History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

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 9

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Rev. Samuel Kirkland was present at this treaty and materially aided the commissioners. The Governor made to the Oneidas a parting address replete with good instruc- tion and fatherly kindness. The Oneidas, in return, assured him of the satisfaction of their people with all that had taken place. They thanked the Governor and his associates for the fairness with which they had been treated. It would be difficult to find a record of diplomacy between eivilized nations more replete throughout with decorum, dignity, and ability, than is that of this protracted treaty. The council had continued in session for twenty-five days.

TREATY OF ALBANY.

The next meeting of the commissioners was convened at Albany, Dec. 15, 1788. Governor Clinton read a letter from Peter Ryckman and Seth Reed, who were then residents at Kanadesaga, now Geneva,-Reed at the Old Castle, and Ryckman upon the lake shore. The letter was forwarded by " Mr. Lee and Mr. Noble," who had been residtag for the summer at Kanadesaga. The writers say to the Gov- ernor that the bearers of the letter will detail to him all that has transpired in this locality, and add that, if required,

# Col. Louis was a French and Oneida half-blood. He held a com- mission under Governor Clinton in the Revolution. Peter Ostequette, in a speech made at a subsequent stage of the council, said that he had just returned from France, where he had been taken and educated by La Fayette. He said that when he arrived in France he " was naked and the marquis clad him, receiving him with great kindness; that for a year he was restless, but when the light of knowledge floweit in upon his mind he was distressed at the miserable condition of his countrymen, and he had returned for the purpose of enlightening and reforming them. Thomas Morris says in his manuscript that "at this treaty he became intimate with Peter Ostequette, who, when a hoy, was taken to France by the Marquis de La Fayette. He remained seven years with the marquis, and received a very finished education." Mr. Morris was receiving his education there at the same time, and he says, "I would frequently retire with Peter into the woods and hear him recite some of the finest pieces of French poetry from the tragedies of Corneille and Racine. Peter was an Oneida Indian : he had not been many months restored to his nation ; and yet he would drink raw rum out of a brass kettle, take as much delight in yelling and whooping as any Indian ; and, in fact, became as vile a drunkard as any of them."

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

they can induce the Cayugas and Senecas to attend the conneil. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland gave in writing an ac- count of his mission. He stated that on arriving at Kana- desaga, he ascertained that, to keep the Cayugas back from the council at Fort Schuyler, two of the principal lessees and their agents had " kept them in a continued state of intoxication for three weeks ; that Dr. B. and Col. M. had between twenty and thirty riflemen in arms for twenty-four hours ; and gave out severe threats against Peter Ryckman and Col. Reed, for being enemies to their party and friends to the government, in persuading the Indians to attend the treaty at Fort Schuyler." Mr. Kirkland stated that he had been as far as Niagara and had seen Col. Butler ; that at the Seneca village of Buffalo Creek, he had seen Shen- dy vugh-gwat-te, the second man of influence among the Senecas, and Farmer's Brother, alias Ogh-ne-wi-ge-was; and that they had become disposed to treat with the State. Before the board adjourned, it was agreed to address a letter to Reed and Ryckman, asking them to name a day on which they could procure the attendance of the Cayu- gas and Seneeas at Albany. Reed and Ryekman, on the reception of the letter, dispatched James Manning Reed with an answer, saying that they would be at Albany with the Indians on the 23d of January, and adding that the lessees kept the Indians "so continually intoxicated with liquor that it was almost impossible to do anything with them." It was not until the 11th of February that Ryck- man was enabled to collect a sufficient number of Indians and reach Albany. Several days were spent in preliminary proceedings and in waiting for delegations that were on the way. On the 14th, James Bryan and Benjamin Birdsall, two of the lessees, appeared before the commissioners and delivered up the " long leases" that had occasioned so much trouble. On the 19th the council was opened with the Cayugas. There were many Senecas, Onondagas, and Oneidas present. Good Peter, on behalf of the Cayugas, made a speech. He said his brothers, the Cayugas and Senecas, had "requested him to be their mouth." As upon another occasion, his speech abounded in some of the finest imagery to be found in any preserved specimen of Indian eloquence. In allusion to the conduct of the lessees, and the long series of precedent difficulties with the whites, he observed: " Let us notwithstanding possess our minds in peace. We can see but a small depth into the heart of man ; we can only discover what comes from his tongue."

