USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 4
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50 Schaghan
FACSIMILE OF SCHAGEN'S LETTER.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
settlers was an eminently substantial one, consisting of possessions having a practical economic utility beyond anything known to their previous existence. " A metal kettle, a spear, a knife, a hatchet, trans- formed the whole life of a savage. A blanket was to him a whole wardrobe." Moreover, the moral phases of such a bargain can not fairly be scrutinized by any fixed conception of the relative values in- volved. It was purely a bargain of friendly exchange for mutual con- venience and welfare. The Indians did not understand, and could not have been expected to understand, that it meant a formal and everlasting alienation of their lands; on the other hand, they deemed that they were covenanting merely to admit the whites peaceably to rights of joint occupancy. The amount of consideration paid by the latter has no relevancy to the merits of the transaction, which was honorable to both parties, resting, so far as the Dutch were con- corned, npon the principle of purchase and recompense instead of seizure and spoliation, and, on the part of the Indians, upon the basis of amicable instead of hostile disposition.
The principle of reciprocal exchange established in the purchase of Manhattan Island was adhered to in all the progressive advances made by the whites northward. Westchester County was never a squatter's paradise. Its lands were not grabbed by inrushing adven- turers upon the Oklahoma plan. De facto occupancy did not consti- tute a sufficient title to ownership on the part of the white settlers. Landed proprietorship was uniformly founded upon deeds of pur- chase from the original Indian owners. The rivalries between the Dutch and English, culminating in the overthrow of the former by conquest, were largely occasioned by antagonistic claims to identical strips of land- claims supported on both sides by Indian deeds of sale.
But the right to buy land from the Indians was not a necessary natural right inhering in any white settler. The government, upon the well-known principle of the supreme right of discovery, assumed a fundamental authority in the disposal of lands, and hence arose the numerous land grants and land patents to specified persons, which were based, however, under both Dutch and English law, upon pre- vious extinguishment of the Indian title by deeds of sale. It is well here to more clearly understand the principles underlying this govern- mental assumption. They have been thus stated :
Upon the discovery of this continent the great nations of Europe, eager to appropriate as much of it as possible, and conceiving that the character and religion of its inhabitants afforded an apology for considering them as a people over whom the superior genius of Europe might elaim an ascendancy, adopted, as by common consent, this principle :
That discovery gave title to the goverment by whose subjects, or under whose authority, it was made, against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession. Hence if the country be discovered and possessed by emigrants of an existing
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and acknowledged government, the possession is deemed taken for the nation, and title must be derived from the sovereign in whom the power to dispose of vacant territory is vested hy law.
Resulting from this principle was that of the sole right of the discoverer to acquire the soil from the natives and establish settlements, either by purchase or by conquest. Hence also the exclusive right can not exist in government and at the same time in private individu- als ; and hence also
The natives were recognized as rightful occupants, but their power to dispose of the soil at their own will to whomsoever they pleased was denied by the original fundamental prin- ciple that discovery gave exclusive title to those who made it.
The ultimate dominion was asserted, and, as a consequence, a power to grant the soil while yet in the possession of the natives. Hence such dominion was incompatible with an absolute and complete title in the Indians. Consequently they had no right to sell to any other than the government of the first discoverer, nor to private citizens without the sanetion of that government. Hence the Indians were to be considered mere occupants to be protected indeed while in peaccable possession of their lands, but with an incapacity of transferring the abso- Inte title to others. 1
In many of the old Indian title deeds various conditional clauses ap- pear, the savages reserving to themselves certain special rights. For example, it was at times specified that they should retain the white- wood trees, from which they constructed their " dugout " canoes. They always remained on the lands after sale, continuing their former habits of life until forced by the steady extension of white settlement to fall back farther into the willerness. Having no conception of the principles of civilized law, and no idea of the binding effect of con- tracts, they seldom realized that the mere act of signing over their lands to the whites was a necessarily permanent release of them. They were incapable of comprehending any other idea of ownership than ac- tual physical possession, and in cases where lands were not occupied promptly after sale they assumed that no change had transpired, and thus frequently the same territory would be formally sold two or three times over. Besides, they considered that it was their natural right at all times to forcibly seize lands that had been sold, expel the settlers, and then resell them. The boundaries of sub-tribal jurisdic- tion were necessarily indefinite, and consequently deeds of sale by the Indians of one locality would frequently cover portions of lands con- veyed by those of another, which led to much confusion.
