History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 762

USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 3

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A combined land and naval force, under the command of Major Peter Schuyler, made attacks upon Quebec and Montreal ; but they were re- pulsed, and the expedition proved a failure. The Indians, however, still continued their stealthy raids, which were more dreaded and really more destructive to the French interests than the more imposing efforts of their English allies.

In the Summer of 1691, Major Peter Schuyler led a party of the Five Nations in a successful attack upon the French settlements, which they despoiled. The Five Nations also took posses- sion of the passes between the French and their allies, the Western Indians, and captured the traders and others going over those routes. They also made another bold incursion into the territory about Montreal, carrying everything before them except the fortresses, to which all who could retired, and in which, while the In- dians remained, they kept themselves imprisoned. On their return this expedition was pursued by a French and Indian force, and suffered a consid- erable loss.

In June, 1692, a formal treaty of alliance and friendship, was entered into between the English and the Five Nations, meanwhile Count Frontenac was not inactive. In January, 1693, he set out with a force of seven hundred French and In- dians on snow-shoes, for a Winter campaign among the Mohawks, and after suffering terrible hardships in their long march through the forests, succeeded in capturing three of their castles and about three hundred prisoners. Though pursued on their return by a party of Albany militia, they escaped without serious loss. This successful raid greatly alarmed the English settlers, and dispirited the Five Nations. They saw that surprises could be made by their enemies as well as by themselves, and the Iroquois were now

FAILURE OF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

more inclined to listen to the French proposals of peace, and the latter, having been the greater sufferers from the war, were quite anxious that it should cease.

Through the next two years, 1693-'94, peace negotiations were carried on, to which the Cayugas, Onondagas, and Oneidas were more inclined than the Senecas and the Mohawks. The Senecas hated the French and were not so much influenced by the Jesuit priests as the Middle Nations, while the Mohawks were the immediate neighbors of the English, and much influenced by them in favor of continuing the war although they had been the greatest sufferers from it.

While the question of peace was under dis- cussion, a prominent chief who had visited Canada to confer with the praying Iroquois who resided there, and having there learned the French conditions of peace, reported them to a general convention in Albany, composed of com- missioners from New York, Massachusetts, Con- necticut and New Jersey. The French terms were found to be inadmissible. They were that the English should not trade with the Canada Indians, or the other Indian allies of the French ; that the French might rebuild and garrison the fort at Cadaraqui, and their Indian allies should be included in the peace. To these terms the Five Nations would not consent ; and the nego- tiations failed.

The Governor of Canada now proposed to force them to submission, and made arrange- ments to attack the Mohawks in force, But his plans being reported by an escaped prisoner, and learning the preparations made to repel him, he abandoned the purpose. In 1695 he sent a party to repair the fort at Cadaraqui which was im- portant to the French trade with the Western Indians, as a place for supplies and deposit for the men in the trade to and from the West and of security in time of war with the Five Nations. The fort was repaired and garrisoned and named Frontenac, in honor of the Governor. He now began preparations on a large scale to effect the subjugation of the Five Nations. He collected all his regular troops, the whole body of the militia of the colony, and all the Western Indians whom he could muster ; prepared cannon and mortars, and every destructive military device known to the times, and began his march on the

fourth of July, 1696. Their destination was the Onondaga Nation, which they finally reached ; but the Onondagas, informed by an escaped Seneca prisoner of the host of the enemy and of the destructive engines they used, burned their castle and bark cabins and fled with their families to the forest, leaving only their fields of corn for the French to ravage. The Onondagas are said not to have lost a single man by this, the most formidable expedition which the French had ever brought against the Five Nations. It was a signal failure. It was, however, a great drain upon the feeble resources of the colony. In it had embarked the great body of the agri- culturists, and at a season of the year when their . labors were required to cultivate and secure their crops. A famine was the result, producing great suffering, aggravated by repeated inroads of small bodies of the Iroquois who carried away many captives and much property, keeping the settle- ments in constant alarm. The French, at the same time made similar attacks upon the English in the vicinity of Albany and, as most of the men engaged in these predatory raids on both sides, were Indians, the horror and terror which they produced can be easier imagined than described.

