USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 16
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" About four generations ago, a French army landed secretly and unexpectedly at a place called by the Senecas, Gannyeodathah, which is a short distance from the head of Onyiudaondagwat, or Irondequoit Bay, as it is called by the whites. They immediately marched into the interior towards the ancient village of the Senecas, called Gaosaehgaah, following the main beaten path which led to that place.
" As soon as the Indians residing at the village, received intelli- gence of their approach, they sent news to the neighboring town of Gahayanduk. On being reinforced by them, they met the French as they advanced towards the former village, and a severe battle ensued. On account of their inferior numbers, the Indians were defeated, and fled to a village then located near the foot of Canandaigua lake. The French advanced, burned the village, and laid waste the adjacent corn fields. As soon as they had accom- plished the above object, they retraced their steps towards the landing. Runners having been despatched by the Senecas to their principal towns, to give notice of the presence of the enemy, a large force was soon collected to defend the village and capture the French. When they reached Gaosaehgaah, nothing remained of that village but its smoking ruins. They immediately pursued the French, and arrived at the Bay a short time too late. The place where the battle occurred, was near a small stream with a hill on one side, and was known to the Senecas by the name of Dyagodiyu, or the 'place of a battle.'"
The four Indian villages which DE NONVILLE visited, are sup- posed to have been situated as follows: - Gannagaro, as the French called it, Gaosaehgaah in Seneca, was upon Boughton's Hill, in Victor, Ontario county; - Gannogarae, in the town of East Bloom- field, about three and a half miles from Boughton's Hill, near where the old Indian trail crossed Mud Creek; Totiakto, Deyudi- haakdoh in Seneca, was the north-east bend of the Honeoye outlet, near West Mendon, in Monroe county; - Gannounata, in Seneca Dyudonsot, about two miles south-east of East Avon, at the source of a small stream which empties into the Conesus, near Avon Springs.
The precise place where the battle occurred is a short distance north-west of the village of Victor, on the north-eastern edge of a large swamp, and on the northerly side of a stream called Great Brook. On the first settlement of the country it was partly covered with a thick growth of timber, and dense underbrush, forming a very advantageous place for an Indian ambuscade. It is about a mile and a quarter north-west of the old Indian village on Boughton's Hill, called by DE NONVILLE, Gannagaro.
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The height on which the Fort mentioned by DE NONVILLE was located, is about a mile and a quarter westerly from the site of Gannagaro, a wide valley intervening. It is now known as Fort Hill. Although nearly defaced by the plough, the works can be traced with sufficient certainty to identify the spot; and the solitary spring that supplied the French army, still oozes from the declivity of a hill, an existing witness of the locality. There are indications of extensive Indian settlements in the neighborhood of Victor, within a circuit of three miles. Thousands of graves were to be seen by the pioneer settlers, and the old French axes supplied them with iron when it was difficult to obtain it from other sources. At an early period the old Indian trail pursued by DE NONVILLE from Irondequoit Bay to Victor, was distinctly visible. The forti- fication that DE NONVILLE made, in which he left a detachment of his army to guard his stores and bateaux, at the bay, was described to the author during the last summer, by OLIVER CULVER of Brighton, who was in the country as early as 1796. French axes, flints, &c. were plenty there at that early period of settlement.
The author is indebted to GEORGE HOSMER, of Avon, for the following account of a relic which unquestionably belongs to the period of the French invasion of the Seneca Iroquois: -
" In the spring of 1793, I was present, when in ploughing a piece of new land on the Genesee bottom, near the river, on a farm then owned by my father, the plough passed through a bed of ashes several inches in thickness, and near that turned up an instrument which was called a French couteau. The blade was about twenty inches in length, and three inches wide. It was covered with rust, which upon being scoured off, exhibited the fleur de lis and armorial bearings of France, and a date referring to the age and reign of LOUIS XIV. The relic elicited a momentary attention. It was cleared of rust, ground to an edge, and used in my father's kitchen as a cleaver. The haft was eight or ten inches long, and made of buckhorn, or bone. I was then but a boy, but in after years have often regretted that it had not been preserved with care, as an item of evidence to illustrate the early history of the country."
