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. II > Part 38
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May 19th .-- Francis Bernard, Governour of New Jersey, ar- rived at the Hook, and Colonel Peter Schuyler happening to be there with his sloop, took the governour and family to Perth Amboy .*
The Lieutenant-governour personally applies to the common council for the city arms, and produces Abercrombie's letter, promising to replace them, and hinting that he would rather borrow them than " impress" them. The common council there- fore offer (as there is no certainty of the city wanting them) to sell them, for cash, at the rate of £3 5s for each musket, including cartridge-box, cartridges, and bayonet.
May 29th .- Information is given of murders of men women and children on the frontiers of New Jersey, at Minisink and other places.
At the German Flats the same scenes of murder are taking place.
" Schuyler lived at the Pasaick and had copper mines there.
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The details are too similar to be given. In one instance, the suc- cessful resistance of some waggoners deserves notice. A large party of Indians attacked a house in which six waggoners lodged up stairs. The Indians rushed into the house, murdered and scalped the family who were below; they then attempted the stairs, but the waggoners knocked the foremost down. The Indians fired up the loft without effect, and the defenders kept off the assailants (killing one) until a party of rangers arrived and relieved them. The rangers took possession of an adjoining log fence, from whence they fired ; and killing several of the Indians, the others fled. At this time, thirty-three of the inhabitants of the Flats were killed and many who escaped with life were shockingly mutilated.
June 15th .- Ordered, to purchase 500 of the subscription arms lately imported into this city ; and to pay for the same out of the money arising from the sale of the arms to Gen. Abercrombie, and the remainder to be sent to England to purchase one large fire-engine, one small do., two hand do., with some buckets and fifty small arms. Paid for billeting officers: for captains, 10s per week ; for lieuten- ants, ensigns, or surgeons, 6s. Major Rutherford's account for his billet, not allowed.
July 3d .- Sir William Johnson and " his Indians" are on the way to Canada. The French send to demand " the brave Old Peter Schuyler of New Jersey, as no person had been exchanged for him, and he prepares to return to Canada."
It is stated that Lord Howe had advanced to Lake George with 3000 men. His spirit and military accomplishments are praised. His soldiers are trained to bush fighting, and their coats and their hair are cut short ; his lordship, as an example, sacrificing a fine head of hair and submitting to all fatigues and privations. He allows his officers no supernumerary baggage.
Fort Frontignac is a regular square, built of stone and lime-the wall ten feet high-one hundred pieces of cannon (not all mount- ed)-the provisions and stores which could not be removed were burned, as well as several vessels, and Colonel Bradstreet demol- ished the fort.
September 11th .- One of the fruits of the attack upon Ticonde- roga by Abercrombie, is the advertisement stating, " a great quan- tity of old linen wanted for the wounded now in his majesty's hos- pitals at Albany and Fort Edward." Ladies are requested to forward such as they can dispense with.
September 1Sth .- When Colonel Bradstreet destroyed Fort Frontignac or Cadaraqui, he carried off two sloops taken from the enemy loaded with plunder, besides loading his own whaleboats and batteaux. He proceeded to Oswego and divided the plunder. The laced coats were reserved for the Indians accompanying the expedition.
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The Legislature of New Jersey reward John Van Tile, a sergeant in the colony's pay, for his bravery and conduct in an at- tack on the Indians, and give thirty dollars to a lad of seventeen. his name Tigjort, for having shot an Indian and thereby rescued himself from captivity.
September 25th .- Captain Isaac Sears arrives in the privateer sloop Catharine, and brings with him a prize French ship, laden with provisions and dry goods, that was bound for Quebec. She mounted ten carriage guns and carried forty-four men. The Cath- arine had one man killed and three wounded in the engagement, before the French Letter of Marque struck.
December 23d .- In a communication addressed to the Printer, Dr. George Muirson gives notice to the public of the benefit de- rived from Mercurials and Antimony in the small-pox-that disease still continuing in the city of New York. He says, " in the year thirty-one the small-pox proved very mortal in the city and many parts of the province of New York : I began the method with myself, have continued and pursued it ever since with remarkable success ; that of many hundreds that I have inoculated, prepared the above way, not one died, not even the least accident happened." He recommends bleeding, " in the eruptive fever," and gives his reasons-he recommends keeping the body open by clysters of new milk and sugar, and says it is the method taught by " the im- mortal Boerhaave," to whom he says, he is indebted for his know- ledge " of this so fatal a distemper to the people of this country, (otherwise than by inoculation.)"
