When he met with Washington 11 years after the devastating campaign, Chief Cornplanter, who headed the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, stressed the durability of "Town Destroyer" as the commander in chief's nickname. According to historian George Bancroft, they were having a cordial visit and then the old chief, pointing to Washington, spoke the amazing prophecy. We will not conceal from you, that the great God, and not man has preserved the Corn planter from his own nation: for they ask continually, where is the Land which our children and their children after them are to lie down on? He lives in New York. For over 8 miles south of Onondaga Lake, the colonial army followed the orders of General Washington killing and burning. We saw that we were wrong: we wished for peace. 1788-89 United States presidential election [ edit] Washington is inaugurated as president of the United States in 1789. From George Washington to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779, Simeon DeWitt Central NY Military Tract c.1792. They told us they must have the whole: That it was already ceded to them by the great King at the time of making peace with you, and was their own. with filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman"Town Destroyer the Art of Controversy". The last reason he assigned for continuing to refuse paying us was, that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires and that he had bought them from you and paid you for them. In mid-2019 the School Board threw gas on the firestorm by voting to destroy the works outright. I Didnt Seeis more philosophical than biographical, a meditation on an apart-ness the filmmaker grapples with on numerous levels (including I wonder if I feel more than other people). What was George Washington's favorite fruit? January 31, 2023. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more., I would recommend, that some post in the center of the Indian Country, should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provisions whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.. Lowry offers the somber notion that well have to have this debate for another couple of decades before the issue is resolved. Maybe so. Town Destroyer explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of racial reckoning. The film highlights the debate about controversial murals at George Washington High School. The first U.S. presidential election was held over a period of weeks from December 1788 to January 1789. You have compelled us to do that which has made us ashamed. 1890. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? [1], Washington was given the name in 1753 by the Seneca leader Tanacharison. The current dispute over monuments in the US is not new. What the Commissioners had said about the land having been ceded to them at the peace our Chiefs considered only as intended to lessen the price, & they passed it by with very little notice; but since that time we have heard so much of the right to our lands which the King gave when you made peace with him that it is our earnest desire you will tell us what they mean. For we are about to speak of things which are to us very great. If you are, tell us so that those of our nation who have become your children & are determined to die so, may know what to do: In this case one chief has said, he would ask you to put him out of pain: Another, who will not think of dying by the hand of his father, has said he will retire to the Chataughque, eat of the faral root, and sleep with his fathers in peace. The name in its original language(s) has been Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. should Doyle be convicted, there was little doubt of his being capitally punished (Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. Do this and so long2 as the Land shall remain that beloved name shall live in the heart of every Senecca. Filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman . Great Tree was shot in the leg during his stay in Philahdelphia (Wallace, Death and Rebirth of the Seneca, description begins Anthony F. C. Wallace. His great-grandson lived up to the name of Town Destroyer in his treatment of Indigenous nations both during and after the Revolutionary War (177583). We have already said how we came to join against you. ", This lesser-known title also had its origins in 1779, when General Washington ordered what at the time was the largest-ever campaign against the Indians in North America. Town Destroyer is playing as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival with a screening Saturday afternoon at The Roxie (and with an extended run at the Roxie November 4-10). The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late seventeenth century. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. Phelps (17491809) was a Massachusetts merchant, politician, and large-scale land speculator. He insisted in killing as . by watchingGood Night Oppy, and this movies spoonful-of-sugar emotional appeal was really tailored for them. 9 ser., 138 vols. copy, MHi: Timothy Pickering Papers; We could bear this confusion no longer, & determined to press thro every difficulty, and lift up our voice that you might hear us, and to claim that security in the possession of our lands which your commissioners so solemly promised us, and we now entreat you to enquire into our complaints and redress our wrongs. (The Iroquois dubbed him Town Destroyer.) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. . orA.I. Contact. In the fall of 1753, as French forces moved into the Ohio Valley to build a series of forts, George Washington offered his services to the Governor of Virginia as an envoy to carry a message to the French commander Jacques Le Gardeur. that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires, The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, David Humphreys Life of General Washington,, David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks., Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development, Report on Canadian Archives . Alan Michelson, Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), 2019, video, bonded stone Houdon replica bust, antique surveyor's tripod, artificial turf, sound, 190 183 cm. Washington dined with Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Kaskaskias, Mahicans, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas; in one week late in 