Wampum, Its Fascinating History and Significance | SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON | JOSEPH BRANT| F&I WARS |

Join us for a historic exploration at Sir William Johnson’s Hall in Northern New York State, where the past comes alive with the stories and legacies that shaped the region during the French and Indian Wars. In this captivating episode, we accompany Brian McCormack, a reenactor with deep ancestral ties to the area, as he returns to this significant site. Sir William Johnson’s strategic alliances with the Mohawk and other Native tribes were crucial in swaying the direction of these colonial conflicts, and Brian shares his personal connection and reverence for this site, describing it as akin to "coming home."
Our journey through Sir William Johnson's Hall reveals not just the architecture of a fortified home but also the profound cultural interactions it hosted. We delve into the symbolism and importance of wampum belts with Scott Reed, an artisan and historian who brings these intricate pieces to life. These belts, particularly the two-row wampum, symbolized attempts at coexistence and peace between the European settlers and Native tribes. This episode is not only a tour of a historical landmark but also an educational experience, providing insights into the complex relationships and diplomatic negotiations that took place right on these grounds. Join us as we uncover the stories woven into the wampum belts and the significant roles they played in negotiations, all under the watchful eye of one of America's once richest and most influential figures.
Whether you're a history enthusiast, a craftsmanship admirer, or curious about historical reenactments, this video is a must-watch!
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📺 Featuring: Peter Kelly
🎥 Cinematography, Production & Editing: Catherine Wolfe
🎵 Music Courtesy Of: Richard Fortier and Al MacDonald
Thumbnail and description: Shane Kelly
Brian McCormack, Facebook, Wolves of the English, Reenactment Group
Scott Reed, Wampum Keeper. The Brightening of the Covenant Chain
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#wampum #mohawk #AmericanHistory #ColonialHistory #EarlySettlers #HistoricalReenactment #LivingHistory #Homesteading #NewYorkHistory #FrenchAndIndianWar #RevolutionaryWar #HistoricSites #18thCentury #MilitaryHistory

[@deanjernstrom3760]

I believe I'm living in the wrong time period. Great way to bring us back in time. You certainly do get around in your travels. Much appreciated for another history lesson on behalf of you and your special guests. Thank Peter.

[@georgepeters9381]

May I suggest a good read; The Wampum Belt that deal with relations between the natives and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Old book, great read!

[@drunknnirish]

I live on the Ohio River and I firmly believe I was meant to be born in the late 18th century in this same location.

[@richardbonner2354]

​@@georgepeters9381Thank You Mister Peters, for the recommendation. I've always been..., well, proud to have heard that, Ol' Billy Penn o' Penn's Woods fame, got along very well with the Peoples that loved this Land before We Europeans -- mos'ly, in these parts -- showed up. The ol' book You cited may well tell of actual examples of the respect that the Chiefs and landed-Gentry showed One anOther. 🙂 Rick Bonner Pennsyltucky

[@keptleroymg6877]

Are you guys children. This is an ungrateful idea

[@krockpotbroccoli65]

None of you were born into the wrong era. You're right where you're supposed to be on the space time continum. It's just that this is not your first go around, and you particularly resonate with points in the past where your soul has traveled before.

[@MoePoe777]

That was a most interesting video. I've learned more history from The Woodland Escape than I did I did in my years past, and a lot of years have passed! This series is really enlightening and the personas of the living historians really make learning history exciting. The time to bead those belts is hard to imaging with a modern day bias. The bead work is not only beautiful but a significant communications method. Fascinating.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Flattering words my friend, thank you so much.

[@elwoodtaylor1092]

Wampum belts i didn't realize the meaning until now thanks Scott Brian and Peter and that is a wonderful fortified homestead of Sir William Johnson

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Very interesting history indeed.

[@joshuatichota5046]

Omgosh, I love seeing this stuff, it's part of my family background on my late mom's side of the family.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

I’m glad you enjoyed.

[@shoot2win506]

This was very interesting. Safe travels Mr. Pete....And enjoy Ron & Justine's wedding! Take care...Robin

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thanks for the safe travel wishes … the wedding was amazing.

[@jeffgrier8488]

Thanks for another fantastic video, it's an honor to tag along!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thanks again!

[@cookingprincess327]

Excellent video!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thank you very much!

