A Longhouse Fragmented: Ohio Iroquois Autonomy in the Nineteenth Century by Brian Joseph Gilley

Abstract

Brian Joseph Gilley’s A Longhouse Fragmented is a study of the Iroquois movements from their ancestral home, called the “Six Nations” in New York State, to Ohio where they became the Seneca of Sandusky, through migration to their eventual home in Oklahoma where they became the Seneca-Cayuga of Oklahoma. An ancillary theme of this text is an effort to establish that the Seneca-Cayuga were true Iroquois and not a fragmented assimilated people. Gilley disagrees with the conclusions of most Iroquois scholars on this topic, who say, “Those Western people are not Iroquois as we think of the Six Nations. They have kinship, a longhouse, but they’re not actually Iroquois.” Gilley’s thesis is that they are true Iroquois just like the people of the Six Nations because of their contiguous customs and traditions. He further believes that, tragically, these Western people are ignored by Iroquois scholars.