From Nature's Mould

A poem about Cornplanter.

John Abeel III, known as Gaiänt’wakê,
(the planter) or Kaiiontwa’kan
(by what one plants).
Seneca war chief,
diplomat of the
Wolf clan. 

He fought in the French and Indian war,
and the American Revolutionary war.
In both wars, the Seneca and three
other Iroquois nations were
allied with the British. 

After the war, Cornplanter
led negotiations with the United
States and was a signatory of the
treaty of Fort Stanwix. 

Immortalized in song, As Long as the Grass
Shall Grow, by Johnny Cash, (“Cornplanter,
can you swim?”), Cash takes a swipe at
the construction of the Kinzua Dam,
which inundated Seneca land, and
forced the relocation of six
hundred tribe-folk. 

A monument exists over his grave, installed by
the State of Pennsylvania.  Kind words were
spoken, in dedication, to honor Cornplanter:
“Dauntless warrior and wisest statesman of
  of his nation, the patriarch of this tribe
  and the peacemaker of his race.” 
“He was a model man from
  nature’s mould.”*


30 Lines
Writer’s Cramp
12-30-17
________

*Spoken by the Honorable James Ross Snowden,
  of Philadelphia, 1866.