Rekindling the Six Fires: Handsome Lake and the Iroquois Revival
Jeffrey R Gudzune, M.A.
Even before the thirteen colonies broke away from Great Britain and formed the United States, democratic principals thrived in North America. Contrary to Anglo-biased interpretation, the American colonists were not the first to adopt a unified constitutional government. Incidentally, however, they were the first to actually write their ideals down. Located between Lake Ontario to the North and the Allegany Mountains to the South, the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy formed one of the largest and most politically stable Native American unions. In fact, the Iroquois were arguably the most powerful Native state in North America, dwarfed only by the Mesoamerican empires of Mexico and Central America. Their society was considered by rival tribes to be advanced and their power was rarely threatened. Consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and the Tuscaroras, the Six Nations dominated the eastern portions of North America for close to two hundred years. While the French, Dutch, and the English were battling over land claims throughout the eastern coastline of North America, the Iroquois controlled an empire ranging from the Canadian border and into the hinterlands of the Carolinas. While the pale barbarians of Europe battled one another for hegemony over the continent, the Iroquois were cultivating the land and establishing a militarily strong agrarian society. The sun, however, would soon begin to set on the council fires of the Six Nations as one government after another further usurped their lands, betrayed their trust, or threatened them into submitting to more cessions. Just when the last bastions of the Iroquois Confederacy seemed on the cusp of fading into oblivion, one man would lead a cultural revival that would revitalize the dying embers of the Longhouse and give new life to the Six Nations—he was Ga-nyah-di-yoh, Handsome Lake, the author of the Iroquois Renaissance.
Although the exact date of the creation of the Iroquois Confederacy is a source of intense historical debate, what is well known is that there was a government in existence long before the first Europeans set foot on the continent of North America. According to Iroquois oral history, a record handed down throughout generations, the original Five Nations came together as a means of preserving peace between one another and providing mutual security against other warring nations. The greatest source of Iroquois history comes in the form these oral traditions, which provide an epic retelling of the founding of the confederacy by Dekanawida, the lawgiver of the Iroquois. Again, there has been some contention even among the Iroquois as to the actual “founder” of their league. However, Dekanawida has long been accepted by the majority of the Iroquois and is even mentioned in the written constitution (the Great Binding Law—actually written in 1898 with permission of the Iroquois government) as the originator of the “Great Peace.” It is believed that Dekanawida and his follower Hiawatha called the leaders of the then Five Nations together in or around 1570. However, Iroquois records indicate some form of lose union existed as far back as the 1390s.
In the preamble to the Great Binding Law, Dekanawida outlines his concept of lasting peace between the five tribes and even provides for the admittance of other friendly nations into the covenant; and in 1724 the Tuscarora did become members of the league. In this document, the metaphorical concept of the Iroquois as a Longhouse (incidentally, also the name of the structure that tribal members meet in) is outlined. Records of the meetings of the confederacy were kept on wampum belts and passed down throughout generations. Though these records are the official property of the Iroquois Confederacy, they are presently on display at the University of the State of New York. These records clearly show that although the Iroquois unified as a means of preserving peace, they were also quite prepared for war. The decision to commit to war, however, was viewed as a last resort—according to the Great Binding Law, the Iroquois could only to go war by unanimous vote of the entire council. There would be times when the confederacy as a whole would elect to avoid war and leave the question up to the individual members—such was the case in the American Revolution.
When war did come, the Iroquois were prepared. A system of War Chiefs was provided for within the general government of the confederacy. These individuals would be a part of the great council during times of peace, but assume greater responsibilities at a time of conflict. One of the most well known of the Iroquois War Chiefs was Joseph Brant of the Mohawk Nation. During the Seven Years’ War (known on North America also as the French and Indian War), the Iroquois had fought with the British to maintain their control over the continent. The Iroquois fought bravely and even provided useful tactics for the colonial militias and the British regulars as they battled the French. Originally declaring their neutrality in the American Revolution, the confederacy left the decision of whether or not to take a side to the individual tribes. Promised fair treatment and control over more of their former territory, the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, and Seneca agreed to side with the British. Like many wars on the continent of North America, the American Revolution would divide the Iroquois Confederacy. The Oneida remained neutral until 1778 and agreed to assist the colonists, contributing many brave warriors to the struggle. This was a time of civil strife among the Iroquois, with native fighting against native—each side fighting to preserve their lands. Chief Brant and his warriors instilled fear and panic among the colonists in New York. The colonial response was a savage scorched earth campaign against the Mohawk territories. Brant would hold the American government in low esteem for the remainder of his life. Many Iroquois would lose what little trust of the whites they did have as a result of the war.
In the years following the independence of the thirteen states, the Iroquois sought a means of preserving their lands from the rapidly expanding new republic. Various tribal leaders even went so far as to address the United States Congress on their plight. In 1790, the Seneca orator Cornplanter addressed the “fathers of the thirteen fires” and asked that they cease their ingress into Iroquois territory. He spoke not only on behalf his nation, the Seneca, but for the entire confederacy as well. His efforts did temporarily forestall American encroachment into Iroquois territory, but more problems persisted. From 1744 until the end of the American Revolution, Iroquois territory was ceded in a series of treaties. More land was given to the United States with the second Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. The Iroquois agreed to these treaties for a variety of reasons. In some instances, they were promised suitable recompense for title to these lands. In other instances, they felt threatened by the blossoming power of this new nation that had suddenly grown around them. Whatever the reason for agreeing to these lands cessions, the Iroquois suffered more than just a loss of territory. Soon, a loss of national identity would permeate the Six Nations with devastating results.
