American History Tellers - Revolution | The Iroquois Diplomat | 3

Episode Date: July 11, 2018

It’s 1786. For two years the city of Philadelphia has been celebrating its independence. For citizens of this brand new country, life is parties, meetings, debates and festivals - sometimes all blended together. But it wasn’t fun and games for everyone. Even before the war, American distrusted both the natives and the British. While Native American tribes weren’t a ‘side’ in the Revolutionary War, the politics and broken promises of the Colonies locked Indians, British and American forces alike in battle.Support this show by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine you and 2,000 other people are gathered on the streets of Philadelphia. The year is 1786. The Revolutionary War is over. The city has been in a continual state of excitement for two and a half years, ever since the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which gave America its independence from Great Britain. You are no longer subjects. You're now citizens of a new nation and are trying to figure out exactly what that means. Parties, meetings, debates,

and festivals have all blended into another. Today's event is the Festival of St. Tamanend. It commemorates the meeting a century before between William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, and an Indian chief named Tamanend. Along with the other merrymakers, you are dressed as an Indian, or your idea of an Indian. You have some feathers in your hair and you've streaked your face with paint. You and the others are now gathered around a vast teepee-like structure that you've constructed on the shores of the Schuylkill River. Suddenly, a man to your left puts his arm out in front of you, blocking you from moving forward. Hey, what are you doing? Be quiet. Look. He points to six real Indians walking directly towards you. The crowd parts for them,

and everyone falls silent. What's doubly bewildering is that while you and your fellow partiers are dressed up as Indians, these six real Indians are dressed to look like white men, in shirts and pants and hard-soled boots instead of moccasins. One of the festival organizers steps forward to take charge. After conferring with the Indians, he turns to address the crowd. Ladies and gentlemen, what a wonderful surprise. We have here the renowned Seneca leader known as Corn Planter. There's a gasp when people hear this. The Seneca are one of the six nations of the Great Iroquois Confederacy. Everyone knows that the Iroquois sided with the British in the Revolutionary War. The organizer continues.

They mean no harm. He and his associates are on their way to New York to meet with the Congress of Confederation. We invite them to be our guest, to impart a few words of native wisdom to us. Welcome, Chief. Welcome to our wigwam. At that, there is a loud blast as cannons fire to us. Welcome, chief. Welcome to our wigwam. At that, there is a loud blast as cannons fire in salute. The crowd cheers. Corn planter casts a critical gaze over your

dress. He doesn't seem impressed. He is a tall man, well built with piercing eyes. When he does speak, it's through an interpreter. Brothers, hearken to what I tell you. This is a day of pleasure for you. But God looks upon us all. He sees what we are doing, and I think God is sorry for the poor Indians. He grieves that the afflictions now come upon them. I hope you have observed that I have tears in my eyes. I pray that henceforth we may live in peace and unity. I am sorry that we, the Seneca, were led astray to fight against you. I hope you will help to put me right. There's an awkward pause.

This is an awfully serious message for a lighthearted event. But then someone gives the signal, and the cannons fire again in salute. And then there are three cheers, and you and the crowd march the guests down to the riverside, where a peace pipe is passed around. Some of the revelers break out in the made-up pantomime war dances they perform every year. Hey, corn planter, show us one of your war dances. The Seneca look confused and insulted,

but eventually they give in and start to dance. Cornplanter himself watches solemnly. Somehow in the shuffle, you found yourself right next to him. A man from the crowd nudges you. Hey, pass this wine to the leader. You nod, take the glass, and hand it carefully to Cornplanter. He looks at you and takes the glass. Then he turns it upside down and pours the wine into the dirt.

