History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 8

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 8

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" The answer to the Governor's speech was made by Brant. He said that ' it meets with our dispositions and feelings, and feelings of our minds.' In reference to the respective claims of Congress and New York, he thought it strange that 'there should be two bodies to manage the same business.' Several speeches followed, Brant and Corn- planter being the spokesmen of the Indians. The utmost harmony prevailed; the Indian orators treating all subjects adroitly, manifesting a disposition to make a treaty, but evidently intending to stave off any direct action until they met in council the United States Commissioners. To a proposition from Gov. Clinton that the State of New York would look for a cession of lands to help indemnify them for the expenses and sacrifices of the war, they replied, ad-

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

mitting the justness of the claim, but saying they were peace ambassadors, and had no authority to dispose of lands. The council broke up after distributing presents and leaving the Indians a supply of provisions for subsistence while waiting to meet the United States commissioners.

" The treaty of Fort Stanwix followed, conducted by the United States commissioners, Oliver Woolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. No record of the proceedings exists in our public arehives ; the general result is, however, known. Terms of peace were concluded; the western boundaries of the Six Nations were so fixed as to enlarge the ' carrying-place' on the Niagara River they had pre- viously ceded to the King of Great Britain, and starting from the mouth of Buffalo Creek, was to be a line running due south to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of said boundary ; thence south along the west boundary of said State to the river Ohio. The treaty was effected with considerable difficulty, a large number of the Indians insisting that it should be general and embrace the Western Indians, so that all questions of boundaries could be settled at once. Brant was absent, transacting some business with the Governor of Canada. Had he been present, it is doubtful whether any treaty would have been concluded. Red Jacket, then a youth, made his first pub- lie speech, and as Levasseur (who derived his information from Lafayette) says, ' His speech was a masterpiece, and every warrior who heard him was carried away with his eloquenee.' He strongly protested against ceding away the hunting-grounds of his people at the West, and boldly ad- vocated a renewal of the war. The better counsels of Corn- planter, however, prevailed. The so highly-extolled elo- quence of Red Jacket had little in it of practicability. The Six Nations agreed to surrender all their captives, most of whom had been brought to the treaty-ground for that pur- pose. The commissioners on behalf of the United States guaranteed to the Six Nations the quiet possession of the lands they occupied, which was recognized as embracing all of New York west of the eessions they had made under English dominion.

COUNCIL AT FORT HERKIMER.

" The next council of the commissioners of New York, after the one that has been named, was convened at Fort Ilerkimer, in June, 1785. This was with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. Gov. Clinton made an opening speech, in which, after defining their rights, and advising them that the State had the exclusive right to purchase, informed them that it was understood they were prepared to sell some of their lands south of the Unadilla; and, if so, the commissioners were ready to purchase. After nearly two days' deliberation the Governor's speech was replied to by ' Petrus, the minister.' The orator said his people were averse to parting with lands ; alluded to the frauds that had been practiced upon the Mohawks before the Revolution ; said, ' the German Flats people, when they were poor, ap- plied to us for lands, and they were friends ; but now they are rich, they do not use us kindly.' The speech was one of consummate ability ; especially did the chief turn the tables upon the Governor in a frequent allusion to his for- mer advice to the Indians to keep their lands. Days of

deliberation and speech-making sueeeeded, the Indians making proposition to lease a small quantity of land, then to sell a small quantity of their poorest land, but failing to come up to what the commissioners required. In a speech made by the Grasshopper, he alluded to the attempt by the British agents, made during the war, to induce the Tusea- roras and Oneidas to join them. He said, 'They told us by joining the Americans we would get liee, as they were only a lousy people ; but, however, although they expressed the Americans were lousy, they have, although lousy, over- come their enemies.'

