USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 5
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these thirteen were still detained in Canada. During the summer of 1689, scouting parties on either side were scour- ing the woods between Canada and Central New York, and in September the Iroquois caught "five praying Indians, who were bound hither to do mischief," and they had sent to Albany for two or three pair of horses and five or six men to ride the heaviest stockade of Tionondaga. Leisler, acting under the advice of Peter Schuyler, Mayor of Albany, established a better arrangement to attach the Indians to the English cause. [Peter Schuyler possessed remarkable influence with the Indians, and was a man of sound judg- ment and great moderation.]
The new arrangement established a sworn interpreter for the better communication between the Indians and English. Arnout Cornelise occupied that position. Regular runners (or posts) were kept, to transmit messages from the central seat of the Five Nations to Albany. Jeannetie (or Lau- rence Jeannetie, as he is sometimes called,) an Indian, was one of the most reliable of those runners. Tasoquathe, Caristasie, and Jurian, Mohawks, were frequently .on the path with messages. Lieut. Robert Sanders, a member of the Albany Convention, (the highest official body in the province,) was commander of Indian forces; his sagacity and knowledge of Indian character, called him to this office. In times of unusual danger, or cases in which both English and the Five Nations were interested, Peter Schuyler con- ducted councils with the Indians at Albany.
Late in the year 1689, a party of Iroquois saw three of those thirteen prisoners who had been returned from France to Canada, and they made an appeal for them to be set free ; also two letters from Canada to the priest at Oneida had fallen into the hands of some of the Indians. These, with the news concerning the prisoners, were sent to Albany by five embassadors, chiefs of the Five Nations. They called on Arnout Cornelise on their way and obtained his inter-
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pretation of their message, in a letter, which they took to Peter Schuyler. On the 27th of December, two days after their arrival, a Council consisting of Mayor, Aldermen, Commonality and Military officers of the City and County of Albany, was called to meet with these Chiefs. The let- ters, one from Lamberville who had gone to Canada, were not proven obnoxious, but the opportunity was seized upon to draw up a series of articles, admonishing the Five Na- tions to observe greater caution in their intercourse with the common enemy, and giving timely advice upon im- portant affairs. The articles and the decision upon the letters, were sent by. express to the Nations by the three trusty Mohawk messengers. Arnout Cornelise accom- panied by Robert Sanders was sent to Onondaga with all possible speed, that especial care should be taken that the articles be plainly stated, and also to state in the Indian's General Council at Onondaga "that Albany is the prefixed House to treat and speak with all sorts of people, and those who strive to make peace or cession with the French, must be looked upon as persons who design to make a breach in the silver covenant chain which has so many years been kept inviolable with the government."
The interest manifested in this arrangement won the Iro- quois to greater fidelity. They then made offer of furnish- ing 1,800 men to conduct a campaign to Canada. Captain Blew-stocking and De-gan-och-keeri, raised a command of forty Mohawks, but with all their vigilance, being unaided by the English, they did not avert the calamity which was vis- ited upon the peaceful Dutch citizens on the Mohawk-the burning of Schenectady by the French and their savage allies on the 9th of February, 1690. This terrible massacre was due the planning ability of Count De Frontenac, then Governor of New France (Canada). The ire of the Five Nations was terribly increased by this new outrage, for they regarded the Dutch as their brothers. The ability of the
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Jesuits to further on such designs as the French Governor saw fit to set on foot, was evident, and many efforts were made to induce the Iroquois to give them up to the au- thorities, but this was not done, for there was always among them a party of more or less influence in the Jesuit's interest. Five French men who came to Onon- daga and from there to Oneida, with presents to the na- tives and bearing letters to the priests, were caught and made prisoners, and by permission of the authorities at Al- bany, who were immediately consulted, these prisoners were divided among the nations, taken to Onondaga, and there barbarously destroyed. A short time after, another party of four French, four of their "praying Indians," (con- verts to the Catholic faith,) came bringing two of the cap- tive Iroquois to Onondaga, and from there sent out em- bassadors to all the other Nations. Two of these French- men were believed to be Father Lamberville, (the former priest at Onondaga) and the French Captain who attacked Schenectady. None of the nations would confer with them till they had called some "understanding men from Al- bany" that they might not be deceived. Peter Schuyler, Robert Saunders, Mons. Gawsheron, Jean Rose and two more went up to Onondaga. It is believed these French- men were killed ; and it is inferred from documents of that period that Father Millet was detained as a prisoner at Oneida.
