NMAI welcomes elders, leaders, and members of the Oneida Indian Nation to share with visitors the legacy of Polly Cooper, an Oneida ancestor and icon.

Polly Cooper was a hero to the American soldiers stationed at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary War. She and other Oneidas traveled more than two hundred miles through the bitter cold during the winter of 1777–78 to deliver corn to General George Washington’s starving troops.

While the rest of the Oneida relief party returned home, Cooper stayed, saying it was the Oneida’s duty to help their allies. Cooper refused payment for her contributions, but oral tradition tells that she joined some of the soldiers’ wives, including Martha Washington, for window shopping in Philadelphia and admired a black shawl and bonnet in a shop window. The wives later had the shawl and bonnet purchased and, a few weeks later, a soldier delivered them both to Cooper. The bonnet was lost over time, but the black shawl remains a treasured possession for Cooper’s descendants.

Learn more about the Oneida Indian Nation with a presentation on Polly Cooper’s legacy, along with dance performances, food demonstrations, and a short film. Visitors can also enjoy a curator-led tour of Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations, hands-on activities, and more.