USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 18
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 18
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Conrad Weiser and Shikellimy came to Onondaga that year on business, and Bartram and Lewis Evans, the geographer, took advantage of the oppor- tunity and accompanied them. They seem to have entered the county by way of Labrador pond. in this way reaching the village of Tueyahdasso, now known as Indian Orchard, a sightly place. There they found "apple trees full of fruit; the Indians had set long bushes all round the trees at a little distance, I suppose to keep the small children from stealing the fruit before they were ripe; here we halted and turned our horses to grass, while the in- habitants cleared a eabin for our reception ; they brought us vietuals, and we dispatched a messenger immediately to Onondago to let them know how near we were, it being within four miles. All the Indians, men, women and chil- dren, came to gaze at us and our horses, the little boys and girls climbed on the roofs of the cabins. about ten in number, to enjoy a fuller view, we set out about ten and traveled over good land all the way, mostly an easy de- seent, some limestone, then down the east hill, over ridges of limestone roek. but generally a moderate descent, into the fine vale where the capital (if I may so eall it ) is situated.
"We alighed at the eouneil house, where the chiefs were already assem- bled to receive ns, which they did with a grave, ehearful complaisance, ac- cording to their eustom ; they shew'd us where to lay our baggage, and repose ourselves during our stay with them; which was in the two end apartments of this large house. The Indians that came with us were placed over against us; this cabin is ahont eighty feet long and seventeen broad, the common passage six feet wide; and the apartments on each side five feet, raised a foot- above the passage by a long sapling hewed square, and fitted with joists that go from it to the back of the house; on these joists they lay large pieces of bark, and on extraordinary occasions, spread matts made of rushes, this favonr we had; on these floors they set or lye down every one as he will, the apartments are divided from each other by boards or bark, six or seven feet long, from the lower floor to the upper, on which they put their lumber, when they have eaten their hominy. as they set in each apartment before the fire, they can put the bowel over head, having not above five foot to reach; they
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set on the floor sometimes at each end, but mostly at one; they have a shed to put their wood into in the winter, or in the summer, to set to converse or play, that has a door to the south ; all the sides and roof of the cabin is made of bark, bound fast to poles set in the ground, and bent round on the top, or sett affatt, for the roof as we set our rafters; over each fire place they leave a hole to let out the smoak, which in rainy weather, they cover with a piece of bark, and this they can easily reach with a pole to push it on one side or quite over the hole."
Though he described the couneil house, others were much the same. Onondaga was then mostly east of the ereek. Seven years later it was on the west side. His aeeonnt of the place follows :
"The fine vale of Onondago runs north and south, a little inelining to the west, and is near a mile wide, where the town is situated and excellent soil. the river that divides this charming vale, is two, three or four feet deep. very full of trees fallen across, or drove on heaps by the torrents. The town in its present state is about two or three miles long, yet the seattered cabins on both sides the water are not above forty in number, many of them hold two families, but all stand single, and rarely above four or five near one another ; so that the whole town is a strange mixture of cabins, interspersed with great patehes of high grass, bushes and shrubs, some of pease, corne and squashes. limestone bottom composed of fossils and sea shells."
That night they were entertained by one of the False Faces, precisely as they appear at Onondaga yet. July 23 they procured a guide to the salt spring, "down the river, on the west side of its mouth; being most of the way good land, and near the mouth very rich : from whence it runs westward near a quarter of a mile, a kind of a sand beach adjoining to the bank of the river, containing three or four aeres. Here the Indians dig holes, about two feet deep, which soon filling with brine, they dip their kettles, and boil the contents until the salt remains at bottom."
It will be observed that he places the boiling west of the creek. and Zeisberger, a few years later, gave a similar account. The historie spring was on the east side. The next day Bartram and Evans went to Oswego, enjoying the trip greatly. Bartram said, on the return: "At three o'clock we entered the Onondago lake, the upper end of which we gained by five, the land about the lake is pretty good, and some large marshes and rich low ground, mostly on each side, but here and there the hills come close to the water. I think it must be eight miles long and above one broad, very brackish at the salt plain; very deep in some places, but shallow for one hundred yards from the shore."
