USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > An authentic and comprehensive history of Buffalo : with some account of its early inhabitants, both savage and civilized ; comprising historic notices of the Six Nations or Iroquois Indians, including a sketch of the life of Sir William Johnson, and of other prominent white men, long resident among the Senecas ; arranged in chronologial order > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
307
APPENDIX.
dians are not like white men, for they must think a great while. He must therefore attend our councils, and look, and hear, till we shall speak on his business ; and to-morrow our head men will meet together, and try what can be done." While we were in conversation together, a run- ner came to the Young King, acquainting him that Col. Butler, with several officers from Niagara, had arrived at the store house on Lake Erie, where, Col. Butler said that the sachems and head men of the na- tion should meet him in the morning, but did not advise that I should at- tend with them. This the Young King desired might be told me, that I might know that Col. Butler had called them together. The circumstance of their moving the council fire from home to Lake Erie had never been attempted before, and may with propriety be said, that their being called together without my being present, was intended to answer some private purpose ; perhaps to damp the ardor of such friends as I might have gained among the Indians, through the fair and honorable statements which I had laid before them in their councils. Since the dusk of the evening, Capt. O'Beel has called a meeting of the chiefs at the cabin of Cayassutta, as I understood it, to advise them not to do anything to in- jure me in the business I had to do with them. In the course of this day Capt. Half-Town and Big-Tree, and several of the head men and warriors from O'Beel's Town and Cattaraugus, about sixty in number, and Capt. Snake, with about forty of the Delawares arrived, attended by many of their women, youth, &c. By invitation, I dined this day (in company with Capt. Houdin, ) with the principal chief of the Onondaga Nation, named Big-Sky. His castle lay about three miles east of Buffalo, near which were about twenty-eight good cabins, and the inhabitants appeared in general to be decent and well clothed, particularly their women, some of which were dressed so richly with silken stroud, &c., and ornamented with so many silver trappings, that one suit must be of the value of at least thirty pounds, some of the latter attended the feast, which princi- pally consisted of young pigeons, some boiled, some stewed, and the mode of dishing them up was, that a hank of six were tied with a deer's sinew round their necks, their bills pointing outward ; they were plucked, but of pin-feathers there were plenty remained ; the inside was taken out, but it appeared from the soup made of them, that water had not touched them before. The repast being the best I had seen for a long time, I ate of it very heartily, and the entertainment was given with the appearance of much hospitality. Returned about sunset to Buffalo.
May 4. The whole of the head men and warriors repaired to the place yesterday appointed by Col. Butler to open that council they intended
308
HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
holding at the British garrison of Niagara. I pressed my friend O'Beel to go forward with them, by all means, lest the United States should not be represented. About eleven o'clock, an Indian runner delivered me a letter from Col. Butler, through which Capt. Houdin and myself received a polite invitation to dine with him and his officers, viz : Capt. Burrows, Com't of Fort Erie, Col. Street, Capt. Johnson, Capt. Powell, and Capt. Butler Shane ; most of which gentlemen appeared to speak the Indian language fluently, and all appeared to be busily engaged with the parties, holding converse with them ; the tenor of which was, as I since under- stood it, that they must be cautious what they should undertake to do, in such matters as I had laid before them ; and before they might determine, they must repair to Niagara, and receive the instructions of Col. Gordon ; Col. Butler speaking to theni, in my hearing, to the same effect, also mentioning that, as Col. Brant of Grand River, and Mr. McGee, agent for Indian affairs for Detroit, were now preparing to go among the Indians at war with the Americans, to know what their intentions were, whether for war or for peace ; advising them by all means to wait the information that would be received from them, and, should it not come as early as might be expected, they should not go without it, as thereby they would draw war upon their own nations, for they were very angry with them already, and would be more so on finding an American among them, and that notwithstanding his going among them was to establish peace, they would kill them all, without waiting to hear what errand he had come upon. This, and the like conversation from Col. Butler, besides what was doing by his officers of the Indian department then present, lasted till late dinner time, and previous to their going away to their Castle (vil- lage, ) at Buffalo. The Young King and Red Jacket remarked to Col. Butler, that the speech intended for the Miami and Wabash Indians, con- tained threatening sentences, which would be more likely to irritate them, than soften them into a compliance. Upon this information being given, I undertook to show them to Col. Butler and others present, that on the same being read publicly, they acknowledged that they had not under- stood it so well before, and appeared satisfied that a mistake rested with them. A considerable conversation took place with Col. Butler and my- self, in presence of the Young King and other chiefs, entirely on the sub- ject of a peace, and of my intended progress through the Miami country, which were severally interpreted to them, the tenor of the Colonel's ad- vice being to leave the whole of the treaty, and adjustment of the same, to the chiefs of Buffalo, Col. Brant and McGee, whom he should engage for, to accommodate the disputes between the Indians at war and the
309
APPENDIX.
