USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : from 1700 to the present time, Volume I > Part 3
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Merrill, in speaking on the subject of missions among the Iroquois, says: "The tribe (Oneidas) can boast of being the oldest of our church's Indian mis- sions, dating from the year 1702."
The Reverend Mr. Smith and Reverend Mr. More were sent from England about this time. Mr. More remained for about three years, and was followed by Reverend Thomas Barclay, who remained from 1708 to 1712, and was suc- ceeded by Reverend William Andrews, who remained about six years. He found the work so discouraging that he gave it up in 1718. On returning from the field he said, "Heathen they are, and heathen they will be."
About 1731 Reverend John Milner visited the Mohawks. In 1733 it was re- ported that there were "but few unbaptized among that nation." Reverend John Ogilvie also ministered to the Mohawks in 1750. Reverend John J. Oel also served the Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroras. He was followed by Rev- erend John Stewart, who remained as a missionary among them until the breaking out of the war of the Revolution. Mr. Stewart, assisted by Joseph Brant, translated the Gospel of Mark, part of the Acts, and wrote a short his- tory of the Bible in the Mohawk language.
After the Revolutionary war, missionaries were sent among the Oneidas. Bishop Hobert sent Eleazer Williams, who did very effective work among this nation. It was he who has been thought by many to be the renowned Dauphin of France. He was called the son of an Indian woman, but his personal ap- , pearance was such as to contradict the statement. As to his lineage there is a mystery. By some he was said to be the son of Reverend Mr. Williams of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and that he had been taken captive by the Indians while a child; by others he was said to be the son of a squaw. Much has been written upon this subject on both sides, but Bloomfield, in his book on "The Oneidas," devotes many pages to the subject. He undoubtedly believed that Mr. Williams was the French prince. The pictures of the two persons that are here given certainly bear much resemblance, and it can safely be said that from their appearance there is better reason for believing that Mr. Williams was the Dauphin of France than that he was the son of a squaw.
In 1750 the Moravians undertook to establish missions among the Six Na- tions, and sent John C. Pyrlaeus and his wife to work among the Onondagas. They, with Anton Seyffert, undertook to reach the Onondagas, but the Oneidas refused to allow them to pass through their territory. By other routes, some of the missionaries of the Moravian church reached the Onondagas and Senecas, but they made no progress in their work among the Oneidas.
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The Methodist church sent a missionary among the Oneidas in 1829, in the person of Reverend Dan Barnes. No great impression was made by Mr, Barnes among the Indians, and he was followed by Reverend Rosman Ingalls who, in turn, was followed by Reverend Daniel Fancher. A church was built in 1841, but it was sold with the lands of the Indians, and another building was afterward constructed. The departure of the Oneidas for the west, however, ended the work of the Methodists among that nation in this state.
At the approach of the war for independence, it was an exceedingly impor- tant question what would be the position of the Iroquois. The subject was much considered by the Indians, and council after council was held, for, upon its determination, hinged the very existence of the confederation. In a note to Morgan's "League of the Iroquois," the subject is clearly presented. The note is as follows :
"At Onondaga in January, 1777, the annual council fire of the Six Nations was extinguished, seemingly not without bloodshed. The Senecas and Cayugas openly and unitedly espoused the cause of the king; the Mohawks and Ononda- gas were divided, some for the king, some neutral; the Oneidas and Tuscaroras endeavored to remain neutral, but many of them were soon actively engaged on the American side. These allies gave much aid to the patriots in the border wars of the Revolution, and suffered greatly in consequence. Their faithful friendship and assistance were formally and gratefully recognized by the United States by treaty proclaimed January 21, 1795. If the league had been unanimous under its ancient laws in making war upon Americans it is quite likely that Burgoyne's campaign would have been a British triumph, and that the war would have ended in the success of the royal arms. On the other hand, if the league had espoused the American cause or had remained neutral, it would have been both difficult and unjust to have taken from them an inch of their territory at the end of the war and the settlement of the West, the open- ing of the Erie canal and all the developments of the Empire state and its chief city would have been long postponed, even if commerce and empire had not been diverted into other channels. Any attempt at the settlement of the coun- try while still under Indian rule would have produced an unendurable state of affairs, much worse than any Transvaal problem. Being abandoned by the British government, the Iroquois had, at the end of the Revolution, no defense except the generosity of the American people."
