USA > New York > Livingston County > Nunda > Centennial history of the town of Nunda : with a preliminary recital of the winning of western New York, from the fort builders age to the last conquest by our Revolutionary forefathers > Part 2
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 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
This two-fold story of successive possession and of successive divisions of these possessions will tell us at least what this century has inherited from its predecessors.
CHAPTER I.
THE WINNING OF GA-NUN-NO ATTAINED BY THE WINNING OF WESTERN NEW YORK.
W HAT we so proudly call the Empire State, what our European predeces- sors, or would be possessors, called variously New Netherlands, "the Colony of New York" and New France, the Six Nations finally called Ga-nun-no. It seems to be a word coined by them after the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or Long House of the Iroquois extended beyond the Genesee River to the Niagara. and included the new possessions of the Nunda-wao, won principally by this war- like Fifth Nation, from the Kah Kwas and Eries, that is, it included Greater Nunda, and by this increase of western domain finally their long house reached across the state.
The winning of Western New York by the Senecas, aided at times by the entire Confederacy. belongs within the period of reliable history, for the Dutch were at Manhattan and Beaverswick (Albany), and the French at
15
Montreal and the British had settlements from Portsmouth to Jamestown. when most of these victories were won. The coming of these three European nations, in three successive years, to the Atlantic coast, England in 1607. France in 1608 and Holland in 1609, inaugurates the conquest with the native Americans for possession of the entire Indian Ga-nun-no.
From 1609 we may follow this trail of progress pursued by Hudson up the river that bears his name, or of Champlain down Lake Champlain and Lake George, and find both are intercepted by the keepers of the Eastern door, of the "Long House," and both unconsciously make acquaintance with the rightful owners of the soil, that neither of them could dispossess or conquer. Little did either know, or care, of this "five-fold-cord" compared with which any other Indian Nation, or Holland, or even France, was simply a single strand.
The Indians (the Mohawks) here waged their first warfare with the white men and here learned how white men flash death with gleam of lightning and sound of thunder at their foes, and they little suspected that the "fire water" that Hudson's tars had given the Indians to drink, and not the firearms of Champlain, would cost them ultimately the loss of their greatest Long House, afterwards called Ga-nun-no. It was Champlain and his allies who retreated from the greater numbers and greater valor of the Mohawks. The east door was secure, and no force from New France could find an open door to the south through which they could dispossess the less warlike Hollanders who stood only on the threshold of an imperial domain. Well for the Dutch that the Iroquois' wall of protection stayed the invaders ; well also for Great Britain that the French did not reach the Hudson and Manhattan ; well also that the Hollanders soon formed an alliance with the Iroquois, whose "silver chain" was never broken ; well for the aggressive Briton that he in his turn renewed the covenant when he in 1664 changed the New Netherlands to the colony of New York, and soon gained as allies the strongest power on the continent : well even for the future colonists that the alliance of the British with the Five Nations, and the alliance of France with the mortal enemies of the Iroquois. the Huron tribes, led to battles many and losses great, which decimated all these belligerants, while it educated the men destined to conquer the conquer- ors, better than a dozen military schools could have done, how to be stronger than the strong, braver than the brave, greater in war than other great war- riors, but greatest in peace when plowshares should succeed swords and prun- ing hooks should supersede spears.
In warring against France and her Indian allies, Washington learned how to be "first in war," Wayne, Putnam, Ethan Allen, Nathaniel Green, Benedict Arnold and his more loyal brothers, and lesser chieftains who commanded companies like Captain Jacob S. Glen and Captain Elias Hand, and his kins- men, not officers, and thousands of others who became skilled veterans, expert Indian fighters, by learning of the Senecas. the value of strategy of the Onon- dagos to "hasten slowly," to weigh important matters before acting, learned to attack rather than be attacked, learned that through obedience to orders the victory planned can generally be won, that if all obey the same commands. every man's strength and ability is multiplied by the entire numerical force, be it counted by tens, hundreds or thousands. It was thus that the contest
16
with the French and Hurons, with the British and the Iroquois, was the "West Point" that furnished generals their field, staff and line officers, and what was no less important, a patriot army of veterans, who knew every weak point of their adversaries, whether regular, tory or Indian, and every strong point essential to those fighting for freedom, country and home, with the full assur- ance that their cause was just, and that the God of Battles was their strongest ally.