United States, and on no account to attempt the undertaking myself, as he was well aware what must be the consequence. Col. Butler having given his opinion so fully, gave me the opportunity to explain myself by saying, that if I possessed weakness enough to submit to a negotiation on the terms he had introduced, that a peace could not be confirmed with the thirteen States, but with his Britanic Majesty's subjects in their be- half ; that, on the completion of this business due honor would rest with the negotiators, and, by such a passive procedure in me, I should justly entail on myself lasting disrepute. That for those reasons the chiefs of the Six Nations must be decisive in their answers to mne, within a few days, being compelled, by my duty, to seek assistance by other expedients which are in my power, perceiving in some of their chiefs an indifference of conduct in matters which I held to be of the utmost importance.
These expressions having been interpreted to them, they severally re- tired to their villages, and I received the invitation of continuing the night with these gentlemen, and complying with the same, I received the utmost civility and agreeable conversation, till one o'clock in the morning.
May 5. This morning Col. Butler and his suite took boat from hence, which was rowed by six British soldiers, across the lake, for Fort Erie ; and previous to their departure, as before mentioned, I saw that each and every public paper received by Cornplanter at Philadelphia, together with the message that I brought to the Six Nations, was safely put under the care of Col. Butler, and by him to be presented to the commanding officer at Niagara, as concluded upon by the council of the Six Nations, so that the counsel of Col. Gordon might be obtained by them. In the afternoon I wrote a letter to obtain permission from the commanding officer of Ni- agara, to freight one of the schooners upon the lake to conduct me, and such Indians as were willing to go with me, to Sandusky, in order that no time might be lost when I should gain their concurrence, and forwarded the same by an Indian, being unwilling to trouble either of the officers with its carriage to Col. Gordon.
May 6. Red Jacket and Capt. O'Beel came to see me, when the former acquainted me with the reason why no council would be held to-day, to- wit, that it was their pigeon time, in which the Great Spirit had blessed them with an abundance. * This is a matter worthy of observation, that at some convenient distance from every one of the Indian settlements. the pigeons hatch their young in this season of the year, and the trees which they commonly light on are low and of the bushy kind, and they are found in such great abundance, that exceeding a hundred nests, a pair of pigeons in each, are common to be found in a single tree ; so that I
310
HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
have seen in one house belonging to one family, several large baskets full of dead squabs ; these they commonly take when just prepared to leave the nest, and as fat as is possible for them to be made ; when after they arc plucked and cleaned a little, they are preserved by smoke, and laid by for use.
May 7. Capt. O'Beel called the chiefs together on business concerning themselves, to take into consideration when land should be settled for the accommodation of certain tribes and families, who had put themselves under the protection of the Six Nations, being compelled to leave their former situations, dreading the rage of the Shawnese and Miami Indians.
To Capt. Smoke and the Delawares under his immediate care, the place appointed was the village of Cattaraugus ; to the families of Connon- doghta, a chief of the Messasagoes, and to the Bear Oil chief and his family, who fied from their settlement at Conyatt, all of the same nation, had their planting grounds assigned to them near the village of Buffalo.
May 8. A great dance was performed here this day, and worship by the Six Nations present ; but in the fore part of the day they held council and I was present. For particulars see the speech of Fish Carrier, a chief of the Cayugas, and is the right hand man of Butler and Brant.
