Great Warrior: Little Beard of the Seneca

The origin of some White translations of Native names will forever remain a mystery, such as Little Beard, d 1806.  Seneca warriors traditionally did not wear beards.  He was also known as Sigwaadohgwih, or Spear Hanging Down.  Little is known about his life, other than his participation with other Seneca leaders, particularly Cornplanter, in key events of the American Revolutionary War in New York.  His village, known as Little Beard's Town, was located in what is now Livingston County, New York.  One of its inhabitants was Mary Jemison, a White captive who had chosen to make her life with the Seneca. 

Little Beard was present with Cornplanter and Joseph Brant during the Cherry Valley Massacre of 1778.  That tragic situation was as much due to a lack of preparedness by the Patriot forces garrisoning the town, as it was a personal issue between Cornplanter and Brant.  Brant wanted to spare the inhabitants of the town, some of whom he personally knew.  The Seneca were already taking the blame for Loyalist raids, some which included auxiliaries actually under Brant's command.  Though Cornplanter spared his own Dutch father who lived in the area, he was in favor of killing the other captives.  Little Beard's personal views weren't a matter of record, but 14 soldiers were killed, mostly by Native auxiliaries, as well as 30 Settlers.  Another 30 civilians were captured and most later ransomed and exchanged.  During the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition of 1779-80, two scouts were ambushed by a Seneca war party and ritually tortured and executed.  Little Beard was present when this occurred.  In retaliation, the Expedition burned Little Beard's Town, forcing Jemison and other residents to flee. 

By the end of the war, Little Beard and other Seneca leaders were prepared to face fact that Britain had lost and they would have to make the best of it with American authorities.  The Seneca were able to salvage some land per the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794, which Little Beard signed.  He signed a further Treaty of Big Tree in 1797, that allowed settlement of Seneca land in western New York.  He died in 1806 from injuries sustained during a brawl at a local tavern.