USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 23
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The Marquis de VAUDREUIL, Governor General of Canada, had fixed his head quarters at Montreal, and resolved to make his last stand for French colonial empire. For this purpose he collected around him the whole force of the French colony. He infused his own spirit, confidence and courage, in the hemmed up colony, cheering the desponding by promises of help and succor from France.
The English in the mean time, were not idle. Arrangements were made for a combined attack on Montreal. A detachment of English troops advanced from Crown Point, and took possession of
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Isle Aux Noix. Gen. AMIIERST, with an army of about ten thousand regulars and provincials, left the frontiers of New York and advanced to Oswego, when he was joined by a thousand warriors of the Six Nations, under the command of Sir WILLIAM JOHNSON. Embarking on lake Ontario, they arrived at Isle Royal, reducing that post, and proceeding down the St. Lawrence, arrived at Montreal, simultaneously with the command under Gen. MURRAY. Arrangements were made to invest the city with this formidable consolidated army. VAUDREUIL, rightly estimating the strength of his assailants, and his own inability successfully to resist them, resolved upon capitulation. On the day after the arrival of the British army, -the 7th of September, 1760, Montreal, Detroit, and all other places of strength within the government of Canada, were surrendered to the British erown. Gen. MURRAY was appointed Governor of Montreal, and a force left with him of two thousand men; and returning to Quebec, his force was augmented to four thousand.
The French armament, that has before been noticed, on learning that the English had entered the St. Lawrence, took refuge in the Bay of Chaleurs, on the coast of Nova Scotia, where it was soon pursued by a British fleet from Louisburg, and destroyed.
Thus ended the colonial empire of France in North America; or rather its efforts to resist by regular military organizations, fortified forts, &c., English dominion. With the fall of Montreal, they had surrendered all their possessions upon this continent, east of the Mississippi, and beyond that, possession was merely nominal, consisting of but little more than the feeble colony of Louisiana.
Soon after these events, most of the eastern Indian nations inclined to the English, but the anticipated entire alliance and pacific disposition of the Indians around the borders of the western lakes, was not realized. Indian fealty did not follow but partially, the triumph of the English arms. The French had gained a strong hold upon the western Indians, which was not unloosed by the reverses they had encountered. The Indian nations became alarmed at the rapid strides of the English, jealous of its consequen- ces to them, and the French lost no opportunity to increase this feeling, and induce them to believe that the next effort of English ambition and conquest, would be directed to their entire subjuga- tion, if not extermination.
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"There was then upon the stage of action, one of those high and heroic men, who stamp their own characters upon the age in which they live, and who appear destined to survive the lapse of time, like some proud and lofty column, which sees crumbling around it, the temples of God and the dwellings of man, and yet rests upon its pedestal, time worn and time honored. This man was at the head of the Indian confederacy, and had acquired an influence over his countrymen, such as had never before been seen, and such as we may not expect to see again. To form a just estimate of his character, we must judge of him by the circumstances under which he was placed; by the profound ignorance and barbarism of his people; by his own destitution of all education and information, and by the jealous, fierce, and intractable spirit of his compeers. When measured by this standard, we shall find few of the men whose names are familiar to us, more remarkable for all they professed and achieved, than PONTIAC. Were his race destined to endure until the mists of antiquity could gather around his days and deeds, tradition would dwell upon his feats, as it has done in the old world, upon all who, in the infancy of nations have been prominent actors, for evil or for good." * PONTIAC was an Ottawa.
Major ROGERS, commanded the British troops that took pos- session of Detroit under the treaty of capitulation at Montreal. When he was approaching his destination, the ambassadors of this forest king met him and informed him that their sovereign was near by, and that he desired him to halt until he could see him; that the request was in the name of "PONTIAC, the king and lord of the country." Approaching Major ROGERS, PONTIAC demanded his business. An explanation followed, and permission was granted for him and his troops to take the place of the French; acts of courtesy even attending the permission.
