USA > New York > Comley's history of the state of New York, embracing a general review of her agricultural and mineralogical resources, her manufacturing industries, trade and commerce, together with a description of her great metropolis, from its settlement by the Dutch, in 1609 > Part 6
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"Canagorah lies on the top of a great hill, and in that as well as in the bigness, much like Onondagoe [which is described as ' situated on a hill that is very large, the bank on each side extending itself at least two miles, all cleared lands, whereon the corn is planted '], containing 150 houses, north-westward of Cayuga 72 miles.
" Here the Indians were very desirous to see us ride our horses, which we did. They made feasts and dancing, and invited us, that, when all the maids were toge- ther, both we and our Indians might choose such as liked us to lie with.
" Tistehatan lies on the edge of a hill : not much cleared ground ; is near the river Tistehatan, which signifies bending.t It lies to the northward of Canagorah about thirty miles ; contains about 120 houses, being the largest of all the houses we saw ; the ordinary being 50 or 60 feet, and some 130 or 140 feet long, with 13 or 14 fires in one house. They have good store of corn growing about a mile to the north- ward of the town.
" Being at this place on the 17th of June, there came 50 prisoners from the south- westward, and they were of two nations; some whereof have a few guns, the other none. One nation is about ten days' journey from any Christians, and trade only with one great house,t not far from the sea ; and the other, as they say, trade only with a black people. This day, of them were burnt two women and a man, and a child killed with a stone. At night we heard a great noise, as if the houses had all fallen ; but it was only the inhabitants driving away the ghosts of the murdered.
" The 18th, going to Canagorah, we overtook the prisoners. When the soldiers saw us, they stopped each his prisoner, and made him sing, and cut off their fingers and slashed their bodies with a knife; and, when they had sung, each man confessed how many men he had killed. That day, at Canagorah, there were most cruelly burned 4 men, 4 women, and one boy; the cruelty lasted about seven hours: when they were almost dead, letting them loose to the mercy of the boys, and taking the hearts of such as were dead to feast on.
" Canoenada lies about 4 miles to the southward of Canagorah ; contains about 30 houses, well furnished with corn.
" Keint-he lies about 4 or 5 miles to the southward of Tistehatan ; contains about 24 houses, well furnished with corn.
" The Senekas are counted to be in all about 1000 fighting men.
" Whole force-Magas 300 200
Oneydoes
Onondagoes 350
Cayugas 300
Senekas. 1000
2150 fighting men." ยง
* Mr. Chalmers purports to derive the journal "trom New York papers," meaning, as is pre- sumed, the manuscripts of the New York " Board of Trade."
[NOTE .- What is said of the " Maquas (Mohawks), Oneydoes, Onondagoes, and Cayugas," is omitted, and the journal commences with the Senecas. ]
The Tistehatan, or bending river, must refer to the Genesee.
# Probably among the Swedes on the Delaware-Penn had not yet commenced his settlement.
$ " Among the manuscripts of Sir William Johnson, there is a census of the northern and western
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" Remark .- During the year 1685 an accurate account was taken by order of the Governor, of the people of Canada (New France); which amounted to 17,000, of whom 3000 were supposed to be able to carry arms. We may thence form a judg- ment with regard to the comparative strength of the two belligerent powers, whose wars were so long and destructive."-Chalmers's Annals.
The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, whose name we have had occasion to introduce in connection with the antiquities of this region, left the mission station at Johnson's Hall, on the Mohawk, January 16th, 1765, in company with two Seneca Indians, upon a mission which embraced all the settlements of the Iroquois, travelling upon snow- shoes, carrying "a pack containing his provisions, a few articles of clothing, and a few books, weighing in all about forty pounds." Leaving the last vestige of civili- zation (Johnson's Hall), his only companions two Indians with whom he had had but a short acquaintance, the young missionary shaped his course to the westward, encamp- ing nights (with his two guides with whom he could hold no conversation except by signs), beneath hemlock boughs, and sleeping upon ground cleared from snow, for his temporary use. Arriving at Onondaga, the central council-fire of the Iroquois, a message from Sir William Jolinson secured him a friendly reception. After re- maining there one day, the party left, and came on to Kanadasegea, the principal town of the Senecas. Halting at the skirts of the town (a courtesy that his, Mr. K.'s, Indian guides, told him by signs was customary), a messenger came out to inquire " whence they came, whither they were going, and what was their desire." His guides replied : "We are only bound to this place, and wish to be conducted to the house of the chief sachem." The embassy was conducted into the presence of the sachem, to whom, as at Onondaga, a message was delivered from Sir William Johnson. The reception was friendly, except with a few, " whose sullen countenances," Mr. K. says, "he did not quite like." The head sachem treated him with every kindness and attention, and it was, after much deliberation and consultation among the Indians, determined that he should fix his residence with them. Through a Dutch trader, who had preceded him, and located at Kanadasegea, he communicated freely with the Indians. A few weeks after his arrival, he was formally adopted as a member of the family of the head sachem. This adoption was attended with formalities-a council, speeches, etc. The council having assembled, " the head sachem's family be- ing present and sitting apart by themselves," Mr. Kirkland was waited upon and in- vited to attend. On his entrance, after a short silence, one of the chiefs spoke :
" Brothers, open your ears and your eyes. You see here our white brother who has come from a great distance, recommended to us by our great chief, Sir William Johnson, who has enjoined it upon us to be kind to him, and to make him comfortable and protect him to the utmost of our power. He comes to do us good.
