USA > Maryland > Cecil County > History of Cecil County, Maryland, and the early settlements around the head of Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with sketches of some of the old families of Cecil County > Part 6
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"Then did the governor demand satisfaction for the cat- tle and hogs of John Taylor. To which he answered that they were not killed by his Indians, for they immediately fled, but by Minquas and Sinigos (Senecas).
"Whereupon was taken into consideration the informa- tion of John Taylor, Thomas Overton and others. taken at Spesutia the 13th of May last, and considering the relation of Pinna in the main to agree with the said information, and the governor and council calling to mind that the said John Taylor, since information in writing taken, had often
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said that John Foster,* who shot at the Indian (as per in- formation), affirmed that he had killed him, resolved to come to articles with the said Pinna upon this consideration, that the English had begun the war by the said John Foster killing the said Indian upon Easter days. And for as much as it is certain that the said Indians, whom Foster shot at, immediately fled after they killed Foster in the woods, and upon the 17th day of April, met Norden and Hart near the Iron Hill, and there murdered them, and that the Minqua or Sinigo Indians were about that time doing mischief and killing cattle about Patapsco River and those quarters, as appears by the information of Robert Gorsuch, taken the 13th of May aforesaid, resolved that all further demand of satisfaction for these cattle be waived, and that sufficient provision in the articles be made for the security of our stock of cattle and hogs for the future, and that the treaty be immediately begun, lest General Stuyvesant at the Man- hattans make an advantage of those Indians against us, it being doubted whether there be a war between Holland and England or not."
The treaty was headed in the council book, from which it was copied as follows:
" Articles of peace and amity concluded between the Hon. Philip Calvert, Esq., Governor, Henry Coursey, secretary, and John Bateman, councilor, on behalf of the Lord Proprie- tary of this province of Maryland, and Pinna, king of Picthanomicta, on the behalf of the Passagonke Indians on the other part (viz.) :
"Imprimis: That there shall be a perpetual peace betwixt the people of Maryland and the Passagonke Indians.
"Second: It is agreed between the above said parties that, in case any Englishman for the future shall happen to find any Passagonke Indian killing either cattle or hogs, then it shall be lawful for the English to kill the said Indian.
* Called John Fouster in the preceding chapter.
-
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" Third : It is agreed betwixt the above said parties that, in case any Indian or Indians shall happen to kill any Englishmen (which God forbid), then the said Indian, with all that company of Indians with him which consented to the said murder, shall be delivered to the English, there to be proceeded against, according to the laws of this province.
" Fourth : It is further agreed betwixt the above said par- ties that, in case any Englishman shall happen to run amongst the Passagonke Indians, the said Indians bring them to Peter Meyers; and then for every Englishman that they shall deliver, they shall receive one match coat.
"The mark (M) of Pinna."
The above said articles were signed interchangeably by the governor and council and the Indian commissioners, and delivered this 19th of September, in thirtieth year of his Lordship's dominion over this province of Maryland, 1661.
The Dutch account of this treaty is to the effect that only one Indian chief " from the east end of the river " appeared, and that the English offered to deliver annually two or three thousand hogsheads of tobacco to them at Appoquini- mi or at the head of Bohemia.