The Western Indians, hitherto in close alliance with the French, and from whom the main part of their trade had come, now concluded a peace with the Five Nations, desiring to avail them- selves of the benefits of a trade with the English, from whom they believed they could procure goods on better terms than from the French. The Cayugas in September, 1697, made applica- tion to the English at Albany for ammunition, in order to defend themselves from the French.

By the treaty of Ryswick, signed September Ioth, 1697, peace was established between the English and French, but a question subsequently arose as to the Five Nations. The French were not willing to include them in the settlement, but the English so strongly insisted upon it, that the point was finally conceded, and a general peace for the time prevailed, both between the French and English, and also between the other Indians and the Five Nations. Still the old rivalries and jealousies between the French and English continued. The former, through the great influence of the Jesuit priests that resided with the Five Nations, had an advantage which

FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND IROQUOIS.

the English did not possess. The priests induced very large numbers of the Iroquois to locate in Canada, where they were clothed and maintained by the French, instructed in the Roman Catholic faith, and taught to regard the English as enemies and the French as their best friends. So large had been the flow of the Iroquois into Canada, that Robert Livingston, the English Secretary of Indian Affairs, in 1700 reported that " more than two-thirds of them had removed."

This alarmed the English, as they saw the domestic treatment of the Indians by the French was not only rapidly alienating them from the English, but secured them as residents of their country and in every way allying them to their interests. The most active steps were, there- fore, taken to counteract French influence and to win back the Five Nations to their former allegiance to the English crown. For this pur- pose repeated councils were held with them, their wants and grievances fully ascertained, and im- mediate steps taken to supply and redress them. The fullest assurances were given the Indians at these councils that the King would protect them ; that the English had always been their friends, while the French had constantly sought to destroy them ; that the Jesuit priests had filled their ears with false stories only to cheat them ; that the English would build them forts for their protection and supply them with arms and am- munition, and that they would supply them with clothing and necessary utensils, and send and maintain protestant priests among them for their instruction.

The result of the several councils held with the English, was a pacification of the Indians. In a council of the Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Senecas and Mohawks, held August 11th, 1700, they declared through their chief speakers, that "they would discredit the idle tales of the French, continue firm to the crown of England, if it will protect them from its enemies, and were thankful for the promise of protestant ministers," and that, though the French had promised them Jesuit priests, they were determined to "stick to the religion of the King." Earl Belmont respon- ded, " we have a law for seizing and securing all Jesuit priests, and I would gladly put the law in operation against these disturbers of mankind." The Indians promised to seize, and bring them

before him, and not allow them in their country. A fort was to be built for them at Onondaga, and, in case of war, one hundred English soldiers to be placed therein with the necessary arms including cannon. While the fort was building, Earl Belmont " gave the sachems two hundred bags of balls of one hundred pounds each, two hundred fusees, two hundred pounds of lead, two thousand flints, one hundred hatchets, two hundred knives, two hundred shirts, forty kegs of rum of two gallons each, sixty-three hats, three barrels of pipes, with tobacco, etc."

As showing the effect of religious instruction upon some of the Indians at this early day, we quote the following answer of one of their principal chiefs, Sadekanaghtie, to the proposition to furnish them with protestant ministers :

" God hath been pleased to create us, and the sun hath shined long upon us. We have lived many years in peace and union together and we hope, by your instructions, to be taught to be good Christians and to die in the Christian faith. Let us, therefore, go hand in hand and support each other. We were here before you, and were a strong and numerous people, when you were but young and striplings. Yet we were kind and cherished you, and, therefore, when we pro- pose anything to you, if you cannot agree to it let us take counsel together that matters may be carried on smoothly, and that what we say may not be taken amiss. When we are to be instructed in the protestant religion, pray let not such severity be used as the Jesuits de , Canada, who whip their proselytes with an iron chain, cut off the warriors hair, put them in prison, and when they commit any heinous sin, the priest takes his opportunity when they are asleep and beats them severely. Now, as a token of our willingness to be instructed in the protestant religion, we give nine beaver-skins."

