The Americas

Neutrals / Attiwandaron (North American Tribes)
Incorporating the Aondironan, Aouenrehronon, Atiragenratka, Conkhandeenrhonon, & Ongniarahronon

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Generally speaking, European settlers in the Americas coined the phrase 'Indian' or 'Red Indian'. They used it to describe the North American tribes of Native Americans they found while they were settling what is now the USA. The northern part of this vast collection of regions and climates were the native settlements of what is now Canada, while to the south were the various peoples of modern Mexico, most especially the Aztecs.

The descriptively-named Neutrals were located in modern southern Ontario (Canada), to the north of Lake Erie. Their territory also included some of western New York (east and south of Niagara Falls), and a portion of south-eastern Michigan near Detroit. Formed of a large collection of Iroquoian groups, they are notable for refusing to side either with the Huron or Iroquois during their wars. That neutrality did not extend to other wars, however.

The Huron called them either 'Attionondaron', 'Attiwandaronk', or 'Attiwandaron', meaning 'those who speak a little differently'. Iroquois names included 'Atirhagenrat' ('Atirhaguenrek'), 'Rhagenratka', and 'Hatiwantarunh', which had a similar meaning. Apparently some of the Neutrals were more closely attached than others to the Erie, because both the Seneca and Huron often referred to the Erie and Neutrals as the 'Cat Nation'. The Seneca name for them was 'Kahkwa' or 'Kahqua', while the Huron called them 'Yenresh'.

New France referred to them variously as the 'Confederacy de Neutre', the 'Nation du Neutre', or the 'Neuter Nation'. Their own name for their confederacy was 'Chonnonton', or 'people of the deer' or, more precisely, 'the people who tend or manage deer'. The majority of the Iroquoian tribes of southern Ontario collectively referred to themselves as the 'Wendat', meaning 'dwellers on a peninsula'. Various sources give this as an alternative to 'Wyandot', which itself was a synonym for the later remnants of the Huron.

(Information by Mick Baker, with additional information from Everyday Life of the North American Indian, Jon Manchip White (1979), from The Encyclopaedia of North American Indian Tribes, Bill Yenne (1986), from The Native Tribes of North America - A Concise Encyclopaedia, Michael Johnson (1993), from the Atlas of Indians of North America, Gilbert Legay (1995), and from External Links: First Nations: Issues of Consequence, Lee Sultzman, and Legends of America.)

1626 - 1640

The Jesuits make only two visits to the Neutrals. Father Joseph D'Alyon in 1626 and fathers Jean de Breboeuf and Pierre Chaumonot in 1640 are all forced to leave when the Neutrals begin to suspect them of sorcery. However, despite their reluctance to deal directly with New France, the Neutrals are active in the fur trade through the Huron.

The Susquehannock territories were centred around the river which bore their name, but extended far to the east, towards Lake Erie where they abutted the generally peaceful Erie people and north to the Iroquois nations, who certainly were not peaceful (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1635

The Huron tell the French that the Neutrals have given refuge to the Aouenrehronon, an unidentified Iroquoian-speaking tribe from the western end of Lake Erie (possibly Erie or Neutrals).

The Aouenrehronon had been attacked by the Asistagueronon, presumably as a result of the increasing tension and competition for hunting territory. This appears to be the only major victory to be achieved by the Asistagueronon, a group which can be connected with the Potawatomi.

1639 - 1643

Since before the European arrival in North America, the Neutrals have protected themselves against the Iroquois and Huron through alliances with the Wenro and Erie. For some reason, the Erie and Neutrals abandon the Wenro in 1639, leaving this small tribe to face the Iroquois alone.

Without their powerful allies, the Wenro are attacked and are quickly defeated. Some find refuge with the Neutrals, a large group (numbering eight hundred) flee to the Huron, and one Wenro village to the east of Niagara Falls holds out against the Seneca until it is abandoned in 1643 - the survivors joining the Neutrals.

