Tadadaho

Tadodaho was a Native American and sachem of the Onondaga nation before the Deganawidah and Hiawatha formed the Iroquois League. According to oral tradition, he had extraordinary characteristics and was widely feared, but he was persuaded to support the confederacy of the Five Nations.

His name has since been used as the term, Tadodaho, to refer to the chief chosen to preside over the Grand Council of the Iroquois League. By tradition, as the Onondaga are the "keepers of the council fire", the chief is chosen from that nation. The position is the most influential Iroquois chief in New York State, where the Six Nations confederacy historically had the most influence. This meaning of the term has been used for centuries.

Tadodaho was said to be a warrior and primary chief of the Onondaga people. Depending on the speaker's dialect and the writer's orthography, other versions of the name include Adodarhoh, Atartaho, Atotarho, Tatotarho, Thatotarho, and Watatohtahro. In the 1883 work The Iroquois Book of Rites, edited by Horatio Hale, the term Atartaho is said to signify "entangled". In 1888, J. N. B. Hewitt recounted an Iroquois tale which refers to Tadodaho as a "misshapen monster". Jean Houston and Margaret Rubin write in Manual for the Peacemaker that Tadodaho had "matted and spiky hair", and that this visage lent itself to legends that he had snakes in his hair. He is said to have had a "twisted body" and could kill his enemies from a distance without seeing them. Tadodaho ruled with fear, and his people believed him to be a sorcerer. He scared his own people and threatened other peoples, including the Seneca and Cayuga nations. Tadodaho successfully led his Onondaga in raids against the nearby Cayuga people and traveled west, and attacked the Seneca people.

Peace among the nations of the Haudenosaunee was delayed due to fear of Tadodaho.Deganawidah, of the Mohawk people, and Hiawatha, of the Onondaga, desired peace among the Haudenosaunee peoples. According to legend, all the chiefs were persuaded except for Tadodaho, who was seen as a hindrance to the Great Law of Peace; he quashed three attempts by Hiawatha to initiate peace discussions among the nations. Hiawatha's daughter died after Tadodaho broke Hiawatha's first attempt to bring together a council, and Hiawatha's second daughter died after Tadodaho foiled the second council. Hiawatha's daughters' deaths were ascribed to Tadodaho's powers. Hiawatha's third daughter died at the council fire of the third meeting, while Tadodaho was present.

...
Wikipedia