History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826

USA > New York > Steuben County > History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4

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In despair and dejection Ili-a-wat-ha remained three days and nights prostrated on his face on the ground, and while every one participated in his afflictions, no one seemed in- clined to approach or distract his entranced state, and the Indians, almost despairing of a council, were about to de- part ; but a few of the leading chiefs consulted together, and resolved that nothing should be attempted without the voice of the wise man, and a suitable person was thereupon

# Schoolcraft's Notes.

+ Bancroft, History United States.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

dispatched to see if he breathed. Finding that he lived, ITo-see-noke was directed to arouse him by his merry heart, to whisper kind words in his ear, and call him from his reverie. After much ceremony and persuasion, he recovered so far as to converse, and after several messages had passed between the assembled chiefs and himself, he arose and desired food. Ile was afterwards conducted to the presence of the council, when all eyes were turned towards the only man who could with precision foretell their future destiny. Various schemes were proposed to repel the enemy. Ili-a- wat-ha listened in silence till the speeches of all were con- cluded. Ile then spoke. After briefly alluding to his own calamity, he referred to the threatened invasion, and pro- posed that they should reflect for a day on the speeches that had been made. After the expiration of the time, they again met, when the wise man thus addressed them :

" Friends and Brothers : You have come, many of you, a great distance from your homes ; you have convened for one common purpose, to promote one common interest, and that is to provide for our common safety. To oppose these hordes of northern foes by tribes, singly and alone, would prove our certain destruction. We can make no progress in that way; we must unite ourselves into one common band of brothers. Our warriors united would surely repel these rude invaders, and drive them from our borders. Let this be done and we are safe.

" You, the Mohawks, sitting under the shadow of the ' Great Tree,' whose roots sink deep into the earth, and whose branches spread over a vast country, shall be the first nation, because you are warlike and mighty.

" You, Oneidas, a people who recline your bodies against the ' Everlasting Stone,' that cannot be moved, shall be the second nation, because you give wise counsel.

" You, Onondagas, who have your habitation at the ' Great Mountain,' and are overshadowed by its erags, shall be the third nation, because you are greatly gifted in speech and mighty in war.

" You, Cayugas, a people whose habitation is the ' Dark Forest,' and whose home is everywhere, shall be the fourth nation, because of your superior cunning in hunting.

" And you, Senecas, a people who live in the open country, and possess much wisdom, shall be the fifth nation, because you understand better the art of raising corn and beans, and making cabins.

" You five great and powerful nations must unite and have but one common interest, and no foe shall be able to disturb or subdue you."

Immediately upon this was formed the celebrated league of the Five Nations. Such was the name given them by the English. The French called them the Iroquois, the Dutch name for them was Maquas, while they called them- selves Mingoes ; all meaning " united people." They were known to the English as the Five Nations till the adoption of the Tuscaroras, in 1712, after which they were called the Six Nations.

The Onondagas occupied the central position in the " Long House,"-a term by which they denoted their pos- sessions from the Hudson to the Lakes. They kept the sacred council-fires at Ouondaga, and the key of the council- house, where all the chief councils of the Five Nations were

held. The Mohawks held the east door, and the Senecas the west door. The confederacy was governed by heredi- tary chiefs, whose claims were subjected to the decisions of a national council. Thus the aristocratic principle was brought into subjection to the democratic. When the hereditary chief demanded office, if found unworthy, he must give place to the next in order. In council they were a pure republic, the veto of one chief' being sufficient to defeat a measure .* Cach canton or tribe was independent ; its quota of men was freely voted in war, or refused, with- out complaint from other cantons. Thus was guaranteed to each tribe its independence and security, and to each warrior his equal rights, while general power was conceded to the confederacy in all national matters. Canassatego, one of the chief's, said to the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland : " Our wise forefathers established union and amity between the Five Nations. This has made us formidable. This has given us great weight and authority with our neighboring nations. We are a power- ful confederacy, and by observing the same methods our forefathers have taken you will acquire fresh strength and power ; therefore I counsel you, whatever befalls you, never fall out with one another."