His visit to the calcareous spring has been mentioned, and the place has been identified. A feast came after a conneil : "The conference held till three. after which we dined, this repast consisted of three great kettles of Indian corn soop, or thin homony. with dry'd eels and other fish boiled in it, and one kettle full of young squashes and their flowers hoiled in water, and a little meal mixed; this dish was but weak food, last of all was served a great bowl full
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of Indian dumplings, made of new soft corn, ent or seraped off the ear, then with the addition of some boiled beans, lapped well up in Indian corn leaves, this is good and hearty provision."
The Rev. Samuel Kirkland was at Onondaga in 1764, and was received at the eouneil house, which he described much as Bartram did, adding that it had four fires. This, however, was not the one which Bartram saw, that be- ing east of the creek. This one was the home of Bunt, also called Otschino- chiata, or the Sinew, and stood on a hill north of Dorwin's spring, near where E. F. Rice's house now stands. When Zeisberger was there, two years later, the English flag floated from a staff before it. As early as 1750 this flag was raised at couneils in the town.
Kirkland was told that a messenger of importance must be received in the day, and the council met at ten next morning. Pipes were lighted, and then the Bunt said they were ready to receive any message. Sir William Johnson had sent a belt and speech, and these were given by an Indian with Kirkland. He rose, holding the belt in his left hand, that the right might be free for gestures, and spoke for three-quarters of an hour. "At the end of every sen- tence they expressed their assent, if pleasing to them, by crying out, one after another, or twenty all at once, nat-hoot-o-gus-keh, i. e., 'It is so,' 'very true.' When my convoy had finished his address, the venerable old chief replied, and spoke like a Demosthenes, for more than half an hour. He then took me by the hand. and embraced me, kissed one cheek and then the other. I sup- posed 1 must return the compliment ; I accordingly kissed his red cheeks, not disgusted at all with the remains of the paint and grease with which they had lately been besmeared. He gave me many blessings while he held me by the hand. They eame, one after another, to shake hands with me, perhaps nearly a hundred."
In the charming "Journal of An American Lady," written by Mrs. Grant in 1808, she tells of a journey she made from Albany to Oswego in 1760, when she was but little more than five years old. Her recollections are thus those of a child, vivid, but imperfeet, and this must be remembered in reading her pleasant story, written forty-eight years later in Scotland. Her father was an offieer in the Fifty-fifth regiment, made up of Highlanders, and stationed for a time at Oswego. He came to America in 1757, his wife and little girl fol- lowing him the next year. and remaining awhile with the Schuylers in Albany. Late in 1760 her father took her to Oswego for the winter, a trip she greatly enjoyed.
Fort Brewerton had been built over a year, and was garrisoned by a com- pany of soldiers, among whom they found friends. "The last night of this eventful pilgrimage . was spent af Fort Bruerton, then commanded by Captain Mungo Campbell, whose warm and generous heart, whose enlightened and comprehensive mind, whose social qualities and publie virtues I should like to commemorate. . . . Here we were detained two days by a premature fall of snow. Very much disposed to be happy anywhere. I was here par- tieularly so."
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At Oswego Major Duncan, the good and gouty commander, had a house on wheels, which moved about the parade ground as occasion required. One part was a bedroom, the other a breakfast parlor and library, where his captains dined with him once a week. His books, games and instruments were accessible to all. He made improvements, and his men appeared on parade as though the world were looking on. Vegetables throve so that "they used in the following years to send them down to astonish us at Albany."
Summer came again, and with lighter and faster boats, Duncan Me Viekar took his little girl back to Albany. She had hoped for forest camps again, but not a night did the little girl spend in the open woods. Peace reigned every- where, and every night a roof sheltered their heads. Again they stopped at Brewerton, where she had a delightful time with the good captain. So much did she admire his copy of Paradise Lost-not the words, but the pictures- that he gave it to her. Very proud was she of this, but her pride had a fall, when the big words and grand thoughts proved too much for her young mind.
