USA > New York > Fulton County > The border warfare of New York, during the revolution; or, The annals of Tryon county > Part 4
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much reason to think that these groundless reports have been raised and industriously propagated, in your own phraseology, by some busy people in your county, to rouse up the Indians from their peaceful habitations, and take up arms against such of our American brethren as are engaged on the part of America in the unhappy contest between Great Brit- ain and her colonies.
" As it appears from your letter, that you consider the station wherein you are placed, as superintendent of Indian affairs, to be of the highest importance to the public, we hope that you will use all possible means in your power to restore peace and tranquillity among the Indians, and assure them, that the report propagated prejudicial to you or to them is totally groundless of any just foundation, and that nothing will afford His Majesty's subjects in general a greater satisfaction, than to be and continue with them on the strictest terms of peace and friendship."
A letter was also written by the Albany committee to Guy Johnson, of the same purport ; also one to the Tryon County committee, informing them that they had no ammunition for them, and advising, as the most prudent course, not to attempt to open by force the communication between the two counties. This proposition was abandoned. Four members were, however, sent to Albany, who were directed to obtain all the information possible relative to the situation of the country, and also to procure a quantity of powder and lead, for the payment for which the committee themselves became responsible. In consequence of
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some threats of Guy Johnson, the following resolution was unanimously adopted :
" That, whereas, the persons of some of the mem- bers of this committee have been threatened with imprisonment on account of their being concerned in our just opposition, in which case we do associate and unite together, that to the utmost of our power we will do our endeavors by force, or otherwise, to rescue them from imprisonment, unless such person or per- sons are confined by a legal process, issued upon a legal ground, and executed in a legal manner."
Secrecy as to all proceedings, except those which were to be published, was enjoined upon all the mem- bers. Resolutions were adopted, by which they bound themselves to have no connection or dealing with those who had not signed the association. The own- ers of slaves were directed not to suffer them to go from home, unless with a certificate that they were employed in their master's business. They assumed the exercise of legislative, executive, and judicial powers. The members scattered over the County as sub-committees, and aided by the Whigs, who entered upon the measures proposed by the committee with great zeal, were generally enabled to bring their plans to a successful termination.
On the 25th of May, the Indian council which had been called met at Guy Park. Delegates from Albany and Tryon counties were present. The Mohawks alone appear to have been represented in it. Little Abraham, chief of the Mohawks, speaker, said : " He was glad to meet them and to hear the reports con- cerning taking Guy Johnson, their superintendent,
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were false. That the Indians do not wish to have a quarrel with the inhabitants. That during Sir Wil- liam Johnson's lifetime, and since, we have been peaceably disposed. That the Indians are alarmed on account of the reports that our powder was stopped. We get our things from superintendent. If we lived as you do, it would not be so great a loss. If our am- munition is stopped we shall distrust you. We are pleased to hear you say, you will communicate freely, and we will at all times listen to what you say in pres- ence of our superintendent."
The committee, after consulting, replied : " That they were glad to hear them confirm the old friend- ship of their forefathers-that the reports were false- whenever they had any business they would apply at their council-fires in presence of their superintendent."
The speaker of the Mohawks replied : "The In- dians are glad that you are not surprised we cannot spare Col. Johnson. The love we have for the mem- ory of Sir William Johnson, and the obligations the whole Six Nations are under to him, must make us regard and protect every branch of his family. That . we will explain these things to all the Indians, and hope you will do the same to your people." The council broke up with apparent good feeling on all sides, which it was hoped and expected would con- tinue.
On the 2d day of June, 1775, a meeting of the committee was held, at which the members from the Mohawk district were for the first time present, hav- ing been kept away by the Johnsons. The whole county was now represented, and as this was the first
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united meeting, it may be interesting to some to give the names of this body of men, who had so often professed their willingness to peril their lives and pro- perty in defense of the liberties of their country. (From Palatine district,) Christopher P. Yates, John Frey, Andrew Fink, Andrew Reeber, Peter Waggon- er, Daniel McDougal, Jacob Klock, George Ecker, Jr., Harmanus Van Slyck, Christopher W. Fox, Anthony Van Veghten-(Canajoharie district,) Nicholas Her- kimer, Ebenezer Cox, William Seeber, John Moore, Samuel Campbell, Samuel Clyde, Thomas Henry, John Pickard-(Kingsland and German Flats district,) Edward Wall, William Petry, John Petry, Augus- tine Hess, Frederick Orendorf, George Wentz, Michael Ittig, Frederick Fox, George Herkimer, Duncan Mc- Dougal, Frederick Helmer, John Frink-(Mohawk district,) John Morlett, John Bliven, Abraham Van Horne, Adam Fonda, Frederick Fisher, Sampson Simmons, William Schuyler, Volkert Veeder, James McMaster, Daniel Lane -- 42. Christopher P. Yates was chosen chairman of this body. He had been chairman of the Palatine committee, and had drafted most of the foregoing letters and spirited resolutions. The following letter was written to Guy Johnson at this meeting :
" According to the example of the counties in this and the neighboring colonies, the people of the dis- trict we represent have met in a peaceable manner to consider of the present dispute with the mother coun- try and the colonies, signed a general association, and appointed us a committee to meet in order to consult the common safety of our rights and liberties, which
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are infringed in a most enormous manner, by enforc- ing opppressive and unconstitutional acts of the Brit- ish Parliament, by an armed force in the Massachusetts Bay.