Much as we have all heard of the wrongs of the Indians, we should re- member that every acre of land, even those bought with blood, was again bought by purchase of its rightful owners, the Indians; bought, too, in many of the greatest purchases with a view of the money being so paid as to be a permanent benefit to those who sold, and to this day these wards of our gov- ernment are yearly receiving a helpful income. Unlike the pensions that were finally given to the army that conquered the British and their Indian allies, which pension extended to only two generations, the annuity the Indians re- ceived, even for lands that were first won from them by conquest, is to be paid as long as heirs are found, generation after generation, absolutely forever while the red man exists. This pledge to our foes, those who were true to the British in one war, and equally true to their successors in another, "goes on" like the waters of the Genesee "forever and forever."
The sale, first of Staten Island followed by Manhatten Island, where New York City was built. the first city in point of time in the new country and now the first city in importance, the metropolis of the New World, which has its center on that island, was sold for twenty-five dollars. This was the opening wedge that resulted in successive divisions by sale until most of the "reserva- tions" passed from their possession and only a few of these now remain, and the great "Ga-nun-no" of the Indian has become what our greatest American, George Washington, first called it, the Empire State.
Western New York, or rather that part west of the Genesee River, and also much of the debatable lands that others besides the Senecas once consid- ered their hunting grounds, had first to be won from several very strong and powerful Indian Nations before the Seneca Long-House, the Nunda-wa-o domin- ion, could extend beyond the mountains to the Eries, or to the Niagara country of the Neutrals.
CHAPTER II.
OUR PREDECESSORS.
"Since the first sunlight spread itself o'er earth ; Since Chaos gave a thousand systems birth ;
Since first the morning stars together sung ;
Since first this globe was on its axis hung ;
Untiring change, with ever moving hand,
Has waved o'er earth its more than magic wand."
W ESTERN New York has its own story of perpetual change. Much of its territory was for several decades on debatable hunting lands. The Keshaqua Valley and the upper Genesee have passed within a thousand years under the jurisdiction of at least four different Indian nations.
17
while during the same time as many other civilized nations have held nominal claims over the same territory. Back of the Senecas, the Eries were in a part of Western New York, neighbors to the Senecas, were the Neutrals, Kah- Kwas. or Ottawandaronks and still farther back, the Satanas or Andastes. who we are told were driven from lands south of Lake Ontario, the first vic- tims of the Nunda-wa-os prowess.
The Allegewi preceded all of these. If the changes seem kaleidoscopic are the European changes less so? Spain, after 1492, claimed the entire conti- nent. France, after the advent of Champlain, claimed Northern and Western New York for nearly one hundred and fifty years. Holland passively claimed the entire state from 1609 to 1664. Great Britain disputed the claim of France and with force of arms conquered the New Netherlands and made good her claim to New York, as far as France or Holland was concerned, and also won a province from France besides, not her own, which has proved so far to her a perpetuity. In less than a quarter of a century after adding Canada as a permanent province, she lost an empire. The Colonists, her successors, found · themselves free in 1783 though impoverished, but also found the Iroquois still the real possessors of the soil, still "Lords of the forest and lakes."
Even tradition cannot extend its filmy touch far beyond the pre-colonial days. The remnant of the vanquished Satanas, who in their day supplanted one of the successors of the Fort and Mound builders, probably the Allegany Indians, were driven south, and were merged with the Shawnees of Kentucky or were Shawnees, according to Bertram, who says in his "Travels and Obser- vations in America" (1757). "It is against this people, the Shawnees, the Six Nations first turned their arms with success after they, the Iroquois, had fled before the warlike Adirondacks."
This is of special interest to us, who now occupy their ancient possessions and hunting grounds. He makes the Satanas and Shawnees the same nation. our first historic predecessors.
THE IROQUOIS-HIAWATHA AND THE CONFEDERACY.