The dancers stop. The crowd hushes. Cornplanter speaks. May the ground suck up this wine. And may my ancestor, Tamanand, for whom you've named this festival, yet his drink. Hey, this is Nick. And this is Jack. And we just launched a brand new podcast called The Best Idea Yet. You may have heard of it. It's all

about the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. Listen to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Kill List is a true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those whose lives were in danger. Follow Kill List wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C True Crime shows like Morbid

early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. We are in episode three of our six-part series on the American Revolution. In the last episode, we got the British perspective. We saw how some in England, like Lord George Germain, who led the British war effort, looked at the Americans as disobedient children who needed to be taught a lesson. Others admired the Americans for following the thinkers of the English Enlightenment and proposing to build a new nation on the principle of individual freedom.

This series was written by best-selling author Russell Shorto and follows the six lives he focused on in his award-winning book, Revolution Song. Now we turn to the third society that was caught up in the struggle for American freedom, the Native Americans. We'll focus on one man, the Seneca leader, Corn Planter. This is Episode 3, The Iroquois Diplomat. The Native Americans living in the territory of the 13 English colonies, not to mention all of those to the south and west, were a vast, diverse people.

There were dozens upon dozens of tribes and nations. Each one had complex relationships with its neighbors and its own outlook on concepts like war or freedom. In many Native cultures, even individual villages had autonomy. They could make their own decisions, independent of the wider tribe. And so there was no one Native side in the Revolutionary War. There were many, held by doves and hawks, appeasers and aggressors. These differing opinions and values were nothing new. Native Americans didn't just quietly inhabit the land until warlike Europeans arrived.

They had their own conflicts, their own politics, and were no more peace-loving than European nations. They were just as prone to war and peace, just as gullible or wise, just as liable to anger or forgiveness. This more nuanced description contradicts the image of the proud, noble, and strong Natives we've inherited. Those views have been shaped by American, British, and French settlers who interacted with and probably misunderstood Native peoples. No one embodied this rich complexity more than Corn Planter. He rose to become a leader of the Seneca, a leader of the great Iroquois Confederacy, and he played a vital role in the period of America's founding. Imagine you're a child in the 1740s. You live in a Seneca village in what's now upstate New York, but you don't call yourself Seneca. You are Onondowaka, which means the people who come from the Great Hill. The center of your world is the Longhouse. You're a part of

a confederacy of nations, which the French call Iroquois. Your own word for it is Haudenosaunee, which means people of the Longhouse. The Longhouse is precisely what it sounds like, a domed wooden structure covered in elm bark that is typically 60 feet long or so. You live here with your immediate family, as well as several other families. Each occupies a wide bunk on one side of a long central aisle that runs down the middle. It's evening, and you are playing with the other kids that share the longhouse with you. One of them grabs your arm. Hey, hold still!

He pushes his finger into your arm and then lifts it back to reveal your skin. What are you doing? This isn't the first time one of the kids has taken an interest in your skin, but you still try to act like you don't know what's about to happen. Hey, come look. The other kids gather around to see. The kid holding your arm pushes down on your flesh again and lets go. Look how white he is. A group of kids start testing their own skin with their fingers to see how they compare. They are noticeably darker than you. You can see it too, but you brush them off. Leave me alone.

I'm not some strange animal for you to poke. I'm the son of Gahonone. At this reminder of your mother's name, the kids back off. You've won, at least for tonight. You walk away and towards the longhouse. Once inside, you see your mother at your bunk. It's a comforting sight. She set a fire

nearby to keep things warm, and smoke is wafting up and out through a hole above in the roof. Hello, son. You look tired. Why don't you go to sleep? Thank you, mother. You lie down and close your eyes. As you drift off, listening to the coughs and whispers of the several people you share your home with, you rub your arm where the boy was jabbing you. And then you start to dream about a white man, your father. Corn Planter was born in a village on the western edge of the Iroquois land. He grew up with a sense of being special. His mother, Gahonone, was a prominent woman in the village.