The English now fully aroused to the dangers of French invasion, endeavored to raise forces to commence retalia- tory measures, but so weakened was the province by the unhappy state of her civil affairs that all efforts seemed barren of results.
Major Fitz John Winthrop made an attempt at invasion of Canada, with New York and New England forces, which was a failure. An effort was also made by Capt. John Schuyler, who with a small band of whites and Indians penetrated to
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Fort La Prairie, near Chambly, where they had an engage- ment, put to flight the enemy and captured some prisoners.
Soon after this, letters of commission were given to Arnout Cornelise Veile, (the same Arnout Cornelise before mentioned,) dated 20th September, 1690, authorizing him to act as Indian Agent for their Majesty's Province of New York, requiring him to reside at Onondaga, or at other places among the Indians according to instructions. Mr. Gerrit Luycass, who had been at Onondaga a few weeks, was appointed assistant to Arnout Cornelise Viele, to con- tribute in carrying out all lawful instructions from Albany.
The change in the civil affairs of New York, the deposi- tion and execution of Jacob Leisler, and the short rule of Governor Sloughter, did not materially affect the state of Indian affairs. Major Peter Schuyler, the person best fitted for the place, had command of the forces against the French, which consisted of three hundred Mohawks and River Indians, joined by one hundred and thirty "Christ- ians" [white men ?] who, on their way were to be added to by five hundred Senecas. By this force were the French annoyed and held in check.
To the year 1696 this state of petty warfare was con- tinued, and the warlike blood of all parties concerned was wrought up to fever heat. Count Frontenac the most able and enterprising governor the French had had over their possessions in America, was still in command of New France. With a determined spirit, though at the advanced age of seventy-four years, he planned a decisive blow to the English interests among the Iroquois. In August, 1696, heading his command in person, he made a descent upon the central power of these Confederates. He found the village of Onondaga destroyed by the natives to prevent its falling into his hands, but his soldiery destroyed the luxuriant fields of corn around it. Oneida, which now had no Jesuit priest to serve as a hostage, Father Millet having
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been re-called to Canada, was invaded, destroyed, and thirty-five of their principal men among whom were their head Chiefs, were made prisoners and carried to Canada. The devastation and ruin which marked this invasion, caused many of the Five Nations to flee in consternation to Albany for protection and relief. Winter was approaching and no corn was left to meet their necessities; neither dwellings to house them, though the latter they could provide. Governor Fletcher was then in command of New York. He called a council in which the English evinced their sympathy by enacting measures calculated to establish their friendship, producing the opposite tendency desired by Frontenac ; for they immediately built up their villages. The corn, implements, and utensils destroyed, were more than supplied by the government, added to by an outfit of clothing, so that although discouraged for a season, recu- peration was rapid.
In 1698, a treaty of peace was made between New France and the Iroquois, which was made more permanent by the treaty of 1700 between, the French and English, in which each nation were bound to certain restrictions ; an important one being that the subjects of the two crowns should not intrench upon each other's lands, till their limits and boundaries were decided by the proper commissioners appointed for that purpose. The Indians had now learned that victory to either French or English could confer no benefits on themselves, and so they carefully avoided enter- ing into their difficulties.
They also resolved upon some measures to protect their own interests, and in 1701, they "delineated upon paper in the most precise manner, the limits of what they called their hunting grounds, comprehendin g
Ontario and Erie, and all the circumjacent land for the dis- tance of sixty miles around them. The sole and absolute property of this country they desired might be secured to
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them ; and as a proof of perpetual alliance and to support our rights* against any claims which the French might make, founded on the vague and uncertain pretence of unlimited grants, or accidental local discovery, they declared themselves willing to yield to Great Britain the sovereignty and absolute dominion of it, to be secured and protected by forts, to be erected whenever it should be thought proper."
