Polly Cooper’s generosity and courage have long been honored by the Oneida Native American people over the generations as exemplar of the indomitable spirt of the Oneida. With the unveiling of the Oneida memorial at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC that honors Polly and her people’s contribution to the American Revolution, the United States has joined in that recognition. In April, 1778, she was the only woman in an expedition of forty-seven to fifty Oneida Native American Warriors who traversed nearly three hundred miles, through snow and deep mud, to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In January, 1778, a request for aide from Native Americans had been issued by General George Washington and Congress. It was personally delivered by General Marquis de Lafayette, in February, 1778, to the Oneida and Tuscarora of the Mohawk Valley, New York. The young French general sought the assistance of the Native Americans as scouts and members of raiding parties against the British in Philadelphia.
The Oneida and Tuscarora had become allies of the patriots battling England. They joined with patriot settlers to stave off British Lt. Colonel Barry St. Claire’s invasion of the Mohawk Valley in the summer of 1777. As such, they would be welcomed with open arms by Washington’s forces camped outside the British lines around Philadelphia. So too, the Oneida would deliver over 600 baskets of white corn to the hard-pressed Continental Army who still, by early spring, continued to face severe shortages of food. Once arriving, the warriors were divided between American intelligence forces as scouts and guerrilla fighters. After approximately five to six weeks, the warriors were requested by their communities to return home to thwart off large raiding parties by British and loyalist forces. Polly would remain at Valley Forge, cooking and treating the countless sick soldiers with her herbal knowledge of medicines. Some historians have doubted that Polly Cooper ever existed, questioning the Oneida people’s collective accounts. However, as will be addressed later in this article, some of these arguments base their scholarly opinions on assumptions while tainted with common bias.
Oneida Nation Sides with the Americans
The Oneida are a proud people of the Native American Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Nation, one of the ‘Six Nations’ Confederacy who had thrived in northern Pennsylvania and throughout western and northern New York. During the American Revolution, the Oneida and Tuscarora supported the Americans; apart from the Cayuga, Mohawk, Onondaga, and Seneca of their confederation who sided with the British. The Iroquois had a long association with Sir William Johnson, a British army officer from Ireland who, as a young man, moved to the Mohawk region of northern New York to manage his uncle’s large estate. Johnson developed close ties to the Iroquois and was soon named the British agent and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Iroquois Confederacy. With his help, the Six Nations maintained their neutrality during most of the French and Indian War (1754 – 1763) while still aiding the British. As the war neared its end, he helped formalize the Confederacy’s relations with England to become allies against the French.
After the French and Indian War, Sir Johnson’s greed to claim additional Native American land soured his influence over the Oneida and Tuscarora. In 1768, Johnson overstepped his authority and negotiated the Boundary Line Treaty at Fort Stanwix, New York. It pushed the line of private European land ownership deep into Oneida territory, benefitting Johnson and several of his wealthy landowner friends in England. This inflamed the Oneida and strained the British alliance. So too, the influence of ‘Bostonian’ Reverend Samuel Kirkland contributed to the Oneida’s ultimate split with England. Bostonian was a term England used in referring to anyone with ‘rebel beliefs’. Kirkland spent much of his life with the Oneida tribesmen providing both schooling and modern carpentry and agricultural tools to better their lives. He also convinced the Oneida that their best prospects lay with the rebellious Americans in the growing dispute with England.
During British General ‘Johnny’ Burgoyne’s push south from Canada towards Albany in the summer of 1777, Lt. Colonel Barry St. Leger led a detached force against the Mohawk Valley and Fort Stanwix. This force consisted of British regulars, colonial loyalists, and a large contingency of Native Americans, mainly Iroquois, minus the Oneida and Tuscarora, who remained loyal to the Americans. The Oneida scouted the British force as it approached central New York to keep the rebellious settlers aware so they could prepare. On August 6th, a large party of Oneida joined the American militia and their commander, General Nickolas Herkimer, at the Battle of Oriskany. After St. Leger’s troops failed in their siege of Fort Stanwix, and with the approach of American General Benedict Arnold, St. Leger turned and retreated, leaving General Burgoyne to his fate. The Oneida continued to aid the Americans throughout the Mohawk Valley as scouts to battle loyalist raiding parties.