May 9. The council being convened, I replied to the speech of Fish Carrier, delivered yesterday, in which I gave them to understand that I thought it was useless for me to stay any longer with them at Buffalo, see- ing that those who were in the interest of the British, deterred others from serving in the cause of the United States. * Previous to my leaving the council, Red Jacket and Young King desired that I would wait their future deliberations, and from a few words which were afterward spoken to me by Red Jacket in council, gave me the first rea- son to expect their assistance.
May 10. Worship was performed this day as usual.
May 11. The great dance that succeeded was attended with a very drunken entertaiment, from the Young King to the meanest subject, Cornplanter and some of the elder of the women excepted, but not the least insolence was offered me, or any of my people.
May 12. There was a general alarm took place in all the villages in this quarter, the cause of it I judged to proceed from the enemies of the United States. Capt. O'Beel, on this feigned alarm, sent out early in the morning of the 13th, a number of his Indians to discover if there were any appearance of an enemy's track ; but they returned in the af- ternoon and reported that there had been no Indians where it had been said they were seen in numbers.
311
APPENDIX.
May 14. Private council this day with Indians as usual, in which they ยท strongly debated the principles under consideration between me and Col. Butler. *
May 15. Early this morning the elders of the Indian women resorted to my hut. (Present a number of chiefs. ) Having heard the general con- versation that took place between me and the Young King the evening before, addressed me in the following manner :
" Brother-The Lord has spared us until a new day to talk together. Moreover your sisters, the women, have taken the same into great consid- eration, because that you and our sachems have said so much upon it. Now that is the reason why we have come to say something to you, and to tell you, that the Great Spirit hath preserved you, and you ought to hear and listen to what women shall speak, as well as to the sachems ; for we are the owners of this land-and it is ours ; for it is we that plant it, for our and their use. Hear us, therefore, for we speak of things that concern us and our children, and you must not think hard of us, while our men shall say more to you ; for we have told them."
The above speech being ended, I acceded to a request they made, that I would attend their sachems in council this day, and hear what should be said by the women's speaker, the Young Prince of the Turtle tribe, (Red Jacket. ) Soon after their departure, the alarm gun was fired, which was to summon their head men into council. They were soon as- sembled from their adjacent villages, and sent some of their sachems to usher me and my colleague into their assembly. Being arrived, the first matter unusual that presented itself, were the elders of the women seated near their chiefs. When, after a short silence, the speech of the women was continued by Red Jacket, agreeably to the terms entered into be- tween them, and the whole of the leading sachems of the Six Nations, as follows :
" Brother from Pennsylvania, you that are sent from Gen. Washington, and by the Thirteen Fires :- You have been sitting side by side with us every day, and the Lord has appointed us another pleasant day to meet again. Now listen. Brother-You know what we have been doing so long, and what trouble we have been at ; and you know that it has been the request of our head warrior, (O'Beel, ) that we are left to answer for our women, who are to conclude what ought to be done by both sache m and warriors. So hear what is their conclusion.
" Brother-The business you have come on is very troublesome, and we have been a long time considering on it, even since you came here ; and now the elders of our women, considering the greatness of your business,
312
HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
have said that our sachems and warriors must help you over your difficul- ties, for the good of them and their children. Moreover you tell us, since the treaty at Tioga with us, the Americans are strong for peace. Now, all that has been done for you has been done by our women, and the rest will be a hard task for us ; for the people at the setting sun are bad peo- ple, and you have come on us in too much haste for such great matters of importance .. And now Brother, you must look when it is light in the morning until the setting sun, and you must reach your neck over the land, and take all the light you can, to show the danger. And this is the word of our women to you, and the sachems and warriors who shall go with you. * * Now, Brother from Pennsylvania and from Gen-
Washington, I have told you what has been directed. * * You now know that Col. Butler, of the British, told us that he must take our writings down to Col. Gordon, as he is a very wise man, and perhaps he may have something to say to us that is for our good. And we also want his assistance, as he is the man that keeps all the vessels that is on the lake. Therefore, my Brother, make your mind easy, for your request is granted, and when we hear from our brothers, the British, then we shall know what time we can start. And you must not be uneasy that our brother, O'Beel, does not go with you, for he is very tired, and he must rest awhile, and take charge of our young warriors, while they are play- ing, (hunting, ) to keep them in peace, for fear of danger. And now, while we are speaking, more of our young warriors have given their names to go with you."