[@mantistobogganmd6580]

On my fathers side I am descended from Magdalena Kanagaradunkwa, who was Molly Brant’s sister & Joseph Brant’s half sister. What is funny is I am also descended from a number of loyalists who fought under Johnson in the KRRNY. I hope one day to make the journey to that part of the continent to see this site. I love your channel btw, it is as cozy as Townsends. I recently bought myself a Pedersoli in the hopes of doing some muzzleloading. Keep up the good work by making outstanding content.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thank you so much. Be very careful with that black powder shooting it can get quite addictive, lol.

[@victortuten4399]

A true learning experience! I never realized the significance or the intricate work involved. OUTSTANDING job by everyone involved!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

It is still practiced to this day.

[@sheilam4964]

This is all new to me. My appreciation and gratitude goes out to all three of you. Thx guys for doing this, filming it and sharing it with us.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JanTrewhitt]

I enjoyed this program regarding these different designs of the Indians. Blessings.

[@jackcook8613]

Very interesting video, Peter. Thank you for the history lesson. A lot I didn't know about wampum belts.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@citomp1240]

I know a place named Mohawk in WV. It's close to the boarder of WV, VA, and KY.

[@richardofsylmar]

So very interesting. Thank you.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@marieleopold1625]

Dear Lord! A good deal of thought followed by a GREAT deal of intricate work! = YIKES! When you think how cheaply we identify things/people and continue to simplify...this 'kind of attention and time' is near unfathomable. I had no idea the history of these wampum belts...just fascinating! You set this vid up nicely Peter and Empress Catherine...I luved the roll-out at the end. I would have been a bit 'leery' of your offering to roll up the belts Peter...you had a strong eye on them! LOL! Sir William Johnson, had some wisdom to share; "He knows not his own strength who hath not met adversity." Health and blessings dear ones! :)

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

One of Williams best quotations. Scott’s work is absolutely incredible … talk of patience.

[@williamqueen8790]

Very interesting video, thanks so much.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@calebfoster552]

Fascinating

[@Mag_Aoidh]

Excellent Peter!

[@rickcooper6817]

Another wonderful adventure into our history, thank you Mr. Peter.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@johnclarke6647]

I am of TUSCARORA descent. My third great grandmother was Mary E. who married James E. Robinson RS- NC in 1775. James was actually a Robertson, a descendant of Rev. William ROBERTSON of Henrico County, VA.

[@smoothvern165]

This was so informative! I love hearing the people share their vast knowledge of history! Excellent video!

[@bobboyer9440]

Very interesting bit of history.

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

From Australia, this presentation was very impressive, thank you Peter, Brian and Scott.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@user-nf3jj3ie3v]

So proud to be a part of this. Wow. Fantastic video

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

You made it happen, Brian and I thank you for that.

[@stevenshanofski6801]

You guys are spoiling us with all these videos. It is appreciated!

[@johnovanic9560]

Thanks for another great video very educational

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Our pleasure!

[@springof-wf8vy]

Excellent presentation very well explained and informative thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us the viewers. Hello from Texas ❤

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

I’m pleased you found it informative.

[@vonsprague7913]

Beautiful and fascinating topic Peter, thanks to all involved. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you found it informative.

[@will76888]

Thanks so much for this fantastic video! More than just a "wee bit of history" today!! I need to read up on the Sir Wm. Johnson! Another great video from The Woodland Escape1 Thank you, Peter and presenters for an amazing history lesson!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Hope you enjoy it … fascinating history.

[@kellydietz6720]

So wonderful, 💗 thank you.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

I’m glad you think so Kelly … thanks for your continued interest.

[@rickgaston7118]

Merci’ for sharing this

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

My pleasure

[@ashleyanderson2859]

Appreciate your efforts and dedication. Very good presentation. It would have been interesting to hear about the aspect of wampum as currency in the early colonies and the treatment of the natives who produced the beads. Limited amount of time I understand. But a great subject. I hope to collect some shell at some point to produce some beads one day. Thanks again and keep your powder dry!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Great idea, another topic down the road. Watch yer top knot.

[@ianandresen2326]

Wow that was amazing! Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Our pleasure, my friend.

[@MelanieSawyerForager]

REALLY AWESOME JOB DONE! 👏👏👏 absolutely fantastic

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thank you so much 😀. You were the king pin. Yours it out this Friday. Cathy and I are camped on a beautiful lake in Indiana non route to Missouri.

[@TomCramer-xu8tx]

Very interesting,thank you!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it, Tom.

