USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. I > Part 16
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16S4 Lord Effingham, Governour of Virginia, travelled four hundred miles to treat with the Indians ; and on the 13th of July, 1654, eight sachems of the Mohawks, three of the Oneidas, three of the Onondagas, and three of the Cayugas, met his lordship at Albany, the Governour of New York and the magistrates of Albany being present. Colden gives the speeches on this occasion at length. Lord Effingham, reproached the Iroquois with breach of promise, inasmuch as they had attacked his Indians and the Virginia settlers. He attributes to the influence of Governour Dongan the withholding of his vengeance and his not destroying their whole combined nations. The phrase of laughing in one's sleeve, will not apply to an Indian ; but I do not doubt that in private they turned into ridicule the " big words" of his lordship. The Mo- hawks, however, thought fit to exonerate themselves and cast the blame upon the other tribes. They never had broken their en-
* See Appendix O.
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gagements ; they would always be obedient to Corlear, the Gov- ernour of New York.
So said the interpreter : but I doubt if the Mohawks ever thanked, in carnest, the Governour of Virginia for forgiving their transgres- sions. However, hatchets were buried for the Oneidas, Onon- dagas, and Cayugas. 'The Mohawks say that they bury none, as they had never broken the chain. Dongan had gained the affection of the Iroquois, and he artfully procured their consent to his putting the Duke of York's arms upon the castles. He meant this as a mark of submission ; they considered it as a kind of charm against French power. The French Jesuits had prevailed upon a portion of the Iroquois to be what they called converts to Christianity. These had separated from the Iroquois and congregated under the protection of Canada, opposite to Montreal, under the title of " praying Indians," or Caughnawaghas. The Governour of New York requested the Iroquois to call these stragglers home. The sachems desired Dongan, as he was in friendship with Canada, to call upon the Caughnawaghas to rejoin their proper tribes. In the course of these speeches, the interpreter makes the Iroquois ack- nowledge themselves subject to New York. Now, the Indians always declared that they were independent. Each man felt, though united. to his tribe and to the confederacy, " I am myself alone !" An Iroquois orator had said to Dongan's deputy, " He that made the world, gave me the earth I occupy. I respect both the French and English ; but no one has a right to command me!" Deputies from the Senecas arrived before the speech making was over, and joined with the others in talks and treaties. They agree to stay away from Virginia, for Corlcar's sake.
While these conferences were going on at Albany, a message arrived from M. De la Barre, the present Governour of Canada, complaining that the Iroquois carried on a series of hostilities against the Miamies and other western Indians, in alliance with the French. Dongan communicated this message to the Iroquois, and they retorted by saying that the French Indians interfered with their hunters ; that the French supplied the Miamies and others with powder ; and acknowledged that the Iroquois hunters took the powder froin the French traders. " Onondio calls us children," they said, " and at the same time sends ammunition to our ene- mies to kill us."
16S5. M. De la Barre, however, did not confine himself to complaints. He, at two successive applications to the court, obtained 900 soldiers from France. He projected an expedi- tion which should take vengeance on the Iroquois, if not destroy them. Letters were procured from the Duke of York, command- ing Dongan not to oppose the intention of the French general, which was to fall on the Senecas first, and by his spies, the priests, VOL. I. 1S
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to persuade the Oneidas and other tribes to remain neutral as friends. His spies informed him that Indians would stand by each other in union, if he approached with an army ; and further, that Dongan had promised to support them. Charlevoix says that the Governour of New York had disgusted the Iroquois by talking to them as if they were English subjects, and had been told that Ononthio was the Iroquois' father, and Corlear their brother, but they had no master. De la Barre had marchied with seventeen hundred men, French, Canadians, and Indians, and every warlike equip- ment to fort Frontignac, where he was to be joined by the Indians of Michilimackinac and their friends, with an overwhelming force. He delayed to no purpose, or worse, for he exhausted his provi- sion and his allies failed him. He crossed to the south side of the entrance of the lake, near the present Sackett's harbour, but long called Port Famine, from the distress of the French army. Sick- ness had attacked them on the north side of the St. Lawrence, and starvation was added to it on the south borders. Don- gan had given notice to the Iroquois of De la Barre's approach, and they were on the alert. The French governour found it necessary, instead of proceeding to the Indians, to call upon them to send deputies to a friendly treaty. Dongan endeavoured to pre- vent this ; and, accordingly, the Mohawks and Senecas refused to meet the French general : but the other tribes, among whom Je- suits and priests had been received, persuaded the Oneidas, Onon- dagas, and Cayugas to send some of their chiefs to council. They accordingly came to the French camp, and saw its distress. But De la Barre addressed the deputies as if he was in force and equal to their destruction. He told them that the king had sent him to smoke the pipe of peace with the Five Nations, provided they would give entire satisfaction and reparation for the injuries done his sub- jects, and promise for the future never to molest them ; that they, (the Iroquois,) had robbed and abused the king's children, the Illi- nois, the Miamies, and the French traders, and he came to demand satisfaction : if denied, he was ordered to declare war. He enu- merated the injuries inflicted on the king's children, demanding that the prisoners taken from the French Indians should be sent back, or he threatens vengeance. He addressed himself particu- . larly to an Onondaga chief, venerable from age, and wise from obser- vation, who understood the design on which De la Barre had come, and the cause of his proposing peace instead of wreaking intended destruction. He had seen the distress of the French army, and answered the general in a tone of sarcasm and contempt.