Corn was very scarce in 1661, and it is worthy of remark that William Hollingsworth, who helped arrest the Indians in New Castle, who had murdered the Englishmen on Iron Hill, though licensed by the council of Maryland to trade with the Indians, was prohibited from exporting any corn he might obtain from them. The petition of one Hannah Lee, widdy, states that she had been granted the privilege of keeping ordinary at St. Mary's during the session of the General Assembly, but had no corn to maintain her said promise, and craves to be allowed to trade with the Indians. She was licensed to trade with the Indians for corn only. The next meeting of the council was held at St. Mary's on the 12th of October, 1661. At this meeting the case of Cap- tain John Odber was taken into consideration, and he was
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required to give an account of his expedition to the Susque- hannaughs' fort. The council asked him why he came down without orders from the governor. To which he re- plied that the Susquehannaughs came to him and told him that they could not compel their men to furnish the soldiers with provisions according to treaty stipulations, and had advised him to transport his troops and ammunition down by water. This seems to be what he meant to say; but the scribe who made the record used such obscure language, that it is by no means certain what the captain did say, and there is reason to think that the Indians offered to assist him in transporting his men and arms to the settle- ments some distance down the bay. There is reason to think that the captain may have been troubled with cowardice or conscientious scruples, and that he purposely mystified his narrative to conceal his cowardice. His story was by no means satisfactory to the council, and they re- quired him to give a written account of the expedition, at a meeting of the council, on the 27th of the ensuing Novem- ber, at which time Jacob Claw on, Francis Stockett and Samuel Palmer, who lived at the head of the bay, were to be summoned to give information. John Everitt was also before the council at this meeting to answer for his con- tempt in running from his colors. He pleaded that he could not bear arms againstthe Indians for conscience' sake. He was committed to custody till the meeting in November, at which time he was to be tried by a court-martial. Cap- tain John Collier, who had impressed Everitt, was sum ?- moned to testify in the case. Captain Odber probably made good his escape from the colony before the meeting in November, for when he was called at that meeting he ap- peared not. This is the last time his name appears in the record. After the case of Odber was disposed of at the November meeting, that of Everitt was taken up, and it was ordered that he be tried "at the next provincial court for running from his colors, and, in the interim, be committed.
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into the sheriff's hands, and that the sheriff impannel a jury against that time, and in the meantime the said Everitt was to be kept in chains and bake his own bread." The records of the provincial court are not extant, consequently the result of the trial is unknown.
The records of the province for the year 1662 show that the Indians still continued to be troublesome. But not- withstanding this the Marylanders seem to have turned their attention to the development of the resources of the colony. This year the council passed a law for the encour- agement of tanners of leather, in which the exportation of hides was prohibited under severe penalties. The Mary- landers and Susquehannaughs were at peace with each other at this time, but the former were at war with the Senecas, who now begun to make raids upon the few scattered settle- ments of the English along the western tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. In the spring of this year they penetra- ted as far south as the head of South River in Anne Arun- dle County, which appears to have alarmed the council very much, for they ordered all the powder and shot in the colony to be seized for the use of the country, and that scouts be sent to the heads of all the rivers and the head of the bay, with orders to arrest or kill all Indians found there. The governor of New Amstel was informed of what had been done, and was requested to inform the Passagonke and Delaware Bay Indians, with the former of which tribes the reader will recollect the Marylanders had made a treaty of friendship the year before. The troubles with the Sene- cas continued to grow worse and worse, and on July 4th, 1663, the council were informed by letters from the inhab- itants of Baltimore County, at the head of the bay, that the Indians had recently murdered two of the inhabitants at the head of the bay, and one other in Patapsco River, with two youths also, which the Indians had either carried away or killed.
In the August following, the council met at Goldsmith's
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Hall, which is believed to have been on Bush River, and gave instructions to Samuel Goldsmith to notify the Sus- quehannaughs to come down and treat with the commis- sioners of Baltimore County. It is evident from the instruc- tions given to Goldsmith, that the council had framed the articles of the proposed treaty and had authorized the com- missioners to have the treaty executed and signed by the Indians. At this time the Susquehannaughs, though until recently upon peaceable terms with the English, seem to have been intimidated by the Senecas ; and, from what follows, it seems that no treaty was made at this time with them. But in August, 1663, Governor Charles Calvert, attended by three of his councilors, made a treaty with three kings of the Delaware Bay Indians at New Amstel. The Indian kings were represented by their ambassadors- Monickle, Chehoock and Tichecoon. The treaty was very similar to that made with the Passagonke Indians at Appo- quinimi (now Appoquinimink) two years before, except that the Indians agreed, when they had occasion to visit any Englishman's house, that they would lay down their arms and cause some white thing to be held out before they approached the said house. It was also stipulated that the Indians would inviolably observe these same articles toward the Dutch in Delaware Bay ; from which it is plain that the English no longer regarded the Dutch and Swedish settlers as a band of " murderers, pirates and robbers." Probably the hostile incursions of the Senecas had caused them both to forget their own differences and to cultivate feelings of friendship.
