New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Native American History

SUNY Press Announces Indigenous Studies Series

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State University of New York Press has announced a new series in Indigenous Studies, the SUNY series in Ethnohistories of Early America (Edited by James Carson, Queen’s University and Greg O’Brien, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). This series showcases cutting-edge research in the field of ethnohistory, focusing on what is now the United States and Canada from the time of initial contacts between American Indians and Europeans through the era of the early republic United States, ca. 1800.

“Ethnohistory” is defined broadly to be more than American Indian history or the history of Indian-European relations-though that is expected to be the primary area of focus. We will also consider works in the time period on any subset(s) of the North American population that is examined and written about through cultural and/or cross-cultural analysis using ethnohistorical research methodology. To encourage a diverse readership, particularly students, all books in the series will be available simultaneously in hardcover, paperback, and electronic DirectText editions.

Manuscripts and proposals should be sent to:

Dr. Gary Dunham
Executive Director, SUNY Press
194 Washington Ave., Suite 305
Albany, NY 12210
Phone: 518-472-5000 / Fax: 518-472-5038

Direct all questions to:

Professor James Carson
Department of History
Queen’s University
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada

Professor Greg O’Brien
Department of History
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170

Ellis Island to Include Native Americans, African Slaves

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The Associated Press is reporting that the Ellis Island Immigration Museum is creating The Peopling of America Center to tell the history of those who arrived in America outside the traditional peak immigration dates of 1892 to 1954:

Exhibits will focus on the arrival of Native Americans, who are believed to have migrated to North America more than 10,000 years ago across the Bering Sea from Asia; Europeans who landed on the Eastern seaboard from the 1600s through 1892; Africans brought here forcibly by slave traders; and today’s immigrants from all over the globe…

The $20 million, 20,000-square-foot space, designed by Edwin Schlossberg of ESI Design, will be located in an existing gallery that will be redesigned and in an adjoining building that now houses the curatorial staff…

Work on the new center began in September. Funding has been underwritten in part by Bank of America and the Annenberg Foundation. Briganti said the foundation has attained more than 75 percent of its fundraising goal.

Upon its completion in 2011, the museum will be renamed Ellis Island: The National Museum of Immigration.

Laurence M. Hauptman to Speak at Iroquois Museum

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The Iroquois Indian Museum will present “More than Games: Iroquois Indians and Other Native American Athletes at Carlisle Indian School”, a lecture by Dr. Laurence M. Hauptman on Sunday, October 5th at 1PM. The Iroquois Indian Museum is located 35 miles west of Albany, New York, near the intersection of highways 7 and 145. Take exit 22 from Interstate 88 and follow signs. For information and detailed directions call the Museum at (518) 296-8949 or visit our website at www.iroquoismuseum.org. [Read more…] about Laurence M. Hauptman to Speak at Iroquois Museum

Oneida Nation Will Remember Battle of Oriskany

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The Oneida Indian Nationhas announced that they will participate in an memorial ceremony to remember the 1777 Battle of Oriskany this evening:

231 years ago, the Oneida Indian Nation became the first ally of the American colonists in their fight for freedom, at the Battle of Oriskany. On Wednesday, August 6, at 7 pm, a solemn remembrance ceremony will be held at the battlefield to remember those who fought and those who died at what history has called the ”bloodiest battle of the American Revolution.” The Oneidas will be represented at this community-wide event by Brian Patterson, Bear Clan Representative for the Nation’s Council, and members of the Nation’s reenactment group, First Allies.

The Battle took place in what is now Oneida County on the south side of the Mohawk River. According to the great wiki:

During his march down the Mohawk Valley from Oswego to Albany, Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger besieged Fort Stanwix, then under the command of Colonel Peter Gansevoort. St. Leger’s force of British regulars of the Royal Artillery, 8th and 34th Regiments, loyalist King’s Royal Yorkers and natives of the Six Nations and Seven Nations of Canada laid siege to the fort.