I N the story of the winning of Western New York so many of the great conquests that led to it were wrought by the confederated tribes, or the Five Nations, in united effort that a statement of their organization and achievements seems essential, although all the lands acquired by conquests that affected our immediate territory became the possession of our last pred ecessors. the Seneca or Nunda-wa-o Indians. As near as can be ascertained this confederacy dates back to 1450 and is therefore pre-Columbian. Who their Hi-a-wa-tha was that caused their organization is but a matter of con- jecture or tradition. Possibly he was of Welch and Wyandot origin for he displays wisdom and ability far transcending the ordinary Indian foresight and acumen. The name Hiawatha signifies "very wise man." That we may have a characteristic sketch of Indian wisdom and eloquence we copy the re- puted speech of Hiawatha to the Five Nations:
"Friends and Brothers-You are members of many tribes and nations You have come here, many of you. a great distance from your homes. We have convened for one common purpose. to promote one commn interest, and that is to provide for our mutual safety, and how it may best be accomplished.
18
!
To oppose these hordes of northern foes by tribes, singly and alone, would prove our certain destruction ; we can make no progress in that way: we must unite ourselves into one common band of brothers. Our warriors united would surely repel these rude invaders and drive them from our borders. This must be done and we shall be safe.
"You, the Mohawks. sitting under the shadow of the 'great tree,' whose roots sink deep into the earth, and whose branches spread over a vast country, shall be the first nation, because you are warlike and mighty.
"And you Oneidas, a people who recline your bodies against the 'everlast- ing stone' that cannot be moved, shall be the second nation, because you give wise counsel.
"And you O-nonda-gas, who have your habitation at the 'great mountain are not overshadowed by its crags, shall be the third nation, because you are greatly gifted in speech and mighty in war.
"And you Cayugas, a people whose habitation is the 'dark forest' and whose home is everywhere, shall be the fourth nation, because of your su perior cunning in hunting.
"And you Senecas, a people who live in the open country and possess much wisdom, shall be the fifth nation, because you understand better the art of raising corn and beans and making cabins.
"You five great and powerful nations must unite and have one common interest and no foe shall be able to disturb or subdue you.
"And you Manhattans, Nyacks, Metoaoks and others, who are as the feeble bushes ; and you Naragansetts, Mohegans, Wampanoags and your neighbors who are a fishing people, may place yourselves under our protection Be with us and we will defend you. You of the South, and you of the West may do the same, and we will protect you. We earnestly desire your alliance and friendship.
"Brothers, if we unite in this bond the Great Spirit will smile upon us. and we shall be free, prosperous and happy. But if we remain as we are we shall be subject to his frown : we shall be enslaved, ruined, perhaps annihi- lated forever. We shall perish and our names be blotted out from among the nations of men.
"Brothers, these are the words of Hiawatha. Let them sink deep into your hearts. I have said it."
A day was taken for mature deliberation, which was characteristic of the Iroquois. To this wise custom lies much of their power in council and in war Assembled the next day, the wisdom of the proposition was unanimously con- ceded. and there was formed that celebrated league of the Five Nations which no external power has effectually broken. The Sixth Nation, the Southern Tuscaroras or potato tribe. were not added until 1713.
The divine conception of Hiawatha, formed years after his death, must have been shaped after the Indians had heard from the Jesuits of the white man's divine man, Jesus, or still earlier from the Welch settlers who, tradition says, were merged with the Southern Indians many centuries before. It is evident that this league was not formed until after the Iroquois were driven out of Canada. for their location is easily recognized.
19
The parting words of Hiawatha are instructive and indicate that the Sen- ecas had been the chief beneficiaries of the instructions of this marvelous teacher. Hiawatha also said :
"Friends and Brothers-I have now fulfilled my mission upon earth. I have done everything which can be done at present for the good of this great people. Age, infirmity and distress (his only daughter had just died) set heavy upon me. During my sojourn with you I have removed all obstruc- tions from the streams ; Canoes can now pass safely everywhere. I have given you good fishing waters and good hunting grounds. I have taught you the manner of cultivating corn and beans, and instructed you in the art of making cabins. Many other blessings I have liberally bestowed upon you.
