Natives versus Settlers: the Battle of Newtown, August 29, 1779

Although like many smaller Revolutionary War battles, this one was fought between Patriots on one side, and Loyalists with Native auxiliaries on the other, there was only two parties with any real stake in the matter.  The Natives fought for their homeland against Settlers who were trying to take it away.

After the battles in 1778 at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, public outcry against the Iroquois in general and the Seneca in particular became too great for Washington to ignore.  The only way to break the English Loyalist hold in New York, and maybe the British, too, was to penalize their allies, the Iroquois.  We've discussed the Sullivan/Clinton expedition of 1779-1780 in greater detail in another post.  Here, we'll talk about the Native response, particularly on the part of the Seneca and Mohawk, as villages and farms were laid waste and women, children and non-combatants were sent fleeing to British held territory, Montreal or Fort Niagara, were they faced a terrible winter with little in the way of shelter or provisions.

As Sullivan's scorched earth campaign progressed, John Butler, the leader of Butler's Rangers, and Joseph Brant favored a guerilla-type campaign of harassing and slowing down the enemy advance.  Seneca war leaders Sayenquaraghta (Old Smoke) and Cornplanter were tired of running and wanted a pitched battle.  In late August, 1779, Butler led 200-250 of his Rangers with a handful of British Regulars and over a thousand Iroquois warriors to what is now called Sullivan's Hill, near present-day Elmyra, New York.  The Rangers and Natives dug horseshoe shaped entrenchments about halfway up the hill.  On August 29, 1779, Sullivan's force approached, headed by Daniel Morgan's riflemen.  Seeing the breastworks and sensing an ambush, Morgan halted his forces and began scouting the area.  As more senior commanders came on the scene, they realized the danger of the situation, with an enemy entrenched on a hill and a swamp, Hoffman Hollow, below.  Sullivan's forces waited for the arrival of artillery and concocted a plan to assault the breastworks, surround and ultimately force the Loyalists and Natives from their advantageous position. 

The plan nearly worked, with Sullivan's forces almost able to encircle the breastwork positions and cut off escape.  Fortunately, some of his forces became bogged down in the swamp, throwing off the timing of the assault.  As most of the Rangers and warriors made their escape, Brant and his men led a counterattack that further slowed down the Patriot advance.  It was a gallant effort at a last stand but it was ultimately unsuccessful.  With the Native and Loyalist defense smashed, the rest of the Iroquois land in New York lay open to whatever Sullivan had in mind.  Novelist-historian Allan Eckert wrote that this battle broke the backs of the Iroquois League, and the hearts of the people of the Six Nations. 

Great Leader: Cornplanter of the Seneca

The Wolf Clan of the Seneca produced leaders.  We've run across several, including Guyasuta, Red Jacket, Blacksnake and Handsome Lake.  Cornplanter, nephew of Guyasita and Red Jacket, brother of Handsome Lake and un0cle to Blacksnake was a war chief and diplomat whose skilled leadership saw his people through the turbulence of two colonial wars.

Cornplanter was born between 1732-1746 at the Seneca town of Canawaugus, now present-day Caledonia, New York.  His mother was a woman of the Wolf Clan, and his father, Johannes Abeel, was a Dutch fur trade from Albany with some relation to the powerful Schuyler family.  Thus, Cornplanter had connections on both sides.  His Native name Gyantwachia meant, the planter or someone who plants, which English sources later translated as Cornplanter.  He would have received his warriors training from the men of his mother's family and was already a war leader of the Seneca during the Seven Years War (1755-1763).  During that War, the Seneca allied with the French against the British and may have been present at Braddock's Defeat in 1755.

Having had plenty of experience at it, he wanted the Seneca to remain neutral during the American Revolution, opposing Joseph Brant's aims of bringing the Iroquois Confederacy to the side of the British.  Brant eventually persuaded most of the Iroquois tribes to ally with the British.  Both Guyasuta and Cornplanter voted for neutrality during counsel meetings, but honored the majority.  Cornplanter and Sayenquaraghta were appointed as war chiefs of the Seneca and joined the Mohawk, Cayuga and Onandoga as allies of the British.  Cornplanter was present at the Battle of Wyoming in 1778, his men serving as auxiliaries to a Loyalist regiment, Butler's Rangers.  Patriot forces burned Tioga and other Seneca towns in retaliation for the encounter at Wyoming, deemed in American public opinion as a massacre.  He was also present at Cherry Valley in 1778.  Living in the area was his own father, Johannes Abeel.  Cornplanter offered his father the chance to remain with the Seneca or stay in White society. Johannes chose the latter, and Cornplanter saw to it that his father was escorted to safety.  He was also present at the Battle of Newtown (August, 1779), as Iroquois and Loyalist forces tried to stop General Sullivan's scorched earth invasion of Seneca territory.  As Sullivan's forces advanced, Cornplanter's men harassed and delayed them long enough for Seneca families to escape the devastation with nothing but what they could carry.  As his people struggled to survive the winter with no shelter or provisions, Cornplanter and his warriors remained in the field.

Following the Revolutionary War, Cornplanter believed that diplomacy was the only path forward for the Iroquois.  He signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 and met with both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  He also proved instrumental in keeping the Iroquois out of the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795).  During his many trips to Philadelphia to meet with government officials, he became interested in the work of the Quakers.  He welcomed Quaker missionaries to educate his own children and open schools on Seneca land.  Realizing that fur trade was no longer viable, he encouraged his people to learn better farming methods.  Along with his brother, Handsome Lake, he worked to oppose liquor sales or consumption among the Seneca. 

Like many Native leaders, he became disillusioned with the poor working relationship with the Americans.  He would later become a proponent of Handsome Lake's religious movement, urging his people to return to their original traditions.  He was given a tract of land in Pennsylvania along the Allegheny River.  He also successfully fought the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's attempts to make him pay land tax.  He died in 1836 and was buried, at his request, in an unmarked grave.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania installed a monument over his grave in 1866.   In 1965, the Kinzua Dam flooded all but a small portion of the Cornplanter Tract.  Cornplanter's remains were removed to Elk Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania.  The Seneca residing on Cornplanter's land removed to the Allegheny Reservation in New York.  Seneca artist Jesse Cornplanter (188-1957)
is his direct descendant.