" The commissioners finally succeeded in purchasing the land lying between the Unadilla and Chenango Rivers, south of a line drawn east and west through those streams, and north of the Pennsylvania line, etc., for which they paid eleven thousand five hundred dollars, and distributed among them a liberal amount of goods, trinkets, and pro- visions. In finally announcing the conclusion to sell the land, the Grasshopper said, 'This news about selling our lands will make a great noise in the Six Nations, when they hear we have sold so much; and, therefore, we hope we shall not be applied to any more for any of our country.' How was the future curtained before the simple backwoods diplomatist ! Little did he think that the narrow strip of land thus grudgingly and unwillingly parted with would be added to and widened out until his people were mostly shorn of their broad possessions."

THE LESSEE COMPANIES.

One great difficulty in the way of negotiating treaties with the Indians was the organization and operations of two joint lessee companies. "The constitution of the State forbade the purchase of the fee in lands of the In- dians by individuals, reserving the right to the State alone."

To evade this, and come in posssession of the laods, an association of individuals was organized in the winter of 1787-88, who styled themselves the "New York Genesee Land Company." The company was composed of some eighty or ninety persons, mostly residing upon the Hudson River, many of whom were wealthy and influential. The principal seat of the company was at Hudson. Dr. Caleb Benton, John Livingston, and Jared Coffin were the chief managers. At the same time a branch company was organ- ized in Canada, called the " Niagara Genesee Land Com- pany." John Butler, Samuel Street, John Powell, and Benjamin Barton were principal members of this,-all but the last named residents of Canada. This branch organi- zation enabled the company to avail themselves of the then potent influence of Col. John Butler with the Six Nations and the influence of his associates.

Benjamin Barton, the father of the late Benjamin Bar- ton, Jr., of Lewiston, was an active member of the associ- ation. Soon after the close of the Revolution he had engaged in the Indian trade and as a drover from New Jersey via the Susquehanna River, to the British garrison at Niagara. By this means he had beeome well acquainted with the Senecas, was adopted by them, and had taken, while a youth, Henry O'Bail, the son of Cornplanter, and placed him in a school in New Jersey.

In addition to the influence thus acquired, there belonged

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

to the New York Company several who for a long period had been Indian traders. Thus organized, by such appli- ances as usually forwarded negotiations with the Indians, the company, in November, 1787, obtained a lease " for nine hundred and ninety-nine years" of all the lands of the Six Nations in the State of New York, except some small reservations, the privilege of hunting, fishing, etc. The annual rent was to be two thousand Spanish milled dollars, together with a bonus of twenty thousand dollars.

" In March, 1788, John Taylor had been appointed an agent of the New York Board of Commissioners, or Super- intendent of Indian Affairs. In that month he was sent to the Indian country to counteract the unlawful proceed- ings of the lessees. On his return he reported that he had fallen in with the clerk of an Indian trader just from Tioga, who told him that 'Livingston had sent fourteen sleighs loaded with goods into the Indian country ; that they got within fifty miles of Tioga, and would proceed no farther ; that the Senecas were exceedingly dissatisfied with Livingston and would not abide by the bargain, charging him with having cheated them; that they threatened Ryckman for having assisted him in cheating them; that one hundred and sixty families were at Tioga, with a con- siderable number of cattle, in order to form a settlement on those lands, but were very much at a loss, as they had heard that the State intended that no settlement should be made.' Governor Clinton issued a proclamation, warning purchasers that the lessee's title would be annulled, and sent runners to all the Six Nations, warning them of the fraud that had been practiced against them.

" It was a formidable organization, embracing men of wealth and influence, and those who, if their own plans could not be consummated, had an influence with the In- dians that would enable them to throw serious obstacles in the way of legal negotiations with them for their lands. The lease consummated, the next objeet of the association was to procure an act of the Legislature sanctioning the proceedings, and for that purpose an attempt was made to intimidate by threats of dismemberment and the formation of a new State embracing all the leased territory. But the whole matter was met with energy and promptness by Gov- ernor Clinton, who urged upon the Legislature measures to counteract the intended mischief. In March, 1788, an act was passed which authorized the Governor to disregard all contracts made with Indians not sanctioned by the State, and to cause all persons who had entered upon Indian lands under such contracts to be driven off by force, and their buildings destroyed. Governor Clinton ordered William Colbraith, then sheriff of Herkimer County (which en- braced all of the present county of Herkimer and all west of it to the west bounds of the State), to dispossess in- truders and burn their dwellings. A military force was called out and the order strictly executed. One of the prominent settlers, and a co-operator of the lessees, was taken to New York in irons, upon a charge of high treason.

