USA > New York > Erie County > Centennial history of Erie County, New York : being its annals from the earliest recorded events to the hundredth year of American independence > Part 7
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Before the council assembled, Miss Powell noticed several chiefs, gravely seated on the ground, preparing for it by painting their faces before small looking-glasses, which they held in their left hands. She declares there were two hundred chiefs present as delegates of the Six Nations, which, as there were not over two thousand warriors in all, was a very liberal allowance of officers.
The chief of each tribe formed a circle in the shade of a tree, while their appointed speaker stood with his back against it. Then the old women came, one by one, with great solemnity, and seated themselves behind the men. 'Miss Powell noted, with evident approval, that "on the banks of Lake Erie a woman
72
" CAPTAIN DAVID."
becomes respectable as she grows old;" and added that, though the ladies kept silent, nothing was decided without their appro- bation.
Their fair visitor was wonderfully taken with the manly ap- pearance of the Iroquois warriors, and declared that "our beaux look quite insignificant beside them." She was especially pleased with one who was called "Captain David," of whom she gave a very full account. Indians wearing the old clothes of white men are common enough now, but a full-fledged Iroquois beau of the last century was an altogether different personage, and I will therefore transcribe the substance of the lady's glowing de- scription.
She declared that the Prince of Wales did not bow with more grace than "Captain David." He spoke English with propriety. His person was tall and fine as it was possible to imagine ; his features handsome and regular, with a countenance of much softness ; his complexion not disagreeably dark, and, said Miss P., " I really believe he washes his face ;" the proof being that she saw no signs of paint forward of his ears.
His hair was shaved off, except a little on top of his head, which, with his ears, was painted a glowing red. Around his head was a fillet of silver, from which two strips of black velvet, covered with silver beads and brooches, hung over the left tem- ple. A " fox-tail feather" in his scalp lock, and a black one be- hind each ear, waved and nodded as he walked, while a pah of immense silver ear-rings hung down to his shoulders.
He wore a calico shirt, the neck and shoulders thickly covered with silver brooches, the sleeves confined above the elbows with broad silver bracelets, engraved with the arms of England, while four smaller ones adorned his wrists. Around his waist was a dark scarf, lined with scarlet, which hung to his feet, while his costume was completed by neatly fitting blue cloth leggins, fast- ened with an ornamental garter below the knee.
Such was the most conspicuous gentleman of Erie county ninety-one years ago, and Miss Powell enthusiastically declared that "Captain David made the finest appearance I ever saw in my life."
Now and then some fair English maiden has been so smitten with the appearance of a native American warrior as to become
73
CONFLICTING CLAIMS.
his bride, and make her residence within his wigwam. Miss Powell, however, was not quite so much charmed by Captain David as that, since she returned to Fort Erie that evening on her way to Detroit, leaving Lord Edward Fitzgerald and others to be entertained that night by the dancing of their dusky friends.
As was stated in Chapter VIII, the colonies of Massachu- setts and New York had charters under which they could both claim not only all Central and Western New York, but a strip of land running through to the Pacific ocean, or at least to the Mississippi. About the close of the Revolution, however, both Massachusetts and New York ceded to the United States all claim to the territory west of a line drawn south from the west- ern extremity of Lake Ontario, being the present western bound- ary of Chautauqua county.
After divers negotiations regarding the rest of the disputed territory, commissioners from the two States interested met at Hartford, in December, 1786, to endeavor to harmonize their claims. It was then and there agreed that Massachusetts should yield all claim to the land east of the present east line of On- tario and Steuben counties. Also that west of that line New York should have the political jurisdiction and sovereignty, while Massachusetts should have the title, or fee-simple, of the land, subject to the Indian right of occupancy.
That is to say, the Indians could hold the land as long as they pleased, but were only allowed to sell to the State of Mas -. sachusetts or her assigns. This title, thus encumbered, was called the preëmption right, literally the right of first purchas- ing. New York, however, reserved a tract a mile wide, along the eastern shore of the Niagara, from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. As, by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the lands of the Six Nations only came within four miles of the river, and did not extend west of a line running due south from the mouth of Buffalo creek, it is probable that the United States had since released the tract in New York west of that line to the Indians, in response to their numerous complaints.
