Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer,

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

: ''Hanödaga꞉nyas'') was a

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

given to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

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 ...

peoples in 1753. The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as ''Conotocarius'', ''Conotocaurious'', ''Caunotaucarius'', ''Conotocarious'', ''Hanodaganears'', and ''Hanadahguyus''. It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages", or "he destroys the town".

History

Washington was given the name in 1753 by the

leader

Tanacharison Tanacharison (; c. 1700 – 4 October 1754), also called Tanaghrisson (), was a Native American leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War. He was known to European-Americans as the Half-King, a title also ...

. The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather

John Washington John Washington (1633–1677) was an English merchant who emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean and became a planter, soldier and politician in colonial Virginia. In addition to leading the local militia, and running his own plantations, Washin ...

in the late seventeenth century. He had participated in an effort to suppress Indigenous peoples defending themselves in Virginia and Maryland. It involved members of both the Susquehannah and the

Piscataway Piscataway may refer to: *Piscataway people, a Native American ethnic group native to the southern Mid-Atlantic States *Piscataway language *Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community *Piscataway, New Jersey, a township *Piscataway Creek, Ma ...

, an Algonquian tribe that lived across the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

from

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

. Following the massacre of five chiefs who had come out to negotiate under a flag of truce to the colonizers, the Susquehannahs gave John Washington an Algonquian name that translated to "town taker" or "devourer of villages." The elder Washington's reputation was remembered and when they met his great-grandson in 1753 they called George Washington by the same name, ''Conotocarious''. Washington referred to himself as "Conotocaurious" in a letter he wrote to

Andrew Montour Andrew Montour ( – 1772), also known as Sattelihu, Eghnisara,Hagedorn, 57 and Henry,Montour was also called Henry, possibly due to the similarity of sound with the French ''"Andre".'' was an important mixed interpreter and negotiator in t ...

dated October 10, 1755, in which he tried to manipulate the Oneida to resettle on the Potomac: :Recommend me kindly to our good friend Monacatootha, and others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocaurious to have an opportunity of taking them by the hand at Fort Cumberland, and how glad he would be to treat them as brothers of our

Great King Great king, and the equivalent in many languages, refers to historical titles of certain monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of kings and princes. This title is most usually associated with the '' shahanshah'' (shah of shahs ...

beyond the waters. " In 1779 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

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide) was a United States military campaign during the American Revolutionary War, lasting from June to October 1779 ...

, under Washington's orders, destroyed at least 40 Iroquois villages in New York, they claimed the tribe came from, after they defended against "American settlements" on their lands. In 1790, the Seneca chief

Cornplanter John Abeel III (born between 1732 and 1746–February 18, 1836), known as Gaiänt'wakê (''Gyantwachia'' – "the planter") or Kaiiontwa'kon (''Kaintwakon'' – "By What One Plants") in the Seneca language and thus generally known as Cornplant ...

told President Washington: "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer."

Notes

References

''The life of George Washington'' Vol I,II,III and IV by John Marshall
* Ellis, Joseph J.
Excellency: George Washington
'. New York: Knopf, 2004. . * Graymont, Barbara. ''The Iroquois in the American Revolution''. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1972. ; (paperback). * Lewis, Thomas A. ''For King and Country: The Maturing of George Washington, 1748-1760.'' New York: HarperCollins, 1992. . * Randall, Willard Sterne. ''George Washington: A Life''. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. . {{George Washington George Washington Iroquois Nicknames Genocides in North America