Thus baffled, the managers of the two associations de- termined to retaliate and force a compromise, if they failed to carry out their original design, by meeting the State upon treaty grounds, where they could bring a stronger lobby than they could command for the halls of legislation.

SECOND TREATY OF FORT STANWIX.

At the treaty held at Fort Stanwix, in September, 1788, with the Onondagas, for the purchase of their lauds by the State, Governor Clinton took the field in person, backed by all the official influence he could command ; and yet he found for awhile extreme difficulty in effecting anything. Little opposition from the lessees showed itself openly, but it was there with its strongest appliances. In after-years, when preferring a claim against the " New York Genesee Company" in behalf of the " Niagara Genesee Company," a prominent individual among the claimants urged that the Canada Company had kept the Indians back from the treaties, and when they could no longer do so, baffled Gov- ernor Clinton for nearly three weeks. Still, treaties went on until the State had possessed itself of the lands of the Six Nations east of the pre-emption line. The lessees, see- ing little hope of accomplishing their designs, finally peti- tioned the Legislature for relief; and, after considerable delay, in 1793, an aet was passed authorizing the commis- sioners of the land-office to set off for them from any of the vacant unappropriated lands of the State a tract equal to ten miles square. The allotment was finally made in township No. 3 of the old military tract. Thus terminated, so far as the State was concerned, a magnificent scheme, which contemplated the possession of a vast domain, and perhaps, as has been alleged, a separate State organization. It marks an important era in the early history of our State. The influence brought to bear upon the Indians from Canada, by which the extraordinary lease was obtained, was stimulated by the prospect of individual gain ; but may we not well infer-without an implication of the many respectable individuals who composed the association in this State to that extent-that it looked forward to the maintenance of British dominion, which was afterwards asserted and reluctantly yielded ? It was long after this before the potent influence which the Johnsons, Butler, and Brant had carried with them, even in their retreat to Canada, was counteracted. They were yet constantly in- culeating the idea among the Six Nations that they were under British dominion,-the Senecas at least. What could better have promoted this pretension than such a scheme, especially if it contemplated the extreme measure of the dismemberment of this State,-such, as was alleged at the time, was embraced in the plan of the two organizations ? . . . As late as November, 1793, James Wadsworth and Oliver Phelps received a circular signed by John Living- ston and Caleb Benton, as officers of a convention purporting to have been held at Geneva, urging the people to hold town-meetings and sign petitions for a new State to be set off from New York, and to embrace the counties of Otsego, Tioga, Herkimer, and Ontario.

TREATY OF FORT SCHUYLER.

Early in the spring of 1788 another council of the Six Nations was contemplated by the New York commissioners. In answer to a message from them requesting the Indians to fix upon a time, some of the chief's answered in writing that it must be " after the corn is hoed." Massachusetts not having then parted with her pre-emption right west of Seneca Lake, Gov. Clinton wrote to Gov. Hancock to secure

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

his co-operation in counteracting the designs of the lessees. The general court declared the leases " null and void," but Gov. Hancock, in his reply, stated that Massachusetts, on account of " the embarrassed condition of the commonwealth, was about to comply with the proposals of some of her citizens for the purchase of the pre-emption right."

The 1st of September was fixed as the period for the treaty, and Fort Schuyler was designated as the place. Ac- tive preparations for it were going on through the summer, under the general supervision of John Taylor, who had the zealous co-operation of Gov. Clinton. In all the villages of the Six Nations the lessees had their agents and runners or Indian traders in their interest. Even the Rev. Mr. Kirkland had been either deceived or corrupted by them, and had played a part inconsistent with his profession and his obligations to Massachusetts. It was reported to Gov. Clinton that, in preaching to the Indians, he had advised them to lease to the New York and Canada companies, as their territory was so wide he could not make his voice heard to its full extent. At the treaty in Kanadesaga, when the " Long Lease" was procured, he had acted efficiently for the lessees. To counteract these strong influences, agents and runners were put in requisition by the New York com- missioners, and during the summer the poor Indians had but little peace. Preparations for the embassy to the In- dian country at New York and Albany were formidable ones. A sloop came up from New York with Indian goods, stores for the expedition, marquees and tents, specie for purchase money, members of the board of commissioners and their associates who resided in New York, and many curious spectators, among whom were Count Monsbiers, the then French minister, and his sister. The board of com- missioners and their retinue started from Albany on the 23d of August, the goods and baggage going up the Mo- hawk in bateaux, which had been built for the purpose.