The author indulges in a feeling of local pride, in noticing, in this connection, the poem, * " Yonnondio," founded upon the advent of DE NONVILLE to the valley of the Genesee, once the favorite home
* " Yonnondio, or the Warriors of the Genesee : - a talo of the seventeenth century. By Wm. H. C. Hosmer."
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of the Seneca Iroquois, as it is now, that of a prosperous and happy people of our own race. It is a " woof of fiction, woven upon a warp of fact." The author is of pioneer stock, as the reader will learn in some subsequent portions of this work; born and reared in the "realm of the Senecas," a remnant of that noble race of men associated with his earliest recollections; the tales of his nursery were of them, " their eloquence and deeds of valor;" and going out in manhood, wandering in the peaceful vale that echoed their war shouts, inspired by the reminiscences with which he was surrounded; he has seized the lyre, and in its silver tones are beautifully blended the facts and the romance of local history. It is replete with more striking and truthful delineations of the red man and his character, than any other poem upon the same subject, extant.
As a specimen of this first successful essay to mingle the charms of verse with the local history of our region; and in fact, as a help to the better understanding of the causes that induced the invasion of DE NONVILLE, and the spirit, the proud and haughty bearing of the Senecas in resisting it; the author selects some of the concluding portions of the speech that the poet attributes to CANNEHOOT, a Seneca chief, who is supposed to be closing a council of war, preparatory to the fierce onslaught that the undis- ciplined soldiers of the forest made upon the ranks of the French invaders: -
" Regardless of our ancient fame, Our conquests, and our dreaded name, Fierce YONNONDIO and his band Are thronging in our forest land; And ask ye why with banner spread His force the Frank hath hither led ? We scorched with fire the skulking hounds. Who dared to cross our hunting grounds, A trading, base, dishonest band, Who in exchange for pelts had given Guns, lead, and black explosive sand, To tribes our power had western driven:" *
* *
" Shall warriors who have tamed the pride Of rival nations far and wide, At their own hearths be thus defied ? Shall it be said the beast of prey His den abandoned far away,
* See speech of De la Barre, and Garangula's reply.
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And, seeking out the hunter, found His aim less true, less deep the wound ? Shall it be told in other days, The tomahawk we feared to raise, While the green hillocks, where repose The cherished dust of woodland-kings Insulted by the march of, foes,
Gave back indignant echoings ? Base is the bosom that will quake
With one degrading throb of fear, When fame and country are at stake, Though an armed troop of fiends are near! Oh! never can such craven tread The happy chase grounds of the dead; Between him and that fount of bliss Will yawn a deep and dread abyss; And doomed will be his troubled ghost To range that land forever more, Upon whose lone and barren coast, The black and bitter waters roar. The clime of everlasting day, Where groves, all red with fruitage, wave, And beauty never fades away, Is only trodden by the brave."
* *
-
" In answer to the bold harangue, Each warrior from his bear-skin sprang, And, omincus of coming strife, Clashed tomahawk and scalping knife. A signal by the chief was made, To close the council, and obeyed: His eloquence of look and word, Dark depths of every heart had stirred."
Before leaving the Seneca country DE NONVILLE made the following " procès verbal," of the act of taking possession :-
"On the 19th day of July, in the year 1687, the troops commanded by the Honorable RENE DE BRISAY, Chevalier, Seigneur Marquis of De Nonville and other places, Governor and Lieutenant General for the King in the whole extent of Canada, and country of New France, in presence of HECTOR, Chevalier de Calliere, Governor of Montreal in said country, commanding the camp under his orders, and of PHILIP DE RIGAND, Chevalier de Vaudreuil, commanding the troops of the King, which being drawn up in battle array, there appeared at the head of the army, CHARLES AUBERT, Sieur de la Chenays, citizen of Quebec, deputed by the Honorable JEAN BOCHART, Chevalier, Seigneur de Champigny, Horoy, Verneuil and other places, Counsellor of the King in his councils, Intendant of Justice, Police and Finances in all Northern France, who asserted and declared, that at the requisition of the said Seigneur de Champigny, he did take possession of the village of Totiakton, as he had done of the three villages named Gannagaro, Gannondata, and Gannongarae, and of a fort distant
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half a league from the said village of Gannagaro, together with all the lands which are in their vicinity, however far they extend, conquered in the name of his Majesty; and as evidence thereof has planted in all the said villages and forts, the arms of his said Majesty, and has proclaimed in a loud voice, " vive le roi," after the said troops have vanquished and put to flight eight hundred Iroquois Tsonnontouans, and have laid waste, burnt and destroyed their provisions and cabins. And on account of the fore- going, the Sicur de la Chenays AUBERT, has required evidence to be granted to him by me, PAUL DUPUY, Esquire, Counsellor of the King, and his Attorney at the Court of the Provost of Quebec.