At the formation of the confederacy, the famous A-TO- TAR-no presided : unequaled in war and arts, his fame had spread abroad and exalted the Onondaga tribe to a pre-em- inent position. Ilis naque was, "like that of King Arthur of the Round Table, or those of the Paladins of Charle- magne, used as an exemplar of glory and honor,"* and be- came the title of office of the presiding chief. The right of the Onondagas to furnish a presiding officer for the league was conceded, and is still possessed by themu. To the Mo- hawks was awarded the Te-ka-ra-ho-ga, or chief war-captain. The great council has always consisted of six members, each nation having one except the Senecas, who were allowed two, in consideration of their great numerical strength. Its powers were merely advisory, aiming to arrive at harmonious results by interchange of opinion without formal vote. No penalties could be inflicted or power exerted beyond that of opinion. A unanimous decision was first required. This once obtained, its authority was absolute; each tribe acting through its representative, who was first informed as to its views. These decisions were, in fact, clothed with all the power of the most popular expression of the whole confederacy.

" A government like this gave to the orator, who by his eloquence could sway his people, a vast influence ; and we find that many men of note have appeared among them, since they came in contact with muore learned races of men, who were abundantly qualified to conduct their negotia- tions, and have reflected as much renown on their uation as their bravest warriors."; De Witt Clinton says of the speech of Garangula to the French general, De la Barre, " I believe it impossible to find in all the effusions of an- cient or modern oratory a speech more appropriate or con- vincing. Under the veil of respectful profession it conveys the most biting irony, and while it abounds with rich aud splendid imagery, it contains the most solid reasoning. I place it in the same rank with the celebrated speech of Logan."

* Schoolcraft.

+ Hon. George Geddes.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The unwritten law of this wonderful people had a power unequaled by any statutes ever recorded in books. A single instance of its power will be sufficient. It is given by Hon. George Geddes, on the authority of Mr. Webster, who lived many years among the Onondagas, and had a woman of that tribe for a wife.

A young man of the Cayugas came to the Onondagas and elaimed their hospitality. He lived among them two years, attaching himself to Webster particularly. He ap- peared contented and happy, " always foremost in the chase, most active in the dance, and loudest in the song." Man- tinoah was his name. One morning he said to his friend, " I have a vow to perform. My nation and my friends know that Mantinoah will be true. My friend, I wish you to go with me." Webster consented. After a pleasant journey of a few days, enlivened with fishing and hunting, they came in the afternoon to a place that Mantinoah said was near his village, and where he wished to invoke the Great Spirit. After a repast, and a pipe had been smoked, Mantinoah said, " Two winters have gone since in my vil- lage, in the fury of anger, I slew my bosom friend and adopted brother. The chief declared me guilty of my brother's blood, and I must die. My execution was de- ferred for two full years, during which time I was eon- demned to banishment. I vowed to return. It was then I sought your nation ; it was thus I won your friendship. The nearest in blood to him I slew, according to our cus- toms, is the avenger. The time expires when the sun sinks behind the topmost boughs of the trees. I am ready. My friend, we have had many a cheerful sport together ; our joys have been many ; our griefs have been few ; look not sad now. When you return to the Onondagas, tell them that Mantinoah died like a true brave of the Ca- yugas ; tell them that he trembled not at the approach of death, like the coward pale-face, nor shed tears like a woman. My friend, take my belt, my knife, my hunting- pouch, my horn, my rifle, as tokens of my friendship. Soon the avenger will come ; the Great Spirit calls ; Manti- noah fears not death ; farewell !" Vainly Webster urged him to escape. A short period of silence, and a yell is heard. Mantinoah responds. The avenger appears and takes the hand of his former friend, now his victim. Mu- tual salutations follow, with expressions of regret made by the executioner, but none by the doomed. The tomahawk gleams in the air ; not a muscle moves, nor does the cheek of Mantinoah blanch ; folding his arms on his breast, he receives the blow. As if by magic a host appears, the song of death is sung, and the solemn dance or death-march is performed. Webster is invited to the village, where he is hospitably entertained, and when ready to return is accompanied by a party of Cayugas to his home.

