History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 12

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 744

USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 12

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breadth escapes and deeds of reckless daring would fill a volume : others were Elerson, MeDonald, Garret Putnam and Captain Jehoiakim, a Stock- bridge Indian." Boyd and Parker were hastened to Little Beard's town, where they were put to death with cruel tortures. It is said that Boyd approached Brant under the sign of a Free Mason, of which ancient fraternity both were members, that the chieftain recognized the bonds of brotherhood and promised his prisoner protection, but being unex- pectedly called away, the captives were handed over to Butler, (probably Walter N.,) who, exasperated at Boyd's refusal to give information concerning the numbers and disposition of Sullivan's army, handed the heroic Lieutenant over to the Indians to be put to death. How much of this story is true is diffi- cult to ascertain ; it is, however, extremely doubt- ful if any such transaction occurred. All that is known is that the bodies of Boyd and Parker were found by our troops the next day, horribly mutilated, and bearing marks of having been subject to un- speakable tortures.

"Sullivan had established a line of sentries along the base of the hill next the morass, to guard the pioneers against surprise while repairing the bridge and causeway. Capt. Benjamin Lodge, who was the surveyor for the expedition, and with chain and compass had measured the entire route from Easton, about a half an hour after the skirmish with Boyd, had gone a short distance up the hill beyond the piquet line, where he was set upon by a party of Indians.

" Thomas Grant, who was one of the surveying party, thus tells the story :-

" 'Myself and four chain carriers, who were about one and [a] half miles in advance of the troops, were fired on by several Indians who lay in ambush ; a corporal by the name of Calhawn, who came vol- untarily with me, was mortally wounded and died the next day. The Indians pursued us a fourth of a mile, but without success-we being unarmed were obliged to run.'

" Mr. Lodge was compelled to leave his compass and ran toward the nearest sentinel, who shot the Indian who was chasing him with uplifted toma- hawk and Mr. Lodge escaped. Campfield says they were the Indians who were pursuing Murphy and others.t These two affairs disclosed the posi- tion and force of Butler, and thwarted his plans to surprise the army. Gen. Sullivan ordered Hand's brigade to cross the morass, push up the hill and clislodge the enemy. Butler on returning to his position after the affair with Boyd found his force in confusion, who, seeing they were discovered, beat a hasty retreat, leaving their hats, packs, etc., behind them. Butler withdrew his force to Gaghe- hegwalchale.

" Having destroyed Kanaghasaws, and com- pleted the bridge and causeway, Sullivan with the

* Major Norris says the number of Boyd's assailants was 300.

" Dr. Campfield says "our loss in killed and taken was sixteen and the officer." Sparks says Boyd was dangerously wounded before being cap- tured and "was put to death with the most inhuman torture.

t Dr. Campfield adds, one of the surveyor's men was wounded and all his instruments taken.

SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION.

main army, pushed forward on the trail taken by Boyd the night before, a distance of seven miles to Gaghehegwalchale or Gathsegwarhohare, Cassa- waughloughly. This was an Indian town of twenty- five houses,* mostly new, on the east side of the Canaseraga Creek, about two miles above its con- fluence with the Genesee. The site is now occu- pied by the house and surrounding grounds of the . Hermitage,' the ancestral home of the Carrolls. The tribes residing here, called by Sullivan, Squat- chegas, by the Onondagas, Tchouera-gak, signify- ing wild cats ; and by others Kah-Kwas, were the same that afterward settled on Squakie Hill, to whom two miles square were reserved in the treaty of 1797. They were a remnant of one of the tribes of the historic Eries. * *

