Kondiaronk (–1701) (Gaspar Soiaga, Souojas, Sastaretsi), known as Le Rat (The Rat), was chief of the Native American Wyandot (Huron) people at Michilimackinac in New France, where they settled after war with the Haudenosaunee in 1649. This is the area around the strait connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan and separating Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas in the present-day United States."MICHILIMACKINAC – Mackinaw, Mackinac Straits, Mackinac Island ." MICHILIMACKINAC. Web. 25 Feb. 2012.
Noted as a brilliant orator and a formidable strategist, Kondiaronk led the pro-French Wyandot of Michilimackinac, a mixed community of Petun and Wendat people, against their traditional Haudenosaunee enemies. In the chaotic and violent strategic environment of the Beaver Wars, he aimed to prolong the fighting between the Wyandot's main rivals, the Haudenosaunee and the French. Kondiaronk succeeded in this aim; however, once he had secured the position of the Wyandot, he favored a general peace settlement and managed to persuade all sides.Collard, Edgar Andrew. Montreal: The Days That Are No More. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1976. Print.
This effort concluded in the 1701 Great Peace of Montreal between France, the Haudenosaunee, and the other indigenous peoples of the Upper Great Lakes. This ended the Beaver Wars and helped open up the interior of North America to deeper French exploration and commerce.
The Jesuit historian Father Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix wrote that "it was the general opinion that no Indian had ever possessed greater merit, a finer mind, more valor, prudence or discernment in understanding those with whom he had to deal". Louis-Hector de Callière, the Onontio (governor) that replaced Frontenac, was "exclusively indebted to him for ... this assemblage, till then unexampled of so many nations for a general peace".
Kondiaronk contracted a fever and died in Montreal during the negotiations for the Great Peace on August 2, 1701. His body was buried at Montreal's Notre-Dame Church after a majestic funeral. Today, no trace of the grave remains. The Kondiaronk Belvedere in Montreal's Mount Royal Park is named in his honor. In 2001, he was named a Person of National Historic Significance by the Canadian government.
Early diplomatic efforts
Kondiaronk's first major role came in 1682, representing the Mackinac Wyandot tribe in negotiations between the French governor Frontenac and the Odawa tribe which shared Michilimackinac village. Kondiaronk looked towards the French for protection from the Haudenosaunee tribes after an Haudenosaunee chief, a Seneca, was murdered while being held prisoner in the Michilimackinac village. Afterwards, the Wyandot sent wampum belts to the Haudenosaunee to appease the murder; however, the diplomatic representative of the Odawa told Frontenac that the Wyandot did not send any of the Odawa's wampum belts. Furthermore, the Odawa insisted that the Wyandot placed all the blame for the murder on them. Kondiaronk maintained his position that the actions of the Wyandot were only to placate the Haudenosaunee, but the Odawa were not convinced and French efforts to conciliate the two tribes had little effect. Despite the tensions between the Wyandot and Odawa, Kondiaronk's appeal to the French did secure an alliance to stave off Haudenosaunee military advances.
1688 coup
By 1687, the French Governor General, Denonville, had taken over the land of the Senecas. Kondiaronk and the Wyandot agreed to ally with the French as long as Denonville promised that war against the Haudenosaunee would not stop until the Haudenosaunee were fully defeated.
In 1688, Kondiaronk formed a war party and traveled to Fort Frontenac on the way to raid Haudenosaunee villages. While at the fort, Kondiaronk learned that Denonville had begun discussing peace with the Haudenosaunee, despite his prior agreement with the Wyandot that war would continue. The war party withdrew back across Lake Ontario and waited for the Haudenosaunee Onondaga delegation to pass through on their way to Montreal. When the Haudenosaunee diplomats arrived, Kondiaronk and his war party took them by surprise with a forest ambush. One chief was killed and the remaining Haudenosaunee taken captive. When the prisoners explained to Kondiaronk that they were a peaceful delegation and not a war party, Kondiaronk pretended to be astonished, then angry, with Denonville's betrayal. He told the Haudenosaunee captives,
"Go, my brothers, I release you and send you back to your people, despite the fact we are at war with you. It is the governor of the French who has made me commit this act, which is so treacherous that I shall never forgive myself for it if your Five Nations do not take their righteous vengeance."
Kondiaronk's war party returned to their village at Michilimackinac with an Haudenosaunee captive given as a replacement for a Wyandot killed in the skirmish. When the prisoner was presented to the French commandant at Michilimackinac, the Frenchman ordered him killed. The commandant was not aware that his government was trying to negotiate peace with the Five Nations—he was keeping in line with the current Wyandot declaration of war.
An old Seneca slave was summoned to witness the execution of his countryman, and afterwards Kondiaronk ordered the man to travel to the Haudenosaunee and report how badly the French had treated the captive. Since the captive was intended for adoption into the Michilimackinac village, the way his death was portrayed to the Haudenosaunee angered them because they felt the French disrespected their tradition. Due to Kondiaronk's skillful manipulation of events, the peace negotiations between the French and Haudenosaunee came to a halt—a satisfactory result for the Wyandot.