" Done at the said village of Totiakton, the largest village of the Tsonnontouans, in presence of the Reverend Father VAILLANT, Jesuit, and of the officers of the regulars and militia, witnesses with me the said attorney of the King. Subscribed the day and year above mentioned, and signed in the original by Charles Aubert de la Chenays, J. René de Brisay, Monsieur de De Nonville, Le Chevalier de Calliere, Fleutelot de Romprey, de Desmeloizes, de Ramezay, Francois Vaillant of the Company of Jesus, de Grandeville, de Longueil, Saint Paul and Dupuy.
"Compared with the original remaining in my hands, by me, the undersigned, Counsellor, Secretary of his Majesty, and chief Register of the Sovereign Council of Quebec."
Signed, PENURET."
The fair inference, from all the evidence that has been preserved is that the French gained little honor, and less advantage, by this rencounter. COLDEN says, " the French got nothing but dry blows by this expedition."
After despatching one of the bateaux to Fort Frontenac, to carry the news of the result of the expedition, the whole army set sail for Niagara on the 26th, adverse winds delaying its arrival there until the morning of the 30th. "We immediately, (says the journal of DE NONVILLE), set about choosing a place, and collecting stakes for the construction of a fort which I had resolved to build at the extremity of a tongue of land between the river Niagara, and lake Ontario, on the Iroquois side .* In three days the army had so fortified the post as to put it in a good condition of defence, in case of an assault. DE NONVILLE says his object in constructing the fortification, was to afford protection for their Indian allies, and enable them to continue in small detachments, the war against the Iroquois. A detachment of an hundred
* It is remarked by Mr. Marshall, in a note accompanying his translation of De Nonville's journal, that the geographical designation given here "removes all doubt as to the original location of this fortress." The circumstance of Joncaire persuading the Senecas to permit him to fix his residence "in the midst of a group of cabins at Lewiston," has undoubtedly led some historians to conclude that it was originally the site of the Fort. La Hontan, writing from the spot, while the fort was building, says: " The Fort stands on the south side of the Straight of Herrie lake, upon a hill; at the foot of which that lake falls into the lake of Frontenac."
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TROYES, with provisions and ammunition for eight months. They were closely besieged by the Senecas, and a sickness soon broke out which proved fatal to nearly all of them.
The Indian allies of the French, returning to Niagara with DE NONVILLE, had declared their intention at Irondequoit, after what they regarded the failure of the expedition, not to join them in another one; but on seeing the fort erected, they became recon- ciled, concluding that it would favor their retreat in any expedition against the Iroquois. Upon parting with DE NONVILLE, they made a speech, in which, among other things they said :-
" That they depended upon his promise to continue the war till the Five Nations were either destroyed or dispossessed of their country; that they earnestly desired, that part of the army should take the field out of hand, and continue in it both winter and summer, for they would certainly do the same on their part; and in fine, that for as much as their alliance with France was chiefly grounded upon the promises the French made of listening to no proposals of peace, 'till the Five Nations should be quite extirpated; they therefore hoped they would be as good as their word."*
DE NONVILLE left Niagara on his return to Montreal, on the 2d day of August, reaching his destination on the 13th; resting a day or two at Fort Frontenac, and leaving at that post one hundred men under the command of M. D'ORVILLIERS. The Senecas soon returned and occupied the ground they had deserted. As the French Indians predicted, it is probable that the other branches of the Confederacy supplied them with corn in the place of what the French had destroyed, and game and fish were abundant. The early French journalists often speak of the abundance of salmon in lake Ontario. On the lake shore, somewhere between the Genesee and Oswego rivers, a party of Indian allies that had been sent from Niagara in advance of the main army of DE NONVILLE, encamped until it came up with them; and more fortunate in hunting deer, than in hunting the Senecas, had piled up at their camp two hundred for the use of the army.