Oliver De Lancey, John Cruger, Philip Livingston and Leonard Lispenard, offer themselves as candidates by advertisement, for the assembly.
INDIAN HOSTILITIES AFTER PEACE.
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TREATY OF PEACE OF 1763-INDIAN HOSTILITIES AFTER THE PEACE.
1763 DURING the negotiations for peace, it was urged in the English parliament to restore Canada to the French, for the purpose of preventing the growth of the colonies .* The dis- contents in the colonies, occasioned by the English taxes on com- merce, and the insolence of her custom-house officers, and officers generally, made many men on both sides of the Atlantick think of the independence of America. 1
By the peace of 1763, it. was stipulated that the line between the territories of England and France in America, should be drawn through the centre of the Mississippi, from its source to the river of Iberville, and through the middle of that river and the Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea. By this was added to Great Britain, the river and port of Mobile, and all French posses- sions on the left side of the Mississippi, except the town of New Orleans, andisland on which it stands. Great Britain on her part, restored islands in the West Indies. To Spain was added the British conquests in the West Indies, made from her, and in return she gave Florida, Fort St. Augustine, the Bay of Pensacola, and all the Spanish possessions to the east or to the south-east of the river Mississippi.
Notwithstanding the cessation of hostilities between England, France, and Spain, peace was not restored to America. The In- dians generally, sensible of the encroachments of the whites, and impressed with the idea, that the English intended their utter ex- termination, formed an extensive combination, for what they consi- dered self defence, and the tribes on the Ohio, with those about Detroit, and one tribe of Iroquois, (the Senecas) prepared for a simultaneous attack upon the English frontiers.
The influence of Sir William Johnson, kept the remainder of the Six Nations quiet, or apparently so. At the appointed time, the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, were attack- ed. Great numbers of settlers were massacred with all the barbarity attendant upon savage warfare. The inhabitants fled, and flou- rishing villages were abandoned to spoil and conflagration. The traders were particularly marked as victims to ferocity and revenge.
* See Walsh's U. S. & G. B., p. 131. Russel's Modern Europe, part 2d, letter 35.
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APPENDIX.
The Indians thirsting for rum, and never abstaining from it, (ex- cept, as in the recent case of the Onondagas, when influenced by the prohibitory decree of their prophet,) yet despise, and hate the traders, who, for their selfish purposes, present the poisoned draught to their lips. All such were sacrificed without sparing ; and their merchandize, but added fuel to the flame of deadly ven- geance, only to be satiated with blood.
The fortresses of Le Bœuf, Venango, and Presque Isle, were captured in succession by the Indians ; who made use, of what among civilized christains, is mildly called statagem, ruse de guerre, or diplomatick skill, to accomplish their purposes ; but in their case was branded with the terms " perfidy, want of faith," or any other appellation that might convey disapprobation. The difference be- tween meum and tuum is always immense.
In several instances, the allied Indians, when they invested one fort, assured the garrison that they had already taken all the others, and set forth the advantages of surrender, contrasted with the punish- ment they would inflict upon resistance. Thus fell the posts above enumerated and the more important fort of Michilimackinack. Still the forts of Detroit, Niagara, and Pitt, the most important in that chain, once intended by the French to bind the English colo- nies, and now viewed by the Indians as the badges of their sub- jection, remained in the hands of the whites. The first, com- manded the region between Lakes Huron and Erie : Niagara liad the same effect between Erie and Ontario ; and Fort Pitt overawed the tribes of Ohio. Against these, distant as they were from each other, the allied tribes, made simultaneous movements, and Forts Pitt and Detroit, were invested at the same time. Address, cour- age, and perseverance, were displayed by the race of Red-men at this period, which entitle them to the admiration of all who applaud the exertions of those who fight for their country, and their liberty.
General Amherst, took measures to preserve these posts, so re- cently obtained from the French. To Detroit he sent a detach- ment under Captain Dalzel, who, after performing the service for which he was intended, marched out of the fort to inflict punish- ment upon the beleaguers, but fell into a well-concerted ambus- cade, with the loss of his life, and upwards of 100 men, killed and wounded.