The military power of the Indians of Westchester County was de- stroved forever as a result of the war of 1643-45 with the Dutch. But it was not until after the close of the seventeenth century that the last vestiges of their legal ownership of lands in the county disappeared. In succeeding chapters of this History their relation to the progress of events and to the gradual development of the county during the period of their organized continuance in it will receive due notice, and it is not necessary in the present connection to anticipate that portion of
1 Moulton's Hist. of New York, 301.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
our narrative. What is known of their ultimate fate as a people may, however, appropriately be related here.
During the Dutch wars many hundreds of them were slain and some of their principal villages were given to the thames. It is estimated that in a single Indian community (near the present village of Bed- ford ), which was surrounded, attacked, and burned at midnight, more than five hundred of them perished before the merciless onslaught of the whites. After the peace of 1645 their remaining villages, being absorbed one by one in the extensive land purchases and grants, were by degrees abandoned. The continuance of the Indian on the soil was entirely incompatible with its occupancy by the white man. The country, by being converted to the uses of agriculture, became un- adapted to the pursuits of the natives, as it was quickly deserted by the game. The wild animals fled to the forest solitudes, and the wild men followed them, until only small groups, and finally isolated fami- lies and individuals, remained. The locality called Indian Hill, in the Town of Yorktown, is still pointed out as the spot where the last lin- gering band of Indians in Westchester County had its abiding place.
The historian of the Town of Rye, the late Rev. Charles W. Baird, gives the following particulars (typical for the whole county ) of the gradnal fading away of the Indians of that locality:
The fullest account of the condition of the Indians of Rye is that of Rev. Mr. Muirson. . " As to the Indians, the natives of the country," he says, in a letter to the Gospel Propagation Society in JJanuary, 1708, " they are a decaying people. We have now in all this parish twenty families, whereas not many years ago there were several hundred. I have taken some pains to teach some of them, but to no purpose, for they seem regardless of instruction." Long after the settlement of the town there were Indians living within its hounds, some of them quite near the village, but the greater number back in the wilderness that still overspread the northern part of Rye. This was the case in most of the Connecticut towns, the law obliging the inhabitants to reserve to the natives a sufficient quantity of plant- ing ground, and protecting the latter from insult, fraud, and violence. The twenty families of whom Mr. Muirson speaks were reduced by the year 1720 to four or five families of Indians, writes Mr. Bridges, " that often abide in this parish, but are frequently removing, almost every month or six weeks." After this date we hear little more of Indians at Rye, except as slaves. Tradition states that in okl times a band of Indians used to visit Rye onee a year, resorting to the beach, where they had a frolic which lasted several days. Another place which they Frequented as late, certainly, as the middle of the last century, was a spot on Grace Church Street, at the corner of the road now called Kirby Avenue. Here a troop of Indians would come every year and spend the night in a " pow-wow," during which their eries and yells would keep the whole neighborhood awake.
Removing, for the most part, northward, the reumants of the West- chester Indians became merged in the kindred tribes of the Mohican uation, which stretched to the limits of the Mohawk country above Albany, and followed their destinies. The Mohicans, though vastly reduced in numbers and territorial possessions, still retained an or- ganized existence and some degree of substantial power until after the Revolution. Having constantly sustained friendly relations with
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ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS
POLISHIED FLESHER.
HORNBLENDE AXE.
SEMI-LUNAR KNIFE.
HAND-MADE VESSEL.
