USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 61
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The history of the Oneidas, from the settlement of this country by Europeans to the commencement of the revolu- tionary contest, is similar to, and inseparably interwoven with that of their confederates. Prior to the conquest of Canada, the French left no means untried to induce them to connect their interests with theirs, to seduce them from the interests of the Dutch and English, to acquire a foothold upon and dominion over their territory, and to secure their trade. The Six Nations, when left to act independently, ever acknow- edged themselves as the allies of, and as owing allegiance to the Dutch and afterwards the English, and that allegiance was constantly strengthened by new treaties and promises on one side, and by protection and presents on the other.
The Jesuit missionaries were a ready and powerful means used by the French to acquire an influence over the In- dians, and a constant source of trouble and anxiety to the English. As early as September 1667, a Jesuit mission was established at Oneida by Father Jacques Bruyas. It was named St. Francis Xavier. The Oncidas, as well as all the other tribes of the Five Nations, had been visited by the Jesuits for about twenty-five years previously, but their main labors had been performed at Onondaga, where were at various periods extensive mission establishments.
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The Mohawks and Oneidas were called by early French wri- ters, the inferior, and the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecaz the superior Iroquois, probably on account of their location, but there was a tradition that the former had been an off-shoot from the latter. The Jesuit relations (Journals,) for 1668-3: speaking of the Oneidas say, " the Nation of Oneida is about thirty leagues towards the south and west from the Mohawks and 140 from Quebec ; are of all the Iroquois the least trart- able, and the arms of the French not yet having penetrated so far, they fear us only through the experience of their neigh- bors the Mohawks. This nation (Oneidas), which despises the others since their defeat, is in a disposition contrary to the Christian faith, and by its arrogance and pride, tries the pa- tienee of a missionary very sorely. It was necessary that Divine Providence should assign them a peculiar man, and choose for them a spirit who might by his mildness conquer or allay their wild and fierce disposition. Father Bruyas has been the man destined for their service, but his labors have generally been rewarded only by rebuffs and contempt. * * * The number of baptized amounts already to near thirty, most of whom are already in glory." This gives us an insight into the distinctive features of the Oncida character at that peri- od. From 1671 to '96 Father Millet labored at Oneida, and the mission was represented as flourishing, but these missions among the Iroquois began to decline about the year 1700. The English forbid the French to visit the Indians, and those among them, missionaries and traders, were ordered out of their territory. The history of the Jesuit missions among the Iroquois, would form a volume of great interest.
Some thirty or forty years since, the remains of three per- Fons were brought to light by the overturning of a tree upon the bill near Hamilton College. The middle one was buried with his head in an opposite direction from the other two.
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and upon his breast was found a small metal eross. From a well known custom among Catholics, this individual was doubtless a priest, but who, or when, or how he died is left for conjecture.
Schoolcraft, in his " Notes on the Iroquois," says that he re- quested several Oneidas to pronounce their name, or what is nearly synonymous, the name of the Oneida stone-which they did as follows : O-ni-o-ta-aug ; O-ne-u-ta-aug ; O-ne-yju .- ta-aug. " The terminal syllable aug seems to be a local par- ticle," giving the word a definite meaning, as the stone, thus distinguishing the ancient monument of the Oneidas from all other stones. The syllable ta carries the idea of life and with O-nia a stone, the whole word means " People of the Stone "-and with that poetic fancy which characterizes the Iroquois, the name is applied indiscriminately to the Onei- das and The granite bowlder. May be, they fancied that the stone bore to themselves something of the relation of the soul to the body, and was therefore a part of their being. The author's recollection as to the language of the Oneidas ex- tends back to a time when they were not the poor, broken scattered people they now are, when that language was as soft and musical as the tones of a flute, instead of the rough. gutteral jargon of the present day. The different ways of pronouncing the word Oneida at present is, doubtless, correct- Jy given. In olden time their name was by their orators and warriors pronounced O-ne-i-ta, with the third syllable accent" ed, and the whole spoken in the softest manner possible. The aug was in common conversation either omitted, or pronounce- ed so much like a mere aspiration as to be detected with dif- ficulty.
