I am Attiwandaron... A Neutral... Who Are You?

The Iroquoian Neutrals of Southern Ontario were the bullies of Rome-burning… an unknown race of great power.
It is 1625... and I have just stepped into the few recorded pages of the Iroquoian Neutrals. What I saw, riveted my attention.
I was not prepared for the total nakedness of these people. Their skin was saturated by blood scarring with charcoal-pierced tattoos of snakes, monstrous beasts and “Oki” spirits. They were the tallest, finest bodied people among the Huron, Petun and Five Iroquois Nations. There were no hunchbacks, club feet or one-eyes in the villages. Unlike the other Iroquoians there was no specific style of hair… no head-dress... but curls were not allowed.

They were a “musket-less” people with war clubs, leather elk shields and arrows. Around there neck was a pouch of tobacco, flint, calumet and totems. Their skin was heavily oiled from head to toe and pungent. Their sight-detection was very keen. They could follow scent. Their endurance and aloofness to cold and heat was beyond European tolerance. These people had a sixth sense for traveling, they could go anywhere without getting lost. Their eloquent speech was expressive and their memory power was considered astonishing.
They were called Attiwandaronk by the Huron & Petun, meaning a dialect that is off-kilter. The Iroquois Five Nations called them Alirhagenrat or Rhagenratka. The French explorer Champlain in 1606 refers to them as the Neutres because of their neutral situation between the warring Iroquois & Huron nations.
These Neutrals had a unique hierarchy of leadership, very different from surrounding nations. One man ruled supreme, an actual Neutral King. When he spoke there was absolute silence… his final decision was law, stringently adhered to. This kingship also allowed them to muster large warrior force under one command, making them very effective in war and alliances.

They had towns of over 2,000 people with smaller satellite villages and hunt-fish-farm camps. Their territory extended east to the Genesee River in the United States, across southern Ontario and beyond Lake St Clair. Their major towns were located deep within, between the Grand River and Hamilton. A safe distance from the warring western Sioux nations. But they were one day’s travel from the eastern Seneca and four days from the Huron-Petun.

Populations during early 1600’s were estimated between 20,000 to 40,000. Many interior villages had no palisades, with double palisaded towns up to 10 acres. Lesser villages had a single palisade enclosing 1-5 acres. Within, the longhouses were 30 ft wide and 120 ft long. With often 12 families per longhouse. And there was a longhouse code... that whatever nation was in their longhouse... was safe from physical death.
These Neutrals held power in a strange way. They had flint-chert beds along Lake Erie. But their edge was being the “artisans of flint napping." They even repaired flint. This excelled skill and trade position may have been part of their “neutrality. They are the only known nation to actually remain in a constant state of neutrality between the warring Huron-Five Nations.
According to legend, the Aondironnons tribe of the Neutrals were assigned the position of neutrality by Dekanawideh and Hiawatha. This neutrality between the Huron and Five Nations was ruled by Jikonsaseh, the "Queen of Peace". Whose town fell to the Seneca around 1647. The Seneca claim to have guarded and protected her after that.

The Neutral were not passive... war and torture was their thirst. They thrived on it. Cruelty, torture and cannibalism was an addictive taste. They easily mustered warrior forces 4,000 men. Their alliances with the Anadaste, Erie, Ottawa and Wenrehronon made them a formidable foe.
Torture was a three day affair. It started with the extracting of the fingernails or cutting off of the fingers. Cuts were made into the fleshy part of the leg and arm with fire brands shoved in. The head scalp was burned off by pouring hot gum or ashes on the hair. Prisoners were forced to walk around the lodge fires within the longhouse with the Neutrals poking hot brands into them. Water was thrown on their back while their fingers and private parts were scalded with fire sticks. They would pierce the arms and pull out nerves with a sticks. Bowels were open and children ran around with little pieces on sticks. If the prisoner appeared near death, torture ceased and water was given. The finale was being burned alive.
Among most Iroquoian nations the women would be quickly dispatched on the spot or taken captive. The burning of women was taboo… an unwritten code. But the Neutrals violated this with pleasure.