A GORGET.
ORNAMENTAL POTTERY FOUND IN INDIAN GRAVE.
CEREMONIAL STONE OF GREEN SLATE.
INDIAN SPECIMENS FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. JAMES WOOD.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
the settlers, it was naturally with the colonists that their sympathies were enlisted when the struggle with Great Britain began. As early as April, 1774, a message was dispatched by the provincial congress of Massachusetts to the Mohicans and Wappingers at their principal village, Westenhuch, on the western side of the Hudson just below Co- hoes Falls, with a letter requesting their cooperation in the impending contliet. The letter was addressed " To Captain Solomon Ahkannu-au- waumut, chief sachem of the Moheackonuck Indians." Captain Solo- mon thereupon journeyed to Boston, where, in reply to the communi- cation from the congress, he delivered the following impressive ad- dress :
Brothers : We have heard you speak by your letter ; we thank you for it ; we now make answer.
Brothers : You remember when you first came over the great waters, I was great and you were very little, very small. I then took you in for a friend, and kept you under my arms, so that no one might injure you ; since that time we have ever been true friends ; there has never been any quarrel between ns. But now our conditions are changed. You have become great and tall. You reach the clouds. You are seen all around the world, and I am become small, very little. I am not so high as your heel. Now you take care of me, and I look to you for protection.
Brothers : I am sorry to hear of this great quarrel between you and old England. It ap- pears that blood must soon be shed to end this quarrel. We never till this day understood the foundation of this quarrel between you and the country you came from.
Brothers : Whenever I see your blood running, you will soon find me about to revenge my brothers' blood. Although I am low and very small, I will gripe hold of your enemy's heel, that he cannot run so fast and so light as if he had nothing at his heels.
Brothers : You know that I am not so wise as you are, therefore I ask your advier in what I am now going to say. I have been thinking, before you come to action, to take a ruu to the westward, and feel the mind of my Indian brethren, the Six Nations, and know how they stand; whether they are on your side or for your enemies. If I find they are against you, I will try to turn their minds. I think they will listen to me, for they have always looked this way for advice concerning all important news that comes from the rising of the sun. If they hearken to me you will not be afraid of any danger behind you. However their minds are affected you shall soon know by me. Now I think I can do you more service in this way than by marching off immediately to Boston and staying there ; it may be a great while before blood runs. Now, as I said, you are wiser than I ; I leave this for your consideration, whether I come down immediately or wait till I hear some blood is spilled.
Brothers : I would not have you think by this that we are falling baek from our engage- ments. We are ready to do anything for your relief and shall be guided by your counsels.
Brothers : One thing I ask of you, if you send for me to fight, that you let me fight in my own Indian way. I am not used to fight English fashion, therefore you must not expect I can train like your men. Only point ont to me where your enemies keep and that is all that I shall want to know.
After the battle of Lexington, a year later, the Mohican braves marched to the theater of war in Massachusetts, arriving in time to participate in the battle of Bunker Hill. Subsequently, addressing a council which met at German Flats in this State and held adjourned sessions at Albany, Captain Solomon pledged anew the support of the Mohicans to the American cause.
" Depend upon it," he said, " we are true to you and mean to join you. Wherever you go we shall be by your sides. Our bones shall lie with yours. We are determined never to be
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at peace with the redcoats while they are at variance with you. We have Que favor to beg. We should be glad if you would help us to establish a minister amongst us, that when our men are gone to war our women and children may have the advantage of being instructed by him. If we are conquered, our lands go with yours ; but if you are victorious, we hope you will help us recover our just rights."
For about five years the Mohicans continued to serve as volunteers in the patriot army, " being generally attached," says Washington, in one of his letters, " to the light corps," and, he adds, conducting them- selves " with great propriety and fidelity." They were present, and fought with conspicuous valor, in a number of sanguinary encounters with the enemy in Westchester County. " At White Plains, in Oc- tober, 1776," says Ruttenber, " their united war cry, Woach, Woach, Ha, Ha, Hach, Woach! rang out as when of old they had disputed the supremacy of the Dutch, and their blood mingled with that of their chosen allies."