While these events were transpiring a combination (a "ring" it would now be called) was formed by prominent men in New York and Canada, to get control of the Indian lands in this
6
74
LAND RINGS.
State. Two companies were organized, "The New York and Genesee Land Company," of which one John Livingston was the manager, and the "Niagara Genesee Company," composed principally of Canadians, with Col. John Butler at the head. With him were associated Samuel Street, of Chippewa, Captain Powell, the friend of the captives, William Johnston, afterwards of Buffalo, and Benjamin Barton, of New Jersey.
As the State constitution forbade the sale of Indian lands to individuals, these companies, working together, sought to evade it by a lease. So great was the influence of Butler and his friends that in 1787 the Six Nations, or some chiefs claiming to act for them, gave the New York and Genesee Company a lease of all their lands (except some small reservations) for nine hun- dred and ninety-nine years. The consideration was to be twenty thousand dollars, and an annual rental of two thousand.
The next winter the lessees applied to the legislature for a re- cognition of their lease, but the intent to evade the law was too plain ; the petition was promptly rejected and the lease declared void.
Many of the chiefs, whether truly or not, declared this lease to have been made without authority. We may note, as con- firming what has been said of the influence of the female sex among these savages, that in a letter sent by several chiefs from Buffalo creek, in the spring of 1788, they say the lease is void, "since not one sachem nor principal woman had given their consent."
The lease having been declared void, the lessees next pro- posed to procure a conveyance by the Indians of all their lands to the State, provided the State would reimburse Livingston and his associates for all their expenses, and convey to them half the land. This specimen of "cheek" can hardly be exceeded even in these progressive days, considering that, by this propo- sition, Livingston, Butler and company would have got some four or five million acres of the finest land in America as a free gift. However, the proposition was promptly rejected.
In 1788 Massachusetts sold all her land in New York, about six million acres, to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, act- ing on behalf of themselves and others, for one million dollars, in three equal annual installments, the purchasers being at lib-
75
A COUNCIL CALLED.
erty to pay in certain stocks of that State, then worth about twenty cents on the dollar.
The purchase was subject of course to the Indian right of oc- cupancy. Phelps, the active man of the firm, made an arrange- ment with Livingston, who agreed, doubtless for a consideration, to help him negotiate a treaty with the Indians. But mean- while there was a disagreement between Livingston's and But- ler's companies, and when Phelps arrived at Geneva, where a council was to have been held, he learned that Butler and Brant had assembled the Indians at Buffalo creek, and had persuaded them not to meet with either Livingston or Phelps. Finding that Butler and his friends had the most influence over the savages, Phelps went to Niagara, came to a satisfactory ar- rangement with them, and then procured the calling of a coun- cil at Buffalo creek.
It assembled on the fifth of July. The proceedings were very quiet and harmonious, for Butler and Brant made every- thing move smoothly. There was little dispute, little excite- ment, and none of those impassioned bursts of eloquence for which Indian orators have become famous; yet the noted men present at that council make it one of the most remarka- ble assemblages ever convened in the county of Erie. A sepa- rate chapter will therefore be devoted to it and them.
76
THAYENDENEGEA.
CHAPTER XI.
THE COUNCIL.
Brant .- Butler .- Kirkland .- Phelps .- Farmer's Brother .- Red Jacket. - Cornplant- er .- The Mill-seat .- The Bargain .- Butler's Pay.
By far the most celebrated personage present in the council on Buffalo creek in July, 1788, was the Mohawk chieftain, called in his native tongue Thayendenegea, but denominated Joseph when he was taken under the patronage of Sir William Johnson, and known to fame throughout England and America by the name of Brant. A tall, spare, sinewy man of forty-five, with an intelligent but sinister countenance, gorgeously appar- eled in a dress which was a cross between that of a British offi- cer and of an Indian dandy, his gaudy blanket thrown back from his shoulders to display his gold epaulets, and his mili- tary coat eked out by the blue breech-cioth and leggins of the savage, the vain but keen-witted Mohawk doubtless enjoyed himself as the observed of all observers, but at the same time kept a sharp lookout for the main chance ; having acquired a · decidedly civilized relish for land and money.