This friendly relation was not destined to be permanent. In 1763, PONTIAC had united nearly all the Indian nations of the west, in a confederacy, the design of which, was to expel the English from the country, and restore French ascendancy. "His first object was to gain his own tribe, and the warriors who gen- erally attended him. Topics to engage their attention and inflame their passions were not wanting. A belt was exhibited which he pretended to have received from the king of France, urging him to drive the British from the country, and to open the paths for the return of the French. The British troops had not endeavored
* Governor Cass.
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to conciliate the Indians, and mutual causes of complaint existed. Some of the Ottawas had been disgraced by blows, but above all, the British were intruders in the country, and would ere long conquer the Indians as they had conquered the French, and wrest from them their lands."* His first step was to convene a large council of the confederates at the river Aux Ecorces. The speech he delivered upon that occasion, was ingeniously framed to further his object. By turns he appealed to the pride of country, the jealousy, the warlike spirit, the superstition, of the assembled coun- cillors. He assumed that the Great Spirit had recently made a revelation to a Delaware Indian, as to the conduct he wished his red children to pursue. He had directed them to "abstain from ardent spirits, and to cast from them the manufactures of the white man. To resume their bows and arrows, and skins of animals for clothing." "Why," said the Great Spirit indignantly, to the Dela- ware, " do you suffer these dogs in red clothing to enter your country, and take the land I gave you? Drive them from it, and when you are in distress I will help you." The speech had its desired effect. In the month of May following, all things were arranged for a simultaneous atttack upon each of twelve British posts, extending from Niagara to Green Bay, in the north-west, and Pittsburg in the south-west. Nine of these posts were captured. The posts at Niagara and Pittsburg were invested but successfully resisted. Detroit was closely besieged by the forces of PONTIAC, and the siege, and his war generally, was protracted beyond the reception of the news of the treaty of peace between France and England; in fact, until the expedition of Gen. BRAD- STREET, of which some account will be given in another place. The incidents of PONTIAC's war are among the most horrid in Indian war history. The officers and soldiers of most of the cap- tured garrisons were tomahawked and scalped. The details do not come within our range.
A treaty of peace was definitely concluded at Paris, between England and France, on the 10th of February, 1763. To prevent any future disputes as to boundary, it was stipulated, that "the confines between Great Britain and France on the continent of North America should be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the centre of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the river
* Gov. Cass.
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Iberville; and from thence, by a line drawn along the middle of the river, and by the lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain, to the sea." It was stipulated that the inhabitants of the countries ceded by France, should be allowed the enjoyment of the Roman Catholic faith, and the exercise of its rights as far as might be consistent with the laws of England; that they should retain their civil rights, while they were disposed to remain under the British government, and yet be entitled to dispose of their estates to British subjects, and retire with their produce, without hindrance or molestation to any part of the world.
Never, perhaps, was a treaty of peace more acceptable, or hailed with livelier feelings of joy and congratulation, than was this by the English colonists in America. Harassed through long years, upon all their borders, their young men diverted from the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, to fill the ranks of the army in a long succes- sion of wars, they had been longing for repose. But it was the will of Providence, in directing and controlling the destinies of men-in shaping a higher and more glorious inheritance for the wearied colonists than colonial vassalage-that the repose should be of but short duration. "Amidst the tumultuous flow of pleasure and triumph in America, an intelligent eye might have discerned symptoms, of which a sound regard to British ascendancy required the most cautious, forbearing, and indulgent treatment; for it was manifest that the exultations of the Americans was founded, in no small degree, upon the conviction, that their own proper strength was augmented, and that they had attained a state of security which lessened at once their danger from neighboring hostility, and their dependence on the protection, so often delusive and preca- rious, of the parent state." And few will fail to observe how well calculated were the events we have just been considering, to prepare the sympathies, and shape the policy of France, in the struggle to which this peace was but a prelude.
