USA > New York > Jefferson County > A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 2
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Ellisburgh, nearly opposite an ancient work, on South Sandy Creek, near a house now occupied by J. W. Ellis; where, in dig- ging a cellar in 1818, bones in great numbers were found. In 1842, there was found in Rutland, three miles from Watertown, under a pile of stones, about three feet high, which rested on a circular flat stone, a pit four feet square and two deep, filled with the bones of men and animals, thrown together in great confusion .* These exhibit marks of teeth as if they had been gnawed by animals. This, with the charcoal and charred corn in the vicinity, has been thought to indicate ancient massacre and pillage, in which an Indian village was destroyed and the bones of the slain afterwards collected and buried by friends. It was estimated that thirty or forty skeletons were buried here, besides parts of animals, that may have been killed for food. A custom is said to have pre- vailed among some Indian tribes, of collecting and burying at stated intervals, the bones of their dead, and some of these de- positories may have thus originated. The earthen, found around these localities, was of the coarsest and rudest character; exter- nally smooth, except where marked by lines and dots, in fantastic and ever-varying combinations of figures, and internally rough from the admixture of course sand and gravel. There was no glazing known to these primitive potters, who possessed never- theless, a certain degree of taste and skill; and sometimes attempted on their pipes and jars, an imitation of the human face and fantastic images of serpents and wild animals. Rarely, metallic relics of undoubted antiquity are found. A chisel of copper before us, is of this class; and the metal from which this, and other relics of this kind were made, was doubtless procured from Lake Superior. A fragment of a sword blade, around which the wood of a tree had grown, was found by the first settlers of Ellisburgh. Muskets, balls, hatchets, knives and other imple- ments of metal, have been at various times turned out by the plow; but none of the articles of undoubted European origin can claim an antiquity prior to the French and Indian wars.
There was found several years since in the sand, at a deep cutting of the rail road, near the Poor House, an oval ball, about three inches long, which for some time was used by children as a plaything. From its lightness and hardness, it excited curiosity, and it was cut open when it was found to contain a strip of parch- ment and another ball; this latter also contained another ball and strip of parchment, in all three. One of these is preserved, and is å by 11§ inches, containing, written on one side, four lines of Hebrew characters, without vowel points, quoted from Deutero- nomy xi, 13 to 21 inclusive. The case containing these was apparently made of hide, and it had been doubtless used as an
* Third Rsport of Regents on Cabinet, 1850, p. 102.
15
French Expeditions.
amulet, by some traveling Jew, or had been procured by the Indians as a charm, at a period not prior to the French era of our history. This section of the state, at the earliest period of authentic history, was occupied by the Oneidas and Onondagas, as a hunting ground; and one or two trails were perceptible when surveyed in 1796. Occasionally the St. Regis Indians would find their way into our territory, but oftener the Massa- saugas from the north shore of the lake. The Oneidas considered them as intruders and the latter seldom allowed themselves to fall in their way, from which reason the visits of the natives were stealthy and unfrequent, and nothing would fill the foreign Indians with apprehensions sooner than being told that the Oneidas were in the neighborhood. After the war nothing was seen or heard from them. Of our aboriginal names of places in our country but few are preserved. Mr. L. H. Morgan has given on a map, accompanying his work, entitled, The League of the Iroquois, the following, as they are known in the Seneca dialect:
Lake Ontario, Neahga. Tecarneodi.
Sandy Creek, Tekadaogahe.
Black River, Kahuahgo.
Sachets Harbor, Gahuagojetwaraalote.
Wolf Island, Deawokedacanauda.
St. Lawrence, Ganowogeh. Gahunda.
Indian River, Ojequack.
On an ancient French map in Yale College library, Carlton Island is designated Cahihououage. A town at the mouth of Black River, Otihanague. The St. Regis Indians name Black River Nikahionhakown or big river. In Mr. Squier's work, on the antiquities of the state, it is called Kamargo; French Creek is by the St. Regis called Atenharakwehtare, the place where the fence or wall fell down. The Ox Bow of Oswegatchie river they name Onontohen, a hill with the same river both sides.
