USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 18
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 18
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So we think that but a very small part of the reason why we should be deprived of our rights. And we have mentioned to you in a speech at the treaty last fall, at Fort George, that he did request us to sell those lands to him, and our answer was to him that we could not sell our lands, and that we had reserved them for the maintenance of our children, after us, and that has always been the advice of our forefathers, never to sell any part of our lands, but to lease them for an annuity, if it was ever so small, and we shall never forget their advice to us. And on these principles our lands were settled, and that was when we could not support ourselves by hunting, that those who resided on our lands must expect to give us some assistance for the use of our lands.
Brothers :
And in respect to your last offer to us for our lands in this State, we must beg you to have a little patience, and consider this matter once more, and we will now make an offer, which we are sure you will not think un- reasonable, that is, brothers, we are not able to bring our reserve into as small a compass as possible, without interfering with our plantations, which will be resigning up to you about two thirds of the reserve, which we never did intend to dispose of on any consideration whatever. Still, as we have before mentioned, that we are willing to comply on any terms in reason, for the sake of good neighborhood and friendship with you, you will allow us to reserve to our own use, as follows :
Beginning at at the head of the second inland above Long Saut, on the river St. Lawrence, and run down the stream of the said river, ten miles below the village of St. Regis; then back into the woods twenty- ane miles, then westwardly in rear the same distance as in front, and from thence to the river, opposite to said island, to the place of begin- ning. This reserve, brothers, we will not be able to make any less, brothers, without interfering with the plantations of our people, which is out of our power, so to do; and an annuity of four hundred and eighty pounds, with all expenses free, to the place where we may agree for the delivery of said payments; if so be you may see fit to agree to this offer,
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which we are sure you can not think unreasonable, for we are sensible it will not be more than half a cent per acre yearly ; and the payment to be as you propose.
Brothers :
We hope you will not request us to vary from this offer, which we beg you rightly to consider, and let us live as well as yourselves. We will wait your answer.
28TH MAY, 1796. Spech from the Agents to the Deputies.
Brothers :
The offer which we made you the day before yesterday, was upon mature consideration, and appeared to us to be as liberal as you could possibly expect, and it is now to be considered, as definite between you and us, so that it only remains for you to give us your final answer, whether you are willing to accept it or not, in order that the negociations at the present treaty may be brought to a close. We would however, explain to you, that a reasonable allowance to you as deputies, for your services and expenses in attending this treaty, and such presents as are usual on these occasions, will be made to you, exclusive of the compen- sations which we have proposed, should be for the nations or tribes whom you represent.
30TH MAY, 1796. Speech from the Agents to the Deputies.
Brothers :
After we had made our speech to you the day before yesterday, you verbally suggested to us, that the Indians of St. Regis had built a mill on a river, which you call Salmon river, and another on a river which you call Grass river, and that they had always supplied themselves with hay from the meadows on Grass river. You describe these rivers generally, only as emptying into the river St. Lawrence and being in the vicinity of St. Regis; and it is uncertain, whether they, and especially the places on them, where the mills are built, will be included in the tract equal to the six miles square, reserved in the sale to Mr. Macomb.
If you had seasonably informed the state of your claim, they might have reserved lands for your use, to any extent which might have been judged proper, but they have now sold all the lands on that quarter, to Mr. Macomb, and as reservations can not be made without the consent of the persons who have purchased from him, we have spoken to them on the subject, and they have consented, that we should further offer to you, that a convenient tract at each place where the mills are built, and the meadows on both sides of the Grass river, although thay may here. after be discovered to be not within the tract, equal to six miles square, shall be reserved to the use of the St. Regis Indians.
31ST MAY, 1796.