The Seneca were a matrilineal society, and she was a lineage matron, one of the women in charge of many of the village's important decisions. Corn was one of three vital crops of the Iroquois and surrounded Gahonone's village, and so she named her son Ke'etwake, or corn planter. But there was another reason corn planter felt different. His father wasn't from the village. He was a white man, of dubious character, who appeared in the village one day selling rum. The trader stayed a while, then took off, but everyone in the village knew about the son he left behind. His absence, and the light skin tone he passed down, haunted corn planter and made him the target of taunting by other children.

As he grew up, Corn Planter took part in many village rituals. While the easternmost tribe of the Iroquois, the Mohawk, had adopted many white ways, life in Corn Planter's village was still very traditional. In the spring, he collected sap from maple trees. At the start of summer, he celebrated the strawberry festival. The hot months were for tending crops and for playing games like lacrosse. In the fall, he harvested and assisted the men in hunting, and he learned to fight. Seneca boys' lives revolved around warfare. They were taught to

use knives and tomahawks and eventually muskets. They learned to withstand pain and suffering. Doing so brought respect and singled out young men as future leaders. Corn planters' people learned about their history through storytelling. The village would gather together at special occasions to hear about where they came from. They believed the earth began when Sky Woman fell from Sky World into the ocean. She landed on a turtle's back. Other creatures packed mud onto the turtle shell, and plants sprang up. This, they believed, became the earth, the island they call home. These gatherings were also for passing down

tales of battle. The Seneca and other Iroquois tribes used to fight each other relentlessly, until Degonawida, the peacemaker, and his follower Hiawatha created a plan to unite the Iroquois. It was then that the nations of the Confederacy made peace, though collectively they still warred with other tribes. Their alliance brought them great strength, and they used it to dominate other groups. The Iroquois forced the Munsee westward and northward from their home near the Manhattan coast, keeping them and another tribe, the Shawnee, under their control. As Cornplanter grew, his world slowly expanded outward,

from the warmth and closeness of the Longhouse, to the liveliness of his village and the wild forests surrounding it, to the interconnected villages that formed the Seneca Nation. There were six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Mohawk. These peoples were interrelated with closely connected customs. They shared information through a network of messengers who were astonishingly fast. A trained runner could cover 100 miles a day on foot. Through these messengers, the Iroquois Confederacy made it their business to keep track of events in far-off places, from the Mississippi River, through the Great Lakes, into Canada, and south to the Carolinas. They learned of distant peoples, the Chippewa, and the Miami, and the Choctaw, and the Creek,

the Cherokee, and the Potawatomi. As Corn Planter grew, his elders began to include him in political discussions. He was too young to have fought in the French and Indian War, but he learned about it from his uncle, Kayashuta, who was deeply involved in politics. He had acted as a guide to the young George Washington in some of his dealings with the French. He and other Iroquois leaders saw the defeat of the British General Braddock at the forks of the Ohio River in 1755. For them, that defeat was a disaster. They had hoped that the British would prevail over the French in the war. They knew the French were taking over Indian lands further west and believed the British would keep

them at bay. Braddock's loss sent shockwaves through the tribal peoples. The Shawnee and Muncie, who had long accepted Iroquois control, decided that they couldn't afford to leave their fates in the hands of the Iroquois. They began to rebel. By 1763, it was clear that a new political reality was sweeping over the Seneca's homeland. The French and Indian War was over. The British had eventually won. Kayashita and the rest of the Iroquois were optimistic. They had made a pact with the British during the war that they believed would now secure their future. In that agreement, the Iroquois promised not to fight alongside the French. In return, the British vowed never to build forts west of the Seneca homeland.

But with the end of the war, the British broke that promise. They took over French forts to the west and began using them as bases to expand their reach. News of the British breach of promise traveled fast. Tribes from all over the eastern half of North America were now caught up in these political events. Something major was brewing. It was time for Kayashute to set off on a new round of diplomacy. Cornplanter was a teenager by this time, almost a man in the eyes of his people. He probably accompanied his uncle.