General George Washington & Winter Camp at Valley Forge
After the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, failed to stop the British advance upon Philadelphia and the Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, fell short in dislodging the British from the city, Washington and British General Howe continued to reposition their lines, each looking for a way to gain advantage in a ‘deciding’ battle. By early December, 1777, General George Washington decided to bivouac his troops close to the British line while he considered more sturdy winter quarters. He chose Valley Forge, situated northwest along the Schuylkill River about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia. Valley Forge proved close enough to keep an eye on the British while harassing foraging parties and preventing an incursion by Howe’s forces into the Pennsylvania’s interior. Situated on the high ground of Mount Joy and adjoining Mount Misery, plus the close proximity of the Schuylkill River just to the north, the Winter Camp proved ideal for defense.
On December 19, 1777, Washington’s army of approximately twelve thousand, ill-fed, poorly equipped troops staggered into the make-shift tents at Valley Forge. Exhausted from constantly on the move and morally defunct by one defeat after another, they began constructing a more permanent camp. Exposed to winter’s fury, they spent the next month cutting down trees and building the small huts into which they would be quartered for the next several months. Although Washington repeatedly petitioned Congress for the money and means to provide for his army, there was little to be had and the soldiers suffered. Many still wore the clothing of the summer’s campaign and by January, 1778, their meager garments proved threadbare or non-existent; nearly a third having no shoes while forced to wrap their feet in rags. Undernourished and crowded into damp quarters, they were ravaged by sickness and disease; typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, and pneumonia ran rapid. Spring’s warm weather brought little relief for the famished troops. Money for supplies and food was scares while there would be no harvests until several months later.
George Washington wrote at Valley Forge, on April 21, 1778, to John Banister, Virginia Delegate to the Continental Congress:
“…No history, now extant, can furnish an instance of an Army’s suffering such uncommon hardships as ours have done, and bearing them with the same patience and Fortitude. To see Men without Cloathes to cover their nakedness, without Blankets to lay on, without Shoes, by which their Marches might be traced by the Blood from their feet, and almost as often without Provisions as with ; Marching through frost and Snow, at Christmas taking up their Winter Quarters within a day’s March of the enemy, without a House or Hutt to cover them till they could be built and submitting to it without a murmur, is a mark of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be parallel’d.”
Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington pp 291-292
Washington repeatedly wrote to members of Congress to provide more funding to feed and clothe the army, all to no avail. This was exasperated due to local hesitancy by farmers and merchants to extend credit for food and supplies to a struggling republic that could not guarantee payment. This lack of support was also compounded by the fact that only one third of the American population supported the war. One third remained loyal to England, while the other third could care less who governed the colonies. They chose to be left alone as long as their rich life-style remained untouched. There call went out across the colonies for assistance which was heard by the Native Americans in upper New York who continued to aid the American cause.
Oneida Offer Assistance Sending a Party of Warriors to Valley Forge
A committee of Congress visited Valley Forge on January 29, 1778. Washington suggested that he could use “two or three hundred Indians against General Howe’s army the ensuing campaign.” Also, that month Congress approved a plan to have another go at Canada. They selected General Marquis de Lafayette to lead the American forces in what eventually proved to be a travesty. Lafayette arrived in Albany on February 17th, and soon after discovered he had little or no troops at his disposal for such a foolhardy endeavor. The enterprise was called off, however, while at Albany, he met with General Schuyler and decided to attend a meeting of the Oneida warriors. He met with the chiefs and put forward’s Washington’s desire to arrange for a large party of Oneidas to aid him at Valley Forge.
On March 4, 1778, Congress gave Washington the green light to seek “a body of Indians, not exceeding four hundred…” Washington wrote on March 13, to the Commissioners of Indian Affairs at Albany, seeking to obtain a body of Oneida to aid his upcoming campaign against the British. “I think they may be made of excellent use, as scouts and light troops, mixed with our own parties… The Oneidas have manifested the strongest attachment to us… If the Indians can be procured, I would choose to have them here by the opening of the campaign…” Lafayette ordered his Aide de Camp and artillery commander, Lt. Colonel Anne-Louis de Tousard to arrange a contingency of Oneida to join the army outside Philadelphia. On April 2nd, Tousard wrote to Colonel Marinus Willett, commander at Fort Stanwix, (renamed Fort Schuyler) that a number of Oneida were willing to follow Lafayette. On April 29th, Tousard departed Fort Stanwix, arriving at Valley Forge on or around May 13th.
