Iroquois prosperous settlements in the 19th century, supporting themselves via farming and the sale of sleds, snowshoes, boats, and baskets. In 1884, about 100 Canadian Iroquois were hired by the British government to serve as river pilots and boatmen for the relief expedition for the besieged General Charles Gordon in Khartoum in the Sudan, taking the force commanded by Field Marshal Wolsely up the Nile from Cairo to Khartoum. On their way back to Canada, the Canadian Iroquois river pilots and boatmen stopped in London, where they were personally thanked by Queen Victoria for their services to Queen and Country. In
USS Iroquois (1859) USS Iroquois (1859) The first USS "Iroquois" was a sloop of war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. "Iroquois" was launched by the New York Navy Yard on 12 April 1859 and commissioned 24 November 1859, Commander James S. Palmer in command. "Iroquois" got underway from New York on 19 January 1860 for duty in the Mediterranean. Her service came at a time of political unrest in Europe, with the movement for Italian unification in its beginning stages. "Iroquois" sailed for Palermo, Sicily, to protect American lives and property as Giuseppe Garibaldi began his campaign to