USA > New York > The history of the late province of New-York, from its discovery, to the appointment of Governor Colden, in 1762. Vol. I > Part 6
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" May it please your royal highness,
" We should be very unworthy of the great benefits and advantages we have received under your just and gentle government, in so happy a climate, where every one enjoys his own just rights, liberties, and privileges, if we should still ungrate- fully continue in a silent neglect of a due acknow- ledgment of your royal highness, so often.
" We do, therefore, beseech your royal highness to accept our most humble and most hearty thanks, for sending us over the honourable colonel Thomas
* The petition to his royal highness was drawn by the council, the aldermen of New-York, and the justices of the peace at the court of assize, the 29th of June, 1681. I have seen a copy in the hands of Lewis Morris, Esq. It contains many severe reflections upon the tyranny of Sir Edmond Andross.
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Dongan, to be lieutenant and governor of this province, of whose integrity, justice, equity, and prudence, we have already had a very sufficient experience at our last general court of assizes. And that your royal highness might accumulate your gracious favours, and oblige not only us but succeeding generations, it has pleased your royal highness to grant us a general assembly, to be held the 17th of this instant October, in your city of New-York ; a benevolence of which we have a larger and more grateful sense than can be ex- pressed in this paper. And that it may appear that loyalty has spread as far into these parts of America, we will be always ready to offer up with our hearty prayers, both our lives and fortunes, for the defence of our most gracious sovereign, the king's most sacred majesty, and your royal highness, against all enemies whatsoever.
" New- York, October 9th, 1683."
It would have been impossible for him much longer to have maintained the old model over free subjects, who had just before formed themselves into a colony for the enjoyment of their liberties, and had even already solicited the protection of the colony of Connecticut, from whence the greatest part of them came. Disputes relating to the limits of certain townships at the east end of Long Island, sowed the seeds of enmity against Dongan, so deeply in the hearts of many who were concerned in them, that their representation to Connecticut, at the revolution, contains the bitterest invectives against him.
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Dongan surpassed all his predecessors, in a due attention to our affairs with the Indians, by whom he was highly esteemed. It must be remembered to his honour, that though he was ordered by the duke to encourage the French priests, who were come to reside among the natives, under pretence of advancing the Popish cause, but in reality to gain them over to a French interest ; yet he forbid the Five Nations to entertain them. The jesuits, how- ever, had no small success. Their proselytes are called Praying Indians, or Caghnuagaes, and reside now in Canada, at the Fall of St. Louis, opposite to Montreal. This village was begun in 1671, and consists of such of the Five Nations, as have for- merly been drawn away by the intrigues of the French priests, in the times of Lovelace and Andross, who seem to have paid no attention to our Indian affairs .* It was owing to the instigation also of these priests, that the Five Nations about this time, committed hostilities on the back parts of Maryland and Virginia, which occasioned a grand convention at Albany, in the year 1684. Lord Howard of Effingham, the governor of Virginia, was present, and made a covenant with them for preventing further depredations, towards the ac- complishment of which Colonel Dongan was very instrumental.t Doctor Colden has published this treaty at large, but as it has no immediate connec- tion with the affairs of this province, I beg leave to
* Of late, some others of the Confederates have been allured to settle at Os- wegatchi, called by the French, la Gallette, near fifty miles below Frontenac. General Shirley's emissaries from Oswego, in 1755, prevailed with several of these families to return to their old habitations.
t This covenant was ratified in 1685, and at several times since.
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refer the reader for a full account of it to his His- tory of the Five Nations.
While Lord Howard was at Albany, a messenger from De la Barre, then governor of Canada, arrived there, complaining of the Seneca Indians, for in- terrupting the French in their trade with the more distant Indians, commonly included among us by the general name of the Far Nations .* Colonel Dongan, to whom the message was sent, commu- nicated it to the Senecas, who admitted the charge, but justified their conduct, alleging, that the French supplied arms and ammunition to the Twightwies, f with whom they were then at war. De la Barre, at the same time, meditating nothing less than the total destruction of the Five Nations, proceeded with an army of 1,700 men to the Lake Ontario. Mighty preparations were made to obtain the desired suc- cess : fresh troops were imported from France, and a letter procured from the duke of York to colonel Dongan, commanding him to lay no obstacles in the way. The officers posted in the out forts, even as far as Messilimakinac, were ordered to rendezvous at Niagara, with all the Western Indians they could engage. Dongan, regardless of the duke's orders, apprised the Indians of the French designs, and promised to assist them. After six weeks delay at Fort Frontenac, during which time a great sickness, occasioned by bad provisions, broke out in the French army, De la Barre found it necessary to
* By the Far Nations, are meant all those numerous tribes inhabiting the countries on both sides of the lakes Huron and Erie, westward as far as the Missisippi, and the southern country along the banks of the Ohio, and its branches.