Mention has been made of La Salle's visits here. Of course, with Fronte- nae, Amherst, Johnson. Gage and others came many men of note. Some now are only names. That early explorer, Father Hennepin, was here in 1675-76, making a winter trip, but his record is brief. He visited the Oneidas, and also "the Honnontagez, who received us very well. This nation is the most war- like of all the Iroquois." He went to the Mohawks also. "We remained some time among this last nation, and were lodged with a Jesuit father, born in Lyons, in order to transeribe a little Iroquois dictionary." This was the work on the roots of Mohawk words, so much esteemed by philologists.
Charlevoix coasted along the Onondaga territory as he traversed Lake On- tario in 1721, without penetrating the interior, and the Marquis de Nouville did the same in 1687. The Schuylers and other Albany men were often here, and French agents were too muerous to mention. Through the whole colonial period Onondaga was a center of plans and power.
CHAPTER XIV.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE FRENCH WAR TO THE REVOLUTION.
After the conquest of Canada there were more decided efforts made to educate and make Christians of the Six Nations. For some years the Church of England had sent missionaries to the Mohawks. In 1761 the Honorable Scotch Commissioners, in and near Boston, planned to educate Indian youths from a distance. Joseph Brant was one of those selected. In November Sam- nel Kirkland, afterward the noted missionary to the Oneidas, visited Johnson, who approved his plan of learning the Mohawk language. Others followed him in several places.
July 17 Johnson was at Fort Brewerton and met a Tuscarora chief who wished for powder and lead. Johnson said he "complained greatly of the
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dearness of goods, and the low prices of beavers, furs, ete." "It was an old and common complaint, in various ways repeated since Johnson sent to the Bunt and other Onondaga chiefs to meet him at Oswego. Part of those he mentioned had gone to a council in Pennsylvania.
Sir William left the fort, or rather his camp across the river, where some New York companies were also eneamped at nine a. m., reaching Three Rivers at six p. m. Captain Baugh was then at Brewerton. At Three Rivers he was detained by rain till noon of the 18th. At five p. m. he reached Oswego Falls. supping with Mr. Malto, the officer in command. About noon next day he was at Oswego, dining with Major Dunean, the old Scotch officer whom Mrs. Grant so charmingly described.
In the evening of the 20th two Onondagas arrived and said that forty more were encamped a mile away. The next morning he "met the Onondaga and other chiefs" and "condoled their late losses, agreeably to custom; ac- quainted them with the reason of my not calling them to a general council since my return from Canada; and then let them know the reason of my going to Detroit. . Then delivered the medals sent me by the general for those who went with us to Canada last year, being twenty-three in number." Ou that expedition two hundred and three Onondagas had promised to go, but some did not keep their promise.
They made a sharp reply. among others things, saying: "We are surprised at your going to call a council at Detroit, when you know that the chief and only couneil fire burns at your house and Onondaga; besides, these Indians you are going to do. ought rather, as being aggressors, to come to you." They complained of bad treatment since the war. Kanadaeta, who was present. had had his hunting lodge near Oswego recently plundered. but Johnson prom- ised to make this good if the offender could not be found.
On his return he left Oswego for home October 19. "I set off at 9 o'clock and arrived at half way creek (Black ereek in Volney) at twelve, where I found several hunts and a house, which were built for parties who eut timber here. I was obliged to wait here all day, without victuals or drink, my boats not hay- ing come up. . My boats came up at eleven o'clock in the night, with all my baggage wet." "He reached Oswego Falls at eleven a. m. next day. "At five p. m., dined with Ensign Ment, and embarked at six p. m., and encamped on the little island. I walked from the half way creek to the falls, which increased the pain of my thigh greatly."
On the 21st he met Sir Robert Davis and Captain Etherington at Three River rift, and eneamped three miles above Three Rivers, where he was de- tained by rain all the next day. He remarked that there was "some very good land about the Three Rivers on both sides." October 23d he left eamp at eight o'clock. "Met several sutlers' and traders' boats going to Oswego. Ar- rived at Fort Brewerton at five o'clock. Supped with Lieutenant Brown, who told us General Amherst was to go home." The next day he reached the Royal blockhouse and supped with Captain Ban, Gray and Mr. Burns.
At the Easton (Penn.) council, August 3, 1761, many Onondagas were present. A Conoy chief called Last Night said: "I would acquaint you that
1
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the chief of the Mohiekons & Opies have settled with the Six Nations at a place called Chenango, where you may always find them if you should have occasion to speak to them."
