Conotocaurius - GW is the Destroyer of Towns
Nicknames. The name is a nick on the person's character, good or bad. Everyone knows Abe Lincoln was "Honest Abe." But he did have another nickname. He was known as "Spotty Lincoln." During the Mexican American War, in his one term as House Congressman, Abe Lincoln kept taking the floor, asking Congress to show him the spot where American Soil was invaded.
Allegedly both George Washington and his Great Grandfather, John Washington
shared an unusual nickname.
The nickname, Conotocaurius means Destroyer of Towns.
George Washington for sure had that nickname while in Winchester VA.
We have found no proof the great grandfather ever got that nickname.
We think we know why many internet sources say the Great Grandfather got that nickname,
but no contemporary of his ever documented that.
What we know instead is the story of John Washington putting siege to the Susquehannock Fort built on the Maryland side right across from a future Mt Vernon. The slaughter of 5 or 6 Susquehannock Chiefs and the siege and its aftermath . . . led to Bacon's Rebellion.
See that story here.
Our George Washington,
designer and supervisor
of Fort Loudoun
in Winchester Virginia,
had this nickname
before,
during,
and after
he built Fort Loudoun,
and it resurfaced
during the Rev War too.
.
Washington signs
a speech he wrote
.
Washington refers
to himself as this name
We list those and more references further below.
Spellings:
.
“Caunotaucarius”,
“Conotocarious”,
“Hanodaganears”, and
“Hanadahguyus” —
all translate as “Town Taker”,
“Burner of Towns”,
“Devourer of Villages”, or
“he destroys the town”.[1]
.
Conotocaurious
is the spelling used by
It is interesting GW used that name here in that letter.
Andrew Montour is a metis, part Indian, part white, living in both worlds, and had become an interpreter, and ambassador of sorts to both worlds.
Other spellings
such as Conotocarious is used by the Mt Vernon website.
.
THIS NAME’S APPEARANCES
.
There is no mention of this name by Washington in his October 31, 1753 to January 16, 1754 Journal which is his first expedition to the Ohio Country. Although Washington makes no mention at the time, years later Washington in notes to his biographer, Humphreys, states this is the journey where he first hears the name given him by Half King. See Undated Memorandum .
.
Gist makes no mention of name in 14 Nov 1753 to 6 Jan 1754 journal of that same expedition.
.
Washington mentions the name in his 2nd expedition journal (31 March 1754 to 27 June 1754) showing Washington signing this name as Conotocarious in a speech to Half King.
.
A speech from Half King addressing Lt Gov Dinwiddie does not mention Town Destroyer or any of its variant spellings. See page 31 of book: MINUTES, PROVINCIAL COUNCIL PENNSYLVANIA and Founders Online link mentions same letter, from George Washington to James Hamilton, 24 April 1754
.
Here's the list of occurrences of this nickname:
25 April 1754 Washington signs a speech he wrote to Chief Half King as — Conotaucarious
.
10 October 1755, Washington refers to himself as this name Conotocaurious .
.
1 December 1790 Chief Cornplanter addresses Washington as Town Destroyer
.
Undated Memorandum to Washington’s biographer David Humphreys
.
This name appears in original documents of the time for George Washington.
But so far, no such original documents show his Great Grandfather, John Washington, was given this name.
.
Washington’s 2nd Journal of expedition to Ohio Country
31 March 1754 to 27 June 1754
.
There is no mention of this name by Washington in his October 31, 1753 to January 16, 1754 Journal which is his first expedition to the Ohio Country. Although Washington makes no mention at the time, years later Washington in notes to his biographer, Humphreys, states this is the journey where he first hears the name given him by Half King. See Undated Memorandum .
.
Washington mentions the name in his 2nd expedition journal (31 March 1754 to 27 June 1754) showing Washington signing this name as Conotocarious in a speech to Half King.
.
This Founders Online footnote does not give source for this claim that John Washington first got the name of Town Destroyer:
.
37. GW inherited the Indian name given to his great-grandfather, John Washington. The name signified “town taker” or “devourer of villages.” In his “Biographical Memoranda,” comments written in 1786 on a projected biography of him by David Humphreys, GW stated that during the 1753 journey to the French commandant he “was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treated, Caunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner and communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late War” (anonymous donor).
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APRIL 1754 LETTER
25 April 1754 George Washington writes from Wills Creek MD (later Fort Cumberland) to Lt Gov Dinwiddie.
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Washington signs a speech he wrote to Chief Half King as — Conotaucarious
.
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8. Conotocarious (Caunotaucarius) was the Indian name of GW’s great-grandfather John Washington, signifying “town taker” or “devourer of villages.” The same name was given to GW by the Half-King. This speech is a reply to the Half-King’s speech to GW. See GW to James Hamilton, 24 April 1754, n.3.
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OCTOBER 1755 LETTER
Source for picture:
Blog article March 28, 2014
10 October 1755, Washington refers to himself as this name, writing from Winchester VA to Andrew Montour, a metis, in this letter:
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“Recommend Me kindly to our good Friend Monocatootha & others, tell them how happy it would make Conotocaurious3 to have an Opportunity of taking them by the Hand at Fort Cumberland, & how glad he would be to treat them as Brothers of our great King beyond the Waters…”
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Some observations:
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— Washington used the poetic descriptive language he picked up from the Indians, referring to King George II as “our great King beyond the Waters.”