Speaking of the relations that used to exist between his people and the old colony of New York, he said: " They used to kindle a council-fire, the smoke of which reached the heavens, and around which they sat and talked of peace." Ile said, in reference to the blessings of peace and the settled state of things that was promised by fixing the Indians upon the Reservations under the protection of the State, " Our little ones can now go with leisure to look for fish in the streams, and our warriors to hunt for wild beasts in the woods." Present at the council was a considerable number of their women, whom Good Peter called " governesses," and gave the reasons why they were there. " The rights of women" found in him an able ad- vocate. " Our ancestors considered it a great transgression to reject the counsel of the women, particularly the gov-

ernesses ; they considered them the mistresses of the soil. They said, Who brings us forth ? Who cultivates our lands ? Who kindles our fires, and hoils our pots, but the women ? Our women say let not the tradition of the fathers with re- speet to women be disregarded ; let them not be despised ; God is their maker."

Several other speeches intervening, the Governor answered the speech of Good Peter. He reviewed the bargain the Indians had made with the lessees, and told them that if carried out it would be their ruin; explained the laws of the State and their tendency to protect them in the enjoy- ment of a sufficient quantity of land for their use, and to guard them against peculation and fraud. In replying to that part of Good Peter's speech in reference to the women and their rights, the venerable Governor was in a vein of gallantry, eloquently conceding the immunities which belong to the " mothers of mankind." He told them they should have reservations " large enough, however prolific they might be, even if they should increase their nation to their ancient state and numbers." Ile apologized to the dusky sister- hood by saying that he was " advanced in years and unae- customed to address their sex in publie." Other speeches and negotiations followed, till February 25, when all the preliminaries having been settled, the Cayugas ceded to the State all of their lands, excepting a large Reservation of one hundred square miles. The consideration was five hundred dollars in hand, sixteen hundred and twenty-eight dollars in June following, and an annuity of five hundred dollars forever.

In a congratulatory address, after the treaty was con- eluded, Governor Clinton recapitulated all of its terms, and observed : " Brothers and sisters ! when you reflect that you had parted with the whole of your country (in allusion to the long lease) without reserving a spot to lie down on, or kindle a fire on, and that you had disposed of your lands to people whom you had no means to compel to pay what they had promised, you will be persuaded that your brothers and sisters whom you have left at home, and your and their children will have reason to rejoice at the covenant you have now made, which not only saves you from impending ruin, but restores you to peace and security."

The three treaties that had been thus concluded had made the State the owners of the soil of the Military Traet, or the principal amount of territory now included in the counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tompkins, Cort- land, and parts of Oswego and Wayne. Other cessions fol- lowed until the large reservations were either ceded entirely away or reduced to their present narrow limits. The deed of cession of the Cayugas stipulated that the State should convey to their "adopted child, Peter Ryekman, whom they desire shall reside near them and assist them," a tract on the west side of Seneca Lake, which should contain six- teen thousand acres, the location being designated. Soon after the treaty of Albany, the superintendeney of Indian affairs devolved upon John Taylor, as agent for the board of commissioners. Although the treaty had seemed satis- factory, a pretty strong faction of all three of the nations treated with had kept back, and became instruments for the use of designing whites. Neither Brant, Red Jacket, Farmer's Brother, nor indeed many of the influential chiefs, had attended the treaties.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

CHAPTER VIL.

TREATY OF OLIVER PHELPS WITH THE SENECA INDIANS.

Disposition of the Senecas-Difficulties in the Way of Mr. Phelps --- Compromise with the Lessees-Conclusion of the Treaty.

