A Mohawk Memoir from the War of 1812: John Norton - Teyoninhokarawen
Carl Benn
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division (October 15, 2018)
ISBN-13: 9781487523268

A Mohawk Memoir from the War of 1812 presents the story of John Norton, or Teyoninhokarawen, an important war chief and political figure among the Grand River Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) in Upper Canada. Norton saw more action during the conflict than almost anyone else, being present at the fall of Detroit, the capture of Fort Niagara, the battles of Queenston Heights, Fort George, Stoney Creek, Chippawa, and Lundy’s Lane, the blockades of Fort George and Fort Erie, as well as a large number of skirmishes and front-line patrols. His memoir describes the fighting, the stresses suffered by indigenous peoples, and the complex relationships between the Haudenosaunee and both their British allies and other First Nations communities.

Norton’s words, written in 1815 and 1816, provide nearly one-third of the book’s content, with the remainder consisting of Carl Benn’s introductions and annotations, which enable readers to understand Norton’s fascinating autobiography within its historical contexts. With the assistance of modern scholarship, A Mohawk Memoir presents an exceptional opportunity to explore the War of 1812 and native-newcomer issues through Teyoninhokarawen’s Mohawk perspectives from a period that produced few indigenous autobiographies, of which Norton’s is the most extensive, engaging, and reliable.

Review

"Native voices are seldom well preserved in the history of North America, and those that are tend to be in the form of speeches and other official statements that have passed through the mouths and hands of translators, clerks, and various Euro-American officials. By bringing John Norton’s story to a modern audience and by expertly putting Norton’s words and actions in the context of the ebb and flow of the fighting, Carl Benn has given students and other interested readers the opportunity to better understand the military, political, and social forces that motivated Norton and his brother warriors."
(Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Associate Director & Curator of Maps, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)

Author

Carl Benn is a professor in the Department of History at Ryerson University, and the author of Iroquois in the War of 1812, also published by University of Toronto Press.