Upon hearing reports of St. Leger’s advance, Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer assembled the Tryon County militia at Fort Dayton to proceed to Gansevoort’s aid. On August 4, 1777, Herkimer, with 800 militiamen—mostly poorly trained German-American farmers—and 40 Oneida Indians, began the forty-mile (65 km) trek west from Fort Dayton to Fort Stanwix.

When St. Leger learned through Molly Brant that Herkimer and his relief expedition were on their way, he sent Joseph Brant, a Mohawk chief, with more than 400 natives, and Sir John Johnson, with the light infantry company of his King’s Royal Yorkers to intercept them. Their clash at Oriskany Creek was one of the key episodes of the Campaign of 1777.

On August 6, 1777, [the] American relief force from the Mohawk Valley under General Nicholas Herkimer, numbering around 800 men of the Tryon County militia, was approaching to raise the siege. British commander Barry St. Leger authorized an intercept force consisting of a Hanau Jager detachment, Sir John Johnson’s King’s Royal Regiment of New York, Native allies from the Six Nations, and Indian Department Rangers totaling at least 450 men.

The Loyalist and Native force ambushed Herkimer’s force in a small valley about six miles east of Fort Stanwix. During the battle, Herkimer was mortally wounded. The battle cost the Patriots approximately 450 casualties, while the Loyalists and Natives lost approximately 150 dead and wounded. It was a clear victory for the loyalists over the rebels.

But the Loyalist victory was tarnished when a sortie from Fort Stanwix sacked the Crown camp, spoiling morale among the Native Americans.

The Oriskany Battlefield is located on Route 69, two miles west of the Village of Oriskany.

Strange Maps to Strange Ideas

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One of the blogs we follow here at the New York History Blog, is Strange Maps, a blog of some of the weirdest, wackiest, and thought provoking maps in the world. Here is are some samples of some recent posts you may not have seen, they are not all New York History related, but they do point to unique uses of mapping that NY historians can appreciate:

Federal Lands in the US
The United States government has direct ownership of almost 650 million acres of land (2.63 million square kilometers) – nearly30% of its total territory. These federal lands, which are mainly used as military bases or testing grounds, nature parks and reserves and indian reservations, are managed by different administrations, such as the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the US Department of Defense, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Bureau of Reclamation or the Tennessee Valley Authority. [New York is tied with Iowa for 2nd from last at .8%; Connecticut and Rhode Island are tied for last with just .4% – of course they don’t count New York’s state lands (Adirondack, Catskills, and more), so the map is not really reflective of actual government ownership.]

Where News Breaks
Researchers extracted the dateline from about 72,000 wire-service news stories from 1994 to 1998 and modified a standard map of the Lower 48 US states (above) to show the size of the states in proportion to the frequency of their appearance in those datelines. New York is the largest news provider of the country, of course nearly all originating in New York City (pop. 8.2 million; metro area 18.8 million). Compare this to Illinois, home of the the nation’s third largest city, Chicago (pop. 2.8 million; metro area 9.5 million). Especially when considering metropolitan areas, Chicago/Illinois should be half the ‘news size’ of New York City/New York, while in fact it seems to be less than one fifth. Could this underrepresentation be down to another ‘capital effect’ (i.e. New York being the ‘cultural capital’ of the US)?

Area Codes in Which Ludacris Claims to Have Hoes
“In [the song “Area Codes”] Ludacris brags about the area codes where he knows women, whom he refers to as ‘hoes’,” says Stefanie Gray, who plotted out all the area codes mentioned in this song on a map of the United States. She arrived at some interesting conclusions as to the locations of this rapper’s preferred female companionship:

Ludacris heavily favors the East Coast to the West, save for Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.

Ludacris travels frequently along the Boswash corridor.

There is a ‘ho belt‘ phenomenon nearly synonymous with the ‘Bible Belt’.

Ludacris’s ideal ‘ho-highway’ would be I-95.