Brant has acquired a terrible reputation as a bold and blood- thirsty leader of savages, but it would appear as if both his vices and his virtues were of the civilized-or semi-civilized- stamp. He had a mind which took easily to the instruction of the white man-though his education was only mediocre-and before the Revolution he had become a kind of private secretary to Col. Guy Johnson ; a position that to a thorough-going In- dian would have been irksome in the extreme. Even the Mo- hawks did not then look up to him as a great warrior, and on the outbreak of hostilities chose as their chief his nephew, Peter Johnson, son of Sir William by Brant's sister Molly.
But the British found Brant the most intelligent of the In- dians, and by using him they could most easily insure coopera- tion in their own plans. They therefore intrusted him with nu-
77
COLONEL BUTLER.
merous expeditions, and the Mohawks readily yielded to his authority. So, too, perhaps, did some of the Cayugas and On- ondagas, but the evidence is strong that the Senecas never obeyed him. After the war, however, he was looked up to by all the Indians, on account of his influence with the British officials.
In the matter of cruelty, too, though perhaps not a very hu- mane man according to our standard, he was much less savage than most of his countrymen, and there is abundant evidence of his having many times saved unfortunate prisoners from torture .
or death. Albeit there is also evidence of his having taken some lives needlessly, but never of his inflicting torture.
As he grew older he affected more and more the style of an English country gentleman, at his hospitable residences at Brant- ford and Burlington Bay, and finally died, in 1807, in the odor of sanctity, a member of the Episcopal church and a translator of the Scriptures into the Mohawk dialect !
Another active participant in the council, with a reputation scarcely less extensive or less sinister, was Col. John Butler, the leader of " Butler's Rangers," the commander at the far-famed " Massacre of Wyoming," the terror of ten thousand families, the loyal gentleman of British records, the "infamous Butler " of border history.
In this case, as in many others, probably the devil was not so black as he has been painted, but he was a good deal of a devil after all. The " Massacre of Wyoming," as I have said, is per- haps hardly entitled to that name. But Colonel Butler was the most active agent in sending and leading the savages against the frontier, knowing that it was impossible at times to restrain them from the most horrible outrages. Again and again they mur- dered individuals and families in cold blood ; again and again they dragged women and children from their homes hundreds of miles through the snows of winter, often slaughtering those too feeble to travel ; and again and again John Butler, the great military authority of all this region, sent or led them to a repe- tition of similar scenes-and they were good for little else --- easily satisfying his conscience by sometimes procuring the re- lease of a prisoner.
A native of Connecticut, a man of education and intelligence,
78
SAMUEL KIRKLAND.
once a judge of the county of Tryon, then a bold, active and relentless partisan commander, cheering on his rangers and Sen- ecas at Wyoming, sword in hand, without his uniform and with a red 'kerchief tied around his head, Butler was in 17SS an agreeable appearing gentleman of fifty-five or sixty, stout and red-faced, in cocked hat and laced coat, with unbounded influ- ence over the Indians, and determined to use it so as to make a good thing for himself out of the lands of Western New York.
There, too, was the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the agent of Mas- sachusetts, a man of noble character and varied experience. Twenty-three years before, then a young man just graduated from college, he had devoted himself to the missionary cause among the Indians, going at first among these same Senecas, and making many friends, though meeting with some very dis- heartening adventures. Then he had taken up his home with the Oneidas and labored among them with some intermissions nearly forty years, ever receiving their most earnest affection and respect. It had been largely owing to his influence that that tribe had remained neutral during the revolution. Congress had employed him in various patriotic services throughout that struggle, and during Sullivan's campaign he had served as bri- gade chaplain. Fourteen years after the events we are now relating, he gained a new title to public gratitude by becoming the founder of Hamilton College, (though it then received only the modest title of Hamilton Oneida Academy,) giving it a liberal endowment out of lands granted him by the State for his services.
On this occasion he acted not only as agent for Massachusetts but as one of the interpreters, there being three others, one of whom was William Johnston. This is the first positive appear- ance of one who was afterwards to exercise a powerful influence over the future of Buffalo-who was, in fact, to decide whether there should be any city of Buffalo or not. There is, however, little doubt that he was identical with the "Lieutenant Johnson," heretofore mentioned, who visited the Senecas in 17So, and also with the Lieutenant Johnson whom Mrs. Jemison mentions as taking part in the Cherry Valley raid.
