USA > New York > Monroe County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Allegany County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming > Part 11
USA > New York > Livingston County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Yates County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Wayne County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
USA > New York > Orleans County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 11
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Gov. Clinton next addressed the "Sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas." He assured them that what was a colony had become a State ; that he and his friends had met them to open the paths of peace, to establish that friendly relation that existed between the Indians and their white neighbors previous to the war. Some passages of the Governor's speech was as truly eloquent as any thing that will be found among our State records. He said : "The council fires which was lighted both at Albany and Onondaga by our ancestors and those of the Six Na- tions, which burned so bright, and shone with so friendly a light over our common country, has unhappily been almost extinguished by the late war with Great Britain. I now gather together at this place the remaining brands, add fresh fuel, and with the true spirit of reconciliation and returning friendship, rekindle the fire, in hopes that no future events may ever arise to extinguish it; but that you and we, and the offspring of us both, may enjoy its benign influence as long as the sun shall shine, or waters flow." In reference to the letters of the commissioners of Congress, he assured them that their business was with Indians residing out of any State ; but that New York had a right to deal with those residing within her boun- daries.
The answer to the Governor's speech was made by Brant. He said that "it meets with our dispositions and feelings of our minds." In reference to the respective claims of Congress and New York to treat with the Indians, he thought it strange that " there should
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be two bodies to manage the same business." Several speeches followed, Brant and Cornplanter being the spokesmen of the Indi- ans. The utmost harmony prevailed ; the Indian orators treating all subjects adroitly, manifesting a disposition to make a treaty, but evidently intending to stave off any direct action, until they met in council the U. S. Commissioners. To a proposition from Gov. Clinton, that the State of New York would look for a cession of lands to help "indemnify them for the expenses and sacrifices of the war ; " they replied, admitting the justice of the claim, but say- ing they were peace ambassadors, and had no authority to dispose of lands. The council broke up after distributing presents, and leaving the Indians a supply of provisions for subsistence while waiting to meet the U. S. Commissioners.
The treaty of Fort Stanwix followed, conducted by the United States Commissioners, Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. No record of the proceedings exist in our public archives : the general result is however known. Terms of peace were con- cluded ; the western boundaries of the Six Nations were so fixed as to enlarge the " carrying place" on the Niagara river they had previously ceded to the King of Great Britian, and starting from the mouth of Buffalo Creek, was to be 'a line running due south to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania ; thence west to the end of said boundary ; thence south along the west boundary of said State to the river Ohio. The treaty was effected with considerable diffi- culty, a large number of the Indians insisting that it should be gen- eral, and embrace the western Indians, so that all questions of boun- daries could be settled at once. Brant was absent, transacting some business with the Governor of Canada. Had he been present, it is doubtful whether any treaty would have been concluded. Red Jacket, then a youth, made his first public speech, and as Levasseur, (who derived his information from La Fayette,) says : - "His speech was a masterpiece, and every warrior who heard him, was carried
NOTE .- La Fayette was present at the treaty of Fort Stanwix. After the lapse of forty years, the generous Frenchman, the companion of Washington, and the Sencca orator, again met. The author was present at the interview. A concourse of citizens had been assembled for nearly two days, awaiting the arrival of the steam boat from Dunkirk, which had been chartered by the committee of Erie county, to convey La Fayette to Buffalo, and among them was Red Jacket. He made, as usual, a somewhat ostentatious display of his medal -a gift from Washington - and it required the es- pecial attention of a select committee to keep the aged chief from an indulgence- a "sin that so easy beset him," - which would have marred the dignity if not the
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away with his eloquence." He strongly protested against ceding away the hunting grounds of his people at the west, and boldly advocated a renewal of the war. The better councils of Corn- planter, however, prevailed. The so highly extolled eloquence of Red Jacket, had little in it of practicability. The Six Nations agreed to surrender all of their captives, most of whom had been brought to the treaty ground for that purpose. The commissioners in behalf of the United States, guaranteed to the Six Nations the quiet possession of the lands they occupied, which was recognized as embracing all of New York, west of cessions they had made under English dominion.