We have now come to the end of French dominion upon this portion of the continent of North America. The treaty of Paris consummated what the fall of Quebec and Montreal had rendered inevitable. In one chapter, the events of a long period-from 1627 to 1763, one hundred and thirty-six years-have been embraced. How chequered and fluctuating the scene! How full
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of vicissitudes, of daring adventures, of harassing rivalry, suffering, privation and death! It was the contest of two powerful nations of Europe, for supremacy upon this continent. The stakes for which they were contending, were colonial power, extended dominion and GAIN-the last, the powerful stimulus that urged to the battle field, or prompted the bloody, stealthy assault. How little, the thoughtful reader will say, the rights, the interests, the dignity, the elevation, the freedom of MAN-was involved in this long, almost uninterrupted, sanguinary conflict. Nothing of all this was blended with the motives of the promoters of these wars. The fields of contest, the banks of the St. Lawrence, of the lakes, our own fair, but then wilderness region,-were drenched with some of the best blood of England and France; the colonies of New England sent out those to an untimely grave that would have adorned and strengthened her in a not far off, and more auspicious period. They "bravely fought and bravely fell;" but there was little in the cause in which they were engaged to shed a halo of glory around the memory of its martyrs. And yet remotely, those most unprofitable struggles, (viewed in reference to any immediate result,) were to have an important bearing upon the destiny of our now free, happy, and prosperous Republic.
How slight the causes that often, seemingly, govern great and momentous events ! And yet, what finite reason would often construe as accidental, may be the means which Infinite Wisdom puts in requisition to accomplish its high purposes. Had the French fleet gained the mouth of the St. Lawrence before that of the English, Quebec, in all probability, would have been restored to France, and French dominion would have held its own upon this continent, if indeed, with the Indian alliances that the French had secured, and were securing, they had not subjugated the English. Then comes the enquiry whether any of the same causes would have existed under French colonial dominion, that arose under English rule? Some, prominent ones, we know, would not. And yet, in the main, English colonial rule, was more liberal than that of the French. Had the contest for separation and independence been against France, England, as in the reversed case, would not have been the ally of the weaker party, struggling against its deep- seated notions of legitimacy and kingly rule. But it was best as it was; and speculation like this is unprofitable, especially when it
HISTORY OF THE
can work out in its imaginings no more glorious result, than the one that was realized.
It was during the war with France, that some of the most distinguished officers and soldiers of the Revolution, that comman- ded and filled the ranks of our armies so skillfully and successfully, rendered their first military services. WASHINGTON fought his first battle at the Great Meadows; he was at BRADDOCK's defeat, where buds of promise appeared, that in a better conflict bloomed and shed abroad their fragrance-their cheering influences, in years of doubt and despondency-their matured and ripened fruit, a cluster of sovereign states, constituting a glorious Union. PUTNAM, the self-taught, rough man of sterling virtues,-New England's bravest, if not most prudent leader, was at Ticonderoga, in 1756; GATES was at BRADDOCK's defeat, as was MORGAN. STARK, afterwards the hero of Bennington, was a captain of Rangers in that war. And who, of middle age, has not listened to the mingled recitals of events of the French war, and the war of the Revolution, coming from the veterans who helped to fill the ranks of the armies of both ?
The reader will have observed that the trade in furs and peltry, constituted the main object of French enterprise. The cultivation of small patches of ground around the military and trading posts, and a narrow strip of some twenty miles in length on the Detroit river, constituted mainly the agricultural efforts of the French, in all their long occupancy of this region. They early introduced at Detroit, apple trees, (or seeds,) from the province of Normandy. * The first apples that the pioneer settlers of the Holland Purchase had, come from that source, and from a few trees that had a like origin, at Schlosser, on the Niagara river. The trees at Schlosser are existing, and bearing a very pleasant flavored natural fruit. They are the oldest apple trees in Western New York. Those found in the vicinity of Geneva, Canandaigua, Honeyoye flats, and upon the Genesee river, were either propagated from them, or from seeds given the Seneca Indians by the Jesuit Missionaries.
The Hudson's Bay Company was organized in 1696, by the English. Its operations were confined to the northern regions, but in process of time, its branches came in collision with the French
* History of Michigan.
