Red Jacket, Seneca Chief

by Parker, Arthur Caswell; Abler, Thomas S.

• ISBN13: 9780803287556
• ISBN10: 0803287550
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

This is the story of the famous and controversial Seneca chief and orator Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha, ca. 1750-1830), whose passionate and articulate defense of the old ways won the admiration of many but also earned him the enmity of Chiefs Joseph Brant and Cornplanter. Red Jacket received a medal from George Washington as a token of friendship. He is remembered as a vocal and persistent opponent of foreign encroachment on the Iroquois, protesting bitterly against the sale of tribal lands and involvement in European-American disputes, missionary activities, and various efforts to "civilize" the Iroquois.Arthur C. Parker, a renowned scholar of the Iroquois and a member of a distinguished Seneca family, offers an engaging and highly readable account of Red Jacket's life. The biography follows Red Jacket from his early years along the Genesee River through the invasion of Seneca lands during the Revolutionary War, the Big Tree Treaty of 1797, and the rise of the prophet Handsome Lake. Parker (1881-1955) has authored several books on the Iroquois, including Seneca Myths and Folk Tales (Nebraska 1989).Thomas S. Abler is a professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and the editor of Chainbreaker: The Revolutionary War Memoirs of Governor Blacksnake (Nebraska 1989).

Author Biography

Thomas S. Abler is a professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and the editor of Chainbreaker: The Revolutionary War Memoirs of Governor Blacksnake (Nebraska 1989).

Table of Contents

Preface	xxiii
1 Always Ready Awakens to a Problem	1	(18)
2 Red Jacket's Homeland	19	(9)
3 Listening and Learning at Seneca Castle	28	(11)
4 A Land of No Restraint	39	(13)
5 The Rumble of Distant Thunder	52	(13)
6 The Tornado of Fire	65	(16)
7 The Whirlwind Subsides	81	(9)
8 Flint and Steel on the Border	90	(13)
9 A Treaty to End All Treaties	103	(17)
10 Never Shall You Know Want Again	120	(16)
11 A Prophet Appears	136	(12)
12 A Declaration of War	148	(11)
13 It Shall Be Like a Rock	159	(14)
14 It All Ended with a Cherry Table	173	(12)
15 His Words Were as the Lightning	185	(11)
16 Winter Sunset	196	(17)
Note on Red Jacket's Portraits	213	(8)
Index	221