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Wally Firkins's avatar

Thank you Tara. The assistance received by the American troops by the Oneidas including Polly Cooper during their struggles at Valley Forge may well have been the assistance that made our survival that winter success rather than disaster. Your posts are so informative and daily provide information that most won't hear anywhere else.

We obviously owe much to the Oneidas and Reverend Kirkland.

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Jack Miller's avatar

We should remember the Good, bad and ugly. The latter two so we don't repeat them.

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Jane Bischof's avatar

Thank you Dr. Ross for this story reminding us that we are all "human" and in need of the same necessities. May each of us be inspired to help our fellow man. May God continue to Bless America 🇺🇸 ❤️

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James M Airesman's avatar

Thank you, Tara.

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Dan's avatar

👍👍👍

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Samuel Vanderburg's avatar

The bad part of history has an important role in which we must what can happen in the affairs of humans. That helps us to plan for it not reoccurring. Polly Cooper was certainly an angel of mercy to the Continentals at Valley Forge as were the Oneidas of her day. If one studies the history of how the British stirred the Indians up to attack the Americans, one understands how such a strong hatred developed in many areas for those tribes. It added to the general opinion of the Indians and the treatment they received was not for the most part undeserved. However, their traditions and culture of war hurt the Indians in the long run.

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Mark E Johnson's avatar

Yes, by all means, remember and balance our history, whether good or bad so we may learn from it and use that education to make a better future. Thanks again, Tara!

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Charles Baesler's avatar

A heartfelt reply to the Oneida Tribe -Many thanks to your Tribes assistance to our soldiers at Valley Forge so many years ago. Special thanks to the descendants of Polly Cooper. Glad you still have her gifted Shawl !

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Bob Hall's avatar

Never heard of this before thanks.The Six Nation Confederacy was falling apart by the time of The Revolution or the Oneida help probably would never have happened.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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David Palmer's avatar

Tara, Thank you, once again, for filling in my knowledge of events of the time!

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Steve Foe's avatar

Wonderful story

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COPTERJOCK70's avatar

Again it's Karma IMHO. Kindness, respect, etc .. so many times .. result in goodness coming full circle.

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Bruce Barlond's avatar

Great story of the Oneida’s helping the Founders cause!

Thank you Tara!!

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Harleene Bebout's avatar

Washington received assistance from the French at the end and the Indians as so stated at Valley Forge. Lucky for our outcome against the British. The Indians may have regretted their decision.

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DrPeters's avatar

My perspective after reading this essay and some of the comments below. This of course is a bright spot and great interest story. Clearly it was an immeasurable help to GW and the troops. I have studied the American Experience. I highly recommend two books: Undaunted Courage re Lewis and Clark; and Killing Crazy Horse. These two books set the standard for the good, bad and ugly as noted below. We went from a passive to aggressive approach on all interactions with Native Americans. None of it was pretty---from both sides. As a child I grew up thinking the good guys rode white horses, white hats and were always on the side of good. Not always so. In fact, more often than not the good guys rode bareback and had feathers in their hair. I invite you all to read these. An accurate, unvarnished NOT politically correct but rather an accurate historical assessment with extensive supporting documentation.

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Charlie Kendall's avatar

Always important to learn history in its context. The interactions between the colonists and the Indians were a result of human relations. There were bad actors on either side but there were also attempts at diplomacy on the part of either side as each side attempted to protect their interests.

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