The next council of the commissioners of New York, after the one that has been named, was convened at Fort Herkimer, in June 1785. This was with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. Gov. Clinton made an opening speech in which, after defining their rights, and advising them that the State held the exclusive right to purchase, informed them that it was understood they were prepared to sell some of their lands south of the Unadilla; and if so, the commis- sioners were ready to purchase. After nearly two days delibera- tion, the Governor's speech was replied to by "Petrus, the minis- ter." The orator said his people were averse to parting with lands - alluded to the frauds that had been practiced upon the Mohawks before the Revolution; said " the German Flats people when they were poor, applied to us for lands and they were friends ; but now they are rich, they do not use us kindly." The speech was one of consummate ability ; especially did the chief turn the table's upon the Governor, in a frequent allusion to his former advice to the Indians to keep their lands. Days of deliberation and speech making suc- ceeded, the Indians making propositions to lease a small quantity of land, then to sell a small quantity of their poorest lands, but failing
romance of the intended interview. The reception, the ceremonies generally, were upon a staging erected in front of " Rathbun's Eagle." After they were through with, Red Jacket was escorted upon the staging, by a committee. "The Douglass in his hall," -himself in his native forest-never walked with a firmer step or a prouder l:caring ! There was the stoicism of the Indian - seemingly, the condecension, if it existed, was his, and not the "Nation's Guest." He addressed the General in his native fougue, through an interpreter who was present. During the interview, La Fay- ette not recognizing him, alluded to the treaty of Fort Stanwix: "And what" said he, "has become of the young Seneca, who on that occasion so eloquently opposed the burying of the tomahawk ?" "He is now before you," replied Red Jacket. The circumstance, as the reader will infer, revived in the mind of La Fayette, the scenes of the Revolution, and in his journey the next two days, his conversation was enrich- ed by the reminiscences which it called up.
PIIELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE. 105
to come up to what the commissioners required. In a speech made by the Grasshopper, he alluded to the attempt the British agents made during the war, to induce the Tuscaroras and Oneidas to join them. He said : - "They told us by joining the Americans, we would get lice, as they were only a lousy people ; but however, although they expressed the Americans were lousy, they have although lousy, overcome their enemies."
The commissioners finally succeeded in purchasing the land lying between the Unadilla and Chenango Rivers, south of a line drawn east and west through those streams, and north of the Pennsylva nia line, &c., for which they paid $11,500, and distributed among them a liberal amount of goods, trinkets and provisions. In finally announcing the conclusion to sell the land, the Grasshopper said : - " This news about selling our lands will make a great noise in the Six Nations, when they hear we have sold so much; and therefore we hope we shall not be applied to any more for any of our country." How was the future curtained before the simple backwood's diplo- matist! Little did he think that the narrow strip of land thus grudgingly and unwillingly parted with, would be added to, and widened out, until his people were mostly shorn of their broad pos- sessions !
Here, in the order of time, it becomes necessary to notice two hindrances that were interposed to temporarily delay the prelimin- ary measures for the advance of settlement westward from the lower valley of the Mohawk, after the Revolution : - The Kings of England and France were either poor geographers, or very careless in their grants of territory in the new world. They gran- ted what they never possessed, paid very little attention to each other's rights, and created cross or conflicting claims. In the year 1620, the King of Great Britain, granted to the Plymouth Compa- ny a tract of country denominated New England, extending several degrees of latitude north and South, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, east and west. A charter for the government of a portion of this territory, granted by Charles I., in 1628, was vacated in 1684, but a second charter was granted by William and Mary 1691. The territory comprised in this second charter, extended on the Atlantic ocean, from north latitude 42º 2, to 44º 15, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Charles I., in 1663, granted to the Duke of York and Albany, the province of New York, including
7
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the present State of New Jersey. The tract thus granted extended from a line twenty miles east of the Hudson river, westward, rather indefinitely, and from the Atlantic ocean north, to the south line of Canada, then a French province.