They traveled on foot, moving quickly through the night-dark forests, hour after hour, day after day. For sustenance, they carried pouches filled with sweetened cornmeal. The dried elk bladder they wore slung over their shoulders served as a canteen. One day, the force gave way, and they arrived at the largest expanse of water Corn Planter had ever seen, the western edge of Lake Erie, near a place the French called Détroit, meaning the Strait. The Americans pronounced it Detroit. There, Corn Planter

listened as native orators from across the region spoke passionately through endless council meetings. Despite the tribes' different languages, they had one common goal—survival. These councils were calls to war. Kayashute represented the Mingoes, another name for the Seneca people in Ohio and a growing number of other tribes. He brought with him war belts, rows of strung wampum beads to convey his message. If the British were allowed to take over the French forts, he argued, they would take all native lands. After listening to Kayashite's passionate speech, each tribal council agreed to join his call for war. Never before had so many tribes spread across

so much territory come together for one purpose. Kayashite eventually met with the Ottawa chief, Pontiac. They would become powerful allies. At a council in early May of 1763, Pontiac spoke about the English with blunt eloquence. It is important for us, my brothers, that we exterminate from our lands this nation which seeks only to destroy us. They are seeking our ruin. Pontiac's rebellion, as it would be called, rained terror on British North America,

from Fort Detroit to Fort Sandusky in Ohio, into Pennsylvania and New York, and as far west as the Wabash River in Indiana. The loose confederation of Native tribes brought violence and chaos to settlers as well as soldiers. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed. When it ended in 1766, the waves of violence ushered in a new era for all sides. The British now knew the Natives could not just be wished away. They would have to negotiate with them. American settlers, meanwhile, came increasingly to distrust both the natives and the English.

And for the Iroquois, and in particular for Cornplanter, who was still a young man, the end of Pontiac's rebellion brought a new determination. Corn Planter would serve his people, and he would do so with a deeper knowledge, an awareness, not only of the various native tribes of his continent, but of the ways of the British and their American cousins. He watched with steely calm as the two groups of whites grew further and further apart over the years. As the tensions between them grew, so did a pressure inside him, for he was not only Seneca, he was half-white. Cornplanter had never forgotten about his absent white father.

He knew his name, John Abale. Finally, when he could take it no longer, he found out where Abale lived and went there. It was a journey of hundreds of miles. When he arrived, he confronted his father, unsure of what he was hoping for. Perhaps recognition in his father's eyes, or remorse maybe. Instead, the man made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with his savage offspring. Cornplanter left, feeling more confused than ever. But when it came to the growing tensions between the Americans and the British, he felt no confusion.

If a war broke out, he would be ready to speak as his uncle had. He could be a diplomat, a negotiator. But if necessary, he would be a warrior. Are you in trouble with the law? Need a lawyer who will fight like hell to keep you out of jail? We defend and we fight just like you'd want your own children defended. Whether you're facing a drug charge, caught up on a murder rap, accused of committing war crimes, look no further than Paul Bergeron.

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right now by joining Wondery+. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening. Imagine you are a young Seneca woman. It's July 1777, and you're about to walk into a large council meeting. Hundreds of Iroquois have gathered along with you on a high bluff overlooking Lake Ontario at a place called Oswego. You've walked more than 100 miles to discuss the war between the Americans and the British. It is two years since the first military clashes at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and a year since the Americans formally declared their independence. In that time, there have been vicious battles

between the Americans and the British forces. When it all started, both sides wanted your people to stay on the sidelines. You were able to go about your life as usual, following the rhythms of the forest and the seasons. But now the British seem to want something from you. They have called you and the rest of the Iroquois to this council. The men in your group think it's a good idea, but you and the rest of the women are hesitant. It is surely a trap. The British want to kill us and take our lands. The British live across the great water. They have large homes and much land. They have no reason to take ours. In the end, the women agree to come. As you walk into the meeting, you see a great feast laid out, whole cows slaughtered, and gallons

upon gallons of rum, all provided by the British government. It's a celebration. Your cousins, aunts, and uncles are all there. You greet one of your aunts with a hug. How is it possible that the British have so much to give? It must be as the men say. They are very rich and powerful. Finally, the council begins.