Too often, in the public mind, the Indian is set down as a cruel monster. It is true that words cannot portray the cruelty of many of their acts, but can it be said that white men are able to throw the first stone? Go to the receptacles for relics of the dark ages in Europe. You will find there instruments of tor- ture, than which nothing can be invented more terrible. To come nearer home, we may find that there were no acts of the Iroquois more brutal than those of the whites who sided with the British in the struggle for independence.
Over against the tortures which the Indians inflicted upon their captives, place the following examples of the white man's mode of warfare: Sir Guy Carlton, governor general of Canada, was commissioned to wage war on land and sea against "all enemies, pirates or rebels either in or out of the province, to take them and put them to death, or preserve them alive, at his discretion."
REV. ELEAZER WILLIAMS AT 17 YEARS OF AGE (Supposed to be the Dauphin of France)
THE DAUPHIN OF FRANCE (LOUIS XVII) From a painting
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In connection with this it is to be remembered that the British government paid five dollars apiece for scalps of men, women or children. On one occasion a British captain shipped to Albany 154 dried scalps, and demanded the reward.
Take also a specific act. In 1778, while the Indians were prowling around Schoharie, they killed and scalped a mother and several children. At this junc- tion a party of loyalists came up to the place, and discovered an infant in its cradle. An Indian warrior, noted for his barbarity, approached the cradle with his uplifted tomahawk. The babe looked into his face and smiled; the tomahawk fell with his arm, and he was about stooping down to take the child in his arms, when one of the tories, cursing him for his humanity, thrust his bayonet through the smiling child and held him up struggling in death, ex- claiming, "This, too is a rebel."
Very much has been written in regard to the bad side of the Indian, but very little in his behalf. It would not be just to place the Iroquois, and particu- larly the Oneida nation, in the class with ordinary Indians. Many leaders among the Iroquois were great and good men. Foremost was Joseph Brant -- Thayendanegea. His prominence, ability and character demand that he should receive a more extended notice than any other man among the Indians. He was the son of a Mohawk chief. It has been claimed frequently, in consequence of the eminence of Brant, that he was at least partly white, but this is error. In one of his letters he expressly states that he was a Mohawk. His father's name was Tehowaghwengaraghkwin, and he was born on the Ohio river in 1742, but the home of his father was the castle at Canajoharie. He was edu- cated at the school of Reverend Doctor Eleazer Wheelock at Lebanon, Connecti- cut. He acted as an interpreter for Reverend Charles J. Smith, missionary to the Mohawks, and was afterward private secretary to Sir John Johnson. He took part in the early wars in which the Mohawks engaged, and it is claimed by some that he was elected head war chief of the Six Nations. It has been claimed by others that he never was properly elected to that office, but that by his great ability he was accepted as the head war chief, and was the head com- mander of the war parties of the Iroquois. It was very largely through his influence that the great portion of the league took sides with England in the war of the revolution.
Unlike many other chiefs he was humane in his treatment of prisoners, on many occasions saving the lives of captives in opposition to his own people, and frequently hazarding his own life to accomplish this end. He has been charged with being cruel and taking part in the massacre at Wyoming, but history establishes beyond any question that he was not present at that time. It is true that with his own hand he killed Colonel Wisner, but from his standpoint he did it as a merciful act, as Wisner had been mortally wounded, and, rather than to leave him upon the field to suffer, Brant struck him with his tomahawk and instantly ended his misery and life. It has been charged against him as an act of cruelty that he killed his own son. It is true that his own son died from a slight wound inflicted by his father, but the facts are as follows: The son was a degenerate, a drunkard and a murderer. He had frequently threatened his father's life, and in one of his debauches he attacked his father with a knife. In resisting the attack, the father drew his own knife, struck the
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son, and cut him slightly on top of the head. Several days afterwards blood poisoning set in, and from the effect of this the man died. Brant gave himself up, was tried, acquitted, and he received the condolence and sympathy of the court that tried him. This was a great source of sorrow through all the re- maining years of his life. It is said that he had been frequently known to weep over it.