In December, 1762, Guy Johnson had a conference at Onondaga about the murder of two Englishmen in the Seneca country. He arrived at Onondaga December 4, and was welcomed by the Bunt. In 1763 Johnson reported the Onondagas as having "one large village, six miles from the lake of their name (which is the place of congress for the confederates), with a smaller one at some distance." The latter was Tueyahadasso.
May 26, 1763, a council was held at Johnson's house. The Onondaga speaker spoke for all, repeating the old agreements and relating later history. Now that the French were dead, the building of more forts made them uneasy. They feared that western traders might have trouble, and advised that trade should be restricted to Oswego, Niagara and Detroit. After the council an Indian came to say that the French had ascended the Mississippi and invested some English forts. They had sent a large belt with English sealps to the Six Nations, but it had been refused. The Indians were positive, but Johnson thought it an old belt, and sent to Onondaga and elsewhere to learn more In June the Onondagas sent wampum to the Indians on the Susquehanna. saying :
"This string of Wampum comes to let you know that the French that was killed is come alive again, and that there is seven of your outposts taken, and all the people killed by the French, and a number of wild Indians that have tails like bears," alluding to a peculiarity of costume.
Pontiac's war had begun and the Senecas were involved in it. Johnson said the Onondagas still showed a strong attachment, and he kept an inter- preter at Oswego to save trouble with the Indians there. At a meeting at Onondaga the Seneeas spoke with three belts. They had loosed all their . warriors against the English, and wished the others to do the same. All re- jected this proposal, the Onondagas sending a large belt to the Senecas, desir- ing them to stop at once. The Onondaga speaker at a later council that year took the great covenant belt of 1754, brightened the chain of friendship and renewed the same on behalf of eighteen nations. Peace soon followed with the Seneeas.
At that time Johnson said he thought the northern Indians "the most formidable of any uneivilized body of people in the world." The Ottawa confederacy and the Six Nations looked on the northern parts of North America as their sole property. The great Iroquois grievance was the chain of small forts, made in 1759, and reaching Lake Ontario. These were Fort Schuyler, on the Mohawk, the Royal blockhonse at east end of Oneida lake. Fort Brewerton, and the fort at Oswego Falls. These they wished abandoned. for this had been promised. Good interpreters were needed to prevent misun- derstandings, and missionaries should live among them to do them good.
In' December, 1763, the Six Nations were in their best mood, and ready to join the English against the Ottawa confederacy, which was already inclined to yield. They also gave their aid against the hostile Delawares at the forks
مامما منف واد هم ..
36OH NO
و ٦٦٣٠
THE OLD ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.
-
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PAST.AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
and branches of the Susquehanna, the following winter and spring. Captain Montour led a party of Iroquois up the Cayuga branch in April, 1764, and de- stroyed some Delaware towns. May 21, 1764, Captain Elias Dayton left the Royal blockhouse at daybreak to join Bradstreet's expedition. He added : "Came this day to Onondago or Oswego Falls, with all my boats. A most in- conceivable distance for a war party of soldiers to get in one day." It was in 1765 that the Rev. Samuel Kirkland met with a cordial reception at Onon- daga as he went to the Seneca country. That year, too, Pontiae agreed to meet Johnson at Oswego the following summer, having made peace at Detroit.
July 23, 1766, this notable council began, Pontiac and the western chiefs having arrived. A bower of green branches had been prepared for the meet- ing, and every officer of the garrison that could be spared was in or near the arbor. Johnson and Pontiac certainly two of the most remarkable men of the day, were the chief persons, but others were there who had their briefer celebrity. Of the Onondagas Teyawarunte, the speaker, was there, with the Bunt, Deiaguande and other chiefs. This was the only time in which the use of the great pipe of the Onondagas was mentioned. The Six Nations were asked to reply to Pontiac's string of wampum, "upon which the Onondaga speaker lighted a calumet of peace, which Sir William had left in their hands many years ago for this use." This was smoked by the western Indians, and speeches followed from two Onondaga chiefs.