The Neutrals warred with over 17 nations. In one recorded battle in 1643, they sieged and captured a Mascoutin (small-prairie Sioux) palisaded town of over 2,000. The Neutral burned 50 of the best surviving warriors and took 800 into captivity. The old ones unable to travel had their eyes poked out and mouths girdled so they could not eat. They were left behind to wander and die.
At the peak of power, the Neutrals became careless with their alliances. Gambling, feasting and war was their lifestyle… they ruled unhindered. In 1635 a new sound of flint came from the east… musket fire! And with it a dreadful whisper… “The Iroquois are digging the grave of the great Neutral nation, and the war cry of the Seneca will be the mourning funeral for the Neutral dead.”
In 1652 this prophecy was fulfilled…

To experience the valley of the Attawandarons... try a guided rafting adventure on the Grand River

Popular posts from this blog

The Legend of Whitemans Creek

Image
As a boy, I was told the following story and legend of the buried treasure at Whitemans Creek. There was a settler who lived along the creek where it flowed into the Grand. He was wealthy and had a untrustworthy daughter, who along with her husband were eager to acquire his money. The old man aware of his daughter's greed, secretly buried his coins in a chest along the creek valley. Unfortunately after hiding the chest, he slipped while walking along the creek, striking his head on a rock. The unconscious man drowned, and with him went the location of his wealth. Thus named the creek... Whitemans. Later in life, in the late 1990s an old Cayuga Storyteller recited a story to an acquaintance... who recited the story to me. This story is about how the creek got its name according to Iroquoian memorized history. What is interesting to note, is that the old woman who was in her 80s, refused to write what she knew on paper because she believed the "word" would lose its power. S
Read more

The Grand River Story of the Three Sisters

Image
Every time I paddle through these magnificent columns,... people ask me about the story behind them. So here it is... But first a "myth" smile for the day! In 2008, a journalist doing a guided canoe trip with a local Paris canoe outfitter was told... the Three Sisters were started just before World War I, but due to lack of funds, never completed. So the published Star quote said : " walked up a rail-trail to a lookout on one of four abutments of limestone pillars, part of an unfinished train bridge constructed before World War I. " Janice Bradbeer Toronto Star A very rare photo is of the Three Sisters with a bridge on top around 1940. The true story of how the "Three Sisters" were birthed... They were built around 1852. They were the pillars for the Great West Railway bridge over the Grand River. This was the the first railway to Paris, running from Niagara Falls. The inaugural trip was December 15, 1853
Read more

Neutral Attawandaron... What Happen to Them?

Image
To understand what happen to the Neutral Attawandaron, a chronological time chart of their records reveals the narrow time window in which this powerful Nation fell. In southern Ontario one can do a floating classroom rafting trip on the Grand River to learn more. 1615 Etienne Brule was held captive and released by Five Nations to the Neutrals. He lived among the Neutrals a short time. 1616 Champlain states over 4,000 Neutral warriors came against the Mascoutens. 1623 Neutral attack a Huron village 1625 Etienne Brule returned among the Neutrals and had a wife within the Neutrals… his daughter may have been a medicine woman. 1626 Dallion lived among Neutrals for a couple of months, made a diction of the language, but was brought back under guard because Neutral were going to kill him 1629 Neutral population was equal to the combined population of Hurons & Five Nations combined. The Neutrals were twice as large as the Erie
Read more

Indian Corn... Why Pilgrims Starved... and Indians Grew Fat!

Image
The Spanish discovery of Indian corn had a huge impact on feeding the world. But the racial prejudice of English settlers missed the mark. In 1492 wheat was the mainstay food of Europe, Asia and Africa. It was the “King of the Mountain." But that changed in 1493. The hand on the left is the yield from one kernel of corn seed. When Columbus returned from his first voyage he told his stories before the Spanish court about the land of the “Arawaks”. He told about the Arawaks piles of grain from which they made a cake-meal. He described the grain as having tapered ears longer then his hand, thicker then his wrist, with long rows the size of a pea. He spoke about how the black seeds when cooked, split open to create a tasty white fluff. He said the Arawaks called this strange grass plant “mahiz”. Corn was non-existent in the rest of the world until Columbus saw it in the West Indies. Its productivity capabilities and ease of growing caught the world’s attention. Back then, whea
Read more

Please Don't Pee in the Boat!

