Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, Courtesy:JASON SZENES/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock. It is an ideology that has been so thoroughly internalized that it has never prompted a national reckoning. Chief Cornplanter, who headed the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, stressed "And to this day when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, If you find our videos helpful you can support us by buying something from amazon.https://www.amazon.com/?tag=wiki-audio-20Town Destroyer Conotocaurious (Tow. In July 2020, Americans are once again divided, gathering in the streets and tearing down statues. Town Destroyer A high profile battle erupts over images of African American slaves and Native Americans in New Deal-era murals at a San Francisco high school. What is role of the artist in reflecting America to itself? Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 18521949. Crushed power. Contact. There are passionate arguments on both sides, and they are not as simply divided by racial, cultural, or political identification as youd think. Town Destroyer? Paul Chaa, a curator at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., calls romanticism a form of racism and observes that Americans have a secret obsession with Native Americans.One hundred years ago, D. H. Lawrence noted that white people aimed to extirpate Indians and then glorified them. 48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submithere. The current dispute over monuments in the US is not new. Archives. In sentence 4 Cornplanter's reference to Washington as "the Town-destroyer" recalls a time during the American Revolution (1779) when he ordered the burning of Seneca villages. You demanded a great Country to be given up to you. nD. Do this and so long2 as the Land shall remain that beloved name shall live in the heart of every Senecca. 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. In April 1754, en route to the Forks of the Ohio, Lieutenant George Washington sent a request for aid and counsel to Tanaghrison, an Ohio Iroquois leader who acted as an intermediary between Virginians and Ohio Indians. . It involved members of both the Susquehannah and the Piscataway, an Algonquian tribe that lived across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. Newsletter In his book, George Washington and Native Americans Town Destroyer is a 2022 documentary that discusses the art, history, struggle, and politics around the Victor Arnautoff murals at George Washington High School. In the American Revolutionary War, General Washington led Patriot forces to victory over the British and their allies. Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, announced a slate of futuristic new policies in a campaign video Friday. The Onondagas, who were honoring the neutrality agreement, were not prepared for the attack. They told us he resided beyond the great waters where the sun first rises: That he was a King whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was bright as that sun. The British agent George Beckwith reported to Lord Dorchester from New York on the course of Streets mission, noting that The application of Mr. Street in behalf of the Indians of the Five Nations by means of Mr. Wadsworth has drawn a declaration from the President, expressive of his intentions to pay every attention to the Indians in general, and Mr. Street is assured by General Knox, that his business will be taken into immediate consideration. Beckwith subsequently reported, however, that Mr. The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. 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. Perhaps only in a city that loves its murals, some by Diego Rivera, and hates its murals, could murals painted in the 1930s under a New Deal art program, divide citizens from one another and stir up deeply seated passions. Summary: George Washington (1732-1799), nicknamed the "American Cincinnatus", was the 1st American President and served in office from 1789-1797. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") The founder of the San Francisco Jewish Festival and its director for 13 years, Kaufman teamed up with Alan Snitow, the former news director at KPFA, to make Blacks and Jews in 1997, Secrets of Silicon Valley in 2001, and this year Town Destroyer which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival. On June 4, 1779, the General of the Revolutionary Army, George Washington, violated the treaty and ordered the invasion of the territory of the Iroquois confederation. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. You have compelled us to do that which has made us ashamed. Others, like the Mohawk, fought with their longstanding allies, the British. George Washington is a polarizing character in American Indian history. It is interesting to see close-up the strategizing of such groups, including their straight-up asking citizens to be single-issue voters, even if they have to hold their noses in pulling the lever for last-minute ally Trump. Longtime local nonfiction filmmaking team Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman (Blacks & Jews, Secrets of Silicon Valley, etc.) Several of the latter have a Bay Area slant, notably two opening this Fri/4 at SFs Roxie Theater. In his orders to campaign leader Major General John Sullivan (after whom Sullivan Street in Manhattan is named), he wrote: 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. To the great Councillor of the thirteen fires. When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Hanadagyas (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 necks of their mothers. Non Military History of the War of the Rebellion. Upon this threat our Chiefs Hundreds of Iroquois died of exposure to winter weather. Staked Plains. For over 8 miles south of Onondaga Lake, the colonial army followed the orders of General Washington killing and burning. Note: The annotations to this document, and any other For first one, and then another, come and take it away, by order of that people, who promised to secure it to us. The French came among us and built Niagara. American soldiers burned forty villages to the ground, and displaced thousands of Indians. 