USA > Massachusetts > Our western border : its life, combats, adventures, forays, massacres, captivities, scouts, red chiefs, pioneer women, one hundred years ago, containing the cream of all the rare old border chronicles > Part 27
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A number of Indian villages were then scattered along the Susque- hanna and Juniata rivers, and Harris, Sr., soon became an extensive trader, having connected with his cabin a large range of sheds, which were sometimes literally filled with skins and furs, stored there by the various Indian traders from the west and which were transported to Philadelphia on pack-horses. In the words of the memorable Parson Elder, he was as " honest a man as ever broke bread."
On one occasion a wandering band of Indians came to his house and demanded rum, as the modern whiskey was not then· made in Pennsyl- vania. Seeing they were already intoxicated and fearing mischief, Harris refused. At this they became furious, seized and tied him to a mulberry tree to burn him. He was released by other friendly Indians coming across the river to his relief. In remembrance of this, he directed his body to be buried beneath that tree. He died in 1748, and his remains still repose at the roots of this famous mulberry, the stump of which is said to be still standing.
Of Esther, Harris' wife, several characteristic anecdotes are told. Here is one : The mansion was surrounded by a stockade as security against Indians. A British officer was one night staying at the house, when, by accident, the gate of the stockade was left unfastened. The officer, dressed in full regimentals, was seated with Harris and wife at the table. An Indian stealthily entered the gate, thrust his rifle through one of the port holes and fired away-it is supposed at the officer. The night being damp, the gun only flashed. Instantly Mrs. Harris blew out the candle to prevent a second aim and thus saved a human life.
John Harris, Jr., became a large farmer and trader ; was a man of great energy and enterprise, and had an extensive western acquaint- ance. It was during his life that the ferry became so well known. H3 cwned the ground on which Harrisburg now stands. When the Revo- lution broke out, he thought a Declaration of Independence premature, fearing that the colonies could not cope with the mother country, but after it was once declared, he took his wife and son aside and read it aloud, saying, "The act is now done and we must take sides. The war cannot be carried on without money. Now, we have £3000 in the house and, if you are agreed, I will take it to Philadelphia and put it in the treasury to carry on the war. If we succeed in obtaining an inde-
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pendence, we may lose our money-as the government may not be able to pay it back-but we will get our land." It was done and Harris died a rich man.
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AS A COMMANDER.
It is not generally known that during the Indian ravages consequent upon Braddock's defeat, the learned and amiable philosopher and states- man, Dr. Franklin, did service as a military officer and was sent to Northwestern Pennsylvania to establish a line of forts. He says he undertook this military business, although he did not conceive himself well qualified for it. " I had but little difficulty," he writes, " in rais- ing men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my command. My son, who had seen service, was my aid-de-camp and of great value to me. The Indians had burned Gnadenhutten, a village settled by the Moravians, and massacred the inhabitants. It was January, 1756, when we set out upon this business of building forts. We had not marched many miles before it began to rain and continued all day. There were no habitations on the road till we arrived, at night, at a German's house, where, and in his barn, we were all huddled together as wet as water could make us. It was well we were not attacked, for our arms were of the most ordinary sort and our men could not keep the locks dry. The Indians are dexterous in contrivances for that purpose, for they met that day eleven farmers and killed ten of them; the one that escaped told us that the guns would not go off, the priming being wet.
"At Gnadenhutten we hutted ourselves and commenced burying the dead. Next morning our fort (Fort Allen) was planned and was finished in a week. However contemptible, it was a sufficient defence against Indians without cannon. We met no Indians, but found the places where they lay to watch us. There was an art in their contri- vances worth mentioning. It being Winter, fire was necessary for them, but a common fire would have betrayed by its light and smoke; they had, therefore, dug holes about three feet in diameter and somewhat deeper. We found where they had, with their hatchets cut off the char- coal from the sides of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these coals they had made small fires in the bottoms of the holes, and we observed among the weeds and grass the prints of their bodies, made by their lying all round, with their legs hanging down in the holes to keep their feet dry and warm, which, with them, is an essential point. This kind of fire could not reveal them by its light, flame, sparks or even smoke.
