Guyasuta
Portrait of Guyasuta, late 18th century
Seneca leader
Personal details
Born	c.1725 Western New York
Died	c.1794 (aged 68–69) O'Hara estate near Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania
Resting place	Disputed
Relations	Cornplanter (nephew) Handsome Lake (nephew)
Military service
Battles/wars	French and Indian War Battle of Monogahela Battle of Fort Duquesne Battle of Loyalhanna Pontiac's Rebellion Siege of Fort Pitt Battle of Bushy Run American Revolutionary War Battle of Oriskany Siege of Fort Henry (1782)

Guyasuta ^[1] /ˌɡaɪəˈsuːtə/ (c. 1725–c. 1794; Seneca: Kayahsotaˀ, either "he stands up to the cross" or "he sets up the cross") was an important Native American leader of the Seneca people in the second half of the eighteenth century, playing a central role in the diplomacy and warfare of that era. Although he became friends with George Washington in 1753, he sided with the French against Britain during the French and Indian War and fought against the British in Pontiac's War. He later supported the British during the American Revolutionary War. In his final years, he engaged in peacemaking to end the Northwest Indian War.

Early life and family

Born in a Mingo community in upstate New York, probably on the Genesee River, ^[2] he and his family migrated along the Allegheny River and after 1725 they settled in Logstown, a mostly-Iroquois village in Pennsylvania. ^[3] Guyasuta was a maternal uncle to Cornplanter and Handsome Lake. ^{[4]: 114, 188, 347} The paternal half of his ancestry were decorated warriors.^{[ citation needed]}

Journey with Washington, 1753

Guyasuta first appears in colonial records when he met the 21-year-old George Washington, who had been assigned to deliver a message to the French commandant at Fort Leboeuf. In late 1753, Virginia Governor Dinwiddie appointed newly-commissioned Major Washington as a special envoy to demand that the French vacate the Ohio Country, which the British had claimed. ^[5] Arriving with Christopher Gist in Logstown on November 23, Washington held council with Native American leaders, including Shingas, Scarouady, and Tanacharison. Washington explained his mission, and received assurances that the Indians and the English "were brothers." Tanacharison told Washington that "he cou’d not consent to our going without a Guard, for fear some Accident shou’d befall us," and volunteered to accompany Washington, along with Kaghswaghtaniunt (White Thunder), ^[6] Guyasuta, and Jeskakake. Their purpose was to return three belts of wampum sent by the French as a symbol of friendship. Returning the wampum was a gesture intended to show that the sachems at Logstown were allied with the English. Washington wrote in his diary that "I knew that returning of Wampum was the abolishing of Agreements; & giving this up was shaking of all Dependence upon the French." Guyasuta referred to George Washington as "Tall Hunter," and is referred to as "The Hunter," and "one of their best Hunters," in Washington's journal, Journey to the French Commandant. ^{[7] [8]: 191}

Washington and his men left Logstown on November 30 and reached Venango at French Creek on December 4, where they were warmly greeted by Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire, who was in command of the French troops at Venango. Joncaire provided Washington's men with wine and brandy, and when intoxicated, Washington's Native American companions, including Guyasuta, declared their loyalty to the French. It took Washington three days to persuade them to move on to Fort Le Boeuf, where they met the French commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. Tanacharison tried to return the wampum to Saint-Pierre, "who evaded taking it, & made many fair Promises of Love & Friendship; said he wanted to live in Peace & trade amicably with them; as a Proof of which, he wou’d send some Goods immediately down to the Logstown for them. ^[7] As they prepared to leave, White Thunder was injured, and Tanacharison decided to stay with him, sending Guyasuta to accompany Washington and Gist, but as Washington's horses were slowed down by baggage, Washington and Gist left them with Guyasuta and a driver and proceeded on foot. Guyasuta returned with Tanacharison to Logstown on January 15, 1754. ^[9]

French and Indian War

Battle of the Monongahela

In July 1755, as the Braddock Expedition marched towards Fort Duquesne, the French recruited Native American warriors, including Ottawas, Ojibwes, Mississaugas, and Ohio Valley Indians including Guyasuta, to assist in its defense. ^[2] General Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur felt that the warriors would be less effective in or near the fort, and instead deployed them in the open forests south of the fort, where their rifles could hit targets at long range while the Indians fired from behind rocks and trees. The British were unable to employ traditional volley fire tactics and were routed. ^[10] When Guyasuta met Washington again in Ohio in October 1770, ^[8]: 371 the warrior described how he had attempted to shoot Washington twice on the field of battle, and both times something had mysteriously deflected his bullet. ^[11]