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 Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series. "Town Destroyer" is a translation of the name given to George Washington by the Iroquois nation after he demanded the total destruction of their settlement and crops in a 1779 attack against the tribe that was aligned with the British. Plus: Julian Assange's father comes to Roxie with new doc, Oscar-nominated Irish-language 'Quiet Girl,' more, Plus: 8mm video diaries by late, great local residentGeorge Kuchar and a history of the Laemmle theatre chain, Plus: 'First Fallen" confronts AIDS in Brazil, beguiling mystery in 'Magoado,' Naples thriller 'Nostalgia,' more new movies. We mean to open our hearts before you, and we earnestly desire, that you will let us clearly understand, what you resolve to do. Its time to reckon with a US founding father who waged genocidal warfare against Indigenous nations. 6 vols. Presented by the California Film Institute (CAFILM), the 45th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF45) runs October 6-16, 2022. 'Town Destroyer' contra los indios iroqueses Cuarenta aldeas indgenas, y una poderosa nacin indgena, fueron arrasadas por orden de George Washington Para 1779, George Washington ya se haba ganado el famoso apodo de "Padre de su pas". 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. Become a 48 Hills Hero and support the only daily progressive news source in the Bay Area. After all, the issue goes back to 1779 when Washington ordered the destruction of the Iroquois villages. We have nothing to answer to the children of the brothers of our fathers. And at this moment his wife and children are lying on the Ground in want of food. Sat. Town Destroyercontextualizes this fight within a landscape where similar battles are occurring (like over Confederate monuments), though often for different reasons. Nicole Flatterys Nothing Special Tackles Authorship inside Warhols Factory, Frieze Editors Picks: Jafar Panahis No Bears. Signed at Philadelphia the first day of December. Now Arnautoffs Works Progress Administration murals were being decried for depicting slavery and tribal genocide at all, something now criticized as triggering. We also invite you to join the conversation on ourFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. 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). Street presented a document listing the grievances of the Five Nations to Jeremiah Wadsworth, with the request that Wadsworth put it into GWs hands (Street to Wadsworth, 5 Aug. 1790, NNGL: Knox Papers). But if Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman have their way, George Washington will also be remembered as the town destroyer. Thats the title of a new documentary that they have written, directed and produced about the controversial murals in San Francisco at George Washington High School. Bay Guardian Archives "I am well persuaded," John Sullivan, the leader of the venture, bragged to Congress afterward, "that, except one town situated near the Allegana, about 50 miles from the Chinessee, there is not a single town left in the country of the Five nations." We have already said how we came to join against you. When you gave us peace we called you father, because you promised to secure us in the possession of our Land. left as is, but with explanatory text?) His mural, "Life of Washington," is widely . Derryveagh Evictions, and He wants to remind Washington that Cornplanter understands that he is a powerful warrior and has defeated the Seneca in the past. Conotocaurius ( Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. hidden? 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The Game which the great Spirit sent into our Country for us to eat, is going from among us: We thought he intended we should till the ground as the white people do, and we talked to one another about it. George Washington is called "The Father of our Nation" and by some "Cincinnatus" but the Iroquois had a nickname for him as well "Conotocaurius"(Town Destroyer) We talk about the Indian wars of the late 19th century but the late 18th century had Indian wars too and George Washington was the man behind it George Washington had complicated relationships with Native Americans. 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If art (or history) is altered to blunt painful truths, isnt that dishonesty, whether coming from the political left or right? During the American Revolution, some Mohawks led by Joseph Brant chose to fight with the British and to defend the Proclamation Line. Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. As a Mohawk citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy the oldest living democracy in the Western Hemisphere when I see statues of Washington, like the towering equestrian monument at the Virginia Capitol in Richmond, or the colossus in front of Federal Hall in New York, I see not only a founding father, but also a genocidal one. Tags: George Washington, Revolutionary War, history. Before you determine on a measure so unjust, look up to the God who made us, as well as you, we hope he will not permit you to destroy the whole of our nation. No doubt he meant to deceive us. light grey. But they said they would not take advantage of that, and were willing to pay us for it after the manner of their Ancestors. To him we gave four miles round Niagara, as a place of Trade. The spring of 1780 saw the surviving Haudenosaunee forced to rebuild their lives with broken families and destroyed villages. 