Ball Headed Club
Carried by Haudenosaunee warriors for at least a century before Europeans arrived, the Ball Headed Club was used in combat as late as the War of 1812.
1608–1701
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In the early 1600s, the construction of French trading outposts dramatically altered the balance of power across eastern North America. Before this time, the European foothold on the interior of the continent was limited to seasonal trading camps and maritime traders. Then in 1608, an ambitious trader named Samuel de Champlain established a fort called Quebec near the ruins of an Iroquoian town called Stadacona. To secure a steady flow of lucrative beaver furs to this outpost, Champlain made deals with the neighbouring Indigenous nations: The Algonquins, the Innu and the Wendat. However the partnership with the Wendat and Algonquins came with a very specific condition: military support against the Iroquois Confederacy. In 1609, Champlain and two Frenchmen handily defeated an Iroquois army with musket fire, but in doing so they made a bitter enemy of the five Haudenosaunee nations.
Outgunned and devastated by European diseases introduced through trade, the Iroquois turned to Dutch and later English colonists for guns, steel and European technology. With this arsenal, the Five Nations of the Iroquois began to destroy or displace their neighbouring First Nations. Their goals were to secure fresh beaver hunting grounds and assimilate captives to replace those Haudenosaunee lost to disease or war. Also known as the Beaver Wars, these Iroquois wars of expansion created a massive refugee crisis. Whole communities fled west or south to avoid devastating Haudenosaunee raids.
The Wendat paid a heavy price for their alliance with France, by 1651 the Iroquois had devastated their heartland and drove the few survivors into exile.
The Ojibwe and Iroquois would fight a bitter war to control their abandoned homeland. When Iroquois also began to destroy French settlements and besiege towns like Montreal, the French government were forced to involve themselves in the steadily worsening conflict.
Southern Quebec, Southern Ontario, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio
Iroquois Confederacy
The union of Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga and Mohawk was one of the strongest factions in 17th century North America. The acquisition of Dutch and English firearms elevated the five Haudenosaunee nations into powerhouses which could threaten even the European colonies.
Franco-Indigenous Alliance
An alliance which began as a trading pact between French merchants, the Wendat and the Algonquins, the Europeans quickly became embroiled in their allies’ rivalry with the Iroquois. French outposts lived in constant fear of Haudenosaunee attack, forcing the Canadian settlers to work closely with the First Nations, and emulate their fighting style.
Three Fires Confederacy
During the 1600s, the Great Lakes and its northern watershed were the domain of the Anishinaabeg: the Odawa, Potawatomi and Ojibwe. These three kindred nations remained largely aloof from the conflict with the Iroquois, until the two clashed over the displaced Wendat’s former homeland. Anishinaabe victories over the Haudenosaunee would be crucial to ending their military expansion.
By 1660, the Iroquois Confederacy were winning their long running conflict against France. While the Ojibwe and their allies fiercely resisted their push into Southern Ontario, the Five Nations controlled the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers. These waterways allowed them to raid French settlements and trade convoys with impunity. This prompted a militia captain named Adam Dollard to take the fight to the Haudenosaunee. Dollard, along with 53 militia and warriors, ambushed a small party of Onondagas along the Ottawa River. The victory was short lived, as these warriors were the scouting party for a much larger army. In the face of hundreds of Haudenosaunee, 30 of the allied warriors fled. Dollard’s remaining force retreated to an abandoned stockade at a place called Long Sault and prepared to make their stand. For eight days, Dollard’s 28 fighters held back over 600 warriors, until the Haudenosaunee built log shields which allowed them to approach the walls and hack open a breach. Though the Haudenosaunee took the fort, their victory was a costly one. The Iroquois Confederacy had lost so many warriors that they lacked the strength to strike against Montreal.
The Iroquois Wars only ended in 1701, when France, the Haudenosaunee and over a dozen other Indigenous leaders signed a treaty known as the Great Peace of Montreal. After nearly a century of prolonged violence, thousands had died and thousands more had been driven from their homes. Many of these displaced peoples moved into the Mississippi River watershed. Facing greater competition for food sources in the east, the Ojibwe nation pushed westward into the lands of the Dakota and Meskwaki, sparking fresh conflicts which would rage for decades. Though the Iroquois Confederacy secured peace with France and gained control of lush territories in the Ohio Country, they had suffered heavily during the war. For the next several decades, the Haudenosaunee largely avoid becoming entangled in the Imperial wars which raged across eastern North America.
Born during the height of the Iroquois Wars, Hendrick Tejonihokarawa spent most his life trying to protect Haudenosaunee sovereignty from the French. His strategy hinged on building an alliance with France’s imperial rival: England. To secure this partnership, he led Mohawk warriors alongside English militias against the French colonies in 1690. In 1710 Hendrick Tejonihokarawa travelled to England where he had an audience with their King.
Though he came to North America as a merchant, Samuel de Champlain proved he was willing to use force to protect his profits. In 1609 he led French mercenaries alongside Wendat and Algonquin warriors in a battle against the Iroquois near Ticonderoga. He would lead another two expeditions in 1610 and 1615, earning the hatred of the Iroquois for his brutality.