A treaty was accordingly then entered into and con- cluded by Mr. Nanfan, then Lieutenant Governor of New York, and a deed of surrender of the lands was executed by the Iroquois, on the conditions as above stated.
The boundary between the English and French had not yet been definitely settled upon, and the foregoing treaty was not strictly observed by the English. Disgusted and dissatisfied, many Indians joined the French in the war which followed. The French got possession of the country to the westward by erecting forts and military establish- ments. The treaty of Utrecht in 1713, compelled them, however, to acknowledge British sovereignty over the Iro- quois.
There are no records of the wars of the Iroquois with other nations of their own race, only so far as the civilized nations were interested, or participated therein. It was known, how- ever, that the Confederacy warred with the southern, western, and northwestern tribes, in times when they were at peace with their white neighbors ; and it was counted no unusual circumstance for them to start on the war path for the Ohio or Kentucky rivers, or to the country of Virginia, the Carolinas, or Georgia. In these journeyings they had come across the Tuscaroras, who dwelt upon the Neuse River in North Carolina, a large and powerful nation who had "fifteen towns, and could count twelve hundred warriors." These became attached to the Iroquois and took sides with them against the Cherokees, Creeks and Catawbas, with whom
*Rights of the English. See Doc. History N. Y. S., Vol. II, page 778.
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they warred. It is believed that this union of the Tusca- roras with the Iroquois came about by a similarity in the language of each, which induced them to believe the Tus- caroras to be a portion of their own nation.
In 1711 the Tuscaroras had become dissatisfied with en- croachments upon their lands, by the colonists of North Carolina, who even went so far as to parcel the land to emigrants as their own heritage. Exasperated, the Tus- caroras retaliated by seizing one Lawson, Surveyor-General of the State of Carolina, and after a brief trial put him to death. Becoming alarmed they hoped to escape punish- ment by putting to death all the white settlers south of Albemarle Sound. Dividing into small parties they com- menced their horrid purpose, and on the 22nd day of Sep- tember, 1711, one hundred and thirty persons fell victims to the sacrifice.
Col. Barnwell of South Carolina, with a small party of whites, and a considerable body of Catawbas, Creeks and Cherokees who had long standing revenges to satisfy, set out against them. After killing fifty Tuscaroras, and taking 250 prisoners, they came upon one of their forts on the Neuse River, where were enclosed 600 of the enemy. Barnwell concluded a treaty of peace with them, to which the Tuscaroras paid no attention, and renewed hostilities in a few days after. South Carolina, appealed to for assistance the second time, now sent out Col. Moore with 40 whites and 800 Indians, in the month of December. After a fatiguing march they came upon the Tuscaroras who had fortified themselves on the Taw River, about fifty miles from its mouth. A short engagement and Col. Moore entered their works, and 800 Tuscaroras became his prisoners. These were claimed by his Indians as a reward for their services, and were taken to South Carolina where they were sold for slaves. The remnant of the Tuscaroras, broken in spirit, were driven from their homes ; to the northward they trav-
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eled till they reached the Iroquois. No written record tells us of the Grand Council held on their reception ; of their formal adoption into the Great Confederacy, giving them the title thereafter of the Sixth Nation ; of the considerate and paternal manner in which the Iroquois relieved their immediate necessities, and home and country assigned them. This powerful race of 1200 warriors were reduced to less than two hundred, and in sympathy for their weakened and effeminated condition, their home was made among the re- tired precincts of the Oneidas, at their ancient abiding place among the hills of Stockbridge, and at their quiet retreat at Canaseraga, south of Oneida Lake. All the privileges of the Confederacy were accorded them ; they were called the " Younger Brothers." They sat in the councils equal in honor with the greatest, and their voice was listened to with equal respect.
In following the course of events, it is found that the ad- vent of the Tuscaroras was one of the remarkable epochs in their history, and the most considerable event of the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Slowly advancing upon them, however, were changes which were destined to deeply affect their nationality.
