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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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armed bands of Canada Indians, as allies of the western confeder- ates. Red Jacket was a backwoods Talleyrand, and Cornplanter, an unschooled Metternich.
Col. John Butler, living at Niagara in affluence, richly pensioned, and himself and family connections richly endowed with lands by the king, repaid the bounties of his sovereign with all the zeal that he had shewn in the war, by seconding the views of Lord Dorches- ter and Col. Simcoe. As Superintendent of Indian affairs he had the keys of the king's store house at Niagara, and dispensed his presents profusely among the Indians, telling them that the "king, their good father, would soon want their services again, against the rebels." The early settlers of the Genesee country, saw on more than one occasion, the Indians in possession of new broadcloths, blankets, and silver ornaments, that came from the king's store house, the fearful purport of which they well understood. Some of the influences and agencies that have been named, had assisted in land treaties, but it had been for pay, and with the hope ultimately of the partition of New York, and the non-fulfilment of the treaty stipu- lation for the surrender of its western territory. Lingering yet upon the Genesee river, and in several other localities, were refu- gees from the Mohawk, with feelings rankling in their bosoms akin to those of Milton's fallen angels after they had been driven out of Paradise.
Added to all these elements of trouble, was an irreconciled feel- ing against the Indians, on the part of those who had been border settlers upon the Mohawk and the Susquehannah, and could not so soon forget their horrid barbarities. In the absence of courts and any efficient civil police, this feeling would occasionally break out in outrages, and on several occasions resulted in the murder of In- dians ; it required all the wisdom of the general and State govern- ments and their local agents to prevent retaliation upon the scatter- ed settlements of the Pioneers.
While a storm was gathering at the west, and the Senecas, un- der the influences that have been named, were half inclined to act in concert with hostile nations in that quarter, the murder of two Senecas, by whites, occurred on Pine creek, in Pennsylvania. It highly exasperated the Senecas, and they made an immediate de- mand upon the Governor of Pennsylvania for redress. It was in the form of a message, signed by Little Beard, Red Jacket, Gisse-
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hakie, Caunhesongo, chiefs and warriors of the Seneca nation, and dated at "Geneseo River Flats," August 1790. After saying they are glad that a reward of eight hundred dollars has been offered for the murderers, they add : - " Brothers the two men you have killed were very great men, and were of the great Turtle tribe ; one of them was a chief, and the other was to be put in the great king Garoughta's place, who is dead also. Brothers, you must not think hard of us if we speak rash, as it comes from a wounded heart, as you have struck the hatchet in our head, and we can't be reconciled until you come and pull it out. We are sorry to tell you, you have killed eleven of us since peace." "And now we take you by the hand and lead you to the Painted Post, as far as your canoes can come up the creek, where you will meet the whole tribe of the de- ceased, and all the chiefs and a number of warriors of our nation, where we expect you will wash away the blood of your brothers, and bury the hatchet, and put it out of memory, as it is yet sticking in our heads.
Mr. Pickering, who was then residing at Wyoming, was either sent by the Governor of Pennsylvania, or the Secretary of War to hold the proposed treaty, at Tioga Point, on the 16th day of No- vember. He met there, Red Jacket, Farmer's Brother, Col. Butler, Little Billy, Fish Carrier, and other chiefs of the Six Nations, and the Chippewa and Stockbridge Indians. They came to the coun- cil much enraged, and a speech of Red Jacket was well calculated to increase their resentments. The black cloud that hung over their deliberations for days, was finally driven away by the prudent course of Col. Pickering, and the war spirit that was kindled in many a savage bosom, finally quelled. This was the first time that the Six Nations were met in council by the general government after the adoption of the constitution. Col. Pickering informed them that the Thirteen Fires was now but one Fire, that they were now all under the care of the great chief, General Washington, who would redress their wrongs, and correct any abuses the whites had
NOTE .- Money and presents of goods, it is presumed, were the principal agents of reconciliation. The wily chiefs who demanded the council, while they assumed that their young warriors could hardly be restrained from taking summary vengeance upon the whites, intimated what they were expecting; and they especially requested that the Governor should send to the council " all the property of the murderers," as it would " be a great satisfaction to the families of the deceased." The result of the council amounted to little more than a compromising of the murders, and professions of friendship, that were destined to remain equivocal.