In the early part of June, 1664, a Seneca Indian was taken prisoner at the house of a Mr. Ball, which was somewhere. on the Patapsco River, under the following circumstances : Twenty-one of the Senecas came to the house under pretence of a friendly truce ; but the inmates of the house, suspecting a possibility of treachery, began to provide for their defence, which, being perceived by the Indians, they fled, except
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one, who, being more valiant than his comrades, remained behind and was captured. The Indian was taken to Major Goldsmith, who sent him to Francis Wright, who lived on the North East River, near the mouth of Principio Creek. Mr. Wright and three other persons examined the captured Indian, who stated that the Senecas had no hostile feeling against the Christians, but had brought them a present of forty beaver skins and belts of peake for the Susquehan- naughs that desired peace ; that the boys that were taken and the men that were killed at the mill were captured and killed by the Senecas. He further said, that if he had been taken by the Susquehannaughs, he should not have been put to death by them, and that all the joints of his body- using the figurative language of his own countrymen- were belts of peake that he had laid out for desire of peace and quietness. On being questioned of the strength of the Susquehannaughs, he said there were seven troops of them, and that the party he belonged to numbered two hundred ; and, when asked why so many of them were out on a mission of peace, he answered nothing, but that their fort did not desire any war with Christians; that the troops were come out for revenge of the death of his son and two Indians more that had been taken and burnt by the Susquehannaughs. The first part of his story not agreeing with the latter part, those who had him in charge sent a letter to the authorities at St. Mary's, stating that they were unable to understand who or what he was, but that their Honors would be con- vinced that he and his party bore no good will to the English. They stated that he was the first Indian taken, and by God's providence without the shedding of Christian blood. They appear to have been much alarmed, and the next day, the 7th of June, 1664, held a court at ye house of Mr. Francis Wright, as we learn from the following letter, which throws so much light upon the history of these troublesome times, that we publish it verbatim :
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"FROM CLAYFALL, this 7th of June, 1664.
"May it Please Your Lordship :
"Since our first, a court hath been held for this county at ye house of Mr. Francis Wright, where ye Indian being again had, and in some measure re-examined, nothing ap- pearing to any purpose but what we have in our first given your Honors to understand. Yesterday, when ye prisoner was here, there was several Susquehannaughs to ye number of forty, and two of Civilitye's uncles, who made show of much joy at his being taken, for they very well knew him, and were sensible of his warlike exploits, and would per- suaded us to have burnt him, but we certified them it was not our manner to torture our prisoners, but that happily he might be sent home to his country both for their good and others. But we cannot find yet what this prisoner did allege in his own behalf (as to matter of beaver and peake which he has said they brought with them to purchase peace) to be true, whether had they any good intentions. We have done our utmost endeavors, according to our abili- ties, for ye obtaining a full discovery and perfect relation, that your Honors might have more full intelligence of what did and was very likely to happen. What we have and do understand, herein is inserted, and do conceive that your Lordship should have thoughts for (to send) this prisoner with a present to his own country, in hopes of purchasing thereby a peace, which, by every one we think, is much re- quired and most earnestly desired, Jacob Clawson hath vol- untarily and of his own free will declared to us his readi- ness to go upon your command ; and shall, to ye utmost of his ability (for ye country's sake), aid and assist any one that your Lordship shall think fit to employ in a matter of so great consequence, and further that he is verily persuaded that if such a thing were to be acted, Civilitye, in ye behalf of all ye Susquehannaughs, would also go, and that thereby a peace might be procured. Ye Susquehannaughs, we know, would willingly embrace a peace if obtained, but are un- willing (through height of spirit) to sue for it. We have credible information by a gentleman from Manhattoes, now here present, who is thither with all expedition returning, that many of the Cenacoes will (through a customary trade) from ye last of June until ye middle of July. be at ye fort at Avanis, to whom, once desired, he would give this
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relation, that he saw one of their countrymen (naming his name) that ye English had taken, attempting to do mischief, and that he was well and fairly by ye English dealt withal, not after ye manner and cruelty that they showed to some of us which they did formerly take, and that there was great hopes that he would, in some time, come amongst them again, for by his kind usage hitherto he conceived no less. If what we have done appears to your Lordship too much or too little, we have nothing to plead but our ignorance, hum- bly craving pardon.
