Friday Reprise: Major John Norton (Snipe)

He was recognized at the time as one of the best Native war leaders of the War of 1812, ranking just behind Tecumseh.  But his life and contributions to the British war effort in Canada have long been overshadowed by the Shawnee leader.  Perhaps for this reason, or for others that we'll get to later, Major John Norton has never received his due in a scholarly or popular biography.  Research by a trained expert would certainly help the amateur historians and Norton fans, because John's life was an enigma, wrapped in riddle and surrounded by mystery and clouded with misinformation.

According to a video put out by the Canadian Bible Society, John's father was a Cherokee baby rescued by a kindly Scottish officer during a raid on the Cherokee village of Keowee (near present-day Clemson, South Carolina) in 1760.  Then, ten years later, John Norton himself was baptized at the Kirk in Dunfermline, Scotland, the son of this Cherokee and a Scottish woman with the last name of Anderson.  Nobody stopped to figure the unlikelihood of a ten-year-old fathering a child.  I wrote to the Canadian Bible Society for clarification, but got no answer.  In his Journal, written years later, and in other reminiscences written by people who knew and met him, John Norton is described as a full-blooded Cherokee.  He believed himself to be full-blooded Cherokee, although he would surely have known he was mixed-race. 

My idea, and my idea only, is that John himself was the baby rescued in 1760, the son of a Cherokee parent and a Scottish parent.  Many Scots did immigrate to North Carolina following the failure of the Jacobite Rising in 1745, so there were plenty of opportunities for a Cherokee man and a Scottish or mixed-race Scottish woman to meet by 1759-60.  The soldier who rescued the child was also named John Norton, and he may have bestowed this name on both John and his Cherokee father, which makes the matter all the more confusing.  At some point before he was ten years old, the soldier, John and either or both of his parents travel back to Dunfermline, Scotland, where young John would have been taken for baptism and registry in the Kirk at around 10 years old.  Young John remained in Scotland, was educated, and may have apprenticed to a printer, but around 1784 decided to join the army instead.  He was initially based in Scotland, than Ireland, and finally came to Niagara, in what was then called Upper Canada, where the British still maintained some bases on the frontier even though the Treaty of Paris required them to withdraw from the former Colonies as well as the Ohio River Valley.  While there, he became fascinated with the culture of the Six Nations and got to know Joseph Brant.  In 1788, John was discharged from the army and adopted into the Mohawk tribe as Brant's nephew.  His personal name would have been Snipe, we'll get to his more commonly-known Native name later.

John traveled to Quinte Bay, Ontario and tried teaching school.  That lasted about a year.  He worked for several years in a trading post owned by another Mohawk leader, John Desoronto.  Throughout his ramblings in the region, he continued his studies of the various Iroquois dialects and cultures.  Eventually, he would be described as able to speak almost a dozen Native dialects, as well as English, French and German.  He would later pick up Spanish.  If this seems unlikely today, it's because we don't live on a frontier where being able to pick up the rudiments of a language quickly is a means of survival.  As a trading post employee, and later a translator for the British Indian Department, he would have needed to constantly hone his skill at languages, both Native and the major European languages spoken by immigrants in the area. 

John's work kept him in contact with his adopted uncle, Joseph Brant, who noticed the younger man's leadership and negotiating ability.  At some point, Brant proposed making Norton an Iroquois Pine Tree Chief.  These non-hereditary specialized chiefs were specifically called for the in the Iroquois Constitution as a way to honor and make use of men with specialized skills who could aid the tribes in dealing with urgent issues.  Upon his investiture, Norton was given the name Teyoninhokawrawen, which means Open Door, or Open the Door.  I've seen speculation that this refers to his possible role as guardian of the Council House door, but both Norton and an earlier chief who held the title were also noted warriors and diplomats.  War chiefs of the Iroquois, such as the Seneca Red Jacket and even Brant himself, often undertook diplomatic missions on behalf of their people.  John himself was sent by Brant to England in 1804 and, while there, his life took another strange turn.

