Beaded bandolier or sash
Maker: Belonged to Seth Newhouse, Onondaga (Haudenosaunee/Iroquois)
Medium:Cloth, glass beads, metal button
Geography: Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, Canada
Date: late 19th century
Dimensions:14 × 1.5 × 140 cm
Object number: 960.3
DescriptionBandolier or sash with bead embroidered inscription "Joseph Brant Sachem of the Six Nations." Worn by Seth Newhouse, Onondaga, Six Nations.
Seth Newhouse (1842 – 1921), an Onondaga from Six Nations, produced the first written version of The Great Law of the League of the Iroquois in the 1880s. His version was not accepted by the Council of Chiefs, who turned to their own committee to codify the laws and customs of the League.
In Canada, Joseph Brant (1742 – 1807) is remembered as the Mohawk military leader who sided with the British in the American War of Independence (1776 – 1783). Following the British defeat, Brant led Loyalists and his followers to Canada where they had been granted land, a small portion of which became the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in 1841. Brant’s memory is honoured in the sash worn by Seth Newhouse in 1889.