Oneida and Polly Cooper Bring White Corn to American Soldiers
Oneida tribal historian Loretta Metoxen wrote that “Chief Skenadoah [Oskanondohna – meaning the deer] was an unwavering friend to the Americans. He believed in the cause of the colonist and warned his white neighbors of British invaders.” Upon arriving, the warriors were divided between the intelligence gathering units that probed the British lines and countered British foraging parties. They were used as scouts and vital to raiding parties that passed enemy lines to create havoc and capture prisoners. But so too, according to Metoxen, “It was he [Chief Shenadoah] and his Oneidas who saved Washington’s starving army at Valley Forge by bringing them several hundred bushels of corn.” The amount of corn the war party brought to the American army varied; some accounts were as high as six hundred. This was related to later Oneida relatives by those who lived during the time and described what has since become a legend. It can be rightfully argued that the Oneida did not save the American Army from starvation. Several hundred baskets of corn at seventy pounds per basket is considerable, but would do little to help stave off any malnourishment the American army suffered. Yet it would help.
Some historians doubt the war party brought food, pointing that the Oneida had ‘carried’ baskets of corn. At seventy pounds per basket, it would be an impossible feat to lug that much corn on one’s back the nearly three hundred miles from Fort Stanwix to outside Philadelphia. This argument is ripe with bias towards Native Americans that assumes a culture and standard of living as primitive. By 1778, the Oneida had become successful agriculturalists and traders. They adopted European influences and assumed standard farming techniques; many having run successful farms similar to if not better than the mainly Palatine German settlers throughout the Mohawk valley. If they were to transport food south, they would not lug the baskets over their shoulders. They would do so as they and their white neighbors did each day on their farms; they would hitch up teams of horses and wagon the corn. The summer of 1777 provided a bountiful harvest and by early spring, there was still an excess of white corn that could be shared.
Polly Cooper’s Role
Firsthand verbal accounts, which have been recorded by Oneida historians, detailed Polly Cooper and the Oneida’s Nation’s role during the American Revolution. William Honyost Rockwell (1870-1960), an Oneida leader and descendant of Polly Cooper, heard the stories as a boy and later, from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, had written them down. His unpublished Rockwell Papers are owned by the Oneida Indian Nation. He wrote “George Washington is called the father of this country; an Indian woman of the Oneida Nation should be called the mother of this country. Her name was Polly Cooper. She cooked for George Washington and his staff of officers when they were located in Philadelphia.
The following is taken from the Oneida Nation web site. The corn which Polly and her companions brought from the Mohawk Valley was white corn. It was quite different from the yellow version that was simply prepared by most colonists. The variety of white corn grown by the Oneida people required extended preparation before it could be eaten. But legend has it that the American soldiers were so desperate for food, that when Polly Cooper and her fellow Oneidas arrived, the soldiers tried to eat the corn uncooked. The Oneidas stopped the soldiers, knowing that if they ate the raw corn, it would swell up in their stomachs and cause harm, even death. Polly taught the soldiers the preparation process and the lengthy cooking time the corn needed to be ready for human consumption. Upon seeing the many needs of the army, Polly decided not to accompany the warriors when they departed for their homeland the following month. She remained to help nurse the sick and to pass on her knowledge of medicinal plants and foods. Most importantly, she showed the soldiers and their wives how to make soup from hulled corn that was very nutritious, and an essential part of the Oneida diet.
The Shawl as Evidence of Polly’s Selfless Dedication
Accordingly, for all her services, Polly refused pay, stating that it was her duty to help her friends in their time of need. Eventually, in exchange for money, she accepted a shawl and bonnet. How she obtained the shawl has been the subject of debate. From those with a living memory of the Revolution, which was handed down and recorded by Polly’s descendent William Rockwell, comes his following account:
So the wives of the officers invited Polly Cooper to take a walk downtown with them. As they were looking in the store windows, Polly saw a black shawl on display that she thought was the best article. When the women returned to their homes, they told their husbands what Polly saw that she liked so well. Money was appropriated by Congress for the purpose of the shawl, and it was given to Polly Cooper for her services as a cook for the officers of the continental Army. The shawl is still owned by members of the Oneida Nation, descendants of Polly Cooper.
This is considered the most reliable source of the shawl. A similar account adds that the officer’s wives sought the purchase price from their husbands. Afterwards, they returned and bought the shawl, presenting it to a surprised and grateful Polly. Rockwell went on to write:
It [the shawl] 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 William Rockwell
One account has Martha Washington purchasing the shawl while in Philadelphia and presenting it to Polly as a token for her services. This account is not shared on the Oneida’s official website, questioning its historical connection to firsthand verbal accounts. Martha could not have purchased the shawl to give to Polly or accompanied her to Philadelphia to choose the shawl as she departed Valley Forge for Virginia on June 8, 1778. The British did not evacuate Philadelphia until June 18th. Rockwell, who recorded the Oneida verbal history, specifically wrote that it was the ‘officer’s wives’ (no specific mention of Martha) who were with Polly when she saw the shawl in Philadelphia. They requested of their husbands that the shawl be purchased for Polly. The purchase and presentation of the shawl could have occurred after the British had departed. Also, there is no exact date when the shawl was acquired. In another account, this was done so after the war.