Early travellers and writers speak of the Oneidas as the znost polished, possessing the finest forms and as being the most prepossessing in manners and appearance of any of the
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Iroquois tribes. Smith, the colonial historian, quotes from a letter written it 1748 by the Rev. Mr. Spencer, a mission- ary among the Oneidas at Ononghquage (Oquago, formerly a village in the town of Windsor, Broome Co.), as follows : " The dialect of the Oncidas is softer than that of the other nations, and the reason is because they have more vowels and often supply the place of harsh letters with liquids."
According to the tradition of Cusick, the Oncidas first set- tled upon one of the head-waters of the Susquehannah, called Kaw-nah-taw-te-ruh (variously spelled), about ten miles south of Oncida Castle. The " earliest recollected residence" of the Oneidas was upon the southern shore of Oneida Lake. near the mouth of the Oncida Creek. Here they construct- ed fortifications, remains of which have been found since the country was settled by whites. From the last named place the Oneidas removed to the neighborhood of the recent loca- tion of the Stone in the present town of Stockbridge, Madi- son County, to a place called Ca-nagh-ta-ragh-ga-ragh. (This name is, however, spelled in divers ways). From the sim- ilarity in names there is some reason for supposing that this is the location mentioned by Cusick in the tradition of the origin of the tribes. It is believed, that their removal to this place was before the formation of the Iroquois confede- racy. Pyrlaus, a Dutch missionary among the Mohawks at Fort Hunter, wrote between 1742 and '18, that the result of his best conjectures and information was that the Iroquois league or confederacy was formed about " one age, or the length of a man's life " prior to the arrival of the Dutch, in 1609, which would fix the dato at about 1530-35. The town of the Oneidas at this place was in a valley south of the com- manding eminence upon which the Stone rested, but in the immediato vicinity. The corn hills upon their ancient fields are still visible, although a new forest has grown up since
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those fields were cultivated. Upon counting the rings show- ing the annual growth of trees in this forest, we are taken back to the year 1550, showing that it is over 300 years since the Oneidas ceased to cultivate those fields. The next re- move of the Oneidas was to Ca-no-wa-lo-a, the site of Onei- da Castle. The signification of this name is " Enemy's head on a pole," and it is spelled in a great variety of ways by dif- ferent persons, but Ca-no-wa-lo-a is believed to be correct. The Oneidas resided in this place in 1609, when the Dutch settled upon the Hudson.
In 1677, they were visited by Wentworth Greenhalgh, who says in his journal : " the Onyades have but one town it is newly settled, double stockaded, with but lit- tle cleared ground, so that they are forced to send to the On- ondagoes to buy corn. The town consists of about 100 houses. and they are said to have about 200 fighting men. Their corn grows around about the town." A report made to the French government in 1736, says : "the Oneidas (called by the French Onoyants), number 100 men or 100 warriors. They have for a device a stone in a fork of a tree, or in a tree notched with some blows of an axe." In 1763, Sir Wm. Johnson in a statement of the number, etc., of the Indians within his department says: " Oneidas : 250 men, two vil- lages, one twenty-five miles from Fort Stanwix, the other twelve miles west of Oneida Lake, with emigrants in sev- eral places towards the Susquehanna River."
In the wars between England and France, and those be- tween the French government in Canada and the Iroquois, the Oneidas bore their part, and although not so renowned for their cruelty and savage treatment of enemies as the Mo- hawks, or prowess in battles as some of the other tribes, they were not deficient in bravery, were more cool in the midst of a contest, and excelled in the arts of diplomacy, and in posi-
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tions where the mental, instead of the physical powers, were ealled into action. A report to the French government of the affairs of New France (Canada), in 1664-5, states that this nation "ealled Oneida, which has no more, at least. than 140 warriors, and has never wished to listen to any negotia- tions for peace" (with the French, being allies of England) . "on the contrary it has always embarrassed affairs when they appeared about to be arranged." Like all barbarians the Iroquois were easily influenced by promises and bountifn! presents, and in the latter, especially those which pleased the fancy and tastes of the Indians the French were always mere liberal than the English. The French desired to secure the territory and trade of the Indians, pretending that the Iro- quois were within the dominions of the French king, hoping to make good this pretenee by conquest and treaties. They "stablished trading houses and forts upon the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and sent great numbers of missionaries. agents, spies and traders to the Indian villages.