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practiced upon them ; and that especially traders among them would be prohibited from selling spirituous liquors. To all this Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother made replies, expressing much gratification that the "great chief of the Thirteen Fires, had opened his mouth to them." They made formal complaints of the manner in which their lands had been obtained from them, to which Col. Pickering replied, that their lands were their own to dispose of as they pleased, that the United States would only see that no frauds were practiced in the land treaties.
The Six Nations called their councils with the whites, measures for "brightening the chain of friendship, " and never did chains get rusty so quick after brightening as they did along during this critical period. One treaty or council was hardly over before another was demanded by one party or the other. In the spring of 1791, when the Little Turtle as the successor of Pontiac-as a leader, almost his equal - had perfected an alliance of the principal western na- tions against the United States : when expedients for reconciliation with them had been exhausted, and General Harmar was about to march against them; it was deemed of the utmost importance to confirm the wavering purposes of the Six Nations, and divert them from an alliance with the legions that threatened to break up the border settlements west of the Ohio, and if successful there, to in- volve the new settlements of the Genesee country in the contest for dominion. For this purpose, Colonel Pickering was again commis- sioned by the Secretary of War to hold a treaty. It was held at Newtown, (now Elmira,) in the month of June. With a good deal of difficulty, a pretty general attendance of the Indians was secured. Fortunately Col. Proctor who had turned back in a peace embassy to the western nations, in consequence of intimations which induced a conclusion that it would not only be fruitless but dangerous, had spent some weeks among the Senecas at Buffalo, and his visit had been favorable to the drawing off of the chiefs and warriors from Canada influence and western alliance, in the direction of Colonel Pickering and his treaty ground.
The treaty was mainly successful. With all the bad inclinations of the Senecas at this period, and bad influences that was bearing upon them, there was a strong conservative influence which had a powerful auxillary in the, "Governesses, " or influential women .*
* The very common impression that the women had no influence in the councils of
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The principal speakers were, Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother. Thomas Morris was present at this treaty ;* the author extracts from his manuscripts, spoken of in the preface to this work : - "Red Jacket was I suppose, at that time, about 30 or 35 years of age, of middle height, well formed, with an intelligent countenance, and a fine eye ; and was in all respects a fine looking man. He was the most graceful public speaker I have ever known; his manner was most dignified and easy. He was fluent, and at times witty and sar- castic. He was quick and ready at reply. He pitted himself against Col. Pickering, whom he sometimes foiled in argument. The Colonel would sometimes become irritated and lose his temper ; then Red Jacket would be delighted and shew his dexterity in taking advantage of any unguarded assertion of the Colonel's. He felt a conscious pride in the conviction that nature had done more for him than for his antagonist. A year or two after this treaty, when Col. Pickering from Post Master General became Secretary of War, I informed Red Jacket of his promotion. 'Ah,' said he, ' we began our public career about the same time ; he knew how to read and write, I did not, and he has got ahead of me ; but if I had known how to read and write I should have got ahead of him.'"
The name of an early Pioneer has already been incidentally men- tioned, who became prominently blended in all the relations of the general government, and consequently in all the relations of this local region, with our Indian predecessors. General Israel Chapin was from Hatfield, Massachusetts. He was commissioned as a Cap- tain in the earliest military organizations of Massachusetts, after the commencement of the Revolution, and was in the campaign against Quebec ; soon after which he was advanced to the rank of Colonel, and at the close of the Revolution, he had attained to the
the Six Nations - that their whole sex was regarded as mere drudges - is refuted by the recorded facts, that in treaties with Gov. George Clinton, and in the treaty at " Big Tree," they turned the scale in councils.