Although our territory was not actually inhabited at the time it first became known to Europeans, it is not without incident connected with the wars between the French in Canada, and the Iroquois of New York, who from an early period had been under the influence of the English. Within a very few years from the time of first occupation, the French had penetrated far into the interior, explored the great lakes, discovered the Mississippi near its source, and established small ports for the double purpose of securing the fur trade, and converting to their religion the na- tives. The Dutch had conciliated the Iroquois, and their influ- ence had been transferred to the English, who succeeded them, which led to a hostile incursion by De Courcelles and De Tracy against the Mohawks in 1665-6, resulting in nothing but the murder of a few aged warriors, who preferred death to the aban-
16
English Jealousies .- Negotiation.
donment of their homes, and in exciting to a greater degree of insolence the Indians, who sometime after, fell upon a party of French hunters, killed several, and carried others away prisoners. Peace was subsequently gained, during which the French got the permission of the natives to erect a fort at Cataroqui (Kingston), ostensibly to protect the traders and their merchandise. The Jesuits, meanwhile, availing themselves of the peace, penetrated the settlements of the Five Nations, and acquired to some degree an influence with the Onondagas. The Senecas and Cayugas were still jealous of the French, and continued to annoy their trade, which led to a complaint* from De la Barre, governor of Canada, to Governor Dongan of New York, that these savages had plundered seven canoes, and detained fourteen French traders; to which the principal Seneca sachem returned a spirited reply, and Dongan requested the French to keep their own side of the lake.+ This provoked an insolent letter from the French gov- ernor, in which he said: "I sent Sieur Bourbon to you to advise you of the vengeance I was about to wreak for the insult inflicted on the Christian name by the Senecas and Cayugas, and you answer me about pretensions to the possessions of lands of which neither you nor I are judges, but our two kings who have sent us, and of which there is no question at present, having no thought of conquering countries, but of making the Christian name and the French people to be respected, and in which I will spill the last drop of my blood. I have great esteem for your person, and considerable desire to preserve the honor of his Britannic Ma- jesty's good graces, as well as those of my Lord the Duke of York; and I even believe that they will greatly appreciate my chastisement of those who insult you and capture you every day, as they have done this winter in Merilande. But if I was so unfortunate as that you desired to protect robbers, assassins and traitors, I could not distinguish their protectors from themselves. I pray you then to attach faith to the credit which I give S. de Calvage, to explain every thing to you; and if the Senecas and Cayugas wish your services as their intercessor, to take security from them, not in the Indian but in the European fashion, with- out which, and the honor of hearing from you, I shall attack them towards the 20th of the month of August, New Style."} A plan of operations had been previously arranged under the direction of the home government, and a negotiation with the governor of New York could have no other object than to amuse and keep inactive the English forces by professions of amity, and a declaration that they were only at war with traitors and rob- bers, common enemies of mankind. Preliminaries being settled,§
*Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. I, p. 99. tIb. p. 200.
#London Doc. V. @Doc. Hist. N. Y., I, p. 110.
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17
De La Barre's Expedition.
De la Barre, in June, 1684, sent five or six picked soldiers, and as many mechanics to Fort Frontenac, to repair that post, and on the 9th of July left Quebec, in three divisions, at the head of 300 militia, which was increased to 550 at Montreal. The regulars and Indian allies made the entire army about 2000 men, a very powerful army for the time. From the difficulty of procuring boats and provisions, the obstruction of the rapids, and the preva- lence of south-west winds, the army was delayed till past the middle of August in arriving at Frontenac. Meanwhile, through the influence of Lamberville, a Jesuit at Onondaga, that village had become anxious that the difficulties might be settled by mediation, a course to which De la Barre was the more inclined from the shortness of provisions with which he was threatened. He had crossed with his army to La Famine,* a point favorable for hunting and fishing, 24 leagues from Onondaga, to await the result of negotiation. Here, exposed to the sultry heats ot August, and scantily supplied with provisions, most of his men were attacked with intermittent fevers, which assumed a malig- nant type, and destroyed numbers, while it incapacitated the remainder from hostile operations. Being thus situated, he hastily despatched a Christian savage to La Moine, at Onondaga, to have him hasten the departure of those whom the Iroquois had agreed to send to treat with the French governor. This was done with promptness, and on the third of September, nine deputies from Onondaga, three from Oneida and two from Cayuga, arrived from La Moine, and were courteously received by the governor, who deferred the business of the embassy till the mor- row. The Senecas, against whom especially the vengeance of the French. was to have been directed, did not condescend to send representatives to the treaty, and returned an insolent answer to the invitation. They had been privately assured of assistance from Dongan, the English governor, in case they were attacked. The inclination for peace which the Onondagas, Oneidas and Cayugas evinced, may be ascribed to the ascend- ency which the Jesuits residing among them had acquired. Colden, the historian of the Five Nations, gives the following version of the speeches that were delivered on the occasion. De
* The precise locality of La Famine admits of a little doubt. Colden says (Five Nations, I, p. 64), "La Famine, by the Indians called Kaihohage, falls into the south side of the Cadarackui Lake, about 30 miles from Onondaga. Hungry Bay, which may be a translation of the word, is on some old maps represented as Chaumont Bay, on others Henderson Bay, and on others, all within Point Peninsula and Stony Island. De Meneles, the commissary of the expedition, in a letter to the minister (Paris Doc., II), says that the camp at La Famine was made "in places never inhabited, entirely surrounded by swamps." These render it probable that the locality was in Henderson or Ellisburgh, more probably in the latter town, which has extensive marshes near the lake, on both branches of Big Sandy Creek
18
Speech of De la Barre.