It is not often I shall intrude an Indian talk in my pages, but this as given by Colden, and copied by William Smith,* is too good
* History of New York, Vol. 1, p. 73, etc.
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SPEECH OF AN ONONDAGA CHIEF.
to be omitted :- " Yonnondio, you must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests, which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so far overflown the banks, that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them. Yes, Yonnondio, surely you must have dreamt so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I and the warriours here present, are come to assure you, that the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks, are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet which your predecessors received from their hands. It was happy for you, that you left under ground that mur- dering hatchet that has been so often dyed in the blood of the French. Hear, Yonnondio, I do not sleep, I have my eyes open, and the sun, which enlighitens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lake to smoke on the great calumet with the Onondagas. But Garrangula says, that he sees the contrary, that he was to knock them on the head, if sick- ness had not weakened the arms of the French.
" I see Yonnondio raving in a camp of sick men, whose lives the Great Spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness on them. Hear, Yonnondio ; our women had taken their clubs, our children and old - men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camp, if our warriours had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messenger, Ohguesse, came to our castles. It is done, and I have said it. Hear, Yonnondio, we plundered none of the French, but those that carried guns, powder, and ball to the Twightwies and Chictaghicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who stave all the keys of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriours have not beaver enough to pay for all these arms that they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of the war. This belt preserves my words.
" We carried the English into our lakes to trade there with the Utawawas and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry on the trade, which the English say is theirs. We are born free ; we neither depend on Yonnondio nor Corlear.
" We may go where we please, and carry with us whom we please, and buy and sell what we please : if your allies be your slaves, use them as such, command them to receive no other but your people. This belt preserves my words.
" We knocked the Twightwies and Chictaghicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted the beavers on our lands : they
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have acted contrary to the customs of all Indians; for they left none of the beavers alive, they killed both male and female. They brought the Satanas* into the country to take part with them, after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many Indian nations, and chased them from their own country, This belt preserves my words.
"Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all. the Five Na- tions. . Hear what they answer-open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks say, that when they buried the hatchet of Cadaracqui, (in the presence of your predecessor,) in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree ,of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved, that, in place of a retreat for soldiers, that fort might be a rendezvous for merchants ; that in place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and merchandize should only enter there.
" Hear, Yonnondio, take care for the future, that so great a num- ber of soldiers as appear there do not choke the tree of peace planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if, after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth and prevent its cover- ing your country and ours with its branches. I assure you, in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriours shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnon- dio, or Corlear, shall either jointly or separately endeavour to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words, and this other, the authority which the Five Nations has given me."
The old chief then addressed the French Interpreter, telling him pot to be afraid to explain his words : and, giving him a beaver as a present to Yonnondio, he invited him to feast with him.
Discomfitted even in words, the French general led back the · remnant of his starving army to Montreal : ending an expensive and disastrous campaign, as Colden observes, in a scold with an old Indian.
The Jesuit Missionary who remained as a spy upon the Iroquois, sent word to M. De la Barre, that the Senecas, apprehensive that the French would fall upon their castles, had remained at home all the last winter, but still refused to restore the spoil or prisoners they had taken ; that the Miamie's had insulted and killed several of the Senacas, relying upon support from Canada : and that the · Iroquois generally were preparing for war, and had been supplied avith arms and ammunition by the English of New York.
* By the French called Sauounons.
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DESIGNS OF THE FRENCH AGAINST THE IROQUOIS. 141
But this summer De la Barre was superceded by the Marquis de Nonville, who arrived with a re-inforcement of troops. He proceeded to fort Frontignac to be near and observe the Iroquois ; and the result of his intelligence from the spies was, that he must chastise the offenders. He wrote to the king that the colony was in a deplorable condition, that the Indians who mingled with the French, did not become French ; but the Frenchmen who mingled with the Indians became altogether savages. He proposed erecting a stone fort at Niagara, for at least 700 men, to exclude the English from the Lakes, and aid in subduing the Five Nations, by thus hav- ing a garrison at each end of Lake Ontario. By these strong places in the midst of the country of the Iroquois, fort Cadaraqui, or Frontignac, commanding the lower pass, and fort Niagara the upper, he thoughit to prevent the Indians from carrying their peltry to the traders of New York, and the command of the Lake be complete.