" Your Lordship's in all due obedience,
" THOMAS STOCK ETT, " SAMUEL GOLDSMITH, " FRANCIS WRIGHT."
Francis Wright and Jacob Clawson were formerly from the settlements on the Delaware. They are mentioned in a letter from Beekman to Stuyvesant, dated April, 1660, in which he refers to some property belonging to an orphan child whose mother had died either at Colonel Utie's or Jacob Clawson's, and states that he (Clawson) took over to Holland, besides other property, according to the letter of his partner, Francis Wright, "two silver key chains and two or three silver knife handles belonging to the child." In the letter Beekman calls Clawson his friend. The child was then at New Amstel. Its name was Amstelhoop, or hope of Amstel .*
This man Francis Wright obtained a patent for a tract of land afterwards called Clayfall, it being part of what is now called Carpenter's Point Neck, on the 19th of September, 1659, and, as will be seen from the above extract from Beek- man's letter, was a partner of Jacob ( lawson. Like the other settlers on Carpenter's Point Neck, referred to in a preceding chapter, they were no doubt Indian traders. Wright died in 1667, and left no heirs, in consequence of which the land escheated to the lord proprietary, which led
*See documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, Vol. XII., page 307.
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to a very interesting lawsuit nearly a century afterwards .* The Senecas, which was probably the name given by the English to all the different tribes of the Five Nations, con- tinued to be troublesome, and Thomas Mathews informed the council, by a letter dated at Patapsco the 7th of June, 1664, that he had been sent for to visit the north side of the Potomac River, and that he went there and found the English had taken two Indian prisoners; "that they put one of them to the torture, and he confessed there were sixty Indians in his company on the north side of the Potomac River, and that they intended to make war and kill the English, and that they had cut off one house, and the English had killed six of them." They stated there were a hundred more who had gone to the head of the bay to kill Englishmen and Susquehannaughs too if they came nigh them. The endorsement upon this letter was as follows. It fully explains the object of Mr. Mathew's visit: " For ye Right Honorable the Lieutenant-General. These from ye Indian interpreter, Mr. Thos. Mathews, for ye safety of this province, from house to house, post-haste."
On the 27th of June, 1664, Lewis Stockett was com- missioned colonel and commander of all the forces to be raised between the coves of Patuxent River and ye head of ye bay, on both sides of the bay and the Isle of Kent. The council, on the same day, took into consideration the in- cursion of the Cenego (Seneca) Indians, and proclaimed war against them, and offered a reward of a hundred arms' length of Roenoket to any person, whether English or Indian, that should bring in a Cenego prisoner, or both his ears if he be slain ; and that all the kings of the friendly Indians be sent to to order out their people in pursuit of the Cenegos, and that the respective military officers be authorized to press arms, provision and men to go in com- pany with the friendly Indians. "And that the Indian
* See Harris and MeHenry's Maryland Reports, Vol. I., page 190.
+ Rough bits of shell rudely shaped and pierced for stringing.
