USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York > Part 12
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 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
*Craig's Hist. of Pittsburgh, 23. 6 Col. Doc. Hist. of New York, Spo. 2 Doc. Hist. of New York.
The first expedition sent by the French against Fort Pitt, was that commanded by Captain Contrecoeur in the spring of 1753, which compelled the capitulation of Pittsburgh in April, 1754.
IOI
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
wards ; why, he could not tell, but always wondered at it, as he expressed himself, knowing the other to be so much better. Both Mathews and the Senecca desired to conduct me, as a further proof of their veracity, to the spot on the shore of Lake Jadagne, where lies one of the four-pounders left by the French. Major Finley who has been in that country since I was, informed me that he had seen the gun."
It is probable that French explorations and communication between Lake Erie and the headwaters of the Allegany in Chantauqua county were not con- fined to the Portage road. There is evidence that they used the Cassadaga to some extent. A row of piles across the Cassadaga creek was discovered many years ago some distance below the lake. A French axe was found on the farm of Louis Beleal near the creek in Stockton. The Indians or French used the Conewango and the Cattaraugus as a means of communication between the Allegany and Lake Erie. In early years French axes were found near Cattaraugus creek. General Irvine in his letter to General Wash- ington further says:
" Mathews was very desirous that I should explore the east fork of the Coniwango ; but my sickness prevented me. His account is, that it is navi- gable about thirty miles up from the junction of the north and west branch, to a swamp which is about half a mile wide ; that on the north side of this swamp a large creek has its source, called " Catterauque " (Cattarangus,) which falls into Lake Erie, forty miles from the foot of this lake ; that he has several times been of parties who crossed over, carrying the canoes across the swamps. He added that the Catteranque watered much the finest country between Buffalo and Presque Isle."
This portage was probably used by the French and Indians in other war- like expeditions. Pouchot, the officer who commanded the French at Fort Niagara when it surrendered to Sir William Jolison, wrote a " History of the French and Indian War in North America," in which he says : "The river of Chatacoin is the first that communicates from Lake Erie to the Ohio; and it was by this that they (the French) went in early times when they made a journey to that part. The navigation is always made in a canoe, on account of the small amount of water in this river. It is only when there is a freshiet, that they can pass, and then with difficulty, which makes them prefer the navigation of the river Aux Boeuf, of which the entrepot is the fort of Presque Isle .*
Sir William Johnson journeyed to Detroit by the command of Gen. Amherst in 1761 to establish a treaty with the Ottawa confederacy to regu- late the trade at the posts in the Indian country, On his return he coasted along the south shore of Lake Erie. In his journal of this journey is this reference to this portage with other interesting particulars:
"Wednesday, October Ist, 1761, embarked (at Presque Isle,) at 7 o'clock, with the wind strong ahead continued so all day, notwithstanding it improved
*Pouchot, French and English wars in N. A., Vol. II, 160. ( Hough's translation.)
.
102
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
all day, and got to Jadaghque creek and carrying place, which is a fine har- bor and encampment. It is very dangerous from Presque Isle here, being a prodigous steep, rocky bank all the way, except two or three creeks and small beaches, where are very beautiful streams of water or springs which tumble down the rocks. We came about forty miles this day. The fire was burning where Captain Cochran (the officer who commanded at Presque Isle) I suppose encamped last night. Here the French had a baking place,* and here they had meetings, and assembled the Indians when first going to Ohio, and bought this place of them. Toonadawannsky, the river we stopped yes- terday at, is so called.
" Friday, 2d. A very stormy morning, wind not fair ; however, sent off my two baggage boats, and ordered them to stop about thirty miles off in a river (probably Cattaraugus creek.) The Seneca Indian tells me we may get this day to the end of the lake. I embarked at eight o'clock with all the . rest, and got about thirty miles, when a great storm of wind and rain arose and obliged us to put into a little creek (probably Eighteen-mile creek,) between the high rocky banks. The wind turned northwest, and it rained very hard. We passed the Mohawks in a bay about four miles from here. Some of our boats are put into other places as well as they can. My bed- ding is on board the birch canoe of mine, with the Indian somewhere ahead. The lake turns very greatly to the northeast, and looks like low land. From Presque Isle here is all high land, except a very few spots where boats may land. In the evening sent Oneida to the Mohawk encampment to learn what news here."t
The French, it is believed, made considerable use of the harbor of Bar- celona. In 1819 the persons employed in the improvement of the harbor discovered about six feet below the surface of the water timber evidently framed together built up in the form of a pier. (Chautauqua Eagle of Aug- ust 3, 1819.)