1686 On the 26th of May, 1686, Governour Dongan wrote to De Nonville, from New York, saying, the Five Nations were convinced by the accumulation of stores and provisions at Cadaraqui, that an expedition against them was intended ; and as these people were subjects of England, an attack upon them would be considered as an infraction of the peace between France and Great Britain. The Governour of New York further expressed his astonishment, that the French should think of building a fort at Niagara, a place within the territory of New York.
The noble marquis, according to Charlevoix, jesuitically denied the intended expedition against the Iroquois, in his answer. He said, these Indians were fearful, as they knew that they deserved chastisement ; that the stores carried to Cadaraqui were necessary to that post ; that ill-disposed persons gave Dongan false intelli- gence; and as to the sovereignty over the country, France had taken possession of it before the English arrived at New York; the kings, their masters, were at peace, and it was not for the lieu- tenants to disturb them.
Dongan was not deceived by the professions of De Nonville ; but, in a council at Albany, advised the Iroquois to be prepared, and to have the first blow, by striking the French and their allies, the Miamies, and other tribes. He likewise endeavoured to draw the Caughnawalgas from Canada by offering them lands, and pro- mising to protect them in their religion, as his master was a good Catholick. The Iroquois attacked the Illinois and Miamies as advised ; and the French missionaries informed De Nonville of all Dongan's movements and those of the Indians.
This information, and a visit from the missionary, determined the marquis to hasten his grand expedition : and, in the meantime,
142 DESIGNS OF THE, FRENCH AGAINST THE IROQUOIS.
his scouting party intercepted the English traders, seized their goods, and imprisoned them. This was contrary to the treaty between France and England, in which it was stipulated that the Indian trade in America should be free to bothi nations. Of this Dongan complained loudly, as if his aggressions by means of Indians .claimed as English subjects, were not equally infractions of the peace and treaty.
16S7 The plan of the Marquis de Nonville was to destroy the Senecas first ; for this purpose, he threw troops into Cada- raqui, and at the same time advanced a detachment up the Sorel to hold the Mohawks in check. But, in obedience to the orders of . the most Christian king, to diminish the numbers of the Iroquois by every means, two villages that were within a few leagues of Lake Ontario were surprised while in perfect security, and the inhabitants carried off by a body of three hundred Canadians. These people were, in part, doomed to the torments of the stake, and the remain -. der, to prevent intelligence of the movements of the French, and in obedience to the express orders of Louis le Grand, were sent to France for his majesty's gallies .*
Further to blind the Iroquois, the Marquis sent back the mis- sionary (who had visited him with intelligence,) to the Onondagas with assurances of friendship and presents in token of good will. He found them prepared for war by the messengers of Dongan, who had taken advantage of his absence, to put them on their guard against the French. But, says Charlevoix, " the missionary soon changed the face of affairs." The Onondagas were quieted and pre- pared by the Jesuit spy to become the victims of the sword and the king's gallies.
This business being accomplished to his mind, the priest returned to De Nonville for further instructions, leaving his brother at Onon- daga. The principal emissary was sent back with directions to entice the chiefs of the Iroquois to a pretended friendly council at Cadaraqui, and to send his brother to Canada to be in safety when the hostile designs of the marquis should be apparent.
The professions of the Governour of Canada, made through his spy, the missionary, and the presents which were always given to . the Indians, enticed a number of the chiefs of the Five Na- tions to the fort at Cadaraqui, where they were seized, sent in chains to Quebec, and embarked for France, to become galley slaves.
The designs of De Nonville could no longer be concealed. This last act of treachery made the Iroquois irreconcileable foes to all Frenchmen. The secondary missionary had remained too long
" Ilist. of New France.
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at Onondaga : he was secured and doomed to the torture. Bound to the stake, the priest had already felt the flames and the knife, when a woman, who had probably experienced those doctrines he professed, and prompted by those feelings of the sex which are recorded by Ledyard as existing in Africa, and by Captain John Smith, in the Pocohontas of Virginia, interceded for him and he was spared.
Lamberville, the priest who had been the instrument of De Non -. ville in sending the chiefs and others to the trap prepared for their destruction at Cadaraqui, was still found at Onondaga and brought before a council of their wise men. A chief thus addressed him : " We have.cause to treat you as an enemy ; but we cannot resolve to do it. We are willing to believe that you were deceived, and were not a party in the treachery of your countrymen. We are willing to believe you innocent, and that you detest the treason of which you have been made the instrument. However, it is best that you depart from among us. When our young men have sung their war song, some among them may look upon you as a traitor, and we may not be able to restrain them. Go! we will send guides to see you in safety to your friends." Such was the contrast between the savage and the civilized man, on this occa- sion.