ALTHOUGHI the Senecas had been urged to attend, and considerable delegations had been brought with mueh diffi- culty to the councils, it was wholly for the sake of the influence which the proceedings and actions of the other nations would exert upon them. Their lands lying west of the Massachusetts pre-emption line were not the sub- jeet of negotiation by the State of New York, and were yet in their possession. While they held them, and were at the same time displeased with the course pursued by the other nations, they were constantly being stirred up by the lessees and other parties to hinder and, if possible, thwart the consummation of the plans of the State. This dissatis- faction found ready and willing promoters in the persons of the government officers of Canada and the loyalists who had sought refuge there during the border wars of the Revolution. When the first attempt was made to survey the lands, a message was received by Governor Clinton from some of the malcontents threatening resistance. When the period approached for the payment of the first annuity, the Onondagas informed the Governor that they had received four strings of wampum from the Senecas forbidding their going to Fort Stanwix to receive the money. A council of Indians was convened at Niagara, at which Col. Butler said the Oneidas were " a poor, despicable set of Indians, who had sold their country to the Governor of New York, and had dealt treacherously with their old friends." When seeking to deter the Onondagas from receiving their an- nuity, the Senecas informed them that the Governor of Quebec wanted their lands, that Col. Butler wanted the lands of the Cayugas, and the commanding officer of Fort Niagara the Seneca's lands. The Cayugas sent a message to Governor Clinton, informing him that they were threatened with total extermination, because they had sold their lands without consulting the Western tribes. Mr. Turner justly remarks in a note, page 21, Phelps and Gorham Pur- chase :

" The part that the Senecas were persuaded to take in promoting these embarrassments was glaringly inconsistent. They had sold a part of their lands to Mr. Phelps the fall before without consulting other nations, to say nothing of their having consented to the 'lease,' which was a far worse bargain than those by the State. But the main promoters of the troubles were the lessees and the British agents, the latter of whom were soured by the results of the Revolution, and were yet looking forward to British repossession of all Western and part of Middle New York. In all this matter the conduct of Brant did not correspond with his general reputation for fairness and honesty. He helped to fan the flames of discontent, while, at the same . time, he was almost upon his own hooks trying to sell the State the remnant of the Mohawk lands. Interfering be- tween the State and the Indians, he got some dissatisfied chiefs to join in an insolent letter to the Governor, which was replied to with a good deal of severity of language."

DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF MR. PHELPS.

The extinguishment of the Indian title to that portion of the State in which the county of Steuben is situated was attended with difficulties similar to those which had marked the progress of -this important work from the be- ginning. In this ease, however, on one side at least, we lose sight of a remarkable class of actors in the drama, the New York board and their sturdy and efficient head, Gov- ernor Clinton, and in their stead appear the agents and representatives of a new company. Messrs. Phelps and Gorham having purchased the pre-emption right of the State of Massachusetts to lands lying wholly within the domain of the Seneca nation, were preparing, in the spring of 1788, to take preliminary measures for the colonization

and settlement of the lands which they had purchased. At a meeting of the shareholders, Gen. Israel Chapin was appointed to go out and explore the country ; Mr. Phelps, the general agent, was to hold a treaty with the Indians in order to purchase their right to the soil; Mr. Gorham was appointed an agent to confer with the authorities of the State of New York in reference to running the boundary or pre-emption line, and Mr. William Walker as the local agent of surveys and sales.

Being well aware of the power and influence of the lessees and their agents, Mr. Phelps resolved upon a com- promise as the cheapest and surest means of success. Pro- ceeding to the Hudson, he met some of the principal lessees and effected a compromise with them on such terms as al- lowed them to become shareholders with him and his as- sociates. The lessees, on their part, agreed to hold another treaty with the Indians at Kanadesaga, surrender their lease to all the lands west of the Massachusetts pre-emption line, and procure in exchange therefor a deed of cession, Phelps and Gorham, for themselves and associates, to be the grantees. The treaty was to be held under the super- vision of John Livingston, the principal agent of the lessees. With this understanding, and in full confidence that the arrangement would be consummated, Mr. Phelps re- turned to New England, fitted himself out with a corps of agents, surveyors, and assistants, and started upon his advent to the Genesee country, prepared to take possession and commence operations. Arriving at Schenectady, where Livingston was to meet him, he began to hear rumors that the Indians had refused to treat with the lessees, and that they had arrested and whipped one of their agents. On the 13th he wrote to Col. Wadsworth, of Hartford, that Livingston had arrived with his provisions and goods for the treaty, and the expedition was ready to depart, but that an Oneida Indian had arrived from the West with informa- tion that Brant had got the Indians collected at Buffalo Creek, and was advising them to take up the hatchet, and, if possible, not treat with Livingston and his company. He expresses his fears that the treaty will fail, and adds his regrets, as he thinks it will keep back settlement a whole year. He arrived at Geneva (Kanadesaga) on the 1st of June, where he waited till the 17th, and seeing no prospect of convening a council there, he informed Mr. Livingston that he should proceed independent of the lessees and their lease. He had by this time discovered that the two lessee companies were pulling in opposition to each other, and that

