The era following the American War of Independence was one of enormous conflict for the Allegany Senecas. There was then no Seneca leader more influential than Chief Warrior Cornplanter. Yet there has been no definitive treatment of his life--until now. Complex and passionate, yet wise, Cornplanter led his people in war and along an often troubled path to peace. This incisive biography traces his rise to prominence as a Seneca military leader during the American Revolution, and his later diplomatic success in negotiations with the Federal government. The book also explores Cornplanter’s dealings with other Native American councils and with his own people. It tells how Senecas faced heavy pressure to sell their lands, and how they concurrently embraced a reformed and revitalized Iroquois religion, as inspired by Cornplanter’s visionary half-brother, Handsome Lake. Thomas S. Abler skillfully weaves together previously discordant strands of the Chief Warrior’s life into a concise, animated and enlightening portrait. Even as Cornplanter examines a critical period in American history, it gives us a multi-dimensional knowledge of politics and diplomacy from the Seneca point of view. Thoroughly researched and clearly written, this is an ideal companion for students and aficionados of the American Revolution and early nationhood, the Iroquois, and New York State history.

The era following the American War of Independence was one of enormous conflict for the Allegany Senecas. There was then no Seneca leader more influential than Chief Warrior Cornplanter. Yet there has been no definitive treatment of his life--until now. Complex and passionate, yet wise, Cornplanter led his people in war and along an often troubled path to peace. This incisive biography traces his rise to prominence as a Seneca military leader during the American Revolution, and his later diplomatic success in negotiations with the Federal government. The book also explores Cornplanter’s dealings with other Native American councils and with his own people. It tells how Senecas faced heavy pressure to sell their lands, and how they concurrently embraced a reformed and revitalized Iroquois religion, as inspired by Cornplanter’s visionary half-brother, Handsome Lake. Thomas S. Abler skillfully weaves together previously discordant strands of the Chief Warrior’s life into a concise, animated and enlightening portrait. Even as Cornplanter examines a critical period in American history, it gives us a multi-dimensional knowledge of politics and diplomacy from the Seneca point of view. Thoroughly researched and clearly written, this is an ideal companion for students and aficionados of the American Revolution and early nationhood, the Iroquois, and New York State history.

The future of the valley of the upper Allegheny River was predetermined in the 1930s with talks of flood control. As time drew nearer for construction of Kinzua Dam, even the last protesters conceded their world was doomed. It was not the end of the world, but it was the end of their world, their way of life--for how can you infuse hope into the spirit of man when all is ordained to be taken from him? To those who intimately knew these times, perhaps the valleys are better known by what is gone than by what remains today. True, the past cannot be captured, but we may forever ponder the times lost--villages abandoned; farms without green fields; trees cleared and burned, as the fires set by the Corps rid the valleys and remote hamlets of the residue of human life. For centuries the Allegheny hills acted as stewards guarding, perhaps falsely, the destiny of the inhabitants. Kinzua Dam held back the Allegheny River as everyone and everything previously known vanished beneath it. As some witnessed the extinction of a valley, others marveled at the engineering of a great dam--for as Cornplanter discerned--upon the eternal scroll, time writes the passing.

"Illuminating the complex relationships between tribal informants and twentieth-century anthropologists such as Boas, Parker, and Fenton, who came to their communities to collect stories and artifacts"--Provided by publisher.