His Country. Plus: 'I Didn't See You There' on disability, 'Battleground' on abortion, and 'Good Night Oppy' on cute little Mars rovers. 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." What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? On display since San Franciscos George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. Thurs. 1890. (Its twin sister robot, named Spirit, conked out pretty quickly by contrast.). In his general perspective and frequent logistical frustrations, his movie provides a challenge to the complacency of the able-bodied, and a chance to experience a very different relationship towards the external world. It is translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns What they said went to the bottom of our hearts: We accepted the invitation and promised to obey him. Snitow and Kaufman try to walk a fine line and to offer a balanced perspective in their 58-minute documentary which includes on camera interviews with well known historians such as UCLA Professor Robin D. G. Kelley, plus famed San Francisco muralist Dewey Crumpler, along with community activists, local political figures, members of Indians tribes close to home and from far away. When our chiefs returned from the treaty of fort Stanwix, and laid before our Council what had been done there our Nation was surprized to hear, how great a Country you had compelled them to give up, to you, without paying us any thing for it.3 Every one said your hearts were yet swelled with resentment against us for what had happened during the war: but that one day you would reconsider it with more kindness. Battlegroundhas already had a brief run in theaters, but now is available for streaming on digital platforms including iTunes. 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. In a letter written by tribal leaders in 1790, Washington is described as an unjust killer and referred to as the "Town Destroyer." Crops such as corn, beans, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, and melons grew in an abundance that astonished the invading soldiers. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? AI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think, DeSantiss Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook, Erase the Memory to Erase a People? What is role of the artist in reflecting America to itself? Conotocaurious (Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Native Americans in 1753. 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." When George Washington High Schooldesigned by architect Timothy Pfleuger, who also created the Castro and Paramount Theaters, among other landmarksopened in 1936, its hallways sported 13 impressive murals titledThe Life of Washington. We hearkened to them and were deceived until your army approached our towns. Our nation empowered John Livingston to let out a part of our lands on rent. In recent times, probably no San Francisco news story has traveled as far or as wide as the story about Victor Arnautoffs murals which subvert the myths and depict the life of George Washington as a foe of the Iroquois and an owner of Black slaves. 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. must know from you, whether you mean to leave us, and our children, any land to till. Hear now we entreat you, what has since happened, concerning that Land. Our writings were lodged in the hands of Street of Niagara, as we supposed him to be our friend; but when we saw Phelps consulting with Street, on every occasion, we doubted of his honesty towards us, and we have since heard, that he was to HAWARA, West Bank (AP) Israeli troops fired stun grenades and blocked hundreds of Israeli left-wing activists from staging a solidarity rally on Friday in a Palestinian town that was set . As a Mohawk citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy the oldest living democracy in the Western Hemisphere when I see statues of Washington, like the towering equestrian monument at the Virginia Capitol in Richmond, or the colossus in front of Federal Hall in New York, I see not only a founding father, but also a genocidal one. The following year, he received a letter. "Town Destroyer" is a translation of the name given to George Washington by the Iroquois nation after he demanded the total destruction of their settlement and crops in a 1779 attack against the tribe that was aligned with the British. That did not happen, and in fact the murals fate (should they be removed? Many Haudenosaunee froze or starved to death that winter. When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Hanadagyas (Town Destroyer): 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. Several of the latter have a Bay Area slant, notably two opening this Fri/4 at SFs Roxie Theater. Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 18521949. Lowry offers the somber notion that well have to have this debate for another couple of decades before the issue is resolved. Maybe so. From his headquarters in Middlebrook, N.J., Washington authorized the "total destruction and devastation" of the Iroquois settlements across upstate New York so "that country may not merely be overrun but destroyed.". He signed the message "Conotocarious," or Town Devourer. 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 . 48hills.org is the official publication of the non-profit San Francisco Progressive Media Center. The Then and Now project examines three case studies of dispossession: the Tuesday, November 29, 2022, 5pm PST. However, most ofBattlegroundsfocus is not on the headline-makers, but on those in the trenchesin particular, anti-abortion activists whove been working towards this moment for years, even decades. For first one, and then another, come and take it away, by order of that people, who promised to secure it to us. We will not conceal from you, that the great God, and not man has preserved the Corn planter from his own nation: for they ask continually, where is the Land which our children and their children after them are to lie down on? 