The peace and good-will established by these various acts of kindness toward the Five Nations bound them permanently to the English ; but lest the Jesuit priests should again seduce them from their allegiance, a stringent law was passed in 1700 by the Colonial Assembly of New York, by which the penalty of hanging was imposed upon every Jesuit priest that came voluntarily into the province. The English were most assiduous in their efforts to keep bright the chain of friendship with their Indian allies, for on that depended the success of their trade with them, and the security of their frontier settlements. They distributed liberal presents to their chiefs, five of whom were taken to England to give

TUSCARORAS ADOPTED BY THE IROQUOIS.

them an idea of the splendor and power of the government that protected them. By the treaty of Utrecht, concluded March 31st, 1713, the French relinquished all claims to the country of the Five Nations, which thereafter became an appendage of the English crown.

There being now no war-paths in the North or West for the Five Nations to traverse, they turned their attention to the Southern Indians who had been engaged in hostilities against the white settlements in that locality ; they chastised their old enemies, the Flatheads, living in Caro- lina, and returned with many scalps and prison- ers. While on this expedition, 1713, they adopted the Tuscaroras as their Sixth Nation. That nation had been one of the most powerful of the Southern Indians ; but had been severely beaten in a terrible war just before the arrival of the Iroquois, in which they had lost one thousand warriors. The Iroquois took them under their protection and finally located them among the Senecas, in the now County of Niagara, where a remnant of them still remains.

From 1744 to 1748 the French and English were again at war, which was concluded by the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, April 30th, 1748. This contest had been for the possession of the Mississippi Valley, which the English claimed as an extension of their coast discoveries and settle- ments, and the French by right of occupancy, as their forts extended from Canada to Louisiana, and formed a " bow of which the English colo- nies were the string." At this time the English colonists numbered over one million, while the French had only about sixty thousand. But this war had settled nothing, the question was still undecided.

In 1755 the contest was renewed and what was called the " old French war" began, which was continued for eight years and was concluded by the treaty of Paris in 1763. In this war the Canadian and Western Indians adhered to the French, and the Six Nations to the English. The French were vanquished and the sovereignty of the country conceded to England.

The differences hitherto existing between France and England and their colonies were now finally settled ; but the English colonists and the parent country were soon to engage in a war of equal duration with the " French war," and attended with greater sufferings and sacrifices.

The Iroquois that had so long and so faithfully adhered to the colonists and the King in all their contests with the French, were now to be divided, the larger part siding with the King against their white neighbors. One thousand eight hundred of their warriors engaged during the war of the revolution in the British service, while but two hundred and twenty adhered to the colonists. The Cayugas, Onondagas and Senecas were of the former, and were often on the war-path rendering the crown very import- ant services.

Their atrocities at Wyoming and along the frontiers of New York aroused Congress to earnest efforts to so effectually cripple them as to prevent the recurrence of similar outrages. Accordingly in the Summer of 1779, a formidable expedition, under the command of Generals Sullivan and Clinton, was dispatched into the territory of these nations with instructions "to cut off their settlements, destroy their crops, and inflict upon them every other injury which time and circumstances would permit."* This order of the commander-in-chief was most successfully executed. A force of five thousand men well armed, including artillery, and every way pre- pared for the work in hand, invaded the terri- tories of the Cayugas, Senecas and Onondagas, defeated the combined forces of the British and Iroquois, driving them from a strongly intrenched position about one mile from Newtown, now Elmira, creating the wildest panic among them.

The following extracts from the journal of an officer that accompanied Sullivan's expedition will show some of the more interesting incidents of the campaign :

" AUGUST 31st, 1779 .- Decamped at eight o'clock, marched over mountainous ground until we arrived at the forks of Newtown; there entered on a low bottom ; crossed the Cayuga branch and encamped on a pine plain. * *

* Here we left the Tioga branch to our left.

" SEPTEMBER 2d .- Came up with the army at the town (Catharine's Town) and encamped.

" SEPTEMBER 3d .- Destroyed it together with the corn, beans, etc., and decamped at eight o'clock in the morning ; after marching three miles fell in on the east side of Seneca Lake. * * At two o'clock passed Apple-tree Town, situated on the bank of the lake. This day marched eleven miles over high, though level, ground. * *

* Washington's letter to Governor Clinton.

INCIDENTS OF SULLIVAN'S CAMPAIGN.

