Description
Mohawks on the Nile: Natives Among the Canadian Voyageurs in Egypt, 1884-1885 is a welcome addition to the accessible historical literature about the Iroquois especially the Mohawk communities of Akwesasne, Kahnawake, and Kanehsatake. Historian Carl Benn provides a highly readable account of the contributions made by about sixty men from these three Mohawk communities and volunteered for British contingent during the relief of Khartoum in 1884. These men excelled as river pilots in the Ottawa timber trade and their skills equipped them to participate with the Canadian Voyageur Contingent in the Sudan war. Two rarely accessed resources are included in this volume: Our Caughnawagas in Egypt written in 1885 by Louis Jackson of Kahnawake; and The Canadian Voyageurs in Egypt by James Deer. The book includes Benn's analysis of this historical expedition as well as an annotated list of the Mohawk men who served the British Crown in 1884 and 1885. The book contains numerous historical photographs, maps, a chronology, index, and bibliography. This is an important contribution to the literature about the Six Nations military effort as allies of the British.