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CONRADE WEISER AND THE ONONDAGA CHIEF.
"We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the men would not attend his prayers and exhortations. I had observed that they were punctual at their rum rations, half a gill morning and evening, upon which I said: It is, perhaps, below the dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum, but if you were to distribute it only just after prayers, you would have them all about you. He liked the thought, undertook the task, and never were prayers more generally or punctually attended."
CONRADE WEISER AND THE ONONDAGA CHIEF.
For near thirty years Conrade Weiser was a very prominent man in Pennsylvania. During that period his name occurs in the Colonial Records oftener than that of any other. He came to this country early in life and lived most of his time after 1714 among the Six Nations of New York. He was so greatly esteemed by them as to be adopted into their tribes, and thus he became perfectly familiar with their language. Desiring to visit Pennsylvania, the Indians brought him down the Sus- quehanna to Harris' Ferry, (now Harrisburg,) and thence he found his way to Philadelphia, where he met Wm. Penn. He soon became con- fidential messenger and interpreter for the colony among the savages, and was an active agent in many of the most important treaties. It '37 he was sent by the Colony of Virginia to visit the grand Six-Na- tion's council at Onondaga. He started in the dead of Winter, ac- companied by a German and three friendly Indians, five hundred miles through a pathless wilderness, and was nearly frozen and starved to death.
In '44 he was in like manner dispatched to Shamokin. On all these journeys he noted down interesting observations, and it is from his pub- lished letters in the State Records that we glean most valuable informa- tion about early Indian doings and sentiment. He afterwards estab- lished an Indian agency and trading house at Reading, Pa., but was kept so constantly on the go that he had but little time to attend to private affairs. In '55, during the border war, he was appointed Col- onel of a regiment of Rangers and did good service. The Indians al- ways entertained a high respect for his character, and for years after his death were in the habit of making visits of affectionate remembrance to his grave. The Rev. Henry A. Muhlenberg was his grandson.
Dr. Franklin relates that Conrade Weiser told him the following : In
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going through the Six-Nation country to carry a message from Penn- sylvania, he called at the cabin of Cannassatego, an influential old Onon- daga Chief, who embraced him, spread furs for him, placed before him beans and venison and some rum and water. When he was well refreshed, Cannassatego asked him many questions, and when the discourse began to flag, the old chief said : "Conrade, you have lived long among the white people and know something of their customs; I have been some- 'times at Albany and have observed that once in seven days they shut up their shops and assemble in a great house. Tell me what they do there?" "They meet there," replied Weiser, "to hear and learn good things."
"I do not doubt that they tell you so, Conrade, they have told me the same; but I do doubt the truth of what they say, and I will give you my reasons. I went lately to Albany to sell my skins and buy rum, powder, blankets, &c. You know I used generally to deal with Hans Hanson, but I was a little minded this time to try some one else. How- ever, I called first upon Hans and asked how much for beaver. He said he could not give more than four shillings a pound, but, says he, I cannot talk on business now; this is the day we meet to learn good things. So I thought to myself if I cannot do any business I might as well go to meeting too, and I went with Hans. There stood up a man in black and began to talk to the people very angrily. I didn't under- stand what he said, but perceiving he looked much at Hans and me, I fancied he was angry at seeing me there ; so I went out, sat down near the big house, struck a fire and lit my pipe. I thought, too, the man had said something about beaver, so when they came out I said, ' Well, Hans, I hope you have agreed to give more than four shillings per pound for beaver pelts?' 'No,' said he, 'I cannot give so much-not more than three and six.' I then spoke to several more, but they all sang the same song-three and six, three and six, three and six. This made it clear to me that my suspicion was right, and that whatever they said they met for, the real business was to learn how to cheat the In- dians in the price of beaver.