"Lastly, I have now assisted you to form an everlasting league, and cov- enant of strength and friendship for your future safety and protection. If you preserve it, without the admission of other people, you will always be free, numerous and mighty. If other nations are admitted to your councils they will sow jealousies among you, and you will become enslaved, few and feeble. Remember these words, they are the last you will hear from the lips of Hiawatha. Listen, my friends, the Great Master of Breath calls me to go. I have patiently waited his summons. I am ready ; farewell."
I have only to record the rest of this Iroquois tradition to show how the superstitions of this race gain ready credence with them all. They had some- time heard of the marvelous coming and going of the white man's "Prophet, Priest and King" and the red man's Benefactor. so full of the spirit of his great predecessor-must come like an Indian, live like an Indian, and depart (in a canoe) like an Indian-but otherwise like the white man's Divine Teacher and Guide-ascend (in his white canoe) canopied in clouds.
PRINCE MADOC: A WELCH TRADITION
There are many corroborations of the theory that certain tribes of the Indians, notably the Tuscaroras, were of lighter color than the majority of Indians. More inclined to peace, sometimes they were spoken of with ridicule because of this as squawmen. Back of all this is the Welch tradition of Prince Madoc, Madog or Madawes ; the last probably correct ; departure from Wales in 1170. This is confirmed by Welsh historians and his acts perpetuated by Welsh bards.
The ruling prince of North Wales, Owen Guynedd, died A. D. 1168, and a contest for the succession produced civil war. Prince Madoc, who had com- mand of the the fleet, took no part in the strife, but with a few ships sailed westward to select a place of settlement. According to the Historian Baldwin, he established a settlement in a pleasant and fertile region, supposed to have been in the Carolinas. Catlin believes it to have been on the coast of Florida or about the mouth of the Mississippi. Baldwin calls attention, in advancing his theory of settlement, to the fact that the Tuscaroras lived in the Carolinas, and he further says: "It will be recollected that in the early colony times the Tuscaroras were sometimes called White Indians. The writer has elsewhere read that the Rev. Morgan Jones, a Welsh clergyman, published his adven- tures among the Tuscaroras in the Gentlemen's Magazine in 1740 from a rem- iniscence made March 10, 1685. It appears from this he was captured by the
20
.
Tuscaroras in 1660 and while doomed to the stake, he prayed aloud in Welsh to Jesus, his Master, to save, and his tormentors knew the language and un- bound him and called him brother, and that for four months he preached to them and conversed with them, and that they (Doegs) entertained him civilly and courteously. Though this story is regarded by many "as apocry- phal" it is not by any means an impossibility. It is more than a hint of the origin of our Fort builders from the Mississippi to Oswego. And to one of the race of the peaceful Welsh Prince, surcharged with the Spirit of the "Prince of Peace" that we may read between the lines, if we choose, the real origin and source of strength of the red man's "Great Wise Man," Hiawatha, who taught them to build cabins instead of bark wigwams, plant orchards and cultivate the soil, and band together for protection rather than for aggression.
CHAPTER III.
THE CONQUERED IROQUOIS BECOME CONQUERORS.
I [N Longfellow's poem of Hiawatha he evidently endorsed the opinion and theory of Lewis H. Morgan, an authority on Indian races and their lands, that the Iroquois separated very early from the original family that produced the great Dakotalı Nation and settled in the East previous to the settlement of the Algonquins who were in possession of the Canadas when first this country was visited by Europeans as he sends Hiawatha back to their kindred, the Dakotas, for wife.
The Iroquois were once a peaceful people and followed agricultural pur- suits, while the Adirondacks were great hunters. The latter despised the former because of their cultivation of corn, which they exchanged with the hunters for venison. It chanced that game failed the hunters from scarcity and they employed some of the young Iroquois to help them in hunting. These young men became more expert than themselves, could endure fatigue better than themselves, which excited anger and jealousy of the Adirondacks. and chagrin by being excelled so soon by their despised neighbors.
Unwilling to be excelled in strength, endurance or skill, they murdered. one night. all the young men they had with them. This brought complaint from the supposed weaklings and, deeming them incapable of taking any great revenge, they tried to lay the blame on the murdered men. but suggested some trifling presents to be given to the relatives of the murdered men.
The Five Nations, resolved on revenge, and their enemies hearing of their purpose, determined to prevent this, by reducing them with force to obedience.
