USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 44
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During the revolutionary war the British had in their ser- vice, according to the calculation of a British agent, 300 Mohawks, 150 Oneidas, 200 Tuscaroras, 300 Onondagas, 230 Cayugas, 400 Senecas ; 1580 in the whole. If to these we add 220 warriors, who adhered to the United States, the whole number of fighting men would be 1800.
In 1783, Mr. Kirkland, the missionary, estimated the number of warriors in the Seneca nation at 600. This would make the whole population 2000; and as the Senecas then composed nearly one half of the whole Confederacy, the fighting men would be about 1200, and the total number of inhabitants upward of 4000. In 1790 he calculated the whole population of the Confederacy, including those who reside on Grand River in Canada, and the Stockbridge
* Vide Chalmer's Political Annals, p. 606, which contains the jour- ney of Wentworth and Greenshulp from Albany to the Five Nations, begun 28th May, 1677, and ended 14th July following. The Mohawks had four towns and one village, containing only 100 houses. The Oneidas had one town containing 100 houses. The Onondagas one town of 140 houses, and one village of twenty-four houses. The Cay- ugas three towns of about 100 houses in all. The Senecas four towns containing 324 houses. The warriors the same precisely as in Colonel Coursey's statement, (Cours., p. 21.) In the whole, 784 houses, which would make nearly three warriors and ten inhabitants for each house.
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and Brothertown Indians, to be 6330. This would make the number of warriors near 1900.
In 1794, on the division of an annuity of $4500 given to them by the United States, their number was ascertained with considerable precision ; each individual in the Confed- eracy (except those residing in the British dominions) re- ceiving an equal share.
In the United States.
In the Canadas.
Mohawks
300
Oneidas . 628
460
Cayugas
40
·
Onondagas
450
·
760
Tuscaroras
400
Senecas .
1780
3298
760
Making in the whole 4058
The Stockbridge and Brothertown Indians are not inclu- ded. This would make the number of fighting men 1352.
These various estimates evince the great uncertainty pre- vailing on this subject. While La Hontan exaggerates the population of the Confederacy, Smith evidently underrates it. We know that in their wars they often sent out considerable armies. They attacked the island of Montreal with 1200 men ; and in 1683, 1000 marched at one time against the Ottagaumies. The first was in 1689, twelve years after Colonel Coursey's estimate. Supposing that 1200 warriors were at that time at home and otherwise employed, the whole number would then be about 2400; which shows a consid- erable coincidence between the two statements. On one point there is, however, no uncertainty. Ever since the men of Europe landed on the shores of America there has been a diminution of the number of the aborigines ; sometimes rapid, at other times gradual. The present condition of the Confederates furnishes an admonitory lesson to human pride ; and adds another proof to the many on record, that nations, like individuals, are destined by Providence to dissolution. Their patrimonial estates-their ancient dwelling-lands- are now crowded with a white population, excepting some
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THE SIX NATIONS.
small reservations in the Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca countries. The Mohawks abandoned their country during the war of the revolution ; and the Cayugas have since the peace. A remnant of the Tuscaroras reside on three miles square near the Niagara River, on lands given to them by the Senecas and the Holland Land Company. The Oneida Reservation does not contain more than 10,000 acres, and the Onondaga is still smaller. The Senecas have their principal settlement at Buffalo Creek.[*]
The Six Nations have lost their high character and eleva- ted standing. They are in general addicted to idleness and drunkenness : the remnant of their eloquence and military spirit, as well as national strength, was found latest among the Senecas. Their ancient men, who have beheld the former glory and prosperity of their country, and who have heard from the mouths of their ancestors the heroic achieve- ments of their countrymen, weep like infants when they speak of the fallen condition of the nation. They, however, derive some consolation from a prophecy of ancient origin and universal currency among them-that the man of America will, at some future time, regain his ancient ascendency, and expel the man of Europe from this Western hemisphere. This flattering and consolatory persuasion has restrained, in some degree, their vicious propensities; has enabled the Seneca and Shawanese prophets to arrest in some tribes the use of intoxicating liquors, and has given birth at different periods to certain movements towards a general Confeder- acy of the savages of North America. [+] That they con- sider the white man an enemy and an intruder, who has ex- pelled them from their country, is most certain; and they cherish this antipathy with so much rancour, that when they abandon their settlements they make it a rule never to disclose to him any mineral substances or springs which may redound to his convenience or advantage.