On the other hand, the Iroquois annually met the Dutch and English governors at AAlbany, "to brighten the chain of friendship," to receive presents, re-acknowledge their allegi- ance to the British. From the first the Iroquois had always been in heart and in fact the allies of the Dutch, and after- wards of the English -- togother they fought against the French and their Indian allies and of the English they re- evived arms, ammunition, food and clothing. But upon return- ing from those " re-unions," the Iroquois found at their homes the wily agents of the French, who with showy presents and alluring words, added to the blandishments of their military trappings and the imposing forms of their religion, often al- most turned the " untutored minds" of the poor Indians, and extorted from them privileges and promises which they did not fully understand, which at heart they did not wish nor intend
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to yield or perform, and which in the end were construed to mean far more, instead of less, than was warranted by the letter. In some way these dealings with the French would come to the ears of the English, a new council would be called at Orange (Albany), or if the Indians feared or were unwilling to attend there, then at one of the Indian villages, and new mu- tual promises of friendship and allegiance were made, the de- signs of the French were explained and the French agents were ordered to leave the Indian territory under pain of death or a dungeon. As a result, the Indians refused the privileges, or neglected to perform the promises extorted by the French. The French now attempt to chastise the Iro- quois for their bad faith, and for that purpose marched into their country with a force of soldiers and Indians, burn their villages and strong-holds, kill their women and old men, and carry their warriors to Canada to be held as hostages, or deliv- "red to the Indian allies as victims for torture. To revenge such injuries, the Iroquois, in several instances, put to deatle the Jesuit missionaries who had remained in their country Previously to the French war of 1755, the Dutch and Eng- glish were guilty of the most blame-worthy supineness and negligence in not better protecting the Iroquois from the in- roads of the Frenchi. The foregoing is an imperfect but truth- fal view of the doings and policy of the Dutch and English, the French and the Iroquois, for a period of one hundred years. At times, conscious that they could gain nothing. let whichever party be victorious, the English or the French, that continual contests were destroying their warriors and influence, and drawing the whites upon their territory, they attempted to occupy a neutral position or negotiate indepen- dent treaties of peace, but policy and interest forbid their be- ing allowed these privileges.
In January 1666, the French dispatched a force of 500
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soldiers to chastise the Iroquois for their obstinaney in refus- ing to permit the missionaries to remain among them -- or as appears from a report to the Home government, upon the principle that " no advantage can be expected from these na- tions (Iroquois), except in so far as we (French) appear able to injure them." This force attempted to reach the Mohawks, but after almost incredible hardships and sufferings retreated to Canada after a few slight skirmishes. At the same time, most of the Oneida and Mohawk warriors were absent upon an expedition against a distant tribe called Wampun Makers.
In the following summer the Five Nations sent delegations to Quebec to ask for peace. The French refused to make a treaty until they could send a number of Frenchmen into the Indian country to learn what were the real motives of the natives in asking peace, and accordingly, a party was des- patched for that purpose, escorted by the Mohawks then at Quebec. Upon their route the party learned that several French soldiers had recently been attacked while hunting near Lake Champlain, of whom several were killed and oth- ers taken prisoners by a force of Mohawk warriors. Enrag. ed at this information, the Frenchmen immediately retraced their steps, and ten Oneida chiefs, who had remained at Que- bec, were put in irons at that place as hostages. A force of 300 men was now detached to chastise the Mohawks for this last outrage, but after proceeding a short distance they met a party of Mohawks on their way to Quebec with the French prisoners, taken while hunting as above stated, and as a con- sequence the force again returned to Canada, A general peace was now " pretended" to be made between the French and all the Five Nations. The French, however, believing that the treaty would be made more permanent by a severe chastisement of the Mohawks, immediately (October, 1666)
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sent a force of 1100 regulars, Canadians and Indians, against them. The Mohawks learning of their approach, fled from their castlos, and the French wreaked their vengeance upon their old men, women and children, houses, cattle and corn.
In 1684, the government of Canada determined again to chastise the Iroquois, for the murder of some of the missiona- ries, the robbing and murdering of several traders, and other injuries and insults to the French found in their country.
