USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 19
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"These Indians were heretofore very numerous and powerful. making, within time of memory, at least a thousand fighting men. Their habitation, before the war with Carolina, was on the north branch of Neuse river, commonly called Connecta creek, in a pleasant and fruitful country. But now the few that are left of that nation, live on the north side of Moratuck, which is all that part of Roanoke below the great Falls, towards Albemarle Sound. Formerly there were seven towns of these savages, lying not far from each other, but now their number is greatly reduced. The trade they have had the misfortune to drive with the English has fur- nished them constantly with rum, which they have used so immode- rately, that, what with the distempers, and what with the quarrels it begat amongst them, it has proved a double destruction. But the greatest consumption of these savages happened by the war about twenty-five years ago, on account of some injustice the inhabitants of that province had done them about their lands. It was on that provocation they resented their wrongs a little too severely upon Mr. LAWSON, who, under color of being Surveyor General, had encroached too much upon their territories, at which they were so enraged, that they way-laid him, and cut his throat from ear to car, but at the same time released the Baron de GRAFFENRIED, whom they had seized for company, because it appeared plainly he had done them no wrong. This blow was followed by some other bloody actions on the part of the Indians, which brought on a war. wherein many of them were cut off, and many were obliged to flee for refuge to the Senecas, so that now there remain so few, that they are in danger of being quite exterminated by the Cataw- bas, their mortal enemies. These Indians have a very odd tradition amongst them, that many years ago, their nation was grown so dishonest, that no man could keep any of his goods, or so much as his loving wife to himself. That, however, their God, being un- willing to root them out for their crimes, did them the honor to send them a messenger from heaven to instruct them, and set them a perfect example of integrity and kind behavior towards one another. But this holy person, with all his eloquence and sanctity of life, was able to make very little reformation among them. Some few old men did listen a little to his wholesome advice, but all the young fellows were quite incorrigible. They not only neg-
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lected his precepts, but derided and evil-entreated his person. At last, taking upon him to reprove some young rakes of the Connecta clan very sharply for their impiety, they were so provoked at the freedom of his rebukes, that they tied him to a tree, and shot him with arrows through the heart. But their God took instant vengence on all who had a hand in that monstrous act, by lightning from heaven, and has ever since visited their nation with a continued train of calamities, nor will he ever leave off punishing and wasting their people, till he shall have blotted every living soul of them out of the world.
" Among the many errors which HEWIT has committed in his history of Carolina, he has fallen into none more careless and inexcusable, than his account of this war. Dr. RAMSAY, whose history of South Carolina is an exact copy of HEWIT's, as far as he goes, has been guilty of the same misstatement of facts. The true history of this insurrection of the Indians, as collected from WILLIAMSON, and the authors quoted by him, is this: JOIN LAWSON, had in discharge of his duty, as Surveyor General of Carolina, marked off some of the lands, claimed by the Tuscarora Indians, on the Neuse river. In consequence of this encroachment upon their rights, added to the frequent impositions of fraudulent traders among them, they seized LAWSON, and after a brief trial. put him to death. Becoming alarmed at this outrage, they hoped to escape punishment, by murdering, on a given day, all the colonists south of Albemarle Sound. Dividing themselves into small parties, they commenced their horrid purpose on the 22d of September, 1711; on which memorable day, 130 persons fell a sacrifice to their revenge. To put down this insurrection, aid was demanded from South Carolina; and Colonel BARNWELL, with a small party of whites, and a considerable body of friendly Indians, of the Cherokee, Creek, and Catawba tribes, was despatched for the purpose. This officer, after killing fifty of the hostile Indians, and taking 250 of them prisoners, came upon one of their forts on the Neuse river, in which were enclosed six hundred of the Tuscaroras. Instead of carrying the fort by storm, which he could easily have done, he concluded a peace with the enemy, who proving faithless, renewed hostilities in a day or two afterwards. Colonel BARN- WELL, immediately after this treaty, returned to South Carolina. A second demand was made upon that state for aid, and Col. MOORE, with forty whites, and eight hundred Ashley Indians, set out in the month of December, to meet the enemy. After a
NOTE .- The reader will bear in mind that this remarkable tradition of the Tusca- roras was written one hundred and twenty years ago, at which time it was current among them. It is strikingly coincident with the mission and crucifixion of the Savior. Many able scholars and divines believe that our American Indians descended from the ten Lost Tribes. Is not this tradition another link in the chain tending to strengthen that opinion?
