Ganondagan State Historic Site: Difference between revisions

| name = Boughton Hill

| nrhp_type = nhl

| image = Ganondagan-house.jpg

| caption = Ganondagan Long House

| location = [[Victor (town), New York|Victor]], [[New York (state)|NY]]

| area =

| locmapin = New York

| coordinates = {{coord|42|57|40.16|N|77|24|45.85|W|display=inline,title}}

| built = 1670

| architect =

| architecture =

| designated_nrhp_type = July 19, 1964<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=httphttps://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=402&ResourceType=Site|title=Boughton Hill (Gannagaro)|date=2007-09-11|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214112658/httphttps://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=402&ResourceType=Site|archivedatearchive-date=2007-12-14}}</ref>

| added = October 15, 1966<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>

'''Ganondagan State Historic Site,''' (pronounced ga·NON·da·gan) also known as '''Boughton Hill,''' is a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] historic site in [[Ontario County, New York]] in the United States. Location of the largest [[Seneca people|Seneca]] village of the 17th century, the site is in the present-day [[Victor (town), New York|Town of Victor]], southwest of the [[Victor (village), New York|Village of Victor]]. The village was also referred to in various spellings as Gannagaro, Canagora, Gandagora, and Gandagaro. <ref>[{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/explorers/sitec42.htm |title=Archived copy |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312202849/httphttps://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/explorers/sitec42.htm ]|archive-date=12 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3kSAAAAYAAJ&q=Canagora+seneca&pg=RA2-PA58 |title=A Prehistoric Iroquoian Site on the Reed Farm, Richmond Mills, Ontario ... - Arthur Caswell Parker - Google Books |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05|last1=Parker |first1=Arthur Caswell |year=1918 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luE9AQAAMAAJ&q=Gandagora&pg=PA451 |title=The Seneca Nation from 1655 to 1687 - Frederick Houghton - Google Books |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05|last1=Houghton |first1=Frederick |year=1912 }}</ref> and Gannontaa.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ftp.maps.canada.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/raster/atlas_4_ed/eng/historical/079_80.pdf |title=Atlas of Canada, 4th ed. |access-date=26 July 2022}}</ref>

It consists of two areas: the {{convert|245|acre|adj=on}} '''Boughton Hill''' portion, the area of longhouses and burials, has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]]. It has been identified as the location of the Jesuit Mission of St. Jacques (or St. James), which was mentioned in the ''[[Jesuit Relations]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZAPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22village+of+gandagora%22&pg=PA417 |title=Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences - Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences - Google Books |year=1912 |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historystatenew00brodgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/historystatenew00brodgoog/page/n199 179] |quote=Gandagarae. |title=History of the State of New York - John Romeyn Brodhead |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1871 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05}}</ref> The Fort Hill portion was the location of a fortified granary and consists of {{convert|33|acres}}; it is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="save">{{cite web|url=httphttps://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/treasures/715c.html|title=Save America's Treasures Tour|date=|publisher=White House Millennium Tours}}</ref> The complex is operated by the state of New York.

Like many indigenous peoples, the Seneca cultivated the [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|Three Sisters]]: staple crops of [[corn]], [[beans]], and [[squash (plant)|squash]]. Women bred and cultivated different varieties of each staple, experimenting with a range of seeds. These crops were typically grown near each other, so that beans could climb the cornstalks, and the typically large leaves of squashes would prevent weeds from growing.<ref>{{cite web|last=Burkard|first=Kimberly|title=Knowing the Three Sisters|url=http://www.ganondagan.org/pdf/KnowingTheThreeSisters.pdf|publisher=Friends of Ganondagan|accessdateaccess-date=2012-04-15|url-status=dead|archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217225812/http://ganondagan.org/pdf/KnowingTheThreeSisters.pdf|archivedatearchive-date=2010-12-17}}</ref>

The discussion about how to bring in the [[Onondaga (tribe)|Onondaga]] took place in the Ganondagan house of ''[[Jigonhsasee|Jikonsase]]'' (or Jikonhsaseh), a Seneca woman elder now known as the "Mother of Nations."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1AX7_JIKONHSASEH |title=JIKONHSASEH - New York Historical Markers on |publisher=Waymarking.com |access-date= |accessdate=2015-03-05}}</ref> She proposed a solution which eventually brought the Onondaga into the fold, for it gave them a prominent place in the confederacy. She lived in the vicinity of Ganondagan, and is buried nearby.

Because of this tradition, the Seneca refer to Ganondagan as the "Town of Peace". They revere and protect the burial site of Jikonsase. The relation to their Great Law of Peace is more important than the attack that destroyed the village, for the people have carried forward their means of negotiating for solutions. ConceptsThe ofUnited theStates confederacySenate mayacknowledged havethe influencedcontribution earlyof Americanthe politicalIroquois thinkers,<ref>{{cite web|last=FriendsConfederacy of Ganondagan|title=Ganondagan|url=http://www.ganondagan.org/|publisher=FriendsNations to the development of Ganondagan|accessdate=2012-04-15}}</ref>the althoughUnited theyStates gatheredConstitution similarin ideasH.CON. fromRES English331 andon EuropeanOctober 5, thinkers1988.

