Proposition to the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas

Proposition to the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas

History, Military, Five Nations, Raid, French, Canada

Richard Ingoldesby makes a direct request by way of letter to use the military might of the Iroquois League. Here he calls upon the Five Nations to participate in land raid against the French in Canada. This letter was written during the time of great imperial powers colliding, and due to the lack of attention given to the North American colonies by the Crown, British survival was essentially put into the hands, or more specifically the military might, of the Iroquois League. To convince them, Ingoldesby cites numerous times as to when the French showed themselves to be true enemies to the Iroquois and entices them by describing how their shamans would sing war songs while clasping the hands of the British as a sign of their commitment. Ingoldesby brings to the attention of the Five Nations of how their own kin, the Senecas, defected and were lured in to the French side due to the use of Jesuit priests. Ingoldesby expressed his wishes in regaining the full might of the Iroquois League by taking back the Senecas. Both historians Daniel Richter and William J. Campbell discuss the geographical advantage that the Iroquois had when dealing with the European colonizers, this advantage is emphasized in this letter when Ingoldesby urges the Five Nations to regain the Senecas as a means to strengthen British power in the colonies over the French.

Richard Ingoldesby

The Livingston Family Papers

University of Memphis

July 14, 1709

[no text]

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History