Indians, from the Hudson River to the great lakes and the Mississippi, taken in 1763. The Mohawk warriors were then only 160; the Oneidas, 250; Tuscaroras, 140; Onondagas, 150 ; Cayugas, 200 ; Senecas, 1050 ; total, 1950. According to the calculation of a British agent, several of the tribes must have increased between the close of the French war and beginning of the American Revolution, as it was computed that, during the latter contest, the English had in service 300 Mohawks, 150 Oneidas, 200 Tuscaroras, 300 Onondagas, 230 Cayugas, and 400 Senecas.
[NOTE .-- There can be but little doubt that the four villages mentioned by Mr. Greenhalph are those that were ten years afterwards destroyed by De Nonville. The over-estimate of distances made by this early adventurer, may be well attributed to the absence of any means to ascertain them cor- rectly. In the names, as given by De Nonville, and by Mr. Greenhalph, there is sufficient analog, to warrant the identity.
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Brothers, this young white brother of ours has left 'his father's house, and his mother, and all his relations'; we must now provide for him a house; I am appointed to you and to our young white brother, that our head sachem adopts him into his family. He will be a father to him, and his wife will be a mother, and his sons and daughters, his brothers and sisters."
The head sachem then rose, called him his son, and led him to his family. Mr. K. thanked him, and told him he hoped the Great Spirit would make him a blessing to his new relations. The zealous and enterprising young missionary says in his journal : "A smile of cheerfulness sat on every countenance, and I could not refrain from tears ; tears of joy and gratitude for the kind Providence that had pro- tected me through a long journey, brought me to the place of my desire, and given me so kind a reception among the poor savage Indians."
Mr. K. applied himself diligently to learn the Seneca language, and by the help of two words, "atkayason" (what do you call this?), and "sointaschnagati" (speak it again), he made rapid progress. He was made very comfortable and treated very kindly.
All things were going on well, but friendly relations were destined to an inter- ruption. The missionary had been assigned a residence with an Indian family, whose head was a man of much influence with his people; "sober, industrious, honest, and telling no lies." Unfortunately, in a few days after Mr. K. had become an inmate of his wigwam, he sickened and died. Such of the Senecas as were jealous of the new-comer seized upon the circumstance to create prejudice against him, even alleging that the death was occasioned by his magic, or if not, that it was an "intimation of the displeasure of the Great Spirit at his visit and residence among them, and that he must be put to death." Councils were convened, there were days of deliberation, touching what disposition should be made of the missionary -- the chief sachem proving his fast friend, and opposing all propositions to harm him. During the time, a Dutch trader, a Mr. Womp, on his way from Niagara east. stopped at Kanadasegca, and he was the only medium through which Mr. K. could learn, from day to day, the deliberations of the council. At length his friend, the sachem, informed him joyfully, that "all was peace."
Some proceedings of the council afterward transpired, that Mr. Kirkland was enabled to preserve in his journal. It was opened by an address from the chief sachem :
" Brothers, this is a dark day to us; a heavy cloud has gathered over ns. The cheering rays of the sun are obscured ; the dim, faint light of the moon sympathises with us. A great and awakening event has called us together, the sudden death of one of our best men ; a great breach is made in our Councils, a living example of peace, sobriety, and industry is taken from us. Our whole town mourns, for a good man is gone. He is dead. Our white brother had lived with him a few days. Our white brother is a good young man. He loves Indians. He comes recom- mended to us by Sir William Johnson, who is commissioned by the great king beyond the waters to be our superintendent. Brothers, attend ! The Great Spirit has supreme power over life. He, the upholder of the skies, has most certainly brought about this solemn event by his will, and without any other help, or second cause. Brothers, let us deliberate wisely ; let us determine with great caution. Let us take counsel under our great loss, with a tender mind. This is the best medi- cine and was the way of our fathers."