In 1656, Jesuit Father [[Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot]] traveled from the [[Cayuga nation]] to the Seneca nation. Then, "Having assembled all the Elders of Gandagan, the principal village of Sonnontouan [the Seneca], and having bestowed the presents that are usually given as tokens of alliance, he commenced in a fervent and loud tone to explain the principal truths of the Gospel, which he sealed with the three finest presents of all, which he had reserved for this purpose."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_44.html |title=The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Volume 44 |publisher=Puffin.creighton.edu |access-date=2015-03-05 |accessdatearchive-date=February 28, 2015 |archive-03url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228052824/http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_44.html |url-05status=dead }}</ref>

By the close of 1668, the Jesuits had established a mission in each of the five Iroquois nations; the Seneca, and the Mission of St. Jacques, had been assigned to Father [[James Fremin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_01.html |title=The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Volume 1 |publisher=Puffin.creighton.edu |access-date=2015-03-05 |accessdatearchive-date=February 19, 2015 |archive-03url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219173257/http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_01.html |url-05status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_54.html |title=The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Volume 54 |publisher=Puffin.creighton.edu |access-date= |accessdate=2015-03-05 |archive-date=March 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321002722/http://www.puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_54.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Seneca finally forced the missionaries to leave in 1684, after rising tension with the French.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3kSAAAAYAAJ&q=Pierron+was+sent+there+to+establish+the+Mission+of+St.+Jacques&pg=RA2-PA58 |title=A Prehistoric Iroquoian Site on the Reed Farm, Richmond Mills, Ontario ... - Arthur Caswell Parker - Google Books |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05|last1=Parker |first1=Arthur Caswell |year=1918 }}</ref>

In August 1669, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] and Father [[René de Bréhant de Galinée]], traveled to Ganondagan via [[Irondequoit_BayIrondequoit Bay|Irondequoit]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanjourneys.org/pdf/AJ-049.pdf |title=American Journeys Collection : The Journey of Dollier and Galinee : 1669-1670 |author=Rene Brehan de Galinee |publisher=Americanjourney.org\accessdate=2015-03-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703112305/http://www.americanjourneys.org/pdf/AJ-049.pdf |archivedatearchive-date=2010-07-03 }}</ref> Galinée wrote:

{{quoteBlockquote|text=This village, like all those of the Indians, is nothing but a lot of cabins, surrounded with palisades of poles twelve or thirteen feet high, fastened together at the top and planted in the ground, with great piles of wood the height of a man behind these palisades, the curtains being not otherwise flanked, merely a simple enclosure, perfectly square, so that these forts are not defensible.|sign=René Brehan de Galinée|source=(americanjourneys.org)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanjourneys.org/pdf/AJ-049.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdateaccess-date=2014-10-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703112305/http://www.americanjourneys.org/pdf/AJ-049.pdf |archivedatearchive-date=2010-07-03 }}</ref>}}

In 1677, [[Wentworth Greenhalgh]], an English colonial government official, traveled to the Iroquois nations and secured them as allies for the British.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1tbXzVpHtMsC&q=WENTWORTH+GREENHALGH&pg=PA188 |title=In Mohawk Country: Early Narratives about a Native People - Google Books |isbn=9780815627234 |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05|last1=Snow |first1=Dean R. |last2=Gehring |first2=Charles T. |last3=Starna |first3=William A. |last4=Starna |first4=William A. |year=1996 |publisher=Syracuse University Press }}</ref> One of his stops was at Ganondagan, which he referred to as Canagora and as Canagorah:

{{quoteBlockquote|text=Canagorah lyes on the top of a great hill, and in that, as well as in the bignesse, much like Onandago, contayning 150 houses, northwestward of Caiougo 72 miles. Here ye Indyans were very desirous to see us ride our horses, wch wee did: they made great feasts and dancing, and invited us yt when all ye maides were together, both wee and our Indyans might choose such as lyked us to ly with.|sign=Wentworth Greenhalgh|source= ([[:s:The Documentary History of the State of New York/Volume I/Chapter I/Article II|The Documentary History of the State of New York/Volume I/Chapter I/Article II]])}}

{{quoteBlockquote|text=The 18th going to Canagorah, wee overtook ye prisoners; when the soudiers saw us they stopped each his prisoner, and made him sing, and cutt off their fingers, and slasht their bodies wth a knife, and when they had sung each man confessed how many men in his time hee had killed. Thatt day att Canagorah, there were most cruelly burnt four men, four women and one boy. The cruelty lasted about seven hours. When they were almost dead letting them loose to the mercy of ye boys, and taking the hearts of such as were dead to feast on.|sign=Wentworth Greenhalgh|source= ([[:s:The Documentary History of the State of New York/Volume I/Chapter I/Article II|The Documentary History of the State of New York/Volume I/Chapter I/Article II]])}}