" As the advance of the army approached this town about dusk of Sept. 13th, they found them- selves confronted by a strong force of Indians and Rangers, drawn up in battle array, to dispute their farther progress. The General at once began to make the proper disposition of his troops to attack them, and pushed forward the flanking divisions to cut off their retreat, but before the troops were in position, the enemy retreated in a precipitate man- ner, and the army encamped in the town without opposition. There were extensive cornfields ad- jacent to the town, which it took two thousand men from six until twelve o'clock of the 14th to destroy, when they set out for the great town of the Gen- esee. At two and one-fourth miles they crossed the creek, then says Dr. Campfield, we .advanced on to a plain, through a swamp of large trees. * * * This plain appeared to be about two miles in length and upwards of a mile wide, lying almost east and west. [Approaching it] on the east end, the view was obstructed by a hill, not very high, but when we approached the middle of the plain, we found it open to the right to an amazing extent. When we came nigh the hill mentioned before, our march was obstructed by the Genesee River, which takes its course through the hills, and at this place enters this extensive plain. * * The grass on this plain is good, the wild horses are very fond of it, and it grows as high as a man's head in many places. Here we had a charming view of our army. which is the first, all moving in our original order of march. The army here crossed the river and ascended the hill-it continued its progress to Geneseo, over several sudden hills and swamps which were general [ly] miry, if not three rods across, at which place it arrived about sunset. * * * The town is situated on a very fine plain, higher than the other large plain. Other journals speak of it as being in a bend of the river,t by which it was nearly encircled, and that a pretty brook of good water ran through it. The location of this great Seneca Castle was on the west side of the Genesee River, on the flat immediately in front of Cuylerville in the town of Leicester, on the oppo-

site side of the valley from Geneseo. It appears on Evan's map as Chenandoanes ; in 1776, it was called Chenondoanah ; by Morgan is called De-o- nun-da-ga-a, as a more modern Seneca name, sig- nifying ` where the hill is near ;' and is often called Little Beard's town, from the name of the noted Seneca Chieftain. The Castle consisted of one hundred and twenty-eight houses, of which most were large and elegant, and was surrounded by about two hundred acres of cornfields, with every kind of vegetable. It was also the western door of the Long House, to which the Iroquois were ac- customed to liken their confederacy. Near this place were found the bodies of Lieut. Thomas Boyd and Sergeant Parker, horribly mutilated by the tortures to which they had been subjected in the presence of an officer of the British army. They were buried with the honors of war, that evening, near the spot where they were found, under a clump of wild plum-trees, standing near the junction of Boyd's and Parker's creeks, which form what is known as Beard's creek. A large mound by the road-side still marks their first burial place. Our army found the town deserted, but with every ap- pearance of being left in a hurry and confusion. This marked the extreme limit of the march of the army.

" There was an Indian town, called Canawaugus, twelve miles from the Great Castle, near the site of Avon, which has been reported to have been destroyed by a detachment under Poor and Max- well, but this is a mistake. All the journals agree that Little Beard's town was the last town destroyed and make no mention whatever of Canawaugus.

"At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 15th of September, the whole army was turned out to destroy the crops, orchards and houses of the place. The corn was piled up in the houses and burned with them, or thrown upon log heaps and consumed. It was estimated that more than 15,000 bushels were destroyed at this place .* It was the largest corn the troops had ever seen, some of the ears being twenty-two inches in length. It was about 2 o'clock when the fields had been overrun, the abundant harvest destroyed, the trees hewn down, and nought of the great town re- mained but smoking ruins, and blackened logs ; then came the joyful order to about face and re- turn. While the army was in this town Mrs. Lester with a child in her arms came to our troops. The autumn previous. (Nov. 7th,) her husband with others, was taken by the Indians to Nanticoke ; he was slain but his wife was carried into captivity. In their haste to leave the town her captors left her behind, when she escaped to our lines. Her

child died in a few days. She subsequently became the wife of Captain Roswell Franklin, who was among the very first settlers at Aurora, N. Y.

" The army set out on its return by the same path it came, at 3 o'clock P. M. * [and] encamped that night on the tlats near Canawagh- Joughly. On Thursday, the 16th, the army were

* Maior Norris estimates the quantity of corn destroyed at 20,000 bushels.

* Major Norris' Fournal says it contained twen.y-two houses.

t See Major Norris' Journal : which, as well as the Diary of Dr. Campfield, says it was much the largest town the army met with. The latter adds, "a pretty brook of water runs through it."

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

early at work finishing cutting some corn which had been left, and resumed the march about ten o'clock. Captain Henderson with sixty men was detached to bury the dead who fell in the affair at Groveland. Fifteen bodies were found, which were buried in the presence of the army with the honors of war,* and the army proceded to Kanagh- saws, where it encamped. The next morning was cold with severe frost, but the troops were in mo- tion as early as sunrise and hastened to Haneyaya, which they reached at one o'clock, and found Capt. Cummings and party safe and sound, greatly to the relief of the General and their friends. Here the full ration was again issued, which, says one of the journals, 'came very welcome, as we can now sit down and eat a hearty meal of victuals with a clear conscience, and before, on our half allowance, we dare not.'