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. Conotocaurius ( Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. (Being an Appendix to Report of the Minister of Agriculture.). our fathers where is the place which you have reserved for us to lie down on. It might also illuminate Arnautoffs murals that roiled The City and the nation. Few visitors to the museum had ever heard of the Sullivan Campaign, or knew that most of New York state was our original homeland. George Washington, also known as Enthroned Washington, is a large marble sculpture by Horatio Greenough commissioned by the United States Congress on July 14, 1832 for the centennial of U.S. President George Washington's birth on February 22, 1732. 6 vols. Roxie Theater: Town Destroyer - Mission Local Gunman robs taco truck at 14th & Harrison at lunch hour Wind splits giant sequoia that may date to 1884 90-unit Irving St. housing OKed despite toxin fears Local news needs you! Police funding, tax cuts, and spending equity will be on the table as the supes take on a brutal budget season. 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. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more., I would recommend, that some post in the center of the Indian Country, should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provisions whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.. Cart, Become a Member The Speech of the Corn-planter, Half-town and the Great-Tree chiefs of the Senecca Nation. Join us for a free screening of TOWN DESTROYER - a new documentary about the furor over Victor Arnautoff's WPA murals at George Washington High School. January 31, 2023. More info here. Indigenous Values Initative. description ends Colonial ser., 16:5018), as well as other grievances. He paid us two thousand & five hundred dollars in hand part of the Ten thousand, and he sent for us last Spring to come and receive our money; but instead of paying us the remainder of the Ten Thousand dollars, and the one thousand dollars due for the first year, he offered us no more than five hundred dollars, and insisted he had agreed with us for that sum only to be paid yearly. History first: in 1779, three years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and in the thick of a violent revolution, Washington ordered the total destruction and devastation of Iroquois villages allied with King George. Jonah Raskin is the author of Beat Blues, San Francisco, 1955. Report on Canadian Archives . Sun. We have nothing to answer to the children of the brothers of our fathers. Ironically, his choice of words more aptly applies to the American campaigns against Indigenous nations, which erased our histories, demonized our heroes, scorned our values and acculturated our children in boarding schools. description ends , 5:51426; Zagarri, David Humphreys Life of General Washington, description begins Rosemarie Zagarri, ed. From George Washington to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779 Sir, The expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tri 21st. oy. His mural, "Life of Washington," is widely . Advertise George Washington: Father of His Country? The Seneca address was transmitted to Henry Knox for report; Knox replied on 27 Dec. 1790 with a report on the Seneca address and a draft of GWs reply (see Knox to GW, 27 Dec. 1790). modern editorial content, are copyright The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. Battlegroundis almost entirely limited to the game-changing year of 2020, when RBGs death, Amy Coney Barretts appointment, and other events turned a tide. Upon this threat our Chiefs Part One: The one-time economic engine of the 'Harlem of the West' has become an environmental disaster areaand the city isn't taking it seriously. Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufmans documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. Records Commission (NHPRC) is part of the National To this day, "Town Destroyer" is still used as an Iroquois name for the president of the United States. The issues reached a tipping point not long ago when the members of the San Francisco Board of Education listened to impassioned testimony and voted to cover up the murals. Alan Michelson is a Mohawk artist and a member of Six Nations of the Grand River. "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Hanadagyas (Town Destroyer): 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. This is an analysis of a controversy that was all over the local and national news not so long ago even if it seems very long ago, as it was just-pre-COVID. If art (or history) is altered to blunt painful truths, isnt that dishonesty, whether coming from the political left or right? Sign up for email updates on the latest frieze talks, fairs and events. One commentary points out that by excluding the face of the Indian, the artist has respected the identity and the spirit of the dead person. A Seneca leader named Tanacharison called Washington HandaganyasTown Destroyer.. But the Iroquois Indians of the time bestowed on Washington another, not-so-flattering epithet: Conotocarious, or "Town Destroyer. The name in its original language(s) has been 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. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") We see groups of collegiate women who travel to a D.C. March for Life in January 2020 to save the babies. They demand equal rights for unborn humans, hoping not just that abortion will become illegal, but abortion will become unthinkable. Organizations like Students for Life of America and the Susan B. Anthony List are very well-organized, and there is no questioning the earnestness of their members. [7] In 1790, the Seneca chief Cornplanter told President Washington: "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer and to this day when your name is heard our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. are you determined to crush us? | Benjamin Fanjoy/The Standard Nov. 10thBenefit forThe Living New Deal Q & A with filmmakers + speakers. There are passionate arguments on both sides, and they are not as simply divided by racial, cultural, or political identification as youd think. 