Deskaheh

AKA: Levi General
In Exile
Full name:Levi General
Date of birth:1873
Date of death:25. 06. 1925
Age:52† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:Native American
Era:1920s
State:New York
Time in Exile:
9 Months 10 Days
Support
Indigenous Sovereignty
Deskaheh

Biography

Levi General, known by his hereditary title Deskaheh, was a Cayuga chief and Speaker of the Six Nations Hereditary Council. In 1923 he traveled to the League of Nations in Geneva to assert Haudenosaunee sovereignty against Canada's imposition of an elected band council. While he was abroad the RCMP dissolved the traditional council; fearing arrest, he never returned to Canada and died in 1925 in exile at the Tuscarora Reservation in New York, in the home of fellow activist Chief Clinton Rickard.

Note: Death also reported as June 27, 1925; no reliable exact birth month/day is established (birth year 1873).

Case

Charges: No criminal charges — fled into exile fearing arrest (1923 Six Nations sovereignty campaign)
In exile since: Sep 17, 1924
Exile ended: Jun 27, 1925
Convicted: Died in exile at the Tuscarora Reservation, New York, in 1925, never returning home

Related Cases

Clinton Rickard Clinton Rickard Harry Eisman Harry Eisman William Shifrin William Shifrin Max Shachtman Max Shachtman