Sapper Thomas Charles Cogwagee Longboat 862805, one of 3,090 Indigenous men and women serving in the Great War. Indigenous women also made great sacrifices and played significant roles working behind the battle scenes. Nursing Sister Edith Crockett Anderson Monture, a Mohawk from Six Nations, joined the Canadian Army Service Corps, employed with No. 15 Canadian General Hospital, Taplow.
Thomas Cogwagee Longboat a highly-accomplished Professional Runner prior to the Great War. The Canadian Corps encouraged sporting activities as a means of raising troop morale during the war. Thomas would compete and excel at many of the sports competitions held by the Corps, especially on Dominion Day.
Runner
Excellence is a gift: among mankind
[Excerpt of poem by W.H. Auden – last line modified]
To one is assigned a ready wit,
To another swiftness of eye or foot.
Art which raises Nature to perfection
Itself demands the passion of the elect
Who expect to win.
As Pindar long ago in Greece was proud to hail
Thessalian Hippokleas, even so
It is meet we praise in our days fleet-footed
Tom Longboat from Haudenosaunee.
Early Life
An Onondaga from the Six Nations Grand River Reserve, Thomas Charles Cogwagee Longboat had 5 years previous experience with the 37th Battalion, Haldimand. Tom’s Onondaga name ‘Cogwagee’ translates as ‘all’ or ‘everything.’ In addition, he was Wolf Clan of the Onondaga Nation from Six Nations Territory and lived a traditional life of the Haudenosaunee (Longhouse).
Schooling
At the age of 12, Longboat was forcibly sent to the Mohawk Institute Residential School, an Anglican denominational and English-language school, which operated from 1823 and closed in 1970. Forced to abandon his language and beliefs to speak English and practice Christianity (Tom’s attestation paper reveals him as a member of the Church of England), Longboat reacted by escaping the school and running home, but was promptly caught and punished.
Then, he escaped a second time, running to his uncle’s farm, where he would be harder to find. However, this proved successful, and marked the end of Longboat’s formal education. Finally, he worked as a farm labourer in various locations, continuing to evade the authorities.
World-Class Professional Long-Distance Runner
Thomas Charles Cogwagee Longboat had a compelling reason not to enlist in the Great War as he was a world-class professional long-distance runner. Firstly, in 1907, he won the Boston Marathon in record time (two hours, 24 minutes and 24 seconds), leaving his closest competitor four-fifths of a kilometre behind (fellow-Canadian Édouard Fabre of Sainte-Geneviève, Quebec).
With this incredible feat, he brought tremendous pride and inspiration to the Indigenous peoples of Canada.
1907 Boston Marathon
Tom Longboat’s great-grandson William Winnie was at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 1907, and described the action.
I was in the athletes’ village just sort of biding the time because you get there at something like six in the morning and you don’t start running until sometime past eleven. Noticed that people were writing things on their arms or on their bib as a way of having people say stuff to them or whatever throughout the race. I got the idea of just writing Longboat down my arm.
So I’m running the race and everything is going well. Coming into Fenway, there can’t be more than two miles left, the end of the street just opens up and there’s thousands of people on either side of the street. They’re screaming and everybody’s yelling and having a great time, and out of the crowd I can pick up like, “Go Longboat go!”
And I’m sitting there and I’m running and I’m exhausted, undertrained. I just get this sense that—I feel like I’m reaching back in time, kind of feeling like a real connection between me and Tom, which was overwhelming. Already emotional because it’s—I can feel the end is near. I just really lost it and I was sitting there running and crying and it was an amazing thing.
William Winnie
Fellow Canadian Private James Duffy 29437 won the Boston Marathon in 1914 (James was killed 23 April 1915 in the Second Battle of Ypres).
Alfred Shrubb
In February 1909 he raced Alfred Shrubb, the world’s ranking professional. When Shrubb took a ten-lap lead, the Madison Square Garden crowd booed Longboat. Then he began his comeback, lapping the Englishman again and again over the last ten kilometres. Tom Longboat, age twenty-three, now at the apex of his marathon career, had defeated every great runner in the world at least once.
Then, in Edinburgh in 1912, Longboat set a new world’s professional fifteen-mile record of one hour and twenty minutes.
Ebbets Field 1913
Service
Private Thomas Cogawee Longboat enlisted 17 February 1916 at Brantford with the 125th Overseas Battalion, C.E.F.. He was 29 years 7 months of age, leaving his wife Lauretta Maracle (a Kanienkenha:ka woman) in Caledonia, Ontario. Major William Firth Newman signing in place of the Commanding Officer. In addition, Longboat had 5 years previous service with the 37th Battalion, Haldimand.
Thomas stood 5′ 11″ tall, with dark complexion brown eyes, and black hair. The Medical Officer, Captain Gordon McLennand Hanna considering him fit. Usually, in a case such as Tom’s, the Medical Officer would have noted – splendid physique.
125th Battalion
The 125th Battaion, CEF, organized in November 1915 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel M. E. B. Cutcliffe. Mobilized at Brantford. Recruited in Brant County. Then, embarked from Halifax 9 August 1916 aboard SS SCANDINAVIAN. Finally, disembarked in England 18 August 1916, strength: 32 officers, 9740 other ranks.