Like Brant, Norton was a deeply religious man who took a keen interest in the work of the various Anglican missionaries on Mohawk land.  Since some of these missionaries did not speak the Iroquois languages, he and Brant often acted as interpreter for Sunday sermons and the like.  With his ability at languages and interest in religion, while he was in London in 1804, he met with the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society.   He was asked to translate a book of the Bible into Mohawk and he chose the Gospel of John.  After several months of working hours at a time on the translation, he completed his work and the Gospel was published by the Bible Society.  When Norton returned to Canada to report on the results of his mission to Brant, he carried several copies of the Mohawk Gospel of John with him.  Unfortunately, by the time he arrived home, Brant's health was failing and John's efforts to distribute the Mohawk translation fell by the wayside to other urgent matters. 

The British Indian Department was trying to take a firmer hand in affairs on the Six Nations and other reserves.  Their distrust focused on one leader who seemed to resent that, their former employee John Norton.  There were several reasons for this.  Whites who did not understand Native culture did not believe that Norton was a bona fide adopted Mohawk or duly-appointed chief.  Nor did they buy his claim of being part Cherokee.  Higher ups at the Indian Department felt that Norton was an imposter and a nuisance who needed to be shown his place.  Discouraged and fed up, John traveled to Cherokee country, trying to find his father's family.  He did find relatives and a family tree written as a preface to a 20th century publication of his journal places him in a kinship group that included Cherokee Leader John Watts, and thus by extension, Sequoyah, Dragging Canoe and Nancy Ward.  He found his father's grave and the remains of his village, then returned to Canada in 1810, meaning to publish the journal.  On the way back to Canada, he traveled through Shawnee country, meeting Tecumseh and Tenskwata. 

Tecumseh's revolt began in 1811, putting any publication plans on hold.  The War of 1812 further pushed any thoughts of Bible translating or diplomacy to the back burning.  Norton led Six Nations warriors during several battles, including Queenstown Heights, Lundy's Lane, Stoney Creek, and Beaver Dams.  During Queenstown Heights, when the death of General Sir Isaac Brock disorganized the British advance, Norton coordinated attacks of his warriors, demoralizing the Americans who were terrified of the Natives.  This allowed the new commander time to organize his men and launch a crushing counter-attack.  General Sheaffe later praised the 'judicious dispostions' Norton had undertaken to put his men where they were needed the most.  He also led a force of warriors during Tecumseh's defeat at the Battle of the Thames in 1813.  Norton remained almost constantly in the field as a war leader, but did take time off in 1813, as well, to marry a young Lenape woman who had been baptized with the Christian name of Catherine.  He'd had a son, John, Jr., by a previous relationship.  With the conclusion of the War of 1812, he had earned the brevet rank of Major.

In 1816, Norton took his young son and new wife to England for another diplomatic mission on behalf of the Six Nations.  While he conducted business in London, his son John, Jr., went to Dunfermline to be educated.  Catherine also received tutoring and lessons in deportment as befitted a lady.  They later returned to Canada, where Norton had an estate near where the town of Caledonia now stands.  He tried the life of a farmer, but couldn't make his farm successful, sinking deeper into debt.  Catherine developed a relationship with the farm overseer, a young Native man who had served under her husband in several battles.  Hurt and humiliated, Norton challenged the man to a duel and killed him.  He was charged with murder and convicted of manslaughter, forced to pay the stiff fine of 25 pounds.  After talking matters over with his son John, Norton decided that the most dignified course was to leave Ontario for awhile and let things settle down. 

He went back to Cherokee Country, accompanied by his son and some Cherokee friends who wanted to return to their own country.  John, Jr., soon returned to Canada, but without his father, who indicated that he would be returning later.  A friend also claimed to receive a letter from Norton in 1826, stating his intent to return to Grand River.  But he never came back.  A relative seeking to claim his estate said that he could prove that Norton died in Laredo, then Mexico in 1831, but the case never came to court.  John, Jr., did not claim his father's land and left the Reserve.  Norton's estate was finally auctioned in 1848.  No one knows why Norton went to Mexico, why he failed to return home, how he died, or where he is buried.  A window in the Mohawk Chapel commemorates his translation of the Gospel of John.  The picture of him in red, with the battle axe, hangs in Syon House, the London home of the Dukes of Northumberland.  A full length portrait of him in the blue outfit also hangs in Syon House, but there are no other monuments to him.  He died as mysteriously as he had lived.

Later: I've posted the Canadian Bible Society video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPeVgrmey4U