LA HONTAN, much against his inclination, as it would appear from a letter dated at Niagara, was ordered to take command of a
* La Hontan.
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detachment and go west with the returning western Indian allies. He says he was "thunderstruck with the news," that he had "fed himself all along with the hope of the returning to France." He concluded, however, to make the best of it, as he had been supplied with "brisk, proper fellows," his "canoes are both new and large," and TONTI and DULBUT were to be his companions. His detach- ment came up to Lewiston, or the "place where the navigation stops," and carried their canoes up the "three mountains," launch- ing them again at Schlosser. He says that in "climbing the mountains, one hundred Iroquese might have knocked them on the head with stones." And, incredible as it may seem, so soon after their route and dispersion, a large body of those indefatigable warriors were upon his track. Their stopping place, on their retreat a few days before, had been at the foot of Canandaigua lake. From that point they had sallied out to post themselves in the vicinity of the Falls, to fall in with the French troops on their return to the west, or their Indian allies, towards whom they entertained a more fierce and settled hostility. The French and Indians had but just embarked at Schlosser, when a "thousand Iroquese" made their appearance upon the bank of the river. With such enemies lurking in the vicinity, LA HONTAN thought he had "escaped very narrowly," as on his way up, he and "three or four savages" had left the main body to go and look at "that fearful cataract." In his fright, or apprehension of danger, he must have taken but a hurried view of the Falls, for he made an extravagant estimate of their height :- "As for the water-fall of Niagara, 'tis seven or eight hundred foot high, and half a league [a mile and a half ] broad. Towards the middle of it we descry an island that leans towards the precipice. as if it were ready to fall. All the beasts that cross the water within a half a quarter of a league above this unfortunate island, are sucked in by force of the stream: and the beasts and fish that are thus killed by the prodigious fall, serve for food for fifty Iroquese who are settled about two leagues off, and take 'em out of the water with their canoes. Between the surface of the water that shelves off prodi- giously, and the foot of the precipice, three men may cross in abreast, without any further damage than a sprinkling of some few drops of water."
The party were apprehensive of an attack from the pursuers, while getting up the rapids of the Niagara, but, having reached
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the lake they were secure, the heavy canoes of the Iroquois not being able to overtake the lighter ones of the French. They coasted along the northern shore of lake Erie. The navigators of that lake at the present day, will smile when they are told that these early navigators made a portage of Long Point, carrying their canoes and baggage over land. LA HONTAN speaks of an abundance of game, deer, turkeys, &c., which they found upon the lake shore, as well as upon the islands. The party stopped upon several of the small islands of lake Huron, and, driving the "Roe-bucks" (deer) into the water, would overtake them with their canoes and knock them upon the head with their oars.
The detachment of LA HONTAN took possession of the fort of St. Josephs, relieving the force that had been stationed there. The provisions which DE NONVILLE had promised, failing to arrive during the winter, the garrison was obliged to depend principally upon the chase.
During the winter, a party of Hurons set out over land for the garrison at Niagara, determined to enter the country of the Iro- quois, as a marauding party to kill and capture detached parties of beaver hunters. On their way they came across a party of Iroquois hunters, sixty in number, and while they were sleeping in their camps, killed and made prisoners of the whole party. The Hurons returned in triumph to the post at Mackinaw. Some of the Iroquois prisoners told LA HONTAN that they were of the party of one thousand, that intended to capture him and his command at the Falls of Niagara; that when they left, eight hundred of their warriors had blocked up Fort Niagara; and that famine and disease were fast reducing the small French force there; news that proved too true, as the reader will have already learned. They also gave LA HONTAN to understand that, after succeeding at Niagara, the Iroquois would try the same experiment upon his post. He was not apprehensive that they would attack him, but feared they would cut off his hunters and stop his supplies. To guard against this, he employed additional hunters and laid in a large supply of meat. The Iroquois not coming to attack him, in the course of the season he joined a large party of the western Indians, and invaded the country of the Iroquois on the south side of lake Erie, and had several engagements with them.