All the nations are there. The Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida, Tuscarora and Seneca. An agent of the British government stands up in his red uniform and speaks. People of the Longhouse, I was sent by our father, the King of England, to communicate with the Red Brethren upon an important subject. As you know, the Americans are our children, but they have become disobedient and have rebelled against our government. The king feels it is right to correct them,

and he wants you, all the six nations, to turn out and join with him and give the Americans a punishment for their disobedience. If you do this, our father will support you with war utensils, guns and powder and lead and tomahawk and sharp edges and provisions and rations. And understand this, our father is very rich, while the Americans are poor and will soon give up the fight. Our father will pay you for each scalp. Our father wants you to support him.

You squeeze your aunt's hand and look around at the others to see what's on their faces. In the crowd, you catch one man's eyes. He is taking it all in and nodding. You turn to your aunt. Who's that? Him? That's Tyendinaga, chief of the Mohawks. You feel a ripple of excitement.

You've heard of him, but never seen him before. He's strong, smart. Everyone knows that he's been to London and speaks English fluently. Later that night, there is another council at which your people discuss what they should do. Tyendinaga, whom the white men call Joseph Brandt, stands up to speak. The offer of the British agent is reasonable. I've been to England. I've seen the great power there, the houses and the riches.

The Americans are no match for the British army. If the Americans were to win this war, they would want our land. But if the British won, they would leave us in peace. I say, we take up the offer of the red coat. There's a great deal of commotion following this. You're trying to process what Tyendinaga has said. When Cornplanter, one of your own rising Seneca leader, gets up to speak, you are from Cornplanter's village. You have known him all your life. You know he is not only smart

and strong, but wise. So you listen carefully. People, listen to what I have to say. War is war. Death is death. A fight is a hard business. This fight between the Americans and the British is a family quarrel. It does not concern us. The Americans say they are fighting for their liberty, but we, the Indian nations, do not truly know what this fight is about. We are liable to make a mistake. We are very apt to be deceived. Cornplanter hasn't finished speaking when the Mohawk leader rises again and interrupts him. This shocks you. It is a terrible breach of protocol. Stop speaking! You are a coward!

It's hardly worthy of our people to note what you have said, for you have shown your cowardice. Shortly after this, the British agent speaks again. Joseph Brandt speaks wisely. Take up the hatchet and support England, and we will reward you richly. After this, British soldiers appear. You are alarmed at first, for you still harbor the fear that this is a trap. But instead of swords, they carry presents. Small things to delight, jingling bells and ostrich feathers and beaded necklaces.

But also useful things, pots and pans and kettles. And of course, guns and knives. Every Indian present at the council was given a suit of clothes, a brass kettle, a gun, a tomahawk, a scalping knife, a quantity of gunpowder, and to top it all off, a piece of gold. The bounty is staggering. You aren't swayed by the trinkets, but the household gifts are very valuable, and you are not afraid of war.

Like the Seneca men, you have been raised with the understanding that war is a part of life. When the time comes to vote, you cast your lot in favor of joining the British. You vote for war, and so do most of the Iroquois. Cornplanter's counsel to stay out of it is rejected. Despite his objections, Cornplanter followed the will of his people and fought against the Americans. In August 1777, on the Mohawk River in New York, at a ravine called Oriskany, a contingent of Iroquois warriors together with British loyalists opened fire on 800 American Patriot soldiers. The battle was one of the bloodiest of the war. At its end, about 400 Americans lay dead.