Having received this welcome information, and so firmly authenticated by so complete a council, I undertook to write a second letter to Col. Gor- don, Commandant of Niagara, making request of him to grant me a pas- sage in one of the merchant or other vessels on Lake Erie, for a certain number of Indians, and others, intended to accompany me to the Miamies, and from thence to Fort Washington, on the Ohio ; and the better to pre- vent any miscarriage or delay, I sent it by Mr. Horatio Jones, my inter- preter, on the morning of the 16th, enjoining him by all means, to present it to the Colonel himself, and to return with an answer to me as speedily as possible. Early on the morning of the 17th, he crossed the River St. Lawrence to Niagara, and, being well acquainted there, he went through any part of the garrison he thought proper, until about 10 o'clock, when he went to the Commandent to present my letter. Mr. Jones informed me, that, as soon as it was known that he was charged with a public mes- sage from me, the town Major had orders to put an orderly non-commis- sioned officer to attend him, and to prevent his going through the garri-
313
APPENDIX.
son, or of holding any particular conversation with the inhabitants. And, as soon as Col. Gordon sent to him the answer to my letter, he was order- ed to return to Buffalo by the same route he had came ; and the orderly conducted him to the ferry where he had crossed in the morning, and re- turned on the 19th, to me at Buffalo.
The answer which Col. Gordon sent in his letter was, that as he had not seen those public documents that I had wrote him of, therefore he could not enter into a discussion with me on matters of a public nature, viewing me only in the light of a private agent ; nor was he authorized to permit me a passage for the Indians I proposed carrying to Sandusky, in any of the vessels on the lake. This unfriendly denial puts a stop to the further attempting to go to the Miamies, as the Indian chiefs who proposed accom- panying me, were unable to walk the distance required, and it was held by them to be unsafe to go in a large Albany boat, I had contracted for, fearing disappointments : as, to gain a harbor for such a boat in case of rough weather, it could not be met with at times, under going the distance of twelve or fifteen miles, and all winds from the northeast, and north- west, and northerly, made the lake very turbulent, and the waters as rough as the ocean.
While Mr. Jones continued at Niagara, six engineers and twenty-five or more artificers arrived there from Quebec, being sent by Lord Dorches- ter for the purpose of carrying on some works of fortifications. He like- wise saw that fresh work had been done to the face of the garrison, &c. I have likewise been informed that the British have laid the foundation of a new fortress on the north side of Lake Erie, at some distance higher up the rapids, and I presume (beyond the range of thirteen inch shells, ) from the present garrison it being evident that in justice they cannot maintain it much longer. The reason of their establishing of new garri- sons on the lakes is very obvious, they being intended for the purpose of the fur trade, which produces abundance of wealth yearly to Great Brit- ain. But this revenue, I hope, will be very soon decreased, on the surren- der of the Fort of Detroit, the key of the fur trade by the lakes, and such posts as may be established by the United States in the Western territory, near the Mississippi, and also in the Wabash country, and by the govern- ment of Pennsylvania, at the old French garrison at Presque Isle ; which will invite most of the trade from the Grand River that empties itself into Lake Erie on the north side, and at a small distance from that beautiful station, of as fertile lands as America produces, of pure air and a health- ful climate.