Brant was present at the Cherry Valley massacre, but did all he could to prevent cruelty. It is reported that on entering one of the houses Walter Butler ordered a woman and child, who were in bed, to be killed. Brant inter- fered and said, "What! kill a woman and child! no! that child is not an enemy to the king nor a friend to congress. Long before he will be big enough to do any mischief the dispute will be settled."
After the war Brant settled in Canada, devoted his life to good works, and received marked attention from eminent men in England and America. He translated a portion of the Scriptures into the Mohawk language; was a mem- ber of the Episcopal church; built a church for his people; manifested a deep interest in charitable work, and contributed liberally of his means to all good causes.
One would scarcely think of taking counsel on high moral subjects of an Indian, even in our day, but Brant, on one occasion, was asked to give his opin- ion on the question of whether or not civilization is conducive to happiness. His answer is so remarkable that it is given in part below. It is scarcely surpassed in elevation of thought and power of expression by any philosopher, either ancient or modern. He said :
"You ask me, then, whether in my opinion civilization is favorable to hu- man happiness? In answer to the question, it may be answered, that there are degrees of civilization, from cannibals to the most polite of European nations. The question is not, then, whether a degree of refinement is not conducive to happiness; but whether you, or the natives of this land, have obtained this happy medium. On this subject we are at present, I presume, of very dif- ferent opinions. You will, however, allow me in some respects to have had the advantage of you in forming my sentiments. I was, sir, born of Indian parents, and lived while a child among those whom you are pleased to call savages; I was afterwards sent to live among the white people, and educated at one of your schools; since which period I have been honored much beyond my deserts, by an acquaintance with a number of principal characters both in Europe and America. After all this experience, and after every exertion to divest myself of prejudice, I am obliged to give my opinion in favor of my own people. I will now, as much as I am able, collect together, and set before you, some of the reasons that have influenced my judgment on the subject now before us. In the government you call civilized, the happiness of the people is con- stantly sacrificed to the splendor of empire. Hence your codes of criminal and civil laws have had their origin; hence your dungeons and prisons. I will not enlarge on an idea so singular in civilized life, and perhaps disagreeable to you, and will only observe, that among us we have no prisons; we have no pompous parade of courts; we have no written laws; and yet judges are as highly revered amongst us as they are among you, and their decisions are as much regarded.
THE GREAT MOHAWK CHIEF, JOSEPH BRANT
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Property, to say the least, is as well guarded, and crimes are as impartially pun- ished. We have among us no splendid villains above the control of our laws. Daring wickedness is here never suffered to triumph over helpless innocence. The estates of widows and orphans are never devoured by enterprising sharpers. In a word, we have no robbery under the color of law. No person among us de- sires any other reward for performing a brave and worthy action, but the consciousness of having served his nation. Our wise men are called Fathers; they truly sustain that character. They are always accessible, I will not say to the meanest of our people, for we have none mean but such as render them- selves so by their vices.
"The palaces and prisons among you form a most dreadful contrast. Go to the former places, and you will see perhaps a deformed piece of earth assum- ing airs that become none but the Great Spirit above. Go to one of your prisons; here description utterly fails! Kill them, if you please; kill them, too, by tortures; but let the torture last no longer than a day. Those you call savages relent; the most furious of our tormentors exhausts his rage in a few hours, and dispatches his unhappy victim with a sudden stroke. Perhaps it is eligible that incorrigible offenders should sometimes be cut off. Let it be done in a way that is not degrading to human nature. Let such unhappy men have an opportunity, by their fortitude, of making an atonement in some measure for the crimes they have committed during their lives.
