The Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783)

Fish Carrier

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Fish Carrier or "Ojageght," which translates to English as "he is carrying a fish by the forehead strap," was an Iroquois chief of the Cayuga people. He supported the British during the American Revolution, participating in the Battle of Wyoming in 1778 and the Battle of Newtown in 1779. While a small group of Oneida led by Han Yost Thahoswagwat supported the Americans during the Sullivan Expedition, this was not the case for the Cayuga whose villages were destroyed in September 1779. The Cayuga fled to Fort Niagara and the following spring moved to Buffalo Creek. Fish Carrier participated in a number of raids in 1780 including the August 1780 raid on the Canajoharie district led by Joseph Brant. Fifty-three houses were burned as well as barns, a gristmill, a church, and two small forts. Most of the Cayuga, including Fish Carrier, remained at Buffalo Creek after the war, while a few hundred settled on the Grand River on land granted to the Iroquois in 1784 by Frederick Haldimand, Governor of the Province of Quebec. Fish Carrier worked to reduce tensions between the Senecas and the Onedias who had supported British and American forces respectively.

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