In 1678, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] and Father [[Louis Hennepin]] traveled to Ganondagan, which Hennepin called Tagorondies. Hennepin remarked on the presence of Jesuits Julien Garnier and Pierre Raffeix, and a "little Chapel made of Barks of Trees".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=oN9AAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA82 |title=Google Play |access-date= |accessdate=2015-03-05}}</ref> About the inhabitants, he wrote:

{{quoteBlockquote|text=These Savages are for the most part tall, and very well shap'd, cover'd with a sort of Robe made of Beavers and Wolves-Skins, or of black Squirrels, holding a Pipe or Calumet in their Hands. The Senators of Venice do not appear with a graver Countenance, and perhaps don't speak with more Majesty and Solidity, than those ancient Iroquese.|sign=Louis Hennepin|source=([[Google Play]])<ref>{{cite webbook|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=oN9AAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA82|title=Google Play|year=1903|publisher=A. C. McClurg & Company}}</ref>}}

Denonville writes that on July 13, the French force, closing in on Ganondagan, were attacked by a Seneca force of 800, but after a short engagement "they soon resolved to fly."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=OxlBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA237 |title=GoogleDocumentary PlayHistory of the State of New York |dateyear=1849 |accessdatelast=O'Callaghan |first=E. B. |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref> Denonville described the French casualties as 5 or 6 killed and 20 wounded, while the Seneca casualties were 45 killed and 60 wounded. However, a British report, based on interviews of Seneca warriors, states that the Seneca force consisted of 450 people, including 350 boys, 100 men, and 5 women "who engaged as well as the men".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=OxlBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA248 |title=GoogleDocumentary PlayHistory of the State of New York |datelast=O'Callaghan |accessdatefirst=E. B. |year=1849 |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref>

The British report states that most of the villagers had been moved that day to Cajouge (Cayuga) and some to a lake to the south. "As soon as the women and children were fled, their fired their own Castles."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=OxlBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA247 |titleyear=Google1849 Play|last=O'Callaghan |datefirst=E. B.|accessdatetitle=Documentary History of the State of New York |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref> L'Abbe de Belmont wrote that the Seneca "came to reconnoiter us and then went to burn their village and take to flight."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvXVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22l%27abbe+de+belmont%22&pg=RA1-PA135 |title=The Western Literary Messenger - Google Books |year=1850 |accessdateaccess-date=2015-03-05}}</ref>

Upon the French arrival at the village on the 14th, Denonville reports, "we found it burned" and a nearby fort abandoned. The French killed "a vast quantity of hogs", and, from the four Seneca villages they visited, destroyed 1.2 million bushels of stored and standing corn.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=OxlBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA239 |title=GoogleDocumentary PlayHistory of the State of New York |dateyear=1849 |accessdatelast=O'Callaghan |first=E. B.| access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref> The force turned west and destroyed the village of [[Totiakton]] (aka Tiotohatton or La Conception) before returning to their boats at Irondequoit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/136_150/143fall2007/143sheret.html |title=The Expedition of the Marquis de Denonville by John G. Sheret |publisher=Crookedlakereview.com |access-date= |accessdate=2015-03-05}}</ref><ref>Published primary accounts of the French expedition include Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Nonville, "Narrative of the expedition of the Marquis de Nonville against the Senecas, in 1687," trans. Orsamus H. Marshall, ''New York Historical Society Collections'', 2d ser. 2, pt. 3 (1848): 149–92; and [[Louis-Henri de Baugy, Chevalier de Baugy|Louis-Henry de Baugy]], "Journal du voyage de Monsier le Marquis de Denonville pour la guerre contre les Hyroquois, de l’année 1687 le 23e may," in [https://archive.org/details/journalduneexp00baug ''Journal d’une expédition contre les Iroquois en 1687. Lettres et pieces relatives au Fort Saint-Louis des Illinois''], éd. par Ernest Hubert Auguste Serrigny (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1883), 49–127.</ref>

After the battle, the community movement was checked by the disaster of the French invasion and turned eastward. The two villages of Gandagora and Gandougarae seem to have joined in this eastward movement and to have settled first at [[Canandaigua]] and later in the region east of [[Canandaigua Lake]].

During the American Revolutionary War, the [[John Sullivan (general)|Sullivan Expedition]] of 1779 attacked the Seneca in scattered towns at [[Geneva]], [[Canandaigua]] and along [[Seneca Lake (New York)]] (see [[Kanadaseaga]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/bulletinofbuf10191012buff/bulletinofbuf10191012buff_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences" |access-date= |accessdate=2015-03-05}}</ref>

{{commonscatCommons category|Ganondagan State Historic Site}}

{{officialOfficial website|http://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/26/details.aspx}}

[[Category:Seneca tribe]]