Although the French early used this route by Chautauqua lake to some extent when passing from Lake Erie to the Allegany and Ohio, the route by Presque Isle and French creek was finally adopted and principally used by them. They were masters in woodcraft, and were wonderfully familiar with the geography of this remote wilderness ; yet it is not strange that they should have doubted which was the better route, for it would be difficult for us familiar as we are with the premises to determine which would have been then the better one.
In 1754 soon after the fall of Pittsburgh, Washington, in command of a force of English colonists, fought with the French in the forests of Pennsyl- vania his first two battles ; in one he defeated Monsieur Jummonville, and in the other, that of Fort Necessity, (the French having been reenforced from Canada) he was defeated. July 9, 1755, Braddock's large and well-disciplined army was defeated by a small force of Indians and a little band of gallant Frenchmen who had the year before passed along this county. The train of
*The mason works described by Judge Peacock and Win. Bell are probable the relics of this baking place. +stone's Life and Times of Sir William Johnson.
103
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
artillery taken from Braddock was transported back, and used in August 1756 by Montcalm in the siege of Oswego. Fort Du Quesne was taken from the French November 25, 1758, by an army of 6,000 men under Gen. Forbes ; the French in possession there, fleeing upon their approach up the Allegany and down the Ohio. The English under Prideaux, in July, 1759, invested Fort Niagara. Prideaux having been killed, the siege was continued by Sir William Johnson. The Indians from the west and along the Allegany were collected by the French, and, with French soldiers from Venango and Presque Isle, formed a large force. This army was conducted along Lake Erie and the borders of our county, led by D. Aubry, a French officer, to reenforce Niagara. They were met by the English in Lewiston, in this state, July 24, 1759, where a bloody battle was fought, the French and Indians defeated, and 500 of them slain. Niagara immediately after surrendered to the Eng- lish. Gen. Charles Lee, afterwards one of the most distinguished officers of the Revolution, was present at the siege of Niagara, and after its surrender passed by Chautauqua county on a military errand down the Allegany to Fort Du Quesne. Quebec having been taken by the English under Wolfe, the French, in November, 1760, surrendered all their posts in this part of the continent to England ; and thereafter ceased to be seen in company with their red allies along the borders of this county.
The first military expedition of the English over Lake Erie was made immediately after the surrender by the French of their possessions in Amer- ica. It was despatched to take possession of Detroit, Michillimackinack, and other posts surrended by the French. Major Rogers long celebrated for his skill in border war, led the expedition. He embarked in November, 1760, at the foot of Lake Erie with 200 rangers in fifteen whale boats, and coasted along the southern shore of the lake. ' On arriving at Erie Rogers set out for Pittsburgh. He descended French creek and the Allegany river in a canoe. Having obtained reinforcements, he proceeded to Detroit, which was surren- dered to him on his arrival.
-
0
104
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
CHAPTER X.
PONTIAC'S WAR.
As monumental bronze unchanged his look ; A soul that pity touched, but never shook ; Impassive-fearing but the shame of fear- A stoic of the woods --- a man without a tear." -Gertrude of Wyoming.
A T THE close of the French and Indian War, as soon as the English had possessed themselves of the forts and posts established by the French, a conspiracy was formed by the Indian tribes of the west to sieze these outposts and dispossess the English. The moving spirit of this confederation was Pontiac, an Ottawa chief of great abilities, whose lofty character fitted him for a nobler destiny than the leader of savages. He saw that with the French no longer as allies that the English threatened to gain undisputed sway over the tribes of the west and that it was necessary to over- whehn them before they obtained a stronger foothold. Pontiac possessed an indomitable spirit and all the haughty reserve of the Indian. The Dela- wares, Shawnces, Wyandots, Ojibways and other tribes of the West joined the league. It taxed the great influence of Sir William Johnson to the utmost to prevent the Six Nations from joining in the conspiracy. The English posts were all to be attacked on the same day, their garrisons and all the people the border settlements massacred. So well planned was the attack that nine posts in the west were captured in a single day, and the most of the garrisons tomahawked and scalped.