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traders upon the lakes. It was a monopoly, opposed not only to French, but to English private enterprise. "The consequences were injurious to the trade, as the time and energies which might have been employed in securing advantages to themselves, were devoted to petty quarrels, and the forest became a scene of brawls, and a battle ground of the contending parties. The war was organized into a system. The traders of the Hudson's Bay Company followed the Canadians to their different posts, and used every method to undermine their power."
During the winter of 1783, the north-west company was estab- lished. It was composed principally of merchants who had carried on the trade upon their own individual accounts. For a long period, both companies made vast profits. Some idea of the extent of the trade, may be formed by the following exhibit of the busi- ness for one year :-
106,000 Beaver skins,
600 Wolverine skins,
2,100 Bear
1,650 Fisher
1,500 Fox
100 Racoon
4,000 Kitt Fox
3,800 Wolf
4,600 Otter
700 Elk
16,000 Muskquash “
750 Deer
32,000 Martin
1,200 Deer skins dressed,
1,800 Mink 66
6,000 Lynx
500 Buffalo robes, and a quantity of Castorun,
"There was necessarily, extensive establishments connected with the trade, such as store-houses, trading-houses, and places of accommodation for the agents and partners of the larger compa- nies. The mode of living on the Grand Portage, on lake Superior, in 1794 was as follows: - The proprietors of the establishment, the guides, clerks, and interpreters, messed together; sometimes to the number of one hundred, in a large hall. Bread, salt pork, beef, butter, venison and fish, Indian corn, potatoes, tea and wine, were their provisions. Several cows were kept around the estab- lishments, which supplied them with milk. The corn was prepared at Detroit by being boiled in a strong alkali, and was called "hominee." The mechanics had rations of this sort of provisions, while the canoe-men had no allowance but melted fat and Indian corn. The dress of the traders, most of whom had been employed under the French government, consisted of a blanket coat, a shirt of striped cotton, trowsers of cloth, or leather leggins, similar to
NOTE .- IJ See Hennepin's account of the difficulties of getting the Griffin up the rapids of the Niagara river, page 124. The planting he speaks of must have been near the village of Waterloo, on the Canada side. These were the first seeds planted by Europeans, in all the region west and south of Schenectady and Kingston, and east of the Mississippi.
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those of the Indians, moccasins wrought from deer-skins, a red or parti-colored belt of worsted, which contained suspended, a knife and tobacco pouch, and a blue woolen cap or hat, in the midst of which stuck a red feather. Light hearted, cheerful and courteous, they were ever ready to encamp at night among the savages, or in their own wigwams, to join in the dance, or awaken the solitudes of the wilderness with their boat-songs, as they swept with vigor- ous arm across the bosom of the waters .*
"Even as late as 1810, the island of Mackinaw, the most romantic point on the Lakes, which rises from the altar of a river-god, was the central mart of the traffic, as old Michilimacki- nac had been a century before. At certain seasons of the year it was made a rendezvous for the numerous classes connected with the traffic. At these seasons the transparent waters around this beautiful island were studded with the canoes of Indians and traders. Here might then be found the merry Canadian voyageur, with his muscular figure strengthened by the hardships of the wilderness, bartering for trinkets along the various booths scat- tered along its banks. The Indian warrior, bedecked with the most fantastic ornaments, embroidered moccasins and silver armlets; the North-Westers, armed with dirks-the iron men who had grappled with the grizzly bear, and endured the hard fare of the north; and the South-Wester, also put in his claims to deference. t
"Fort William, near the Grand Portage, was also one of the principal ports of the Northwest Company. It was the place of junction. where the leading partners from Montreal met the more active agents of the wilderness to discuss the interests of the traffic. The grand conference was attended with a demi-savage and baronial pomp. The partners from Montreal, clad in the richest furs, ascended annually to that point in huge canoes,
* The author is indebted to a friend for the following literal translation, of one of the gay and frivolons, yet characteristic songs of these "forest mariners." It is said even now to be heard occasionally upon our north-western lakes: -
Every spring So much novelty, Every lover Changes his mistress, Good wine doth not stupefy, Love awakes me.
