Onaquaga
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Onaquaga (also spelled many other ways) was a large Iroquois village, located on both sides of the Susquehanna River near present-day Windsor, New York until it was destroyed along with nearby Unadilla, by the Continental Army in October, 1778.
[edit] Population
Onaquaga was originally home to members of the Oneida tribe. Tuscarora people joined in outlying settlements when they became part of the Iroquois confederacy in the early 18th century. In 1753, Nanticoke refugees from Virginia also moved into the village. With the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Mohawks were forced north and west and a number settled in Onaquaga which was just west of the treaty line. By the time of the American Revolution, representatives from all of the Six Nations, a group of Lenape people and also a number of Tories lived in Onaquaga.
[edit] Alternate spellings
Historian Francis Whiting Halsey, who spelled the name of the village Oghwaga, included this footnote in his 1901 work The Old New York Frontier:
- Spelled in almost every conceivable manner. Among the forms are Oneaquaga, Oughquagy, Onoaughquagey, Ononghquage, Auquauga, Anaquaga, Oughquogey, Anaquegha, Onaquaga, Aughquagee, Ochquaga, Aughquagey, Oquaca, Oguaga, Anaquaqua, Oquage, and Okwaha. The form Okwaho is used in the Marcoux Dictionary, which gives the meaning wolf. This was a term applied to one of the Mohawk tribes. Gideon Hawley wrote Onohoghquage. Dr. O’Callaghan employed the form Oghquaga. For the present village in the town of Colesville, the spelling is Ouaquaga. At Deposit a hotel uses for its name the form Oquaga, which is also employed for a small lake of this name. The northerly branch of the Delaware has been called the Coquago branch. Wilkinson wrote Oquago, and Washington Anaquaga. Stone adopted the form Oghkwaga. Sir William Johnson wrote Oghquago – though not always. Brant, after the battle of Minisink, used the form Oghwage. Brant was a Mohawk Indian who knew how to spell. The word is pronounced in three syllables. In order to secure such pronunciation the author has taken the liberty of converting Brant’s final "e" into an "a," making it Oghwaga. A. Cusick told Dr. Beauchamp he thought the word meant place of hulled-corn soup.
[edit] References
- Marjory Barnum Hinman, Onaquaga: Hub of the Border Wars of the American Revolution in New York State
- Onaquaga Exhibit Reinterpreted
- Onaquaga War Party