The council met for several days with impressive scenes and speeches, and on the last day of July Pontiac, with chiefs and warriors from four western nations, took their departure, laden with gifts. It is easy to imagine the in- terest with which their canoes were watched as they glided away over the blue and placid lake.
Johnson's appointment as commissary of trade in 1766, made him general supervisor of barter with the Indians of New York and Canada. For the rest of his life he had almost autocratie power, and lived in baronial style, as he was entitled to do. All the trade possible was concentrated at Niagara and Oswego, and safeguards against fraud were adopted. Land troubles, however, increased, and lawless acts of violence incensed the Indians.
The Moravian Zeisberger made his last visits to Onondaga and Cayuga that year, obtaining a grant of land for the Moravian Indians at and about Wyalusing. These unpublished journals contain much that is interesting.
In 1767 Johnson went to Onondaga under pretence of a tour for health, to look into affairs quietly, returning in October. Things did not look favorable there. The French were again busy, and at a council the Indians showed their many grievances. The Onondagas said they did not wish to be hostile. but would answer for no one, injured as they were. He spent three weeks at Oneida lake at this time, probably at Brewerton, but also "met the Indians at Tuscarora (Chittenango) ereek, in Oneida lake. They were greatly affected at the death of a remarkable chief of the Onondagas," and he "was obliged to perform all the ceremony on that occasion." That year, too. another peace treaty was held with the Cherokees at Johnson Hall, with unique ceremonies.
The great boundary question was settled at Fort Stanwix in 1768. The
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Indians came in slowly, though Johnson and the colonial commissioners were there September 19. By October 14 there were nine hundred and thirty In- dians present, each of whom ate more than two white men, and did not like to be stinted at councils. Johnson opened the council October 24, when three thousand Indians had come. In New York the new property line followed the Susquehanna from the south to Owego, thence due east to the Delaware river, and up that stream to a point due south of Tianderra, or Unadilla creek, and thence to that stream. From thence the line ran nearly north to Canada ereek, a tributary of Wood ercek. The country east and north still belonged to the Oneidas and Mohawks, and might be bought at any time. Besides his signature, Otsinoghiyata, alias Bunt, made a hill for the Onon- gadas on the deed. Johnson offered to have Fort Ontario, at Oswego, evacuat- ed, or put on the same footing with Fort Stanwix. The Indians answered that it might stay, and the others also, as long as they were eivilly treated there.
The next year he went to Onondaga, arriving there July 10, 1769. The ehiets of that nation and neigboring villages were in great need of corn from a failure of crops. Before the council he held private conferences with several chiefs in their hunting lodges. Returning late one night his canoe upset, and in climbing the bank he hurt his wounded leg. When a little easier he held a council. Thence he went to the Cayugas and Senecas, who were to attend a grand council at Onondaga in September, at which Cherokee deputies would be present.
In July, 1770, he held a great Indian Congress at German flats. The Bunt and the Onondaga speaker told him that Diaquanda, their head warrior, had refused to attend to business and had encamped with another nation. As he was the particular friend of Johnson, he soon persuaded him to do better. There were twenty-three hundred and twenty Indians present at this treaty, a great number to feed in a time of dearth.
In 1771 Johnson gave an interesting account of the Indians, some of whom had lost or changed old customs from contact with the whites. The Onondagas, however, were well versed in ancient eustoms, and called them- selves the People of the Great Mountain. Red was a sign of war; castles were square white figures; alliances were shown by human figures holding a belt ; a hatchet meant war, and their tokens showed their names or clans. Symbols of this kind are largely illustrated in Beanchamp's State Museum Bulleton on Wampum, etc. A paper on Indian customs by Guy Johnson will be found of interest. He made a map of the Iroquois country for the Rev. Charles Inglis's memorial in 1771. In that year the Shawnees were ordered to come to Onon- daga and answer for their aets, but they promised to do better.
A great Indian council was held in Ohio in 1772, which was attended by the Six Nations. Those present promised to come to Onondaga and bring all the belts, but were not there at the appointed time. However, a council was held there the following winter, and the Senecas were brought to a better mind. Johnson said that it was of the utmost importance to have the friend- ship of the Iroquois in case of war, for they could be the best of friends or most dangerous of enemies.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
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