chapter 7-13.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Guuchies.

See below: PAMPAS TRIBES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Hackinsacks.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Haidas.

See below: SKITTAGETAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Hidatsa, or Minnetaree, or Grosventres

See Note, Appendix E.

"The Hidatsa, Minnetaree, or Grosventre Indians, are one of the three tribes which at present inhabit the permanent village at Fort Berthold, Dakota Territory, and hunt on the waters of the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, in Northwestern Dakota and Eastern Montana. The history of this tribe is ... intimately connected with that of the politically allied tribes of the Aricarees and Mandans." The name, Grosventres, was given to the people of this tribe "by the early French and Canadian adventurers. The same name was applied also to a tribe, totally distinct from these in language and origin, which lives some hundreds of miles west of Fort Berthold; and the two nations are now distinguished from one another as Grosventres of the Missouri and Grosventres of the Prairie. ... Edward Umfreville, who traded on the Saskatchewan River from 1784 to 1787, ... remarks: ... 'They [the Canadian French] call them Grosventres, or Big-Bellies; and without any reason, as they are as comely and as well made as any tribe whatever.' ... In the works of many travellers they are called Minnetarees, a name which is spelled in various ways. ... This, although a Hidatsa word, is the name applied to them, not by themselves, but by the Mandans; it signifies 'to cross the water,' or 'they crossed the water.' ... Hidatsa was the name of the village on Knife River farthest from the Missouri, the village of those whom Lewis and Clarke considered the Minnetarees proper." It is the name "now generally used by this people to designate themselves."

_W. Matthews, Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, parts 1-2 (United States Geological and Geographical Survey. F. V. Hayden, Mis. Pub., No. 7)_.

See also, below: SIOUAN FAMILY.

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AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Hitchitis.

See below: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Horikans.

North of the Mohegans, who occupied the east bank of the Hudson River opposite Albany, and covering the present counties of Columbia and Rensselaer, dwelt the Algonkin tribe of Horikans, "whose hunting grounds appear to have extended from the waters of the Connecticut, across the Green Mountains, to the borders of that beautiful lake [named Lake George by the too loyal Sir William Johnson] which might now well bear their sonorous name."

_J. R. Brodhead, History of the State of New York, page 77._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Huamaboya.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Huancas.

See PERU.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Huastecs.

See below: MAYAS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Huecos, or Wacos.

See below: PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Humas, or Oumas.

See below: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Hupas.

See Note, Appendix E. See below: MODOCS, &c.

Hurons, or Wyandots. Neutral Nation. Eries.

"The peninsula between the Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario was occupied by two distinct peoples, speaking dialects of the Iroquois tongue. The Hurons or Wyandots, including the tribe called by the French the Dionondadies, or Tobacco Nation, dwelt among the forests which bordered the eastern shores of the fresh water sea to which they have left their name; while the Neutral Nation, so called from their neutrality in the war between the Hurons and the Five Nations, inhabited the northern shores of Lake Erie, and even extended their eastern flank across the strait of Niagara. The population of the Hurons has been variously stated at from 10,000 to 30,000 souls, but probably did not exceed the former estimate. The Franciscans and the Jesuits were early among them, and from their descriptions it is apparent that, in legends, and superstitions, manners and habits, religious observances and social customs, they were closely assimilated to their brethren of the Five Nations. ... Like the Five Nations, the Wyandots were in some measure an agricultural people; they bartered the surplus products of their maize fields to surrounding tribes, usually receiving fish in exchange; and this traffic was so considerable that the Jesuits styled their country the Granary of the Algonquins. Their prosperity was rudely broken by the hostilities of the Five Nations; for though the conflicting parties were not ill matched in point of numbers, yet the united counsels and ferocious energies of the confederacy swept all before them. In the year 1649, in the depth of winter, their warriors invaded the country of the Wyandots, stormed their largest villages, and involved all within in indiscriminate slaughter. The survivors fled in panic terror, and the whole nation was broken and dispersed. Some found refuge among the French of Canada, where, at the village of Lorette, near Quebec, their descendants still remain; others were incorporated with their conquerors, while others again fled northward, beyond Lake Superior, and sought an asylum among the wastes which bordered on the north-eastern lands of the Dahcotah. Driven back by those fierce bison-hunters, they next established themselves about the outlet of Lake Superior, and the shores and islands in the northern parts of Lake Huron. Thence, about the year 1680, they descended to Detroit, where they formed a permanent settlement, and where, by their superior valor, capacity and address, they soon acquired an ascendancy over the surrounding Algonquins. The ruin of the Neutral Nation followed close on that of the Wyandots, to whom, according to Jesuit authority, they bore an exact resemblance in character and manners. The Senecas soon found means to pick a quarrel with them; they were assailed by all the strength of the insatiable confederacy, and within a few years their destruction as a nation was complete."