They arrived at Fort Schuyler on the 28th. A wild and romantic scene was soon presented. The veteran sol- dier, George Clinton, pitched his marquee, and was as much the general as if he had headed a military instead of a civil expedition. Among his associates in the commission and his companions were many who had been with him con- spicuous in the Revolution, and were the leading men of the ten young States. They were surrounded by the camp- fires of the unmerous representatives of the Six Nations, amounting to thousands, who had been attracted to the spot, some from the interest they felt in the negotiations, but far the larger portion from the hopes and promises of feasts and carousals. Indian traders from all their localities in New York and Canada, with their showy goods and trin- kets and their " fire-water," were upon the ground ready to dispose of either when the Indians should be paid their money, and equally ready to espouse the cause of the les- ces. Some of the prominent lessees from Albany, Hud- son, and Canada had preceded the Governor, and were in the crowd, secretly and insidiously endeavoring to thwart the object of the council. Irritated by all he had heard of the machinations of the lessees, and learning that one of their principals, Johu Livingston, of Livingston Manor, was preseut, with the concurrence of his associates, Gov- ernor Clinton " took the responsibility," as did Gen. Jack-

son at New Orleans, and ordered him in writing to " leave in three hours" and retire to the distance of forty miles from Fort Schuyler.

" After this, Gov. Clinton organized a species of court, or inquest, and summoning Indians, Indian traders, and run- ners in the interest of both the State and the lessees, took affidavits of all that had transpired in procuring the long lease. It exposed a connected scheme of bribery, threats, intimidation, and deception practiced upon the Indians. Finding that the Senecas were holding back from the treaty, and that many of the head men of the Cayugas and Onondagas were absent, and learning that there was a counter-gathering at Kanadesaga, messengers were sent there who found Dr. Benton surrounded by Indians and his agents, dealing out liquor and goods, and delivering speeches, in which he assured the Indians that if they went to Fort Schuyler the Governor of New York would either cheat them out of their lands, or failing in that, would fall upon them with an armed force. Many of the Indians were undeceived and finally induced to go to Fort Schuyler, when they had recovered from the state of beastly intoxi- cation they had been kept in by Dr. Benton and other agents of the lessees. Such had been the excesses into which they had been betrayed, to keep them away from the treaty, that many of them, when becoming sober, were sick and unable to reach Fort Schuyler; and a Caynga chief, Spruce Carrier, died on the road. When they were en- camped at Seawyance, twelve miles cast of Seneca Lake, on the eastern trail, Debartzch, a French trader at Cashong, in the interest of the lessees, went there and by intimida- tions, and the use of rum and promises of presents, in- dueed them to turn back. It was not until the Sth of September that the different nations were so far represented as to warrant proceeding to the business of the council. Gov. Clinton addressed the Onondagas, informing them minutely of the positions in which the Six Nations stood in reference to their lands; that they were theirs to dispose of when they pleased, but that to protect them from frauds, the State had reserved to itself the right to purchase when- ever they were disposed to sell. He told them the acts of the lessees were the acts of " disobedient children" of the State, and that they were a " cheat," at the same time in- forming them that, as commissioners of the State, he and his associates were there prepared to purchase. Ile cau- tioned them also to keep sober during the council. Black Cap, in behalf of the Onondagas, replied, assuring the Gov- ernor that the Onondagas disapproved of the proceedings with the lessees, had made up their minds to sell to the State, but wanted a little further time to talk among them- selves. On the 12th of September the treaty was con- cluded, and the deed of cession of the lands of the Onon- dagas, some reservations excepted, was executed. The con- sideration was one thousand dollars in hand and an annuity of five hundred dollars forever. After the treaty was con- eluded, additional provisions were distributed, presents of goods made, and congratulatory speeches interchanged. " As the business on which we had met," said the Gov- ernor, " is now happily accomplished, we shall cover up the council-fire at this time and take a drink, and devote the remainder of the day to decent mirth."