Thus powerful was the unwritten law of the Iroquois.

It is not easy for us to understand this people, for we know but little of their peculiar springs of action. They had their religion, which the white people who came among them called their superstition. If superstition it be, it was nevertheless the principle that governed them. And did we but understand their ideas fully, we should know by what standard to judge them. Whoever has learned much of their history knows that, in their savage state, woman,

made prisoner, was never indelicately approached by him who, without pity, would brain her infant child. He tor- tured and killed his prisoners, if he did not adopt them into his family, but he never enslaved or outraged women. What other nation ean say this with truth ?*

Mr. Schoolcraft says that, to understand the government of the Iroquois and learn how it acquired its power and fame, it is necessary to examine their law of descent. Each canton was divided into distinct elans, each of which was distinguished by the name and device of some quadruped, bird, or other object in the animal kingdom. The clans, or original families, were eight, distinguished respectively by the totems of the wolf, the bear, the turtle, the deer, the beaver, the falcon, the crane, and the plover. The law of marriage required them to marry into families or elans whose totem was different from their own. A wolf or tur- tle male could not marry a wolf or turtle female. This in- terdiet of consanguinity preserved the purity of the blood, while it enlarged and strengthened the tie of relationship between the claus. Owing to the limitation of descent to the line of the female, a chieftain's son could not succeed him in office, but in ease of his death he would be sue- eceded by his brother, or failing this, by the son of his sis- ter, or by some direct or remote descendant of the maternal line. The man who, by inheritance, was entitled to the office of chieftainship was obliged, on arriving at the proper age, to submit his right to a council of the whole canton. Incapacity was always without exception recognized as a valid objection to approval.

Each eanton had its principal chiefs and various assistant chiefs, who were civil officers. The war-chiefs derived their consequence from their success in war ; they rose up as the exigencies of the nation demanded, and sustained their ea- pacity. All males were bound to render military services. Disgrace was the penalty of failure. Thus the ranks were always full, and all war-parties consisted of volunteers. Each warrior supplied and carried his own arms and pro- visions. The enlistment consisted in simply joining the war-dance. The government was in fact a pure democracy, controlled by its martial spirit.

The Iroquois have been charged with making their women beasts of burden, while they lived lives of indo- lenee. The division of labor between the sexes, it is true, differed widely from ours. To the warrior was assigned the duty of hunting food and protecting their hunting- grounds from the inroads of the enemy. His life was daily in his hands, and such were the hazards he encountered that there always were more women than men in the tribes. The men spent long, dreary seasons in hunting and taking furs, which, when brought home, became the property of their wives, who sold them to the traders, and with the avails made such provision for the rest of the family as they could, the men standing silently by and not uttering a word. The old men, women, and boys cultivated the little patch of corn and gathered the fuel. Both in the social and national systems, the women had great power and influence. The matrons sat in council, and had a right to propose a eessa- tion of arms. There was a male functionary, an acknowl- edged orator, whose duty it was to speak for the women.

* Hon. George Geddes.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Schoolcraft describes the social character of the Indian thus : " In the lodge he is a mild, considerate man, of the non-interfering and non-scolding species. Ile may, indeed, be looked upon rather as the guest of his wife, than what he is most unjustly represented to be, her tyrant, and he is often only known as the lord of the lodge by the attention and respect she shows to him. He is a man of few words. If her temper is ruffled, he smiles. If he is displeased he walks away. It is a province in which his actions acknow]- edge her right to rule, and it is one in which his pride and manliness have exalted him above the folly of altercation." The wife owned all the property; arms only belonged to the husband. The family were hers, and when war or the chase had made the father a vietim, she, who had always been at its head, kept it unbroken. With the Iroquois war was the business of life, and the pursuit of an enemy on the war-path, or hunting the wild beasts of the forests, were the only employments that men could engage in with- out subjecting themselves to the loss of rank, and the liability of being called women.