During the absence of the interpreter, twelve of the chiefs, headed by
314
HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
the Young King, came to the storehouse on the lake, (at which place I was writing my despatches for the Secretary of War, ) and informed me that they understood that I had intentions of going away from them se- cretly in the night, and that I had proffered an extraordinary price for a horse for that purpose, and had likewise offered a large sum of money to an Indian to carry my letters to Pittsburgh. I then inquired who was their informant that I had communicated these things to. They answer- ed that John Berry, an Indian, who interpreted for Mr. Ewing, had told them so, and they had come to know my reason for my doing so. I re- plied that such a thought had not passed my mind ; and that if I had such intentions, why should I have sent my interpreter to Niagara to obtain a vessel to conduct me and them to the place I so earnestly and so constant- ly had solicited them to accompany me ? And that were I disposed to leave them in that manner, I should not have sold my horse yesterday to a trader, Mr. Winnie, and the sole reason of my having sold, was that we could not take a horse to Sandusky by water, for when there, we should have the utmost occasion for them, having to travel a long distance on foot. But the mistake or wrong interpretation, rested on this point : my intention of going by water, as above related, prompted me to engage one of O'Beel's Indians, whom I believed to be an honest man, to carry my letters to Fort Franklin, and as well as having offered him certain pay- ment for his services, I had proposed to him a horse to carry him to the New Arrow's Town, where the horse belonged, and the rest of the way he might go by water, if he chose to do so. Moreover, to speak in their own language, I was more of a man than to leave my friends in that manner ; and that whenever I was about to go from them, I should tell them so, and take my leave of the Six Nations. Having so said to them, I gave them a treat and they returned to the towns fully pleased and satisfied.
May 17. Red Jacket and other of the chiefs informed me that my friends in the different towns expected I would give them something to drink, as they were going to have a great dance before they should leave their women. I readily accepted this proposition, and readily ordered eight gallons of the best spirits to be presented to them for the entertainment, and I desired that the women should be attended to, particularly for their valuable conduct during the last great council.
May 18 and 19. I was engaged in preparing my despatches for the Sec- retary of War, and other letters of the same import for Gov. St. Clair, and I proposed to forward them by way of New Arrow's Town, thence to Fort Franklin and Pittsburgh, and appointed Capt. Stingfish of New Arrow's Town to be the bearer, whose wife was the principal governess and leader
315
APPENDIX.
of the chiefs among the women, and the principal promoter in gaining the sachems over to my interest. It is well known to every person en- trusted with a public commission among the Indians, that they are cx- pected to possess a liberal hand. Red Jacket, whom we have often spo- ken of, called on me this morning to tell me that his house wanted a floor; that, as he was going with me, and being desirous to leave his family more comfortable during his absence, he expected I would have it done for him. Moreover, he wanted some rum for his wife and his mother, and that he might drink with them before setting out on his intended journey, he wanted a little for himself. The first request of laying his floor, I promised to have done immediately before going on board the vessel, and to make him and his wife cheerful at parting, gave orders to present him with one gallon of rum.
The Young King was not less pressing in his requests for rum on vari- ous occasions ; and although he did not behave so well in their councils as I desired, I did not send him away empty handed, sound policy having dictated my motives. And as I perceived that Capt. O'Beel's modesty prevented him from calling on me in that way, to him and Cuyasatta I was not less liberal. To a Shawnese Indian named Chafudet, (or Hot Sun, ) one of the chiefs appointed to conduct me into the Shawnese coun- try, I gave a blanket, being entreated in a particular manner to furnish him, for which I gave 18s 9d. This afternoon, and immediately after Mr. Jones' return from Niagara, the Young King and the major part of the chiefs came to be (made) acquainted (with) what was the result of Col. Gordon's answer to me, upon which I informed them to meet me in gen- eral council in the morning, being desirous of communicating some mat- ters of consequence to them, and then they should be informed of the contents of his letter. About this time I received information that about eight days since, Col. Brant had set out from Grand River, with about forty warriors to touch at Detroit, to take with him Mr. McGee, agent for Indian affairs in that district, from thence to proceed to the great encamp- ment of those Indians at war with the United States ; and by those who are professed friends of the British family, believed that his motives were not to pacify them, but to influence their minds to a more vigorous oppo- sition.
May 20. According to my proposals of yesterday, I met them in gener- al council, introduced and explained the substance of Col. Gordon's let- ter to me, apprising them that I was sensible of the cause that led him to give me such a denial ; that it was replete with envy in him towards the United States ; and it bespoke no affection in him towards the Indians ;
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.