BULL. 30] 



CONESTOGA HORSE CONFEDERATION 



337 



(1755), quoted in Am. Antiq., I, 96, 1S7S. Minquo- 

 sy. — I)e Lnet, Nov. Orb., 76, 1633. Mynckussar. — 

 Vater. Mith., pt. 3, sec. 3, 317, 1816. Myncqueser, — 

 Ibid., 317. Natio perticarum. — Du Creu.K quoted by 

 Schoolcraft, Iiid. Tribes, vi, 137, 1S57 (,Lat.: 'Nation 

 of the poles'). Ogehage, — Dutch map (1616) in 

 N. Y. Doe. Col. Hist., I, 18.56 (Mohawk name). On- 

 tastoes.— Callinee (16S4) in Fernow, OhioVai., 219, 

 lo90. Saskwihanang. — Rafinesque, Am. Nations, 

 1,138, 183(). Sasquahana. — Herrman, map (1670) 

 in Rep. on Boundary between Va. and Md., 1873. 

 Sasquahannahs. — Doc. of 1726 in N. C. Rec., II, 

 643,1886. Sasquehannocks. — Doc. r<i. 1646 in Force, 

 Hist. Tracts, ii, 19, 1838. Sasquesahanocks. — Smith 

 (1629), Va., I, 118, 1S19. Sasquesahanoughs.— Ibid., 

 74. Sasquesahanougs. — Strachev (en. 1612), Va., 

 39,1849. Sasquisahanoughes. — Md. Rec. quoted in 

 TheNati(iii,ol3, Ai>r.22, Ism;. Sassquahana. — Herr- 

 man, map (167U) in Rep. on Boundary between 

 Va. and Md., 1873. Sesquehanocks. — Harris, Voy. 

 and Trav., l, 843, 1705. Sesquihanowes, — Bozman, 

 Md. ,1,128,1837. SouthernMinquaa.— Doc.of 1649 in 

 N.Y. Doc. Col. Hist., Xlll, 25, 1881. Suscahannaes.— • 

 Andros (1676), ibid., xil, 557,1»77. Susoohannes, — 

 Andros, ibid., 556. Susquahanna. — Penn's treaty 

 (1701) in Proud, Penn., I, 428, 1797. Susqua- 

 hannocks. — Doc. of 1648, ibid., 114. Susquehanas. — 

 Doc. of 1671 in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., Xll, 488, 1877. 

 Susquehannagh. — Penn. Rec. (1701) in Day, Penn., 

 390, 1S43. Susquehannah Minquays. — Ibid. Sus- 

 quehanna's. — Andros (1675) in N. Y. Doc. Col. 

 Hist., XII, 643, 1877. Susquehannocks.— Doc. of 

 1648 in Proud, Penn., i, 114. 1797. Susquehan- 

 noes.— Doc. of 1642 quoted by White, Rel. Itin., 82, 

 1874. Susquehannos. — Doc. of 1677 in N. Y. Doc. 

 Col. Hist., i.x, 227, 1855. Susquehanocks. — Bozman, 

 Md., 1, 128, 1837. Susquehanoes.— White {ca. 1634), 

 Rel. Itin., 37, 1874. Susquhannok. — Drake, Bk. 

 Inds., xi, 1848. • Susquihanoughs. — Doc. of 1638 in 

 Bozman, Md., ll, 62, 1837. Takoulguehronnons. — 

 Jes. Rel., Thwaites ed., xxxvii, 104, 1899. Tra- 

 kouaehronnons. — Jes. Rel., in, inde.x, 1858. Tra- 

 kSaehronnons.— Ibid, 1660, 7, 1858. 



Conestoga horse. A heavy draft horse, 

 said to have originated in Pennsylvania 

 toward the close of the 18th century, 

 from a cross of the Flemish cart horse 

 with some English breed (Bartlett, Diet. 

 Americanisms, 137, 1877). This horse 

 was much in use before the era of rail- 

 roads, (a. f. c.) 



Conestoga wagon. A large white-tojaped 

 wagon, to which 6 or more Conestoga 

 horses were attached (Bartlett, Diet. 

 Americanisms, 137, 1877). These horses 

 and wagons "were a marked feature of 

 the landscape of this state." The horse 

 and the wagon were named from Con- 

 estoga, a village in Lancaster co., Pa., 

 called after one of the Iroquoian peoples 

 inhabiting this region in the 18th cen- 

 tury, (a. f. c.) 



Confederation. A political league for 

 offense and defense was sometimes formed 

 by two or more tribes, who entered into 

 a compact or formal statement of princi- 

 ples to govern their separate and collect- 

 ive action. A looser, less formal, and less 

 cohesive alliance of tribes was sometimes 

 formed to meet some grave temporary 

 emergency. The unit of a confederation is 

 the organized tribe, just as the clan or gens 

 is the unit of the tribe. The confederation 

 has a supreme council composed of rep- 

 resentatives from the several contracting 

 tribes of which it is composed. The 

 tribes forming a confederation surren- 

 dered to the league certain powers and 



rights which they had exercised indi- 

 vidually. The executive, legislative, and 

 judicial functions of the confederation 

 were exercised by the supreme council 

 through instruments appointed in the 

 compact or afterward devised. Every 

 tribe of the 'confederation was generally 

 entitled to representation in the sui)reme 

 federal council. The chiefs of the federal 

 council and the subchiefs of each tribe 

 constituted tlie local council of the tribe. 

 The confirmation of officials and their 

 installation were functions delegated to 

 the officers of the confederation. The 

 supreme federal council had practically 

 the same officers as a tribal council, 

 namely, a speaker, fire-keeper, door- 

 keeper, and wampum-keeper or annalist. 

 In the Iroquoian confederation the origi- 

 nal 5 tribes severally had a supreme war- 

 chief, the name and the title of whom 

 wei'e hereditary in certain specified clans. 

 The supreme federal council, sitting as a 

 court wdthouta jury, heard anddetermined 

 causes in accordance with established 

 principles and rules. The representation 

 in the council of the Iroquois confedera- 

 tion was not based on the clan as its unit, 

 for many clans had no representative in 

 the federal council, while others had sev- 

 eral. The su})reme federal council of 

 this confederation was organized on the 

 basis of tribal phratries or brotherhoods 

 of tribes, of which one phratry acted as 

 do the presiding judges of a court sitting 

 without a jury, having power to confirm, 

 or on constitutional or other grounds to 

 reject, the votes or conclusions of the two 

 other i)hratries acting individually, but 

 having no right to discuss any question 

 beyond suggesting means to the other 

 phratries for reaching an agreement or 

 compromise, in the event that they offer 

 differing votes or opinions, and at all 

 times being jealously careful of the cus- 

 toms, rules, principles, and precedents of 

 the council, requiring procedure strictly 

 to conform to these where possible. The 

 constituent tribes of the Iroquois con- 

 federation, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onon- 

 daga, Cayuga, and Seneca, constituted 

 three tribal phratries, of which the Mo- 

 hawk and Seneca formed the first, the 

 Oneida and Cayuga the second, and the 

 Onondaga the third; but in ceremonial 

 and festal assembhes the last tribe affi- 

 liated with the Mohawk-Seneca phratry. 

 Among the looser confederations, prop- 

 erly alliances, may be mentioned that of 

 the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi; 

 the 7 council fires of the Dakota; and the 

 alliance of the tribes of Virginiaand Mary- 

 land called the Powhatan confederacy. 

 To these may be added the loose Caddo 

 confederacy, which, like the others, was 

 held together largely by religious affilia- 

 tion. The records are insufficient to de- 



Bull. 30—05- 



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