"But for what are many of your prisoners confined ?- for debt !- astonish- ing !- and will you ever again call the Indian nations cruel? Liberty, to a rational creature, as much exceeds property as the light of the sun does that of the most twinkling star. But you put them on a level, to the everlasting disgrace of civilization. I knew, while I lived among the white people, many of the most amiable contract debts, and I dare say with the best intentions. Both parties at the time of the contract expect to find their advantage. The debtor, we will suppose by a train of unavoidable misfortunes, fails; here is no crime, nor even a fault; and yet your laws put it in the power of the creditor to throw the debtor into prison and confine him there for life! a punishment infinitely worse than death to a brave man! And I seriously declare, I had rather die by the most severe tortures ever inflicted on this continent, than languish in one of your prisons for a single year. Great Spirit of the Universe !- and do you call yourselves Christians? Does then the religion of Him whom you call your Saviour, inspire this spirit, and lead to these practices? Surely, no. It is re- corded of him, that a bruised reed he never broke. Cease, then, to call your- selves Christians, lest you publish to the world your hypocricy. Cease, too, to call other nations savages, when you are tenfold more the children of cruelty than they."
If space permitted much more could be said concerning the acts, ability and character of this remarkable man.
Among the characteristics of the Iroquois chiefs and head men were dignity, self control and eloquence.
About 1800, a religious reformer appeared among the Iroquois. He claimed a divine mission, and wrought a revolution among the Indians by his great personality and high moral teaching. He was called Ga-ne-o-di'-yo or "Hand-
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some Lake." He was a Seneca sachem of the highest class. He also had a descendant who was their great religious teacher and who was called So-se-ha'-wa. No better idea can be conveyed of the ability of these two men than to quote portions of their sermons. As the Indians had no written language, the teach- ings or addresses of their religious teacher were handed down by tradition, and the teachings of "Handsome Lake" were delivered to the league through a grandson, So-se-há-wä. He recited these speeches precisely the same, as is reported by those who heard him, on many occasions. The following is So-se- há-wä's introduction to one of his speeches, in which he recites what he claims to have been the teachings of his grandfather :
"Chiefs, warriors, women and children-We give you a cordial welcome. The sun has advanced far in his path, and I am warned that my time to in- struct you is limited to the meridian sun. I must therefore hasten to perform my duty. Turn your minds to the Great Spirit, and listen with strict attention. Think seriously upon what I am about to speak. Reflect upon it well, that it may benefit you and your children. I thank the Great Spirit that he has spared the lives of so many of you to be present on this occasion. I return thanks to him that my life is yet spared. The Great Spirit looked down from heaven upon the sufferings and the wanderings of his red children. He saw they had greatly decreased and degenerated. He saw the ravages of the fire- water among them. He therefore raised up for them a sacred instructor, who having lived and traveled among them for sixteen years, was called from his labors to enjoy eternal felicity with the Great Spirit in heaven."
Sose-ha-wa then, at great length, presented the teaching of his grandfather, but we can only here give a very small portion of the address, and that only for the purpose of showing the eloquence and deep religious thought contained in it:
"I have a message to deliver to you. The servants of the Great Spirit have told me that I should yet live upon the earth to become an instructor to my people. Since the creation of man, the Great Spirit has often raised up men to teach his children what they should do to please him; but they have been unfaithful to their trust. I hope I shall profit by their example. Your Creator has seen that you have transgressed greatly against his laws. He made man pure and good. He did not intend that he should sin. You commit a great sin in taking the fire-water. The Great Spirit says that you must abandon this enticing habit. Your ancestors have brought great misery and suffering upon you. They first took the fire-water of the white man, and entailed upon you its consequences. None of them have gone to heaven. The fire-water does not belong to you. It was made for the white man beyond the great waters. For the white man it is a medicine, but they too have violated the will of their Maker. The Great Spirit says that drunkenness is a great crime, and he forbids you to indulge in this evil habit. His command is to the old and young. The abandonment of its use will relieve much of your sufferings, and greatly in- crease the comfort and happiness of your children. The Great Spirit is grieved that so much crime and wickedness should defile the earth. There are many evils which he never intended should exist among his red children. The Great Spirit has, for many wise reasons, withheld from man the number of his days;
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but he has not left him without a guide, for he has pointed out to him the path in which he may safely tread the journey of life.