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fatiguing march through deep forests and swamps, and having encountered much delay by snow storms, and freshets in the rivers, he at length came upon the hostile Indians who had thrown up fortifications on the Taw river, about 50 miles from its mouth. Though Colonel MOORE found the enemy well provided with small arms, he soon taught them the folly of standing a seige. Advancing by regular approaches, he, in a few hours, completely entered their works, and eight hundred Tuscaroras became his prisoners. These were claimed by the Ashley Indians as a reward for their services, and were taken to South Carolina, where they were sold for slaves. The Swiss baron, who, HEWIT says, was killed by the Indians, made a treaty with the Tuscaroras, and he, together with all the Palatines who had emigrated with him, escaped the massacre."
The Tuscaroras, having been merged in the Iroquois confed- . cracy, there is but little in their history since their arrival in this state, of a distinctive character. We in fact mostly lose sight of them, until the commencement of the Revolution. In that contest, as is well known, most of the Six Nations adhered to the English, and their warriors, as allies of England, under the JOHNSONS, the BUTLERS, and BRANT, were a scourge to the border settlers upon the Mohawk, and the Susquehannah. A portion of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were neutrals, or rather regarded as friendly to the colonists. There is but little mention made of them in all the accounts we have of the border wars. Col. GANSEVOORT, in giving an account to Gen. SULLIVAN, of his expe- dition, says :- " Agreeable to my orders, I proceeded by the shortest route to the Lower Mohawk Castle, passing through the Tuscarora and Oneida Castles, where every mark of hospitality and friendship was shown to the party. I had the pleasure to find that not the least damage nor insult was offered to any of the inhabitants."
In the instruction of Gen. SULLIVAN to Col. GANSEVOORT, he was ordered to capture and destroy all the Indians he should find at the Mohawk castle, but to spare and treat as friends the Oneidas, meaning, probably, to include the friendly Tuscaroras.
Such portions of the Tuscaroras and Oneidas as had been allies of the English, in their flight from the total route of Gen. SULLIVAN, embarked in canoes, upon the Oneida lake, and down the Oswego river, coasted along up lake Ontario to the British garrison at Fort Niagara. They encamped during the winter of 1780 near the garrison, drawing a portion of their subsistence, in the form of
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rations. In the spring a part of them returned, and a part of them took possession of a mile square upon the Mountain Ridge, given them by the Senecas. The Holland Company afterwards donated to them two square miles, adjoining their Reservation, and in 1804 they purchased of the company four thousand three hundred and twenty-nine acres; the aggregate of which several tracts, is their present possessions. The purchase of the Holland Company was made by Gen. DEARBORN, then Secretary of War, in trust for them. The purchase money, $13,722, was a portion of a trust fund held by the United States, possessed in pursuance of a final adjustment of their claims upon North Carolina.
They thus became residents in this region seventeen years previous to the advent of the Holland Company, and nineteen or twenty years before the settlements by the whites commenced.
The surviving pioneer settlers at Lewiston and its neighborhood, bear witness to the uniform good conduct of the Tuscaroras, and especially to the civility and hospitality they extended to the early drovers and other adventurers upon the trail that passed through their villages. Previous to 1803 the traveler upon this trail, saw no habitation after leaving the Tonawanda village, until he arrived at Tuscarora. Even Indian habitations helped to relieve the solitude of their wilderness path. The primitive settlers found them kind and obliging; and good neighbors at a time they most needed the benefits of a good neighborhood.
In the war of 1812 they were uniformly and decidedly in the American interests. Of this, and some other matters connected with them, it will be necessary to speak farther on in our work.
FORT NIAGARA.