The Shawl Handed Down Over Generations
Presently, the shawl is one of the oldest relics of the Oneida people; a symbol of friendship between the Oneida Nation and America. It has been handed down and cared for by successive descendants of Polly Cooper and is in near perfect condition. Occasionally, it is displayed by the Oneida Native American Nation at the Shakowi Cultural Center, 5 Territory Rd., Oneida, New York. In 2005, the Oneida County Historical Society formally recognized Polly Cooper’s contribution to the American cause during the Revolutionary War by inducting her into its Hall of Fame. She joined Oneida Chief Skenandoah, who was inducted in 2002. The Polly Cooper Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is located in Chappaqua, New York.
Bronze Statue at the Smithsonian Museum
In 2004, the Oneida Indian Nation commissioned a bronze statue by sculptor Edward Hlavka to share the oral tradition of Polly Cooper. The twenty-two-foot tall, 2,200 pound monument was gifted to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and is displayed on the entire fourth floor which has been set aside for the Oneida Nation. The statue depicts George Washington, Polly Cooper, and Chief Oskanondohna as it commemorates the bonds between the Oneida Nation and the United States. With the Oneida Indian Nation’s continued support, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian recently installed a new, interpretive surround experience to the extraordinary “Allies in War, Partners in Peace” bronze sculpture exhibit that honors the friendship forged between the Oneida Indian Nation and the United States during the American Revolution. The new surround experience enhances the storytelling of the historic alliance with light, sound and projected imagery in an imaginative display that will provide greater context of the two nations’ relationship for museum visitors.
Stereotypes and Bias Assumptions Dismiss Native American Primary Sources
To date, non-Native written sources neither confirm nor deny the Polly Cooper story. However, we do know that an Oneida woman called Polly Cooper by English speakers was alive during the Revolution and did serve again as a cook in the American cause during the War of 1812. The key is the use of ‘non-written’ sources to confirm or deny Polly’s achievements during the American Revolution. Verbal primary sources were how Native Americans, and much of man’s early history for that matter, communicated their history prior to the written language. Polly’s contribution was confirmed, not by the written hand of European settlers to America, but by the Oneida themselves. They are the primary sources who branded their history through the word of mouth, passed onto each generation until taken up by later Native American chiefs and tribal members who then wrote it down. Some historians state that these chiefs would be secondary sources; however, by penning what they heard from those who had communicated directly with the earlier primary sources prior to their death, those who lived during the time in question, is just as viable as if the original source etched their written history on a parchment. It was the Native American culture. It remains the Native American culture. Casting aside this rich Native American Heritage that had been passed down verbally over the years, solely because it wasn’t written down at the time by a white colonist, does a great disservice to all Native Americans and taints any historian’s conclusions and opinions.
Over the years, scholars have fallen prey to stereotypes and bias assumptions when it comes to Native American portrayal of history. Oral accounts handed down by Native Americans who lived through the period and related the people and circumstances are dismissed as ‘legends’, or ‘traditions’, rather than fact, to be tossed on the scrap heap of folk tales and myths. Howard Zinn, author of the People’s Histories books, wrote:
Once, historians looked only at society’s upper crust: the leaders and others who made the headlines and whose words and deeds survived as historical truth. The history of men and women of all classes, colors, and cultures reveals an astonishing degree of struggle and independent political action. Everyday people played complicated historical roles. Sometimes their accomplishments left tangible traces; other times, the traces are invisible but no less real.
Howard Zinn
Zinn continues that in our lifetime, this has begun to change. However, a quick search on the internet or among some non-fiction texts reveals countless examples which show that this change is slow in coming.
Common Arguments that Question Polly Cooper’s Contribution to the American Cause
As for Polly Cooper, these stereotypes and bias are present in some internet articles that conclude Polly was a ‘legend’ or a ‘tradition’. They typically fail to accept Oneida primary sources while making assumptions without all the facts. Here are some of the more common, questionable conclusions that doubt the Oneida Native version as to aiding the Americans at Valley Forge.