The Five Nations then lived where Mont-Real (Montreal) now stands. They defended themselves but feebly at first against the vigorous attacks of their adversary and were forced to leave their own country and find a new home on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. They saw the necessity of becoming as expert in war as they had been skilled in the art of peace. They tried their new spirit of warfare on the less warlike Satanas and drove them from their country which they occupied, and from that time defended and even carried the war into the villages of the Adirondacks and finally forced them to leave them and to fly into that part of the country where Quebec is now built.
21
The French having placed firearms in the hands of the neighboring Hurons they all joined in the war against the Iroquois, but the rashness of the young warriors, and their impatience and neglect of orders, neutralized their superior strength, and when opposed by the superior strategy of the Iroquois, who drew them into successive ambushes that caused disastrous losses. The persistence of the Iroquois relaxed only with the complete dispersion and almost utter annihilation of all their former persecutors.
CHAPTER IV. A SUCCESSION OF CONQUESTS
W ITH the same deadly vehemence they pursued all their enemies, begin- ning a career of successive conquests with the Andastes to the South, the Neutrals and Eries to the West, the Adirnodacks and other Hurons to the North, their vengence never satiated until their foes sued for unity, or were wiped out of existence as nations. The dictators of the continent, their sway ex- tended over a territory thought to be 1,200 miles long by 800 miles, includ- ing a large part of New England and reaching thence to the "father of waters." while the French occupants of Canada, and the Cherokees and Catawbas in the far South, were humbled by their power, but their actual leagued possessions were from Albany to Niagara.
From those they subdued they exacted tribute and levied conscripts. From the extent of their conquests, the tribute and aid they exacted, suggested to the French Volney the name he gave them, and which clung to them from its very appropriateness, "The Romans of the Western World." Their conquests com- menced when they could bring into the field but two thousand braves, and virtually ended when with 5,000 warriors they annihilated the once mighty Eries in 1653.
No wonder that proud of their prowess they called themselves the "Ongue- honwe"-men surpassing all others. It is said that the average internal capacity of the Iroquois crania was eighty-eight cubic inches, which is within two inches of the size of the average Caucasian and four of the Teutonic, while they exceeded the Mound-builders and others of their race and even the civilized races of Mexico and Peru. Unfortunately, the difference in volume is chiefly confined to the occip- ital and basal portions, the region of the animal propensities ; and on this is pred- icated their ferocity. It is, however, with these "confederates" that those higher traits popularly ascribed to the race are found. They spared the young males- white and red-who showed courage, to strengthen and improve their race. They unified and systematized the elements which among other Indian nations were digressive and chaotic. But for the advent of the Europeans, ere their power had subdued and unified their entire race, the extinction and subduing ( for they were never subjugated ) would have been the work of many centuries. The timely ad- vent of Europeans, with firearms, and the far more fatal fire-water, was the pre- cursor alike of the downfall of the Confederacy and the ultimate extinction of the American Indian.
That they were keen and sagacions none can dispute ; that they were equally cruel and ferocious is alike self-evident. It was easier for them to follow the polished barbarism of the bad white man's trail than to covet the civilization
22
---- ---
whose crowning glory was to be peaceful, merciful, forgiving, upright, reverent. loving, just, and good; qualities wholly antagonistic to their sense of manliness and valor. It has been well said of this Confederacy that the Iroquois were a"five jold cord:" their antagonists were single strands. Their league and its united strength suggests the power of our Federal Union, our "multum in parvo," which bears many suggestions analogous to their confederate union. Each nation had its own political functions, as each of our states has. Our legislative bodies, state and national, are not unlike their councils at home, and, at the "great central fire." Each Indian nation could go upon the warpath to redress a wrong and. unless greater aid was sought for at the Onondaga Central Fire or General Council, no aid was given. It is seldom the army of the United States is required to put down mobs or suppress riots within states but any Governor of any state may call for such aid and receive it. These forest statesmen, wrought with wisdom born of necessity, planned peace and unity at home and unlimited expansion abroad. The Thomas Jefferson, whose dwelling was but a hunter's lodge, tradition says, was a "wise man" of the Onondagas named Dagano-weda.
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.