* Mr. Morris, then just from his law studies, with a younger brother, set out from Phil- adelphia, and coming via Wilkesbarre and what was called " Sullivan's path, " attended the treaty, visited the Fallsof Niagara, and returning, made up his mind to fix his res- idence at Canandaigua. " See sketches of early times at Canandaigua, and see also some further reminiscences of Mr. Morris in connection with the treaty at Newtown, Appendix No. 12.
NOTE .- Among the Revolutionary papers of General Chapin, are many interesting relics. Ephraim Patch, a soldier of his company, charges in his memorandum, for " one pair of buffed trowsers, one pewter basin, one pair shoes, one tomahawk and
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rank of Brigadier General. In addition to his services in the field, he was occasionally a sub contractor, or agent of Oliver Phelps, in procuring army supplies. Upon one occasion, as the author observes by his correspondence, he was requested by Mr. Phelps to obtain a " fine yoke of fat cattle for Gen. Washington's table." Gen. Chapin was in active military service during the Shay rebellion : D See "general orders,' transmitted to him by Major General Shepherd, Appendix, No. 13. After the close of the Revolution, he was a prominent managing member of an association, organized for the purpose of dealing in wild lands in Vermont. He was one of the original associates with Mr. Phelps, in the purchase of the Genesee country, and was chosen to come out and explore it in 1789, which resulted in his removal with his family to Canandaigua, in 1790.
Soon after the organization of the general government, the Sec- retary of War, General Knox, saw the necessity of a local agent among the Six Nations, and the well earned reputation of General Chapin, in the Revolution, and in the important civil crisis that fol- lowed after it in Massachusetts, fortunately for the region with which he had become identified, pointed him out as a safe de- pository of the important trust. From his earliest residence in the country, he had been entrusted with commissions, in connection with Indian relations, by Gen. Knox and Col. Pickering. Soon after the treaty at Newtown, he was appointed to the office of Deputy Superintendent of the Six Nations, though the duties of his office ultimately, in many instances, embraced the whole northern de- partment.
The letter of appointment from Gen. Knox, enjoined upon him the impressing upon the Indians, that it was the " firm determination of the President that the utmost fairness and kindness should be exhibited to the Indian tribes by the United States." That it was " not only his desire to be at peace with all the Indian tribes, but to be their guardian and protector, against all injustice." He was informed by the Secretary, that Joseph Brant had promised a visit to the seat of government, and instructed either to accompany him, " or otherwise provide for his journey in a manner perfectly agree- able to him."
belt, one bayonet and belt, lost by me in the retreat from Quebec, May 6. 1776." Jon- athan Clark charges that he was equally unfortunate in the hasty flight; he lost his woolen shirts, stockings, shoes, a bayonet and belt, a tomahawk, and a "pair of In- dian stockings.
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This attempt to get Brant to Philadelphia, together with a large representation of other chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, and others not actually merged with the hostile Indians of the west, had been commenced in the previous winter. It succeeded very well, with the exception of Brant ; a large Seneca delegation, with a few Onondagas and Oneidas, nearly forty in all, were conducted to Phil- adelphia, across the country, via Wilkesbarre, by Horatio Jones and Joseph Smith. It was upon this occasion that the Indian chief, Big Tree, was a victim to the excessive hospitality that was extended to the delegation, at the seat of government, dying there from the effects of surfeit. British hospitality and liberality was outdone ; President Washington won the esteem and confidence of the Indi- ans, and they departed with promises of continued friendship, and that they would undertake a friendly mission to the hostile Indians of the west.
Brant was invited to the conference by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland and Col. Pickering, but he stood out somewhat upon his dignity, and intimated that if he went, it was to be in a manner more con- sistent with his character and position, than would be a journey through the country, with a drove of Indians, under the lead of in- terpreters. This being communicated to Gen. Knox, he took the hint, and thence his instructions to Gen. Chapin. Apprehensive, too, that Brant wanted the invitation to come directly from the seat of government, he addressed him an official letter, respectful and conciliatory, appealing to him upon the score of humanity, to lend his great influence toward reconciling the existing Indian difficul- ties, preventing the further shedding of blood, and to assist the government in devising measures for bettering the condition of his race. This drew from the chief an answer that he would start for Philadelphia in about thirty days, and in the meantime would con- sult the western nations, and be enabled to speak by authority from them. No statesman of the new or old world, ever penned a more guarded, non-committal answer in diplomacy, than was this from the retired chief, in the backwoods of Canada.
