A very nice history talk by Peter Jemison. However - at approx. 12:40 - when he talks about the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779 - he leaves out one very important fact! The reason Geo. Washigton sent an army of 5,000 men - huge at that time in the Revolutionary War - to destroy the Seneca was *IN RETALIATION* for the slaughter of innocents at the Cherry Valley (NY) Massacre. The Seneca were known as fierce warriors but at Cherry Valley they killed innocent women and children. This was just one of other similar British-Iroquois raids on American settlements. But this massacre forced Washington to protect the frontier from then Seneca savagery. And it led to the destruction of the Seneca Nation. (Just Google Cherry Valley Massacre).
A very nice history talk by Peter Jemison. However - at approx. 12:40 - when he talks about the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779 - he leaves out one very important fact! The reason Geo. Washigton sent an army of 5,000 men - huge at that time in the Revolutionary War - to destroy the Seneca was *IN RETALIATION* for the slaughter of innocents at the Cherry Valley (NY) Massacre. The Seneca were known as fierce warriors but at Cherry Valley they killed innocent women and children. This was just one of other similar British-Iroquois raids on American settlements. But this massacre forced Washington to protect the frontier from then Seneca savagery. And it led to the destruction of the Seneca Nation. (Just Google Cherry Valley Massacre).