* By the French called Miamies.
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conclude the campaign with a treaty, for which purpose he crossed the lake, and came to the place which, from the distress of his army, was called la Famine. Dongan sent an interpreter among the Indians, by all means to prevent them from attend- ing the treaty. The Mohawks and Senecas ac- cordingly refused to meet De la Barre, but the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas, influenced by the missionaries, were unwilling to hear the inter- preter, except before the priests, one La Maine, and three other Frenchmen, and afterwards waited upon the French governor. Two days after their arrival in the camp, Monsieur De la Barre address- ing himself to Garrangula, an Onondaga chief, made the following speech, the Indians and French officers at the same time forming a circle round about him.
" The king, my master, being informed that the Five Nations have often infringed the peace, has ordered me to come hither with a guard, and to send Ohguesse to the Onondagas, to bring the chief sachems to my camp. The intention of the great king is, that you and I may smoke the calumet of peace together ; but on this condition, that you promise me, in the name of the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Mohawks, to give entire satisfac- tion and reparation to his subjects, and for the future, never to molest them.
"The Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks, have robbed and abused all the traders that were passing to the Illinois and Miamies, and other Indian nations, the children of my king. They have acted on these occasions, contrary to the treaty
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of peace with my predecessor. I am ordered, there- fore, to demand satisfaction, and to tell them, that in case of refusal, or their plundering us any more, that I have express orders to declare war. This belt confirms my words. The warriors of the Five Nations have conducted the English into the lakes, which belong to the king, my master, and brought the English among the nations that are his children, to destroy the trade of his subjects, and to withdraw these nations from him. They have carried the English thither, notwithstanding the prohibition of the late governor of New-York, who foresaw the risk that both they and you would run. I am wil- ling to forget those things, but if ever the like shall happen for the future, I have express orders to declare war against you. This belt confirms my words. Your warriors have made several barbarous incursions on the Illinois and Miamies ; they have massacred men, women, and children, and have made many of these nations prisoners, who thought themselves safe in their villages in time of peace ; these people, who are my king's children, must not be your slaves ; you must give them their liberty, and send them back into their own country. If the Five Nations shall refuse to do this, I have express orders to declare war against them. This belt con- firms my words.
" This is what I have to say to Garrangula, that he may carry to the Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Mohawks, the declaration which the king, my master, has commanded me to make. He doth not wish them to force him to send a great army to Cadaracqui Fort, to begin a war, which must be
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fatal to them. He would be sorry that this fort, that was the work of peace, should become the prison of your warriors. We must endeavour, on both sides, to prevent such misfortunes. The French, who are the brethren and friends of the Five Na- tions, will never trouble their repose, provided that the satisfaction which I demand, be given ; and that the treaties of peace be hereafter observed. I shall be extremely grieved, if my words do not produce the effect which I expect from them ; for then I shall be obliged to join with the governor of New- York, who is commanded by his master to assist me, and burn the castles of the Five Nations, and destroy you. This belt confirms my words.
Garrangula heard these threats with contempt, because he had learnt the distressed state of the French army, and knew that they were incapable of executing the designs with which they set out ; and, therefore, after walking five or six times round the circle, he answered the French governor, who sat in an elbow chair, in the following strain :
"Yonnondio, I honour you, and the warriors that are with me likewise honour you. Your interpreter has finished your speech ; I now begin mine. My words make haste to reach your ears : hearken to them.
" Yonnondio, you must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests, which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so far overflown the banks, that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them. Yes, Yonnondio, surely you must have dreamt so, VOL. I .- 10
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and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I and the warriors here present, are come to assure you, that the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks, are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessor re- ceived from their hands. It was happy for you, that you left under ground that murdering hatchet that has been so often dyed in the blood of the French. Hear, Yonnondio, I do not sleep, I have my eyes open, and the sun, which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lake to smoke on the great calumet with the Onondagas. But Garrangula says, that he sees the contrary, that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French.
" I see Yonnondio raving in a camp of sick men, whose lives the great spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness on them. Hear, Yonnondio, our women had taken their clubs, our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camp, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messenger, Ohguesse, came to our castles. It is done, and I have said it. Hear, Yonnondio, we plundered none of the French, but those that carried guns, powder, and ball to the Twightwies and Chictaghicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who stave all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians
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should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beaver enough to pay for all these arms that they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of the war. This belt preserves my words.