The causes of their degradation and diminution are prin- cipally to be found in their baneful communication with the man of Europe, which has, contaminated their morals, de- stroyed their population, robbed them of their country, and deprived them of their national spirit. Indeed, when we
[* This reservation was sold by treaty in February, 1838-the Indi- ans to move westward. See preceding pages.]
[t See notices in this volume of the battles with Harmer, St. Clair, Wayne, and Harrison.]
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$74
APPENDIX.
consider that the discovery and settlement of America have exterminated millions of the Red Men, and entailed upon the sable inhabitants of Africa endless and destructive wars, captivity, slavery, and death, we have reason to shudder at the gloomy perspective ; and to apprehend that, in the retri- butive justice of the Almighty, there may be some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath ; some portentous cloud pregnant with the elements of de- struction, ready to burst upon European America, and to entail upon us those calamities which we have so wantonly and wickedly inflicted upon others.
A nation that derives its subsistence principally from the forest cannot live in the vicinity of one that relies upon the products of the field. The clearing of the country drives off the wild beasts ; and when the game fails the hunter must starve, change his occupation, or retire from the approach of cultivation. The savage has invariably preferred the last. The Mohawks were at one period the most numerous can- ton ; but they soon became the smallest. This was on ac- count of their propinquity to the whites ; while the Senecas, who were more remote, were the most populous [till the tide of civilization has now almost obliterated the existence of that tribe]. There were two other causes which have contributed to the destruction of the Mohawks : their ex- treme ferocity, which distinguished them from the other cantons, and which exposed them to greater perils ; and the early seduction of part of their nation by the French, who prevailed upon them to migrate to Canada. The scarcity of food has also been augmented by other causes besides that of cultivating the ground. Formerly, they killed for the sake of subsistence : the Europeans 'instigated them to kill for the sake of the furs and skins. The use of fire- arms has had the effect, by the explosion of powder, of frightening away the game ; and, at the same time, of ena- bling the savage to compass their destruction with greater facility than by his ancient weapon, the bow and arrow ; whose execution was less certain, and whose operation was less terrific.
The old Scythian propensity for wandering from place to place, and to make distant excursions, predominates among them. Some, after an absence of twenty years, have again shown themselves, while others never return. Many of the Iroquois are amalgamated with the Western Indians. In
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THE SIX NATIONS.
1799, a colony of the Confederates, who had been brought up from their infancy under the Roman Catholic Mission- aries, and instructed by them at a village within nine miles of Montreal, emigrated to the banks of the Saskatchiwine River, beyond Lake Winnipeg.
The endless and destructive wars in which they have been involved have also been a principal cause of diminish- ing their population. The number of births among savage is always inferior to that among civilized nations, where subsistence is easier, and where the female sex are consid- ered the companions, the friends, and the equals of man ; and are connected and associated with him by the silken ties of choice and affection, not by the iron chains of com- pulsion and slavery. In times of war, the number of deaths among the Indians generally exceed that of the births ; and the Iroquois, for the last seventy-five years, not having been able to execute, to any great extent, their system of adoption, have experienced a corresponding diminution. The manner of savage warfare is also peculiarly destructive. Among civilized nations, great armies are brought into the field at once ; and a few years and a great battle decides the for- tune of the war, and produces a peace. Among Indians, wars are carried on by small detachments, and in detail, and for a long time. Among the former, they operate like am- putation ; a limb is cut off, and the remainder of the body lives ; but with savages, they resemble a slow and wasting disease, which gradually undermines the vital principle and destroys the whole system.
