Red Jacket (1750?-1830) was a leader of the Native American Seneca people and noted orator. He strongly opposed attempts by whites to force their culture on the Seneca.
Red Jacket and his tribe aided the British during the American Revolution (1775-1783). A British officer rewarded him with a red jacket, the source of his name. Red Jacket served as an official spokesman of the Iroquois Confederacy, which included the Seneca, in dealings between them and the United States government after the war.
The Seneca leader encouraged his tribe to live in peace with the whites. He also resisted efforts by Christian missionaries, other whites, and even the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake to change some traditional Seneca ways of life.
Red Jacket was born in what is now Seneca County in New York . At the height of his influence, he was called Sagoyewatha (He Keeps Them Awake). Red Jacket died of cholera on the Buffalo Creek Reservation in New York. A monument of the Seneca leader stands in Buffalo , New York.