The Senecas moved onward. In the Wyoming Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, a combined force of Loyalists and Iroquois attacked another Patriot force, killing about 300 people. Corn Planter led the fight. It was a decisive win for the Indians, but the Americans who survived the

battle called it a massacre. This enraged Corn Planter. Why is it that if white men won, it was a great victory, but if Indians did, it was a massacre? The Iroquois, often teaming up with British forces, continued attacking American wilderness forts in New York and Pennsylvania. Settlers spread stories of atrocities. Meanwhile, George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was trying to focus on the center of enemy activity. The British had landed 3,000 troops at Savannah, Georgia, and were preparing to invade the South. There were rumors of an uprising among slaves on the plantations, and now came these reports of frightened Americans being subjected to native barbarities. Washington made the dramatic and maybe desperate decision to send one quarter of his army to defend against corn planters' forces. He gave his general, John

Sullivan, grim orders. Not to engage, not to negotiate with the natives, but to totally destroy and devastate their homeland. Sullivan's army did as it was told. They burned down villages, not only longhouses but farmland. Washington's orders were specific on this point. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more. Afterwards, corn planters surveyed the burnt and ruined lands that had been Iroquois villages. In all probability, his wife, who died at this time, was among those killed by Sullivan's army. Then he went back to fighting the Americans. In one raid, on a place called Fort Plain,

he stopped cold amid the flames and screams of battle. He knew this place, and he recognized an old man whom the Indians had captured. The pain of his father's absence in his life had never left him, and now here he was face to face with him. This was his chance, maybe his last chance, to make some kind of peace with his father. Yet again, as he had years earlier, he offered reconciliation. He told his father that he could come live with the Iroquois once the war was over, and that he would care for him. But John Abale spurned him again.

He wanted nothing to do with a wild Indian, even one who was his own son. This enraged corn planter. He screamed at the old man. He told him he was his son, a warrior with many scalps to his name. In his fury was a desperate appeal to be acknowledged. Abale may have been terrified or disgusted. It's impossible to know. But Cornplanter seemed to finally realize he would get no satisfaction. He became calm once again. He told Abel his life would be spared, that Indians loved their friends and kindred and treated them with kindness. It was their way. Cornplanter

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Imagine you're a Seneca Indian in the 1840s. You live on a reservation in upstate New York with your family. You speak Seneca, but you've been educated at an American school. You understand English. In fact, you have an English name, Benjamin Williams. The United States, as it's now called, has been in existence for more than half a century now. Florida, Texas, and Iowa have recently become states. Railroads crisscross the land. This is your world. But you long to get in touch with your native

roots. You have an old neighbor in his 90s, and you ask if he'll tell you his story. He agrees. His name is Chainbreaker. He was the nephew of the great Seneca leader, Cornplanter. You're eager to know what it was like back then, when the Iroquois fought in the American Revolution. Chainbreaker tells you about his youth, hunting deer, building canoes, living the traditional Seneca lifestyle. Then you ask about the war for independence.

I was about 14 when I began to hear something was wrong between Great Britain and America. My uncle Cornplanter was called to council and I went with him. He tells you about a whole series of councils he attended at his uncle's side, with leaders of the American colonies and with British agents. How at first the white men tried to keep the Iroquois out of the war, and then how the British changed their minds and asked the Iroquois to fight with them and gave them presents and promises. What kinds of promises?

Promises they broke. He goes quiet. You're not sure if he's about to say more or not. This isn't how you expected the conversation to go. You wonder if you should leave. But after a while, he starts up again. He tells tales of battle, of scalping settlers and American soldiers, of stripping naked, smearing his body with war paint, and fighting alongside red-coated British officers.