la Barre was seated in an arm chair, the French officers making a semicircle on one side, while Garangula, the orator of the Onondagas, with the warriors that attended him, completed the circle on the other. The arrangements being made, the French governor spoke as follows:
" The king, my master, being informed that the Five Nations have of- ten infringed the peace, has ordered me to come hither, with a guard, and to send Oliguesse to the Onondagas to bring the chief Sachem to my camp. The intention of the great king is, that you and I may smoke the calumet of peace together, but on this condition, that you promise me in the name of the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Mohawks to give entire satisfaction and reparation to his subjects, and for the future never to molest them. The Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks have robbed and abused all the traders that were passing to the Illinois and Umamies, and other Indian nations, the children of my king. They have acted on these occasions contrary to the treaty of peace with my predecessor. I am ordered, therefore, to demand satis- faction, and to tell them that in case of refusal, or their plundering us any more, that I have express ord 's to declare war. This belt confirms iny words. The warriors of the Five Nations have conducted the English into the lakes, which belong to the king, my master, and brought the English among the nations that are his children, to destroy the trade of his subjects, and to withdraw these nations from him. They have car- ried the English thither, notwithstanding the prohibition of the late Goy- ernor of New York, who foresaw the risk that both they and you would run. I am willing to forget these things, but if ever the like shall hap- pen for the future, I have express orders to declare war against you. This belt confirms my words.
Your warriors have made several barbarous incursions on the Illinois and Umamies; they have massacred men, women and children, and have made many of these nations prisoners, who thought themselves safe in their villages, in time of peace. These people, who are my king's children, must not be your slaves; you must give them their liberty, and send them back into their own country. If the Five Nations shall refuse to do this, I have express orders to declare war against them. This belt confirms my words.
This is what I have to say to Garangula, that he may carry to the Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas and Mohawks the declaration which the king, my master, has commanded me to make. He doth not wish them to force him to send a great army to Cataraqui fort to begin a war which must be fatal to them. He would be sorry that this fort, which was the work of peace, should become the prison of your war- riors. We must endeavor, on both sides, to prevent such misfortunes. The French, who are the brethren and friends of the Five Nations, will never trouble their repose, provided that the satisfaction which I demand be given, and the treaties of peace be hereafter observed. I shall be ex- tremely grieved if my words do not produce the effect which I expect from them, for then I shall be obliged to join with the Governor of New York, who is commanded by his master to assist me, and burn the cas- tles of the Five Nations and destroy you. This belt confirms my words."
During this harangue, Garangula kept his eyes fixed on the end of his pipe, and as soon as the Governor ended, he arose, and, having walked several times around the circle, returned to his place, where he spoke standing, while De la Barre remained seated:
19
Speech of Garangula.
" Yonnondio, I honor you, and the warriors that are with me honor you. Your interpreter has finished your speech. I now begin mine. My words make haste to reach your ears; hearken to them, Yonnondio. You must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so overflown their banks that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them; yes, truly, you must have dreamed so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure you, that the Cayugas, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessors received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet that has so often been dyed with the blood of the French. Hear! Yonnondio; I do not sleep! I have my eyes open, and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain, at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lakes to smoke on the great calumet, with the Onondagas. But Garangula says he sees to the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. I see Yonnondio raving in a camp of sick men, whose lives the great spirit has saved, by inflicting this sickness upon them. Hear, Yonnondio! our women had taken their clubs ; our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camps, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messengers came to our castles. It is done; I have said it. Hear, Yonnondio! we plundered none of the French, but those that carried guns, powder, and balls, to the Twightwies, and Chictagicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beavers enough to pay for all those arms that they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of the war. This belt preserves my words. We carried the English into our lakes, to trade with the Utawawas, and Quatoghies, as the Adriondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free ; we neither depend on Yonnondio, or Corlear; we may go where we please, and carry with us what we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies be your slaves, use them as such ; command them to receive no others but your people. This belt pre- serves my words. We knock the Twightwies and Chictagicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted beaver on our lands; they have acted contrary to the customs of the Indians, for they have left none of the beavers alive; they killed both male and female; they brought the Satanas into their country, to take part with them after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many Indian na- tions, and chased them from their own country. This belt preserves my words. Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear what they answer: open your ears to what they speak. The Sell- ecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Mohawks say, that when they buried the hatchet at Cadaraqui, in the presence of your predecessors, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved ; that in the place of arms and am- munition of war, beavers and merchandise should only enter there.