_F. Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, chapter 1._

_F. Parkman, The Jesuits in North America, chapter 1._

"The first in this locality [namely, the western extremity of the State of New York, on and around the site of the city of Buffalo], of whom history makes mention, were the Attiouandaronk, or Neutral Nation, called Kah-kwas by the Senecas. They had their council-fires along the Niagara, but principally on its western side. Their hunting grounds extended from the Genesee nearly to the eastern shores of Lake Huron, embracing a wide and important territory. ... They are first mentioned by Champlain during his winter visit to the Hurons in 1615 ... but he was unable to visit their territory. ... The peace which this peculiar people had so long maintained with the Iroquois was destined to be broken. Some jealousies and collisions occurred in 1647, which culminated in open war in 1650. One of the villages of the Neutral Nation, nearest the Senecas and not far from the site of our city [Buffalo], was captured in the autumn of the latter year, and another the ensuing spring. So well-directed and energetic were the blows of the Iroquois, that the total destruction of the Neutral Nation was speedily accomplished. ... The survivors were adopted by their conquerors. .... A long period intervened between the destruction of the Neutral Nation and the permanent occupation of their country by the Senecas,"--which latter event occurred after the expulsion of the Senecas from the Genesee Valley, by the expedition under General Sullivan, in 1779, during the Revolutionary War. "They never, as a nation, resumed their ancient seats along the Genesee, but sought and found a new home on the secluded banks and among the basswood forests of the Dó-syo-wa, or Buffalo Creek, whence they had driven the Neutral Nation 130 years before. ... It has been assumed by many writers that the Kah-kwas and Eries were identical. This is not so. The latter, according to the most reliable authorities, lived south of the western extremity of Lake Erie until they were destroyed by the Iroquois in 1655. The Kah-kwas were exterminated by them as early as 1651. On Coronelli's map, published in 1688, one of the villages of the latter, called 'Kahouagoga, a destroyed nation,' is located at or near the site of Buffalo."

_O. H. Marshall, The Niagara Frontier, pages 5-8, and foot-note_.

"Westward of the Neutrals, along the Southeastern shores of Lake Erie, and stretching as far east as the Genesee river, lay the country of the Eries, or, as they were denominated by the Jesuits, 'La Nation Chat,' or Cat Nation, who were also a member of the Huron-Iroquois family. The name of the beautiful lake on whose margin our city [Buffalo] was cradled is their most enduring monument, as Lake Huron is that of the generic stock. They were called the Cat Nation either because that interesting but mischievous animal, the raccoon, which the holy fathers erroneously classed in the feline gens, was the totem of their leading clan, or sept, or in consequence of the abundance of that mammal within their territory."

_W. C. Bryant, Interesting Archaeological Studies in and about Buffalo, page 12._

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Mr. Schoolcraft either identifies or confuses the Eries and the Neutral Nation.

_H. R. Schoolcraft, Sketch of the History of the Ancient Eries (Information Respecting the Indian Tribes, part 4. p. 197)._

ALSO IN _J. G. Shea, Inquiries Respecting the lost Neutral Nation (same, part 4, page 204)._-

_D. Wilson, The Huron-Iroquois of Canada (Trans. Royal Society of Canada, 1884)_.