Shrewd, persistent, enterprising, a typical business man of the day was Oliver Phelps, a Connecticut Yankee by birth, a
79
FARMER'S BROTHER.
son of the Bay State by adoption, a New Yorker by subsequent residence. He had been an active and influential participant in the Revolution, and was now, as the agent of an association of Massachusetts speculators, negotiating for the purchase of a principality. Removing soon after to Canandaigua, and super- intending there the sale of the vast domain which he and his associates had purchased, he was to the day of his death looked up to with profound respect by the residents of "Phelps and Gorham's Purchase." But his keenness in a bargain is well illus- trated by a transaction at this very council, narrated a little further on.
Among the Indian owners of the land the most eminent was Honayewus, who had for several years been recognized as prin- cipal war-chief of the Senccas, and who had lately received the name of "Farmer's Brother" from the lips of Washington. The latter, anxious to make agriculture respectable among the Indi- ans, declared himself a farmer in conversation with Honayewus, and also saluted him as his brother. The chieftain, proud of the attention paid him by the great hero of the pale-faces, readily accepted the title of "Farmer's Brother," and cre long was uni- versally known by that name among the whites.
A strong, stalwart warrior, of gigantic frame and magnificent proportions, straight as an arrow, though nearly sixty years old, plainly attired in full Indian costume, with eagle eye, frank, open countenance, commanding port and dignified demcanor, Honayewus was, more than Brant, or Red Jacket, or Cornplant- er, the beau idcal of an Iroquois chief. Though an eloquent orator, second only to Red Jacket in all the Six Nations, he was preeminently a warrior, and as such had been followed by the Senecas through many a carnival of blood. It is to be pre- sumed, too, that he had had his share in scenes of cruelty, for, though a pcaccable man in peace, he was a savage like his brethren, and, like a savage, he waged war to the knife.
Thirty years before he had been one of the leaders in the ter- rible tragedy of the Devil's Hole, when nearly a hundred Eng- lish soldiers were ambushed and slain, and flung down into the darksome gorge. He had borne his part in many a border foray throughout the Revolution, had led the fierce charge of the Sen- ccas when they turned the scale of battle at Wyoming, and had
So
RED JACKET.
perhaps been an actor in the more dreadful scenes of Cherry Valley. Now he had become the friend of peace, the foe of in- temperance, the conservator of order ; and wherever a Seneca village was found, on the banks of the Buffalo or the Cattarau- gus, of the Genesee or the Allegany, the presence of Farmer's Brother was greeted, the name of Honayewus was heard, with the respect due to valor, wisdom and integrity.
There, too, was the more celebrated but less respected leader, who had lately been made a chief by the honorable name of Sagoyewatha, "The Keeper Awake," (literally, "he keeps them awake"-a tribute to his oratorical powers which many a con- gressman might envy,) but who was generally known among the whites by the ridiculous appellation which he transmitted to his descendants, the far-famed Red Jacket.
Hé, too, had been an actor in the border wars, but had gained no laurels in them. Brant and Cornplanter both hated him, de- claring him to be both a coward and a traitor. They were accustomed to tell of the time when he made a glowing speech, urging the Senecas to battle, but, while the conflict was going on, was discovered cutting up the cow of another Indian, which he had killed. He was at that time frequently called "The Cow-Killer," and that name was inserted in two or three public documents, being afterwards crossed out and "Red Jacket" substituted.
The treason with which he was charged seems to have con- sisted in making various efforts for peace, during Sullivan's campaign, without the sanction of the war-chiefs. At one time he is said to have clandestinely sent a runner to the American camp, inviting a flag of truce. Brant heard of the proceeding, and had the unlucky messenger intercepted and killed. Proba- bly some of the stories regarding his timidity and treachery are false, but there are a good many of them, and they all point the same way.
Notwithstanding all this, such was the charm of his eloquence, of which the Iroquois were always great admirers, and such the clearness of his intellect, that he was rapidly gaining in influence, and had been made a chief ; that is, as I understand it, a civil chief, or counselor of the sachems.
At the beginning of the Revolution he was a youth of about
SI
CORNPLANTER.
twenty. The British officers had been attracted by his intelli- gence, and had frequently employed him as a messenger, for which he was as well qualified by his fleetness of foot as by his shrewdness of mind. They had compensated him by a succes- sion of red jackets, in which he took great pride, and from which he derived his name.