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the Niagara company had got the Indians assembled at Buf- falo Creek. He was not long in deciding what to do. 'Taking the Indian trail, he proceeded to Niagara, where he met But- ler, Brant, and Street, and secured their co-operation, they agreeing to procure with him a treaty with the Indians at Buffalo Creek. Mr. Phelps rejoined his friends at Geneva, where he remained until a deputation of chiefs waited upon him to conduct him to the appointed council-fires. Red Jacket was at the head of this deputation. Afterwards, in 1790, at a council in Tioga, when complaining to Mr. Pickering, Indian agent for Massachusetts, of some wrong in reference to Mr. Phelps' treaty, he said : " Then I, Billy, and the Ileap of Dogs went to Kanadesaga and took Mr. Phelps by the hand, and led him to the council-fires at Buffalo Creek." Alluding to the commission which Mr. Phelps produced at the opening of the council, which had been given him by the Governor of Massachusetts, Red Jacket also said : " Then all know, and Mr. Street knows, that Mr. Phelps held up a paper with a seal on it as big as my hand. When he opened his mind to us, we took it hard."

Rev. Samuel Kirkland was present at the council, having been appointed by a law of Massachusetts to superintend the treaty, and see that no injustice was done to the Indians. Ilis assistant superintendent, Elisha Lec, Esq., of Boston, was also in attendance. The interpreters were James Deane, Joseph Smith, William Johnstone, Mr. Kirkland, and sev- eral others. Of the other side, there were present John Butler, Joseph Brant, Sammel Street, and the officers from Fort Niagara. The lessees, following up Mr. Phelps, were represented by John Livingston, Caleb Benton, and Ezekiel Gilbert. Several Onondaga, Cayuga, and Mohawk chiefs were present.

Mr. Phelps, on the opening of the council, had his com- mission or patent from Massachusetts read and explained, and made a speech explaining to the Indians the object of the treaty and the right he possessed to purchase the land.

Most of the Seneca chiefs, of whom there was a pretty full delegation present, were for selling a portion of their lands; but it was evident that they had come with the de- termination of making the Genesee River the western boundary of their cession, and this position they maintained for several days, but finally yielded and fixed the western boundary, as it was afterwards established. The negotia- tion then turned upon the price to be paid. Mr. Phelps and the Indians could not agree, and therefore mutually appointed John Butler, Joseph Brant, and Elisha Lee as referees, who agreed that Mr. Phelps should pay for the tract purchased five thousand dollars and an annuity of five hundred dollars forever. "The Indians had consented to take for the quantity of land they were conveying, a sum which would amount to a fair proportion of what the lessees had agreed to pay for their whole country, and this was the basis upon which the price was fixed."

The lands thus ceded constituted what is now known as Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, and included the county of Steuben, and a considerable portion of Western New York. The eastern boundary of this tract was the Massachusetts pre-emption line; its western boundary, " a line beginning in the northern line of Pennsylvania, due south of the

corner or point of land made by the confluence of the Genesee River and the Canaseraga Creek ; thence north on said meridian line to the corner or point at the con- fluenee aforesaid ; thence northwardly along the waters of the Genesee River to a point two miles north of Cana- wagus village; thence running due west twelve miles ; thence running northwardly, so as to be twelve miles dis- tant from the western bounds of said river, to the shores of Lake Ontario." The tract contained by estimation two million six hundred thousand acres.

The history of this traet or purchase will be given in another chapter, our present object being simply to treat of the extinction of the Indian title to these lands. We will therefore finish what we desire to say upon that sub- ject.

Mr. Phelps says, " the council was conducted in a friendly and amicable manner." The Niagara company, or the Can- ada lessees, Butler and his associates, had an independent claim for the assistance rendered Mr. Phelps in convening the Indians and enabling him to accomplish his purpose. This was probably arranged by a promise on the part of Mr. Phelps to give them an interest in common with him- self and his associates, for soon after the sale to Robert Morris, Samuel Street and others (the Niagara Lessee Com- pany ) filed a bill in chancery, setting forth that they were entitled to the proceeds of sales of " fifteen one hundred and twentieth parts" of all of Phelps and Gorham's Pur- chase, by virtue of an agreement made by Mr. Phelps at the treaty of Buffalo Creek. Upon the bill of complaint an injunetion was issued against Phelps and Gorham, their associates in interest, and their grantees ; but how the matter was finally disposed of we are uot informed.