Before their acquaintance with the man of Europe, they were visited by dreadful diseases, which depopulated whole countries. Just before the settlement of New-England, some whole nations were swept off' by a pestilence. The whites introduced that terrible enemy of barbarous nations, the smallpox ; as well in the north of Asia as in America. Kamschatka was very populous until the arrival of the Russians ; a dreadful visitation of the smallpox in 1767 nearly exterminated its inhabitants .* [Note B.] In 1779- 80, smallpox spread among the Killistinoes or Kanisteneaux, and Chepewyans, " with a baneful rapidity that no flight could escape, and with a fatal effect that nothing could resist."t Nine tenths of the Northern Indians, so called by Hearne, were cut off by it.į In 1670, this disease depopulated the
* 1 Pennant, p. 215. + 1 Mackenzie, p. 17.
# Hearne's Journey to the Northern Ocean, p. 178.
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APPENDIX.
north of Canada. * A whole nation called the Attetrama- sues were destroyed. The vicinity of the Confederates to the European settlements, and their constant intercourse, have exposed them continually to its visitations ; and their method of cure being the same in all diseases (immersion in cold water after a vapor bath), has aggravated its ravages. Their imitation of the European dress has also substituted a lighter mode of clothing in lieu of warm furs ; by which, and their exposure to the elements, they are peculiarly sub- jected to consumption and inflammatory complaints. Lon- gevity is, however, by no means uncommon among them. In their settlements you see some very old people.
Need I add to this melancholy catalogue the use of spir- ituous liquors, which has realized among them the fabulous effects of the Bohon-Upas-which has been to them "the hydra of calamities-the sevenfold death,"t and which has palsied . all their energies, enfeebled their minds, destroyed their bodies, rendered them inferior to the beasts of the for- est, and operated upon them as destructively as
" Famine, war, or spotted pestilence- Baneful as death, and horrible as hell."}
At the treaty held in Lancaster in 1744, the Five Nations addressed the colonies of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Mary- land, as follows : " We heartily recommend union and a good agreement between you our brethren. Never dis- agree, but preserve a strict friendship for one another ; and thereby you, as well as we, will become the stronger. Our wise forefathers established amity and friendship among the Five Nations. This has made us formidable, and has given us great weight and authority with the neighbouring nations. We are a powerful confederacy ; and by your observing the same means which our wise forefathers pursued, you will ac- quire fresh strength and power. Therefore, whatever befalls you, never fall out with one another."§ This ancient and cementing principle of union and fraternity, which connected them in friendship, and which was the basis of their power and the pillar of their greatness, has been entirely driven from them. The fury of Discord has blown her horn, and rendered them the prey of the most ferocious and unrelent- ing passions. Party, in all its forms and violence, rages
* Jeffery's, before quoted, p. 110. Herriot, p. 132.
t Young's Revenge. # Rowe's Jane Shore. § 2 Colden, p. 113.
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THE SIX NATIONS.
among them with uncontrolled sway. Their nations are split up into fragments-the son is arrayed against the father-brother against brother-families against families- tribe against tribe-and canton against canton. They are divided into factions, religious, political, and personal- Christian and pagan-American and British-the followers of Cornplanter and Saguaha-of Skenando and Captain Peter. The minister of destruction is hovering over them ; and before the passing away of the present generation, not a single Iroquois will be seen in this state.
It would be an unpardonable omission not to mention, while treating on this subject, that there is every reason to believe that, previous to the occupancy of this country by the progenitors of the present nations of Indians, it was in- habited by a race of men much more populous and much farther advanced in civilization. The numerous remains of ancient fortifications which are found in this country, commencing principally near the Onondaga or Oswego River, and from thence spreading over the Military Tract, the Genesee country, and the lands of the Holland Land Company, over the territory adjoining the Ohio and its tributary streams, the country on Lake Erie, and even ex- tending west of the Mississippi, demonstrate a population far exceeding that of the Indians when this country was first settled.
I have seen several of these works in the western part of this state. There is a large one in the town of Onondaga, one in Pompey, and another in Manlius ; one in Camillus, eight miles from Auburn ; one in Scipio, six miles, another one mile, and one about half a mile from that village. Be- tween the Seneca and Cayuga Lakes there are several- three within a few miles of each other. Near the village of Canandaigua there are three. In a word, they are scattered all over that country.