180th Battalion
Then, Lance-Corporal Longboat transferred to the 180th Battalion on 17 February 1916. The 180th Battalion organized in January 1916 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Greer. Mobilized at Toronto. Recruited in Toronto, a “sportsmen’s” battalion. Then, embarked from Halifax 14 November 1916 aboard SS OLYMPIC. Finally, disembarked in England on 20 November 1916, strength: 31 officers, 833 other ranks.
Then, Longboat admitted to St, James, Hospital, St. John, New Brunswick on 29 October 1916. Treated fpr a contused side, and discharged to duty on 1 November 1916. Perhaps one of the two erroneous instances of being wounded reported by Veteran’s Affairs Canada.
England
Longboat left Canada on 13 November 1916 aboard SS OLYMPIC, arriving in England on 20 November 1916. Then, on 6 January 1917, S.o.S. to the 3rd Reserve Battalion, West Sandling. T.o.S. by the 107th Battalion on 18 January 1917, West Sandling. Longboat once reprimanded for returning to his unit late after being granted 14 days leave in the U.K. (forfeiting 5 days pay). Finally, the battalion now known as the 107th Pioneer Battalion, 7 February 1917.
Western Front
Longboat entered the Western Front on 25 February 1917. Then, after a few months of duty, he began to complain of constant pain in his left leg, exacerbated by the weather, yet Tom always carried on with his duties.
Cogwagee continued to race during the war. Firstly, as a dispatch carrier with the 107th Pioneer Battalion in France, Longboat ran messages and orders between units. He also kept in competitive form by racing in inter-battalion sporting contests, many of which he won. Then, in 1917, Longboat joined with Joe Keeper (a member of the Norway House Cree Nation, born at Walker Lake, Manitoba) to win an inter-Allied cross country championship near Vimy Ridge.
June 1917
Pte. Tom Longboat the Indian long distance runner buying a paper from a little French newspaper boy. June, 1917. He is at far right.
Dominion Day 1918
Longboat, Keeper, and other First Nation long-distance runners A. Jamieson and John Nackaway served as dispatch carriers for the 107th Pioneer Battalion. Then, at the 1918 Canadian Corps Dominion Day competitions, Longboat won the eight-mile race (Keeper won the 3-mile race).
2nd Battalion, Canadian Engineers
Then, Sapper Thomas Cogwagee Longboat transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Engineers on 2 July 1918. The 2nd Battalion, C.E. organized in France in May 1918 under the command of Major John Mitchell Rolston. Personnel from 2nd Field Company, a portion of 107th Pioneer Battalion and the remainder from Canadian Engineers Reinforcement Depot.
Longboat spends his first two weeks in training, and put to work in the Arras sector during the latter half of July 1918. The Battle of Amiens begins 8 August 1918, and Longboat finds himself in Gentelles Wood the same night. The troops are busy securing water supply. Then, on 10 August, repairing roads at Le Quesnel. Finally, work on the Rouvroy-Fouquescourt road begins on 12 August.
Longboat’s service continued through the Last Hundred Days, and he participated in the March to the Rhine, and the Allied Occupation of Germany, entering Cologne on 13 December 1918. Then, the battalion returned to Andenne, Belgium on 12 January 1919. Andenne the scene of a massacre in August 1914.
Still in Belgium, Longboat sentenced to 7 days Field Punishment No.1 for being ‘Absent off guard mounting after being duly warned’, 10 March 1919. Then, Longboat returns to England at Weymouth on 28 March 1919.
Inter-Allied Games
Joe Keeper participated in the Inter-Allied Games held at Pershing Stadium, Paris. Unfortunately, Cogwagee had already return to Canada.
Return to Canada
Tom demobilized as a Sapper with the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Engineers, 9 May 1919 at Hamilton, Ontario. Multiple sources refer to Longboat being twice wounded, and at least one report of having been killed, but his service record reveals no such events occurred. His medical record only reveals a contusion of his left-side during training prior to entering the Western Front, the aforementioned pain in his left leg, and myalgia during his medical evaluation upon demobilization. Also, unfounded articles push the theory he was a drunkard and poor athlete.
Remarriage
His wife, Lauretta Maracle had remarried while he was overseas, and Longboat subsequently married Martha Silversmith, an Onondaga woman, with whom he had four children. He continued his military career, serving as a member of the Veterans Guard in the Second World War while stationed at a military camp near Brantford, Ontario.
Retirement
Upon his retirement from employment with the City of Toronto, Longboat moved back to Six Nations. Then, in 1951, he received posthumous recognition with the establishment of the prestigious Tom Longboat Trophy, awarded annually to Indigenous athletes who exemplify the hard work and determination they put forth in their chosen endeavors. In addition, the original trophy remains at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary, with a travelling replica held by the Aboriginal Sports Circle in Ottawa. Finally, in 1955, inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Indian Hall of Fame.
Tom Longboat died 9 January 1949 at the age of 62.
If you wish to learn more about Tom’s life, CEFRG highly recommends this podcast, recently broadcast on 23 December 2019. Also, a French version of the podcast is available.
Legacy
More
The incredible stories of Private James Duffy the subject of the next CEFRG post. If his service and the circumstances of his death are not enough, exactly one hundred years after his death, Private James Duffy the central figure in a bizarre series of events, involving his family, CEFRG and the Menin Gate Ceremony.
Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow MM & two Bars in the Great War
Private Jacob Isaac in the Great War
Back Row: 3rd from left – Alex Mowat
2nd Row: 1st from left – Wilf MacDonald
3rd from right – Erin Smith
Front Row: 1st from left – Charlie Hughes
1st on right – Earl Fissette
More
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