At length the preparations of the Governour-general of Canada seem to have been completed. The Chevalier De Tonti had been sent among the Illinois to lead them down on the south side of Lake Erie to the neighbourhood of the Senecas, that being ready to co-operate with the army frem Canada, they might cut off the retreat of the women and children. M. De Luth was ordered to entrench himself near Detroit, and collect the Indians of that quarter, who were enemies to the Iroquois, and had suffered from thent. M. Durantaye was ordered to collect the Indians of Michilimachi- nac, and to march to Niagara.
On the 11th of June, the French army moved from Montreal and its neighbourhood, in batteaux and canoes. Of the king's troops, there were S32. Those who have seen the discipline, the uniform, the equipments of the French officers and soldiers of the old regime : the brilliant white and gold, the nodding plumes, the flaunting colours, and the seducing music of the military band, may form some idea of this dazzling parade as it passed through the untamed wilderness, or over the bosom of solitary rivers and sea- like lakes.
One thousand Canadians, as rangers, and 300 Indians, accompa- nied this main body, besides the usual array of attendants and camp followers.
From Cadaraqui the army entered Lake Ontario the 23d of June, and, in two divisions, passed up the north and south sides of
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this wood-enclosed sea. The whole landed at Tyrondequai, and forming in battle array, marched in all the pride of irresistible power to crush the Seneca nation. In front was the main body of Euro- pean soldiers, accompanied by the Canadian rangers : the Indians and camp followers brought up the rear.
All was silence on the part of the Senecas, and the French, imagining that the warriours had fled, pushed on to overtake the fu- tives or their women and children. But suddenly from the trees and bushes, the thickets and high grass on either side of the gallant host, a deadly fire was poured from an invisible cnemy ; but before the first confusion of surprise was past, the war-whoop arose on all sides. The front and rear were instantly charged by the Iroquois. The order of march was broken ; the battalions sought the cover of the woods, and fired on each other. This blind discomfiture was only remedied by the rangers and Indians of the French, who met the Senecas in their own mode and caused them to retreat. When order was restored, the marquis was so much discouraged by this reception, that he advanced no further that day.
. This gave the Iroquois time to burn their village and remove what they deemed most precious. The army marched into a scene of desolation, but found two old men, who were delivered over to their allies.
After destroying the corn of the neighbourhood, the mar- quis led his troops back to the banks of the lake, erected a fort, with four bastions, on the south-east side of the straits of Niagara, where he left 100 men, with eight months' provisions, to be blocked up by the Iroquois, and finally, all but eight, to perish by famine.
Soon after this fruitless and disgraceful expedition of De Non- ville, a council of the Five Nations met Governor Dongan at Albany. He told them that the losses of the Senecas were entirely owing to their making treaties with the French without his consent, and not avowing themselves for England ; for if the French considered them as such, they would not dare to invade them. He spoke to them as English subjects, and tried to persuade them that their safety could only be assured by their acknowledging the King of Eng- land as their master. He advised them, as they were at war with Canada, not to kill any of the French who might fall into their hands, but to keep them for exchanges to release their own people. He advised them to make peace with the western Indians, and thereby weaken their French enemy, and, for the same purpose, to call home the Caughnawaglas ; but, if they would not come, he hints that the Iroquois know what to do with them. He wishes them to assign a place on Lake Ontario, where he may build a fort at which he may keep stores-evidently pointing to Oswego. He points out a way to secure their corn from their enemies, by burying it in the
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woods far from their villages. He tells them that the French priests were spies upon them and him, and congratulates them upon having dismissed such inmates, at the same time offering to send missiona- ries for their instruction. He reminds the Iroquois that the French now have forts at "Oniagara," Cadaraqui, Trois Rivieres, and Montreal, and required them to guard against the frontier fort- resses.
Charlevoix says that Dongan threatened De Nonville that he would openly support the Iroquois, if the Governour of Canada attacked them : but the marquis laughed at the threat. He sent Mohawks, gained to his views - probably Caughnawahgas - among the Iroquois, and by his arts kept them from committing hostilities for a time. Chambly was, however, soon after beset, several houses burnt, and captives carried to Albany. The Onondagas surprised some of the garrison of Fort Frontignac, or Cadaraqui, and avowedly kept them to exchange for the warriours seht to the French gallies. The Jesuits tried to persuade the In- dians that their friends were not sent to the gallies, but were still at Quebec, though they knew the contrary, and in token of friend- ship, presented them with two belts of wampum. These, however, were sent to New York, and Dongan wrote to De Nonville for an explanation. He pretended he did not know, and sent a priest to New York as a spy, with orders to return home by the way of the Mohawk country : but he was sent back to Canada by another route.
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