Robert Spiegelman opened his lecture in the Kirner-Johnson Auditorium Friday by asking what comes to mind when someone mentions the "wild, wild West." Audience members offered obvious images such as cowboys, Indian tribes, and buffalo. Spiegelman, noted sociologist, multimedia artist and writer, admitted that the old West did have a certain amount of the cowboy and Indian drama, the kind that has been dramatized in the movies. But, before the days of wagon trains and cattle ranges, the wild, wild West was actually the wild, wild East. New York, said Spiegelman, was the first frontier, the conquering of which helped lay the framework for manifest destiny. Spiegelman was a guest at Hamilton through the Speakers in the Humanities series, made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The first step for the new American republic in conquering New York was the conquering of its inhabitants: the Iroquois Indians. Planned in 1778 and launched in 1779 during the American Revolution, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign was the largest expedition ever mounted against Indians of North America. John Sullivan and James Clinton (son of George Clinton, New York's first governor), the two generals of the campaign, we instructed not to defeat the Iroquois, but to destroy them. Interestingly enough, the chaplain of the Sullivan-Clinton campaign was none other than Samuel Kirkland, a Christian missionary and Hamilton's founder.
During the American Revolution, both the British and the Americans sought Indian alliances. Four of the six Iroquois tribes (the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Mohawk) as well as parts of the Tuscarora tribe sided with the British. The Oneida Indians, much thanks to Samuel Kirkland, were the only Indians to side with the Americans.
In April 1779, 6,200 American troops mobilized in an effort to eradicate the British-allied Iroquois forces. The American campaign was successful. In just 7 months, about 50 Iroquois towns were destroyed, and scores of Indians were left dead. Five thousand refugees fled to the nearby British stronghold of Fort Niagara during the winter of 1779, the worst winter in recorded memory. The British were not prepared for the refugees, and, without adequate food or shelter, hundreds more perished in the cold.
With the Indian resistance out of the way, American was now able to start developing in New York. Iroquois land was surveyed and redistributed to wealthy generals and financiers. The remaining Indians were given reservations that they could live on, but the total area of all reservations was about .034 percent as large as the former Iroquois nation. Large tracts of land in the Finger Lakes region were given to American generals, resulting in towns with European names such as DeRuyter, Marcellus and Milton. Traditional Iroquois names were forgotten, and the Iroquois culture was all but destroyed.
In 1818, construction began on the Erie Canal, a waterway that would provide a crucial link between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The canal would flow from Albany to Buffalo, touching, along the way, the other major New York cities of Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal allowed goods from the rapidly-growing West to be shipped to the Atlantic via the Hudson River, a route that would allow New York City to grow into the largest commercial center in the entire world. Soon after the canal was finished, a network of railroads sprung up, connecting New York's cities to other industrial centers in the East.
Spiegelman made sure to point out, in showing pictures of the Erie Canal, the lack of trees along the waterway. One key side effect to development, he said, is deforestation, which results of a loss of both plantlife and habitats for animals. Forests were clearcut to provide room for farmland to feed New York's booming population, which quadrupled from 1790 to 1820. Syracuse's convenient location atop a massive underground salt reserve led to massive, environmentally destructive amounts of salt mining, a practice that had to be halted in the 1920s because of the damage caused to Onondaga Lake.
Development, Spiegelman conceded, is important. But the effects of that development have to be considered. Whether the Americans won the Iroquois land by means of treaty or military conquest mattered very little to them, all they wanted was the opportunity to turn New York into a profitable land without having to worry about the Indians. But have we made New York a better place than it was in the time of the Iroquois? Today, there are 72 toxic sites in the former Onondaga territory, and the Iroquois culture has been almost completely smothered.
Spiegelman emphasized the underwhelming presence of the Sullivan-Clinton campaign in American classrooms today. The first invasion of indigenous troops by the American army is all but forgotten. But as an important example of the cost of development, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign is as relevant today as it ever was. Spiegelman hopes to educate people further about the price of development so that we are able to work together towards a sustainable future.
-- by Pat Dunn '12
The first step for the new American republic in conquering New York was the conquering of its inhabitants: the Iroquois Indians. Planned in 1778 and launched in 1779 during the American Revolution, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign was the largest expedition ever mounted against Indians of North America. John Sullivan and James Clinton (son of George Clinton, New York's first governor), the two generals of the campaign, we instructed not to defeat the Iroquois, but to destroy them. Interestingly enough, the chaplain of the Sullivan-Clinton campaign was none other than Samuel Kirkland, a Christian missionary and Hamilton's founder.
During the American Revolution, both the British and the Americans sought Indian alliances. Four of the six Iroquois tribes (the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Mohawk) as well as parts of the Tuscarora tribe sided with the British. The Oneida Indians, much thanks to Samuel Kirkland, were the only Indians to side with the Americans.
In April 1779, 6,200 American troops mobilized in an effort to eradicate the British-allied Iroquois forces. The American campaign was successful. In just 7 months, about 50 Iroquois towns were destroyed, and scores of Indians were left dead. Five thousand refugees fled to the nearby British stronghold of Fort Niagara during the winter of 1779, the worst winter in recorded memory. The British were not prepared for the refugees, and, without adequate food or shelter, hundreds more perished in the cold.
With the Indian resistance out of the way, American was now able to start developing in New York. Iroquois land was surveyed and redistributed to wealthy generals and financiers. The remaining Indians were given reservations that they could live on, but the total area of all reservations was about .034 percent as large as the former Iroquois nation. Large tracts of land in the Finger Lakes region were given to American generals, resulting in towns with European names such as DeRuyter, Marcellus and Milton. Traditional Iroquois names were forgotten, and the Iroquois culture was all but destroyed.
In 1818, construction began on the Erie Canal, a waterway that would provide a crucial link between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The canal would flow from Albany to Buffalo, touching, along the way, the other major New York cities of Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal allowed goods from the rapidly-growing West to be shipped to the Atlantic via the Hudson River, a route that would allow New York City to grow into the largest commercial center in the entire world. Soon after the canal was finished, a network of railroads sprung up, connecting New York's cities to other industrial centers in the East.
Spiegelman made sure to point out, in showing pictures of the Erie Canal, the lack of trees along the waterway. One key side effect to development, he said, is deforestation, which results of a loss of both plantlife and habitats for animals. Forests were clearcut to provide room for farmland to feed New York's booming population, which quadrupled from 1790 to 1820. Syracuse's convenient location atop a massive underground salt reserve led to massive, environmentally destructive amounts of salt mining, a practice that had to be halted in the 1920s because of the damage caused to Onondaga Lake.
Development, Spiegelman conceded, is important. But the effects of that development have to be considered. Whether the Americans won the Iroquois land by means of treaty or military conquest mattered very little to them, all they wanted was the opportunity to turn New York into a profitable land without having to worry about the Indians. But have we made New York a better place than it was in the time of the Iroquois? Today, there are 72 toxic sites in the former Onondaga territory, and the Iroquois culture has been almost completely smothered.
Spiegelman emphasized the underwhelming presence of the Sullivan-Clinton campaign in American classrooms today. The first invasion of indigenous troops by the American army is all but forgotten. But as an important example of the cost of development, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign is as relevant today as it ever was. Spiegelman hopes to educate people further about the price of development so that we are able to work together towards a sustainable future.
-- by Pat Dunn '12