One persistent problem that had plagued the Iroquois, and many other Indians nations as well, was the introduction of alcohol into their society. It was this evil that had so devastated the Iroquois by the beginning of the 1800s that the total dissolution of the confederacy seemed to be eminent. The prophet Handsome Lake saw first hand the ravages of the “white man’s fire water” and the resulting ebbing away if his people’s power. Born in the Seneca village of Conawagas (along the Genesee River) in 1735, at the height of Iroquois society, Handsome Lake came from a distinguished noble family. Much of what is known about his early life comes from his own teachings. He used the example of his life as a metaphor for the Iroquois. In way, the life of Handsome Lake parallels the downfall of the Iroquois. His teachings would generate a cultural revival and save the Six Nations from fading away into history. He could not have come at a more opportune time.
In his youth, Handsome Lake fought the British during the rebellion of Ottawa Chief Pontiac in an effort to curb their expansion into Native territory. As a Seneca, Handsome Lake fought the colonists in the American Revolution. The post revolutionary period was a devastating time for the Iroquois Confederacy, as the former colonists assumed more territory that had once belonged to the Six Nations. When the United States government appropriated his own settlement, Handsome Lake went with his tribesmen to a reservation along the Allegany River. It was here that he fell under the influence of alcohol. Seeing his once dominant people forced out of their territory through treaties, Handsome Lake became the victim of depression. He became like many leaders among the Iroquois, though he detested the removal of his people he realized that the Iroquois could not resist the expanding United States. While his cousin Cornplanter worked to protect the waning Iroquois territory, Handsome Lake fell into the depths of alcoholism. Lacking direction and resigning himself to his people’s fate, he drifted throughout the 1790s. After coming close to death, Handsome Lake had an awaking in 1799 that would put his entire life into perspective.
Bed ridden for nearly four years as a result of prolonged illness due to excessive drinking, Handsome Lake experienced a series of visions that enlightened him and reawakened the noble warrior-priest within him. Though his message was originally intended for the Seneca, his philosophy spread to the neighboring tribes and eventually reached all of the Six Nations with varying degrees of success. Beginning in 1799, Handsome Lake preached what he called the Good Message—a system of revelations given to him by the four messengers, emissaries of the Creator. He spoke of how his people had lost their path and as a result of alcoholism had become but a fraction of the proud nation they once were. The Great Message of the Creator also provides a unified code of conduct for all adherents to these beliefs—a moral compass through which the Iroquois could regain their status.
Aside from discouraging the use of alcohol, Handsome Lake also maintained that the Iroquois should move beyond paganism and embrace of more Christian-like form of religion that also incorporated the inherent traditional beliefs. His message was a mixture of commonly held Christian beliefs as they related to traditional Iroquois concepts of love, the family, and morality. His visions were a means through which the Iroquois could maintain their heritage and still exist within the United States. Putting the Great Message in a series of public talks, Handsome Lake soon gained a following that spread to the entire confederacy within two years. He was national figure among the Iroquois; both a prophet and a spokesman for their way of life. His new vision of the way the Iroquois should live served as focal point, a source of debate among the Six Nations. He gained the status of a cultural icon within his time.
In 1802, Handsome Lake accompanied a delegation of chiefs representing the Onondaga and Seneca nations to Washington D.C. in 1802. While in the capital, Handsome Lake had the opportunity to share his thoughts with the leaders of the American government. The delegation returned to Iroquois territory with a letter from President Thomas Jefferson, congratulating Handsome Lake on his efforts and wishing the entire league the utmost success. Jefferson spoke of his hopes that the “Great Spirit will take care of you and make you happy.” Handsome Lake gained further attention from Quaker missionaries who were amazed and the turn around of the Iroquois as a result of his teaching. In 1809, a delegation of Quakers who were visiting Onondaga noted that the people were prospering far better than that had ten years before. The Great Message that Handsome Lake spoke of was all encompassing. It covered life, death, the afterlife, the end of the world, and even the rituals and ceremonies that the Iroquois should use when celebrating all these things. While it was not universally accepted, it did provide the Iroquois with an essential focal point to regain their national organization and reaffirm their ancient heritage.
His detractors criticized him for abandoning the traditional ways of the Seneca and of the Iroquois. However, his visions were not an abandonment of Iroquois tradition, but a synthesis of the traditional ways of the Six Nations and more modern Christianized beliefs. Within the time span of his ministry, Handsome Lake witnessed the Iroquois divided between those who believed in his new order and those who still clung to traditional beliefs. For fifteen years, he worked to revitalize his people. With his efforts, the Iroquois began to cultivate their lands and abandoned the rampant alcoholism that had stunted the creativity of their best and brightest. While it can be said that his revolution of thought was not total, it did have a universal effect among the Iroquois in that it provided both sides impetus to take action—whether or not they supported his way or the old way; they were talking again. This is Handsome Lake’s unseen legacy—he reminded his people of what they were, Iroquois—the Six Nations.
Despite a few internal disputes regarding his beliefs, Handsome Lake remained popular among the Iroquois, especially the Seneca, until his death in August of 1815. The Great Message still permeates throughout the Iroquois Confederacy to this day. At present, there are over 50,000 Iroquois residing within the borders of the United States. The Iroquois Confederacy is still among the largest nations in North America and is still influenced by the teachings of Handsome Lake. The old traditions that Handsome Lake spoke of were incorporated into his new religion, and have become engrained within the Great Message.
Bibliography
Dale Van Every, Disinherited: The Lost Birthright of the American Indian. (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1966).
William Fenton, Parker on the Iroquois: The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet and The Constitution of the Five Nations. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1968).
Georgiana C. Nammack, Fraud, Politics, and the Dispossession of the Indians: The Iroquois Land Frontier in the Colonial Period. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969.
James L. Stokesbury, A Short History of the American Revolution. (New York: William Morrow, 1991).
W.C. Vanderwerth, Indian Oratory: Famous Speeches by Noted Indian Chieftains. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971).