These forts were, generally speaking, erected on the most commanding ground. The walls or breastworks were earth- en. The ditches were on the exterior of the works. On some of the parapets, oak trees were to be seen, which, from the number of the concentric circles, must have been standing 150, 260, and 300 years; and there were evident indica- tions, not only that they had sprung up since the erection of those works, but that they were at least a second growth. The trenches were in some cases deep and wide, and in others
32*
378.
APPENDIX.
shallow and narrow ; and the breastworks varied in altitude from three to eight feet. They sometimes had one, and sometimes two entrances, as was to be inferred from there being no ditch at those places. When the works were pro- tected by a deep ravine or a large stream of water no ditch was to be seen. The areas of these forts varied from two to six acres ; and the form was generally an irregular ellip- sis ; and in some of them fragments of earthenware and pul- verized substances, supposed to have been originally human bones, were to be found.
These fortifications, thus diffused over the interior of our country, have been generally considered as surpassing the skill, patience, and industry of the Indian race, and various hypotheses have been advanced to prove them of European origin.
An American writer of no inconsiderable repute pro- nounced some years ago that the two forts at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, one covering forty and the other twenty acres, were erected by Ferdinand de Soto, who landed with 1000 men in Florida in 1539, and penetrated a considerable distance into the interior of the country. He allotted the large fort for the use of the Spanish army ; and after being extremely puzzled how to dispose of the small one in its vicinity, he at last assigned it to the swine that generally, as he says, attended the Spaniards in those days -being in his opinion very necessary, in order to prevent them from becoming estrays, and to protect them from the depredations of the Indians.
When two ancient forts, one containing six and the other three acres, were found near Lexington in Kentucky, another theory was propounded ; and it was supposed that they were erected by the descendants of the Welsh colonists who are said to have migrated under the auspices of Madoc to this country, in the twelfth century ; that they formerly inhabited Kentucky ; but, being attacked by the Indians, were forced to take refuge near the sources of the Missouri.
Another suggestion has been made, that the French, in their expeditions from Canada to the Mississippi, were the authors of these works : but the most numerous are to be found in the territory of the Senecas, whose hostility to the French was such, that they were not allowed for a long time to have any footing among them .* The fort at Niagara was
* 1 Colden, p. 61.
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THE SIX NATIONS.
obtained from them by the intrigues and eloquence of Jon- caire, an adopted child of the nation .*
Lewis Dennie, a Frenchman, aged upward of seventy, and who had been settled and married among the Confed- erates for more than half a century, told me (1810) that, ac- cording to the traditions of the ancient Indians, these forts were erected by an army of Spaniards, who were the first Europeans ever seen by them-the French the next-then the Dutch-and, finally, the English ; that this army first ap- peared at Oswego in great force, and penetrated through the interior of the country, searching for the precious metals ; that they continued there two years, and went down the Ohio.
Some of the Senecas told Mr. Kirkland, the missionary, that those in their territory were raised by their ancestors in their wars with the western Indians, three, four, or five hun- dred years ago. All the cantons have traditions that their ancestors came originally from the west; and the Senecas say that theirs first settled in the country of the Creeks. The early histories mention that the Iroquois first inhabited on the north side of the great lakes ; that they were driven to their present territory in a war with the Algonkins or Ad- irondacks, from whence they expelled the Satanas. If these accounts are correct, the ancestors of the Senecas did not, in all probability, occupy their present territory at the time they allege.
I believe we may confidently pronounce that all the hy- potheses which attribute those works to Europeans are in- correct and fanciful-first, on account of the present number of the works ; secondly, on account of their antiquity ; hav- ing, from every appearance, been erected a long time before the discovery of America ; and, finally, their form and man- ner are totally variant from European fortifications, either in ancient or modern times.
It is equally clear that they were not the work of the Indians. Until the Senecas, who are renowned for their na- tional vanity, had seen the attention of the Americans at- tracted to these erections, and had invented the fabulous ac- count of which I have spoken, the Indians of the present day did not pretend to know anything about their origin. They were beyond the reach of all their traditions, and were lost in the abyss of unexplored antiquity.