"Consider but a little, Conrade, and you must think with me. If they met so often to learn good things, they would have learned some be- fore this, but they are still ignorant. You know our practice. If a white man travels our way and enters our cabin, we all treat him as I now treat you-dry him if he's wet, warm him if he's cold, give him meat and drink and spread soft furs for him to sleep on, and we ask nothing in return. But if I go into a white man's house in Albany and ask for meat and drink they say, 'Get out, you Injun dog.' So you see they have not yet learned those little good things which our mothers have
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BORDER FORTS, STATIONS AND BLOCK-HOUSES.
taught us. Depend upon it, Weiser, these meetings are held to help cheat the Indians in beaver skins."
We may as well present here another characteristic speech of Cannas- satego, also given by Franklin. At the very large and important coun- cil held at Lancaster in 1744, at which two hundred and fifty chiefs and warriors were present, this Onondaga Chief was the great orator. When the main business was all satisfactorily finished, an invitation was extended to the chiefs by the Commissioner of Virginia to send some of their youth there to be educated. To this Cannassatego replied :
"Brother, we must let you know that we love our children too well to send them so great a way. We thank you for the invitation, but our customs being different from yours, you must excuse us. We have ha l some experience in this. Several of our young people were formerly brought up at northern colleges. They were instructed in all your sciences, but when they came back to us, they were bad runners ; igno- rant of every means of living in the woods ; unable to bear either cold or hunger ; knew neither how to build a cabin or take a deer or kill an enemy ; spoke our language badly ; were, therefore, neither fit for hunt- ers, warriors or counselors-they were totally good for nothing. To show, however, that we are grateful for your offer, if the gentlemen from Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will teach them all we know and make men of them."
BORDER FORTS, STATIONS AND BLOCK-HOUSES.
Constant reference is made throughout all border chronicles to forts and to settlers fleeing to them for refuge. These were not only places of defence but places of residence of families belonging to a neighbor- hood. As Indian warfare consisted in an indiscriminate slaughter of all ages and both sexes, it was as requisite to provide for the safety of women and children as well as for the men. A fort, according to Dod- dridge, consisted of cabins, block-houses and stockades. A range of cabins, separated by divisions of logs, commonly formed one side, at least, of the fort. The walls on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of the roof being turned wholly inward. Very few of the cabins had puncheon floors, but nearly all earthen.
The block-houses were built at the angles of the fort, projecting about two feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches every way larger in dimension than the under ones, so as to allow the occupants to fire straight down
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and prevent the enemy from making a lodgment under their walls. In some forts, instead of block-houses, the angles were furnished with bas- tions. A large folding gate, made of thick slabs and situated nearest the spring, served to close or open the fort. The stockade, bastion, cabins and block-house walls were furnished with port holes at proper heights and distances. The whole of the outside was made completely bullet-proof.
It may be truly said that " necessity is the mother of invention," for the whole of this work was made without the aid of a single nail or spike of iron ; and for this reason : such things were not to be had. In some places, less exposed, a single block-house, with a cabin or two, constituted the whole fort.
Such refuges may appear very trifling compared with formidable military garrisons, but they answered the purpose admirably, since Indians had no artillery and seldom attacked, and scarcely ever took one of them. The families belonging to these forts were so attached to their own cabins on their farms, that they seldom moved into their forts in the Spring until compelled by some alarm ; that is, when it was an- nounced by some murder that the savages were hovering about the set- tlement.
Doddridge in the above is scarcely explicit enough. De Hass supple- ments the information and draws a closer distinction between the various places of defence in times of Indian hostilities. A fort was generally a stockade enclosure, embracing cabins, &c., for the accommodation of several families, with, generally, block-houses on two or on all four of its corners. A station was a parallelogram of cabins, united by palisades, so as to present a continued wall on the outer side, the cabin doors opening into a common square on the inner side. A block-house was a square, double-storied structure, the upper story projecting over the lower about two feet, which space was left so that the inmates could shoot from above upon an enemy attempting to fire or climb its walls. But one door opened into these rude buildings, and that was always very strong, so as to defy entrance by any ordinary means of assault. They were generally considered the safest for a small number. The men generally remained above, and many are the tales of border war wherein a few determined spirits successfully withstood the combined and per- sistent attacks of hundreds of Indians.
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A SINGULAR WILL CASE ON THE BORDER.