" We carried the English into our lakes to trade there with the Utawawas and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry on the trade, which the English say is theirs. We are born free ; we neither depend on Yonnondio' nor Corlear.
" We may go where we please, and carry with us whom we please, and buy and sell what we please : if your allies be your slaves, use them as such, command them to receive no other but your people. This belt preserves my words.
" We knocked the Twightwies and Chictaghicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted beavers on our lands : they have acted contrary to the customs of all Indians ; for they left none of the beavers alive, they killed both male and female. They brought the Satanas* into the coun- try to take part with them, after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many Indian nations, and chased them from their own country. This belt preserves my words.
" Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear what they answer-open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Cayu-
* By the French called Sanounons.
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gas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks say, that when they buried the hatchet at Cadaracqui, (in the presence of your predecessor,) in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved, that, in place of a retreat for soldiers, that fort might be a ren- dezvous for merchants : that in place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and merchandise should only enter there.
" Hear, Yonnondio, take care for the future, that so great a number of soldiers as appear there do not choke the tree of peace planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if, after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth and prevent its covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you, in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet on their matts, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnondio or Corlear shall either jointly or separately endeavour to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words, and this other, the autho- rity which the Five Nations have given me."
Then Garrangula, addressing himself to Monsieur La Main, said, " Take courage Ohguesse, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing, tell all that your brethren and friends say to Yonnondio, your governor, by the mouth of Garrangula, who loves you, and desires you to accept of this present of beaver and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This present of beaver is sent · to Yonnondio, on the part of the Five Nations."
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Enraged at this bold reply, De la Barre, as soon as the peace was concluded, retired to Montreal, and ingloriously finished an expensive campaign, as doctor Colden observes, in a scold with an old Indian.
De la Barre was succeeded by the marquis De Nonville, colonel of the dragoons, who arrived with a reinforcement of troops in 1685. The marquis was a man of courage and an enterprising spirit, and not a little animated by the consideration that he was sent over to repair the disgrace which his predecessor had brought upon the French colony. The year after his arrival at Quebec, he wrote a letter to the minister in France, recommending the scheme of erecting a stone fort sufficient to contain four or five hundred men, at Niagara, not only to exclude the English from the lakes, but to command the fur trade and subdue the Five Nations. Dongan, who was jealous of his designs, took umbrage at the extraordinary supplies sent to Fort Frontenac, and wrote to the French governor, signifying that if he attacked the Confederates, he would consider it as a breach of the peace subsisting between the two crowns; and to prevent his build- ing a fort at Niagara, he protested against it, and claimed the country as dependent upon the province. De Nonville, in his answer, denied that he intended to invade the Five Nations, though the necessary . preparations for that purpose were then carrying on, and yet Charlevoix commends him for his piety and uprightness, " egalement estimable (says the Jesuit,) pour sa valeur, sa droiture, et sa pieté." Colonel Dongan, who knew the importance of our
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Indian alliance, placed no confidence in the decla- rations of the marquis, but exerted himself in pre- paring the Confederates for a war; and the French author just mentioned, does him honour, while he complains of him as a perpetual obstacle in the way of the execution of their schemes. Our allies were now triumphing in their success over the Chig- taghics, and meditating a war with the Twightwies, who had disturbed them in their beaver-hunting. De Nonville, to prevent the interruption of the French trade with the Twightwies, determined to divert the Five Nations, and carry the war into their country. To that end, in 1687, he collected two thousand troops and six hundred Indians at Mon- treal, and issued orders to all the officers in the more westerly country, to meet him with additional succours at Niagara, on an expedition against the Senecas. An English party under one M'Gregory, at the same time was gone out to trade on the lakes, but the French, notwithstanding the peace then subsisting between the two crowns, intercepted them, seized their effects and imprisoned their per- sons. Monsieur Tonti, commandant among the Chictaghics, who was coming to the general's ren- dezvous at Niagara, did the like to another English party which he met with in lake Erie .* The Five Nations, in the mean time, were preparing to give
the French army a suitable reception. Monsieur Companie, with two or three hundred Canadians in an advanced party surprised two villages of the
* Both these attacks were open infractions of the treaty at Whitehall, executed in November, 1686; by which it was agreed, that the Indian trade in America, should be free to the English and French.