Finally, you ask him about the most famous fighter of the war. Did you ever get a glimpse of George Washington? Washington, yes, after the war. Corn Planter and I went to Philadelphia to meet with him. Wait, you met Washington? What did Corn Planter say to him? And on the spot, Chainbreaker recites Corn Planter's speech to President Washington word for word. You white men came from the other side of the big water, where your brothers in Great Britain lived,

and you fought with them for your liberty. And the British deceived the six nations of the Iroquois, so we fought alongside them. But we are the true Americans. God created us here. The Lord gave us these lands, and I have a right to reserve land for my people to live on. You know how this story played out. You grew up on a reservation. What happened to Quorum Planter? He is the reason you and I are still here. He is also the reason we're speaking in English. Chainbreaker goes quiet again, and this time you let him just sit there and be. That's all the answers you're going to get for today. Coram Planter was a pragmatist. He counseled his people to learn English,

believing there was no other way forward for his people. They would have to learn to adapt in order to survive. Assured of their victory, the British had promised to remain allies with the natives after the war. But when the British lost and signed the Treaty of Paris of 1783, they gave up all their claims to American territory. They effectively handed all Iroquois lands, all native lands, period, to the new American government. For the native people, this was a betrayal. Cornplanter, who had never wanted the Iroquois to fight in the first place, was chosen as their representative to negotiate with the new American government, it would be a long series of treaties and broken promises. In 1791, Cornplanter traveled to Philadelphia to meet with George Washington, who had been

elected president of this new nation. Washington vowed to protect the Iroquois and their land, but in the years after, American settlers moved in. Banks and real estate developers pressured the Iroquois to sell their lands. The Iroquois, who had once stretched across upstate New York, were hemmed into small reservations. Corn Planter was given a grant of land by the state of Pennsylvania. He built a town there and a sawmill, which provided lumber for the city of Pittsburgh. For a while, it seemed that Corn Planter had succeeded in making a new home for his people. But what came next was pain and suffering. Some Iroquois left their homes and everything they

knew to migrate into Canada. Their descendants continued to live in Alberta and British Columbia. Those Iroquois who remained on reservations in the U.S. suffered continual strife, as the American government tried repeatedly to terminate the treaties that had established the reservations. Corn planters' immediate descendants had it somewhat better. They lived on the corn planter grant until the 1950s. Then, the area was flooded to build a dam, and they were forced to move. This is just the story of the Iroquois. For Native Americans as a whole, the saga is as well known as it is grim. They were massacred, starved, hunted, and swindled as the United States grew. In the mid-19th century, the term

Manifest Destiny summed up how Americans felt about their role in the world. They had a God-given destiny to bring civilization to the continent. Nevertheless, the Iroquois and other Native American tribes persist, as do their reservations. Corn Planter's legacy among the Iroquois is complicated. On the one hand, he led his people through the greatest upheaval imaginable. On the other hand, he signed away traditional homelands, leaving feelings of bitterness, even betrayal in some. Cornplanter himself would probably say that he was a realist, that change is a constant. As he told George Washington, Our forefathers thought that their posterity would follow in their tracks and support themselves by their hunting.

But the great revolution among the white people in this country has extended its influence to the people of my color. Turn our faces which way we will, we find the white people cultivating the ground which our forefathers hunted over. If a few years have made such a change, what will be the situation of our children? In the end, Cornplancer's job, as he saw it, was simple to put into words, but very difficult to achieve. It was his duty to provide a future for his people against the onslaught of a new nation hell-bent on what it termed freedom. On the next episode of American History Tellers, amid all the talk of rights and equality,

women were starting to wonder why they weren't given the same freedoms as men. We'll hear about one woman who challenged the status quo and even went head-to-head with George Washington. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. I hope you enjoyed this episode of American History Tellers. American History Tellers is hosted, sound designed, and edited by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship.

Additional production assistance by Derek Behrens. This episode is written by Russell Shorto. Editing assistance by Katie Long. Edited and produced by Jenny Lauer, produced by George Lavender. Our executive producer is Marshall Louis, created by Hernán López for Wondery. For years, American Scandal has taken you deep inside the biggest controversies and shocking events in U.S. history. And now you can listen to exclusive seasons on Wondery Plus. Go beyond the headlines with jaw-dropping stories and immersive reporting that unveils the complex truth behind these

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