The Polly Cooper Shawl is one of the greatest relics of the Oneida People. Linked to it is the story of George Washington's sick and starving army wintering at Valley Forge in 1777-78. The suffering was relieved by an Oneida gift of corn organized by Chief Skenandoah. An Oneida woman, Polly Cooper, stayed to help the soldiers and to teach them how to prepare the nutritional and medicinal food. Refusing to take money in payment, Cooper did accept this shawl in token of Washington's gratitude.

This story is at the heart of Oneida oral tradition passed down through the generations. it expresses the unswerving friendship and timely aid offered by the Oneidas in the most perilous hour of the United States.

It also symbolizes the relationship between the Oneidas and the United States. In times past, any agreement of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) was accompanied by a gift; usually it was wampum but it might be an animal skin or textile also. The gift was tied to the words of the message and the object underlined the truth and importance of the words. so it is with the shawl. As memorial to the American acknowledgment of Oneida help and sacrifice, the Polly cooper Shawl testifies to a pact of the Revolutionary War in the traditional Haudenosaunee way.

 CHIEF OSKANONDONHA

The Oneidas had two kinds of chiefs: sachems and chief warriors. Nine Oneida sachems held chiefly titles which reached back through the mists of time to the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy. These were hereditary offices, distributed among the three Oneida clans which traced membership through the mother's line. The senior women nominated the men who would hold the offices and a newly appointed sachem could be very young. Ideally, the sachems served as leaders in peaceful activities including diplomacy and trade.

Chief warriors, in contrast, were chosen on the basis of merit and ability, not on inheritance or membership in a certain family. Called Pinetree chiefs today, these men tended to be elderly because it took time to build up respect based on real accomplishments. They were picked by the men of a clan (Johnson Papers 11:29; Pilkington:357). However, "everyone" had to be in agreement, according to a visitor to Oneida in 1790. "A good warrior, a good politician, a good speaker may get elected Chief Warrior and sit in the council (Andreani:11)."

Oskanondonha was a chief warrior of the Wolf clan. Although he was a great warrior in his younger days, nothing of this career was recorded. He first appears in the written records in the context of war: warning the British of danger at Fort Stanwix in 1758; leading a war party (probably composed of warriors from the Wolf clan) against the French at Montreal in 1760 (Johnson Papers 10:83,183). In 1770, he was named as the "best and properest" leader of the principal Oneida village -- Oneida Castle (Johnson Papers 12:836-7). By this time, he must have achieved high standing as a chief warrior. What kind of chief was Oskanondonha? He was a physically imposing leader. In 1798 (at about the age of 90), he was described as "tall and muscular, admirably formed for activity and strength, and even at that great age, erect in his carriage. His manners were grave and courteous (Draper:142)." "He is a man of good sense, ready invention and quick wit," Kirkland observed, "not an eloquent speaker, but good Counsellor; subject sometimes to depression (Pilkington:315)."

Oskanondonha was easily the most influential Oneida chief of his era. He inspired more trust and affection among Oneida and non-native people than any other Indian leader.

He must have epitomized the ideals of leadership to an extraordinary degree. Freedom-loving Oneidas obeyed their chiefs only to the extent that the leaders continued to be respected and to inspire confidence. Both sachems and chief warriors were expected to be generous and so selflessly concerned for the common good that they would consider the interests of those unborn seven generations into the future. All Oneida leaders worked hard and quietly to build consensus on important issues. The Oneidas respected the ancient titles and traditions of the sachems but took a practical view of leadership. The most serious matters of public concern demanded the attention of the most effective and competent leaders, regardless of whether those men were sachems or chief warriors.

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