Show ALES alesich AL ESith oi abis GJ CHIEFS by y EDITHA L WATSON cornplanter the seneca boys who played around aund their T village I 1 I 1 I 1 a 0 on t the h e ge gonesee n e s e e ve n r river 1 e t new N e w bork X 0 r k noticed that one ot of their number was much lighter of complexion thin than the rest this boy who 4 s was so different looking was called cornplanter azid the reason for his paler skin shin was that his father was white the father was cornplanter indifferent to the fate ot of his half seneca son after he was grown the he young man went to albany to see sea his parent but though the white man treated him well enough he be omitted emitted the gifts which mean so BO much to the indian heart and sent him back no wiser and certainly no happier lap than he had come cornplanter however was indian by y inclination and soon threw w all his interests into those of 0 the tribe becoming a chief in this capacity he ie proved to be oie of the greatest seneca leaders and the british forces arces owed much to Com Corn planters ability during the Il revolutionary evolutionary war ar in 1779 1770 general sullivan Sul lITan and his american troops invaded the seneca country the indians were powerless to stay the advancing army which burned and destroyed as it went showing the seneca that the colonies were strong and that they had chosen badly when they united reluctantly though it had been with the british cause the great fighting fl byln chief as hewitt calls him tried to make a stand on the shores of canandaigua lake and endeavored to rally his men to the fight hoping to drive off the american troops As their army advanced however many ot of the seneca lost heart they began a retreat melting away from the spot where they feared to die Corn plant er was furious at their cowardice placing himself before them he be harangued harv them in the effort to revive v e their enthusiasm but to no avail ked jacket the leader of the retreating indians could not be dissuaded and branding him as a coward cornplanter was forced to see him go taking many with him the chief was party to many of the treaties between the seneca and the united states in which their lands were conveyed to the white men at first the indians indiana allowed these sessions cessions ces cess lons or of land lana eta as being necessary and placed no blame on cornplanter for his part in the treaties As their chief he visited philadelphia in 1790 to tell general washington the story of his people find and the grievances of which they complained six years later the chief was given a tract of acres by pennsylvania in recognition of his bis valuable services to the white people he owned more than this amount of land adjoining the grant forming a fine holding on the banks of the allegheny river thus far he had flourished but he had not always been happy the treaties which he had signed ceding seneca land to the white men finally caused the indians to hate him in fact he be was in danger of murder at times from the incensed seneca although they had willingly chosen him to represent them though knowing that he was friendly te the whites ills his favorite son on whom cornplanter had lavished every advantage perhaps trying t to 0 make ap for his fathers neglect of became a drunkard his heinit pens 6 of a year was uncertain un the blame of his people el g he him blut whether h he e knew it t to abe be k bile d or not ile he was a very old very lonely man then infill Is age the great sp spirit frit of the indians came to him and spoke white men had given h him in a beautiful sword and belt relics medals and other gifts the spirit told him that he was wrong to preserve these or to associate further with their givers ile he bad prospered through the white men it was true but he had also buffe suffered aed through them had they the y never come i into n to his life he would woud have avol avoided ded all the troubles waith beset him troubles which were clearly attributable to the white men and their ways the old chief brot broi Othe the sword and burned the belt cfall his life he be bad been associated with the white people and had gained kalled and lost from the contact He was an indian that half of which was white had been given long ago in white mens service he looked back on almost a century of life and wondered what it had gained him and so on pet february is 18 1838 1836 cornplanter went to find the answer to his questions at the summons of the great spirit ID 1332 1932 western newspaper union |