Ossahinta, Onondaga Chief
Ossahinta, Head Chief of the Anondagas. Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major. The Onondaga Polka. 1852.
The Iroquois were a Native American people who roamed and hunted in the northeastern United States and Canada from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Six nations claimed Iroquois blood, among them the Onodagas who lived in upper New York State. The Head Chief of the Onondagas was Ossahinta, also known by the American adopted name, Captain Frost. Ossahinta became known throughout the Six Nations and New York State as a man of peace and integrity. Shortly before his death in 1846,
Ossahinta sat for portrait at age eighty-five. Several years later, a
reproduction of this painting was used on the cover page of the sheet music, "The Onondaga Polka", a dance composed by J.S. Jacobus.
Description: Lithograph by Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major, New York City.
Location: Cover of sheet music published by Firth, Ponds & Co., Franklin Square, New York City.
Source: Lester S. Levy. Picture the Songs: Lithographs from the Sheet Music of Nineteenth-Century America, p. 105.