_P. D. Clarke, Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandottes._

_W. Ketchum, History of Buffalo, volume 1, chapter 1-2_.

_N. B. Craig. The Olden Time, volume 1, page 225_.

See below: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY;

Also, CANADA (NEW FRANCE): A. D. 1608-1611; 1611-1616; 1634-1652; 1640-1700.

See, also, PONTIAC'S WAR.

For an account of "Lord Dunmore's War,"

See OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1774.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Illinois and Miamis.

"Passing the country of the Lenape and the Shawanoes, and descending the Ohio, the traveller would have found its valley chiefly occupied by two nations, the Miamis or Twightwees, on the Wabash and its branches, and the Illinois, who dwelt in the neighborhood of the river to which they have given their name, while portions of them extended beyond the Mississippi. Though never subjugated, as were the Lenape, both the Miamis and the Illinois were reduced to the last extremity by the repeated attacks of the Five Nations; and the Illinois, in particular, suffered so much by these and other wars, that the population of ten or twelve thousand, ascribed to them by the early French writers, had dwindled, during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, to a few small villages."

_F. Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, chapter 1._

See, also, above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY; and below: SACS, &c.; also CANADA (NEW FRANCE): A. D. 1669-1687.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Incas, or Yncas.

See PERU.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Innuits.

See above: ESKIMAUAN.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Iowas.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY, and PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Iroquois Confederacy. Iroquoian Family.

"At the outset of the 16th Century, when the five tribes or nations of the Iroquois confederacy first became known to European explorers, they were found occupying the valleys and uplands of northern New York, in that picturesque and fruitful region which stretches westward from the head-waters of the Hudson to the Genesee. The Mohawks, or Caniengas--as they should properly be called--possessed the Mohawk River, and covered Lake George and Lake Champlain with their flotillas of large canoes, managed with the boldness and skill which, hereditary in their descendants, make them still the best boatmen of the North American rivers. West of the Caniengas the Oneidas held the small river and lake which bear their name. ... West of the Oneidas, the imperious Onondagas, the central and, in some respects, the ruling nation of the League, possessed the two lakes of Onondaga and Skaneateles. together with the common outlet of this inland lake system, the Oswego River to its issue into Lake Ontario. Still proceeding westward, the lines of trail and river led to the long and winding stretch of Lake Cayuga, about which were clustered the towns of the people who gave their name to the lake; and beyond them, over the wide expanse of hills and dales surrounding Lakes Seneca and Canandaigua, were scattered the populous villages of the Senecas, more correctly called Sonontowanas, or Mountaineers. Such were the names and abodes of the allied nations, members of the far-famed Kanonsionni, or League of United Households, who were destined to become for a time the most notable and powerful community among the native tribes of North America. The region which has been described was not, however, the original seat of those nations. They belonged to that linguistic family which is known to ethnologists as the Huron-Iroquois stock. This stock comprised the Hurons or Wyandots, the Attiwandaronks or Neutral Nation, the Iroquois, the Eries, the Andastes or Conestogas, the Tuscaroras and some smaller bands. The tribes of this family occupied a long irregular area of inland territory, stretching from Canada to North Carolina. The northern nations were all clustered about the great lakes; the southern bands held the fertile valleys bordering the head-waters of the rivers which flowed from the Allegheny mountains. The languages of all these tribes showed a close affinity. ... The evidence of language, so far as it has yet been examined, seems to show that the Huron clans were the older members of the group; and the clear and positive traditions of all the surviving tribes, Hurons, Iroquois, and Tuscarora, point to the lower St. Lawrence as the earliest known abode of their stock. Here the first explorer, Cartier, found Indians of this stock at Hochelaga and Stadaconé, now the sites of Montreal and Quebec. ... As their numbers increased, dissensions arose. The hive swarmed, and band after band moved off to the west and south. As they spread they encountered people of other stocks, with whom they had frequent wars. Their most constant and most dreaded enemies were the tribes of the Algonkin family, a fierce and restless people, of northern origin, who everywhere surrounded them. At one period, however, if the concurrent traditions of both Iroquois and Algonkins can be believed, these contending races for a time stayed their strife, and united their forces in an alliance against a common and formidable foe. This foe was the nation, or perhaps the confederacy, of the Alligewi or Talligewi, the semi-civilized 'Mound-builders' of the Ohio Valley, who have left their name to the Allegheny river and mountains, and whose vast earthworks are still, after half-a-century of study, the perplexity of archæologists. A desperate warfare ensued, which lasted about a hundred years, and ended in the complete overthrow and destruction, or expulsion, of the Alligewi. The survivors of the conquered people fled southward. ... The time which has elapsed since the overthrow of the Alligewi is variously estimated. The most probable conjecture places it at a period about a thousand years before the present day. It was apparently soon after their expulsion that the tribes of the Huron-Iroquois and the Algonkin stocks scattered themselves over the wide region south of the Great Lakes, thus left open to their occupancy."