Ludacris has hoes in the entire state of Maryland.

Ludacris has a disproportionate ho-zone in rural Nebraska. He might favor white women as much as he does black women, or perhaps, girls who farm.

A World Map of Manhattan
This map celebrates that diversity by assembling Manhattan out of the contours of many of the world’s countries. Danielle Hartman created the map based on data from the 2000 US Census. In all, 80 different countries of origin were listed in the census. The map-maker placed the country contours near the census area where most of the citizens of each country resided.

The Comancheria, Lost Homeland of a Warrior Tribe
Under the presidency of Sam Houston (1836-’38, 1841-’44) the then independent Republic of Texas almost came to a peace agreement with the tribal collective known as the Comanche. The Texas legislature rejected this deal, because it did not want to establish a definitive border with the Comanche; for by that time, white settlers were pushing into the Comancheria, the homeland of one of the most fearsome Native American peoples the Euro-Americans ever had to deal with.

Thomas Jefferson’s Plan for the division of the Northwest Territory into 10 new states.

Regionalism and Religiosity

A Map of the Internet’s Black Holes

A Diagram of the Eisenhower Interstate System

Birthplaces of Mississippi Blues Artists

Ancient Mississippi River Courses

3rd Annual Pethick Archaeological Site Open House

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The 3rd Annual Pethick Archaeological Site Open House will be held Monday, June 30th, and Tuesday, July 1st, 10am – 2pm on Smith Road in Central Bridge (directions below).

The Pethick Site is in its fifth season of excavation as an archaeological field school co-taught by the University of Albany, SUNY, and the New York State Museum. It is a rich and important Native American site, and to date has yielded almost 200,000 artifacts and 350 soil features. Evidence recovered in the excavations suggests that this location has been used for several thousand years by the indigenous people of the Schoharie Valley.

According to SUNY Archaeologist Sean Rafferty:

The Pethick Site is a newly discovered village and campsite located on a terrace overlooking Schoharie Creek, a major tributary of the Mohawk River. The site was discovered by the class of the 2004 summer field school based on information provided by local artifact collectors. A shovel test pit survey of the site indicated that there were extensive and rich archaeological deposits present. These were concentrated at one end of the site on a small rise in the local topography. Initial excavations were concentrated in that area.

Our excavations first uncovered a dark black organic layer, believed to represent a decomposed trash midden dating from the most recent occupations of the site. Based on artifacts recovered from the midden layer, the most recent and most extensive occupation at Pethick dates from approximately AD 1000 to AD 1400, a period archaeologists refer to as the “Late Woodland Period” in northeastern North America. The occupants of the Schoharie Valley at that time are generally believed to have been the ancestors to modern Iroquois cultures, including the Mohawk. Remains from that period at the site include numerous hearths, fire cracked rock deposits, storage pits, and post-mold patterns. Artifacts from the site include numerous chipped stone waste flakes, stone tools including projectile points, and potter sherds. Preliminary analysis suggests the presence of at least one longhouse.

While the discovery of a possible early Iroquoian village site is a major occurrence, there is more to Pethick than this. Soil stratigraphy and artifacts indicate that Pethick is a multicomponent site, which was repeatedly occupied over thousands of years of prehistory. Artifacts recovered during the 2004 season indicate occupations during the pre-agricultural Early and Middle Woodland Periods, from approximately 1,000 BC to AD 200. Also identified were artifacts indicating occupations during the preceding Transitional Period, from approximately 1,500 to 1,000 BC. During these early periods the site probably served as a seasonal encampment where occupants could take advantage of locally gathered plant and animal resources, including fishing in the nearby Schoharie Creek.

We have been informed by local collectors that the site may also contain remains from the Early Archaic Period, dating to as early as 8,000 BC. If true, this would be a very rare occupation, dating to one of the earliest periods of New York State prehistory, just following the end of the last Ice Age. Surveying the areas purported to contain this evidence will also be a priority of the next field season.

