Chief Oskanondonha "John" Scanondoah

Oneida Chief

• Skenandoh, the Indian Chief. Funeral of Skenandoh, The Oneida Chief, With a Sketch of His Life

"From the Utica Patriot, of March 19.--We are very grateful for the following communication, because it will be seen from it, that there were several errors in the notice published in our last, and also, because it is a much more ample and interesting statement.

Died, at his residence near Oneida Castle, on Monday, the 11th instant, SKENANDOH, the celebrated Oneida chief, aged 110 years; well known in the wars which occurred while we were British colonies, and in the contest which issued in our independence, as the undeviating friend of the people of the United States. He was very savage, and addicted to drunkenness in his youth;* but by his own reflections and the benevolent instructions of the late rev. Mr. Kirkland, missionary to his tribe, he lived a reformed man for more than sixty years, and died in Christian hope.

From attachment to Mr. Kirkland, he had always expressed a strong desire to be buried near his minister and father, that he might (to use his own expression) "go up with him at the great resurrection." At the approach of his death, after listening to the prayers which were read at his bed-side, by his great-grand-daughter, he again repeated this request. Accordingly, the family of Mr. Kirkland, having received information by a runner that Skenandoh was dead, in compliance with a previous promise, sent assistance to the indians, that the corpse might be conveyed to the village of Clinton for burial. Divine service was attended at the meeting house in Clinton, on Wednesday, at two o'clock, P.M. An address was made to the Indians by the rev. Dr. Backus, president of Hamilton college; which was interpreted by judge Dean of Westmoreland. Prayer was then offered and appropriate psalms sung. After service the concourse which had assembled from respect to the deceased chief, or from the singularity of the occasion, moved to the grave in the following order:

Students of Hamilton College
Corpse
Indians
Mrs. Kirkland and Family
Judge Dean, Rev. Dr. Norton, Rev. Mr. Ayer
Officers of Hamilton College
Citizens

After interment, the only surviving son of the deceased, self-moved, returned thanks through judge Dean as interpreter, to the people, for the respect shewn to his father on the occasion, and to Mrs. Kirkland and family for their kind and friendly attentions.

Skenandoh's person was tall and brawny, but well made; his countenance was intelligent, and beamed with all the indigenous dignity of an indian chief. In his youth he was a brave and intrepid warrior, and in his riper years one of the ablest counselors among the North American tribes. He possessed a strong and vigorous mind, and though terrible as a tornado in the war, he was bland and mild as the zephyr in peace. With the cunning of the fox, the hungry perseverance of the wolf, and the agility of the mountain cat, he watched and repelled Canadian invasions. His vigilance once preserved from massacre the inhabitants of the infant settlements at Germanflats. His influence brought his tribe to our assistance in the war of the revolution. How many of the living and the dead have been saved from the tomahawk and the scalping-knife by his friendly aid is not known: but individuals and villages have expressed gratitude for his benevolent interpositions, and among the indian tribes he was distinguished by the appellation of the "White man's friend."

Although he could speak but little English, and in his extreme old age was blind, yet his company was sought. In conversation he was highly decorous, evincing that he had profited by seeing civilized and polished society, and by mingling with good company in his better days.

To a friend who called on him a short time since, he thus expressed himself by an interpreter:

"I am an aged hemlock: the winds of an hundred winters have whistled through my branches; I am dead at the top. The generation to which I belong have run away and left me; why I live the Great Good Spirit only knows. Pray to my Jesus, that I may have patience to wait for my appointed time to die."

Honored chief! His prayer was answered; he was cheerful and resigned to the last. For several years he kept his dress for the grave prepared.--Once, and again, and again, he came to Clinton to die; longing that his soul might be with Christ, and his body in the narrow house, near his beloved Christian teacher.

While the ambitious but vulgar great, look principally to sculptured monuments, and to riches in the temple of earthly fame, Skenandoh, in the spirit of the only real nobility, stood with his loins girded, waiting the coming of his Lord.

His Lord has come! and the day approaches when the green hillock that covers his dust will be more respected than the pyramids, the mausolea and the pantheons of the proud and imperious.--His simple "turf and stone" will be viewed with affection and veneration, when their taudry ornaments of human apotheosis shall awaken only pity and disgust.

"Indulge my native land, indulge the tear;
That steals impassioned o'er a nation's doom;
To me each twig from Adam's stock is dear,
And sorrows fall upon an Indian's tomb."

"In the year 1775, Skenandoh was present at a treaty made in Albany. At night he was excessively drunk, and in the morning found himself in the street; stripped of all his ornaments and every article of clothing. His pride revolted at his self-degradation, and he resolved that he would never again deliver himself over to the power of strong water."
Source: Niles' Weekly Register, Baltimore, Saturday, April 13, 1816

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