[@daveyjoweaver6282]

A Wonderful Wampum Video with Friends! Thank to All of You! I’ve made a few purple wampum beads and it a great deal of work just to make one! An entire belt took many days just to make beads so it was a Very Precious and Sacred and Important tool! In the 1740s Ben Franklin and others met with the Nations on a hill on the edge of Lancaster City. This is where the Indigenous Peoples gave the ideas of religious rights and individual freedom. Everyone else was subjects of the King of England, who wasn’t a popular person in the day. Used to being subjects the natural laws of the Indigenous were new and fresh and laws of the Creator. Thank You So Much and Many Blessings and keep your powder dry! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thanks for sharing Davey

[@regulatorscout6288]

Thank you for another great and informative video.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Our pleasure!

[@8626John]

Another fascinating dip into history. Thanks so much!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thanks for your continued interest.

[@rocklickranch2804]

Awesome awesome awesome! Thank you for the history lesson.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@robertshuffelen9172]

Wow, another awesome video Peter!!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thanks for watching.

[@gregwells8764]

just amazing , living History. that was riveting. Thank you

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@the18thcenturygardener57]

Very interesting & entertaining. Thank You.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed. Speaking of enjoying, the sour mash whiskey was grand!

[@jameshall5784]

I so love the history !! Not just the American history or the Canadian history but also the Native American history as well as all the cultural traditions!!! Thank you Peter

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

We agree! I particularly love the indigenous history.

[@lae52]

Another great video! That's one heck of a trip south. I always knew of wampum, but the meaning was beyond me. Thanks for another really great video.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@larryreese6146]

Thanks for the presentation.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Our pleasure!

[@rogerclyde2720]

So interesting, never knew any of this history. Well done.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thanks Roger.

[@rustedwrenchrestorationwor9779]

WOW!! excellent video. I will watch this one several times and share it with my fellow history buffs. This video could easily be shown in a museum.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing.

[@scottmcfarland2149]

I was born and raised all over New England. Very familiar with wampum. Very well done sir 👍🏻. 🐾🙏🏻✌🏻

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Many thanks

[@user-by4xk5kp1z]

Again very nice and interesting content 👍👍👍👍

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thank you so much 😀

[@lancehenderson7249]

Great video, Peter and Kathy. Never knew anything about wampum belts. Very interesting video. Beautiful beadwork. Back then, it would have taken a while to do. It's great to see the different fire starters. Thanks for the video. Keep your powder dry

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you enjoyed it … takes as long today, lol. Watch yer top knot.

[@unkolawdio]

Yes

[@lonehiker2287]

Scott is a very nice fellow.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

He is indeed.

[@pamtnman1515]

I have been to the Johnson fort many times. Bought the White Savage book there about Sir William Johnson

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

It is a wonderful historical treasure. Wasn’t open when we visited this time.

[@donnanorman340]

Is this going to be a norm, 2 per week🤞? Very interesting indeed.

[@mikafoxx2717]

Absolutely bonkers, they're nuts for taking on so much!

[@jtsterry]

❤❤😊😊

[@michastahl6303]

Very informative, great video. I have to admit I am very curious about the rifle he had slung over his shoulder at the beginning of the video. Definitely unique looking. Trade rifle maybe?

[@user-nf3jj3ie3v]

It is a cut down first model brown bess musketts. Smoothebore. Robert Rogers ordered his men to cut down there musketts to make them more versatile. And natives did the same.

[@michastahl6303]

@@user-nf3jj3ie3v thanks for the information. It’s absolutely awesome looking. It really caught my eye. Thanks again!!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Brian gave you a great reason for the short Bess.

[@bogtrottername7001]

I'm an artifact collector in NYS & have had several musket barrel pieces about a foot long which were obviously cut off to shorten weapons.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

@@bogtrottername7001 Great finds!

[@user-zy7ed9sc3g]

Digging up graves is a no no in my book

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

And mine!

[@MrHamiltonYoung]

Crown point is close! Come down to down to fort Ti some time

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Been and will certainly be again. You live in a beautiful area.

[@kellydiver]

You have such great videos. What are all those little circular pins you wear?

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Timely, Next Tuesday we are doing an episode on trade silver and it will be explained.

[@kellydiver]

@@TheWoodlandEscape I’m nearly 100% Scottish on both sides of my family, though we’ve been in what is now the U.S. since the 1600s. My grandma had several little silver pins similar to those, but they were heart-shaped - sort of like swooping hearts. She called them luck-in-boots, and she said they were a couple of hundred years old and they were like money to the Native Americans.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

@@kellydiver most likely trade silver.