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20
De la Barre Returns to Quebec.
Hear, Yonnondio! take care, for the future, that so great a number of soldiers as appear there, do not choke the tree of peace, planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if, after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you, in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnondio, or Corlear shall either jointly or separately, endeavor to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words, and this other the authority which the Five Nations have given me." Then addressing himself to the interpreter he said: " Take courage, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing, tell all that your brethren and friends say to Yon- nondio, your Governor, by the mouth of Garangula, who loves you and desires you to accept this present of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you .- This present of beaver is sent to Yon- nondio on the part of the Five Nations."
De la Barre, stung with the sarcasm of this speech, of which he could not but admit the truth, hastily returned on the 6th, having had all the sick embarked the day before (so as not to be seen by the Indians), to the number 150 canoes and 12 flat bateaux, and on the evening of the same day arrived at Fort Frontenac, where he found that 110 of the number left there had departed, sick, for Montreal, whither the Governor followed the next day. At La Chine he found 45,000 lbs. of flour, which he had so much needed at La Famine.
The marquis De Nonville succeeded De la Barre the next year, and brought from France forces thought sufficient for the reduction of the Senecas, which was undertaken two years after, with a great force,* but without success, further than ravaging their country with fire, and destroying a few aged and defenseless men and women. On the 26th of July,1688, the Iroquois, to the number of 1200, invaded the island of Montreal, without notice, and destroyed more than a thousand French, besides carrying away great numbers of prisoners for torture. In these and other expeditions, our territory must have been the scene of many events of tragic interest, but the history of the details has not come down to us.
During the French and English war, which in 1760 resulted in the complete subjection of the former, our frontier again be- came alive with military operations, and the principal route between Canada, and the Mohawk settlements, passed through this county. On a peninsula, called Six Town Point, a few miles from Sackets Harbor, is the trace of a slight work, in a square form with bastions at each angle and apparently a small stockade, erected during this period. Between the bastions the sides were but 48 feet, and the whole affair was of a slight and transient character. The only trace left is a slight ditch along the sides,
* Doc. Hist. of N. Y., I, p. 193. Clarke's Hist. of Onondaga, 1, p. 267; &c.
21
Traces of French Occupation.
apparently formed by the decay of the wood that formed the defense. On one side is a row of mounds, five in number, pro- bably for the mounting of cannon. The locality is about 1} mile from the end of the point on the inside, and but a few yards from the water's edge. The place is partly covered by a thin growth of hickory and oak, and the quiet scenery of the spot is delightful.
In a work entitled, Mémoires sur le Canada, there is men- tioned the occupation of a post at the mouth of Sandy Creek, of which no trace remains.
" Meanwhile M. de Vaudreuil, not content with having destroyed the munitions of the enemy, and disconcerting their projects upon the lake and their upper posts, resolved to capture Chouagien,* to the end that the colony might be tranquilized on this side, and himself left easy on the defensive, until succors might arrive from France. He sent + in this direction, a detachment of 800 men, to hold the enemy in check, and watch their movements, under the command of Sieur de Villiers, captain of the Marine, brother of M. de Fumonville. 'This officer was brave and prudent, capable of executing the most perilous enterprise, and had always given proof of courage. This officer took post near a river, named Aux Sables,t where he built a little fort of upright stakes, on a point where this river falls into lake Ontario. The approach was difficult, and concealed from view by bushes, which surrounded it, so that one could see but a short distance when on foot. He often appeared before the enemy, pillaged their munitions, and compelled them to take the greatest precaution in sending to Chonoguen their provisions and troops."
The most interesting relics of the olden time within the county, are the ruins of Fort Carlton, on Carlton or Buck's Island, called by the French Isle aux Chevreuils, about three miles from Cape Vincent and in the middle of the south channel of the St. Law- rence. The island, when first observed by our settlers, was partly cleared; it has an undulating surface, is composed of Trenton limestone, and is very fertile. The surface near its head, where the fort is situated, rises by an easy grade to a spacious plain, fifty feet above the river, which was precipitous in front, and over- looked a small peninsula, but little elevated above the water, and affording on each side of the isthmus safe and ample coves for the anchorage of boats. On a point of this land, the government is about to construct a lighthouse. The area under the hill was completely protected by the works on the heights above, and from its great fertility afforded an abundance of culinary vegetables for the garrison. Traces occur, showing that cannon were planted on conspicuous points, and the trace of a submerged wharf is still seen, as are also wrecks of vessels in the bottom of the river adjacent. In the rear of the works may be seen the cemetery, but timne has defaced the inscriptions upon the headstones, except
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