The garrison was however strengthened, and remaining on the defensive, the enemy gave up the siege and retired.
At Fort Pitt, in the meantiine, the efforts of the besiegers were incessant, and made with wonderful ingenuity, as well as courage and perseverance. They cut off all communication between the fort and the country. They advanced close to the place, covering themselves from the fire of the besieged by digging holes in the
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INDIAN HOSTILITIES AFTER PEACE.
earth, from which they poured their shot and arrows, tipped with fire, upon the scanty garrison. To the relief of Captain Ecuyer, who commanded, General Amherst sent Colonel Bouquet, who advanced to the utmost limits of civilization, utterly without infor- mation of the state of friends or enemy at the place of coutest. He left the most cumbrous part of his convoy, and cautiously proceeded toward the defile at Turtle Creek. The Indians had intelligence of his approach, and determined to anticipate him. Se- cretly leaving the vicinity of the fort, they advanced, and surround- ing Bouquet's troops, awaited their preparation for dinner, on the 5th of August, and when the soldiers were busied in their culinary arrangements, a destructive fire was opened upon them from the trees and bushes adjoining. Order was restored by the effect of military discipline, and the troops charged and drove their foes from their cover : but the moment pursuit ceased, the attack re-commenced. Through the whole day, this contest between trained European soldiers, and an increasing force of enemies, without order, but systematically retreating or pressing forward, as directed by individual impulse, guided by one common desire for victory, was continued. The English retreated to their convoy, and night suspended in some measure, the toils and dangers of the day. At the dawn of the next morning, the natives of the soil pre- rented themselves simultaneously on every side, raising the war- whoop, as a signal of battle. The enfeebled English, had to re- sume the conflict under more discouraging circumstances, suf- fering under thirst from the heat, and a want of water, for the place of their encampment, not being deliberately chosen, was void of this vital necessary. Their waggons and baggage formed a ram- part, and they repulsed every attack of their enemy : but there they were confined-they must defend the convoy, and their nu- merous wounded men. Bouquet, at length, adopted a ruse, which gained him victory and safety. By a pretended flight and abon- donment of the convoy, he induced the Indians to rush on to the supposed prey, and expose themselves to the fire of the troops, advantageously posted for their destruction. The slaughter was great. The chief and most of the Indians fell, and the rest dis- heartened at being beaten in their own mode of warfare, fled routed and gave up the contest. Although some slight skirmishing oc- curred on the after march of the suffering, though victorious troops, this action of the 6th of August, saved Fort Pitt, and seems to have discouraged the hostile tribes from any other effective efforts in this quarter.
But against Niagara, they now concentrated their force, without approaching the fort, but surrounded it at a distance and watched every opportunity to destroy those, who ventured beyond safe dis- tance, or any convoy that might approach.
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APPENDIX.
On the 14th of September, when a detachment with stores, had nearly reached the fort, they were attacked, seventy men instantly slain, and the convoy carried off. The three principal forts were, however, so well reinforced and supplied, that they were put out of danger : but still the desultory, and destructive succession of attacks on the frontiers, continued through the year.
REVIEW OF VANDERDONCK'S ACCOUNT OF NEW NETHERLANDS.
ADRIAN VANDERDONCK, L.L.D., published in Amsterdam his . book on the New Netherlands, written when he was in the country ; and it was by the government of Holland authorized to be printed and sold for his sole emolument, (for 15 years) in the year 1653.
The author gives the boundaries of New Netherlands as begin- ning north of the equinoctial line 3S degrees and 53 minutes, ex- tending north-easterly along the sea-coast to the 42d degree. Hc resided in New Netherlands nine years ; from which we gather that he went thither as early, at least, as the year 1644. He tells us that the Indians about New Amsterdam said there were many me- dicinal springs in the interiour, some of which answer to our famous Ballston and Saratoga waters.
In the time of the good Doctor, the Dutch women had duly ap- preciated the value of nut wood or hickory, both for fire on their hearthis and coals for their foot-stoves, " because they last longer than others, and are not buried in ashes."