"On the evening of the 19th the army reached Kanadaseaga, without any occurrence worthy of note, except that scattered dwellings and fields of corn which had been overlooked or purposely spared were completely destroyed, and a number of pack horses being unable to go farther were shot. At Kanadaseaga, Colonel Smith with a de- tachment was sent up on the west side of Seneca lake to lay waste more effectually the country about Kershong. Detachments under Colonel But- ler and Colonel Dearborn were sent on each side of Cayuga lake to complete the ruin of that region. On Friday, the 24th of September, the army reached Kanawalaholla, the site of Elmira, where it found Captain Reid with an abundant supply of provisions, and who received the approaching army with demonstrations of joy. The next day was spent in rejoicing, and the following days detach- ments under Colonel Courtlandt and Captain Simon Spaulding were sent up the Tioga, who devastated the country as far as Painted Post. On the 30th of September the army returned to Fort Sullivan, and reached Easton on the 15th of October."

Efforts have been made to disparage the man- agement of this expedition and belittle its results ; but it is remarked by the translator of M. Chastel- leux's Travels, an Englishman then resident in the United States, that the instructions given by Gen- eral Sullivan to his officers, the order of march he prescribed to his troops, and the discipline he had the ability to maintain, would have done honor to the most experienced ancient or modern generals, t

With a "loss of less than forty men, in killed, wounded and taken, and those who died natural deaths,"* it over-run and desolated the vast terri- tory of a vigilant, crafty and powerful enemy and inflicted a blow from which they never recovered ; burning forty Indian towns, destroying one hun- dred and sixty thousand bushels of corn in fields and granaries, cut down a vast number of the finest fruit trees, desolated luxuriant gardens, leaving not a "single trace of vegetation upon the surface of the ground," and opened up to commerce and civilization a territory exceeding in extent one-third of the area of this great State, and that the most fertile and beautiful. The proud Iroquois, who had scarce felt the touch of the colonists except in kindness, were driven into the forests to starve and be hunted like wild beasts; their altars were over- turned, their graves trampled upon by strangers, and their beautiful country laid waste.t The terror- stricken Iroquois fled to Niagara, where they per- ished in large numbers from diseases caused by the absence of accustomed food, and insufficient pro- tection from the severity of the succeeding winter, which was one of unexampled rigor and was dis- tinguished as the hard winter.#

The result of the expedition was highly satisfac- tory to Congress, which, on the 14th of October, 1779, passed the following resolutions :-

Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to his Excellency, General Washington, for direct- ing, and to Major-General Sullivan and the brave officers and soldiers under his command, for effect- ually executing an important expedition against such of the Indian nations, as, encouraged by the counsels and conduct of the officers of His Britan- nic Majesty, had perfidiously waged an unpro- voked and cruel war against these United States, laid waste many of their defenseless towns, and with savage barbarity slaughtered the inhabitants thereof.

Resolved, That it will be proper to set apart the second Thursday in December next, as a day of general thanksgiving in these United States, and that a committee be appointed to prepare a recom- mendation to the said States for this purpose.

This retributive justice suggested by Washington and executed by Sullivan was indeed terrible in its consequences to the Iroquois, and has been re- garded with some degree of disapprobation by those whose amiable disposition leads them to con- demn. says Chief Justice Marshall, "whatever may have the appearance of tending to aggravate the miseries of war;" but it had the sanction of Con-

.In 1841, these remains, together with those of Lieutenant Boyd and Sergt. Parker, at Cuylerville, were exhumed and removed to Revolution ary Hill, in the beautiful Mount Hope Cemetery of Rochester, a spot assigned by the authorities of that city for the interment of all Revolution- ary heroes in Western New York, and there reinteired with imposing ceremonies, which were participated in, besides the people of Livingston county, by the military and civic authorities of Rochester. This action was in consonance with a decision of a public meeting held at the court house in Geneseo on the 14th of August, 1841, and under the supervision of a committee then designated, consisting of Colvin H. Bryan, William T. Cuyler, Daniel H. Bissell, Reuben Sleeper, John Henderson, Horatio Jones, John R. Murray, jr., Allen Ayrault, Samuel Treat, jr., Edward R. Hammatt, William W. Weed, W'm. H. Stanley and Daniel P. Bissell. t Thatcher's Military Journal.