" SEPTEMBER 4th .- Marched twelve miles,

* * and encamped in the woods beside

the lake. This day and yesterday passed several corn fields and scattering houses, which we destroyed as we passed along. *

" SEPTEMBER 5th .- Decamped in the morning, and about twelve o'clock arrived at Kandaia, a fine town, lying about one-half mile from the lake; here we found a great plenty of apple trees ; it evidently appears to be an old inhabited town ; their houses were large and elegant, some beautifully painted ; their tombs likewise, especially their chief warriors, are beautifully painted boxes, which they build over the grave, of planks hewn out of timber. *

" SEPTEMBER 7th .- Arrived at sundown at the north-west corner of the lake where we destroyed a town and some corn and proceeded to Kanadaseago, the capital of the Senecas This town lies on a level spot of ground about one mile and a half north of the lake and consists of about sixty houses and great plenty of apple and peach trees. * *

"SEPTEMBER 8th. - The army employed this day in destroying the corn, beans, etc., at this place, of which there was a great quantity. The rifle-men were detached this morning to Kash- anguash, about eight miles south.

About two

"SEPTEMBER 10th .--* * o'clock fell in with a small lake at the outlet of which lies the town of Canandaigua, consisting of upwards of twenty houses, which we set fire to and decamped. This town, from the appear- ance of the buildings, seemed to have been in- habited by white people ; some of the houses have very neat chimneys, which the Indians have not, but build a fire in the center around which they gather.

"SEPTEMBER 11th .-* Reached Han-

neyaye. *

* This town lies at the head of a small lake in a rich valley, consisting of thirteen or fourteen good houses and neatly built. Here, likewise, we found a great quantity of corn, beans, etc.

" SEPTEMBER 13th .-* * Marched to the town where we were employed in destroying the corn, etc., until noon ; from this place Lieutenant Boyd of the rifle corps was detached with fifteen or twenty men to reconnoiter the next town seven miles distant. Killed and scalped two Indians in the town. On his return found his retreat cut off and surrounded by five or six hundred savages ; defended himself until his men were all cut off but himself and one man, when he surrendered ; whom we afterward found in Chennessee Castle tortured in a most cruel manner."

The horrid death of this young and gallant officer is thus related by Colonel Stone in his life of Brant :

" From the battle-field, Brant conducted Lieut. Boyd and his fellow captive to Little Beard's town, where they found Col. Butler with a detachment of (British) rangers. While under the supervision of Brant, the Lieutenant was well treated and safe from danger ; but the chief being called away in the discharge of his multifarious duties Boyd was left with Butler, who soon after began to examine him, by questions as to the situation, numbers and intention of General Sullivan and his troops. He, of course, declined answering all improper questions ; whereat Butler threatened that if he did not give him full and explicit information he would deliver him up to the tender mercies of the Indians. Relying confidently upon the assur- ances of the generous Mohawk chieftain, Boyd still refused, and Butler, fulfilling his bloody threat, delivered him over to Little Beard and his clan, the most ferocious of the Seneca tribe. The gallant fellow was immediately put to death by torture, and in the execution there was a re- finement of cruelty of which it is not known that a parallel instance occurred during the whole war. Having been denuded, Boyd was tied to a sapling, where the Indians first practiced upon the steadiness of his nerves by hurling their tomahawks apparently at his head, but so as to strike the trunk of the sapling as near to his head as possible without hitting it, groups of Indians in the meantime brandishing their knives and dancing around him with the most frantic demonstrations of joy. His nails were pulled out, his nose cut off and one of his eyes plucked out. His tongue was also cut out and he was stabbed in various places. After amus- ing themselves sufficiently in this way, a small incision was made in his abdomen and the end of one of his intestines taken out and fastened to the tree. The victim was then unbound and driven around the tree by brute force until his intestines had all been literally drawn from his body and wound around the tree. His suffer- ings were then terminated by striking his head from his body."

" SEPTEMBER 14th .- * After fording the river, raised a considerable hill timbered chiefly with white oak and entered on another flat on which stands the capital of the Chennes- see, consisting of upward of one hundred and twenty houses, and vast quantities of corn, beans, pumpkins, potatoes, etc.