Delegation to Montreal

Guyasuta was recognized for his participation in the victory, and in late 1755 was selected to lead a party of twenty Senecas to visit Montreal accompanied by Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire, who served as interpreter. At the Château Vaudreuil the Indians were received in the council chamber with much ceremony by the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis de Vaudreuil. ^{[2] [8]: 371–72} Guyasuta, chief and orator of the Senecas, addressed Vaudreuil, seeking a formal alliance with the French. The delegation remained in Montreal until the following spring. ^[12]: 210

Adoption of Simon Girty

In August 1756, Guyasuta participated in the capture of Fort Granville, taking captive 22 soldiers, 3 women, and 5 or 6 children, among whom were 15-year-old Simon Girty, his three brothers, and his mother and stepfather. Simon Girty was adopted by Guyasuta and lived with him until 1763, when by arrangement with Colonel Henry Bouquet, over 200 white captives were handed over to British authorities. Guyasuta took Girty to Fort Pitt and handed him over directly to Lieutenant Alexander McKee, assistant deputy agent for the British Indian Department. Having learned nine Native American languages during his years with the Seneca, Girty became an interpreter for the British Army and, in this role, encountered Guyasuta frequently during negotiations. ^[13]

Battle of Fort Duquesne

In September 1758, Guyasuta was again called to defend Fort Duquesne when the Forbes Expedition arrived. A reconnaissance force under Major James Grant had gone ahead, and Grant decided to attack the fort, thinking that the garrison would be easily overcome. Instead, in the ensuing Battle of Fort Duquesne, French marines and Native American warriors overwhelmed Grant's troops, capturing him. James Smith described the battle:

"The French and Indians knew not that Grant and his men were there until they beat the drum and played upon the bagpipes, just at daylight. They then flew to arms, and the Indians ran up under cover of the banks of Allegheny and Monongahela, for some distance, and then sallied out from the banks of the rivers, and took possession of the hill above Grant; and as he was on the point of it in sight of the fort, they immediately surrounded him, and as he had his Highlanders in ranks, and in very close order, and the Indians scattered, and concealed behind trees, they defeated him with the loss only of a few warriors; most of the Highlanders were killed or taken prisoners." ^[14]

Guyasuta's warriors decapitated the bodies of Grant's highlanders and arranged the heads on the fort's walls. ^[15]: 52

Battle of Loyalhanna

In October 1758, Guyasuta led a force of warriors in the Battle of Loyalhanna, together with 450 French troops under the command of Charles Philippe Aubry and 150 Lenape led by Keekyuscung, ^[16]: 134 but the British, under the command of Colonel James Burd, repulsed the attack. ^{[8]: 373–74}

Peace conference at Fort Pitt, 1759

In July 1759, Guyasuta, two other chiefs and sixteen warriors of the Six Nations, along with a number of Lenape, Shawnee and Wyandot leaders, attended a conference at Pittsburgh with George Croghan, William Trent, Colonel Hugh Mercer, and the officers of Fort Pitt. ^[12]: 210 At this conference the terms of the 1758 Treaty of Easton were reaffirmed, and the tribal leaders promised to hand over captives taken during the French and Indian War. ^[8]: 375 Guyasuta became close friends with George Croghan at this conference, a relationship which they maintained for many years. ^[17]: 293

Pontiac's War

He was a major player in Pontiac's Rebellion—indeed, some historians once referred to that war as the Pontiac–Guyasuta War. ^{[8]: 294, 319, 394} As early as 1761 he and Seneca war chief Tahaiadoris were circulating a large red wampum belt, known as the war hatchet, among the Native American communities near Detroit. ^[2] According to Sir William Johnson's deputy, George Croghan, the purpose was to bring on a general uprising, which appeared imminent. ^[18]: 182 Croghan learned that Guyasuta and Tahaiadoris were planning to incite the tribes around Detroit, the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot, to surprise the garrison there and take over the fort, giving their warriors access to abundant stores of guns and ammunition. Next, the nations in the Ohio River Valley, the Delaware, Shawnee, and Twightwee, would attack the smaller forts around Fort Pitt. The Mingo and other Iroquois allies would attack and capture the French-built forts of Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Venango. Finally, the Iroquois Six Nations Confederacy would cut communications between Fort Niagara, Oswego, and the Mohawk Valley. With these communication and supply routes secured, the major military posts at Niagara and Fort Pitt could be starved into surrender, as the Native Americans were not inclined to try to take these forts by force, being unaccustomed to siege warfare. ^[19]: 5

This scheme assumed that the French would support the uprising with weaponry and hopefully troops. Guyasuta and Tahaiadoris also suggested forming an alliance with the Cherokee, who were traditional enemies of the Iroquois. ^[20] Guyasuta's interpreter revealed the plot to the commander at Fort Detroit, and an Odawa chief confirmed the allegation, identifying Guysuta as the "bad bird among us." Guyasuta confessed his involvement in the scheme to Croghan several years later. ^{[21]: 520–524}