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

At the negotiation which followed next day with the Oneidas, Governor Clinton made an opening speech similar to the one he had delivered to the Onondagas. This was replied to by On-yan-ha, alias Beech-Trec, who said the speech of the Governor should be replied to after the people had consulted together. The next day, just as the council had assembled, word came of the death of a young warrior who had been drowned in Wood Creek, while in a state of intoxication. The Indians refused to proceed with the council till they had first attended to the funeral, which over, the council was resumed. A-gwel-ton-gwas, alias Domine Peter, or Good Peter, replied to the speech of Governor Clinton. He reminded him of a remark made by him at Fort Herkimer, in 1785, in substance that he should not ask them for any more land. The chief reea- pitulated in a long speech, with surprising acenracy, every point in the Governor's speech, and observed, if' anything had been omitted it was because he had not " the advantage of the use of letters." Ile then made an apology that he was fatigued, and wished to sit down and rest, and that in the mean time, according to ancient custom, another speaker would arise and raise the spirit of their deceased sachem, the Grasshopper. But before he sat down he informed the Governor that the man bearing the name Oe-dat-segh-ta is the first name known in their national council, and had long been published throughout the confederacy ; that his friend, the Grasshopper, was the counselor for the tribe, to whom that name belonged, and therefore that they replaced the Grasshopper with this lad, whom you are to call Kan-y-a- dal-i-go (presenting the young lad to the Governor and commissioners), and that until he arrives at an age to qualify him to transact business personally in council, their friend, Hans Jurio, is to bear the name of O-jis-tal-a-be, alias Grasshopper, and to be counselor for this young man and his clan until that period.

The Governor disclaimed any desire on the part of the State to purchase their lands, but strennously urged upon them that the State would not tolerate the purchase or leasing by individuals. He told them that when they chose to sell, the State would buy, more for their good than anything else, as the State then had more land than it could occupy with people.

Good Peter followed, said the Governor's speech was ex- cellent and to their minds. " We comprehend every word of your speech; it is true indeed, for we see you possessed of an extensive territory, and but here and there a smoke." " But," said he, " we too have disorderly people in our na- tion. You have a keg here, and they have their eyes upon it, and nothing ean divert them from the pursuit of it. While there is any part of it left, they will have their eyes upon it and seek after it, till they die by it. And if one dies, there is another who will not be deterred by it, but will still continue to seek after it. It is just so with your people. As long as any spot of our excellent land remains, they will covet it, and will never rest till they possess it." lle said it would take him a long time to tell the Governor " all his thoughts and contemplations." His mind, he said, was " perplexed and pained,-it labors hard." In a short digression he spoke of the Tree of Peace, and expressed his fears that " by and by some twig of this beautiful tree

will be broken off. The wind seems always to blow and shake this beloved tree." Before sitting down, Good Peter observed that they had all agreed to place the business of the council, on their part, in the hands of Col. Lonis and Peter Ostequette, who would be their "month and their ears."* There was also appointed as their advisors a committee of' principal chiefs.

The negotiations went on for days ; speeches were inter- changed, propositions were made and rejected, until, finally, a deed of cession was agreed upon and executed by the chiefs. It conveyed all their lands, making reservations for their own residence around the Oneida Castle, and a number of other smaller ones for their own people and such whites as had been interpreters, favorite traders, or belonged to them by adoption. The consideration was two thousand dollars in money, two thousand dollars in clothing and other goods, one thousand dollars in provisions, five hundred dollars in money for the erection of saw and grist- mills on their Reservation, and an annuity of six hundred dollars in silver forever.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 8

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