A New People in an Age of War: the Kahnawake Iroquois, 1667--1760
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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1991 A new people in an age of war: The Kahnawake Iroquois, 1667--1760 Gretchen Lynn Green College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Canadian History Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Green, Gretchen Lynn, "A new people in an age of war: The Kahnawake Iroquois, 1667--1760" (1991). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623801. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-kx4k-dy49 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Order Number 920775S A new people in an age of war: The Kahnawake Iroquois, 1667-1760 Green, Gretchen Lynn, Ph.D. The College of William and Mary, 1991 Copyright ©1991 by Green, Gretchen Lynn. A ll rights reserved. UMI 300 N . Zeeb RA Ann Aibor, M I 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permissionpermission of of the the copyright copyright owner. owner. Further Further reproduction reproduction prohibited prohibited without without permission. permission. A NEW PEOPLE IN AN AGE OF WAR THE KAHNAWAKE IROQUOIS, 1667-1760 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Gretchen Lynn Green 1991 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright 1991 by Gretchen Lynn Green ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Author J Approved, May 1991 Axua. James L. Axtell Johi : S'ei: Thomas F. Sheppa: Q in P. Ke: Cmm-lut, OsVA^ Cornelius J. Jaenen, University of Ottawa Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dedication To my grandfather, Frank Besau, who first taught me the value of history. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................... V LIST OF MAPS AND T A B L E S................................ xii ABSTRACT.............................................. xiii CHAPTER I. IROQUOIS HISTORY TO 1667 2 CHAPTER II. "OFF TO LA PRAIRIE:" LIFE AT THE NEW COMMUNITY.............. ' . 29 CHAPTER III. KAHNAWAKE-FIVE NATIONS RELATIONS IN THE 1 6 8 0 S ........................... 68 CHAPTER IV. KAHNAWAKE-FIVE NATIONS RELATIONS, 1689-1701 ................................ 104 CHAPTER V. KAHNAWAKE-FRENCH RELATIONS IN THE 1690S . 148 CHAPTER VI. KAHNAWAKE FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1701-1760 . 169 CHAPTER VII. KAHNAWAKE AND FREE TRADE IN AN AGE OF MERCANTILISM........................... 228 CHAPTER VIII. THE KAHNAWAKE PEOPLE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY............................... 282 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................... 302 i v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Kahnawake Iroquois were a group of Iroquois Indians converted by Jesuit missionaries and invited to emigrate from their homeland to a mission community just outside of Montreal starting in 1667. This dissertation focusses on them from that beginning to the Seven Years' War and closes in 1760 with the demise of the French in North America. Kahnawake history from 1667 to 1760 is tied to the colonial and imperial struggle in the colonial Northeast between the English, the Iroquois, and the French, so the defeat of the French meant that their subsequent history differs dramatically and is not in the scope of this study. While there have been community studies written by Jesuit apologists about these Indians, the Kahnawakes have never been studied in the context of the diplomatic-military struggle between the English, the Iroquois League, and the French, but have been dismissed as probably being under the heel of the French.1 The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that they were not mere puppets of the French, but that there was a real power struggle between the Kahnawakes and New France, as well as between the Kahnawakes and New York, and even between the Kahnawakes and the Iroquois League. Although the Kahnawake people originated in an era of struggle and warfare, they survived and developed as a 1Francis Jennings, Empire of Fortune (New York: Norton, 1987), p. 190. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. distinct group. They maintained their identity in the face of strong pressure from both the Iroquois League and the French. Although overseen by Jesuit missionaries, the Kahnawakes managed to retain much of their independence and self- determination. They also held their kinfolk of the Iroquois League at arm's length when it suited their purposes. Even with their factional splits, the Kahnawakes forced the French, the English, and the Iroquois League to deal with them as a separate power in the geopolitics of northeastern North America. They are an example of a native group which adapted to changing circumstances but kept control over the adaptations they made and changed in ways which kept their identity and automony intact. This argument alters the interpretation of colonial history in the Northeast because the Kahnawakes have never been studied as a separate group. A few community studies have been written about the community of Kahnawake, either by Jesuit apologists, antiquarians, or activists who havee ignored pertinent evidence and have not subjected their findings to critical analysis.2 Moreover, the Kahnawake people have never been analyzed within the context of the 2E. J. Devine, Historic Cauqhnawaqa (Montreal: Messenger Press, 1922); Henri Bechard, The Original Cauqhnawaqa Indians (Montreal: International Publishers, 1976); David Blanchard, "Patterns of tradition and change; the re-creation of Iroquois culture at Kahnawake," (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1982). vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. politics of the colonial Northeast.3 The assumption has been made that since they emigrated to a Jesuit reserve within New France, they did the bidding of the French, and were mercenaries for them when hostilities between the French and the English broke out. But more than a superficial reading of the documents reveals that the situation was more complicated, and this dissertation examines those complications. The significance of my findings impinge on the existing picture of power relationships in the colonial Northeast. If it is true that the Kahnawakes were a force to be reckoned with, then power was more widely shared than past interpretations have shown. Within the past few decades, scholars have shown that the Iroquois League was not just a mercenary force for the English against the French.4 Likewise, other Indian groups were important as independent players and at times pivotal. The Kahnawakes were an 3Thomas R. Agan made a start in this direction with his Master's thesis, "The Caughnawaga Indians and their