Guyasuta and Tahaiadoris visited several of the Ohio Valley tribes and sent wampum war belts to tribes in the Illinois country, trying to convene a war conference in Sandusky, but many tribal leaders were skeptical of their plan. Native American communities were still recovering from the French and Indian War and were not ready to make enemies of the British and their powerful armies. Even Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army, dismissed the scheme, doubting that the tribes could coordinate such a massive and complex operation. But Amherst then began implementing policies that increased tension among Native Americans. He demanded that captives be returned and that Native Americans accused of committing crimes against white settlers be tried and punished according to British law. He also severely restricted the quantity and types of goods to be sold or given to the Indians, particularly firearms and alcohol. Amherst was opposed to the practice of gift-giving, a traditional part of Native American alliances, as he felt this supported a "culture of dependency." This created a wave of anger and resentment that Pontiac exploited in 1763, after it was announced that France had signed a peace treaty with Britain and the Pays d'en Haut would come under British control, contrary to previous British promises to leave the region. ^[22]

Although the Seneca remained neutral during the war, Guyasuta and other Seneca warriors participated in the siege of Fort Pitt. ^[2] When Colonel Henry Bouquet arrived with a relief column, Guyasuta joined Delaware and Shawnee warriors in trying to prevent it from reaching the fort. They were defeated at the Battle of Bushy Run. ^{[8]: 377–78} Guyasuta signed a preliminary peace agreement on August 12 1764, and participated in the handover of captives, ^[2] including his own adopted son, Simon Girty.

Peace conference at Fort Pitt, 1765

On May 10 1765, Guyasuta attended a peace conference at Fort Pitt to discuss the resumption of trade relations between Pennsylvania and the Western Indians after Pontiac's War. He was one of the principal speakers on this occasion, and represented the Senecas. He made a speech which summarizes the distrust and frustration most Native Americans felt after inconsistent treatment by the British government:

""When you first came to drive the French from this place, the Governor of Pennsylvania sent us a Message that we should withdraw from the French, & that when the English was settled here, we should want for nothing. It's true, you did supply us very well, but it was only while the War was doubtful, & as soon as you conquer'd the French you did not care how you treated us, as you did not then think us worth your Notice; we request you may not treat us again in this manner, but now open the Trade and do not put us off with telling us you must first hear from your great man before it can be done. If you have but little goods, let us have them for our skins, and let us have a part of your rum, or we cannot [rely] on what you tell us for the future." ^[8]: 401

American Revolutionary War

At the outset of the American Revolutionary War, the American revolutionaries attempted to win Guyasuta to their cause but, like most Iroquois, he sided with the British because they seemed willing to cooperate. A conference at Fort Pitt was called in July 1776 to enable Guyasuta, as the representative of the Six Nations in the Ohio and Allegheny valleys, to define his position in the conflict between England and the American colonies. "I am appointed," said Guyasuta, "by the Six Nations to take care of this country...and I desire you will not think of an expedition against Detroit [then in the possession of the British], for, I repeat, we will not suffer an army to pass through our country." ^[8]: 403

He took part in the Battle of Oriskany in 1777. On July 13 1782, in one of the final actions of the American Revolution, the settlement of Hannastown, Pennsylvania was attacked and destroyed by a British military detachment of sixty Canadian rangers from Fort Niagara and a hundred Seneca warriors led by Guyasuta. ^[22] The population of the town was alerted by harvesters in the fields and took refuge in a blockhouse while the Warriors destroyed the town. ^{[8]: 404–06} In September, he led a war party to participate in the second siege of Fort Henry. ^[2]

Trial of Samuel Brady, 1793

In 1791, Captain Samuel Brady led twenty five Virginia Rangers in pursuit of twelve Delaware Indians who they said had been raiding white settlements in what was then Virginia and is now West Virginia. On March 9, they found the Indians at a place in Pennsylvania known as the Red Front Trading Post, where they were trading. Brady and his men killed four Delaware men and one Delaware woman, then returned to their Virginia homes. Brady evaded arrest for months until General Anthony Wayne persuaded him to turn himself in. Brady's trial convened in Pittsburgh in May, 1793 and was much publicized. On May 25, Guyasuta entered the courtroom, walking with difficulty, using a walking stick and accompanied by his nephew Cornplanter. On seeing him, Brady and the jurors stood up in respect. Guyasuta took Brady’s hands and addressed the court, announcing that Brady was a good man, that the Indians he killed "rode white men's horses and were not friendly," and that they had hurt the Indians as well as the whites. He added that the Indians were thankful to Brady for saving them from those men. Immediately following this testimony, the jury voted to acquit Brady. ^[23] After the trial, Brady's attorney expressed his surprise to Guyasuta at the forcefulness of his testimony. Placing his hand on his heart, Guyasuta replied, "Am I not the friend of Brady?" ^{[8]: 408  [24]: 527–28}