In the spring of 1778, as a portion of the forces detached under Lafayette to check the depredations of the British on their retreat from Philadelphia, they assisted in the routing of the enemy in the engagement at Barren Hill. In July and August of the same year, being stationed in Westchester County, they performed highly valu- able services, culminating in their memorable tight, August 31. 1778, at Cortlandt's Ridge. in the Town of Yonkers, where, according to the British commander, they lost " near forty killed or desperately wounded," about half their number. In this fight they first attacked the British from behind the fences, and then fell back among the rocks, where for some time they defied all efforts made to dislodge them. They were charged by an overwhelming force of cavalry, but as the horses rode them down " the Indians seized the legs of their fors and dragged them from their saddles." Their chief, Nimham, king of the Wappingers, finally counseled his followers to save them- selves, adding. however, " As for myself, I am an aged tree; I will die here." When ridden down by Simcoe he wounded that officer and was about to pull him from his saddle when shot dead by an orderly.
In 1780 the surviving remnant of the Mohican warriors, some twenty men, were honorably discharged from the army, and returned to their homes. It was upon this occasion that Washington wrote the letter above alluded to, which was a communication to congress. requesting that suitable measures be taken to provide them with necessary clothing.
With the close of the Revolution the history of the Mohicans as a people ends completely. and even their name vanishes. From that time they are known no longer as Mohicans, but as - Stockbridge In- dians," from the name of a town in central New York, to which they removed. Leaving their ancient seats at the headwaters of the Hud-
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
son, they settled in 1783-88 near the Oneidas. They received a tract of land six miles square in Augusta ( Oneida County ) and Stockbridge ( Madison County ). This tract they subsequently ceded to white pur- chasers by twelve different treaties, executed in the years 1818, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1829, and 1830. Some of them removed in 1818 to the banks of the White River, in Indiana, and a large number, in 1821. to lands on the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, in Wisconsin, which, with other New York Indians, they had bought from the Menominees and Winnebagoes. The Stockbridge tribe numbered 420 souls in 1785 and 438 in 1818.
Physically the Indians of Westchester County, as of this entire por- tion of the country, were remarkable specimens of manhood, capable of marvelous feats of endurance and free from most of the diseases in- vident to civilized society. The early European writers testify with- out exception that there were none among them afflicted with bodily deformities. The women delivered their young with singular case, and immediately after labor were able to resume the ordinary duties of life. The appearance and general physical characteristics of the Indians are thus described by Van der Donck :
They are well shaped and strong, having pitch-black and lank hair, as coarse as a horse's tail, broad shoulders, small waist, brown eyes, and snow-white teeth ; they are of a sallow color, abstemions in food and drink. Water satisfies their thirst; flesh meat and fish are prepared alike. They observe no set time for meals. Whenever hunger demands the time for eating arrives. Whilst hunting they live some days on roasted corn carried about the person in a bag. Their clothing is most sumptuous. The women ornament them- selves more than the men. And although the winters are very severe, they go naked until their thirteenth year ; the lower parts of the girls' bodies alone are covered. All wear around the waist a girdle made of seawant (shells). They bedeck themselves with hair tied with small bands. The hair is of a searlet color and surpassing brillianey, which is perma- nent and ineffaceable by rain. The women wear a petticoat down midway the legs, very rielly ornamented with seawant. They also wrap the naked body in a deerskin, the tips of which swing with their points. Both go for the most part bareheaded. Around the neck and arms they wear bracelets of seawant, and some around The waist. Moccasins are made of elk hides. The men paint their faces of many colors. The women lay on a black spot only here and there .. Both are uncommonly Faithful.