It is interesting to learn that this contest between the Indians and white men brought seenes of savage warfare close to this county. At Presque Isle (now Erie, Pa.), in the shadows of the forest and less than twenty miles away from Chautauqua county, occurred one of those desperate struggles between Indians and white men which were so frequent in the pioneer period. In June, 1763, Ensign Christie was the commanding officer at Presque Isle. June 3, Lieutenant Cuyler, of the " Queen's " company of rangers, arrived there on his way to Fort Niagara with the remnant of his force, which had been surprised and defeated by the Indians while coasting along the north shore of Lake Erie on their way with supplies for the English garrison at Detroit. Ensign Christie kept six of Cuyler's men which increased his garrison to
.
105
PONTIAC'S WAR.
twenty-seven men. Fort Presque Isle stood on the site of the city of Erie. A strong blockhouse built of large logs stood in its angle.
Early on June 15th, two hundred Indians from those assembled at Detroit commenced the assault. The garrison withdrew into the blockhouse. The Indians, from under cover of the bank of the lake and a ridge that extended along a small stream that ran into the lake near the fort, continued the attack all day, firing into every loop-hole of the bastion, and endeavoring to fire the fort by shooting burning arrows against it, which the garrison would extinguish with water kept in barrels within the works. Some of the Indians managed to get into the fort, which enabled them to carry on a more effect- ual fire against the blockhouse, while others attempted to undermine it. The garrison made a stubborn defense killing or wounding such Indians as exposed themselves. The water in the bastion being nearly exhausted, the soldiers commenced to dig a passage under ground to the well which stood in an exposed place. Darkness came at last, but the Indians kept up a fire all night from their intrenchments. The next day the Indians set fire to the commanding officer's house near the blockhouse. The flames soon reached the bastion of the blockhouse, which at last took fire. The garrison however extinguished it with water from the well which they had reached by the underground passage. The firing continued until midnight of the second day, when the garrison was warned that preparations had been com- pleted to set the blockhouse on fire from above and below, and their surren- der was demanded with the promise that if they yielded their lives would be spared. Christie, being satisfied that the burning of the blockhouse could not be prevented, surrendered with the understanding that the lives of the garrison should be spared and that they might retire unmolested to the near- est post. The Indians kept them for awhile near Presque Isle and adopted some of their prisoners into their tribe, shaving off their hair and painting and bedecking them as Indian warriors. They finally carried their prison- ers to Detroit. Christie made his escape. One soldier, Benjamin Gray and possibly another escaped at the time of the surrender. Gray went to Fort Pitt and first told the story of the seige and capture of the fort.
The Indians, late in the morning of June 18, appeared before Le Boeuf (now Waterford, Pa.,) fourteen miles west of French Creek in Chautauqua county. Its garrison consisted of eleven privates, two corporals and its com- inander, Ensign Price, a gallant young officer. The Indians at first en- deavored to gain admittance by artifice but failed. Late 'in the day they commenced the attack by shooting burning arrows against the sides and roof of the blockhouse. The men several times succeeded in extinguishing the fire. At length the flames so spread that they could not master them. They all got out through a narrow window in the rear of the blockhouse unob- serbed by the Indians ; covered by the darkness of the night, they managed
106
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
to escape into the forest, where they wandered several days half starved. Finally all but two (who probably perished in the woods) reached Fort Pitt. On their way Price and his men passed Venango (now Franklin) where they found only smoking fires, in which lay the half-burnell boilies of its murdered garrison. The Indians, who were Senecas, had succeeded in gaining admit- tance into the fort at Venango, and burned it to the ground and massacred its garrison, leaving none to tell the story of its fall. The few facts known respecting its destruction were afterwards gathered from an Indian who was present at its capture, and who narrated them to Sir William Johnson. Lieutenant Gordon, the commanding officer, was tortured over a slow fire for several nights until he died.
While the Indians were prosecuting their campaign along this frontier, they murdered many of the scattered settlers of western Pennsylvania, and others only saved themselves by fleeing to the nearest forts. Meantime Pon- tiac was prosecuting with great energy the siege of Detroit. For more than a year was it besieged, during which time the garrison suffered greatly.