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— Washington used the name Conotocaurius as a force to reckon.
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— Washington wanted to show he remembered this name he was given.
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1790 Cornplanter’s Speech
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Background:
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Chief Cornplanter met with Washington 11 years after the devastating Sullivan Expedition, a response to the Big Runaway and other British allied operations with the Indians such as Chief Joseph Brandt’s attack on German Flatts in 1778, which in turn was a response to the usurping of native land, despite attempts to draw the line not to cross in the Proclamation of 1763 and the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix 1768.
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Chief Cornplanter, heading the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, addressed Washington, 1 December 1790, refering to his Town Destroyer name:
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“When your army entered the Country of the Six Nations, we called you the Town-destroyer and to this day when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers.”
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Founders Online, of Seneca Chiefs at Philadelphia make address to George Washington 1 December 1790
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A US News and World Report claims, “To this day, Town Destroyer is still used as an Iroquois name for the president of the United States.” .
.
But I cannot find any source for either claim. In fact a contradictory fact emerges.
.
In the link below the Iroquois used a different name for a President, albeit for the President of the Articles of Confederation.
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Also it claims the orgin of this name was from Chief Cornplanter, but it appears the origin of this name came from others earlier than Chief Cornplanter
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From this link http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/
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Figure 31. On June 11, 1776 while the question of independence was being debated, the visiting Iroquois chiefs were formally invited into the meeting hall of the Continental Congress. There a speech was delivered, in which they were addressed as “Brothers” and told of the delegates’ wish that the “friendship” between them would “continue as long as the sun shall shine” and the “waters run.” The speech also expressed the hope that the new Americans and the Iroquois act “as one people, and have but one heart.”[18] After this speech, an Onondaga chief requested permission to give Hancock an Indian name. The Congress graciously consented, and so the president was renamed “Karanduawn, or the Great Tree.” With the Iroquois chiefs inside the halls of Congress on the eve of American Independence, the impact of Iroquois ideas on the founders is unmistakable. History is indebted to Charles Thomson, an adopted Delaware, whose knowledge of and respect for American Indians is reflected in the attention that he gave to this ceremony in the records of the Continental Congress.[19] Artwork by John Kahionhes Fadden.
. .
As an aside, 2 years after that moment above, another battle of Wyoming 3 July 1778
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AND still almost a year after the Wyoming Massacre, the devastating Sullivan Expedition began 18 June 1779
.
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Washington fulfills this name’s destiny
Washington writes to Sullivan, 31 May 1779 cementing Washington’s fulfilling the name’s prophecy of Town Destroyer.
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“The expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the six nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents.1 The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more..
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After you have very thoroughly completed the destruction of their settlements; if the Indians should show a disposition for peace, I would have you to encourage it, on condition that they will give some decisive evidence of their sincerity by delivering up some of the principal instigators of their past hostility into our hands—Butler, Brandt, the most mischievous of the tories that have joined them…
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But you will not by any means listen to ⟨any⟩ overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected—It is likely enough their fears if they are unable to oppose us, will compel them to offers of peace, or policy may lead them, to endeavour to amuse us in this way to gain time and succour for more effectual opposition. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us the distance to which they are driven and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire ⟨them.⟩ Peace without this would be fallacious and temporary…”
. . .
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Although not germane to finding original sources of the name of Town Destroyer, please read this letter Washington writes to Armstrong 24 August 1769 about the murder of some Indians. This letter indicates more complexity to Washington, and so for those geared to judge, please know much research is always needed to accomplish due process.
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“The report of three Indians being killd on the South Branch of Potomack is strictly true, but the manner in which it happen’d is variously related, and none of them favourable to the authors of the Mischeif—It seems this Murder (for it deserves no other name) was committed on slight provocation, upon three Indians of the Mingo Tribe; who had been to War, & as it is imagind, had also been defeated (that is the party to which they belonged) and being dispersed, took their rout through the Inhabitants for greater security when they met with the Fate I have just now mentioned—It is lucky however that there were no more than three in as much as none escapd to carry the Intelligence, and we, in consequence, may represent it in as favourable a light, as the thing will admit of, having the knowledge of it confined to our selves.
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Endeavours will be used to bring the perpetrators of this Act of Villainy to justice, but what success may attend the attempt, I will not under take to say, however certain it is, that practices of this kind ought to be suppressd by every possible means to prevent the evils that otherwise must follow…”
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Undated Memorandum
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1. By GW’s account the name “Towntaker” (variously rendered as Town-destroyer) was bestowed upon him by the Seneca chief Half-King in 1753, when he met that chief on his way to Fort Le Boeuf. As GW explained in an undated memorandum on David Humphreys’ draft biography of GW: “It was on this occasion he was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treated—Caunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner & communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late war” (Comments on , in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1992–97. description ends , 5:514–26; Zagarri, David Humphreys’ “Life of General Washington,” description begins Rosemarie Zagarri, ed. David Humphreys’ “Life of General Washington” with George Washington’s “Remarks.” Athens, Ga., 1991. description ends 10).
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