* Diary of the American Revolution, Frank Moore. t Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, Rutteuber.

A Spark's American Biography, New Series, 111., 147.

THE IROQUOIS AFTER THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

gress, and, says Sparks, “ was demanded as well as justified, by the deliberate sentiments of the best and wisest " of that day. It should not be over- looked either that it was directed not against an en- emy who regarded and respected the common usages of civilized warfare, but against one whose heteroclit- ical habits inade him amenable to none of these, and, says Sparks, " against whose fury neither the helplessness of infancy, nor feeble age, nor the de- fenseless state of woman, could afford the least protection."

Of the Iroquois, who, says Clark, "hung like the scythe of death in the rear of our settlements," and whose " deeds are inscribed with the scalping- knife and tomahawk in characters of blood," but few ever returned to their native lands ; and in the treaty of peace which put an end to this interne- ciary struggle, no stipulation whatever was made respecting them. Keenly sensible of the deadly scourge which had devastated her border settle- ments, the New York Legislature evinced a dispo- sition to expel them from her territory, but, through the influence of Washington and Schuyler, better and more humane counsels prevailed ; and, though according to common usage they, as conquered allies of the British, had forfeited all territorial rights, they still pressed claims, which both the State and Federal Governments generously recognized and respected by subsequent treaties. Ungenerously left without provision by the allies who so strenu- ously courted their assistance, many of them mi- grated to the West. Their descendants are now largely located at Forestville, Wisconsin, where they are said to number six thousand, 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 agriculture and dis- play their superiority over the other tribes in the arts or civilization in as marked a degree as they did in the prowess of their savage warfare. They are not dying out. Their numbers rather increase than diminish.

Not so unmindful of the Iroquois, however, was the Federal Government. At the conclusion of the Revolutionary war, Oliver Wolcott, Richard But- ler and Arthur Lee were appointed commissioners to amicably adjust their rights and claims, and at a council held at Fort Stanwix in 1784, reservations were assigned to each of the Six Nations, except the Mohawks, who after residing awhile on the American side of the Niagara river, in the vicinity of the old landing place above the fort, retired to

the banks of the Onise or Grand river, about forty miles above Niagara Falls, on lands assigned them by the Canadian Government, under the protec- tion of Great Britain. January 9, 1789, St. Clair held treaties at Fort Harmer with the Iroquois (the Mohawks excepted,) and other Indians, which, while they recognized the boundary line established in 1784, modified that treaty so as to concede to the Indians the right to compensation for lands east of that line as far as the boundary established in 1768. Special legislation had been previously had with regard to the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. October 15, 1783, Congress passed a series of reso- lutions relating to the Iroquois, of which the sixth reads as follows :-

" Whereas, The Oneida and Tuscarora tribes have adhered to the cause of America, and joined her armies in the course of the late war, and Con- gress has frequently assured them of peculiar marks of favor and friendship, the said Commissioners are therefore instructed to reassure the said tribes of the friendship of the United States, and that they may rely that the land which they claim as their inheritance will be reserved for their sole use and benefit, until they may think it for their advantage to dispose of the same."

CHAPTER V.

THE SENECAS-THEIR ORIGIN AND SYMBOLS-AN- TIQUITY AND EXTENT OF THEIR COUNTRY - THEIR STATUS AMONG THE IROQUOIS-THEIR EARLY TOWN SITES-GREENHALGH'S JOURNAL .- THE SENECAS VISITED BY LA MOTTE, HENNEPIN AND LA SALLE-MISSION OF SIEUR DE JONCAIRE -JESUIT MISSIONS -JOGUES' MISSION TO THE MOHAWKS-LE MOINE'S MISSION AT ONONDAGA -CHAUMONOT ESTABLISHES THE MISSION OF ST. JOSEPH AMONG THE CAYUGAS AND THE MISSION OF ST. MICHAEL AMONG THE SENECAS -- MISSIONS OF FATHERS FREMIN, RAFFEIX AND GARNIER- SENECA MISSION RESUMED BY FATHERS GARNIER AND VAILLANT-FATHERS BRUYAS AND FENE- LON - EPISCOPAL MISSIONS- NEW ENGLAND MISSIONS-REV. SAMUEL KIRKLAND-MISSION- ARY SOCIETIES OF MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW YORK.

