Onaquaga (also spelled many other ways) was a large

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

village, located on both sides of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

near present-day Windsor, New York. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

destroyed it and nearby Unadilla in October 1778 in retaliation for British and Iroquois attacks on frontier communities.

Population

Onaquaga was originally home to members of the Oneida tribe, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquoian-speaking

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

people joined in outlying settlements when they migrated north from South Carolina and became the Sixth Nation of the confederacy in 1722. In 1753, Nanticoke refugees from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

also moved into the village. That same year, Reverend Gideon Hawley established an Indian mission in the village. The establishment of the mission led to an increase in population of Christianized Indians living in and about the village, both those from the area and those who migrated from elsewhere (reference: Olde Ulster, volume 3, issue 11, page 323). Following the 1768

Treaty of Fort Stanwix The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed between representatives from the Iroquois and Great Britain (accompanied by negotiators from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania) in 1768 at Fort Stanwix. It was negotiated between Sir William J ...

Mohawks The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America ...

were forced north and west and a number settled in Onaquaga, just west of the treaty line. They were prosperous, had some cattle and poultry, gardens, and fruit trees. Many of the inhabitants were Christians. By the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, representatives from all of the Six Nations, a group of Algonquian-speaking

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

people, and also a number of Loyalists lived in Onaquaga, a total population of about 400. In 1778 during the Revolution,

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk people, Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York (state), New York, who was closely associated with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great B ...

used Onaquaga as a base for raids on New York and Pennsylvania frontier communities. In retaliation the Americans organized a raid commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Butler. Faced with superior forces the inhabitants abandoned the town, which was then burned by the Americans.

Alternate spellings

Historian

Francis Whiting Halsey Francis Whiting Halsey (October 15, 1851 – November 24, 1919) was an American journalist, editor and historian, born in Unadilla (town), New York, Unadilla, New York (state), New York. He was the son of Dr. Gaius Leonard Halsey, a American C ...

, who spelled the name of the village ''Oghwaga'', included this footnote in his 1901 work The Old New York Frontier: :Spelled in almost every conceivable manner. Among the forms are ''Oneaquaga'', ''Oughquagy'', ''Onoaughquagey'', ''Ononghquage'', ''Auquauga'', ''Anaquaga'', ''Oughquogey'', ''Anaquegha'', ''Onaquaga'', ''Aughquagee'', ''Ochquaga'', ''Aughquagey'', ''Oquaca'', ''Oguaga'', ''Anaquaqua'', ''Oquage'', and ''Okwaha''. The form ''Okwaho'' is used in the

Marcoux Dictionary Joseph Marcoux (16 March 1791 – 29 May 1855) was a Canadian Catholic missionary among the Iroquois. Fluent in Mohawk, Marcoux was also known as Tharoniakanere, "the one who looks up to the sky". Life Marcoux travelled to the mission at St. Reg ...

, which gives the meaning wolf. This was a term applied to one of the Mohawk tribes. Gideon Hawley wrote ''Onohoghquage''. Dr. O’Callaghan employed the form ''Oghquaga''. For the present village in the town of Colesville, the spelling is ''Ouaquaga''. A little further east in the

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern border ...

of New York State, in Delaware County, the form ''Oquaga'' is used for a small lake, a waterway, the eponymous Oquaga Creek State Park, and a hotel in the town of Deposit. The northerly branch of the Delaware has been called the ''Coquago'' branch. Wilkinson wrote ''Oquago'', and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

''Anaquaga''. Stone adopted the form ''Oghkwaga''.

Sir William Johnson Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...

wrote ''Oghquago'' – though not always.

, after the

Battle of Minisink The Battle of Minisink was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought at Minisink Ford, New York, on July 22, 1779. It was the only major skirmish of the Revolutionary War fought in the northern Delaware Valley. The battle was a decisive ...

, used the form ''Oghwage''. Brant was a Mohawk Indian who knew how to spell. The word is pronounced in three syllables. In order to secure such pronunciation the author has taken the liberty of converting Brant’s final "e" into an "a," making it ''Oghwaga''. A. Cusick told Dr. Beauchamp he thought the word meant ''place of hulled-corn soup''.

References

*Marjory Barnum Hinman, ''Onaquaga: Hub of the Border Wars of the American Revolution in New York State''
Onaquaga Exhibit ReinterpretedOnaquaga War Party
* "The Remnants of the Esopus Indians". Olde Ulster: An Historical and Genealogical Magazine. Volume 3, issue 11 (November 1907). Pages 321-329. {{authority control Iroquois populated places 1778 disestablishments in the United States Pre-historic cities in the United States Native American history of New York (state) Former populated places in New York (state) Former Native American populated places in the United States

Population

Alternate spellings

See also

References