The deputies having declared their acceptance of the compensation, as proposed to them by the agents; three acts of the same tenor and date, one to remain with the United States, another to remain with the said Seven Nations, or tribes, and another to remain with the state, were thereupon this day executed, by the commisioners for the United States, the deputies for the Indians, the agents for the state, and Daniel McCormick, and William Constable, for themselves, and their associates, purchase under Alexander Macomb, containing a cession ; release, and quit-claim from the Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, of
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all lands within the state, and a covenant for the state, for the payment of the said compensation, and also certain reservations of land, to be applied to the use of the Indians of the village of St. Regis, as by the said acts, reference being had to either of them, more fully may appear." Signed, ABRAM OGDEN.
The following is a copy of this treaty.
" The People of the State of New York, by the grace of God, free and independent. To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Know ye that we having inspected the records remaining in our Secretary's office, do find there filed a certain instrument in the words following, to wit:
" At a treaty held in the city of New York with the nation or title of Indians, denominating themselves the Seven Nations of Canada, Abraham Ogden, commissioner appointed under the authority of the United States to hold the treaty, Ohnaweio, alias Good Stream, Teharagwanegen, alias Thos, Williams, two chiefs of the Caughnawagas, Atiatoharongwan, alias Colonel Louis Cook, a chief of the St. Regis Indians, and William Gray, deputies authorized to represent these Seven Nations or tribes of Indians at the treaty, and Mr. Gray serving also as interpreter, Egbert Benson, Richard Varick and James Watson, agents for the state of New York. Wm. Constable and Daniel McCormick, purchasers under Alex. Macomb. The agents for the state, having in the presence and with the approbation of the commissioners, proposed to the deputies for the Indians, the com- pensation hereinafter mentioned for the extinguishment of their claim to all lands within the states, and the said deputies being willing to accept the same, it is thereupon granted, agreed and concluded between the said deputies and the said agents as follows: The said deputies do for, and in the name of the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, cede, release and quit claim to the people of the state of New York, forever, all the claim right or title of them, the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, to lands within the said state, provided nevertheless, that the tract equal to six miles square reserved in the sale made by the commissioners of the land office of the said state, to Alexander Macomb, to be applied to the use of the Indians of the village of St. Regis, shall still remain so reserved. The said agents do for and in the name of the people of the state of New York, grant to the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, that the peo- ple of the state of New York shall pay to them at the mouth of the river Chazy, on Lake Champlain, on the third Monday of August next, the sum of one thousand two hundred and thirty pounds, six shillings and eight pence, lawful money of the said state; and on the third Monday in Au- gust, yearly, forever thereafter, the like snm of two hundred and thirteen pounds, six shillings and eight pence. Provided nevertheless, that the people of the state of New York shall not be held to pay the said sums, unless in respect to the two sums to be paid on the third Monday in Au- gust next, at least twenty, and in respect to the said yearly sum to be paid thereafter, at least five of the principal men of the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, shall attend as deputies to receive and to give receipts for the same. The said deputies having suggested that the Indians of St. Regis have built a mill on Salmon river and another on Grass river and that the meadows on Grass river are necessary for hay, in order therefore to secure to the Indians of the said village, the use of the said mills and meadows, in case they should hereafter appear not to be included in the above tract, so as to remain reserved.
It is therefore also agreed and concluded between the said deputies and
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the said agents and the said William Constable and Daniel McCormick, for themselves and their associates, purchasers under the said Alexander Macomb, of the adjacent lands, that there shall be reserved to be applied to the use of the Indians of the said village of St. Regis, in like manner as the said tract is to remain reserved, a tract of one mile square at each of the said mills, and the meadows on both sides of the said Grass river, from the said mills thereon, to its confluence with the river St. Law- rence.
In testimony whereof, the said commissioners, the said deputies, the said agents, and the said William Constable and Daniel McCormick, have hereunto, and to two other acts of the same tenor and date, one to remain with the United States, another to remain with the state of New York, and another to remain with the Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, set their hands and seals in the city of New York, the thirty-first day of May, in the twentieth year of the Independence of the United States, one thou- sand seven hundred and ninety-six. Abraham Ogden (L. S.), Ohnaweio, alias Good Stream (mark L. S.), Otiatoharongwan, alias Colonel Louis Cook (mark L. S.), Wm. Gray (L. S.), Teharagwanegen, alias Thos. Wil- liams (mark L. S.), Egbert Benson (L. S.), Richard Varick (L. S.), James Watson (L. S.), Wm. Constable (L. S.), Daniel McCormick (L. S.).
Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Samuel Jones, Recorder of the city of New York, John Taylor Recorder of the city of Albany, Jo's Ogden Hoffman, Attorney-General of the state of New York.
May 30th, 1797. Acknowledged before John Sloss Hobart, Justice of Supreme Court of Judicature.
Feb. 28, 1800. Exemplified signed and sealed by the Governor, John Jay."
The above treaty is engrossed upon a large size sheet of parchment, to which is affixed a large waxen seal, having on one side the state arms and inscription, " The great seal of the state," and on the other the device of waves beating against a rock, and the word "Frustra," "1798." The back and margins are covered with receipts.
This and the other treaties which have been held between the St. Regis Indians and the state of New York, are carefully preserved by the clerk of the American party at St. Regis.
The agreements made in the treaty of May 31, 1796, were confirmed by an act which was passed April 4, 1801.
It had previously received the sanction of the general government, as appears from the following :
On the 20th of February, 1797, the governor sent to the senate the following message:
Gentlemen :
"I have the honor of laying before you a letter of the 18th ult., from the Secretary of the United States, for the department of war, enclosing a copy of the resolution of the Senate, advising and consenting to the rati- fication of the treaty concluded on behalf of the state with the Indians, calling themselves the Seven Nations of Canada.
JOHN JAY."
In the negociations between these Indians and the state, the name of Brant, the celebrated partisan Indian, was used in connection with pro-
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ceedings, which the Mohawks had held with the state, in the cession of their lands, in such a manner as to awaken a controversy between him and the deputy superintendent, which ultimately became embittered by mutual allegations, of pecuniary delinquency. The six nations had bargained with Colonel Livingston, in 1787, as we have previously stated, for a large tract of land which the Caughnawaga and St. Regis Indians insisted was fraudulent.
As Brant was a witness to the treaty, and was one of the most promi- nent of those by whom it was made, this denial of their right amounted to little else than a charge that those who made it, had pocketed the avails for their own benefit. This charge Brant indignantly repelled, denying that the Caughnawagas had a right to a foot of the lands which had been sold to Livingston, and demanding of them their authority, for their charges against him, and the Grand River Indians. They replied that their information was derived from the representations of the officers of the state of New York, at Albany. To ascertain the ground there might be for this, he addressed a letter to Governor Clinton, which received the following reply.
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GREENWICH, IST DECEMBER, 1799.
Dear Sir :
"On my return from the country, about a month ago, I was favored with your letter of the 4th of September. I am much gratified by the determination you express, of furnishing Doctor Miller with the informa- tion he requested of you, and I hope as the work for which it is wanted is progressing, you will find leisure to do it soon. I am confident he will make a fair and honorable use of it; and, as far as he shall be en- abled, correct the erroneous representations of former authors respecting your nations.
I am surprised to find that you have not received my letter the 11th of of January, last. It was enclosed and forwarded as requested, to Mr. Peter W. Yates of Albany. Had it reached you; I presume you will find, from the copy I now enclose, it would have been satisfactory; but as a particular detail of what passed between the Caughnawagoes and me, respecting their lands may be more agreable, I will now repeat it to you as far as my recollection will enable me.
