History Briefs

Wendat Confederacy

The Original Wendat Confederacy consisted of five Nations that existed from approx. 1400 AD to their final dispersal in 1650 AD the Attignawantan (Bear Nation) and Attigingueen-
ongnahac (Cord People) are said to be the founding Nations with the Tahontaenrat (Deer Nation), Ataronchronon (People of One Lodge) and Arendaronon (People of the Rocks) last Nations to join are thought to be remnants of the St. Lawrence Iroquois (Laurentian) following their dispersals in the late 1500’s.

When the Wyandotte ceded all land in Ohio on March 17, 1842 a long fight ended. A fight not with guns or bows and arrows but lawyers. We had been lobbying Congress and fighting within the court system for many years.

Our land had been invaded, cattle and horses stolen leaders that opposed removal were mysteriously being killed. There simply was no other option but to depend upon "the system" for protection of our tribal rights and treaties.

To fight this battle with a gun meant destruction.

By 1842 we were civilized. Assimilated no! There were many who still remembered and practiced the old way of life. The only way to insure that everything would not be completely lost meant moving west. Again.

All of our friends and allies had already made the trip. The Shawnee, Ottawa, Miami, Delaware and Seneca were across the Mississippi River ‘‘living life to it’s fullest’’. The Wyandotte, the last nation east of the Mississippi to be removed, must now join them.

Starting over would be difficult, but a Nation that was born out of the ashes of destruction would survive.

The following pages are an account of how the Wyandotte became Wyandotte. We are one of the few Nations that can specifically place a year on our birth.

In 1650 the remnants of the Tionontati Nation (Petun or Tobacco Nation) and Attignawantan Nation (the founding member of the Wendat Confederacy) fled west seeking protection from the murderous onslaught of the Iroquois Confederacy.

These people are called
Wyandotte