Good wine doth not stupefy, Love awakes me.
On my way, I have met, Three cavaliers, each mounted, Tol, lol, laridol da, Tol lol, laridon da.
Every lover Changes his mistress, Let them change who will, As for me, I'll keep mine,
Three cavaliers, each mounted, One on horseback, the other on foot. Tol lol, laridon da, Tol lol, laridol da.
t The American Fur Company, now in existence, and extending its operations from the shores of the Lakes to those of the Pacific, modelled in its operations somewhat after the old French and English companies, had its trading establishments scattered through the forest.
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manned by Canadian voyageurs, and provided with all the means of the most luxurious revelry. The Council-House was a large wooden building, adorned with the trophies of the chase, barbaric ornaments, and decorated implements used by the savages in war and peace. At such periods the post would be crowded with traders from the depths of the wilderness and from Montreal; partners of the Company, clerks, interpreters, guides, and a
numerous host of dependents. Discussions of grave import, regarding the interests of the traffic, made up the arguments of such occasions; and the banquet was occasionally interspersed with loyal songs from the Scotch Highlander, or the aristocratic Britain, proud of his country and his king. Such were the general features of a traffic which constituted for a century, under French and English governments, the commerce of the North- western lakes. It was a trade abounding in the severest hardships, and the most hazardous enterprises. This was the most glorious epoch of mercantile enterprise in the forests of the North-west, when its half savage dominion stretched upon the lakes over regions large enough for empires; making barbarism contribute to civilization."
While the Jesuit missionary, as we have before had occasion to remark, left but feeble traces of his religion to mark his advent- the French traders, other adventurers, and those who, becoming prisoners in the long wars with the Indians, were adopted by them, left more enduring impressions. The French blood was mixed with that of the Indian, throughout all the wide domain that was primitively termed New France. In all the remnants of Indian nations that a few years since existed around the borders of the western lakes and rivers, the close observer of merged races, could discover the evidences of the gallantries, (and not unfrequently, perhaps, the permanent alliances,) of these early adventurers. Among the remnants of the Iroquois, now residing in our western counties, the mixed blood of the French and Indian, is frequently observed.+
*History of Michigan.
t John Green, an intelligent pioneer settler upon the Alleghany river, said to the author, during the last summer, when speaking of the Indians on the Alleghany Reservation, that there were but a small proportion there of pure Indian blood. That the prisoners taken by their ancestors in the French wars, and war of the Revolution, intermarried, and the white blood now predominates. "Take an instance now," said our informant, " where either father or mother is mixed blood, they have large families -when both are full blood Indians, they have but small families."
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PART THIRD.
CHAPTER I.
BRIEF NOTICES OF EVENTS UNDER ENGLISH DOMINION.
There is but little of local importance to embrace in our narrative, occurring between the close of the French and English war, by the treaty of Paris, in 1763, to the commencement of the American Revolution, in 1775.
The English strengthened and continued the captured French garrison at Niagara, and other important posts along the western frontiers, for the purpose of protecting their scattered settlements, and trading with, and conciliating the Indians. The questions of difference between England and her colonies-the disputes that were hastening to a crisis-did not reach and disturb these remote and then but partially explored solitudes ;- where none but the fearless hunter, the adventurous traveller, the soldier, and the native inhabitants were seen. The only connection then between the eastern and western portion of our state, was kept up by com- merce with the Indians, and such relations as existed between the military posts. This region was then far removed from civilization and improvement. Nearly a quarter of a century was to pass away before the tide of emigration reached its borders.
The Senecas, it would seem, from the earliest period of English succession at Fort Niagara, were not even as well reconciled to them as to the French. There is very little doubt of their having been generally in the interests of PONTIAC, and co-operators with him in his well arranged scheme for driving the English from the grounds the French had occupied. Some other portions of the Six Nations were also diverted from the English, as we find that a body of Iroquois were engaged in the attack on Fort Du Quesne .*
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