In the winter of 1792-1793, our Legislature being in session in Albany, a committee from the Seven Nations or tribes of Lower Canada, attended there, with whom I had several conferences. They complained that some of our people had settled on their lands near Lake Champlain, and on the River St. Lawrence, and requested that commissioners might be appointed to enquire into the matter, and treat with them on the subject. In my answer to their speeches, I answered that it was difficult to define their rights and their boundaries; and that it was to be presumed that the Indian rights to a considerable part of the lands on the borders of the lake, had been extinguished by the French Government, before the conquest of Canada, as those lands, or a greater part of them, had been granted to individuals by that government before that period. In their reply they described their southern boundary, as commencing at a creek or run of water between Fort Edward and George, which empties into
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South Bay, and from thence extending on a direct line to a large meadow or swamp where the Canada Creek, which empties into the Mohawk opposite Fort Hendrick, the Black and Oswegatchee Rivers have their sources. Upon which I observed to them that this line would interfere with lands patented by the British Government previous to the Revolu- tion, and particularly mentioned Totten and Crossfield's purchase and Jessup's patent ; but I mentioned at the same time that I was neither authorized or disposed to controvert their claims, that I would submit to the Legislature, who I could not doubt would pay due attention to them and adopt proper measures to effect a settlement with them upon fair and liberal terms. This I accordingly did, and some time after com- missioners were appointed to treat with them in the presence of an agent of the United States, the result of which, I find you are informed of.
I believe you will readily agree that no inference could be drawn from any thing that passed on the above occasion to countenance the charge made against your nations. The mentioning and interference of their boundaries, as above stated, with tracts patented under the British Government, could certainly have no allusion to the cessions made by the Six Nations, or either of them to the state, especially as (if I recollect right) those cession are of the territory of the respective nations by whom they were made without defining them by any particular bounda- ries, and subject only to the reservations described in the deed.
I wish it was in my power to transmit to you copies of their speeches and my answer at full length; but it is not for the reasons mentioned in my former letter, should they, however, be deemed necessary to you, I will endeavor to procure and forward them; in the mean time you may rest assured that what I have related is the substance of them.
Col. Joseph Brant.
I am with great regard and esteem, Your most obedient servant, GEO. CLINTON.
This correspondence, and that which ensued with Governor Jay, did not satisfy Brant, and he accordingly caused a deputation of his tribe to repair to Albany, at the head of which was his adopted nephew, John Norton, to meet a similar deputation of the Caughnawagas, face to face, and require his accusers connected with the government of the state of New York, either to substantiate their charges or acquit him in the presence of both delegations.
The result of this double mission is not known, save that the chiefs were not satisfied with it.
In July of the same year (1799,) Brant proceeded to the Caughnawaga country in person, accompanied by a body of chiefs of several of the tribes, for the purpose of a through investigation in general council. Such a council was convened; and the difficulties from the reports of speeches preserved in writing by Captain Brant, were fully discussed; and that too in a most amicable manner. From several intimations in these speeches, it appears that the whole of these difficulties had been caused by "chattering birds," and by the machinations against Captain
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Brant, of the old Oneida sachem, Colonel Louis .* The council fire was kindled on the 8th of July, on the 9th Captain Brant was satisfied by the explanations given, and remarked, "that he had pulled up a pine, and planted down beneath it the small bird that tells stories."
On the 10th, the Caughnawaga chief replied :- " Brothers, we return you thanks; we also join with you to put the chattering bird under ground, from where the pine was taken up, there being a swift stream into which it will fall beneath, that will take it to the big sea, from whence it never can return." (See Stone's Life of Brant, vol. ii, p. 410, 414.)
The evident partiality of the writer of the life of Brant, has perhaps prevented him from giving to the Canada Indians their due in discussing their claims to the lands in the northern part of the state.
The St. Regis people having decided the question of the amount of land they were to receive, were desirous of having the boundaries known.
To settle definitely however their rights, they addressed the following letter to the governor.
To our Great Brother, John Jay, Governor of the State of New York.
Brother :
We the chiefs and chief warriors at St Regis, have sent the Bearers, Louis Cook, Sag Shaketlay, Loren Tarlelon, and William Gray, our interpreters, to enquire of you Brother, how we are to know the distance of our reserve, equal to six miles square, reserved to us by a treaty held at the city of New York, the 30th of May, 1796, with our deputies Louis Cook, Ohnaweio, Good Stream, Thomas Williams, and William Gray, and another reserve of one mile square on Salmon Creek, twelve miles below St. Regis, at a saw mill belonging to us chiefs.