The central tribe was the seat of government, and here all the general councils were held and the policy of the nation settled. The first we know of these people, they here swayed the sceptre of an empire twelve hundred miles long and eight hundred wide. The means of free and rapid transportation of armies was to these savages the same ad- vantage that it is to the most artificial state of society. Around the shores of Onondaga Lake the councils deliber- ated, and when once the plan of the campaign was arranged, the canoes were afloat, aud soon, far down the St. Lawrence, the Adirondack heard the war-whoop of the " Men of the Mountains."* Or on the banks of Georgian Bay the trem- bling Huron felt the weight of their power. Or, launching their barks on the waters of the Susquehanna, soon on the shores of Chesapeake Bay they dictated terms to their ene- mies. Fort Hill, in South Carolina, afterwards the resi- dence of John C. Calhoun, was one of their stations, from which they waged inveterate war upon the Catawbas and Cherokees. The Iroquois nation could bring to battle more than two thousand warriors of their own blood, besides levies of the tribes they had subjected. Their policy in regard to conquered enemies was like that of ancient Rome ; they were converted into allies rather than slaves, and having been fairly conquered in war after a brave resistance, they were counted as younger brothers, worthy to fight by the side of their conquerors and share their glory.t

" They reduced war to a science, and all their movements were directed by system and policy. They never attacked a hostile country till they had sent out spies to explore and designate its vulnerable points, and when they encamped they observed the greatest circumspection to guard against surprise. Whatever superiority of force they might have, they never neglected the use of stratagem, employing all the crafty wiles of the Carthaginians. To produce death by the most protracted suffering was sanctioned among them by general immemorial usage."}

The Europeans, instead of teaching mercy to these men, encouraged and fostered the worst points in their characters,

" Meaning of the word "Onondaga."

+ Hon. George Geddes.

į De Witt Clinton.

and by every temptation they were led to become even more cruel, as they became demoralized and vicious by intercourse with the more learned hut less principled " pale-face." Mas- sachusetts first gave twelve, then forty, and finally one hun- dred pounds for a scalp. The Colonial Legislature of New York, in 1745, passed an act for giving a reward for scalps. In 1746, a governor of the colony not only paid for two scalps of Frenchmen in money and fine clothes, but thanked the three Indians that brought them to Albany, and prom- ised " always to remember this act of friendship." Amer- ican scalps were received and paid for in English money by the officer in command at Malden, in the war of 1812.

CHAPTER IIL.

INDIANS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY.

The Andastes-Conquest of the Andastes by the Iroquois-Tioga, the Soutbern Door to the Confederacy-The Iroquois Viceroy-Conquest of the Delawares-Colonization of Vagabond Indians.

THE Andastes as early as 1620 were inhabitants of the Susquehanna Valley. Gallatin erroneously places them ou the Allegany, and Bancroft and others have followed the error. But the later researches of Mr. Shea have shown the identity of the Andastes with the Susquehannocks of the English and the Minquas of the Dutch.§

In the year 1750 a Cayuga chief informed David Zeis- berger that a strange tribe of Indians, whom he called Tehotachse (so spelled in German), but which were neither Iroquois nor Delawares, formerly inhabited the valley of the Susquehanna, and were driven out by the Cayugas. In a letter written by Joseph Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, to Timothy Pickering, relative to the Iroquois claim to the northern part of Pennsylvania, dated at Niagara, Dec. 30, 1794, he says, "The whole Five Nations have an cqual right one with another, the country having been obtained by their joint exertions in war with a powerful nation for- merly living southward of Buffalo Creek, called Eries, and another nation then living at Tioga Point ; so that by our successes all the country between that and the Mississippi became the joint property of the Five Nations. All other nations inhabiting this great tract of country were allowed to settle by the Five Nations." That the Andastes are referred to in both these quotations there can hardly be a doubt. This was one of the most populous and powerful of all the Algonquin tribes. Their villages were thickly planted from Tioga to Virginia. At Sheshequin and Wysox, at Wyalusing (Gohoutato) and at Mehoopany (Onochasae), the names of their towns have been preserved. They appear to have been the most warlike of all the Eastern nations, having carried their conquests over the tribes of New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. For more than three- fourths of a century they waged almost au unceasing war with the Iroquois, by which the whole valley of the Sus- quehanna " was stained with blood." The following para- graphs from Dr. Egle's " History of Pennsylvania," give a full account of these conflicts :

¿ Parkman's Jesuits in North America, p. 46, note.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" Prior to 1600, says the 'Relation de la Nouvelle France,' the Susquehannoeks and the Mohawks came into collision, and the former nearly exterminated their enemy in a war which lasted ten years. In 1608, Captain Smith, in exploring the Chesapeake and its tributaties, met a party of these Susquehannoeks, as he calls them, and he states that they are still at war with the Mohawks.