- “The Oneida showed up in May when the food shortage had passed.” Incredible that somehow, the growing season of 1778 went from planting seeds to harvesting crops, all within a few short weeks; providing a malnourished army with an abundance of food. This of course was not the case. As we can imagine, early spring did not automatically mean that food had already been produced in the fields and was available to the soldiers of Washington’s army. The growing season had only just begun. A study of colonial life indicates the exact opposite. By spring, much of the winter reserves had been depleted, leaving many families to scramble until the growing season replenished their needs. Also, Congress continued to be bankrupt as far as properly supplying the army’s requirements and local farmers continued to deny credit to a struggling new nation.
- “Legends have survived among the Oneidas about those sent to Valley Forge.” And: “No known primary-source documents mention the Indians bringing food with them.” And even: Part of the tradition states that an Oneida woman named Polly Cooper taught the men to properly cook corn.” Part of the tradition. Legends. No primary source. Whenever verbal history has been passed on by non-written cultures, that which was practiced among many of the Native American tribes, these verbal histories are immediately considered ‘legends’ or ‘traditions’ and therefore shrouded in doubt.
- A bushel of corn weighs seventy pounds. No way fifty Oneida warriors could carry that much corn from Northern New York to Philadelphia. And – tradition claims they brought 600 bushels of corn, amounting to twelve bushels or approximately 672 pounds per man. Wow; talk of stereotype. Fact – the Oneida of the Mohawk Valley, New York, were not primitive. By 1778 they were accomplished agronomists, owning thriving and productive farms on par with and using all the same agricultural techniques as their fellow European settlers. As such, like their white counterparts, they weren’t about to lug the corn almost three hundred miles on their backs. As any European colonist, they would have hitched up their team of horses and loaded the corn on wagons.
- The Oneidas had taught the soldiers how to prepare dry corn, but corn was already familiar to the soldiers. True, corn was familiar to the soldiers. But by 1778, at 100 shillings a bushel, that was five pounds sterling, a year’s wages for some of the teenagers totting a musket for the American cause, it was something few soldiers had experiences preparing let alone eating. It was a delicacy. The Native Americans introduced the many and varied ways to prepare corn properly. Check out the article this writer posted entitled Cultivating Corn During the American Colonial Period. It would be natural for Oneida to have an interest in sharing with their allies some of these nutritional methods of preparing the corn properly.
- As to Martha purchasing the shawl for Polly after a visit to Philadelphia. Facts argue against the truth of Polly Cooper’s tradition: Martha left for Virginia on June 8, 1778, and the British did not evacuate Philadelphia until June 18.” One of those ‘gotcha’ moments, right? Wrong! Checking out the Oneida Nation’s Cultural Website, and you will see no mention of Martha Washington accompanying Polly to select the shawl. Only that Polly accompanied some of the officers’ wives who later, requested their husbands query Congress for the funds to purchase the shawl for Polly as a token for their gratitude. The trip to Philadelphia could have occurred any time after the British left. So too the purchase of the shawl, which may have happened anytime, even after the war ended.
All things considered, arguments that question Polly’s legitimate place in history pull up short by falling prey to assumptions, stereotypes, and denying the cultural history of the Native American primary sources. It is why the Federal Government ignored such arguments and dedicated an entire floor of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian to the Oneida Nation’s contribution to the American cause.
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SOURCES
Boyle, Joseph Lee. “Native Americans at Valley Forge” Nov. 10, 2020: All Things Liberty
Dwyer, Helen and Stone, Amy M. Oneida History and Culture. 2013: Gareth Publishing, New York, NY.
Fitzpatrick, John C. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799. Volume 11 March 1, 1778 -May 31, 1778. 1934: United States Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Glatthaar, Joseph & Martin, James Kirby. Forgotten Allies, The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution. 2006: Hill and Wang Publishers, New York, NY.
McLester, Gordon & Torres, Elizabeth. The Oneida. 2001: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publisher, New York, NY.
“The Oneidas and Polly Cooper” 2014: King of Prussia Historical Society
“Oneida Woman Who Saved Washington’s Army” 2012: History of American Women.
“The Polly Cooper Shawl or How One Bit of Research for One Meme Morphed Into a Second Meme” History is Elementary
“The Polly Cooper Shawl: Testimony to a Pact of the Revolutionary War” Oneida Indian Nation.
Raphael, Ray. A People’s History of the American Revolution. How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence. 2001: The New Press, New York, NY.
Sawyer, William. “The Oneida Nation in the American Revolution” Fort Stanwix National Monument
Wonderley, Anthony. Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth, and History. New York Oral Narrative from the Notes of H. E. Allen and Others. 2004: Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY.