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Guyasuta (It stands up the cross) was one of the most powerful Native America Chiefs of the second half of the 18th century. Often described as a great warrior and skillful hunter, his Seneca-Mingo family migrated along the Allegheny River, settling in Logstown (Baden, PA). In 1753, he guided George Washington to forks on French Creek known as Fort Le Boeuf. He is said to have called Washington “Tall Hunter” and is referred to as “the Hunter” in Washington’s Journals. The two, who met multiple times, were giants of their day and regarded the other with sincere respect.

Guyasuta sided with the French in the French and Indian War and was present at the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755. In 1758, he was involved in the defeat of Major James Grant, east of Fort Duquesne at what is now named Grant Street. American Revolutionaries tried to ally him in the Revolutionary War, but like other Iroquois, he sided with the British because they seemed willing to cooperate with the Native Americans. 

After the war, Guyasuta worked to establish peaceful relations with the United States as his nephew, Cornplanter became a more diplomatic figure. When his dream of a peaceful and strong Native American nation crumbled, he was devastated. He died in his Pennsylvania Cabin in 1794 and was buried with his tomahawk, shotgun, knife, and personal trophies in his coffin. He is believed to be buried at Custaloga Town Scout Reservation along French Creek. 

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As an important leader of the Seneca tribe in the early 18thcentury, Aliquippa is one of America’s first female leaders. Born in the late 1600’s, little is known of her early life until 1701 when she and her husband travelled to Wilmington Delaware to bid William Penn farewell as he sailed home to England. By 1731, she was a founder of “Aliquippa’s Town”, located at the mouth of Chartiers Creek on the Ohio River. By the 1740’s she led a band of Seneca living along the Three Rivers; another Seneca chief of the period said “Women have great influence on our young warriors. It is no new thing to take women into our councils, particularly among the Seneca.” Colonial agents and military officers knew that to remain in her good graces, they must visit her at Aliquippa’s Town and offer gifts appropriate to her status. In his trip to the region in 1754 to ask the French troops to leave the Ohio Valley, Major George Washington bypassed her on the first leg off his trip only to hear later that the Seneca queen was angry. Taking a side trip to visit, he wrote in his journal January 1754, “I made her a present of a Match Coat & a bottle of rum, which was thought much the better present of the two”. Aliquippa was considered an important ally of the British during the French and Indian War and without her support, many believe, the life of Washington and the Colonial Rebellion may have turned out differently.

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Chief Blackfish (1729-1779) was the fearsome Warrior Chief of the Chillicothe Division of the Shawnee Tribe of Ohio. After the Shawnees were defeated at the Battle of Point Pleasant by Virginia Militia (October 1774), Chief Cornstalk signed a treaty that made the Ohio River the boundary between Virginia and the Indian Lands of the Ohio Country. Blackfish and others refused to acknowledge the loss of their traditional hunting grounds of what became Kentucky. Blackfish, encouraged and supplied by the British at Fort Detroit, conducted raids along the border with the colonial settlements during the American Revolution. Hoping he could avenge the murder of Cornstalk by Colonial Soldiers, Blackfish led a winter raid in Kentucky and captured Daniel Boone. Boone was adopted by Blackfish’s tribe until he learned of plans of Blackfish to attack Boones Borough. Boone escaped and helped repulse the attack. Blackfish was wounded in the leg during a counter attack of his village on the Miami River the following summer and subsequently died from the infection of the wound.

Although little is known about Blackfish prior to the final four years of his life, history of the battles of the Ohio remember him as a fierce warrior. Boone’s surrender to Blackfish to save the lives of his hunting party ultimately led to his Court Martial under suspicion as a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War. 

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Sayengaraghta in the Seneca Language literally meant “disappearing smoke”. He was also known by various nicknames including Seneca King and Old Smoke. Born in 1707 as son of a prominent Turtle Clan chief in western New York, Old Smoke lived near present Geneva and became a War Chief in 1751. During the French and Indian War, he served at Fort Niagara as an ally of the British. During Pontiac’s Rebellion, he defeated the British at the Battle of Devil’s Hole but came and buried the axe at Niagara in 1764.

Early in the American Revolution he attempted to keep the Iroquois neutral, even attempting to retrieve warriors who joined with Butler’s Rangers. When the Seneca decided to enter the war with the British, he and Cornplanter were named Iroquois War Chiefs. He was one of the organizers of the Battle of Oriskany ambush and was the primary Indian leader at the Battle of Wyoming. Old Smoke was at the Battle of Johnstown and led a war party towards Fort Pitt. After his home village was destroyed during the Sullivan campaign, he and his family moved to Buffalo Creek, near present day Buffalo. 

It was said of him by British General Frederick Haldimand that he was "by many degrees the most leading and the man of most consequence and influence in the Six Nations”. 

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Tecumseh was among the most celebrated Native American leaders in history and was known as a strong and eloquent orator. His lifelong goal was to repel the Americans from Indian lands and he promoted tribal unity to defend those rights. He is also known for his oratory skills and his philosophy of living and dying:

So, live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion, respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes, they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home. 

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Black Hoof (Catecahassa) was a Shawnee Chief in the Ohio Country and member of the Mecoche division of the Shawnee. The Ohio Country extended from the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers to Lake Erie and included most of current-day Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and Northern West Virginia. He was known as a fierce warrior during early wars between the Shawnee and Anglo-American Colonists. He claimed to be present at the Battle of the Monongahela, when Braddock was defeated in 1755 and was probably involved in the Battle of Point Pleasant against Virginia Militia in 1774. He accompanied Chief Blackfish in the siege of Boonesborough in 1778. He was defeated by Mad Anthony Wayne in the Northwest Indian War and fought at Fallen Timber. Following the collapse of the Indian Confederacy, Black Hoof surrendered in 1795.

Later he decided that Native Americans should adapt to the culture of the White Settlers to prevent decimation through warfare. He became an ally of the United States and kept the Shawnee people from joining Tecumseh’s War and siding with the British in the War of 1812. 

He resisted Indian removal following the War of 1812 and never signed a removal treaty. He led his tribe until his death, after which the Shawnee were compelled to move west of the Mississippi River. 

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Born as John Abeel III to a Seneca mother and Dutch trader John Abeel II, was given the Seneca name Gyantwachia meaning “the planter”. He was raised by his mother as a member of the Wolf Clan. Males of the Wolf clan had traditional function as war chiefs. 

Cornplanter was a Seneca war chief during the French and Indian War and was present at Braddock’s defeat. During the American Revolution, both Corplanter and his uncle Guyasutha wanted the Iroquois nations to remain neutral. Both sides tried to recruit the Iroquois, but the British offered large amounts of goods. When the Iroquois League voted, most of the Confederacy voted to side with the British.

Cornplanter joined with John Butler’s Rangers in the Battle of Wyoming Valley, killing many settlers and destroying their property. Later, at the raid on Cherry Valley, NY, Cornplanter’s men captured his father (John Abeel) after burning his house. Cornplanter offered his apologies and permitted him to return to Europe.

Later, he worked for good diplomatic relations with the new government of what the Iroquois called the “13 Fires”. He met with Washington and Jefferson on behalf of the Iroquois and allowed Quakers into his village to teach the Seneca new skills. The tract of land granted to him, and his heirs was flooded by construction of the Allegheny Reservoir in 1965.  

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