Bushy Run Battlefield in Penn Township is using its upcoming reenactment as an opportunity to right a wrong — giving a more culturally appropriate name to a hill on its 218-acre property.
The reenactment, slated for Saturday and Sunday, is a staple event in the township. It portrays a 1763 clash that took place at the historical site between the British and Native Americans during Pontiac’s War.
Reenactors perform living history demonstrations, showcase the events of the battle and educate the community on its past.
But when Leon Sam Briggs, adviser of Bushy Run’s Native American portrayals, suggested the historical site rename one of its hills, museum manager Matt Adams wanted to make it part of the reenactment weekend.
The hill, behind Bushy Run’s museum, is informally called Iroquois Hill, Adams said. The term is meant to refer to the Indigenous people who participated in the battle — the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca nations.
But the term has taken on several negative connotations over time, said Briggs, who has worked with Bushy Run for about three years.
“It’s not a good term. It means ‘lower than a snake’s belly,’ ” said Briggs, a Tonawanda Seneca man from New York. “It’s derogatory, and the governments used ‘Iroquois’ a lot — and anthropologists and archaeologists.
“We’ve never used it. We don’t use it, and Bushy Run is one of the historical sites that’s stepping forward and setting a precedent in correcting this wrongdoing.”
Adams said Bushy Run will host a rededication ceremony at 11 a.m. Aug. 2 to officially announce the new name: Haudenosaunee Hill.
The term “Haudenosaunee,” means “people of the longhouse,” Briggs said. It refers to the long, narrow homes the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca people traditionally lived in with their extended families.
“It’s just one small way to kind of draw attention to the fact that those folks were here during the battle and they’re still here in the 21st century,” Adams said. “It’s not a ‘past tense culture,’ necessarily.”
Trump reignites decades-old sports team name debate
The change will come about two weeks after President Donald Trump urged the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians to restore their former team names — the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, respectively.
Trump threatened to hold up a new stadium deal for the Commanders if they do not comply.
In Briggs’ eye, not all Native American-inspired sports team names are inherently offensive. The Kansas City Chiefs’ mascot, for example, indicates a leadership position with a positive connotation, he said.
But Briggs does not see Washington and Cleveland’s former names the same way. The term “redskin” is often controversial and offensive among the Native American community, he said. And while the term “Indians” is not as harmful, the logo and game time traditions that came with it were cause for concern, he said.
“(The name) wasn’t as offensive as the Chief Wahoo (logo) and the songs and the chants and the tomahawk chops that go along with it,” Briggs said. “That mascot part, that caused more of a problem than what the name was.”
Briggs doubts Washington and Cleveland would go through the time and expense of changing their names back.
Columbus statue lawsuit continues
A similar debate is unfolding in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park, as a legal battle surrounding the fate of the Christopher Columbus statue approaches its fifth year.
The statue, at the corner of Frew Street Extension and Schenley Drive, was wrapped in plastic in October 2020 to protect it from being defaced. Then-Mayor Bill Peduto and the city’s art commission sought to remove it amid concerns that it honored a man who mistreated native inhabitants of the New World that he’s credited with “discovering.”
The Italian Sons and Daughters of America filed a lawsuit to keep the statue in the park, arguing Columbus is an uplifting symbol of their heritage and immigration.
An Allegheny County judge attempted to throw out the complaint in 2022. A 2024 Commonwealth Court ruling sent the matter back to Allegheny County Judge John T. McVay.
But as most of the plastic has been stripped away by weather, the lawsuit continues to meander through the court system. No formal proceedings have been scheduled.
Briggs prefers the style of solution Bushy Run has reached with its “Iroquois Hill.”
“A lot of people, they go around and they’re tearing down statues and everything else,” he said.
“What we’re doing here is we’re continuing that story and correcting some of the language and correcting some of the story so everything is more historically accurate — less offensive to us by the language that’s being used.”