The letter to the Secretary of War, was sent to Mr. Kirkland, at Oneida, and forwarded by him by the hands of Dr. Deodat Al- len, to the care of Col. Gordon, the British commanding officer at Fort Niagara, with a request to have it sent by private express to Captain Brant, at Grand River. This manner of forwarding the
1
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letter proved unfortunate. Dr. Allen, knowing its contents designed- ly or imprudently communicated them to Col. Gordon, who acsompa- nied it with suggestions well calculated to promote an unfavorable answer. He also informed Captain Chew,* a deputy Indian agent under Sir John Johnstone, residing at Niagara, of the contents of the letter, who brought all his influence to bear upon Brant, to prevent the journey.
As the time of departure drew near. Gen. Chapin had Brant at- tended from the Grand River to Canandaigua, and from there, via Albany and New York to Philadelphia. The chief was at- tended by Israel Chapin, jr., Dr. Allen, Samuel Street, a servant of his own, and another provided for the party by Gen. Chapin. It was Brant's first appearance in the Valley of the Mohawk after his flight from there, and well knowing that upon his journey he must often encounter those of his old neighbors against whom he had carried on a sanguinary warfare, he feared retribution, and only proceeded upon the pledges of Gen. Chapin that no insult or indig- nity should be offered him. It was only upon one occasion that fears were entertained for his safety on the route by his attendants, who enabled him to avoid the threatened danger. Arrived at New York, it would seem the whole party, about to appear at court - or rather, at the seat of government - doffed their backwoods ward- robe, and patronized a fashionable tailor. Pretty round bills were presented to Gen. Chapin for payment ; that for a full suit for Brant, would show that he at least did not appear in any less mean attire than was befitting an ambassador.
The result of this visit of Brant to the seat of government, in detail, is already incorporated in history. Although in a measure satisfactory and productive of good, his position was by no means fixed, or changed by it. In the midst of feasting and civilities, the recipient of presents and flatteries, he was reserved and guarded ; put on an air of mystery ; so much so, that Gen. Knox in a letter to Gen. Chapin, expresses fears that some thing was said or done at
* Captain Chew had conventionally, for a wife, a half blood Tuscarora, the daughter of Capt. Mountpleasant, of the British Army, and sister of the venerable John Mount- pleasnt. of Tuscarora, a woman who is well remembered by the Pioneers of that re- gion. One of them, not a bad judge in such matters, told the author that she was the handsomest woman he had ever seen. Her first espousal was with a Captain El- mer, of the British army. Her descendants are among the many respectable natives uf Tuscarora village.
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Philadelphia that had displeased him. The truth was, that he had a difficult part to perform : - In the first place, he was sincerely tired of war, and wanted peace ; but he was bound to the British interests by gratitude, by present and prospective interests ; exist- ing upon their bounty, and apprehensive that his large landed pos- sessions were held by the tenure of a continued loyalty. He knew that every step he took, and every word he uttered in favor of the United States, or peace, would be used against him, not only to weaken his influence with the British, but also with what he proba- bly valued still higher, his influence with his own race. Gen. Knox drew from him a promise that he would visit the western nations ; but the promise was attended with conditions and mental reserva- tions, which were calculated to render the mission of little avail.
There followed this movement, a series of fruitless embassies to the hostile Indians, a protracted period of alarm and apprehension. Repeated conferences and councils were held by Gen. Chapin with the Six Nations, mostly with the Senecas, as they were most in- clined to be allies of the western Indian confederacy. Hendricks, a Stockbridge chief, Red Jacket, and Cornplanter, were successively sent on missions to the west, under the auspices of Gen. Chapin ; but neither they, nor white ambassadors, succeeded in getting any overture better than the ultimatum that the Ohio should be the boundary line of respective dominion.