Soon after De NONVILLE's expedition, Gov. DONGAN met a deputation of the Five Nations at Albany, and praised and scolded
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them in turn, as would best enable him to maintain the appearance of neutrality, and at the same time encourage them to persevere against the French. He told them they were subjects of the King of England, that he claimed dominion over their territory ; that they must not enter into any treaty with the French, except with his advice and consent. Dr. COLDEN says that Gov. DONGAN Was not averse to a peace between the French and Iroquois, but he wished the French to solicit his assistance to bring it about, and in doing so acknowledge the dependence of the Five Nations on the crown of England. He was, however over-ruled by King James, and ordered to assist in bringing the Iroquois to consent to a peace on terms dictated by the French. He was soon after removed from his government.
The French so often foiled by the Iroquois, and so annoyed by them and their wars upon other Indian nations, were determined upon measures of peace. De NONVILLE, in the summer of 1688, ordered a cessation of hostilities, and succeeded in getting a large delegation from the Five Nations to repair to Montreal, for the purpose of negotiation. Five hundred of the Iroquois appeared as negotiators ; while twelve hundred of their warriors, were await- ing the result near Montreal, ready to fall upon the French settle- ments, if no treaty was effected.
The confederates insisted that twelve of their people who had been taken prisoners the year previous, and sent by De NONVILLE to the galleys of France, should be returned to their country ; that Forts Frontenac and Niagara should be razed ; and that the Senecas should be paid for the destruction of their property. De NONVILLE declared his willingness to put an end to the war if all his Indian allies were included in a treaty of peace ; if the Mohawks and Senecas would send deputies to signify their concurrence ; and Fort Frontenac might remain in their hands, and continued as a depot of trade.
The French and English accounts differ as to the terms of peace finally agreed upon. But a treaty was concluded, which was frustrated by an unforeseen occurrence.
Among the French Indian allies, was KONDIARONK, or LE RAT, a Huron chief, powerful in council and in arms. He had leagued with De NONVILLE to aid in warring upon the Iroquois, his enemies, and the enemies of his nation. From no love for the English, (for he hated them because they were the friends of the Iroquois,) but
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for the sake of making a good sale of his furs, he had seemed to favor some of their trading parties that had been among the Hurons. This had excited the jealousy of the French ; to remove which, he repaired to Fort Frontenac with an hundred warriors. Arriving there, he was told by the commandant that De NONVILLE was in hopes of concluding a peace with the Iroquois, and that the presence of him and his warriors might obstruct the negotiations. Feigning acquiescence, he determined upon a plan not only to prevent a peace, but to punish his French allies for breaking the league they had made, to continue the war. Under the pretence of returning to his country, he took another direction, and repairing to one of the falls of the St. Lawrence, he placed his warriors in ambush, and when a large party of the Iroquois came up, on their return from Montreal, he attacked them, killing a part, and making prisoners of the remainder. He gave the prisoners to understand that he was acting in concert with the French ; that De NONVILLE had told him when he could best interrupt the party on its way from Montreal. When told by his prisoners that they were peace ambassadors, he affected great surprise and indignation ; and addressing them, said : - "Go, my brethren, I untie your hands, and send you home again, though our nations be at war. The French Governor has made me commit so black an action, that I shall never be easy after it, till the Five Nations shall have taken full revenge."
As the wily Huron chief had anticipated, the discharged prison- ers spread the news of French perfidy, (as it seemed to them,) on their return to their country, and measures for the renewal of the war, and revenge, soon followed ; those of the Five Nations who had been friendly to the French zealously co-operating. An army of twelve hundred warriors was soon ready for the field. On the 26th of July, 1688, they landed on the south side of the Island of Montreal, while the French were in perfect security ; burnt their houses, sacked their plantations, and put to the sword all the men, women, and children, without the skirts of the town. "A thousand French were slain in the invasion, and twenty-six carried into captivity and burnt alive. Many more were made prisoners, in another attack, in October, and the lower part of the Island wholly destroyed. Only three of the confederates were lost in all this scene of misery and desolation." *
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