July 29, 1763, Major Rogers arrived at Detroit with a reenforcement of 280 men. A little later in an attempt to raise the siege, the English in a desperate conflict at Bloody river lost one quarter of their number. October 19th of the same year, somewhere near the foot of Lake Erie the Indians attacked 160 English soldiers under Major Wilkins, in boats on their way to relieve Detroit. A battle ensued in which nearly thirty Englishmen were killed and wounded. Other calamities befel Major Wilkins. A storm over- took him on Lake Erie ; his boats were wrecked ; his ammunition was lost ; and seventy of his men perished.
August 10, 1764, General Bradstreet with 3,000 men set out in boats from the foot of Lake Erie, on an expedition whose object was to raise the siege of Detroit. The route of this army was along the southern shore of Lake Erie. August 10 and 11, 1764, they rowed along the coast of Chautauqua county. Israel Putnam accompanied the expedition as a colonel of a regiment of Con- necticut troops. Arriving at Detroit, Bradstreet raised the siege, and Octo- ber 10 set out on his return .* Eight or ten miles west of Cleveland a por- tion of the boats were wrecked, + and about 150 of his force, provincials and Indians, were compelled to make their way to Fort Niagara along the south- ern shore of Lake Erie on foot. Their route led through the lake towns of the county of Chautauqua. After many days of hardship, fording creeks and rivers, suffering from cold and hunger, they reached the end of their journey. Many of the provincials perished in the woods.
Among the Indian chiefs who took an active part in the contest, was Guyasutha. Like Pontiac he was a leader among his people and endowed
*No full account of his return march has been preserved.
+Muskets, swords, wrecks of boats and other relics have been found for several miles along the coast.
107
PONTIAC'S WAR.
with the stern virtues of his race. Guyasutha and Cornplanter were lords of the forest along the Allegany and its headwaters. They were familiar with our county and sometimes visited its beautiful lake. They belong to its history as Robin Hood to Sherwood forest. Although prominent in Pon- tiac's war, Parkman scarcely notices Guyasutha. His deeds were equal to those of Cornplanter, Red Jacket or Farmer's Brothers. Guyasutha when young was a companion of Washington on his mission to the French in 1753 from Logstown to Le Boeuf. Guyasutha in 1763 was a chief of the Sene- cas. He then entered into the conspiracy of Pontiac, and was the first it is probable to commence that contest which, although generally called Pon- tiac's, was sometimes called Guyasutha's war. Guyasutha is said to have led the Indians in the bloody battle of Bushy Run, which was the most des- perate encounter with the Indians that perhaps ever took place on this con- tinent, a conflict in which the Indians displayed a steady valor and endur- ance equal in every respect to their brave and civilized opponents. At the close of this war, in the conference held near Lake Erie between the Indian tribes, he was a leading character. Later in the conference on the Mus- kingum between Colonel Boquet and the Senecas, Delawares and Shawnees, Guyasutha then chief of the Senecas upon the Allegany and Ohio was prominent, and when the conference was resumed in November he was a leading orator and took part in the treaty of Fort Pitt in 1768, at which 1, 100 Indians were present. In 1770 when General Washington made a journey west as far as the mouth of the Great Kanawha, when near the mouth of the Muskingum he made a ceremonious visit to the camp of Guya- sutha who was then at the head of the river tribes. Washington and Guya- sutha recognized each other, although seventeen years had passed since their journey up the Allegany. He presented to Washington a quarter of fine buffalo meat just slain. They encamped together and passed the night in friendly conference. Guyasutha is said to have led the attack on Hannas- town in 1782. He died on the bank of the Allegany, and left his name to a beautiful plain on that river, where he was buried.
Pontiac's war was the last great attempt made by the Indians to redeem this country from the dominion of the white man. With the death of their great leader their efforts ceased and comparative peace for many years pre- vailed. No event of importance occurred in these regions until the Revo- lution.
1
108
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
CHAPTER XI.
THE REVOLUTION.
