John Norton (Mohawk chief)

Common card · No. 498803

John Norton or Teyoninhokarawen (born c. 1770, Scotland (?) – died c. 1827, Upper Canada (?)) was a Mohawk chief, Indian Department interpreter and a school master. He was adopted by the Mohawk at about age 30 at their major reserve in Canada. After deserting the British military in the late 18th century, he became a military leader of Haudenosaunee warriors in the War of 1812 on behalf of Great Britain against the United States. Commissioned as a major, he led warriors from the Six Nations of the Grand River into battle against American invaders at Queenston Heights, Stoney Creek, and Chippawa. Likely born and educated in Scotland, he had a Scottish mother and a Cherokee father. His father was born in Keowee circa 1740, and was saved by British soldiers when they burned the town during the Anglo-Cherokee War. They took him to England and placed him with an English family. As an adult with the baptized surname Norton, he married a Scottish woman, whom he had a son with. The junior John...

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