Try as they may to retain the old ways of living in the woodlands of Maryland and Virginia, Iroquoian speakers were gradually being forcibly 'civilised' by their European neighbours

1641 - 1645

The Iroquois Wars begin, otherwise known as the Beaver Wars (see link, right). Having exhausted the beaver in their homeland, the Iroquois are running out of the fur they need to trade for firearms from New Netherland. Otherwise, with European epidemics decimating their villages, it is only a matter of time before they are annihilated.

Their enemies, of course, are well-aware of this problem and refuse permission for Iroquois hunters to pass through their territories. Faced with a blockade, the Iroquois are forced into a war in which they need either to conquer or to be destroyed.

They concentrate their attacks on the Huron after 1640, while the Neutrals look the other way as Huron and Iroquois pass through their territory to attack one another.

1647 - 1649

The Seneca accuse the Attiuoaisgon (Neutrals) of sheltering Huron war parties. A brief war follows which forces the Attiuoaisgon to retreat across the Niagara River into Ontario. The failure of the Erie to support the Neutrals in this conflict leads in the following year to the collapse of their alliance.

A line drawing of a classic Huron palisaded village, although the Huron were greatly overrun by the Iroquois at the start of 1649

After the Iroquois overrun the Huron homeland during winter at the start of 1649, the Tahontaenrat (Huron) flee en mass to the protection of the Neutrals. Apparently, the Neutrals capture some small groups of Huron and turn them over to the Iroquois, but they allow the Tahontaenrat to remain unmolested in their territory.

Temporarily respecting the Neutrals' numbers and neutrality, in December 1649 the Iroquois attack the Tionontati, Huron allies who have taken in a large number of Attignawantan Huron.

1650 - 1653

As the Iroquois absorb thousands of captured warriors into their ranks, the Susquehannock now see that they themselves are in grave danger. When the Western Iroquois (the Cayuga, Onondaga, and Seneca) attack the Neutrals, the Susquehannock enter the war against the Iroquois.

Whatever help they may be able to give to the Neutrals is cut short when the Mohawk attack Susquehannock villages. With the Susquehannock unable, and the Erie unwilling to help, the Neutrals are quickly defeated by the Iroquois (by about 1651).

Although the Dutch colonial administration initially pursued a policy of not arming the natives with ammunition and guns, the realities of the Beaver Wars eventually made them realise that there was no other option

As for any surviving Neutrals, one group may flee westwards across the Great Lakes to join Huron and Tionontati refugees living near Green Bay (Wisconsin). Another seems to reach the Susquehannock (in Pennsylvania) where a combined group of Neutrals and Susquehannock is reported as defeating a large Seneca war party in 1652.

There are also about eight hundred Neutrals living in two or more villages near Detroit during the winter of 1653. These Detroit villages may continue until 1660. Other Neutrals are reported as living south of Lake Erie in 1656. However, both have disappeared by 1660 and their fate is unknown.

By far the largest group (including many Huron) flees southwards into northern Ohio to find refuge with the Erie. The Erie accept them but keep them in a status of complete submission which some have described as virtual slavery.

Demands by the Iroquois that the Erie surrender these former enemies are refused, and the situation deteriorates into war by 1653. After three years the Erie are also destroyed and are absorbed.

Native Americans of Niagara, presumed to be Neutrals who, by the early 1650s were in serious trouble, the strength of the Iroquois being irresistible

1667 - 1680

In the years after the destruction of the Neutrals, many Seneca towns are composed entirely of conquered enemies. Gandongarae is one example and, in 1680, its population is reported as being made up entirely of Neutrals.

Eventually, many of these 'collected strays' have become uncomfortable enough thanks to Iroquois suspicion of their Christianity that they leave the Iroquois homeland in 1667 and move to La Prairie (home to the Caughnawaga people) just south of Montreal.

Many of those who go to the Caughnawaga are Neutrals, and in 1674 there are still identifiable groups of Neutrals amongst its population. It can be presumed that many of their descendents are still living there today.

Other descendents of the Neutrals may join the Mingo who begin leaving the Iroquois homeland during the 1720s to settle in Ohio, while the Seneca of Oklahoma no doubt also have Neutrals blood in their veins.