"THE origin of the Senecas, like that of the con- federacy to which they belonged and the other nations composing it, is ascribed to supernatural agencies. It rests wholly on tradition reaching back to a dim and misty past, which affirms that

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

they sprang from the crest of a mountain near the head of Canandaigua Lake, which is still venerated by a remnant of the tribe as the place of their birth- This eminence they designated Gennandewahgalt, or Goananonda, ( meaning great hill, or big moun- tain ; ) and hence they were called the great hull or big mountain people, and their armorial device was a big mountain .* This till a recent day and tradi- tionally from a long remote period, was the place where the councils of the nation were held. In their infancy, the base of this mountain, so tradition alleges, was encircled by a huge serpent whose head and tail met at the entrance to the pathway which led to and from its summit, and few who essayed the passage escaped its voracious jaws. They were thus immured till fright and the deadly feted odor of the poisonous monster made their condition insupportable ; and arming themselves with such weapons as were at hand, they attempted an escape, but were seized and devoured. All thus perished except two children, who were miraculous- Zy preserved and as miraculously made the instru- ments . of the destruction of this terrible enemy of their race. In obedience to oracular instruction they fashioned from a particular kind of willow a bow and arrow, the barb of which was dipped in poison, and with this weapon shot the serpent, the arrow, by divine direction, entering its vitals beneath its scales. The serpent was instantly seized with violent convulsions, uncoiled itself from about the mountain, and in its agonized writhings and con- tortions disgorged the human heads, which rolled down the declivity to the lake, whose limpid waters petrified them and reveal them to this day in the shape of large round stones, which exist in great numbers, near the bank of the lake. The serpent in its descent to the lake destroyed in its death- throes all the timber in its course ; and the trav- eler as he passes through Canandaigua Lake, will observe as he approaches the great hill, a gully ex- tending from base to summit, which the Indians claim was the track left by the serpent in its de- scent to the lake. From the two orphans thus preserved sprang the present race of Senecas. t

The Senecas had no tradition of a people occu- pying their country prior to themselves, and which was held in possession by them from a period " whereof the memory of man runneth not to the

contrary." , "* One of the first allusions to them by the Europeans occurs in a Jesuit Relation dated 1644-45, and is as follows : " Toward the termi- nation of the great lake called Ontario is located the most numerous of the Five Nations, named the Senecas, which contains full 1,200 men, in two or three villages of which it is composed." Their country, indeed, had been referred to incidentally a century earlier. Jacques Cartier was informed in 1535, by the Indians living upon the borders of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, " that, after ascending many leagues among rapids and waterfalls, he would reach a lake one hundred and fifty leagues long and forty or fifty broad. at the western extremity of which the waters were wholesome and winters mild, and that a river emptied into it from the south, which had its source in the country of the Iroquois."t In 1726, their country is described as extending from Cunahogue Creek (Cuyahoga Creek, Ohio,) to Sodoms Creek (Little Sodus Creek, )} the very gran- ary, not only of the confederacy, but of the western continent then inhabited by Europeans. As a member of the traditional Hodenosaunee, of which they, in conjunction with the Onondagas, were re- garded the fathers,s' they were by far the most nu- merous and powerful (more than equaling the com- bined numbers of all the others composing it, ) and wielded an influence proportionate to their com- manding strength and sagacity. Their great prowess was acknowledged by their confederates, and their vigilance and power extorted its admis- sion from their enemies. From their geographical position with regard to the other members of the league, they were the western door-keepers of their so-called long house ; while the Mohawks, being the easternmost of the Five Nations, guarded the eastern door at Scheneghtade. Thus the Senecas in- terposed a living barrier to the enemies of the Con- federacy from the west and south, and the Mo- hawks, to those from the north and east, a duty which they proudly fulfilled. " Whenever," says Stone, "at either door of the long house, other na- tions, or their ambassadors, knocked upon business, the first duty of the nation keeping the door was to ascertain its character and importance. If not of great moment, the council of the separate nation attended to it. But whenever the subject matter presented from without was of interest to the whole confederacy, or of sufficient weight to require the

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History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 12

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 744

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 744