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John Abeel III (–February 18, 1836) (2025). 9780815631149, Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815631149 known as Gaiänt'wakê ( Gyantwachia – "the planter") or Kaiiontwa'kon ( Kaintwakon – "By What One Plants") in the Seneca language and thus Anglicisation as Cornplanter, was a Seneca people chief and diplomat. As a war chief, Cornplanter fought in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the British. After the war Cornplanter led negotiations with the United States and was a signatory of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), the Treaty of Canandaigua (1794), and other treaties. He helped ensure Seneca neutrality during the Northwest Indian War.
In the postwar years, Cornplanter endeavoured to learn more about Euro-American culture and invited Quakers to establish schools in Seneca territory. After the War of 1812 he became disillusioned by his people's poor reaction to Euro-American society. He had the schools closed and embraced his half-brother Handsome Lake's movement to return to traditional Seneca ways and religion.
The United States government granted him about 1500 acres of former Seneca territory in Pennsylvania in 1796 for "him and his heirs forever," which became known as the Cornplanter Tract. The federal government, however, started construction of the Kinzua Dam on the Allegany River in 1960. When the dam was completed the Cornplanter Tract was flooded and most of the few remaining residents moved to the Allegany Reservation of the federally recognized Seneca Nation of New York. Before flooding occurred the remains of Cornplanter, his descendants, and an 1866 monument to him were relocated.
The Dutch had settled the Hudson Valley several generations earlier, and Cornplanter's father, an Albany fur trader, was part of an established family. The Abeel family name was sometimes Irish Gaelic to O'Bail and O'Beale. John Abeel II (1722–1794) was connected to the Schuyler family, leaders in business and politics. The grandfather after whom Cornplanter was named, Johannes Abeel I (1667–1711), was a trader and merchant who built up links with the indigenous people along his trade routes, and who served as the second mayor of Albany. The younger John Abeel was a gunsmith and was gladly welcomed into the Iroquois community to repair their guns.
Cornplanter was raised by his mother among the Seneca. His Seneca name, Gaiänt'wakê (often spelled Gyantwachia), means "the planter," and another variation, Kaintwakon, means "by what one plants." As the Seneca and other Iroquois nations had a matrilineal system of kinship, Cornplanter was considered a member of his mother's clan, the Wolf Clan.
Initially, both the British and the Americans also wanted the Iroquois to remain neutral. As the war progressed, however, the British began encouraging the Iroquois to "take up the hatchet," while the Americans sought their continued neutrality. In July 1777, the Seneca met with John Butler, a deputy superintendent in the British Indian Department at Irondequoit to discuss whether to abandon their neutrality. Although Cornplanter strongly opposed becoming involved, the Seneca eventually agreed to actively support the British against the Americans. Cornplanter honoured that decision.
Because of the status of the Seneca as "elder brothers" among the Iroquois, most of the Iroquois Confederacy followed suit. The Oneida people and the Tuscarora people, however, strongly influenced by the missionaries such as Samuel Kirkland, resolved to support the Americans instead. Cornplanter and Sayenqueraghta were named as war chiefs of the four nations that allied with the British: the Mohawk people, Seneca people, Onondaga people and Cayuga people.
During the Siege of Fort Stanwix in August 1777, Cornplanter played a significant role in the ambush of a column of Patriot militia and Oneida at the Battle of Oriskany. In 1778, he joined forces with John Butler and Butler's Rangers at the 1778 Battle of Wyoming in what is now Northeastern Pennsylvania. Roughly 300 Patriot militia and Continental Army were killed in what is commonly known as the Wyoming Massacre. The battle was followed by widespread looting and burning throughout the Wyoming Valley but non-combatants were not harmed.
In November 1778, Cornplanter led the Seneca at the Cherry Valley Massacre. During this raid many non-combatants were killed or taken captive.
In 1779, George Washington ordered Major General John Sullivan to invade Iroquois territory and destroy their villages. Cornplanter, along with Joseph Brant, Sayenqueraghta, and Butler, fought a desperate delaying action in order to allow the escape of refugees to Fort Niagara. They were brushed aside at the Battle of Newtown by Sullivan's army of 4,500 men.
The Sullivan Expedition caused great destruction during the subsequent scorched earth campaign. They methodically razed villages, burned fields, and destroyed stored foodstuffs throughout the Seneca and Cayuga homeland. The Seneca suffered terribly during the following winter. Many froze or starved to death. Cornplanter and his warriors, however, continued to raid American settlements in 1780.
