The Great Peacemaker, sometimes referred to as Deganawida or Dekanawida (note that as a mark of respect, some Iroquois avoid using his personal name except in special circumstances) was, along with Hiawatha, by tradition the founder of the Haudenosaunee, commonly called the Iroquois Confederacy, a political and cultural union of several Native American tribes residing in the present-day state of New York.
Prior to colonial settlement, the area comprising Louisa County was occupied by several indigenous peoples including the Tutelo, the Monacan, and the Manahoac peoples, who eventually fled to join the Cayuga Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) people in New York state under pressure from English settlers.
The historic Iroquoian-speaking tribes developed as the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee or the Iroquois Confederacy, since about the 15th century.