" They were friendly to the Dutch, who were exploring the month of the Delaware. When the Swedes came, in 1638, they renewed the friendly intercourse begun by the Dutch. Southward, also, they carried the terror of their arms, and from 1634 to 1644 they waged war on the Yaomacoes, the Piscataways, and Panexents, and were so troublesome that in 1642 Governor Calvert, by proclamation, declared them public enemies.

" When the Hurons, in 1647, began to sink under the fearful blows dealt by the Five Nations, the Susquehan- nas sent an embassy to offer them aid against the com- mon enemy. Nor was the offer one of little value, for the Susquehannas could put into the field thirteen hundred warriors, trained to the use of firearms and European modes of war by three Swedish soldiers whom they had obtained to instruet them."

Speaking of this, the historian of Bradford Co., Pa., Rev. David Craft, says : " This is doubtless the era of the fortifications on Spanish Hill and at the mouth of Sugar Creek. These fortifications bear unmistakable evidence of having been constructed under the supervision of white people, and differ materially from the palisaded inclosures of Indian construction. The origin and objects of these defenses must always be in some measure matters of con- jecture ; but all the traditions relating to Spanish Hill at- tribute the defenses to white men long before the settlement of the whites, and their object to afford resistance to the Iroquois. And about this time the Andastes were waging war in good earnest with the Five Nations, in which the Cayugas were so hard pressed that some of them retreated across Lake Ontario into Canada, and the Senecas were kept in such alarm that they no longer ventured to carry their peltries to New York except in caravans guarded by an escort."

Later, the power of the Susquehannas seems to have been on the wane, and they to have abandoned their towns above Wyoming about 1650. They were so hard pressed by their enemies that the Legislature of Maryland, in 1661, authorized the Governor to aid them with the provincial forces. In 1662, about eight hundred Iroquois set out to capture a fort of the Andastes, situated about fifty miles from the month of the Susquehanna. On reaching the fort it was found to be so well defended as to render an assault impracticable, when the Iroquois had recourse to a stratagem. They sent a party of twenty-five men to settle a peace and obtain provisions for their return. The Sus- quehannas admitted them, built high scaffolds visible from without, on which they tortured the Iroquois messengers to death in the sight of their countrymen, who thereupon decamped in miserable discomfiture, pursued by the victo- rious Andastes. The war between them at length degen- erated into one of mutual inroads, in which the Andastes, greatly reduced by pestilence, gradually melted away before

the superior numbers of their enemies, so that in 1672 they could number only three hundred warriors.

In 1675, according to the " Relations Inédites" and Colden, the tribe was completely overthrown ; but unfor- tunately, say these authorities, we have no details whatever as to the forces which effected it or the time and manner of their defeat. It is evident from all that we know of the fierce war of extermination waged upon them by the Iro- quois, that this powerful enemy was their final destroyer. Too proud to submit as vassals to the Iroquois and too weak to contend against them, the remnant of them for- sook the Susquehanna and took up a position on the western borders of Maryland, where for many years they kept up a terrible border war with the whites. Some of them con- tinued to exist in the central part of the State under the name of Conestogas for nearly a century after, when they were utterly destroyed by the Paxton Boys in 1763.

The Iroquois, who held the rule over the Susquehanna Valley for more than a century, were the only Indian na- tions who possessed anything approaching the form of civil government. By virtue of their superior civil and military organization, they soon became the dominant power among the aborigines, and, after the conquest of the Andastes, carried their arms in triumph on the south to the Gulf and on the west to the Mississippi.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co. Number of Pages: 826

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826