A SINGULAR WILL CASE ON THE BORDER.
As illustrative of the peculiar results arising from carrying children into captivity, we may mention the famous Grey Property Case, which was in controversy for about fifty years before the various Pennsylvania courts, and which was noted for many amusing scenes and the marked originality of many of the principal personages therewith connected.
Robert Hagg, Samuel Bingham, James and John Grey, were the first four settlers in Tuscarora valley, Pa., arriving there in 1749, and build- ing Bingham's Fort. In '56, the year after Braddock's defeat, John Grey went with pack-horses to Carlisle to procure salt. As Grey was returning a bear crossed his path, which so frightened his horse that he was thrown and severely injured. This delay brought him back to Fort Bingham just after it was burned and every person either killed or made prisoner, including his wife and only daughter, three years old. The unhappy husband and father then joined Colonel Armstrong's expedition against Kittanning, in the hope of hearing of the fate of his family, but returned in such bad health that he died soon after, leaving by will his wife one-half and his daughter the other half of his fine farm, if they tver returned from captivity. If his daughter did not return or was not alive, he willed the second half to his sister, on condition of her re- leasing a claim she held against him.
In the meantime, Mrs. Grey and child, and other captives taken at Fort Bingham, were carried to Kittanning and afterwards to the French Fort Duquesne, and thence to Canada. About a year after, Mrs. Grey concealed herself among some deer skins in the wagon of a white trader and was brought off, leaving her little daughter in captivity. She re- turned home, proved her husband's will, and took possession of her half of the property. She afterwards married a Mr. Williams, but had no issue. In '64, some seven years after her escape, a number of the captive children, recovered by Colonel Bouquet, were taken to Phila- delphia to be recognized. Mrs. Grey attended, but no child appeared that she recognized as her dear little Jenny. There was one there, however, unclaimed, of about the same age. Some one, conversant with the terms of Grey's will, whispered to the mother to claim this child for the purpose of holding the other half of the property. She did so-took back the child and brought her up as her own.
Time wore away, and the girl grew up gross and ugly in her person, awkward in her manners, and, as subsequent events proved, loose in 16
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her morals. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, however, she con- trived to captivate a Mr. Gillespie, who married her. The property then went over, by purchase or gift, to Rev. McKee, and then to his nephew. After a lapse of many years, the children of James Grey, heirs of John Grey's sister, got hold of information leading them to doubt the identity of the returned captive, and a law suit was brought about in 1789. It would literally puzzle a " Philadelphia lawyer " to describe the multiform and complicated phases which the case assumed during a legal contest of more than fifty years. There were many families interested, as also many prominent lawyers.
Mrs. Grey (or Mrs. Williams) said that when they were crossing Side- ling Hill, she had examined the child Jane and found a mark by which she was able to recognize her. A Mr. Innis, one of the captives with her, testified that he one day chided Mrs. Williams for keeping a child not her own. "You know why I keep this girl," she answered. Mrs. Innis had herself lost three children, and told Mrs. W. that the child was not hers, but was a German girl, and could not talk English when she came to Montreal. Mrs. W., one witness testified, said, " No, that is not my daughter, but Woods knows where my daughter is, and has promised to get her." The real daughter was never recovered. Woods testified that he had been told by Indians that the real Jenny Grey was a fine, big girl, and lived near Sir William Johnson's, in the Mohawk valley, which information he had given to Mrs. Grey, the mother; that George Croghan, the famous Indian agent, had told him since and asserted that he procured the child, Jenny Grey, from the Indians, and had put her into a good family to be brought up. Finally the Indian, Hutson, came to Woods' house and asserted that little Jenny was now a fine woman, had a large house and children, and lived near Sir William Johnson's seat, in New York State.
