Date Published:

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Roundhead

[This text was originally published in 1907 by the Bureau of American Ethnology as part of its Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. It was later reproduced, in 1913, by the Geographic Board of Canada. The work done by the American Bureau was monumental, well informed and incorporated the most advanced scholarship available at the time. In many respects, the information is still useful today, although prudence should be exercised and the reader should consult some of the contemporary texts on the history and the anthropology of the North American Indians suggested in the bibliographic introduction to this section. The articles were not completely devoid of the paternalism and the prejudices prevalent at the time. While some of the terminology used would not pass the test of our "politically correct" era, most terms have been left unchanged by the editor. If a change in the original text has been effected it will be found between brackets [.] The original work contained long bibliographies that have not been reproduced for this web edition. For the full citation, see the end of the text.]

Roundhead (Stiahta). A Wyandot (Huron) chief who espoused the British cause in the War of 1812, being connected chiefly with Col. Procter's command. Nothing is known of his early history, and though spoken of as a fine-looking man and a celebrated Indian chief, his history as recorded refers only to the time of the war mentioned. He was with Maj. Muir, of Procter's command, on the Miami near Ft. Miami, Ohio, Sept. 27-28, 1812, and urged in vain the English commander to hold his position and fight the American forces. In Oct. following he accompanied Maj. Muir to River Raisin, where Procter was gathering his forces, and later in the same year he met his death. Gen. Procter, in a letter dated Oct. 23, 1813, states that "the Indian cause and ours experienced a serious loss in the death of Round Head." A village in the S. W. corner of Hardin co., Ohio , his early home, bore his name, which survives in that of the present town of Roundhead built on its site. Roundhead had a brother known as John Battise, a man "of great size and personal strength," who was killed at Ft. Meigs while fighting for the British.

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Source: James WHITE, ed., Handbook of Indians of Canada, Published as an Appendix to the Tenth Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1913, 632p., p. 401.