" SEPTEMBER 15th .- This morning the whole army paraded at six o'clock to destroy the corn, etc., which could only be done by gathering the corn in the houses and setting fire to them.

"SEPTEMBER 16th .- This morning after de- stroying the corn, etc., on the south-east corner of the flats, recrossed the branch of the Chen- nessee River on logs. * *

" SEPTEMBER 20th .-* * This morning detached Colonel Zebulon Butler, of Wyoming,

THE FINAL DEFEAT OF THE SIX NATIONS.

with the rifle corps and five hundred men to Cayuga Lake to destroy the settlements there. *

" SEPTEMBER 21st .- This morning detached Lieutenant-Colonel Dearborn, with two hundred men, to destroy the corn and settlements along the south side of Cayuga Lake. * *

" SEPTEMBER 28th .- Colonel Butler with his detachment arrived, having destroyed a vast quantity of corn, beans, apple-trees, etc., on the east side of Cayuga Lake, and burnt three towns, among which was the capital of the Cayuga tribe. This day Colonels Cortland and Dayton were sent with large detachments to destroy corn."

This was the most terrible blow the Iroquois had ever received, and from which they never recovered. . The whole country of the Onon- dagas, Cayugas and Senecas was overrun, their towns, orchards and crops destroyed, and them- selves compelled to seek refuge for support among other nations, as their own supplies were destroyed. They fled in large numbers to Niagara and were supported by the English, and few only of the whole number ever returned to their lands.

The great severity with which they were treated may be criticised ; but the cruelties which they had inflicted upon the settlers at Wyoming, Cherry Valley and elsewhere, were the most horrid and wanton, and so long as they had the power their repetition was feared. The Indians scattered over their wooded country could not be taken, and the only way, therefore, by which they could be conquered was the one resorted to-the destruction of their means of living. When we read the story of Indian barbarities practiced upon the scores of thousands of New England and Eastern New York settlers, and the dread and fear in which they lived for a generation, and compare it with the quiet and peace that attended the early settlement of Central and Western New York, from which this campaign drove the red man, we can then see its beneficent results and the far-seeing wisdom that planned and executed it.

The modern descendants of the ancient Iroquois are now largely located at Forestville, Wisconsin. They are said to number six thou- sand at that point, of whom the Cayugas form the larger part. Two thousand of their number can read and write, and they have twenty-nine day and two manual-labor schools. They support themselves by cultivating the soil, and display

their superiority over the other tribes in the arts of civilization in as marked a degree as they did in their old prowess in savage warfare. They are not dying out. Their numbers rather increase than diminish. The number on this reservation, and the descendants of the Six Nations in Can- ada, are believed to nearly equal the census of the Confederacy before its power was broken by the whites.

CHAPTER III.

NATIVE INHABITANTS, (CONTINUED.)

JESUIT MISSIONS AMONG THE CAYUGAS-THE JESUIT RELATIONS-DURATION OF THE MIS- SIONS-DETAILS OF THE VARIOUS CAYUGA MISSIONS-THEIR RESULTS-WHY THE MIS- SIONS FAILED- RESULTS OF THE FAILURE.

I N the preceding chapter incidental reference

has been made to the influence of the French Jesuit missions among the Five Nations. In the present chapter a more detailed description will be given of their early missionary operations among the Cayugas which embodies the earliest information concerning them, dating back more than two hundred and twenty years, and more than a century before the present race of white men occupied our soil.

The history of their operations in this County had not until about three years since been accessible to our citizens. At that time, Rev. Charles Hawley, D. D., President of the Cayuga County Historical Society, a gentleman thoroughly informed in aboriginal history, con- ceived and executed the plan of supplying the deficiency. After considerable research, he ob- tained a copy of the "Relations des Jesuits." in the old original French, and translated and pub- lished so much of those " Relations " as applied to this county from 1656 to 1672. A copy being forwarded to Dr. John G. Shea, the eminent Indian historian, he replied, under date of New York, November Ist, 1876, thanking Dr. Hawley " for his admirable translation," and for the happy idea of " thus giving to the present residents of the old land of the Cayugas these records of intelligent and devoted men laboring there two

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History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 762

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 762