That which disturbed the Nations most, during this period, was the approach of white settlements here and there in close proximity to their borders. Although in the treaty of 1713, France agreed to "never molest the Five Nations subject to the dominion of Great Britain," yet the question of boundary was still unsettled, and the Iroquois saw them re-build the fort at Niagara, and increase their strength at the trading post at Detroit, and saw projects on foot for a continuous line of forts from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico.
Governor Burnet of New York, coming upon the stage of action during this time, exhibited greater zeal for His Majesty's Indian interests, than his immediate predecessors
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had done. By his assiduity he won the Indians who had strayed into the French interests, back to renew the ancient covenant chain. The agreement of 1701 was confirmed by a treaty in 1726, concluded upon the same terms, and a new deed reciting the former was executed. To counteract the French ascendancy which overawed the northern and western Indian frontier, Burnet energetically proceeded to the building of forts. He erected the fort at Oswego almost wholly at his private expense. His report exhibits his energy in the matter, and at the same time gives the reader a good idea of the mode of transportation of that day. His posse of workmen were sent up to Oswego by way of Mohawk River, Oneida Lake and Oswego River, and were accompanied by a detachment of sixty soldiers to protect them. His report states that he had been obliged to lay out three hundred pounds provided by Assembly, and more than double that amount on his own credit, "to furnish necessaries and provisions and hire workmen, and make batteaux to carry the men, for it is all water carriage from our outermost town called Schenectady to this place, [Oswego] which is about two hundred miles, except five miles where they must draw their batteaux over land, [Wood Creek carrying place,] which is easily enough done, and this makes our communication much more convenient than by land."
The building of this fort on land to which the French now as usual laid claim, was the inciting cause for further disturbances which finally culminated in the war of 1742, and which was confined chiefly to the northern borders of this State. The Iroquois as a people remained true to their allegiance to the English, and did not, (except in individual instances,) violate their laws of neutrality. On the other hand, among the French a Jesuit priest brought into their ranks a force of Indians whom he had attached to himself. This champion of the rights of the French, Father Francois Picquet, was established at the Lake of
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the Two Mountains in 1733, and was one of the first to foresee this war, and prepared for it a long time before hand. He undoubtedly assisted in bringing it about. He evidently got great glory to the arms of France and added largely to the consequence and pomp of his Mission .*
After the ruins of carnage had smouldered in a deceitful peace of but few years duration, the war commencing with the year 1754, broke out with greater and more destructive violence, involving a wide section of country in ยท its turmoils. The period was approaching when the destiny of the contestants was to be decided. The matter of supremacy of either of the two powers, English or French, on this continent, hung on the issue of the fortunes of this war.
This remarkable epoch in the state of our country, developed the men for the American Revolution. England, in compelling her American subjects to fight her battles for her, was unconscious that she was training them worthily and well, to become her most successful foes ; that in thus getting glory to her arms, should be the means, ultimately, of bringing glory to them and defeat to her. Washington, on the western frontier of Virginia, fighting the French and Indians, grew into early distinction. Gen- eral Gage earned a fine military reputation during this period, and General Philip Schuyler became conspicuous.t
Sir William Johnson, who, had he lived in the time of the Revolution, might have restained his violently loyalist family, even if he had chosen to remain true to the King, was one of the most remarkable men of the period of which
*The attractions of the Jesuit faith which had so long been an influence among the Iroquois, drew off many to the Mission. Several parties went there to live. whom M. Picquet used as a means to ferment the leaven of distrust and jealousy of the English.
+ Putnam was at "Ticonderoga, one of the bravest; Morgan was at Braddock's defeat, and Stark, afterwards the hero of Bennington, was a Captain of Rangers in this war.
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we now write. Among the Indians he was a power over- shadowing the combined influence of all the French diplo- mats, including the insinuating rivalry of Father Francois Picquet.
Gens. Bradstreet, Johnson, Wolf, Amherst, Shirley, Stan- wix, Colonel Mercer and many other brave men, gave luster to England's glory, while Generals Dieskau, Montcalm and Du Quesne, with signal renown long upheld their country's banner, and parried the impending doom of French dominion. The battles of Saratoga, Lake Cham- plain, Crown Point, the Cascades, Ticonderoga, Oswego and those on the Mohawk River, attest to the skill, daring and bravery of these men. However, the mind is filled with horror when the scenes of carnage are recalled, for the savages attached to these armies, particularly those under command of Father Francois Picquet, incited by intoxica- ting liquors, committed barbarities which even their com- mander could not restrain. Father Picquet distinguished himself and won the compliment from Du Quesne, as one who " was worth more than ten regiments."