_H. Hale, Introduction to Iroquois Book of Rites._

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After the coming of the Europeans into the New World, the French were the first to be involved in hostilities with the Iroquois, and their early wars with them produced a hatred which could never be extinguished. Hence the English were able to win the alliance of the Five Nations, when they struggled with France for the mastery of the North American continent, and they owed their victory to that alliance, probably, more than to any other single cause. England still retained the faithful friendship and alliance of the Iroquois when she came to a struggle with her own colonies, and all the tribes except the Oneidas were in arms against the Americans in the Revolutionary War. "With the restoration of peace, the political transaction of the League were substantially closed. This was, in effect, the termination of their political existence. The jurisdiction of the United States was extended over their ancient territories, and from that time forth they became dependent nations. During the progress of the Revolution, the Mohawks abandoned their country and removed to Canada, finally establishing themselves partly upon Grand River, in the Niagara peninsula, and partly near Kingston, where they now reside upon two reservations secured to them by the British government. ... The policy of the State of New York [toward the Iroquois nations] was ever just and humane. Although their country, with the exception of that of the Oneidas, might have been considered as forfeited by the event of the Revolution, yet the government never enforced the rights of conquest, but extinguished the Indian title to the country by purchase, and treaty stipulations. A portion of the Oneida nation [who had sold their lands to the State, from time to time, excepting one small reservation] emigrated to a reservation on the river Thames in Canada, where about 400 of them now [1851] reside. Another and a larger band removed to Green Bay, in Wisconsin, where they still make their homes to the number of 700. But a small part of the nation have remained around the seat of their ancient council-fire ... near Oneida Castle, in the county of Oneida." The Onondagas "still retain their beautiful and secluded valley of Onondaga, with sufficient territory for their comfortable maintenance. About 150 Onondagas now reside with the Senecas; another party are established on Grand River, in Canada, and a few have removed to the west. ... In the brief space of twelve years after the first house of the white man was erected in Cayuga county (1789) the whole nation [of the Cayugas] was uprooted and gone. In 1795, they ceded, by treaty, all their lands to the State, with the exception of one reservation, which they finally abandoned about the year 1800. A portion of them removed to Green Bay, another to Grand River, and still another, and a much larger band, settled at Sandusky, in Ohio, from whence they were removed by government, a few years since, into the Indian territory, west of the Mississippi. About 120 still reside among the Senecas, in western New York. ... The Tuscaroras, after removing from the Oneida territory, finally located near the Niagara river, in the vicinity of Lewiston, on a tract given to them by the Senecas. ... The residue of the Senecas are now shut up within three small reservations, the Tonawanda, the Cattaraugus and the Allegany, which, united, would not cover the area of one of the lesser counties of the State."

_L. H. Morgan, The League of the Iroquois,