Later life and death

After the war, the aging Guyasuta worked to establish peaceful relations with the new United States, as his nephew Cornplanter became an influential diplomatic figure. In March, 1793 Guyasuta was invited to Legionville, adjacent to the site of Guyasuta's boyhood home of Logstown, to meet with General Anthony Wayne for peace talks, in an attempt to end the Northwest Indian War. ^[25]: 997 As he saw his dream of a peaceful and strong Native American nation crumble, he turned to alcohol. ^[11]

Burial controversy

Towards the end of his life, Guyasuta lived in poverty in a cabin outside Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. General James O'Hara purchased much of the land in that area, and offered Guyasuta a home on his estate, which Guyasuta accepted. ^[8]: 408 According to one account, after Guyasuta had not been seen for several days, O’Hara found him dead on his cabin floor in 1794, ^[11] and he was buried nearby with his rifle, tomahawk, knife, trinkets, and trophies in his coffin. ^[26]: 28

William McCullough Darlington, who later purchased O'Hara's estate, maintained that Guyasuta was buried there, ^{[27] [28]} however other sources claim that he was buried on the Cornplanter Tract (near Corydon, Pennsylvania). ^[29] There is strong evidence that his grave is at Custaloga Town Scout Reservation, now a Boy Scout camp located along French Creek at the former site of Chief Custaloga's village in French Creek Township, Pennsylvania. ^{[30]: 21  [31] [32]} A stone monument to Guyasuta was erected by Charles William Heydrick near the supposed site of his burial in 1915. The monument stands in a Native American burial ground, owned by the Heydrick family since 1798. The land was donated to the Mercer County Historical Society in 1965. ^{[33] [34]: 270} At the burial site is a broken headstone inscribed with "GUY-A-SOOTER 1810," which was the date of Guyasuta's death and burial, according to Charles Heydrick, who spoke to a local settler in 1819:

"John Martin, Jr., who could converse in the Indian tongue, informed me that he made the coffin and assisted in burying a chief. They placed in the coffin his camp kettle, filled with soup; his rifle, tomahawk, knife, trinkets, and trophies. I think they called him 'Guyasooter.'" ^[26]: 28

Memorials and legacy

In Pittsburgh, he is honored, along with George Washington, in a large public sculpture by James A. West called Point of View, which overlooks Point State Park. ^[35] The Laurel Highlands Council of the Boy Scouts of America has a camp property named in his honor. ^[36] Guyasuta Station was the name of the Sharpsburg railroad station, built in 1900. ^[8] A statue of Guyasuta, sculpted by Charles Keck, was part of the North Side Point Bridge built in 1917 and demolished in 1970. ^[37]

A statue of Guyasuta stands at the intersection of Main and North Canal Streets in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. ^[2] The statue and a drinking fountain for horses were donated to the city in 1896, as a centerpiece to the H. J. Heinz Memorial Plaza. The fountain and the cast-iron statue were hit by a car and destroyed in 1930, and the original mold was used to make a copy. The fountain was damaged again in the 1980's by a truck, and the statue was replaced with a bronze copy. ^[38] A brass plaque at the base of the statue states that Guyasuta "was probably buried in the area now occupied by the north end of the Highland Park Bridge." ^[39]

The Allegheny Reservoir, the artificial lake created by the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River, has a beach and camping park named "Kiasutha Recreation Area." ^{[40] [41]}

Since 2021, the Heinz History Center has sponsored an exhibit on the life and legacy of Guyasuta, at the Fort Pitt Museum. ^[42]

Popular culture

Guyasuta is a prominent character in Calvin Boal's 2013 historical novel, St. George's Cross and the Siege of Fort Pitt: Battle of Three Empires. ^[43]

He is also a character in The King's Orchard, (1968) a historical novel by Agnes Sligh Turnbull. ^[44]

Guyasuta was portrayed by Boris Karloff in the 1947 film Unconquered. ^[45]

References

Further reading

• Crytzer, Brady (2013). Guyasuta and the fall of Indian America. Westholme. ISBN  9781594161742.
• Galloway, Edward (2011). "Guyasuta: Warrior, Estate, and Home to Boy Scouts". Western Pennsylvania History. 94 (4). Senator John Heinz History Center: 18–31. Western Pennsylvania History article on the Guyasuta Boy Scout estate.

External links

• French Creek Heritage 2017 "Guyasuta & Custaloga Town Archaeological Explorations", video in which assistant professor of anthropology Ed Jolie discusses the controversy and research on Guyasuta's burial location.