" Was it any longer a doubt that we are oppressed by the mother country, and that it is the avowed de- sign of the ministers to enslave us, we might perhaps be induced to use argument, to point out in what par- ticulars we conceive that it is the birthright of English subjects to be exempted from all taxes, except those which are laid on them by their representatives, and think we have a right, not only by the laws and con- stitution of England to meet for the purpose we have done: Which meeting, we probably would have postponed a while, had there been the least kind of probability that the petition of the General Assembly would have been noticed more than the united peti- tion of almost the whole continent of America, by their delegates in Congress. Which, so far from being any ways complied with, was treated with superlative contempt by the ministry, and fresh oppressions were, and are, daily heaped upon us. Upon which princi- ples, principles which are undeniable, we have been appointed to consult methods to contribute what little lies in our power to save our devoted country from ruin and devastation ; which, with the assistance of Divine Providence, it is our fixed and determined res- olution to do ; and if called upon we shall be foremost in sharing the toil and danger of the field. We con- sider New England suffering in the common cause, and commiserate their distressed situation ; and we should be wanting in our duty to our country, and to
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ourselves, if we were any longer backward in an- nouncing our determination to the world.
" We know that some of the members of this com- mittee have been charged with compelling people to come into the measures which we have adopted, and with drinking treasonable toasts. But as we are con- vinced that these reports are false and malicious, spread by our enemies with the sole intent to lessen us in the esteem of the world, and as we are conscious of being guilty of no crime, and of having barely done our duty, we are entirely unconcerned as to anything that is said of us, or can be done with us. We should, however, be careless of our character, did we not wish to detect the despicable wretch who could be so base as to charge us with things which we never have en- tertained the most distant thoughts of. We are not ignorant of the very great importance of your office, as superintendent of the Indians, and therefore it is no more our duty, than inclination, to protect you in the discharge of the duty of your proper province ; and we meet you with pleasure in behalf of ourselves and our constituents, to thank you for meeting the Indians in the upper parts of the County, which may be the means of easing the people of the remainder of their fears on this account, and prevent the Indians com- mitting irregularities on their way down to Guy Park. And we beg of you to use your endeavors with the Indians to dissuade them from interfering in the dis- pute with the mother country and the colonies. We cannot think that, as you and your family possess very large estates in this County, you are unfavorable to American freedom, although you may differ with us
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in the mode of obtaining a redress of grievances. Permit us further to observe, that we cannot pass over in silence the interruption which the people of the Mohawk district met in their meeting ; which, we are informed, was conducted in a peaceable manner; and the inhuman treatment of a man whose only crime was being faithful to his employers, and refusing to give an account of the receipt of certain papers, to persons who had not the least color of right to demand anything of that kind. We assure you, that we are much concerned about it, as two important rights of English subjects are thereby infringed, to wit, a right to meet and to obtain all the intelligence in their power."
Dissatisfied with the council which had been held at his house, yet professing to be desirous to promote peace between the Indians and the inhabitants, Guy Johnson had called another council to meet in the western part of the County. Under pretense of meet- ing the Indians in this council, he had removed with his family and retinue from Guy Park to the house of Mr. Thomson in Cosby's Manor, a little above the German Flats, where he was waited upon by Edward Wall and Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, with the letter of which the foregoing is a part. To this letter he re- turned the following answer :
" Cosby's Manor, June 6th, 1775. I have received the paper signed Chris. P. Yates, chairman on be- half of the district therein mentioned, which I am now to answer; and shall do it briefly, in the order you have stated matters. As to the letter from some Indians to the Oneidas, I really knew nothing of it till I heard such a thing had been by some means ob-
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tained from an Indian messenger; and from what I have heard of its contents, I can't see anything mate- rial in it, or that could justify such idle apprehensions ; but I must observe that these fears among the people were talked of long before, and were, I fear, propa- gated by some malicious persons for a bad purpose.