The bush-burning, or periodical clearing of the land by fire, is mentioned by Vanderdonck as practised by the Indians of New Netherlands for facilitating the chase. He speaks likewise of the conflagrations of pine forests, in consequence of this practice. Vineyards were already cultivated by the Dutch, and he says, " they have introduced foreign stocks, and they have induced men to come over from Heidelberg, who are vine-dressers, that the defects in managing their vines may be remedied." Vander- donck speaks of this practice as very popular. The Nether- landers, ever fond of flowers, introduced from Holland a variety of roses, and carried many of our native flowering plants and trees to Europe.
Dr. Vanderdonck tells us that at the time in which he wrote, there had already been formed in the New Netherlands a botanick garden, where a great variety of the wild plants of the country had
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been collected by the proprietor, a surgeon, whose name he does not give ; but this surgeon had removed, and already the garden was in a state of decay. He mentions agricultural experiments made with wild indigo seed by Gulian Van Rensselaer, in the Colonie of Rensselaerwyck, and likewise by Augustus Heerman, near New Amsterdam. He says, " Mr. Minuits writes that he has sown Canary seed, and that it grew and yielded well," but recom- mends the cultivation of provisions, for which the country is so well adapted that already the New Netherlands exported to the West Indies. In speaking of the agriculture of New Netherlands, he mentions his having resided there nine years, from which we may conclude that (as his book was authorized and ready for publica- tion in Holland in 1653) he went to America in 1644 or before. During nine years' residence, he had " never seen land manured," such was its strength. It appears that Indian corn, or maize, was cultivated then as now, and planted six grains to the hill, on ground from which the woods had been newly removed. When the maize was gathered, and the hills levelled, they then sowed winter grain.
The Reverend Johannes Megapolensis, minister of the Colonic of Rensselaerwyck, is mentioned by Vanderdonck as a man of truth and learning, and his letters respecting the country are quoted. Bar- ley, as well as maize, wheat, and rye, were successfully raised; and tobacco only inferiour to that of Virginia. Flax and hemp grow well, but are not in demand, as the women do not spin much flax, and the Indians use the wild hemp of the forests.
General Jeremiah Johnson, the translator of Vanderdonck, him- self an experienced agriculturalist, gives full credit to the author's representation of the strength of the land at the time, which is said to produce twelve crops of wheat in twelve successive years ; seven crops of wheat have been gathered in Yates County in seven suc- cessive years.
The wild animals, which Vanderdonck enumerates are lions ! pan- thers, (or catamounts or wild cats) wolves, bears, deer, rackoons, fox- es, squirrels, rabbits, beavers, skunks, minks, and muskrats ; many of them were pests to the agriculturalist, and some were valued for their skin or flesh-others as subjects for the sportsman's amusement. He says the flesh of the rackoon is delicious, and describes the mode of taking them in his time. He tells us that they " usually shelter in hollow trees, wherein they lay up food for the winter, and which they seldom leave during that season except for drink. It is a 'pleasure," he says, "to take rackoons ; the trees wherein they shel- ter, are discovered by the scratching of the bark, which is done by the rackoons in climbing up and descending. When their haunts are discovered, the trees are cut down, and by the fall of the tree the rackoon is stunned ; he reels from his invaded domicile and falls an easy prey to the hunter."
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APPENDIX.
Of the birds I shall say nothing. Our authors have been liberal, and on that, as well as other zoological subjects, given us ample information. What I have said, is rather to give a view of the times, than of the animals of our country. The mistaken surmises of the learned Doctor likewise mark the period in which he observed and wrote ; as his supposition that quails are accustomed (for such is his inference though not his assertion) to alight and sit in trees. The bird we of New York call quail, and our neighbours of Pennsylvania more justly partridge, never does so except when demented by terrour : in excessive fright, they betake themselves to a tree, or even dash themselves against a house or barn. Of the humming-bird he says, " There is also another small curious bird, concerning which there are disputations whether it is a bird or a large West India bee." After a tolerably accurate description, he adds, "I have not observed that it pecks and eats with its beak, but sucks its nourishment from flowers, like the bees, for which it has members in its beak like the bees. It is every where seen on the flowers regaling itself ; hence it has obtained the name of the West India bee. In flying they also make a humming noise like the bee. They are very tender, and cannot well be kept alive; we however prepare and preserve them between paper, and dry them in the sun and send them as presents to our friends." Of fish, reptiles, insects, and plants, I omit his account, as obsolete.