[@fayesteeves9555]

Enjoy your yt videos 😊

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you like them!

[@57WillysCJ]

Glad you did this video. It's been a long time since I thought of the belts. One of the things I laugh about is people today low value of beads durring the time period. They seem to think the Dutch cheated by trading low value beads for land although it was really a value against trade goods. That said these were items they couldn't get but were simple to the Dutch. Back to the beads, lets compare their value to diamonds in todays market. Diamonds are expensive to buy from a jeweler even of small low value in the diamond market. There are millions of diamonds in silos in different areas of the world. 200 years from now people will know this universely and could say merchants are selling us beads for large amounts. Value is in the customers eyes, availability and the shrewdness of the seller. By the way the modern want for diamonds by women and by extension men started with a post WW2 project of the largest diamond seller going to high schools marketing to girls.

[@richardbonner2354]

Jeep! Ain' it a low-down, dirty shame; the thievin' mal-features seem to ALL ways focus their concerted, confounded efforts upon Our young Uns. And all too often, on purty young Gals whi' an eye for what glitters. The Truth WILL prevail. One day. And speakin' on "Natural Beauty"..., my my; what innate, nearly timeless value those purple shell-beads have! Thanks fer the close-up, WoodLan'! 🙂 Rick Bonner Pennsyltucky

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

I never thought of your idea, interesting… thanks for sharing.

[@alpetterson9452]

FASCINATING stuff. Thanks.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Glad you think so, appreciate your interest.

[@edwardkoonce3060]

WaDo!

[@Paulscottrock]

Wampum was many things. I think that it was how they kept records and how they sent messages. It is said that they were a very complex language. The Native American culture was maternal and it was a complex culture. Sadly, it’s mostly lost to the ages. This property, William Johnson’s estate, Johnson Manor, was built in the 1740s. Johnson was hired by his uncle,Peter Warren, an admiral in the kings navy, to oversee and populate his tract he got from the king. Johnson did so well that he bought this property across the Mohawk River and built this fort/ house. He became so close to the Mohawk chiefs, they adopted him and called him, “ Warraghiyagey- the man who undertakes great things. He traded with the Iroquois tribe and it made him rich. Warrensburg named for his uncle is the original claim across the river. William led several armies against the French and with zero education he out prevailed every time. He actually took ft Niagara after his commanding officer was killed. The Iroquois did participate on a limited basis. But they were always very cautious because they didn’t want to fight other tribes. Johnson spent the last 20 years or so of his life with the sister of Chief Brant.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

A fascinating man who played a pivotal role in win the continent from the French.

[@lusolad]

Painting with a broad brush. Different native folks in the east. Not all were matrilineal.

[@jhosk]

Scotty2Rows

[@lundysden6781]

did you get to see his real house to the east?

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

The one in the backdrop is Sir William Johnston Hall.

[@lundysden6781]

@@TheWoodlandEscape yes, I'm talking about Old Ft. Johnson from 1749.

[@joelevangie6498]

Too bad we can't ask Robert Rodgers what he thought of Sir William!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Wouldn’t that be grand!

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

Rogers being drunk or sober ?

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

@@ardshielcomplex8917 I’d take either opportunity.

[@ramrod2314]

So you are really at Sir William Johnson's house?? I have read were he had hundreds of Iroquois delegates on that very place! (Eckhart) That is really the spot? It wasn't moved or anything?

[@phrotojoe]

That is the correct house,I live 3 miles away,Lots of history here.

[@ramrod2314]

@@phrotojoe Thats fantastic. I really gotta get out more. Being in 🇨🇦 we paved over alot of our history 😄

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

It’s the real deal and over the years thousands of native counciled on the very ground.

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

@@TheWoodlandEscape Is it still used by the native Mohawk people, and/or others in the Iroqois federation ?

[@hhl31636]

That thing dangling from his nose detracts from the video. It is just rediculous.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Perhaps in our modern world, but in the era we portray it is both historically accurate and very commonly worn.

[@markmorse9445]

I wonder if there are any American Indian archeologists? So much is learned by digging up the past. Maybe if there were Amer. Indian archeologists learning from the past wouldn't be thought of being disrespectful. It's really understandable how people feel that their ancestors should be left in peace.

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

It is indeed!

[@cookingprincess327]

Excellent video!

[@TheWoodlandEscape]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@paulfrizzell31]

👍