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The Erie Indian nation lived around the southern shores of the Lake that has been named for them. This is in the vicinity of present day Buffalo, New York ranging west to Sandusky, Ohio. Due to the fact that their contact with the white man was extremely limited, it is hard to know what sort of population the Erie had in pre European times. Estimates of around 10,000 appear to be most accurate, however.
The name Erie is a shortened form of Erielhonan, a word which means ‘long tail’ in the language of the Iroquois. This is in reference to the mountain lion which roamed the domain of these people. The Erie, in fact, spoke a derivation of the Iroquois language which was, apparently similar to that of the Huron.
The Erie managed to elude contact with the white man. Apart from one brief encounter, the French were not able to reach them. Neither were the Dutch or the Swedish, although they did hear about them from other tribes. Information about their culture and living conditions has, therefore been passed on to historians through second hand accounts from members of other tribes, most notably the Huron. From them we learn that the Erie lived in scattered villages which were stockaded for protection. Their homes were the traditional long house that could house several families. They were, like most of the surrounding tribes, farmers and hunters. The main crops were corn, beans and squash. Following the harvest they would embark on the winter hunt. During this time they would live in winter camps. Like many of the eastern tribes the Erie were the traditional enemies of the Iroquois. They were, apparently, fearsome warriors. They were renowned for using poison tips on their arrows.
Although the Erie did not have contact with the Europeans, they did obtain trade goods from the Susquehannock. The Susquehannock were, however, careful to make sure that the Erie were not able to get their hands on the prize European possession – the firearm. In order to satisfy their growing demand for European trade goods the Erie soon exhausted their local supplies of beaver, which they used to trade with other tribes for the white man’s wares. This led them to encroach on other tribes hunting areas and this, inevitably, led to warfare. About this time – that being the mid 1650’s – the Erie were also joined by a number of Huron refugees, fleeing from the decimation of their Confederation by the Iroquois. The Iroquois, however, demanded that the Erie give these Huron over to them. The Erie refused. A tense standoff lasted for nearly two years. It boiled over when all thirty Erie representatives at a peace conference were killed by the Iroquois. The battle was now on.
The Erie inflicted heavy losses on the Iroquois but, without the benefit of firearms, they were, ultimately destined to failure. The power of these people is seen though by the fact that it took the Iroquois two years and the assistance of the Seneca, Cayuga and Onandaga tribes to overcome the Erie.
So, by 1656 the Erie were a defeated people. Those that were not already dead were assimilated into the victorious tribes, most notably the Seneca. The Erie ceased to exist at this time as a separate people. However small groups of Erie were to survive for another twenty five years. The last group of Erie surrendered to the Iroquois in 1680.
Although there are stories of large groups of Indians who fled west to escape the Iroquois and there terrorised white settlers, it cannot be verified that these were remnants of the Erie. Once they were adopted into other tribes, the Erie as a people lost their identity. Many Indians of the Seneca, Susquehannock, Huron and even Iroquois tribes today, however, can trace their origins back to the Erie people.
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