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. Alan Michelson, Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), 2019, video, bonded stone Houdon replica bust, antique surveyor's tripod, artificial turf, sound, 190 183 cm. public. In 2019, he had a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. After fighting with the Haudenosaunee in the French and Indian War, the colonists called upon the Haudenosaunee to a meeting at Ft. Pitt in 1775 to ask in their aide in the upcoming revolution against the British. Washington referred to himself as "Conotocaurious" in a letter he wrote to Andrew Montour dated October 10, 1755, in which he tried to manipulate the Oneida to resettle on the Potomac: In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, the Sullivan Expedition, under Washington's orders,[6] destroyed over 40 Iroquois villages in New York, partially in response to Iroquois participation in attacks on the Wyoming Valley in July 1778 and Cherry Valley in November 1778. Does this promise bind you? They are in the early stages of promoting the 55-minute film about the controversial murals at George Washington High School in the Richmond District. the United States, and research and development projects to bring historical records to the The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late seventeenth century. The NASA scientists interviewed more than do their bit to anthropomorphise our heroine, particularly in choosing various golden oldies as Oppys (and their own) wake-up song, including the B-52s Roam, ABBAs SOS, plus Born to be Wild, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, etc. The long-running Mission arts venue's charms come through in diverse music, poetry, dramatic readings, and comedy shows. Hear us once more. The surviving Onondaga were homeless; some began to rebuild; some headed west to find shelter with their brother nations the Cayuga and Seneca. David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks. Athens, Ga., 1991. description ends 10). But your anger against us must by this time be cooled, and altho our Strength has not encreased nor your power become less we ask you to consider calmly were the terms dictated to us reasonable and just? He had participated in an effort to suppress Indigenous peoples defending themselves in Virginia and Maryland. 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. Many Haudenosaunee froze or starved to death that winter. Streets mission to New York probably contributed to GWs decision to send Timothy Pickering on a special mission to pacify the Seneca a few weeks later. After Phelps departure the Seneca made another speech to GW accusing Phelps of fraud and of defaulting on the terms of the 1788 agreement (see Seneca Chiefs to GW, 10 Jan. 1791). More decades passed before the issue flared up again, though this time it seemed the criticisms were coming less from individual students than outside organizations. Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. The story focuses on a dispute over historic murals depicting the life of George Washington: slaveowner, general, land speculator, President, and a man Seneca leaders called "Town Destroyer" after he ordered their villages destroyed during the Revolutionary War. 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). Jonah Raskin is the author of Beat Blues, San Francisco, 1955. 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. Graham with his Compy. 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 . should Doyle be convicted, there was little doubt of his being capitally punished (Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. Speak plainly to us concerning this great business. 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. The supreme executive council of Pennsylvania had informed Cornplanter and the other Seneca chiefs on 30 Oct. 1790 that California Indian Artist Judith Lowry describes the Gold Rush as ground zero for Native Americans and a time when they experienced searing losses.She adds that Arnautoff aimed to subvert the dominant narrative about Indians, pioneers and settlers. A dispute erupts at a San Francisco high school over Depression-era murals about the life of George Washington: slaveowner, military leader, land speculator, President, and a man Native leaders. When George Washington High Schooldesigned by architect Timothy Pfleuger, who also created the Castro and Paramount Theaters, among other landmarksopened in 1936, its hallways sported 13 impressive murals titledThe Life of Washington. Dennis Harvey. When we saw we were deceived and heard the invitation which you gave us to draw near to the fire you had kindled and talk with you concerning peace we made haste towards it. 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 Bacons Rebellion of 1676, had the chiefs of several tribes killed. To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. We told you we would open our hearts to you. In retrospect, no one should be surprised: Trump is exactly the sort of person who will always be able to get an unwanted pregnancy handled, legally or not, as People With Money always have. Pennsylvania Archives. Near the end of the documentary, Jessica Young, a Native American at the New College of Florida, says shes unsure which side shes on. We were deceived but your people in teaching us to confide in that King, had helped to deceve us and wnow appeale to your hearts. But the Iroquois Indians of the time bestowed on Washington another, not-so-flattering epithet: Conotocarious, or "Town Destroyer. 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