Although their society was upon the monogamous plan, and none of the common people took more than one wife, it was not forbidden the chiefs to follow their inclinations in this respect. "Great and powerful chiefs," says Van der Donck, " frequently have two, three, or four wives, of the neatest and handsomest of women, who live together without variance." As the life of the Indian was spent in constant struggle against most severe conditions of existence, sensuality was quite foreign to his nature. This is powerfully illustrated by the al- most uniformly respectful treatment accorded female prisoners of war. As a victor the North American Indian was entirely merciless and cruel. His adult male captives were nearly always doomed to
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ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS
death, and if not slain immediately after the battle were reserved for slow torture. But the women who fell into his hands were seldom violated. Such forbearance was of course dictated in no way by sen- timent. The women, in common with the young children, were re- garded by the conquerors merely as accessions to their numbers. Un- chastity was an exceptionally rare thing among the married females; and in no other partienlar do the different accounts of the natives given by the earliest observers agree more markedly than in the state- ment that both the women and the girls were peculiarly modest in their demeanor. The Dutch farmers occasionally took Indian women for their wives, refusing to abandon them for females of their own country.
One of the most curious domestic institutions of the Indians of this region was the sweating bath, " made," says Van der Donck, " of earth and lined with clay." " A small door serves as an entrance. The patient creeps in, seats himself down, and places heated stones around the sides. Whenever he hath sweated a certain time, he immerses himself suddenly in cold water; from which he derives great security from all sorts of sickness." Of medical science they knew nothing, except how to cure wounds and hurts. They used for many purposes an oil extracted from the beaver, which also was consid- ered by the Dutch to possess great virtues. Upon the " medicine man," who was supposed to effect cures by supernatural powers, their reliance in the more serious cases of sickness was mainly placed.
Inured to abstemiousness by the rigors of his lot and but little dis- posed to sexual gratification, the Indian yet fell an easy victim, and speedily became an abject slave, to strong drink. It was not the taste but the stimulating properties of the white man's rum which en- thralled him. Hudson relates that when he first offered the intoxicat- ing cup to his Indian visitors while at anchor in New York Bay, they one and all refused it after smelling the liquor and touching their lips to it. But finally one of their number, fearing that offense might be taken at their rejection of it, made bold to swallow it, and ex- perienced great exhilaration of spirits in consequence, which led his companions to follow his example, with like pleasing effects. Robert Juet, the mate of the " Half Moon," gravely says in his journal : " Our master and his mate determined to try some of the cheefe men of the country, whether they had any treachery in them. So they took them down into the cabin, and gave them so much wine and agna vita that they were all very merie."! Rum, or rather distilled liquor of. every
1 The name of Manhattan Island is popularly supposed to commemorate these joyous inebrie- tles. Herkewelder says: " They called it Man-
ahachtanienk, which, in the Delaware lan- gunge, means ' the island where we all became intoxicated.' " Most popular writers have
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
kind, soon came to be valued by the savages above every other article that they obtained from the whites, and it played a very important part both in promoting intercourse and in hastening their destruction. A chief of the Six Nations, in a speech delivered before the commission- ers of the United States at Fort Stanwix, in 1788, said: " The avidity of the white people for land and the thirst of the Indians for spirituons liquors were equally insatiable; that the white men had seen and fixed their eyes upon the Indian's good land, and the Indians had seen and fixed their eyes on the white man's keg of rum. And nothing could divert either of them from their desired object; and therefore there was no remedy but that the white men must have the land and the Indians the keg of rimm."
The Indian character has always been a matter of the most varied accounts and estimates. While there is no room for disagreement or misunderstanding about its more prominent separate traits, views of it in its general aspect are extremely divergent, and extensive as is the literature bearing upon this subject there exists no single pres- entation of the Indian character in its proportions, at least from a familiar pen, that entirely fills and satisties the mind. Longfellow's " Hiawatha " and Cooper's Indian fictions bring out the romantic and heroic phases; but no powerful conception of the Indian type, except in the department of song and story, has yet been given to literature.
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