It will be recollected that LA SALLE first occupied the site of Fort Niagara. It was his first stopping place, before he com- menced building the Griffin at Cayuga Creek. He intended it only as a trading station, but protected it with " pallisades," as the French did all their trading posts. In 1687, DE NONVILLE built a " fort of four bastions," a place of temporary and weak defence, as we are to infer from the short time employed in its construction. For the greater portion of the time that elapsed, after its desertion by the remnant of the hundred troops that DE NONVILLE left there,
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(most of them having perished by disease),* until 1725, it would seem to have been a deserted post. CHARLEVOIX visited this region in 1721. In a letter dated at Niagara, he says :- "Towards 2 o'clock in the afternoon, we entered the river Niagara formed by the great fall, whereof I shall speak presently; or rather it is the river St. Lawrence, which proceeds from lake Erie, and passes through lake Ontario after fourteen leagues of narrows. After sailing three leagues, you find on the left some cabins of Iroquois, Tsonnonthouans, and of the Mississaugues as at Catarocoui. The Sieur de JONCAIRE, lieutenant of our troops, has also a cabin at this place, to which they have beforehand given the name of fort: for it is intended that in time this will be changed into a great fortress. I here found several officers who were to return in a few days to Quebec." He was evidently writing from Lewiston, as there are other evidences that JONCAIRE's residence was there. In a note to an edition of CHARLEVOIX's journal, published in London in 1761, it is remarked :- " A fort has since been built in the mouth of the river Niagara on the same side, and exactly at the place where M. DE NONVILLE had built one, which subsisted not long. There even begins to be formed a French town." The inference from this is, that for a considerable period after the desertion of the fort that DE NONVILLE built on the present site of Fort Niagara, there was no French occupation there; but that JONCAIRE's negotiations with the Senecas had reference only to his "cabin," at Lewiston, which, from the presence of French officers which CHARLEVOIX found there, must have grown into a military post; though if a "fort" was erected there, as CHIARLE- VOIX says, it could have been no more than a trading post picketed in after the then French fashion. Mr. BANCROFT says :- " JONCAIRE (in 1721) planted himself in the midst of a group of cabins at Lewiston, on the site where LA SALLE had driven a rude pallisade, and where DE NONVILLE had designed to lay the founda- tions of a settlement."
The two locations are here merged; an error undoubtedly, as it is clear that DE NONVILLE built his fort where the fort now stands,
* In a note which Mr. Marshall appends to his translation of De Nonville, it is observed :- " The cause of the sickness was ascribed to the climate, but was probably owing to the unwholesome food with which they were provided. They were so closely besieged by the Iroquois that they were unable to supply themselves with fresh provisions. The fortress was soon after abandoned and destroyed, much to the regret of De Nonville."
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and JONCAIRE his cabin at Lewiston. All that CHARLEVOIX relates in the extract which follows, of the negotiations of JONCAIRE, the jealousies of the English, &c., has reference to Lewiston. It is possible, and probable, however, that his influence was put in requisition two or three years afterwards, when the French re-occupied the site of Fort Niagara, as mentioned in a preceding page, built one story of the old Mess-house, and for the first time made it a substantial fortress ;- such as (with occasional additions and improvements that took place from 1725 to 1759,) it was found at the English siege and capture. The building in 1725 was strongly opposed by the Senecas, as was the occupation of Oswego by the English governor by the Onondagas; though from the close of the war in 1713 the French had been far more successful in winning the favor of the Confederates than the English. The following tradition, which is common in our histories, is adopted by SAMUEL DE VEAUX in some sketches he made of the Falls and its vicinity, in 1839. The author was a resident at the fort at an early period, after the settlement of this region commenced, and the intelligence and good sense with which he is prone to make historical investigations, is a guarantee of the truth of the relation, though the author finds no authority for it in early history, but the general fact that the Iroquois neither yielded to the French nor the English any right to occupy their territory with fortifications :- "It is a traditionary story that the Mess-house which is a very strong building, and the largest in the fort, was erected by stratagem. A considerable, though not powerful body of French troops had arrived at the point. Their force was inferior to the surrounding Indians, of whom they were under some apprehensions. They