There was a long period of dismay and alarm, in which the new settlers of the Genesee country deeply and painfully participated ; every movement in the west was regarded with anxiety ; and the Senecas in their midst, were watched with jealousy and distrust. In addition to the fruitless missions from this quarter, others were undertaken from the seat of government, and our military posts upon the Allegany, equally abortive ; in two instances, peace am- bassadors were treacherously murdered before reaching treaty grounds. The hindrances to peace negotiations with the Indians, were vastly augmented by British interference. Net content with encouraging the Indians to hold out, and actually supplying them with the means of carrying on the war, on one occasion, they refused to let a peace embassy proceed by water via Oswego and Niagara ; and on another occasion, with a military police, prevented commis- sioners of the United States from proceeding to their destination, a treaty ground. And these were the acts of a nation with whom
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we had just made a treaty of peace ; a nation who, in a recent colonial crisis of their own, demanded the most stringent observance of the duties of neutral nations. They set up the specious and false pretence, that the supplying the Indians with the means of warring upon us, was the work of individuals, for which the gov- ment was not accountable. In the case of the Navy Island war, they insisted that our government should be responsible for individ- al acts.
The office of Gen. Chapin, it may well be concluded, was no sin- ccure. At the head of the war department was a faithful public officer, and he required promptness and energy from all his subor- dinates. Upon Gen. Chapin, devolved the procuring of embassa- dors to the hostile Indians, fitting out them and their retinues, and holding council after council to keep the faces of the Six Nations turned from the west. In these troublesome times, the government was of course liberal with the Senecas, and Gen. Chapin was its al- moner. They, shrewd enough to understand the value of their con- tinued friendship to the United States at that critical period, were most of them sturdy beggars. Often they would propose councils with the ulterior motive of a feast and carousal and a "staff"* to support them on their return to their villages. At his home in Can- andaigua he was obliged to hold almost perpetual audience with self constituted delegations who would profess that they were decided conservatives and peace makers, as long as he dispensed his bread, meat and whiskey freely. Lingering sometimes quite too long to be agreeable or essential to the purposes of diplomacy, he would fit them out with a liberal "staff" and persuade the squaws to go back to their cornfields, and the Indians to their hunting camps in the forest. Mr. Berry at Canawagus, and Winney, the then almost
NOTE. - It is not the author's purpose to give the general history of Indian diffi- culties at the west, at this period ; though it should be mentioned, for the information of those not conversant with what was then transpiring in that quarter, that the In- dian confederaey, which had been revived, and the wars they waged, was to recover all of their country they had ceded to the United States south of the Ohio, which then contained about thirty-five thousand inhabitants. They insisted upon the Ohio as the boundary line, and in this, they were sustained and encouraged by the British. The expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne, were for enforeing previous treaties and punishing the Indians for their depredations committed upon those who had settled on ceded territory .
* A bottle, and sometimes a keg of whiskey to which they gave this name. What a misnomer ! The emblem of strength and support was weakness, as has since been lamentably demonstrated.
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solitary resident upon the present site of Buffalo, were Indian traders, and acted as local sub-agents, the two first named es- pecially. Upon the General's orders, and sometimes at their own discretion, they would dispense meats and drinks, and formidable accounts thereof would be presented. Winney occupying an im- portant position with reference to Indian relations, kept the General apprised of all that was going on in that quarter. The United States having passed a stringent law prohibiting wholly the selling of liquor to the Indians and trading among them without license, an onerous task was imposed upon the superintendent to prevent its infraction. School masters, missionaries and blacksmiths, among the Indians had to be cared for, and their various wants supplied. In all difficulties that arose between the white settlers and the Indians. the superintendent was usually called upon to be the arbitrator. If the Indians stole from the white settlers, complaints were made to the superintendant and it seemed to have been a matter of inference that his office imposed upon him the duty of seeing all such wrongs redressed. It will surprise those who are not conversant with the scale of economy upon which our national affairs commenced, that the pay for all this, which was attended with large disbursement of public money, for which the most rigid accountability was deman- ded, was but five hundred dollars per annum.
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