Vanderdonck, speaking of the climate, says, " below the High- lands, towards the sea-coast, the winter does not set in or freeze much before Christmas ; above the Highlands, the weatheris colder, etc." General Woolsey, at Cumberland Head, Lake Cham- plain, told me that he did not look for the freezing of the lake or the commencement of hard weather, until about Christmas. I write this at New York, January 6th, 183S, and the temperature is that of May. We had frost and a little snow in December ; and in the year 1835, the middle of December was severely cold- thermometer from 4 to 6.
Of the Indian hunting season, Vanderdonck says it is about Christmas : the deer are then " at their best ; they are easily ob- tained, as the woods are burnt over and the brush-wood and herb- age out of the way."
The Indians say, that "before the arrival of the Christians, and before the small pox broke out, they were ten times as nume- rous as they now are." And though deer were killed in propor- tion to the numbers of the natives, no diminution was observeable. He says, " At Rensselaerwyck, in the year 1645, the North River closed on the 25th of November, and remained frozen very late. Below the circle of the Highlands," he says, " the south wind pre- vents the continued severity of winter ; the river freezes and is
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REVIEW OF VANDERDONCK.
broken up two or three times ; the snow cannot lie long ;" and in short, he describes the climate as we now find it.
Vanderdonck leaves a memorial of the natives as they were in his time, foreseeing, as he says, that as the Christians multiply, the Indians will " disappear and melt away." He says, the men and women are well proportioned, and " equal in height to the Nether- landers. Their limbs are formed for activity ; they can run very fast and for a long time ; they can carry heavy packs, but to all bodily labour the men have a particular aversion. During his long residence he saw but one who was deformed. If a cripple or lame person is scen, it is found to have proceeded from accident or war." He does not think that they have "abundant wisdom from nature ; but there are no lunaticks or fools amongst them. Both men and women have broad shoulders and slender waists ; their hair (before old age) is jet black, sleek and uncurled, and nearly as coarse as a horse's tail." Their practice of eradicating the beard and hair on the body he mentions: Their dark eyes and white teeth are not forgotten, and " purblind or cross-eyed persons are rare objects." He never heard of an Indian born blind, but " saw one who had lost his sight by the small-pox." He describes their colour as yellow, bordering on olive, which he attributes to exposure for successive generations; "their women are well fa- voured and fascinating, though with various features-seldom very handsome, and rarely unhandsome." Some of the Netherlanders had chosen companions from among them, and their attachment · continued firm. The Dutch called the natives savages or wild men : the male is in the Dutch language wilt, and the female wil- den-the i pronounced long in both.
We know that at present the wild tribes are at times without food for many days ; and when the chase gives them plenty, they gorge themselves in a manner that appears to us monstrous. But when the Dutch first had intercourse with the savages of New Netherland, food was uniformly abundant, and the Indians ate uni- formly and in moderation. Fish and the flesh of wild animals they boiled, generally, and ate withont salt or accompaniments, except when they had beans; and their maize (or bread from it) appears to have been eaten separately. Both flesh and maize were occa- sionally broiled or roasted. The women pounded the maize when ripe and hard into meal or samp. Of the meal he says they make "pap, which in the New Netherlands is named supaen : we seldom go into an Indian lodge at any time of the day without seeing the sapaen preparing, or the innates eating it. Their dried fish and meat they sometimes pound and mix with the sapaen : this is usu- ally done towards spring, when their stock of provision is low. They have no stated time for eating ; hunger is the prompter."
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APPENDIX.
Though Vanderdonck testifies to the general abstemious or mo- derate eating of the natives, he observes that they can go for days without food, and make up for the fast by plentiful indulgence when in their power, " but without overcharging their stomachs or becoming sick ; and although they eat freely, they have no exces- sive caters or gluttons among them. Every one is at liberty to partake of their food and hospitality, but they do not invite others to cat; all is without ceremony, and it is not customary with them to receive compensation. On extraordinary occasions when they wish to entertain any person, they prepare beaver's tails, bass heads, with parched corn meal, or very fat meat stewed with shelled chestnuts bruised." "Their provision for a long journey or a war expedition, is a small bag of corn meal, a handful of which with a drink of water, suffices for a day. When they obtain in addition fish or meat, the corn meal serves for bread, or is saved.
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