" As to your political sentiments, on which you enter in the next paragraph, I have no occasion to en- ter on them or the merits of the cause. I desire to enjoy liberty of conscience and the exercise of my own judgment, and that all others should have the same privilege; but with regard to your saying you might have postponed the affair, if there had been the least kind of probability that the petition of the Gen- eral Assembly would have been noticed, more than that of the delegates, I must, as a true friend to the country, in which I have a large interest, say that the present dispute is viewed in different lights, accord- ing to the education and principles of the parties affected, and that however reasonable it may appear to a considerable number of honest men here, that the petition of the delegates should merit attention, it is not viewed in the same light in a country which ad- mits of no authority that is not constitutionally estab- lished; and I persuade myself you have that reverence for His Majesty, that you will pay due regard to the royal assurance given in his speech to Parliament, that whenever the American grievances should be laid before him by their constitutional assemblies, they should be fully attended to. I have heard that compulsory steps were taken to induce some persons
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to come into your measures, and treasonable toasts drank ; but I am happy to hear you disavow them.
"I am glad to find my calling a congress on the frontiers gives satisfaction ; this was principally my design, though I cannot sufficiently express my sur- prise at those who have, either through malice or ignorance, misconstrued my intentions, and supposed me capable of setting the Indians on the peaceable inhabitants of this county. The interest our family has in this county, and my own, is considerable ; and they have been its best benefactors ; and mali- cious charges, therefore, to their prejudice, are highly injurious, and ought to be totally suppressed.
" The office I hold is greatly for the benefit and protection of this country, and on my frequent meet- ings with the Indians depends their peace and secu- rity ; I therefore cannot but be astonished to find the endeavors made use of to obstruct me in my duties, and the weakness of some people in withholding many things from me, which are indispensably ne- cessary for rendering the Indians contented ; and I am willing to hope that you, gentlemen, will duly con- sider this and discountenance the same.
" You have been much misinformed as to the origin of the reports which obliged me to fortify my house, and stand on my defense. I had it, gentlemen, from undoubted authority from Albany, and since confirm- ed by letters from one of the committee at Philadel- phia, that a large body of men were to make me pris- oner. As the effect this must have on the Indians might have been of dangerous consequences to you, (a circumstance not thought of,) I was obliged at great
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expense to take these measures. But the many re- ports of my stopping travellers were false in every particular, and the only instance of detaining anybody was in the case of two New England men, which I explained fully to those of your body who brought your letter, and wherein I acted strictly agreeable to law, and as a magistrate should have done.
" I am very sorry that such idle and injurious re- ports meet with any encouragement. I rely on you, gentlemen, to exert yourselves in discountenancing them, and am happy in this opportunity of assuring the people of a county I regard, that they have nothing to apprehend from my endeavors, but I shall always be glad to promote their true interests."
During this correspondence, the fears not only of the inhabitants of western New-York, but of all the northern provinces, were excited. They had suffered too much from Indian warfare, to be indifferent to the course which should be adopted by the Six Nations. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts had this subject under consideration on the 13th of June, and sent a circular to the Provincial Congress of New York. The conclusion is as follows :- " We also have had the disagreeable account of methods taken to fill the minds of the Indian tribes adjacent to these colo- nies with sentiments very injurious to us. Particu- larly we have been informed that Col. Guy Johnson has taken great pains with the Six Nations, in order to bring them into a belief that it is designed by the Colonies to fall upon them, and cut them off. We have therefore desired the honorable Continental Con- gress that they would with all convenient speed use
4
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their influence in guarding against the evil intended by this malevolent misrepresentation, and we desire you to join with us in such application."
A letter was immediately written by the New York Congress to Johnson, disclaiming, as had often been done by the committee, any and every intention to injure him or the Indians. (He had removed with his retinue to Fort Stanwix, and thence on to Ontario, where he met 1340 Indian warriors in council.) Pretending unjust interference in the former council, he was sure at this place, so far removed from the settlements of the whites, of-exerting to the best advantage that in- fluence which he derived from British gold, and the merited reputation of his father-in-law. From this place, under date of the 8th of July, he wrote an an- swer to P. V. B. Livingston, Esq., the President of the Congress, in which he complained bitterly of the mal- contents and those who disturb regular governments. This letter is a very loyal one, and concludes thus :- " I should be much obliged by your promises of dis- countenancing any attempt against myself, did they not appear to be made on condition of compliance with continental or provincial congresses, or even committees, formed or to be formed, many of whose resolves may neither consist with my conscience, duty, or loyalty. I trust I shall always manifest more hu- manity than to promote the destruction of the innocent inhabitants of a colony, to which I have been always warmly attached ; a declaration that must appear per- fectly suitable to the character of a man of honor and principle, who can on no account neglect those duties that are consistent therewith, however they may. diffe:
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from sentiments now adopted in so many parts of America."