Visitors to the site will be given tours by university students, but they are welcome to explore at their own pace and stay as long as they would like. Professional archaeologists, including State Archaeologist Dr. Christina Rieth and Dr. Sean Rafferty of the University at Albany, will be on hand to look at private artifact collections, which visitors are encouraged to bring. The site is fairly easily accessed (in a farm field). For safety reasons, guests will not be allowed to excavate.

Visitors of all ages are welcome! There is no cost for this event.

For more information, email or call: Jaime Donta, jm141615@albany.edu or (413)237-2822

From Albany: Take I-88W to Exit 23– Schoharie/Central Bridge. At the end of the ramp, turn right. At the flashing red light, turn left onto 30/7A. Cross the Schoharie Creek, then take your first left onto Smith Rd. Follow to the end– the site is visible on the left.

Native American History: 1922 Everett Report Online

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The Everett Report, officially known as the Report of the New York State Commission to Investigate the Status of the American Indian Residing in the State of New York has been made available online by the New York State Library. The Commission was chaired by Assemblyman Edward Everett (R-Potsdam). Here is a link, though the viewing system is archaic, so make sure you allow pop-ups for www.nysl.nysed.gov.

The New York State Indian Commission (1919-1922), whose purpose was to investigate the status of Indian welfare and land rights in New York State, was presented to the legislature on March 17, 1922 – and then promptly rejected. It wasn’t until 1971 that the report was finally released. In 1980, Helen Upton published The Everett Report in Historical Perspective.

According to the folks at the New York State Library:

Lulu Stillman, a stenographer for Assemblyman Edward Everett, was credited for preserving the only remaining record of the report, from which the 1971 transcript was made. As Everett’s stenographer, Stillman retained copies of most of the material produced by or related to the commission. (Many of the original documents are either missing or unavailable.) The published report released in 1971 and Stillman’s annotated draft have both been digitized.

Skenandoah – Chief of the Oneida

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Mrs. Mecomber over at New York Traveler offers an interesting post on the Skenandoah Boulder, a monument to Oneida Chief Skenandoah.

Her site includes lots of photos of the memorial, some research she conducted and a link to her trip to Skenandoah’s grave site at Hamilton College cemetery in Clinton, Oneida County.

According to the Chiefs website:

In 1766, Samuel Kirkland, an American missionary, began living with the Oneida. He adopted many of their customs, but at the same time preached Christian ways. He was largely responsible for persuading the Oneida to abandon their neutral stance and support the Americans. Skenandoah, who was a close personal friend to Samuel Kirkland, began sending some warriors to help the Americans.

When George Washington’s men were starving at Valley Forge, Skenandoah sent baskets of corn. Skenandoah also informed residents of German Flats, New York, that Joseph Brant and the British Loyalists were going to raid their town. The settlers were able to save themselves, but lost all their property and possessions. In recognition of Skenandoah’s invaluable support, George Washington named the Shenandoah Valley after him. Following the American Revolution, Skenandoah remained the principal chief of the Oneida. In 1816, Skenandoah died. Per his request, he was buried next to Samuel Kirkland at Hamilton College cemetery in Clinton, New York.

Mrs. Mecomber reports that the boulder’s plaque says:

This marks the site of the last home of SKENANDOAH Chief of the Oneidas, “The White Man’s Friend.” Here he entertained Governor DeWitt Clinton 1810, and many other distinguished guests, and here he died in 1816 aged 110. He was carried on the shoulders of his faithful Indians to his burial in the cemetery of Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, and laid to rest beside his beloved friend and faithful teacher Rev. Samuel Kirkland.

“I am an aged hemlock; the winds of an hundred winters have whistled through my branches . I am dead at the top. The generation to which I belonged have run away and left me.” Skenandoah.

Erected 1912 by Skenandoah Chapter, N.S.D.A.R. Oneida, NY