The French had continued to send Jesuits, traders and spies into the Indian country, although the government of New York had made laws forbidding their entering the territory of the Iroquois, and the Iroquois had promised not to permit the French to remain among them. There was, however, al- ways a party of greater or less influence of the natives in the French interest. The Oneidas and Mohawks do not seem in this instance to have been connected with those murders and robberies, for being nearer the English and Dutch, it is pre- sumed the French did not so freely venture among them. La Barre, the governor of Canada, proceeded with a strong force for the purpose of attacking the Senecas, and after a danger- ous voyage landed at Hungry Bay, in Jefferson Co., where his men, as he reported, encountered disease and death, priva- tions and suffering, in their worst forms. Here the French remained until the arrival of a delegation of chiefs of the Oneidas, Onondagas and Cayugas, who had been in council at Onondaga, and had induced the Senecas to acknowledge their misdeeds and promise an amendment. A treaty of peace was patched up at Hungry Bay, in which the Indians overreached and obtained the advantage of the French. La Barre formed the treaty in opposition to all his officers, and the measure was so unpopular with the army and people of Canada, that he was treated with the greatest insolence and contempt, and he was soon afterwards recalled. The Indians
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were coaxed to enter into the treaty, when many of them were anxious for war, and this too by a General at the head of an invading army, before a blow had been struck. La Barre pretended that he had not previously known that the Five Nations were united in a confederacy, and that to attack the Senecas, was to attack the whole. The Indians had agreed to the treaty, to suit their own purposes, and intended to observe it until they chose to do otherwise, a fact apparent to the whole French army, except its weak commander. The policy of the English at this period is plainly seen in an ex- tract from a report of Gov. Dongan, of New York, to the Board of Trade, in 1687. " The Five Nations are the most warlike people in America, and are a bulwark between us and the French, and all other Indians. They go as far as the south sea, the north-west passage (Mackinaw), and Florida. to war-and indeed they are so considerable that all the In- dians in these parts are tributary to them. I suffer no Chris- tians to converse with them any where but at Albany, and that not without my license." In a report from the Governor of Canada to the government of France, made in 1685, after a full description of the Iroquois, is the following: "It is necessary then to examine the most certain means of destroy- ing and conquering their five villages, which according to the above estimate, may bring into the field about 2000 men bearing arms, and in a condition to go to war." For the next ten years a petty war of incursions aud excursions was car. ried on between the French and Indians.
In 1696, Count Frontenac, Governor of Canada, deter- mined to destroy the Onondagas and Oneidas. On the 27th of July, he landed near Black River with a force of about 3000 soldiers and Indians, and erossed the Oswego River, August 1. Crossing the Onondaga Lake, they erected a fort at the landing place, and then advanced towards the Onon-
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daga castle. For several days they had seen evidences that the Indians were on the alert, and preparing for the invasion. August 3d, the army encamped at a place " called the salt springs, which," says the chronicler, "they truly are, and produce salt enough to make us wish they were near Que- bec." On the 4th the army formed in order of attack in two columns, with the Count carried in a chair between them, and advanced to the Onondaga village-but which, upon their ar- rival, they found entirely deserted. The castle surrounded by a triple row of pickets, the cabins and other buildings were heaps of smouldering ruins. The Indians had all fled into fastnesses of the forest. Immense fields of corn exten- ding from one to two leagues from the fort, large quantities of grain secreted in pits, furs and arms were destroyed by the French. The next day, a Frenchman, who had been a pris- ouer, and an Indian, arrived from Oneida with a belt of wam - pum, asking peace which the Count told them they could only have by removing to Canada, where they would be pro- tected upon lands which would be given. On the 6th, a force of six or seven hundred men under M. de Vaudreuil was de- tached to proceed to the Oneida village, where they arrived carly on the 7th. Upon approaching their village, the Onei- das sent a delegation of chiefs and warriors to request the French commander not to march his force within their town, as they feared his savages would destroy their corn, promising to comply in all things with the wishes of the Count as ex- pressed to their messenger sent to Onondaga. Vaudreuil replied, that it was useless for them to think of preserving their corn, for according to the promise of their father, Count Frontenac, they should not want for food when they had re- moved to Canada, and that he should therefore destroy it all, and that he should also destroy their fort and houses, as dwellings were ready for their reception. Upon entering