By this collision of description, each of these colonies, (after- wards States,) laid claim to the jurisdiction as well as pre-emption right of the same land, being a tract sufficiently large to form several States. The State of New York, however, in 1781, and Massa- chusetts, in 1785, ceded to the United States all their rights, either of jurisdiction or proprietorship, to all the territory lying west of a meridian, line run south from the westerly bend of Lake Ontario. Although the nominal amount in controversy, by these acts, was much diminished, it still left some nineteen thousand square miles of territory in dispute ; but this controversy was finally settled by a convention of commissioners, appointed by the parties, held at Hartford, Conn., on the 16th day of December, 1786. According to the stipulations entered into by the convention, Massachusetts ceded to the State of New York, all her claim to the government, sovereignty and jurisdiction of all the territory lying west of the present east line of the State of New York; and New York ceded to Massachusetts the pre-emption right, or fee of the land, subject to the title of natives, of all that part of the State of New York lying west of a line, beginning at a point in the north line of Penn- sylvania, 82 miles north of the north-east corner of said State, and running from thence due north through Seneca Lake, to Lake On- tario ; excepting and reserving to the State of New York, a strip of land east of, and adjoining the eastern bank of Niagara river, one mile wide, and extending its whole length. The land, the pre- emption right of which was thus ceded, amounted to about six millions of acres.
The other difficulty alluded to, arose from the organization and operations of two joint Lessee Companies. The constitution of the state forbade the purchase of the fee in lands of the Indians, by individuals, reserving the right to the state alone. To evade this, and come in possession of the lands, an association of individuals was organized in the winter of 1787, '8, who styled themselves the " New York Genesee Land Company." The company was com- posed of some eighty or ninety individuals, mostly residing upon the Hudson ; many of whom were wealthy and influential. The prin-
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cipal seat of the company was at Hudson. Dr. Caleb Benton, John Livingston, and Jared Coffin were the principal managers At the same time a branch company was organized in Canada, called the "Niagara Genesee Land Company." This consisted of John Butler, Samuel Street, John Powell, Johnson and Murphy, and Benjamin Barton ; all but the last named, being residents of Canada. This branch organization enabled the company to avail themselves of the then potent influence of Col. John Butler with the Six Nations, and the influence of his associates. Benjamin Barton, the father of the late Benjamin Barton Jr. of Lewiston, was an active member of the association. Soon after the close of the Revolution, he had engaged in the Indian trade, and as a drover from New Jersey, via. the Susquehannah River, to the British garrison at Niagara. By this means he had become well acquainted with the Senecas, was adopted by them, and had taken while a youth, Henry O'Bail, the son of Cornplanter, and placed him in a school in N. Jersey. In addition to the influence thus acquired, there belonged to the New York Company, several who had for a long period been Indian traders. Thus organized, by such appliances as usually for- warded negotiations with the Indians, the company in November, 1787, obtained a Lease for " nine hundred and ninety nine years," of all the lands of the Six Nations in the state of New York, except some small reservations, the privilege of hunting, fishing &c. The annual rent was to be two thousand spanish milled dollars ; and a bonus of $20,000 was also promised.
In March, 1788, John Taylor had been appointed an agent of the New York board of commissioners, or superintendent of Indian affairs. In that month, he was sent to the Indian country to coun- teract the unlawful proceedings of the Lessees. On his return he reported that he had fallen in with the clerk of an Indian trader, just from Tioga, who told him that "Livingston had sent fourteen sleighs loaded with goods into the Indian country. They got within 50 miles of Tioga, and would proceed no farther. That the Sene- cas were exceedingly dissatisfied with Livingston, and would not abide by the bargain, charging him with having cheated them ; and threatened Ryckman for having assisted him in cheating them. That near 160 families were at Tioga, with a considerable number of cattle, in order to form a settlement on those lands ; but were very much at a loss, as they had heard that the state intended
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that no settlement should be made." Governor Clinton issued a proclamation warning purchasers that the Lessee title would be annulled, and sent runners to all the Six Nations warning them of the fraud that had been practiced against them.