Sir William Johnson in addition to being Indian Agent, was Major General of the Indian forces in the British interest, and had also a command of Englishmen. Under his generalship was fought the celebrated battle of Lake George, in September, 1755. His body of Indians was under command of Hendrick the celebrated Mohawk Chief- tain, who was at that time between sixty and sixty-five years of age. This brave old hero of the Mohawks fell in this battle, and the English lost the gallant Col. Williams. The French were defeated, their General, Baron Dieskau, wounded and made prisoner, and on the English side Gen. Johnson was wounded.
Montcalm succeeding Dieskau, skillfully cut his way through in a path of conquest, gaining command of Lake Champlain, Lake George, confirming the French power
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over the Western Lakes and the valley of the Mississippi. "Their occupation of Fort Du Quesne enabled them to cultivate the friendship, and continue their influence over the Indians west of the Alleghanies. Their line of com- munication reached from Canada to Louisana, and they were masters of the vast territory that spread out beyond it." Sir William Johnson's power over the Iroquois, alone, deterred them from immediate possession of a large portion of New York. From statements made in a report of that time, the following plan was arranged to secure possession of the Iroquois country. "The French had assembled in the neighborhood of Cadaraqui and Swegatchie about eight hundred Indians, Ottawas and other nations, and were pre- paring to march two thousand men to Oswego Falls, there build a strong fort to prevent provisions or reinforcements from going to Oswego. That another party were to march the new road from Swegatchie and build a fort at the west end of Oneida Lake. When these posts were secured a third party were to make a descent upon the German Flats, destroy the magazines there, cut off the garrison and in- habitants, and burn the settlements ; a fourth party were to attack Sir Wm. Johnson's house, kill or take him, and rav- age the settlements on that part of the Mohawk River." This plan was pretty successfully inaugurated, for in August of 1756, the French under Montcalm, invested and cap- tured Fort Oswego. Sir Wm. Johnson's report imme- diately after states, that "the French had very politically possessed themselves of important passes ; [in the Iroquois country,] the Indians have not reach enough to foresee the consequences of the valuable morsels the French have pitched upon." The French, after having se- cured these points, "sent word to the Onondaga Indians that they had now drove the English from their lands, and would not like them keep possession, but leave them free to them and their posterity forever. The French, in fact, did not want that place, so made their policy appear virtue to
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the Indians, and the plausibility of it will doubtless influ- ence them in their favor."
The Iroquois Confederacy at this period was a great power, which knew its own influence to be of immense im- portance to the contending powers. Measures were on foot to enlarge their Confederacy by bringing in the western In- dians. Sir Wm. Johnson strongly recommended this policy, believing that would secure all the power of the Indians of the northern part of the Continent to the British interest. Pontiac, the Great Chief of all the Ottawas, defeated this measure, and gave his strength to the cause of the French ; and the anticipated peace to follow around the borders of the Lakes was not realized. The Indians, believing that the Great Spirit helps the successful and turns His face from those whom He designs shall be defeated, became waver- ing in their faith in the English. This was especially notice- able among the western tribes where Sir William Johnson's presence was not frequent. Considerable numbers of the Senecas went over to the French ; the Cayugas and Onon- dagas took a neutral stand; and, says Sir William, "tis probable our destroying the works at, and abandoning the Oneida Carrying place last summer, [1756,] may produce a neutrality of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras."
In 1757, a descent was made into the Mohawk valley by M. De Belletre, and the massacre of the German Flats was committed,-a deplorable circumstance, which still further affected the confidence of the Iroquois, and only for the prompt attention of Sir William, the Oneidas would have been led into the snare of the French who were now rejoic- ing in the fullness of unequaled success. These calamitous events produced a feeling of gloom and despondency throughout the colonies, and the season which was nearly passed, put an end to all further operations.
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