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their village, (Co-no-wa-lo-a), the French found but thirty or forty persons, the head chiefs and warriors of the nation, all the other inhabitants having fled into the forests. They also found four French prisoners, among whom was a young French woman, who had just arrived from the Mohawks, and who reported that 300 English and Mohawks were on the way to defend the Oneidas and Onondagas. A Mohawk, who had the previous year escaped from Canada and given the English and Mohawks notice of an intended attack upon the latter, was taken near the Oneida Village, and soon after- wards burned by his savage captors. Several of the Indians found in the village were sent after the fugitives with a hope that they would be induced to return, but without suc- cess. During the 8th the French and their allies remained in the woods near the village, expecting the approach of the English, but none appearing they proceeded to destroy the fort, houses and corn-fields of the Oneidas, and on the 9th re- traced their steps towards Onondaga. The French took with them thirty-five of the principal men of the Oneida nation. who were carried as captives to Canada. On the 12th (of August), Count Frontenac embarked his army upon lake Frontenac (Ontario), upon their return to Canada. The English at Albany and New York had had timely notice of the expedition under Frontenac, and George Fletcher called several meetings of his Council to talk of means for aiding the Iroquois, and they talked of sending 400 men to Onon- daga. The record of one of the meetings of the Council, says respecting this proposition: " The Council do approve there- of, but affirm the impossibility for want of money," &c. Sev- eral members of the Council talked of loaning their personal credit to the colony for 200 pounds each, but while they were talking the French had come and gone. The Oncidas and Mohawks had sent some of their chiefs to Albany, asking for
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men and arms for their protection, knowing their inability to meet so large a foree as was marching against them. Up- on the near approach of the French, the main body of the Oneida Nation had fled to Albany, where they arrived about the 8th of August, and messengers were dispatched to bring the homeless Onondagas to that place also. Having lost their entire crops of corn, these two nations were, during most of the year following, dependent for support upon the govern- ment and people of the colony of New York, and their fami- lies remained at Albany and other places upon the Hudson, until their castles and towns had been rebuilt. In 1687 the Seneca villages had been destroyed in the same manner, by an army under M. Denonville, and in 1690 Schenectady had been destroyed, and the Mohawks jeopardized and alarmed- and the latter raised but small quantities of grain-leaving only the Cayugas, who had not been over-run by the French, to suecor and aid the other four nations.
But the charge of invasion does not apply exclusively to the French. The Iroquois frequently sent out parties to the frontiers of Canada, and who often crossed the boundaries with hostile intentions ; and many parties of French, on both sides, were destroyed or made captives. It was the policy of the French to induce the Indians, as often as possible, to make their treaties in Canada, instead of upon their own territory. After the defeat of the Senecas by Denonville, and early in the year 1688, the French invited about twelve hundred Iroquois to Montreal, to make a treaty ; but while upon their way thither several of their number were murder- ed by a party of Hurons. The Hurons were the allies of the French, but were opposed to peace, and their chief made the Iroquois believe that they had been instigated to these murders by the French. The Iroquois now resolved. upon revenge.
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On the the 26th of July, 1638, they landed upon the island of Montreal, and destroyed about one thousand of the inhabitants, burned their houses, sacked their plantations, and carried off twenty six prisoners, who met death at the stake. In October of this year, they again descended like tigers upon the devoted inhabitants of the lower part of the island, and killed or carried into bondage a large number. Death and desolation followed the Iroquois in these attacks, in their most dreadful forms, and mourning and misery were entailed upon the French emigrants for long years afterwards. Tho destruction of Schenectady was thought to have been in retaliation for these incursions. as the English and Iroquois ' were allies, and the latter were, even in times of peace between England and France, incited by the former to hostility against the French of Canada. In 1698, a permanent peace was established between Canada and the Iroquois, which continued until 1755-the Iroquois as a people. maintaining a position of strict neutrality in the wars between England and Franec. As individuals and adventurers, a few of the Iroquois fought under the banner of either nation, but in their councils the Indians had learned that victory to either side could confer no benefits upon them. During this interval of peace. the French put forth many efforts to induce the Iroquois to remove to Canada, but with little success, as the Indians were too strongly attached to their old hunting grounds. In 1749, Father Millet established a mission station at La Pre. sentation, called by the Indians Surgatchis (now Ogdens- burgh). which he fortified. His object was to induce those of the Six Nations willing to embrace the Catholic faith to remove thither, and thus bring them under the dominion and influence of the French. In the course of about ten years, many families, including about three hundred souls, princi- pally Oneidas and Onondagas. removed thither. Upon the
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