Old Mrs. McKee, who spoke with a rich Irish brogue, was the prin- cipal living witness, and frequently convulsed the court by entering largely-much too largely-into the early history of the valley. She described the spurious girl as "a big, black, ugly Dutch lump, and not to be compared to the beautiful Jennie Grey." Her historical revelations so interested one of the jurymen, himself an old settler, that he sent for he old lady to come to the hotel and enter more at large into "the days of Auld Lang Syne." The old man was a little deaf, and Mrs. McKee's voice so loud and shrill that one of the opposing counsel overheard the old lady, and next day ludicrously exposed the poor juryman amidst the roars of the court and bar. The case, of course, had to be then tried be- fore another jury, but was finally decided, in 1833, against the identity of the adopted child, and the property vested accordingly.
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SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, BARONET.
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, BARONET.
"A FINE OLD IRISH GENTLEMAN, ALL OF THE OLDEN TIME .. "
The battle of Lexington, which inaugurated the American Revolu- tion, took place April 19th, 1775, but still the late peace effected with the Ohio tribes by Lord Dunmore continued during most of that year. Occa- sionally there were ominous symptoms that the savages were being tam- pered with by English agents, and the frontiers were kept very anxious for fear there should be a general alliance between the British and the confederated western tribes. The action and policy, therefore, of Col- onel Guy Johnson, son-in-law of and successor to Sir William Johnson, General Superintendent of Indian Affairs, was narrowly watched, and gave much reason for alarm. Colonel Guy, Colonel Claus, Sir John Johnson and Joseph Brant, the celebrated Mohawk Chief, were all loyal to the core, and were using their strongest efforts to array the power- ful Six Nations actively on the same side. Sir William Johnson, Baro- net, had died in July, 1774, and it is high time we should give a sketch of a distinguished man, who had for so many years exercised such an almost omnipotent sway over American-Indian tribes. He was truly a most remarkable character, whose whole life was a romance, and crowded with interesting personal adventure.
Coming to America from Ireland while a young man, under the auspices of his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, he threw himself boldly into the wilderness, and, with but little assistance, became the architect · of his own fame and fortune. From the humble position as agent of the landed property of his uncle, he was, successively, a farmer, dealer in peltries, a merchant, government contractor, a successful general, a Bar- onet of the British realm, and, for over a score of years, the Chief Su- perintendent of Indian Affairs on this continent, possessing more in- fluence among the Indian tribes from the Hudson to the Mississippi, than any one man either before or since.
In 1775 such were his abilities and his commanding power over. the redmen of the forest, that to him was entrusted, with the rank of Ma- jor General, the task of capturing Crown Point. At the same time he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He fought soon after a decisive action with Baron Dieskau and defeated him badly, which victory was the only one during the whole year's campaign, and was su greatly esteemed by King George that he created Johnson a Baronet,
.
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while the Parliament presented him with five thousand pounds. In '58 he, by his intimate acquaintance with the temper of the Indians and by his wonderful influence over them, effected a peace with fifteen differ- ent tribes. In '59 he defeated the French army under D' Aubrey, and captured Fort Niagara. In '60 he assisted at the capture of Montreal, since which time he acted as Indian Superintendent.
It was among the Six Nations, however, that he ruled supreme, hav- ing a far larger authority over them than any of their own sachems. He was well calculated to conciliate and retain the affections of these warlike tribes. In person he was an uncommonly tall, well-made man, having a fine countenance and an imposing address. He was likewise shrewd, sagacious and possessed a most intimate knowledge of Indian tastes, customs and languages, and therefore knew best how to please the redmen. He purchased from the Indians a large and fertile tract of land upon the Mohawk river, where, having cleared the ground, he built two spacious and stately places of residence, known afterwards over all the country by the names of Johnson Castle and Johnson Hall. The first was on the Mohawk river and slightly fortified. The last was built on a gentle eminence, environed by most fertile and delightful plains, with an ample and well-cultivated domain, and that again encircled by European settlers who had first gone there as architects or workmen, but who had been induced, by Sir William's liberality or the singular beauty of the district, to remain. His trade with the Six Nations was very much to their as well as his own advantage, he supplying them on more equitable terms than any trader, and not indulging them in strong liquors which others were accustomed to do. The Castle contained the stores in which all goods meant for the Indian traffic were laid up and the peltries received in exchange. The Hall was his Summer residence, . around which his chief improvements were laid.
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