A long silence ensued, which was broken by a chief of great influence, who was ambitious of supreme control. He made a long and inflammatory harangue against the missionary. Among other things, he said :
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
"This white skin, whom we call our brother, has come upon a dark design, or he would not have travelled so many hundred miles. He brings with him the white people's Book. They call it God's Holy Book. Brothers, attend! You know this book was never made for Indians. The Great Spirit gave us a book for ourselves. He wrote it in our heads. He put it into the minds of our fathers, and gave them rules about worshipping him ; and our fathers strictly observed these rules, and the Upholder of the skies was pleased, and gave them success in hunting. and made them victorious over their enemies in war. Brothers, attend ! Be assured that if we Senecas receive this white man, and attend to the Book made solely for white people, we shall become miserable. We shall soon lose the spirit of true men. The spirit of the brave warrior and the good hunter will be no more with us. We shall be sunk so low as to hoe corn and squashes in the field, chop wood, stoop down and milk cows, like the negroes among the Dutch people .* Brothers, hear me! I am in earnest, because I love my nation, and the customs and practices of our fathers ; and they enjoyed pleasant and prosperous days. If we permit this white skin to remain among us, and finally embrace what is written in his book, it will be the complete subversion of our national character, as true men. Our ancient cus- toms, our religious feasts and offerings, all that our fathers so strictly observed, will be gone. Of this are we not warned by the sudden death of our good brother and wise sachem? Does not the Upholder of the skies plainly say to us in this : ' Hear, attend, ye Senecas ! Behold, I have taken one, or permitted one to be taken from among you in an extraordinary manner, which you cannot account for, and thereby to save the nation '? Brothers, listen to what I say. Ought not this white man's life to make satisfaction for our deceased brother's death ?"
A long discussion and investigation followed. Mr. Kirkland's papers were carried to the council-house and examined; the widow of the deceased was ques- tioned : she gave a good account of the " young white brother," said " he was always cheerful and pleasant. and they had begun to love him much." Said one of the opponents of Mr. K., " Did he never come to your husband's bedside and whisper in his ears or puff in his face ?" "No, never, he always sat, or lay down, on his own bunk, and in the evening after we were in bed, we would see him get down upon his knees and talk with a low voice." This testimony, and the closing speech of the head sachem, brought matters to a favorable issue. The speech was an able reply to Onoongwandeka-not in opposition to his views, as to the effect generally of admit- ting the white man and his Book, but generally, in reference to the witchcraft and sorcery charged upon Mr. Kirkland, in connection with the sudden death of his host. The speech bore down all opposition, and was followed by shouts and
* The Indian orator had probably been to Schenectady and Albany, and observed the slaves among the Dutch.
NOTE. - The author derives this account of the primitive advent of a Protestant missionary among the Senecas from Sparks's American Biography. The name of the chief sachem of Kanada- segea-Mr. Kirkland's adopted father and friend-does not transpire. The chief who so eloquently spoke for his nation, and ingeniously wrought upon the jealousy and superstition of the council, was Onoongwandeka. The speeches are given (as is what else transpired at the time) as communicated to Mr. Kirkland by Mr. Womp. The reader will bear in mind that in this case, as well as in all reports of the speeches of uneducated Indians, the reporters have but caught the ideas of the native orators, and substituted their own manner of expression. An eloquent idea-a beautiful figure of speech-can, of course, only be faithfully reported in corresponding words and sentences. For instance, we are not to suppose that the Seneca sachem said, " the dim faint light of the moon sym- pathizes with us," but he did probably make use of a beautiful figure of speech that justified Mr. Kirkland in such an interpretation,
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
applause, in which only fifteen refused to participate. The chief sachem said, " Our business is done. I rake up the council-fire."
After this, Mr. Kirkland " lived in great harmony, friendship, and sociability." Another trouble ensued in the shape of a famine. The corn crop for the year previous had been short, and game was scarce at that season of the year (March). He wrote to a friend that he had " sold a shirt for four Indian cakes, baked in the ashes, which he could have devoured at one meal, but on the score of prudence had ate only one." He lived for days, on "white-oak acorns, fried in bear's grease." He gives a long detail of suffering and privation, as severe as any of his Jesuit pre- decessors had endured; which terminated in making a return journey through the wilderness to Johnson Hall, where he procured a supply of provisions.