It was a formidable organization, embracing men of wealth and political influence, and those who, if their own plans could not be consummated, had an influence with the Indians that would enable them to throw serious obstacles in the way of legal negotiations with them for their lands. The lease consummated, the next object of the association was to procure an act of the legislature sanctioning the proceedings, and for that purpose, an attempt was made to intimidate, by threats of dismemberment, and the formation of a new state, embracing all the leased territory. But the whole matter was met with energy and promptness by Gov. George Clinton, who urged upon the Legislature measures to counteract the intended mischief. In March, 1788, an act was passed which authorised the Governor to disregard all contracts made with the Indians, not sanctioned by the state as null and void, and to cause all persons who had entered upon Indian lands under such contracts, to be driven off by force, and their buildings destroyed. Governor Clinton ordered William Colbraith, then Sheriff of the county of Herkimer,(which then em- braced all of the present county of Herkimer and all west of it to the west bounds of the state,) to dispossess intruders and burn their dwellings. A military force was called out, and the orders strictly executed. One of the prominent settlers, and a co-operator of the Lessees, was taken to New York in irons, upon a charge of high treason.
Thus baffled, the managers of the two associations determined to retaliate and coerce a compromise, if they failed to carry out their original design, by meeting the State upon treaty grounds, where they could bring a stronger lobby than they could command for the halls of legislation. At the treaty, held in Fort Stanwix, in September, 1778, with the Onondagas, for the purchase of their lands by the State, Governor Clinton took the field in person, back- ed by all the official influence he could command ; and yet, he found for a while, extreme difficulty in effecting any thing. Little opposition from the Lessees showed itself openly, but it was there with its strongest appliances. In after years, when preferring a claim against the "New York Genesee Company," in behalf of the
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" Niagara Genesee Company," a prominent individual among the claimants, urged that the Canada company had kept the Indians back from the treaties ; and when they could no longer do so, had on one occasion, baffled Governor Clinton for nearly three weeks. Treaties, however, went on, until the State had possessed itself of the lands of the Six Nations east of the pre-emption line. The les- sees, seeing little hopes of accomplishing their designs, finally peti- tioned the legislature for relief; and after considerable delay, in 1793, an act was passed, authorizing the commissioners of the land office to set off for them from any of the vacant unappropriated lands of the State, a tract equal to ten miles square. The allot- ment was finally made in township number three, of the " Old Mili- tary tract." Thus terminated a magnificent scheme, so far as the State was concerned, which contemplated the possession of a vast domain, and perhaps, as has been alleged, a separate State organi- zation. It marks an important era in the early history of our State. The influence brought to bear upon the Indians from Canada, by which the extraordinary lease was obtained, was stimulated by the prospect of individual gain ; but may we not well infer - with- out an implication of the many respectable individuals who com- posed the association in this State to that extent-that it looked forward to future events; the maintenance of British dominion, which was afterwards asserted and reluctantly yielded. It was long after this, before the potent influence which the Johnsons, But- ler and Brant had carried with them, even in their retreat to Cana- da, was counteracted. They were yet constantly inculcating the idea among the Six Nations, that they were under British dominion, the Senecas at least. What could better have promoted this pre- tension, than such a scheme, especially if it contemplated the ex- treme measure of a dismemberment of this State - such as was alleged at the time, was embraced in the plan of the two organiza- tions ? The calculations of the "New York Genesee Company " may have been circumscribed by the boundaries of loss and gain ; that of their associates and co-operators may have taken a wider range, and embraced national interest, to which it was wedded by ties even stronger if possible, than motives of gain and private emolument. As late as November, 1793, James Wadsworth and Oliver Phelps, received a circular, signed by John Livingston and Caleb Benton, as officers of a convention purporting to have been'
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held at Geneva, urging the people to hold town meetings and sign petitions for a new state to be set off from New York, and to em- brace the counties of Otsego, Tioga, Herkimer and Ontario.