Image
Every river guide has a legendary story... well this is mine... and it's true! It was a windy Sunday afternoon and I was requested to take a woman called "Peggy-Sue" on a three hour guided canoe trip down the Grand River. I put the canoe in the water and helped her in the front. When she was seated... I handed her a paddle. She looked at me in surprise and said "Oh, I won't be needing that!" I graciously smiled and launched the canoe into the wind. Once on the river, my client turned sideways... put her feet in the water... dragging them in the river. She said she wanted to see me as she talked. I was informed she was marrying Sylvester Stallone's son and that she was doing this paddle to get in shape to have babies. (my lip started to bleed from biting it). She then informed me there were body guards following us along the river to keep her safe. She also mentioned that she was bipolar but no longer needed her medicine. (I am not sure if it was t
Read more

Hungar Lake Explosion... A Steam Sawmill Accident in Brant Haldimand

Image
It is June 1868... and one of my great grandfathers is one minute away from death. This is the narrow escape as told by Paul Huffman of the Kelvin Northfield area. It was about 9 am. I tied my horse to a pair of bob sleighs and had just walked into the upper part of my brother-in-laws steam sawmill... when an explosion ripped through the building. In a daze I stumbled out into a smoke of human cries. My nephew was trying to get up, his one leg entirely torn off and the other broken. My niece Jane, laid limp, her neck snapped. Ferris, the steam engineer (fireman) was naked and totally scalded... trying to get himself out of the rubbish. Without waiting to see how many were dead, I jumped on my horse and galloped out. People were running in from the road. I ran the horse about 5 miles to a doctor. On getting off, my whole leg was covered in blood. I discovered the poor animal had three broken ribs and a deep foot long gash. It had bled a stream all the way to the doctor's house. Wh
Read more

The Iroquois Corn Fields as Far as the Eye Could See!

--> When we think of the First Nations growing corn… many visualize quaint family plots growing outside the longhouse palisade. Actually the fields were so big that visiting priests complain about getting lost in them. We are talking about fields 100 to 1,000 acres in size. The land was cleared in a three season split. First year all the brush and lower branches were cleared and put around the big trees which were girdled. In the next spring the girdled trees were burned and cut down. The third year is when corn would be planted. The first two years of corn was the best yields. If a field got too low in production it was left fallow for two years. Never were all fields growing crops at once. Preparing the corn seed was done by soaking the seed in a corn medicine solution for one hour. Then put in a basket and wait until it started to sprout. The corn varieties used were flint corns adapted to the shorter growing season. There was also soft white & yellow corn… an
Read more

Corn Whiskey, Corn Medicine, Corn Smut… Eat, Drink and Feel No Pain?

Image
Believe it or not, the black fungus smut that grows on sweet corn is a gourmet delicacy. The natives would collect the corn smut when young; boil in water for 10 minutes, than fry crisp in a hot pan. The Iroquois favorite was roasted green corn. This was corn in the soft sugary stage. To cook they would dig a long trench and create a hot coal bed in it. They would then lay two long poles a cob length apart over the trench. The cobs were then placed across the two sticks and turned to roast over the coals. Green corn was also a delicacy boiled, with animal marrow spread on. In the green corn stage, corn kernels were often cut raw from the cob with a flint scrapper as shown above. The cut kernels were mixed with boiled beans, sunflower seeds and some meat. This blend was rolled together to make a delicious sticky corn ball called Indian Succotash. The Indians would sometimes add the oil from boiled crushed hickory nuts for a different creamy flav
Read more

Experience a Pirate Birthday Party Near Toronto... Where Sometimes the Kids are Adults!

Image
  Lots of birthday companies have pirate birthday party ideas. But outside of Toronto, this pirate birthday party isn't an idea... it's the real thing! On this adventure groups don't just play pirate... they come dressed as pirates! These pirates, journey in a ship with other thieves at sea. With their map, each team searches for the clues to the buried treasure. And to the most clever, goes the chest of gold, awaiting at the end. This birthday pirate adventure was designed for kids and men! It takes place on the Grand River, one hour west of Toronto. Each team gets a ship (a large self bailing raft), there is a chest with a map and tools, and a pilot-mate for hire. The only rule... everyone must come dressed as a pirate. The adventure can be played in one raft or competing rafts. Once on the water, the team cracks open the chest, reads the lost letter and reviews the clues. There is an inventory of the tools, strategies are planned and a "haggl
Read more