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Confederates, who, at the invitation and on the faith of the French, seated themselves down about eight leagues from lake Cadaracqui or Ontario. To pre- vent their escape with intelligence to their country- men, they were carried to the fort, and all but thirteen died in torments at the stake, singing with an heroic spirit, in their expiring moments, the perfidy of the French. The rest, according to the express orders of the French king, were sent to the galleys in Europe. The marquis having em- barked his whole army in canoes, set out from the fort at Cadaracqui on the 23d of June, one half of them passing along the north, and the other on the south side of the lake; and both arrived the same day at Tyrondequait, and shortly after set out on their march towards the chief village of the Senecas, at about seven leagues distance. The main body was composed of the regulars and militia ; the front and rear of the Indians and traders. The scouts ad- vanced the second day of their march, as far as the corn of the village, and within pistol-shot of five hun- dred Senecas, who lay upon their bellies undisco- vered. The French, who imagined the enemy were all fled, quickened their march to overtake the women and old men. But no sooner had they reached the foot of a hill, about a mile from the village, than the Senecas raised the war shout, and in the same instant charged upon the whole army both in the front and rear. Universal confusion ensued. The battalions divided, fired upon each other, and flew into the wood. The Senecas improved the dis- order of the enemy, till they were repulsed by the French Indians. According to Charlevoix's ac-
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count, which may justly be suspected, the enemy lost but six men, and had twenty wounded in the con- flict. Of the Senecas, he says, sixty were wounded and forty-five slain. The marquis was so much dis- pirited, that he could not be persuaded to pursue the enemy that day; which gave the Senecas an opportunity to burn their village and get off. Two old men remained in the castle to receive the gene- ral, and regale the barbarity of his Indian allies. After destroying the corn in this and several other villages, the army retired to the banks of the lake, and erected a fort with four bastions on the south- east side of the straits at Niagara, in which they left one hundred men, under the command of Le Chevalier de la Troye, with eight months' provisions; but these being closely blocked up, all, except seven or eight of them, who were accidentally relieved, perished through famine .* Soon after this expedi- tion, colonel Dongan met the Five Nations at Albany. To what intent, appears from the speech he made to them on the 5th of August, which I choose to lay before the reader, to show his vigi- lance and zeal for the interest of his master, and the common weal of the province committed to his care.
" Brethren, I am very glad to see you here in this house, and am heartily glad that you have
* Nothing can be more perfidious and unjust, than this attack upon our Confederates. The two crowns had but just concluded a treaty for the preser- vation of the peace. La Hontan, one of the French historians censures De Nonville's conduct, and admits the British title to the command of the lakes, but Charlevoix blames him, as he does Hennepin, De L'Isle, and every other author, who confesses the truth, to the prejudice of the ambitious claims of the court of France.
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sustained no greater loss by the French, though I believe it was their intention to destroy you all, if they could have surprised you in your castles.
" As soon as I heard their design to war with you, I gave you notice, and came up hither myself, that I might be ready to give all the assistance and advice that so short a time would allow me.
" I am now about sending a gentleman to Eng- land, to the king, my master, to let him know, that the French have invaded his territories on this side of the great Lake, and warred upon the brethren, his subjects. I, therefore, would willingly know, whether the brethren have given the governor of Canada any provocation or not ; and if they have, how, and in what manner ; because I am obliged to give a true account of this matter. This business may cause a war between the king of England, and the French king, both in Europe and here, and therefore I must know the truth.
" I know the governor of Canada dare not enter into the king of England's territories, in a hostile manner, without provocation, if he thought the brethren were the king of England's subjects ; but you have, two or three years ago, made a covenant- chain with the French, contrary to my command, which I knew could not hold long, being void of itself among Christians; for as much as subjects (as you are) ought not to treat with any foreign nation, it not lying in your power. You have brought this trouble on yourselves, and, as I believe, this is the only reason of their falling on you at this time.
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" Brethren, I took it very ill, that after you had put yourselves into the number of the great king of England's subjects, you should ever offer to make peace or war, without my consent. You know that we can live without you, but you cannot live with- out us ; you never found that I told you a lie, and I offered you the assistance you wanted, provided that you would be advised by me; for I know the French better than any of you do.
" Now since there is a war begun upon you by the governor of Canada, I hope without any provo- cation by you given, I desire and command you, that you hearken to no treaty but by my advice ; which if you follow, you shall have the benefit of the great chain of friendship between the great king of England, and the king of France, which came out of England the other day, and which I have sent to Canada by Anthony le Junard ; in the mean time, I will give you such advice as will be for your good ; and will supply you with such · necessaries as you will have need of.
" 1st. My advice is, as to what prisoners of the French you shall take, that you draw not their blood, but bring them home, and keep them to exchange for your people, which they have prisoners already, or may take hereafter.
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