212 pioneer life; ok, 



Indians and the United States, Cornplanter retired 

 from public life, and devoted his labors to his own 

 people. He deplored the evils of intemperance and 

 exerted himself to suppress them. The benevolent 

 efforts of missionaries among his tribe always re- 

 ceived his encouragement, and at one time his own 

 heart seemed to be softened by the words of truth ; 

 vet he preserved in his later years many of the 

 peculiar notions of the Indian faith. In the war of 

 1812 — 11, when the Senecas took up the hatchet in 

 alliance with the United States, Cornplanter appears 

 to have taken no active part ; but his son, Major 

 Henry O'Bail and his intimate friend and neighbor, 

 ILilftown, were conspicuous in several engagements 

 on the Niagara frontier. Rev. Timothy Alden, 

 President of Allegany College, who visited Corn- 

 planter in 1816, thus describes the aged chief: 



" Jennesadaga, or Brant Town, Cornplanter's vil- 

 lage, is on a handsome piece of bottom land, and 

 comprises about a dozen dwellings. It was grateful 

 to notice the agricultural habits of the place, and the 

 -numerous enclosures of buckwheat, corn and oats. 

 We also saw a number of oxen, cows and horses, 

 and many logs designed for the sawmill and the 

 Pittsburg market. In the year 1815, the Western 

 Missionary Society established a school in the village 

 under Mr. Samuel Oldham. Cornplanter, as soon 

 -* apprised of our arrival, came over to see us, and 

 took charge of our horses. Though having many 

 around him to obey his commands, yet in the an- 

 cient patriarchal style, he chose to serve us himself, 