There has been a very common mistake as to where Mr. Phelps held his treaty with the Indians, many supposing that Canandaigua was the place. Mr. Turner remarks that the very spot has been pointed out upon which it was held, and that " the error has been perpetuated by historians and essayists, who have added a fancy sketch of the scene of the treaty-ground, with Red Jacket eloquently invoking the war-ery, the tomahawk, and the scalping-knife, and Farmer's Brother opposing him. The whole story is spoiled by Red Jacket's own assertion, that ' he and Billy and the heap of dogs' led Mr. Phelps from Kanadesaga to the treaty at Buffalo Creek. The idea of a land treaty of Mr. Phelps with the Indians at Canandaigua must have come from a gathering which was held there in 1789, when Mr. Phelps' payment became due."

Mr. Phelps, on returning to New England, reported by letter to his principal associates the result of his embassy, saying, " You may rely upon it that it is a good country. I have purchased all that the Indians will sell at present, and perhaps as much as it would be profitable for us to buy at this time." It proved, at least, all that they were able to pay for. At the session of the Massachusetts Legisla- ture, in 1789, they found themselves unable to fulfill the engagement they had made for the payment of the pur- chase money. They had predicated payment upon the supposition that they could purchase the public paper of Massachusetts at its then market value, which was about fifty cents ou a dollar. But the paper rose during that

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

year to nearly par value in the market. Being thus situ- ated, and having failed to extinguish the Indian title to the whole of the tract at first contemplated, they memorialized the Legislature and got released from their obligations in reference to what remained, paying only for what was in- cluded in the Indian treaty.

But the Indians who had made the treaty, apparently in good faith, soon became dissatisfied and disaffected. Fu Angust, 1790, Mr. Phelps informed the elder Mr. Gorham, in Boston, that the Indians had been to Canandaigua and had refused to receive any further payment, alleging that the amount of purchase money was to have been ten instead of five thousand dollars. He wrote that the Indians were very much exasperated on account of some recent murders of their people committed by the whites at Tioga, that he was about to undertake a conciliatory mission to their prin- cipal villages, and that if he did not succeed they would retaliate by a general attack upon the whites. At a council held by Mr. Pickering, at Tioga, in November, 1790, Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother both claimed that the sum to be paid by Mr. Phelps was ten instead of five thousand dollars; they alleged that their " heads had been confused," and that they had been " cheated." Speaking of the pay- ment, Red Jacket said, " When we went to Canandaigua to meet Mr. Phelps, expecting to receive ten thousand dollars, we were to have but five thousand. When we discovered the fraud we had a mind to apply to Congress, to see if the matter could not be rectified. For when we took the money and shared it, every one here knows that we had but about one dollar apiece. All our lands came to was but the worth of a few hogsheads of tobacco. Gentlemen, who stand by, do not think hard of us for what has been said. At the time of the treaty twenty broaches would not buy half a loaf of bread ; so that when we returned home there was not a bright spot of silver about us."

Cornplanter, the leader of the disaffected Indians, visited Philadelphia and laid their complaint before President Washington. The President promised investigation of the matter. Mr. Phelps wrote a vindication of his conduct in the making of the treaty, and sent it to the President, accompanied by the affidavits of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, James Deane, Judge Hollenbeck, and others. In Deceni- ber, 1791, Joseph Brant fully acquitted Mr. Phelps of dis- honesty or unfair dealing in the purchase of the lands, in a long letter addressed to the President of Indian Affairs for the Northern District of the United States. In this letter he is particularly severe on Cornplanter, alleging that he was " influenced by bribes and selfish views." Ile says that the lessees were only released from the payment of five thousand dollars out of the twenty thousand they had agreed to pay for the whole country, and a pro rata amount of their stipulated annual rent. The poor Indians never realized the sum promised them by the lessees, and yet there is no doubt but the lessees themselves, in one form or another, realized a large amount from their illegal long lease.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

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