OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: "The Cat Nation" -- Ohio's Erie Indians
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Historical Collections of Ohio
Diaries of S. J. Kelly
Plains Dealer
Know Your Ohio
by Darlene E. Kelley
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"The Cat Nation" -- Ohio's Erie Indians

The location of the Erie Indians was along the Southern shores of Lake
Erie, beginning near Buffalo, New York and then west to the vicinity of
Sandusky, Ohio. Their homeland may also have extended far inland to
include large parts of the upper Ohio River Valley and its branches in
northern Ohio, western Pennsylania and west Virginia.

The exact count of the Erie population is only a wild estimation. The
French had only one meeting with the Erie but never learned how many
villages there were or the exact extent of their territory. Estimates
have varied from 4,000 to 15,000, but the ability of the Erie to defy
the Iroquois ( without benefit of European firearms) seems to favor the
higher numbers. Probably at least 10,000. There appears t have been a
sudden surge in their population prior to 1653. The wide range in their
population estimates could be explained by a large number ofHuron and
Neutral refugees who joined the Erie in 1651.

Erie is a short form of the Iroquian word "Erielhonan" meaning literally
" long tail"" and referring to the panther, couger, or mountain lion.
Hence their French name was Nation du Chat or Cat Nation. Their other
Iroquoian names---
Awenrehronon and Rhilerrhonon-- having the same meaning, although the
Huron confused the situation by using -- Yenresh ( Panther people ) for
both the Erie and Neutrals. Other names which seems to have been used
for the Erie were; Atirhagenret, Chat ( French ), Gaquagaono, Kahqua (
Kahkwa) ( Seneca), Rhagenratka, and Black Mingua ( Dutch).

The language was considered Iroquian or simular to one of the Huron
dialects. Their sub-tribes are believed to have many villages and
several divisions, but only three have been preserved. Kentaientonga,
Honniasont, and Rigue. One clue as to the number of Erie villages came
years later, when the Iroquios told the French they had destroyed 19
Kentaientonga villages in the Ohio by 1650.

With French contact limited to one brief meeting very little is known
for certain about the Erie except they were important, and they were
there. The Dutch and the Swedes also heard about them through their
trade with the Susquehannock, but never acually met the Erie. All
information about their social and political organization has come from
early Jesuit accounts of what they had bee told by the Huron. Although
questionable because of the lack of first hand observation, this
information seems reasonable enough. The Erie had a large population,
several divisions and lived in permanent, stockaded towns. Like the
Iroquian peoples in the area, they were an agricultural people. They
were traditional enemies of the Iroquois, and there had been many wars
between them befre the Europeans. The Iroquois, who always mentioned the
Eries were great warriors, have verified the long term hostility, and
also add that the Erie frequently used poisoned arrows in war. 

History--

In 1615, Etienne Brule, met a group of Erie near Niagara Falls. So far
as is known, this was their only encounter with Europeans. At the time
the Erie were members of a three way alliance 
( Neutrals and Wenro ) against the Iroquois. Although it is not known
for certain, it is quite possible some of the Erie were allied with the
Susquehannock and supported their wars with Iroquois. In any event, the
Erie often traded wih the Susquehannock and received European goods from
them at an early date. It also appears that the Susquehannock were very
careful to ensure the Erie did not get any firearms and only a limited
suppy of metal weapons. Huron and Neutral traders apparently took
simular precautions.

The Erie needed beaver for this trade and probably encroached on other
tribal territories to get it. The result was a war with an unknown
Algonquin enemy in 1635 that forced the Erie to abandon some of their
western villages. In 1639 the Erie and Neutrals withdrew their
protection from the Wenro leaving them to fend for themselves. The
Iroquois attacked, and the Wenro were quickly defeated. Most fled to the
Huron and Neutrals, although one group remained east of the Niagara
River and resisted until 1643. The alliance between the Erie and
Neutrals continued until 1648, when it ended after the Erie failed to
support the Neutrals during a short war with the Iroquios.The failure of
this alliance occurred just as the war between the Huron Confederacy and
Iroquois League was reaching its final stage, and its timing could
hardly have been worse. Huronia was overrun in the winter of 1648-49;
the Tionontati met the same fate later that year; and in 1650 the
Iroquois turned on the Neutrals
Defeated by 1651, large numbers of Neutral and Huron ( several thousand
) escaped and fled to the Erie. The Erie accepted these refugees but did
not treat them well. Apparently, there were still bad feelings from the
break-up of the past allience. They were allowed to stay in the Erie
villages but only in a condition of subjugation.

Meanwhile, the Iroquios League demanded the Erie surrender the refugees,
but with hundreds of new warriors, the Erie refused. The dispute
simmered for two years of strained diplomacy. The western Iroquois (
Seneca, Cayuga, and Ononndaga ) continued to view the refugees as a
threat and were not willing to let the matter drop. The Erie were just
as determined not to be intimidated by Iroquois threats.  Their
position, however, was becoming precarious, since the Mohawk and Oneda
in 1651 had begun a long war against the Susquehannock  (Pennsylvania)
isolating the Erie from their only possible ally.  The violence grew,
and an Erie raid into the Seneca homeland killed the Seneca sachem
Annencraos in 1653. In an attempt to avoid open warfare, both sides
agreed to a peace conference. However, in the course of a heated
argument, one of the Erie warriors killed an Ononndaga. The enraged
Iroquois killed all 30 of the Erie representatives, and after this peace
was impossible. Although they had the advantage of firearms, the
Iroquois considered the Erie as dangerous opponents, so they took the
precaution of first making peace wth the French before beginning the
war. With their native allies and trading partners either dead or
scattered by the Iroquios, the French did not need much encouragement to
sign.

Assured the French would not intervene, the westren Iroquois attacked
and destroyed two Erie fortified villages in 1654. However, the Erie
inflicted heavy losses on the Iroquois during these battles. It took the
Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga until 1656 before the Erie were defeated.
Many survivors were incorporated into the Seneca to replace their losses
in the war, and the Erie ceased to exist as a separate tribe. The Erie,
however, did not entirely disappear at this time. French map-makers
during the next 50 years continued to place the Nation du Chat on their
maps as occupying a large area south and west of the Iroquois.
Unfortunately, no European explored the Ohio Valley until the 1670's,
and they did not find any Erie ( or anyone else for that matter). Some
of the Eries, Neutrals, Tionontati, and Huron escaped ( the Wyandot are
the best example) . Most of these were small groups, but some may have
been fairly large. It took the Iroquois many years to track these people
down, an the last group of Erie ( southern Pennsylvania ) did not
surrender to the Iroquois until 1680. Where they had been hiding during
the intervening 24 years is a mystery. Some say they buried themselves
into the Lake Erie Islands, under the Iroquois noses.However. since
there were a large group still free in 1662, they were gone by 1679.
Many of the descendants of the Erie were adopted by the Seneca and in
1720 returned to Ohio, Known as the Mingo ( Ohio Iroquois ) and were
removed to the Indian Territory during 1840's. It is likely that many of
the Seneca in Oklahoma today have Erie ancestors that roamed Ohio.

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