To the last, Col. Johnson persisted in allegations which had no foundation-allegations which, if true, present the people of Massachusetts and New York warring against their own important interests-a charge which their conduct at this time, and during the war, was far from warranting. They had the desired effect upon the Indians. Having by these and other means secured for the English the attachment of the Indians, Col. Johnson went from Ontario to Oswego, and thence to Montreal, where he took up his resi- dence. During the war he continued to act as agent, distributing to the Indians liberal rewards for their deeds of cruelty, and, by promises, stimulating them to future exertions. It required no uncommon sa- gacity to penetrate his motives, though he had pro- fessed his attachment to this province so warmly and frequently in his letters, and pretended to shudder at the thought of employing the savages against its " in- nocent inhabitants."
The committee entertained suspicions of his ulti- mate designs, too well founded, when they saw him moving up the Mohawk with his family, and accom- panied by a large number of dependents. The un- armed state-of the inhabitants would not, however, warrant any attempt to check his movements. Be- sides, such a step, though recommended by some, would not have been considered justifiable by a major- ity of the Whigs, as Johnson had not yet committed any act of hostility.
Few of the Mohawks returned to their native homes
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upon the banks of that river which bears their name. The graves of their ancestors were abandoned. Their council-fires were extinguished. Every movement in- dicated the gathering of that storm so much dreaded, and which afterward burst with such desolating effects upon the inhabitants of this defenseless frontier. Those inhabitants had the satisfaction of reflecting that it was a calamity which they had not called down upon themselves, but which they had labored with all their powers to avert. They had proffered to their red brethren the calumet of peace, though in vain. That the Indians, and especially the Mohawks, should have remained attached to the English government is by no means strange; for they had been furnished by that government with the necessaries of life, and with arms and other munitions, both for the chase and for war; and the chain of their friendship had been brightened by constant use for more than an hundred years.
We find therefore not so much to censure in the conduct of the Indians themselves, as in that of the British ministers, who reccommended the plan of employing them in the war, and in that of their agents, who carried that plan into effect. It has rendered in- famous the names of men who might otherwise have been ranked among the great and good of our country, and it has imprinted a dark spot upon the pages of English history. This was pretended at the time to be a retaliatory measure, and was justified on that ground.
But no plan for employing the Indians is believed to have been recommended or adopted, by either the continental or any of the provincial congresses. If such a course was ever mentioned, it was probably by
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private, unauthorized persons. It would have argued an extreme of weakness to have provoked, by setting the example, the employment of such a foe in a war which was to be carried on in their own territory, and where, if acts of cruelty were committed, their own wives and children must necessarily be the sufferers .*
The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, missionary to the Oneidas, was requested to use his influence with that tribe, and endeavor to persuade them to remain neu- tral during the war. Several conferences were held with them. On the 28th of June, the Oneidas and Tuscaroras assembled at the German Flats, where they were met by the inhabitants of that district, and ยท the delegates from Albany. The inhabitants of the Flats delivered to them the following speech :
" Brothers ! We are glad to have you here to re- turn you thanks. We should have been much pleased to have spoken with you at the appointed place ; that is, by your superintendent, where of late you kept your council-fire ; but since his removing so far from us, we do not think it wrong or imprudent to commu- nicate our sentiments of peace to you here. It is at this place, brothers, it has often been done, and here again we renew it, and brighten the old chain of peace and brotherly love.
" Brothers ! We cannot see the cause of your late council-fire, or superintendent going away from among
* See Appendix, M. Since this volume was written, the author has had access to the documents procured in England by the agent of the State, J. Romeyn Brodhead, Esq., and they fully confirm the views originally expressed, and the reader who is interested in the subject will find it discussed in the Appendix.
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us. We did him no harm, and you well know that none of us ever did, and you may depend on it, there was no such thing meant against him. He told our people he was going up to Thompson's (Cosby's Manor) to hold a council-fire with our brothers the Five Nations there. We helped him to provisions to support you there, and every thing we had that he wanted. But he is gone away from among us, and told some of our people, that he would come back with company which would not please us; which, if true, it is certain his intentions are bad, and he may depend that whatever force he may or can bring, we regard not. .
" Brothers ! Our present meeting does not arise from any unfriendly thoughts we entertain of you, or from any fear of ourselves. It is purely on account of the old friendship which has so long been kept up be- tween us, that friendship we want to maintain. It is that friendship which will be an equal benefit to us. It is as much wanted on your side as ours.
" Brothers ! We cannot too much express our satis- faction of your conduct toward us by your late pro- ceedings with the superintendent, at the carrying place, for which we are also obliged to you, and do not doubt but that your conduct will be blessed with greater benefits than any other of those who will hurry themselves into mischief ; which can never be of any other benefit to them, but sorrow for the inno- cent blood that may be shed on an occasion wherewith they have no concern.
" We look to you, particularly, to be men of more understanding than others, by the benefits you have
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received in learning ; wherefore we confide and trust the more freely in you, that you can communicate to the other tribes and nations, the error they want to lead you in, and cannot doubt but your wisdom and influence with the other nations will be attended with that happy success which will hereafter be a blessing to you and your posterity.
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