Warfare and later diplomatic efforts 1689–1701
Starting in 1689 a decade of warfare ensued known as Frontenac's War (1689–1697) that involved a series of conflicts between the French and the English. As a result of Kondiaronk's skillful manipulation, Frontenac's War included conflicts between the French and the Haudenosaunee.Dumain, Ralph. "Chief Adario on the White Man's Morals." Ralph Dumain: The Autodidact Project. 1999–2010 Ralph Dumain, 26 Sept. 2001. Web. 25 Feb. 2012. However, the years 1697–1701 marked the beginning of a period of intense diplomatic activity that would lead to the Great Peace of Montreal four years later.
Kondiaronk was held responsible for provoking the Haudenosaunee to a point where it was impossible to appease them, as exemplified by the sacking of Lachine during the summer of 1689. The Haudenosaunee, in retaliation to the French, burned, killed, and sacked plantations which left the Island of Montreal in a state of utmost dismay.Drake, Samuel Gardner. Biography and History of the Indians of North America, from Its First Discovery. Boston: B.B. Mussey, 1851. Print. However, Kondiaronk continued to prevent a separate French-Haudenosaunee peace by any means possible despite the aggressiveness of the warrior nation, the Haudenosaunee.
In 1689, Kondiaronk was caught plotting with the Haudenosaunee for the destruction of their Odawa neighbors.
As the Wyandot were split in a pro-French faction led by Kondiaronk and a pro-Haudenosaunee faction, in 1697 Kondiaronk warned the Miamis of an imminent attack led by Lahontan and his Haudenosaunee allies. Kondiaronk led 150 warriors into a two-hour canoe engagement on Lake Erie and defeated a party of 60 Haudenosaunee. This restored Kondiaronk's pre-eminence and the Wyandot's place as Frontenac's children.
With conflict in Europe ending with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, New York and New France agreed to suspend hostilities. New York encouraged the Haudenosaunee to make peace with New France. Since the Haudenosaunee could no longer use English military threat to their advantage against New France in September 1700 they signed a treaty to make peace with Frontenac independent of New York, which led to the first step of negotiations. Kondiaronk returned to Michilimackinac and urged all the nations of the Lakes to go there the following August essentially acting as an architect of the peace of 1701.
Settlement of 1701 final Indian congress
The final Indian congress began 21 July 1701. The central goal was to negotiate a treaty of peace among the natives and with the French. One main conflict standing in the way of peace was the debates over the return of prisoners who had been captured during previous wars or other campaigns and enslaved or adopted. For Governor Hector de Callière, the conference was the result of 20 years of diplomacy.
Bacqueville de la Potherie (Le Roy), the primary source of information on these deliberations, went to Sault-Saint-Louis (Kahnawà꞉ke) to meet many of the parties at the village of the Mission Indians. The first flotilla that arrived carried nearly two hundred Haudenosaunee, headed by the ambassadors of the Onondagas, Oneidas, and Cayugas. The Senecas had dropped by the way, and the Mohawks would follow later. The men approached, firing their guns. The salute was returned by the mission Indians, who were their close brethren, and they ranged along the shore. At the water's edge, they were greeted by a small-fire and then retired to the main council lodge where they smoked together for some time in a mood of tranquility. That evening, the "three rare words" of the ritual of requickening were presented to them – these three concepts included the wiping of tears, clearing of the ears, and opening of the throat. The significance of this was to prepare them to begin the conference and deliberation the next day with Onontio.
The next morning the Haudenosaunee "shot the rapids to the main fire at Montreal, where they were greeted by the crash of artillery". They had scarcely disappeared when several hundred canoes carrying French allies appeared. This included Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomis, Wyandot, Miamis, Ho-Chunk, Menominees, Sauks, Meskwaki, and Mascoutens. In total, over 700 Indians would be received to great ceremonies at the landing. The Calumet Dance was a specialty of the Far Indians, and it was done to the accompaniment of gourd rattles. The dance was greatly significant to making friends of their hosts and instilling a feeling of cooperation and alliance. By 25 July, negotiations between the tribes and the French were fully under way. Kondiaronk spoke of the difficulties and struggles encountered in the process of recovering Haudenosaunee prisoners from the allies. He was suspicious of whether the Haudenosaunee would comply in an exchange with sincerity or cheat them of their "nephews", that had been taken over the past 13 years of war. He was concerned that the allies would be deceived, and yet, they were so determined to make peace that they were willing to leave their prisoners to display their good faith. The next day proved telling, however, as the Rat's suspicions were confirmed and the Haudenosaunee admitted that they did not have the prisoners that they had promised to return. They defended themselves by saying that, as small children, the prisoners had been given to families for adoption. They were, the Haudenosaunee said, not the masters of their young people. This explanation irritated the Wyandot and Miamis, as they had, in their efforts, forced their Haudenosaunee captives away from foster families to be returned. The following days were full of deep discussion and argument. Kondiaronk, having persuaded his own and allied tribes to bring their Haudenosaunee prisoners to Montreal, was angry and embarrassed about his failed efforts at an exchange. He returned to his hut that night and prepared to speak severely in the next day's conference about the importance of cooperation and compromise.
Illness, death and legacy