Posted on 05/02/2021 10:57:20 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1821, a chief of the Seneca Native American nation slit the throat of a woman named Kauquatau, who had been condemned as a witch.
As Matthew Dennis explains in his book on the Seneca of the early American Republic, Seneca Possessed, the rapid march of European settlement and the Seneca’s recent and ambiguous incorporation into the newborn United States had strained the indigenous society in complex ways.
One of those reactions was a period of gendered witch-hunting in the early 19th century, especially growing out of the religious movement of the prophet Handsome Lake.
“Handsome Lake pinpointed the dangers the Seneca faced, the threats that they faced, the source of those threats, and a way … of purging his society of those who were most likely to resist his changes,” Dennis explained in this New Books Network podcast interview.
The “threat” for the instance at hand was a tribal healer who had become suspected of bewitching a man to his death — and her guilt in the same voted on by the Seneca elders. One of their number, Chief Soonongise — known as Tommy Jemmy to whites — went to her cabin on May 2, 1821, and killed her. It’s anyone’s guess whether Kauquatau realized what was happening — whether she took it as a social call or recognized her angel of death from the outset. But to New Yorkers, it was murder plain as day — and Tommy Jemmy was soon confined to a gaol to stand trial for his life.....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Tecunseh’s brother, Tenskwatawa the Prophet, burned 42 “witches” at Prophetstown. These “witches” were Indians that had converted to Christianity.
Tommy Jemmy and the Shondells?
Kauquatau barata nikto?
Accusations of ‘witchood’ was a good way to get rid of troublemaking people in the old days....................... See Salem.................
“Accusations of ‘witchood’ was a good way to get rid of troublemaking people in the old days....................... See Salem.................”
Sounds like today.
Just call someone a racist or discount them as a white male.
Those peaceful Indians…
Or accuse them of sexual harassment. ............
I did not see that phrase in my childhood history books. Not even when I toured the House of Seven Gables in Salem, MA.
Yes it was. Throw them in water. If they drowned, they were innocent. If they survived, they were declared guilty and hung.
Either way, they would make trouble no more.
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