Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Cornplanter

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CORNPLANTER, or GARYAN-WAH-GAH, Seneca chief, b. in Conewaugus, on Genesee river, in 1732; d. at the Seneca reservation, Pa., 17 Feb., 1836. He was a half-breed, the son of John O'Bail, an Indian trader, and first became known as the leader of a war-party of Senecas, in alliance with the French against the English. He was present at Braddock's defeat, and at the period of the revolution was one of those who spread destruction over the frontier settlements in New York and the valley of Wyoming. During the war he was an inveterate foe of the Americans, but at a subsequent period he manifested toward them a sincere friendship. He and Red Jacket were for many years the chief counsellors and protectors of their people. He made great efforts to eradicate intemperance from his nation, and was the first temperance lecturer in the United States. In his later years he cultivated a farm on Alleghany river.

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