obtained consent of the Indians to build a wigwam, and induced them, with some of their officers, to engage in an extensive hunt. The materials were made ready, and while the Indians were absent, the French built. When the hunting party returned, they found the French had so far advanced with their work as to cover their faces, and to defend themselves against the savages in case of an attack. In progress of time it became a place of consider- able strength. It had its ravines; its ditches and pickets; its curtains and counterscarp; its covered way, draw-bridge, and raking batteries; its stone towers, laboratory, and magazine; its mess-house, barracks, and bakery, and blacksmith's shop; and for worship, a chapel, with a large ancient dial over the door to mark
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the course of the sun. It was indeed a little city of itself, and for a long period the greatest place south of Montreal, or west of Albany. The fortification originally covered a space of about eight acres. At a few rods from the barrier gate is a burying ground; it was filled with the memorials of the mutability of human life; and over the portals of the entrance was painted the word 'REST.' "
The history of JONCAIRE's negotiations with the Senecas, is thus given in CHARLEVOIX's letter from Niagara, referred to in a pre- ceding page : -
"I have already had the honor to acquaint you, that we have a scheme for a settlement in this place; but in order to know the reason of this project, it will be proper to observe, that as the English pretend, by virtue of the treaty of Utrecht, to have sovereignty of all the Iroquoise country and by consequence, to be bounded on that side by lake Ontario only; now it is evident, that, in case we allow of their pretensions, they would then have it absolutely in their power to establish themselves firmly in the heart of the French colonies, or at least entirely to ruin their com- merce. In order therefore, to prevent this evil, it has been judged proper, without, however, violating the treaty, to make a settlement in some place, which might secure to us the free com- munication between the lakes, and where the English should not have it in their power to oppose us. A commission has therefore been made to M. DE JONCAIRE, who having, in his youth, been prisoner among the Tsonnonthouans, so insinuated himself into the good graces of those Indians, that they adopted him, so, that even in the hottest of their wars with us, and notwithstanding his remarkable services to his country, he has always enjoyed the privileges of his adoption.
"On receiving the orders I have been now mentioning to you, he repaired to them, assembled their chiefs, and after having assured them that his greatest pleasure in this world would be to live amongst his brethren; he added, that he would much oftener visit them had he a cabin amongst them, to which he might retire when he had a mind to be private. They told him that they had always looked upon him as one of their own children, that he had only to make choice of a place to his liking in any part of the country. He asked no more, but went immediately and made choice of a spot on the banks of a river, which termi- nates the canton of Tsonnonthouan, where he built his cabin. The news of this soon reached New York, where it excited so much more the jealousy of the English, as that nation had never been able to obtain the favor granted to Sieur DE JONCAIRE in any Iroquoise canton.
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" They made loud remonstrances, which being seconded with presents, the other four cantons at once espoused their interest. They were, however, never the nearer their point, as the cantons are not only independent of each other, but also very jealous of this independence. It was therefore necessay to gain that of Tsonnonthouans, and the English omitted nothing to accomplish it; but they were soon sensible they should never be able to get JONCAIRE dismissed from Niagara. At last they contented them- selves with demanding, that at least they might be permitted to have a cabin in the same place; but this was likewise refused them. 'Our country is in peace, said the Tsonnonthouans, the French, and you will never be able to live together, without raising disturb- ances. Moreover, added they, it is of no consequence that JONCAIRE should remain here; he is a child of the nation; he enjoys his right, which we are not at liberty to take from him.'
"Now, Madame, we must acknowledge, that nothing but zeal for the public good could possibly induce an officer to remain in such a country as this, than which a wilder and more frightful is not to be seen. On the one side you may see just under your feet, and as it were at the bottom of an abyss, and which in this place is like a torrent by its rapidity, a whirpool formed by a thousand rocks, through which it with difficulty finds a passage, and by the foam with which it was always covered; on the other, the view is con- fined by three mountains placed one over the other, and whereof the last hides itself in the clouds. This would have been a very proper scene for the poets to make the Titans attempt to scale the heavens. In a word, on whatever side you turn your eyes, you discover nothing which does not inspire a secret horror.
" You have, however, but a very short way to go, to behold a very different prospect. Behind those uncultivated and uninhabit- able mountains, you enjoy the sight of a rich country, magnificent forests, beautiful and fruitful hills, you breathe the purest air, under the mildest and most temperate climate imaginable, situated between two lakes, the least of which is two hundred and fifty leagues in circuit.