Slender of form and subtle of face, clad in the most gorgeous of Indian raiment, Sagoyewatha doubtless attracted the atten- tion of the whites, but he had little opportunity to display his powers, for Brant and the omnipotent Butler had got everything arranged in the most satisfactory manner.
There, too, was Captain John O'Bail, or Abeel, more widely known as Cornplanter. Half white by blood, but thoroughly Indian by nature, he had been one of the bravest and most suc- cessful chiefs of the Senecas during the war, but was now under a cloud among his people, because of his assent to the treaty of Fort Stanwix. He is said by Mrs. Jemison to have captured his own father, the old white trader, John Abeel, in one of his raids, but to have released him after taking him a few miles.
Farmer's Brother and Red Jacket both lived on Buffalo creek, but Cornplanter's residence was on the Allegany, in Pennsylva- nia, where a band of Senecas looked up to him as their leader.
Sayengeraghta, "Old King," or "Old Smoke," as he was vari- ously termed, was, if living, still the principal civil sachem of the Senecas, but his mildness and modesty prevented his taking a prominent part among so many great warriors and orators.
Besides all these there was a host of inferior chiefs, whose rank gave them a right to take part in the council, while close by were the other warriors of the tribes, painted and plumed, who had no vote in the proceedings, but who, in the democratic system of the Six Nations, might have a potent influence if they chose to exercise it.
A number of British officers from Forts Niagara and Erie added splendor to the scene, and last, not least, was a row of old squaws, mothers in Israel, seated in modest silence behind the chiefs, but prepared if need be to express an authoritative opinion on the merits of the case-a right which would have been recognized by all.
Such was the varied scene, and such the actors in it, on the banks of Buffalo creek, a little over eighty-seven years ago.
82
A LARGE MILL-SEAT.
The council, as I have said, was very harmonious. The Indi- ans were willing to sell a part of their land, and apparently were not very particular about the price. The only dispute was whether the west line of the territory sold should be along the Genesee river or, as Phelps desired, some distance this side. The Indians insisted that the Great Spirit had fixed on that stream as the boundary between them and the whites.
After several days discussion, Phelps suggested that he wanted to build some mills at the falls of the Genesee, (now" Rochester,) which would be very convenient for Indians as well as whites. Would his red brethren let him have a mill-seat, and land enough for convenience around it.
Oh, yes, certainly, mills would be a fine thing, and their white brother should have a mill-seat. How much land did he want for that purpose ?
After due deliberation Phelps replied that he thought a strip about twelve miles wide, extending from Avon to the mouth of the river, twenty-eight miles, would be about right !
The Indians thought that would be a pretty large mill-seat, but as they supposed the Yankees knew best what was necessary for the purpose they let him have the land. As it contained something over 200,000 acres it was probably the largest mill- seat ever known.
From Avon south, the west line of the purchase was to run along the Genesee to the mouth of the Caneseraga, and thence due south to the Pennsylvania line. This was "Phelps and Gor- ham's Purchase." It included about 2,600,000 acres, and the price was left by the complaisant aborigines to Col. Butler, Joseph Brant and Elisha Lee, Mr. Kirkland's assistant. They fixed the price at five thousand dollars in hand, and five hun- dred dollars annually, forever. This was about equal to twelve thousand dollars in cash, or half a cent an acre.
Two weeks later we find Col. Butler calling on Mr. Phelps by letter for a conveyance of twenty thousand acres of the land, in accordance with a previous arrangement. Phelps duly trans- ferred the land to the persons designated by Butler. Consider- ing that the colonel had been one of the referees to fix the price, this transfer looks as if some of the Indian operations of that era would not bear investigating any better than those of later date.
83
THE FIRST WHITE RESIDENT.
.
CHAPTER XII.
FROM 1788 TO 1797.
" Skendyoughwatti."-First White Resident .- A Son of Africa .- The Holland Pur- chase .- Proctor's Visit .- British Influence .- Woman's Rights. - Final Fail- ure. - The Indians Insolent .- Wayne's Victory .- Johnston, Middaugh and Lane .- The Forts Surrendered .- Asa Ransom .- The Mother's Strategy. - First White Child .- The Indians Sell Out .- Reservations.
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