Iroquois Battle Fellow Iroquois on the Niagara Frontier During the War of 1812

When a force of Iroquois warriors under Seneca leader Red Jacket fought in the Battle of Chippewa, attacking snipers under Mohawk chief John Norton late on the afternoon of July 5, 1813, they violated a venerated centuries-old tradition of peaceful coexistence among the Six Nations of the Iroquois League. The Chippewa battle, in which dozens of Iroquois killed each other, was the sharpest in a series of skirmishes on the Niagara Frontier, the U.S. border with Canada that lay in the heart of Iroquois country.

Initially, the Iroquois Nations took a neutral stance in the War of 1812, though individual warriors were free to fight for either side as scouts or reserves. After the United States declared war on Great Britain on June 19, 1812, the Six Nations in Canada and the U.S. — Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga and Tuscarora — negotiated an agreement among themselves to remain neutral in this white man’s war. The most important provision of the agreement was that no Iroquois warrior would meet his brothers in battle.

But fatefully, there were Iroquois living on both sides of the border, and once war was declared, both the U.S. and British military leaders sought the support of the Iroquois Nations. Three important leaders stood out among the Nations: John Norton of the Mohawks, who fought for the British; and Red Jacket and Farmers Brother of the Senecas, both of whom fought for the United States.

Norton was the son of a Cherokee father and a Scottish mother and he was educated in Scotland. At a very young age Norton joined the British army, and in 1785 he was stationed in Quebec, where he became involved with the Six Nations of the Grand River. Inspired by the Mohawk chief Thayendanega (Joseph Brant), Norton learned the Mohawk language and culture. Adopted into the Mohawk community, he acquired the status of chief, with the Mohawk name of Teyoninhokarawen. Though he had been living with and had become part of the Mohawk Nation, Norton had maintained close contact with the British, who considered him a useful ally. Once the war began, he led many of the bands of Iroquois warriors in most of the battles that raged in the Niagara region.

Sagoyewatha, or Red Jacket, was born around 1758, the son of Ahweyneyonh, of the Seneca Wolf clan. Red Jacket got his English name because of the red coat that was presented to him during the American Revolution, when he had worked for the British army as a messenger. Although Red Jacket was a great warrior and had proved himself in battle, it was at the council fire where he achieved his position of prominence. In many meetings with the British and later the Americans, Red Jacket fought with words, eloquently stressing the importance of keeping the peace and defending Seneca values. When the War of 1812 broke out, Red Jacket was in his 60s, but nevertheless he led Seneca and other Iroquois warriors allied to the United States at the Battles of Fort George and Chippewa.

Farmers Brother, or Ho-na-ye-was, was another Seneca chief who rose to distinction primarily as a great warrior. In his History of Buffalo, written in 1864, William Ketchum quoted elders who remembered Farmers Brother as “a man of high character and commanding influence.” They said, “He was pre-eminent in all the characteristics that could give him influence over his people.” The elders remembered him as “brave and skillful in war and wise and eloquent in council.” In 1813, when the Iroquois in the United States joined the war, Farmers Brother would have been in his 80s. Nevertheless, he took the field as a leader and fought with all the spirit and vigor of a young warrior.

Given the understanding among the Iroquois that individual warriors were free to take up arms in the War of 1812, some Canadian Iroquois quickly sided with the British, and John Norton led them into battle. Warriors from Grand River, numbering only about 40 or 50, joined other native allies of the British in their first action of the war at the Battle of Detroit on August 16, 1812. Defeated at Detroit, the Americans decided to try another thrust into Canada, this time along the Niagara Frontier.