(Hard Hickory by George Caitlin, 1831)
But
what caught my eye was this sentence about his childhood on the frontier:
He
played with Indian boys at this time, finding them companionable, and at one
time was employed to hoe corn for old Chief Hickory, a very friendly Indian.
An
Indian chief was my ancestor’s employer?
At least for an afternoon? Who
was Chief Hickory, and what more do we know about him? Indians of the time did not write
autobiographies, were not listed in the Census, and generally did not leave
tracks unless they were leaders or otherwise came to the attention of frontier
society. But for a (nearly) anonymous
Indian, we can learn a few facts about Chief Hickory.
His
full name was Hard Hickory (17??-1831).
He was a member of what was called the Senecas of Sandusky (now the
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma). The Senecas of Sandusky were of Iroquois
stock, the Seneca having been one of the tribes of the Iroquois
Confederation. The Senecas of Sandusky
were probably a mix of Seneca, Cayuga, Wyandot, and Delaware
tribesmen. They had been living along Sandusky
River in Ohio
since at least 1768.
Hard
Hickory’s people were not warrior/hunters
of the prairies, but rather a farming Indian of the Eastern Woodlands
tradition. In warm weather, they farmed
the land, growing pumpkins, corn, and beans.
After centuries of living exposed to white culture, they often lived in
log cabins, using iron tools, and most men had guns. Of course, they were traditional Indians in cultural
aspects like war dances, adoption of captives by running the gauntlet, and
wintertime hunts. Their council house
was in fact at Green Springs, where Granddad Rathbun met them.
But
Indian life was not just a glorified camping trip. The Seneca had a deep fear and respect of the
supernatural, including a belief in witchcraft.
Hard Hickory was
incidentally part of the story of Seneca John.
Seneca John was another chief of the tribe, and the younger half-brother
of Steel and Coonstick. The
aforementioned brothers left Seneca John and another chief, Comstock, behind
while the scouted new land for the tribe in the west. On their return, they found Comstock dead and
Seneca John occupying his position as chief.
Steel and Coonstick accused Seneca John of witchcraft that caused the
death of Comstock, and sentenced him to death.
Horace
Knapp wrote the finale of Seneca John’s story and the role of Hard Hickory in
his dates 1872 History of the Maumee
Valley. In writing about Sardis
Birchard, a frontier storekeeper at Fremont
(and the father-in-law of President Rutherford B. Hayes), Knapp mentions that
Hard-Hickory lived about a mile below Green Springs, in
a cabin yet standing, and Seneca John, the night before his execution, slept
under Hard-Hickory's porch. Steel and Coonstick, at sunrise, called and waked
him. John told them to kill him quick. They tomahawked him. Mr. B. obtained
this statement from Hard-Hickory,
who came into town that day, or the next, with Tall Chief, and told him about
it.
Apparently Hard Hickory had enough
of a house or cabin to have a porch for someone to sleep under. He also was an acquaintance of Sardis
Birchard.
The
artist George Caitlin, who painted Hard Hickory, described him:
Hard
Hickory; a very ferocious-looking, but a mild and amiable man…Good
Hunter and Hard Hickory, are fair specimens of the warriors of this tribe
or rather hunters; or perhaps, still more correctly speaking, farmers; for the Senecas have had no
battles to fight lately, and very little game to kill, except squirrels and
pheasants; and their hands are turned to the plough, having become, most of
them, tolerable farmers; raising the necessaries, and many of the luxuries of
life, from the soil.
Henry Howe, the early Ohio
historian, also mentions Hard Hickory:
The
Senecas of Sandusky – so called – owned and occupied forty thousand acres of
choice land on the east side of Sandusky river….By the treaty concluded at
Washington city, February 28, 1831…these Indians ceded their lands to the
United States. At this time their principal
chiefs were Coonstick, Small Cloud Spicer, Seneca Steel, Hard Hickory, Tall Chief, and Good Hunter….(p. 574)
Hard
Hickory traveled with other leaders of the Seneca to Washington to the signing
of the treaty, and also signed a statement stating that they were not
interested in receiving missionaries, but:
We
should be glad to have you send persons to us to learn us how to plough, and
sow, and reap, and teach us all the arts of agriculture. This would make
us happy
But Hard Hickory never made it
to Oklahoma, where the tribe was
relocating. According to William Lang’s
1880 History of Seneca County, Hard
Hickory embezzled some annuity money.
Lang described Hard Hickory in glowing terms:
Hard
Hickory was the leading mind among them. He was a
leader of no ordinary grade. He was possessed of polished manners, seldom seen
in an Indian. He spoke the French language fluently, and the English
intelligibly. Scrupulously adhering to the costume of his people, and retaining
many of their habits, this chief was much endeared to them. His urbanity, his
intelligence and ardent attachment to the whites, and, above all, his strict
integrity in business transactions, obtained for him — and deservedly- — the
respect and
confidence of all with whom he traded.
confidence of all with whom he traded.
But Hickory
fell from grace. He took some annuity
money due the tribe, and spent it during the aforementioned trip to Washington. The tribesmen were outraged, and some of the
same men who had conspired to kill Seneca John resolved to murder Hard Hickory,
including Hickory’s nephew Shane:
On
being assured that Shane was alone, Hickory directed his wife to unbar the door and let
him in, which she did. Shane wore a blanket, and approached Hickory in the
middle of the room, holding out his left hand, while his right was under the
blanket, holding the handle of a long knife. Hickory held out his right hand to
Shane, and as soon as their hands were grasped, Shane drew his knife and
stabbed Hickory through the body, and then dragged him out of doors, where
several Indians stabbed and tomahawked him. Thus perished the renowned chief
Hard Hickory, with the seal of falsehood stamped upon
his hitherto fair character.
It
would be interesting to talk to Hard Hickory, Seneca John, or other actors in
this drama. Was it witchcraft or
jealousy? Was this knowing embezzlement
or misunderstanding of the use of government funds? Most of the accounts of Hard Hickory that
have comedown to us are second or third hand accounts from whites of varying
degrees of hostility.
I
prefer to remember Hard Hickory as an Indian, a farmer, and a man kind enough
to hand a hoe to my great grandfather, and point to a planted field near a
green spring. My own grandfather, four
generations later, let me work in his garden near the same spring when I was
young. In a figurative way, then, I
gardened with Hard Hickory.
[Along with the sources listed in the essay, I also used:
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/catlinclassroom/catlin_browsec.cfm?ID=238]
you sure can make up some whoppers!
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