1796, he had dinner with four different groups of Indians on four different daysand on such occasions the most powerful man in the United States followed the . are you determined to crush us? THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNER JEWISH FILM INSTITUTE, The California Film Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In Snitows and Kaufmans documentary some George Washington students and their parents argue that the images on the walls are a relic of the past and not history, that they instill a sense of trauma and shame and ought to be eradicated. When the Sun goes down, he opens his heart before God, and earlier than that Sun appears again upon the Hills, he gives thanks for his protection during the night, for he feels, that among men become desperate by their danger, it is God only that can preserve him. Join us for a free screening of TOWN DESTROYER - a new documentary about the furor over Victor Arnautoff's WPA murals at George Washington High School. Ryan Whites documentary about the data-gathering land rover that was only expected to function on Mars surface for about 90 days, yet wound up lasting a remarkable 15 years. Report on Canadian Archives . Crushed power. The title by which Washington was known to Native nations, Handaga:yas or Town Destroyer, was one he inherited from his great-grandfather, John Washington, a slave-owning planter and colonel in the Virginia militia who, during Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, had the chiefs of several tribes killed. It may be very small in your ears, & we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention. left as is, but with explanatory text?) Gil Herkimer Roads to Niagara Year 2000 Categories: facts, texts Updated:May 29, 2004 Share on TwitterFacebookLinkedInPreviousNext Filmmaker Alan Snitow stands in front of an audience after a screening of the film Town Destroyer at the Little Roxie Theater in San Francisco Calif., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. . And it is not the Six nations only, that reproach those Chiefs, with having given up that Country; the Chipaways and all the nations who lived on those lands westward, call to us & ask us brothers of Commissioned in the late 1960s to create a mural at George Washington High School titled Multi-Ethnic Heritage, Crumpler honors Blacks and Indians. 1.By GWs account the name Towntaker (variously rendered as Town-destroyer) was bestowed upon him by the Seneca chief Half-King in 1753, when he met that chief on his way to Fort Le Boeuf. The name in its original language (s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. Like the statue of Christopher Columbus targeted in Boston last month, it was beheaded and the crown finials of its surrounding fence sawn off. Town Destroyer opens Fri/4 at the Roxie, with the filmmakers and special guests present at all shows. They became our fathers, and took care of us. 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Washington received his commission on October 31, 1753 and set out immediately. Plus: 'I Didn't See You There' on disability, 'Battleground' on abortion, and 'Good Night Oppy' on cute little Mars rovers. Street has been informed by General Knox, that the President cannot interfere in the business of the five nations, committed to his agency; that if they are not satisfied with the behaviour of the New York Commissioners, they must apply to the Legislature which appointed them; in consequence of this answer Mr. Street intends to return to Niagara in a fortnight, and to petition the Legislature of this State at its next meeting (Dorchester to Grenville, 25 Sept. 1790, in Brymner, Report on Canadian Archives, 1890, description begins Douglas Brymner. This battle isnt over yet, but no one will blame you for feeling combat fatigue. In obeying him we did no more than you yourselves had lead us to promise. The campaign defeated the loyalist Iroquois army, burned 40 Iroquois villages to ashes, and left homeless many of the Indians, hundreds of whom died of exposure during the following frigid winter. the United States, and research and development projects to bring historical records to the As GW explained in an undated memorandum on David Humphreys draft biography of GW: It was on this occasion he was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treatedCaunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner & communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late war (Comments on David Humphreys Biography of George Washington, 178788, in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. When your army entered the Country of the Six Nations, we called you the Town-destroyer and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the neck of their mothers.1 Our Councillors and warriors are men, and can not be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women & children, and desire, that it may be buried so deep, as to be heard no more. Battlegroundhas already had a brief run in theaters, but now is available for streaming on digital platforms including iTunes. History first: in 1779, three years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and in the thick of a violent revolution, Washington ordered the total destruction and devastation of Iroquois villages allied with King George. Conotocaurius ( Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. are back withTown Destroyer, which premiered at the Mill Valley Festival last month. After all, the issues go back to 1779 when George Washington ordered the destruction of the Iroquois villages. He loves peace, and all that he had in store he has given to those who have been robbed by your people, lest they should plunder the innocent to repay themselves: the whole season which others employed in providing for their families, he has spent in his endeavors to preserve peace. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. Scarcely considered or acknowledged, our catastrophic losses, like those of other Native nations, are treated as settled business, rather than unsettling travesties in need of redress. Deeming attacks on statues a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children, Trumps rhetoric echoes the description of Native people in the Declaration of Independence as merciless Indian savages. One commentary points out that by excluding the face of the Indian, the artist has respected the identity and the spirit of the dead person.