Chapter 5

Robert

We left on the Twenty First for a six-day trip thru the Adirondacks to the gathering of the Mohawk Nation of Six Nations. We will sight see our way north stopping at Saratoga Battlefield, Fort William Henry, And Fort Ticonderoga. We will also stop at every tourist trap and attraction to say we did.

There really is or was a Coopers Cave as in Last of the Mohicans. It has collapsed but Its location is in the Hudson River between the City of Glens Falls and the Village of South Glens Falls, New York. We were to stop at the New Way Lunch eatery in Glens Falls and ask for “dirt sticks” the best chilly dog available anywhere in the world. We did and they were.

Lake George was a tourist trap of the first order, from the firing of a cannon at Fort William Henry, to the Ride on the replica rear paddle wheel steamer The Minne-Ha-Ha of the Lake George Steamboat Company. Finishing the day with an A & W Root beer served on tap and into a frozen glass mug and a couple of chili dogs, second best on the trip, at the A&W drive-in restaurant. The children had a Root Beer Float also in a frozen mug and a cheeseburger. We purchased the mugs as a souvenir.

The kids did not see Nessie’s American cousin Champ, but they did look. The little ones were impressed with the Champlain Canal Lock 11 North of Fort Anne as they watched as boats and water in the lock were lowered and then different boats raise up in the lock.

English Fort Ticonderoga (French Fort Carillon) was an example of what military engineers have built in the past. The moving of 60 tons of cannons, armaments, and supplies from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston across Two semi frozen rivers, swamps, and forest using roads that in places were just foot paths to break the siege of Boston by Colonel Henry Knox and doing it under budget. This shows history and what a combat engineer is capable of.

The next stop north was Lake Placid Home of Two winter Olympics 1932 and 1980.

2 June 1000

It was a tired but excited crew that pulled into the meeting grounds on the day before it was to The meeting of the Mohawk Nation, One of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation, “Haudenosaunee,” which translates to “The People of the Longhouse” as we called ourselves, Kariwase said and continued. The five original Iroquois nations were the Mohawk (self-name: Kanien’keh :ka [“People of the Flint”]), Oneida-Onayotekaono (self-name: On?yote?a k [“People of the Standing Stone”]), Onondaga (self-name: Ono da’gega’ [“People of the Hills”]), Cayuga-Gweugwehono (self- name: Gayogo_h :no’ [“People of the Great Swamp”]), and Seneca-Onundagaono, Ganeogaono, Nundawaono (self-name: On dowa’ga:’ [“People of the Great Hill”]). After the Tuscarora- Dusgaowehono (self-name: Skar re? [“People of the Shirt”]) joined in 1722, migrating from the area of North Carolina the confederacy became known to the English as the Six Nations and was recognized as such at Albany, New York (1722). Often characterized as one of the world’s oldest participatory democracies. According to en.wikipedia.org.

April continued with each tribe had a specific head dress showing us a drawing from The Wampum Shop, Called A Gahsdo:wa.

During the American Revolution, a schism developed among the Iroquois. The Oneida and Tuscarora espoused the American cause, while the rest of the league, led by Chief Joseph Brant’s Mohawk loyalists, fought for the British out of Niagara, but the Confederacy has still persisted into the 21st century continued Aleshia

Elizabeth added Onundagaono the Keepers of the Council, the Band and the Wampum of the Fifty Sachems in council.

By J. Thomas Dated Oct. 9, 1987

The significance of the circle of wampum beads with wampum strings attached signifies the Fifty Sachems, Rotiiane:shon, of the Five Nations and also symbolizes the Union of the Five Confederate Nations: the Mohawks, Kanienkeha:ka, have nine Confederate Lords; the Oneidas, Oneniota:a:ka, have nine Confederate Lords; the Onondagas, Onontakeha:ka, have fourteen Confederate Lords; the Cayugas, Kaiokwenha:ka, have ten Confederate Lords; and the Senecas, Onontowa:ka, have eight Confederate Lords. Under the Great Tree of Peace, Skaronheseko:wa, stands the Fifty Confederate Lords with joined hands in a circle signifying unity.

IT ALSO PROVIDES that should any one of the Confederate Lords leave the council, the Clan Mother will remove his crown of deer-horns, the emblem of Lordship, title, together with his birthright. SIMILARLY, his title and the crown of deer-horns will fall from his head inside the circle and will remain within the Confederacy the crown of deer-horns the Clan-Mother will return it the back to the Clan and will then nominate another in her descent or lineage for the Lordship in the family.

IF ANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THE CONFEDERACY wish to go out of the circle, all their rights will remain inside the circle of the Confederacy. The Fifty Confederate Lords of the Five Nations shall always stand firm with a tight grip of joined hands. So that if someday a tree falls upon the joined hands and arms, it will fall and would not separate or break the link of the Confederacy, nor weaken their hold and that this Great Union, Teiotiokwaonhaston, the Circle will always preserve the Circle.

Robert continues.

It made me proud that the girls had studied and learned their heritage, not just recited it but learned it.