E
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taken at Patapsco be sent down to St. Mary's and kept in irons ; and that a letter be written to General Stuyvesant to request him to give notice to ye Cenegos trading at Fort Range that we have such a person prisoner, whom we shall keep alive till we see whether they desire a peace or not, because no present come. And if they desire not a peace, as he alleges, we shall put him to death; and that Jacob Clawson do give notice to ye Susquehannaugh Indians of this, our intention, and to require them to declare whether they are willing to join with us in this message ; till which answer come this live shall be deferred." What came of the Seneca we are unable to say. If he was sent back to his countrymen upon a mission of peace, he most certainly failed in it; for the next year, in June, 1665, we find the English again preparing for war with the Senecas. Captain William Burgess was commissioned colonel and military commander of the forces of the colony, and a long list of instructions were given him, in which he was ordered to " keep several parties ranging the woods as well to the head of Patuxent as Patapsco and Bush rivers, and even up to the utmost bounds of the province upon the Susquehanna River." He was instructed to report to his commander-in- chief once a week, and for this purpose was authorized to press messengers expressly to bring letters to the governor. He was to take special care of the people in Patapsco and Gunpowder rivers, and was to associate with him any friendly Indians, but was to take special care that his troops did not game or wrestle with them, and thus to avoid all cause of quarrel. The sheriff's of the counties were ordered to see that the neighbors of those who were pressed to go upon the expedition attended to the crops of the soldiers. The instructions given to the sheriffs were elaborate and interesting. We make the following extract: "You are straightly charged and commanded to issue your warrants to the several constables in your county to take notice what persons have been pressed for this present expedition,
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and what crops they have standing of corn and tobacco, and what ground they have prepared for tobacco, and the same to cause to be tended and planted as the seasons do present and need shall require by the people of the neigh- borhood, for and during the term of six weeks next after his departure, if he or they shall be so long absent upon ye service." These orders were addressed to the sheriffs of St. Mary's, Calvert, Anne Arundel, Kent and Charles counties.
On July 26th, 1665, the council ordered that the soldiers now ready be sent forthwith to the frontiers ; that is to say, that the parties drawn out of St. Mary's, Charles and Kent counties be sent into Baltimore County, there to secure that county as well on the eastern as on the western side of ye bay, and to be commanded by Colonel Lewis Stockett or some other fit person of an abler body to endure the hard- ships of the woods being in that county, and to be ap- pointed by him. Whether the troops were sent upon the contemplated expedition or not is uncertain, for the record for that year contains no further information on the subject. Quiet seems to have prevailed along the frontier till the next June (1666), when three war captains of the Susquehan- naughs met the council at St. John's, in St. Mary's County. The war captains desired the continuance of their league with the English, and stated that they had always been ready to have delivered Wanahedana (which was the name of the Indian that had murdered the men at the mill in Baltimore County) to the English, and desired that the vil- lainy of one man might not be imputed to the whole nation. They also requested the aid of the English, they having lost a considerable number of men while ranging the country around the head of the Patapsco and the other rivers. They further stated that the Senecas intended to storm their fort in August next, and afterwards they intended to fall upon the English and exterminate them. This treaty differed slightly from those previously made, in this respect, that it was stipulated in it that the Susquehannaughs should de-
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liver the Indian accused of murdering the men at the mill, who was then in captivity among the Senecas, if he ever returned, and all other Indians hereafter guilty of murdering any of the English. It was also stipulated "that any Indian hereafter convicted of killing any hog or cattle belonging to the English, should pay for every hog fifty fathoms of peake,* and for every head of any other sort of cattle one hundred fathoms of peake for satisfaction to the owners of every such beast ;" and that the king of Potomac and his two sons were to be delivered up prisoners to Samuel Goldsmith with all convenient speed.
The Senecas seem to have commenced hostilities a little earlier than usual the next year (1667), for measures were taken at a meeting of the council, on the Sth of February, to raise as many men as possible to march against them with all expedition possible. The quota of troops assigned to Baltimore County indicates the sparseness of its population at this time, its quota being only thirty-six men. George Utie and Major Goldsmith were ordered to procure fifteen barrels of corn and 2,200 weight of meat out of Baltimore County for the use of the troops. This expedition probably never was sent against the Senecas, for we learn from the minutes of a meeting of the council held at St. Mary's on the 24th of the next August that "Mr. Francis Wright of Baltimore County being sent by the Susquehannaughs, was called in, who declared that the said Indians did require assistance and ammunition from the council sufficient to go against any Indians and likewise declared enemies to the inhabitants of this province according to one of the articles of a treaty of peace made by the English and said Susque- hannaughs." Whereupon it was ordered that so many men be pressed as the Susquehannaughs shall require to their
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