Early in the spring of 1788, another council with the Six Na- tions was contemplated by the New York commissioners. In an- swer to a message from them, requesting the Indians to fix upon a time, some of the chiefs answered in a writing, that it must be " after the corn is hoed." Massachusetts, not having then parted with its pre-emption right west of Seneca Lake, Gov. Clinton wrote to Gov. Hancock to secure his co-operation in counter- acting the designs of the lessees. The general court declared the leases "null and void ;" but Governor Hancock, in his reply to the letter, stated that Massachusetts, on account of the "embarrassed situation of the Commonwealth," was about to comply with the proposals of some of her citizens, for the purchase of the pre-emp- 1
tion right.
The first of September was fixed as the period for the treaty, and Fort Schuyler was designated as the place. Active preparations for it were going on through the summer, under the general super- vision of John Taylor, who had the zealous co-operation of Gov. Clinton. In all the villages of the Six Nations, the lessees had their agents and runners, or Indian traders in their interest. Even the Rev. Mr. Kirkland had been either deceived or corrupted by them, and had played a part inconsistent with his profession, and with his obligations to Massachusetts. It was represented to Gov. Clinton that, in "preaching to the Indians, he had advised them to lease to the New York and Canada companies, as their territory
NOTE. - After the arrangement with the State, there was a long controversy be- tween the two associations in settling their affairs : in the course of which, much of the secret machinery of both was developed. An old adage was pretty well illustra- ted. It no where appears that any thing was paid to the Indians in their national or confederate capacities ; though a bonus of twenty thousand dollars was stipulated to be paid in addition to the annual rents. The Canada company refused at one timeto pay an installment into this general fund, alleging as a reason, the non-payment of this twenty thousand dollars due the Indians. But yet, it appears that it was a pretty expensive operation ; the chiefs who favored the scheme and the agents who operated upon them, must have been well paid; "presents " must have been as lavish as in the palmiest days of British and Indian negotiations. Remonstrances that were presented to the Legislature of this State, set forth that "secret and unwarrantable means had been employed by the lessees in making their arrangements with some of the In- dians." At a meeting of the "New York Genesee Company," at Hudson, in Sep- tember, 1789, the aggregate expenditures, as liquidated, had been over twelve thou- sand pounds, N. E. currency. It will be necessary to refer to this subject again, in connection with Indian treaties that followed, and Charles Williamson.
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was so wide, he could not make his voice heard to its full extent ; that he could " preach better," if their territory was smaller. At the treaty held at Kanadesaga, when the Lease was procured, he had acted efficiently for the Lessees. To counteract thosestrong influ- ences, agents and runners were put in requisition by the N. Y. commissioners ; and during the summer, the poor Indians had but little peace.
The preparations for the embassy to the Indian country, at Al- bany and New York, were formidable ones. A similar expedition now to Santa Fee, or Oregon, would be attended with less of pre- liminary arrangements. A sloop came up from New York with In- dian goods, stores for the expedition, marquees and tents, specie for purchase money, (which was obtained with much trouble,) those of the board of commissioners and their associates, who resided in New York, and many who were going to attend the treaty from motives of curiosity ; among whom was Count Monsbiers, the then French minister, and his sister.
The board of commissioners and their retinue, started from Al- bany on the 23d of August, (the goods and baggage going up the Mohawk in batteaux that had been built for the purpose,) and did not arrive at Fort Schuyler until the 28th.
A wild, romantic scene was soon presented. The veteran soldier, George Clinton, pitched his marquee, and was as much the General as if he had headed a military instead of a civil expedition. Among his associates in the commission, and his companions, were many who had with him been conspicuous in the Revolution, and were the leading men of the then young State. They were surrounded by the camp fires of the numerous representatives of the Six Na- tions, amounting to thousands, who had been attracted to the spot, some from an interest hey felt in the negotiations, but far the lar- gest proportion of them had been attracted from their scattered wilderness homes, by the hopes and promises of feasts and carous- als. Indian traders from all their localities in New York and Canada, with their showy goods and trinkets, and "fire water," were upon the ground with the mixed objects of a sale of their goods, when money was paid to the Indians, and the espousal either of the State interests or that of the Lessees. Some of the prominent Lessees from Albany, Hudson and Canada had preceded the Gov- ernor, and were in the crowd, secretly and insidiously endeavoring
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