Mr. Kirkland was a missionary among the Six Nations for eight years previous to the Revolution ; during that struggle he was useful in diverting some portions of them from adhering to the British interests ; and his name and services are often blended in the Indian treaties that followed after the war, and resulted in the extinguishment of their title to lands in Western New York.
Its first State constitution was adopted April 20th, 1777, and De Witt Clinton was elected its first governor, and continued in office till 1795. The Articles of Confedera- tion for the States were approved by New York in February, 1778. Both in the army and the Continental Congress the State was represented by men of rare ability and patriotism. In the Constitutional Convention which formed the Federal Constitution her delegates were Messrs. Yates, Lansing, and Alexander Hamilton. The Consti- tution was ratified by New York, July 26th, 1788. John Jay, already illustrious as a statesman, was chosen governor in 1795. The practicability of steam navigation was demonstrated on the Hudson in 1807 by Robert Fulton. In the war with Great Britain (1812-15) New York took an active part, and, aside from the victories gained by her heroes on the ocean, many of the minor conflicts and the important land and naval battle of Plattsburg were fought along its northern and north-western fron- tier. The battle of Lundy's Lane, one of the most decisive of the war, was fought on the Canada side of Niagara River, less than two miles from the Falls. Soon after the war, the project for a canal from Albany to Buffalo, which had been pre- viously broached, was revived, and in 1817 both the Erie and the Champlain canal were commenced and pushed forward to completion, the latter in 1823, and the former, with great rejoicings, in 1825. A constitutional convention was held in 1821, and a new constitution adopted and ratified by the people. The anti-Masonic ex- citement in 1826 caused a great commotion and many political changes in the State. The popularity of the Erie and Champlain canals led to a great pressure upon the State for the construction of other canals, unwarranted by the business of the regions through which they were to pass. In an evil hour they were commenced. and have ever since been a constant source of loss to the State. The enlargement of the Erie Canal, begun in 1835, has increased the cost of that great work to $100.000,000, but with advantages perhaps commensurate with its cost. In 1846, another constitu- tional convention was held, and a new constitution, differing materially from the preceding, adopted and ratified by the people. The interest in public schools con- tinued to increase, and the appropriations voted and taxes levied for their promo- tion were enlarged every year.
In 1845, the annual expenditure for public schools was $1,240,000 ; in 1875, as we show elsewhere, $11,365,000, or nearly tenfold. The collection of rate-bills was finally abolished in about 1850, and the schools sustained wholly by tax and ap- propriations from funds. At the commencement of the late civil war, New York
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
took an active and prominent part in its aid, and her people were to a greater extent than those of most of the States united in sustaining the government. Her immense quotas were promptly filled, and the State paid $40,000,000 in bounties to its volun- teers. The so-call " Draft riot " of 1863 in New York City (see New York City) was prompted by other causes than fear of the draft, and was promptly suppressed. In her liberality and bountiful care of her own wounded or sick soldiers during the war, and of their suffering families, the State was not surpassed by any other. In 1867, another constitutional convention was held, and a new constitution promul- gated, which was, however, rejected by the people, except the articles on the judi- ciary, which were incorporated into the constitution of 1846, which is yet the gov- erning law of the State, though some further amendments have been adopted.
GOVERNORS OF THE COLONY AND STATE.
(Those marked with a star (*) died in office.)
(1) Under the Dutch.
Peter Minuit. . . 1624-33
Wouter Van Twiller 1633-37
Willem Keift. 1637-47
Petrus Stuyvesant 1647-64
(2) Under the English.
Richard Nicolls 1664-67
Francis Lovelace 1667-73
(3) Dutch administration resumed.
Anthony Colve. 1673-74
(4) English administration resumed.
Edmond Andross. 1674-53
Thomas Dongan. 1683-S8
Edmond Andross 16SS-S9
Jacob Leisler. . 1689-91
Henry Sloughter . 1691-91
Richard Ingoldsby 1691-92
Benjamin Fletcher .. 1692-98
Richard, Earl Bellemont*
1698-1701
John Nanfan. . 1701-02 Lord Cornbury. . 1702-OS
John, Lord Lovelace* 1708-09
Richard Ingoldsby
. 1709-10
Gerardus Beekman . 1710-10
Robert Hunter. 1710-19
Peter Schuyler. . 1719-20
William Burnet* . 1720-25
John Montgomerie* . 1728-31
Rip van Dam . 1731-32
William Cosby# 1732-36
George Clarke. 1736-43
George Clinton. : 1743-53
Sir Danvers Osborne" 1753-53
James De Lancey 1753-55
Sir Charles Hardy.