"When the Great Spirit made man, he also made woman. He instituted marriage, and enjoined upon them to love each other, and be faithful. It is pleasing to him to see men and women obey his will. Your Creator abhors a deceiver and hypocrite.
"By obeying his commands you will die an easy and a happy death. When the Great Spirit instituted marriage, he ordained to bless those who were faith- ful with children. Some women were unfruitful, and others became so by mis- fortune. Such have great opportunities to do much good. There are many orphans, and many poor children whom they can adopt as their own. If you tie up the clothes of an orphan child, the Great Spirit will notice it, and re- ward you for it. Should an orphan ever cross your path, be kind to him, and treat him with tenderness, for this is right. Parents must constantly teach their children morality, and a reverence for their Creator. * # #
"When a child is born to a husband and wife, they must give great thanks to the Great Spirit, for it is his gift, and an evidence of his kindness. Let par- ents instruct their children in their duty to the Great Spirit, to their parents, and to their fellow men. Children should obey their parents and guardians, and submit to them in all things. Disobedient children occasion great pain and misery. They wound their parents' feelings, and often drive them to desperation, causing them great distress, and final admission into the place of evil spirits. The marriage obligations should generate good to all who have assumed them. Let the married be faithful to each other, that when they die it may be in peace. Children should never permit their parents to suffer in their old age. Be kind to them, and support them. The Great Spirit re- quires all children to love, revere and obey their parents. To do this is highly pleasing to him. The happiness of parents is greatly increased by the affec- tion and the attentions of their children. To abandon a wife or children is a great wrong, and produces many evils. It is wrong for a father or mother-in- law to vex a son or daughter-in-law; but they should use them as if they were their own children. It often happens that parents hold angry disputes over their infant child. This is also a great sin. * * *
"All men were made equal by the Great Spirit; but he has given to them a variety of gifts. To some a pretty face, to others an ugly one; to some a comely form, to others a deformed figure. Some are fortunate in collecting around them worldly goods. But you are all entitled to the same privileges, and there- fore must put pride from among you. You are not your own makers, nor the builders of you own fortunes. All things are the gifts of the Great Spirit and to him must be returned thanks for their bestowal. He alone must be acknowledged as the giver. It has pleased him to make differences among men; but it is wrong for one man to exalt himself above another. Love each other, for you are all brothers and sisters of the same great family. The Great Spirit enjoins upon all, to observe hospitality and kindness, especially to the needy and the helpless; for this is pleasing to him. If a stranger wanders about your abode, speak to him with kind words; be hospitable towards him, welcome him to your home, and forget not always to mention the Great Spirit. Vol. I-2
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In the morning give thanks to the Great Spirit for the return of day, and the light of the sun; at night renew your thanks to him, that his ruling power has preserved you from harm during the day, and that night has again come, on which you may rest your wearied . bodies .* * #
"Speak evil of no one. If you can say no good of a person, then be silent. Let not your tongues betray you into evil. Let all be mindful of this; for these are the words of our Creator. Let us strive to cultivate friendship with those who surround us. This is pleasing to the Great Spirit. * * #
He then ceases to quote from "Handsome Lake," and closes his own ad- dress as follows :
"The four messengers further said to Handsome Lake, they were fearful that, unless the people repented and obeyed his commands, the patience and forbearance of their Creator would be exhausted; that he would grow angry with them, and cause their increase to cease.
"Our Creator made light and darkness. He made the sun to heat, and shine over the world. He made the moon, also, to shine by night, and to cool the world, if the sun made it too hot by day. The keeper of the clouds, by direc- tion of the Great Spirit, will then cease to act. The keeper of the springs and running brooks will cease to rule them for the good of man. The sun will cease to fulfil its office. Total darkness will then cover the earth. A great smoke will rise, and spread over the face of the earth. Then will come out of it all monsters, and poisonous animals created by the evil-minded; and they, with the wicked upon the earth, will perish together.
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