134 



ONONDAGA 



[b. a. e. 



where. Finally, on Grand r., Ontario, 

 the brands of the Great Council Fire of 

 the l-^eague were rekindled by the allied 

 portions of all the tribes of the Six Na- 

 tions, and here the tire is still burning. 

 The portions of the tribes which elected 

 to remain in New York relighted a fire 

 at Onondaga and sought to reestablish 

 the ancient form of their government 

 there, in order to formulate united action 

 on questions affecting tlieir common in- 

 terests; but this attempt was only partly 

 successful, since the seat of government 

 had forever departed. The establishment 

 at Onondaga of the seat of federal power 

 by the founders of the League of the Iro- 

 quois, made Onondaga not only one of 

 the most important and widely known 

 towns of the Iroquois tribes, but also of 

 North America n. of Mexico. At the 

 zenith of the power of the Iroquois it was 

 the capital of a government whose do- 

 minion extended from the Hudson r. on 

 the E. to the falls of the Ohio and L. Mich- 

 igan on the w., and from Ottawa r. and L. 

 Simcoe on the n. to the Potomac on the 

 s. and the Ohio in the s. w. 



Around the Great Council Fire of the 

 League of the Iroquois at Onondaga, 

 with punctilious observance of the parli- 

 amentary proprieties recognized in Indian 

 diplomacy and statecraft, and with a 

 decorum that would add grace to many 

 legislative assemblies of the white man, 

 the federal senators of the Iroquois tribes 

 devised plans, formulated policies, and 

 defined principles of government and 

 political action which not only strength- 

 ened their state and promoted their 

 common welfare, but also deeply affected 

 the contemporary history of the whites in 

 North America. To this body of half-clad 

 federal chieftains were repeatedly made 

 overtures of peace and friendship by two 

 of the most powerful kingdoms of Europe, 

 whose statesmen often awaited with ap- 

 prehension the decisions of this senate of 

 North American savages. 



The sites with their approximate dates 

 here ascribed to Onondaga are those 

 identified by Clark, Beauchamp, and 

 others, and listed by Beauchamp in the 

 notes to his map ( Jes. Rel., Thwaites ed., 

 LI, 294, 1899): The site in 1600 was 

 probably 2 m. w. of Cazenovia and e. of 

 West Limestone cr., Madison co., N. Y. 

 Two sites of towns are accredited to 1620, 

 the one 2h m. s. w. and the other 1 m. s. 

 of Delphi, Onondaga co., N. Y. The 

 site of 1630 was Ij m. n. w. of Delphi; 

 that of 1640 was about 1 m. s. of Pompey 

 Center, Onondaga co., on the e. bank of 

 West Limestone cr. That of 1655, in 

 which was established the mission of 

 Saint Jean Baptiste, was about 2 m. s. of 

 the present Manlius, in the same county, 

 on what is called Indian hill; the Jesuit 



Relation for 1658 says that this town was 

 large and was called "Onnontaghe 

 . . . because it was on a mountain." 

 This town, with its site, is j)robably 

 identical with that visited by Greenhalgh 

 in 1677, and described as large, un- 

 palisaded, consisting of about 140 houses, 

 and situated on a very large hill, the 

 bank on each side extending at least 2 m., 

 all cleared land and planted with corn. 

 Greenhalgh learned that there was 

 another village of 24 houses situated 2 m. 

 westward; he estimated the Onondaga 

 warriors at about 350. The site of 1696 

 was 1 m. s. of Jamesville, e. of Butternut 

 cr., Onondaga co. Count Frontenac 

 burned this town in 1696. The site of 

 1743 was E. of the creek and n. of the 

 present reservation in Onondaga co., 

 while that of 1756 was w. of the creek. 

 The site of 1779 was that of one of the 3 

 towns plundered and burned in April by 

 the troops of Col. Van SchJiick; they 

 were situated within 2 m. of one another 

 and contained 30 to 40 houses. In 1655 

 the mission of Saincte INIarie de Gannen- 

 taa was founded, on the shore of L. 

 Onondaga, 12 m. n. of the mission of St 

 Jean Baptiste; it was also called Saincte 

 Marie du Lac de Gannentaa. To this 

 mission village, which was abandoned in 

 1658, the Jesuits brought 5 small can- 

 non. For the use of the mission the 

 French Governor Lauson, Apr. 12, 1656, 

 granted to the Jesuit fathers "10 leagues 

 of space in every direction, to wit, 10 

 leagues of front and 10 leagues in depth — 

 and in the place where they shall choose 

 to establish themselves in the country of 

 the Upper Iroquois called Onondageoro- 

 nons, be it in the town or near the town 

 of Onondage, or at Gannentae, . . . 

 the said place and extent of 10 leagues 

 square is to be possessed by the said rev- 

 erend Jesuit fathers, their successors and 

 assigns, in freehold forever. " This grant 

 was made evidently without the knowl- 

 edge or consent of the Onondaga and 

 without any compensation or emolument 

 to them, a course of procedure quite in 

 contrast with that of the Dutch and the 

 English colonists in New \"ork, but on 

 the other hand in close accord with the 

 policy of Gov. Winthrop of Massachusetts, 

 tersely expressed in the formula that "if 

 we leave them sufficient for their use, we 

 may lawfully take the rest, there being 

 more than enough for them and us." 

 This doctrine was embodied into law by 

 the General Court of Massachusetts in 

 1633, justifying its action by ■ Biblical 

 citation. 



From the Jesuit Relations it is learned 

 that under the operation of the principle 

 of conferring citizenship by adoption into 

 some definite stream of kinship common 

 to the Iroquois state, there were colo- 