1755-57
James De Lancey". . 1757-60
Cadwallader Colden 1760-65
Robert Markton 1761-61
Cadwallader Colden. 1761-65
Sir Henry Moore* 1765-69
Cadwallader Colden. . 1769-70
John, Lord Dunmore . 1770-71
William Tryon 1771-77
(5) Governors of the State.
George Clinton . 1777-95
John Jay. 1795-1801
George Clinton. . ISOI-04
Morgan Lewis. IS04-07
Daniel D. Tompkins. IS07-17
De Witt Clinton. 1817-22
Joseph C. Yates IS22-24
De Witt Clinton *. 1824-28
Nathaniel Pitcher IS28-29
Martin Van Buren. IS29-29
Enos T. Throop 1829-33
William L. Marcy
IS33-38
William H. Seward. 1838-42
William C. Bouck
1842-44
Silas Wright, Jr
1844-46 IS46-49
John Yoong.
Hamilton Fish. IS49-51
Washington Hunt . 1851-53
Horatio Seyriour 1853-55
Myron H. Clark 1855-57
John A King 1857-59
Edwin D. Morgan IS59 63
Horatio Seymour IS63-65
Reuben E. Fenton. I865-69
John T. Hoffman.
1869-73
John Adams Dix 1873-75
Samuel [. Tilden. . 1875-77
Lucius Robinson . IS77-
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
GREAT CITIES.
GREAT cities grow up in nations and in states as the mature offspring of well- directed civil and commercial agencies, and in their natural development they become vital organs in the world's government and civilization, performing the highest functions of human life on the earth. They grow up where human faculties and natural advantages are most effective. They have a part in the grand march of the human race peculiar to themselves in making the progress of mankind in arts, commerce, and civilization; and they embellish history with its richest pages of learn- ing, and impress on the mind of the scholar and the student the profoundest lessons of the rise and fall of nations. They have formed in all ages the great centres of industrial and intellectual life, from which mighty outgrowths of civilization have expanded. In short, they are the mightiest works of man. And whether we view them wrapped in the flames of the conqueror and surrounded with millions of earnest hearts yielding, in despair, to the wreck of fortune and life at the fading away of expiring glory or the sinking of a nation into oblivion ; or whether we con- template them in the full vigor of prosperity, with steeples piercing the very heavens, with royal palaces, gilded halls, and rich displays of wealth and learning. they are ever wonderful objects of man's creation-ever impressing, with profound- est conviction, lessons of human greatness and human glory. In their greatness they have been able to wrestle with all human time. We have only to go with Vol- ney through the Ruins of Empire, to trace the climbing path of man from his first appearance on the fields of history to the present day, by the evidences we find along his pathway in the ruins of the great cities-the creation of his own hands. The lessons of magnitude and durability which great cities teach may be more clearly realized in the following eloquent passage from a lecture of Louis Kossuth, delivered in New York City :
" How wonderful ! What a present and what a future yet ! Future? Then let me stop at this mysterious word-the veil of unrevealed eternity. The shadow of that dark word passed across my mind, and amid the bustle of this gigantic bee- hive, there I stood with meditation alone.
"And the spirit of the immovable past rose before my eyes, unfolding the pic- ture rolls of vanished greatness, and the fragility of human things. And among their dissolving views there I saw the scorched soil of Africa, and upon that soil. Thebes, with its hundred gates, more splendid than the most splendid of all the existing cities of the world-Thebes, the pride of old Egypt, the first metropolis of arts and sciences, and the mysterious cradle of so many doctrines, which still rule mankind in different shapes, though it has long forgotten their source.
"Then I saw Syria, with its hundred cities; every city a nation, every nation with an empire's might. Baalbec, with its gigantic temples, the very ruins of which baffle the imagination of man as they stand, like mountains of carved rocks, in the deserts where, for hundreds of miles, not a stone is to be found, and no river flows, offering its tolerant back to carry a mountain's weight upon. And yet there they stand, those gigantic ruins; and as we glance at them with astonishment. though we have mastered the mysterious elements of nature, and know the combination of levers, and how to catch the lightning, and how to command the power of steam and compressed air, and how to write with the burning fluid out of which the thunder-
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