5.Samuel Street, reportedly born in New England, kept a store at Niagara. Does this promise bind you? . The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as "Caunotaucarius", "Conotocarious", "Hanodaganears", and "Hanadahguyus." It is translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages", or "he destroys the town". Pete Galindo, the director of the Great Wall Project, talks about the half-mile long Great Wall of LA which depicts the history of the city, including lynching. In sentence 4 Cornplanter's reference to Washington as "the Town-destroyer" recalls a time during the American Revolution (1779) when he ordered the burning of Seneca villages. We could bear this confusion no longer, & determined to press thro every difficulty, and lift up our voice that you might hear us, and to claim that security in the possession of our lands which your commissioners so solemly promised us, and we now entreat you to enquire into our complaints and redress our wrongs. 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. The 77-minute film is entirely shot from his POV as a person navigating everyday life from a motorized wheelchair. But most of the pro-lifers here seem to sincerely concur with such concepts as having a baby is more of a way to empower women. (Like every other abortion critic, however, these nice people never, ever mention mens responsibility in the matter.). They then left us to consider the bargain till the next day. They are in the early stages of promoting the 55-minute film about the controversial murals at George Washington High School in the Richmond District. The title by which Washington was known to Native nations, Handaga:yas or Town Destroyer, was one he inherited from his great-grandfather, John Washington, a slave-owning planter and colonel in the Virginia militia who, during Bacons Rebellion of 1676, had the chiefs of several tribes killed. George Washington (1700s), also known as Hanadaguyus , had become famous as an Indian killer during the French and Indian War. As GW explained in an undated memorandum on David Humphreys draft biography of GW: It was on this occasion he was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treatedCaunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner & communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late war (Comments on David Humphreys Biography of George Washington, 178788, in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. We have already said how we came to join against you. 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. that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires, The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, David Humphreys Life of General Washington,, David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks., Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development, Report on Canadian Archives . As one observer puts it, Nuance is sort of a quaint notion now.The Life of Washingtonwas intended as a teaching toolbut are only positive lessons allowed now, even when history itself was cruel and unfair? remains uncertain. Years later, in 1790, the Seneca chief Cornplanter told President Washington: "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer," a . The French came among us and built Niagara. This resulted in a companion mural from African American artist Dewey Crumpler, entitledMulti-Ethnic Heritage, being commissioned for an adjacent corridor. Phelps (17491809) was a Massachusetts merchant, politician, and large-scale land speculator. The campaign defeated the loyalist Iroquois army, burned 40 Iroquois villages to ashes, and left homeless many of the Indians, hundreds of whom died of exposure during the following frigid winter. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. 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. Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. The title by which Washington was known to Native nations, Handaga:yas or Town Destroyer, was one he inherited from his great-grandfather, John Washington, a slave-owning planter and colonel in the Virginia militia who, during Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, had the chiefs of several tribes killed. The Haudenosaunee pledged neutrality with this statement, We see this as a fight between father and son. What the Commissioners had said about the land having been ceded to them at the peace our Chiefs considered only as intended to lessen the price, & they passed it by with very little notice; but since that time we have heard so much of the right to our lands which the King gave when you made peace with him that it is our earnest desire you will tell us what they mean. ERKURIES BEATTY, OF THE 4TH PENN LINE. What Recent Independent Cinema Closures Mean for Scotland, Bjrks Fossora Guides Listeners Through Jagged Heights, the musician tackles mourning and uses memory as a way to enrich lifes soil, The National Windrush Monument Is a Bittersweet Tribute to Courage, Sonia Boyces Performances Defy Easy Categorization, WochenKlausurs Language Schools for Refugees, How Topshops Business Model Cannibalized Youth Culture, How Open-Access Resources Can Support Disabled Artists. Yet to this day, the Iroquois (more properly, the Haudenosaunee) call Washington Conotocaurius, or "Town Destroyer." His army razed their well-constructed, permanent villages and laid waste to huge quantities of their food. George Washington's favorite native fruit is ripe in the HFH orchard >> the pawpaw. He lives in New York. Do this and so long2 as the Land shall remain that beloved name shall live in the heart of every Senecca. These are to us very great things.