"It is my opinion, that had we the precaution to make sure of a place of this consequence, by a good fortress, and by a tolerable colony, all the forces of the Iroquoise and the English conjoined, would not have been able at this time to drive us out of it, and that we ourselves would have been in a condition to give law to the former, and to hinder most part of the Indians from carrying their furs to the second, as they daily do with impunity. The company I found here with M. de JONCAIRE, was composed of the baron de LONGUEIL, the marquis de CAVAGNAL, captain, son of the marquis de VAUDREUIL, the present governor of New France; M. de SENNEVILLE, captain; and the Sieur de la CHAUVIGNERIE, ensign, and interpreter of the Iroquoise language. These gentlemen are about negotiating an agreement, of differences, with the canton of
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Onontague, and were ordered to visit the settlement of the Sieur de JONCAIRE, with which they were extremely well satisfied. The Tsonnonthouans renewed to them the promise they had formerly made to maintain it. This was done in a council, in which JONCAIRE, as they told me, spoke with all the good sense of a Frenchman, whereof he enjoys a large share, and with the sublimest eloquence of an Iroquoise."
[Among the residents at Fort Niagara, at an early period of its occupancy by American troops, was Dr. JOSEPH WEST. He was there from 1805 until 1814, at which time he was transferred to Philadelphia, when a declining health, that had induced his change of residence, terminated in death. At an early period of sale and settlement under the auspices of the Holland Company, he purchased a farm upon the lake shore, a short distance below the garrison grounds, where his aged widow and one surviving daughter now reside. In 1822 or 3, Mrs. W. became the wife of JOSEPH LANDON, then resident at Lockport as a canal contractor, who was an early and widely known tavern keeper at Buffalo. He died but a few years since. To the surviving daughter of Dr. WEST, the author is indebted for the following " REMINISCEN- CES OF FORT NIAGARA." Although the sketch introduces events that belong to a later period, the author has thought its insertion in this connection, not inappropriate. It derives additional interest from having been made generally from personal observation ; an interest that the author will aim to mingle with his narrative, whenever it can be made available.]
Fort Niagara! How many associations crowd into my mind at the bare mention of thy name. There I first drew my breath, and passed the earliest years of childhood under the eye of a kind father, who was taken from his young family by consumption, caused by a severe cold caught in the damp dungeons of the old Mess-house, while attending the wounded and dying, after the battle of Queenston. Although I have a distinct recollection of the appearance it then presented, it is the recollection of early years, which, perhaps, does not enable me to describe it with strict accuracy. It was then surrounded on three sides with strong pickets of plank, firmly planted in the ground, and closely joined together; a heavy gate in front, of double plank, closely studded with iron spike. This was enclosed by a fence, with a large gate just on the brow of the hill, called the barrier gate. The fourth side was defended by embankments of earth, under which were formerly barracks, affording a safe, though somewhat gloomy
NOTE. - The reader will not hesitate in concluding that Charlevoix was describing Lewiston ; and that in the interim between the desertion of the Fort upon the present site, in 1698, and the re-building and re-occupancy in 1725, - imincdiately preceding the latter event, - there was a military station at Lewiston, and a design to locate the Fort there.
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retreat for the families of soldiers, but which had been abandoned, and the entrances closed, long before my remembrance; having been so infested with rattlesnakes that had made their dens within, that it was hardly safe to walk across the parade.
But the Lake has done as much as time, towards changing the aspect of the place. At that time there was a yard some thirty or forty feet wide between the Mess-house and pickets; and beyond them a spot sufficiently wide to admit of two persons walking abreast; affording a delightful promenade. But now the waves dash against the house, or rather did until recently, a stone wall having been erected, of immense strength, to prevent further encroachments. The old house, however, remains very much the same, except some slight alterations which have been made in the arrangements of the rooms. On its massive stone walls, time has yet made no ravages, although nearly two centuries * have elapsed since the first story was built by the French. After the English obtained possession, they added another story and made very comfortable quarters for the officers; and there has since, at intervals, been improvements made, but it still retains its air of gloomy grandeur; many gay scenes have I there witnessed, both in my childhood, and after an absence of long years, when I had returned to the home of my youth. I have seen it lit up for festive hours, enlivened by the smiles of beauty, the cheering voice of friendship, mingled with the strains of gay music; the old walls decorated with our country's banners; the eagle's broad wing chalked beneath our feet; the light arms tastefully arranged in our room, and manly forms ready to use them, (if needs be,) flitting past in the gay dance. Then have I looked back through the long vista of years, and thought of the multitudes who had passed through those old halls, until I could fancy I heard the Indian's wild whoop, and see their hideously painted forms, mingled with those of gay, chattering Frenchmen. Then came the proud Englishmen, in their glittering uniform; they in their turn succeeded by our own noble and brave army.
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