Brother :
The reason of our sending the Bearers to you, is, that some time the latter part of last fall, some of your children, our brothers of this state, was marking and running lines within what we expect is our reserved lands, and we know no other way, but to come and inform you that we might know what to do, and we beg that you will inform the Bearers that they, as soon as is convenient to you may return home and inform us what to do.
We hope you will not let thy Bearers want for victuals and drink, what will be for their good, we wish you health and happiness with your family. From your Brothers the chiefs of St. Regis."
For the Chiefs at St. Regis, WILLIAM GRAY.
Chiefs. TIO-NA-TO-GEN-A, THA-RON-IA-HE-NE, TA-TE-GA-IEN-TON, To-TA-RO-WA-NE.
* We quote the language of Stone in his Life of Brant. This author was mtstaken in supposing Colonel Louis an Oneida Indian.
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This petition led to the passage on the 30th of March, 1799, of the following act:
" The surveyor general be, and he is hereby directed in his proper person, to lay out and survey, in such manner as the chiefs of the St. Regis Indians shall deem satisfactory, all the lands reserved to the said Indians, by the treaty held at the city of New York, and conform- able thereto, the twenty-third day of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety six; and the treasurer is hereby required to pay to him, out of any money in the treasury, four hundred dollars to defray the expense thereof, which sum the surveyor general shall ac- count for with the comptroller."
ยท The surveyor general performed this duty and reported as follows:
" Sir :- Pursuant to the act of the legislature, directing the surveyor general to lay out and survey the lands reserved to the Indians residing at St. Regis. I have surveyed in a manner satisfactory to the chiefs of that tribe the tract equal to six miles square, reserved to them at their village; as also the two tracts of one inile square each, at the mills on Salmon river, and ,Grass river, maps descriptive of the boundaries of these I have the honor herewith to deliver ..
When I was about to commence the survey of the meadows, reserved to the use of these Indians on Grass river, they informed me in council that they considered themselves entitled to a tract of half a mile on each side of the river, from its mouth up to the mill, and thatthey had caused it to be run out in that manner, for their meadow reservation, and inti- mated a desire that my survey should be made in a corresponding man- ner. I was obliged to inform them that I had no guide but their treaty, and consequently could regard no survey made without authority, and that nothing but the meadows barely, along that river, was pointed out as their property. They then pointedly desired me to make no marks on that ground, observing at the same time that as a deputation from their nation would have to repair to Albany on other business, during the sitting of the legislature, they wished by that opportunity to obtain an explanation of what they considered to be a misapprehension between the parties of the treaty.
Not being permitted to make a survey of the meadows, I availed my- self of the opportunity of going up and down the river, of making an estimate of them, with a view to report the same as an article of informa- tion that might be serviceable in case a compromise respecting them should be contemplated.
These meadows consist of narrow strips along the margin of the river, , where inundations have prevented the growth of timber. They lie in a number of patches, of from half a chain to three or four chains in width, making in the whole extent which is about six miles, not exceeding sixty acres altogether, as nearly as I could judge.
The grass on them with small exceptions, is all wild grass.
Their value, though of no very great consideration, as an appendage to the adjoining lands, is however esteemed as almost inestimable by Indians, who consider the clearing of land as a matter entirely beyond their power to accomplish. It will be impossible moreover, that the Indians should ever enclose the meadows with fences so as to prevent their destruction by the cattle of the white inhabitants, who soon will settle thick in their neighborhood, and. this will inevitably become the cause of disagreeable differences.
It is proper for me to observe that the ground on which these mead-
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ows are situated, as well as the mile square, at the mill on Grass river, has been patented in tracts distinct froni Macomb's purchase ; and there- fore the sanction which the proprietors of that purchase gave to the treaty, will not exonerate the state from the duty of compensating the owners of the lands from which these parts of the reservation are taken."
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