In May 1780, Cornplanter and Joseph Brant led an attack on Canojaharie on the Mohawk River. During this raid, Seneca warriors captured Cornplanter's father John Abeel and burned his house. Cornplanter, who had once gone as a young man to meet his father, recognized Abeel and offered apology. Cornplanter invited Abeel to go with him or return to his European family. When his father chose the latter, Cornplanter had Seneca warriors accompany him in safety.
A few months later Cornplanter participated in the large scale raid on the Schoharie Creek and Mohawk River valleys that culminated in the inconclusive Battle of Klock's Field. He was relatively inactive for the remainder of the war.
During the Northwest Indian War, Native Americans in what is now Ohio and Indiana mounted a resistance to the encroachment of American settlers into their territory. Cornplanter convinced the Seneca to remain neutral in this conflict. In addition, he attempted to negotiate with the Shawnee on behalf of the United States.
In 1790, Cornplanter and other Seneca leaders travelled to Philadelphia to meet with President George Washington and Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin and protest the treatment of their people. Cornplanter extracted an agreement from Washington and Mifflin to protect Seneca land.
Cornplanter made a number of trips to Philadelphia, and later Washington, to strengthen relationships and meet with those who were interested in his people. He tried to understand Euro-American culture, as he felt it necessary for successful relations between the Iroquois and the United States.
Cornplanter was particularly impressed by the beliefs and practices of the Quakers. Like the Quakers, Cornplanter and his half-brother, the religious leader Handsome Lake, strongly opposed the use of liquor, and unlike other Protestant groups, the goal of Quaker missionaries was to educate rather than convert. Cornplanter invited Quakers to the Cornplanter Tract to help the Seneca learn new skills such as animal husbandry, carpentry and smithing as they could no longer rely on hunting or the fur trade as a way of life. He also encouraged Seneca men to become involved in growing crops, a task which traditionally was done by women.
In 1794, Cornplanter was a signatory to the Treaty of Canandaigua. The treaty proclaimed "peace and friendship" between the United States of America and the Iroquois, and affirmed their land rights in the state of New York. Three years later he signed the Treaty of Big Tree that established Seneca reservations within their traditional territory.
Eventually, Cornplanter became disillusioned with his relationship with the Americans. To fight the drunkenness and despair suffered by many Indians, his half-brother Handsome Lake preached that the Seneca must return to the traditional way of life and take part in religious ceremonies. Cornplanter heeded Handsome Lake's prophecy that they should return to traditional ways and turn away from European assimilation. He burned his military uniform, broke his sword, and destroyed his medals. He closed the schools but did not completely break relations with the Quakers as he retained his respect for them.
Cornplanter occasionally openly expressed his disdain for whites. Upon taking a short ride on the first steamboat to navigate the upper Allegheny River, Cornplanter, while generally impressed with the boat, quipped that "white men will do anything to avoid using their muscles." "State and Union: River-traffic Dreams Never Realized at Olean Point". Olean Times Herald (May 22, 2016). Retrieved May 22, 2016.
During the War of 1812, Cornplanter did not play an active role in the fighting along the Niagara River, however, his son Henry and his nephew Chainbreaker, also known as Blacksnake actively supported the Americans.
As Cornplanter aged, his influence among the Seneca dwindled in favour of Chainbreaker and Red Jacket. He died in 1836 at his home in the Cornplanter Tract.
Cornplanter married twice and had seven children. The names of six of the seven are known. One of Cornplanter's sons had an intellectual disability and is only referred to as "The Idiot" in primary sources.
While in Philadelphia in 1790, Cornplanter had met with Quaker leaders. He was impressed enough to send his son Henry to the Quaker school the following year. This sparked a continuing relationship between Cornplanter and the Quaker community. Henry Abeel (spelled Henry Abeele in federal documents) later served as an interpreter at the Treaty of Canandaigua negotiations in 1794.
Cornplanter's direct issue lasted five generations. Great-great-great grandson Jesse Cornplanter, an artist and the son of Edward Cornplanter, was the last direct male heir; he had no children, and much of the extended Abeel/Cornplanter family had died in the 1910s. Jesse adopted two children, the children of his late sister Carrie. Bulletin of the New York State Museum, 1920. Section: " Death of Chief Edward Cornplanter," pages 104 and 105.
Cornplanter descendants meet annually to Remember the Removal. There are hundreds of descendants of Cornplanter. They meet annually at the Annual Cornplanter Reunion Picnic. In 2018, the Cornplanter newsletters were compiled and published. These include genealogical information and stories from Cornplanter descendants.
Hon. James Ross Snowden of Philadelphia gave the dedicatory address, saying in part:
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