A T THE commencement of the Revolution, the limits of settlement and civilization had extended somewhat nearer to Chautauqua county ; but no event of great importance affecting these regions transpired until near the close. Long. prior to 1779, the hostile Indians and tories had desolated the frontier settlements of New York and Pennsylvania ; to punish them Washington planned two expeditions. One was to march by the north branch of the Susquehanna, against the Indian villages of the Six Nations in New York : the other was, at the same time, to proceed up the Allegany, under the command of Col. Daniel Brodhead, a gallant and enterprising offi- cer, who then commanded at Pittsburgh, and to destroy the villages of the Secrea and Munsey Indians, who dwelt along that river and its tributaries, and afterwards to unite with the army of Gen. Sullivan in a combined attack upon Fort Niagara. On account of the difficulty of providing Col. Brodhead with supplies in time, and the want of satisfactory information concerning the Allegany country, the idea of the two expeditions cooperating was abandoned by Gen. Washington.
Col. Brodhead, August 11, 1779, at the head of 605 militia and volunteers, and with one month's provisions, advanced up the Allegany river from Pitts- burgh to the Mahoning. Here their provisions were transferred from boats to packhorses ; and the army proceeded on to Brady's Bend, in Clarion county, Pennsylvania. Here an advanced party consisting of fifteen white men and eight Delaware Indians, under command of Lient. Harding, fell in with thirty or forty Indian warriors coming down the river in seven canoes. The Indians landed and stripped off their shirts; a sharp contest ensued ; the Indians were defeated, six or seven of their number killed and several wounded ; and all their canoes and contents fell into the hands of Col. Brod- head. Lieutenant Harding had three men slightly wounded, one a young Delaware chief named Nanoland, another the celebrated scout Nathan Zane. This encounter probably occurred near Thompson's island in Warren county, five miles below the mouth of the Broken-Straw. Colonel Thomas Procter in 1791 journeyved from Philadelphia upon a mission to the western Indians to persuade them to peace. On his way he visited the Allegany river, and was joined by Cornplanter with thirty canoes. April 11, they arrived at an old
109
THE REVOLUTION.
Indian settlement called Hogstown (undoubtedly Goshgoshunk), and after- wards proceeded up the river to Hickory Town (Lackawana). April 13, they ascended the Allegany ten miles to Logtrap creek. Colonel Proctor states in his journal that he "Proceeded up the river today (14th), took up our encampment near the mouth of Casyoudang creek, it being the place where Colonel Brodhead in 1779 had fought against the savages, and in which action Joseph Nicholson, his interpreter, was wounded." Brodhead resumed his march on the 15th and arrived in the morning at the Indian town Buck- aloons just below the Broken-Straw. The Indians were driven to the hills in its rear. A breastwork of felled timber and fascines was thrown up. It was about half a mile above the mouth of the Broken-Straw, on the west side of the road from Irvinton to Warren, upon a high bluff by the Allegany, and commanded an extensive view up and down the river. Its remains were plainly to be seen a few years ago. A garrison of forty men were left to guard the baggage and stores, and the troops iimmediately marched to Con- awago, the Seneca town that stood on the site of Warren. This had been deserted for eighteen months. Brodhead, it is said, sent a force several miles up the Conawago and found other deserted villages. Several days afterwards Major Morrison returned to this place to reconnoitre ; as he stooped to drink at the creek, a rifle ball splashed water in his face. This fact was confirmed long afterwards to Dr. William A. Irvine by one of Cornplanter's men.
The country of the upper Allegany, and much of Western New York, was then unexplored by white men. Undoubtedly there were with this expedition experienced hunters and bordermen ; yet no one was sufficiently familiar with the country above the Conewago to guide the expedition directly to the upper Seneca towns, the most important settlements upon the river. This led to much uneasiness of the troops. Colonel Brodhead, how- ever, promptly ordered an advance along an Indian path that appeared to have been used for some time. The expedition rapidly advanced up the right or west bank of the river. After a march of twenty miles, without discovering other signs of Indian occupation or presence than a few footprints, upon arriving at the crest of a high hill they saw the sparkling waters of the AAllegany glistening beneath them, and along either side of the winding river the broad and luxuriant cornfields of the Indians. On descending the hill they came in sight of their towns which had just been deserted. These vil- lages and cornfields were situated along the Allegany for abont eight miles above the village of Kinjua, their northern limit being near the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania.
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.