Ga-on-do-wau-na (died 1841) (Big Tree), known as Captain Pollard among other variants, was a leader of the Seneca people.

Pollard's father was an English trader, whose headquarters appear to have been at Fort Niagara, and his mother was Seneca. His stepmother was Catherine Montour. As a young man, he participated in the American Revolutionary War and was present at the Battle of Wyoming.[1][2] He converted to Christianity as a result of the Seneca mission.[2][1]

Pollard was selected by the Seneca as a war captain at the beginning of the War of 1812,[2] and was commissioned as a lieutenant in July 1813.[3] Some sources place him at the Battle of Chippawa.[4] He was a signatory of the Treaty of Big Tree;[1] Thomas Morris gave him an annuity around the time the treaty was signed, presumably as inducement.[5] He died on April 10, 1841, and was buried in the mission cemetery at Buffalo Creek Reservation.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Samson, W. H. (1892). "The Treaty of Big Tree". Annual Meeting of the Livingston County Historical Society. pp. 13–14.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ a b c d Donaldson, Thomas (1886). "The George Catlin Indian Gallery". Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Part II. Washington, DC: United States Government Publishing Office. p. 163.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ Benn 1998, p. 130.
  4. ^ Johnson 1876, p. 232.
  5. ^ Hauptman 1999, p. 92.

Sources

edit