* 3 Charlevoix, letter 15, p. 227.
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APPENDIX.
The erection of such prodigious works must have been the result of labour far beyond the patience and perseverance of our Indians ; and the form and materials are entirely dif- ferent from those which they are known to make. These earthen walls, it is supposed, will retain their original form much longer than those constructed with brick and stone. They have undoubtedly been greatly diminished by the washing away of the earth, the filling up of the interior, and the accumulation of fresh soil : yet their firmness and solid- ity indicate them to be the work of some remote age. Add to this, that the Indians have never practised the mode of fortifying by intrenchments. Their villages or castles were protected by palisades, which afforded a sufficient defence against Indian weapons. ~ When Cartier went to Hochelaga, now Montreal, in 1535, he discovered a town of the Iro- quois, or Hurons, containing about fifty huts. It was en- compassed with three lines of palisadoes, through which was one entrance, well secured with stakes and bars. On the inside was a rampart of timber, to which were ascents by ladders ; and heaps of stones were laid in proper places to cast at an enemy. Charlevoix and other writers agree in representing the Indian fortresses as fabricated with wood. Such, also, were the forts of Sassacus, the great chief of the Pequots ; and the principal fortress of the Narragansets was on an island in a swamp, of five or six acres of rising land : the sides were made with palisades set upright, en- compassed with a hedge of a rod in thickness .*
I have already alluded to the argument for the great anti- quity of those ancient forts to be derived from the number of concentric circles. On the ramparts of one of the Mus- kingum forts, 463 were ascertained on a tree decayed at the centre ; and there are likewise the strongest marks of a for- mer growth of a similar size. This would make those works near a thousand years old.
But there is another consideration which has never before been urged, and which appears to me to be not unworthy of attention. It is certainly novel, and I believe it to be founded on a basis which cannot easily be subverted.
From the Genesee near Rochester to Lewiston on the Ni- agara, there is a remarkable ridge or elevation of land run-
* Mather's Magnalia, p. 693.
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THE SIX NATIONS.
ning almost the whole distance,[*] which is seventy-eight miles, and in a direction from east to west. Its general al- titude above the neighbouring land is thirty feet, and its width varies considerably ; in some places it is not more than forty yards. Its elevation above the level of Lake Ontario is per- haps 160 feet, to which it descends with a gradual slope ; and its distance from that water is between six and ten miles. This remarkable strip of land would appear as if intended by nature for the purpose of an easy communication. It is, in fact, a stupendous natural turnpike, descending gently on each side, and covered with gravel ; and but little labour is requisite to make it the best road in the United States. When the forests between it and the lake are cleared, the prospects and scenery which will be afforded from a tour on this route to the Cataract of Niagara will surpass all compe- tition for sublimity and beauty, variety and number.
There is every reason to believe that this remarkable ridge was the ancient boundary of this great lake. The gravel with which it is covered was deposited there by the waters ; and the stones everywhere indicate by their shape the abrasion and agitation produced by that element. All along the borders of the western rivers and lakes there are small mounds or heaps of gravel of a conical form, erected by the fish for the protection of their spawn ; these fish- banks are found in a state that cannot be mistaken, at the foot of the ridge, on the side towards the lake : on the op- posite side none have been discovered. All rivers and streams which enter the lake from the south have their mouths affected with sand in a peculiar way, from the prev- alence and power of the northwesterly winds. The points of the creeks which pass through this ridge correspond ex- actly in appearance with the entrance of the streams into the lakes. These facts evince beyond doubt that Lake On- tario has, perhaps, one or two thousand years ago, receded from this elevated ground. And the cause of this retreat must be ascribed to its having enlarged its former outlet, or to its imprisoned waters (aided, probably, by an earthquake) forcing a passage down the present bed of the St. Law- rence, as the Hudson did at the Highlands, and the Mohawk at Little Falls. On the south side of this great ridge, in
[* The Ridge likewise extends east of the Genesee River. See Geological Sketches in this volume.]
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