USA > Ohio > History of the state of Ohio > Part 30
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2) American Archives, fourth series, vol. i., p. 1222.
3) Netawatwes. The details of Wood's journey are compiled from Amer- ican Archives, fourth series, vol. iii., p. 76-an account dated August 15, 1775-without change in the names of persons and places.
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A VIRGINIA ENVOY.
same speech to them as to the Delawares; but their only answer was, that they would acquaint the rest of the tribe with what he had said. These Indians, Wood remarks, ap- peared very angry, and behaved with great insolence.
On the 27th of July, Capt. Wood had a hearing at the Wyandot Town. A chief, War Post, postponed a reply until the next day, when they would meet him in the Council House. Meanwhile, War Post and six others came privately to the Virginian, " to talk with him as friends," they said. They had always understood the English had but one king, who lived over the Great River ; they were much surprised lately to hear that there was a war, and several engagements at Boston, where a great many men were killed on both sides ; and as they had heard many different stories, they would be glad to know the truth. Capt. Wood then explained to them the nature of the dispute, and the general union of the colo- nies : removing an error into which the Wyandots had been led, that the Virginians were a distinct people from the other colonies. On the following day, War Post replied publicly, that they had fully considered the message, and thought it good, but they would be ruled in the matter by their chiefs beyond Lake Erie.
Wood reached the Shawanese towns on the 31st. Here he found much excitement from the alarming reports brought by one Chennsan, or the Judge, who had just escaped from Williamsburg, where he had been detained as a hostage. He said that all the people of Virginia, except the Governor, were determined on war with the Indians ; that he had barely escaped with his life, but there was no doubt that his fellow- hostages, Cuttenwa and Newa, were killed. Capt. Wood was soon confronted with the fugitive, denied his whole story, and assured the Shawanese present that Cuttenwa and Newa
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
were on the way, riding leisurely back to their towns, and that Chennsan, by his flight, had lost a horse, saddled and bridled, besides other presents. This explanation quieted the crowd, and on the 2d of August, the Shawanese were likewise invited to the council at Fort Pitt, and responded with pacific assurances.4
On the return of Wood to Virginia, it was known that Messrs. Franklin, Henry and Wilson had been appointed by Congress Commissioners of Indian Affairs for the Middle Department (including the Ohio tribes), and we presume that it was under their direction that the conference at Fort Pitt, of September, 1775, was held. Perhaps Mr. John Gibson, who then represented the Virginia commissioners at that place, may have held a separate interview with the chiefs ; but Heckewelder is an authority, that the Delawares then heard from the representatives of Congress the celebra- ted allegory of the oppressive father and his pack-laden son. This address was forwarded to all the Indian tribes of the country, and its purport is apparent from a brief extract :- " We desire you will hear and receive what we have now told you, and that you will open a good ear and listen to what we are going to say. This is a family quarrel between us and Old England. You Indians are not concerned in it. We do not wish you to take up the hatchet against the king's troops. We desire you to remain at home, and not join on either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep. In the name and behalf of all our people, we ask and desire you to love peace and maintain it, and to love and sympathize with us in
4) The reader will readily identify the localities visited by Wood-first at Coshocton; two days afterwards, either near the mouth of Vernon River, or at the village on the Lake fork of the Muskingum; then two days after at Upper Sandusky, and finally at the Shawanese villages within what is now Logan county
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ACTION BY CONGRESS.
our troubles : that the path may be kept open with all our people and yours, to pass and repass without molestation."
It is probable that in the spring of 1776, some confusion resulted from the fact that Richard Butler was acting as United States agent, and John Gibson as agent of Virginia, to the Western Indians : while Alexander McKee, formerly a deputy of the British superintendent, was still at Pittsburgh, although under parol "not to transact any business with the Indians on behalf of the crown or ministry." On the 8th of April, Mr. Butler wrote to Col. James Wilson, that Guyasotha (he calls him Kiosola, but it can be no other than the noted Seneca chief who lived on the head waters of the Ohio,) had failed, in the fall of 1775, to carry a big belt from the United States to the Western tribes, as he had agreed to do. When asked by Butler the reason for this failure, Guyasotha said that Captain Pipe did not meet him at the Moravian town, nor had two Delawares joined him at Wyandot town, according to the promises of Gibson. Butler also mentions, that Logan had threatened Gibson, and that the latter arrived on the 9th of April, with some Shawanese white prisoners and slaves, probably in further redemption of Cornstalk's stipulations with Lord Dunmore, in October, 1774. Perhaps Congress proposed, by the appointment of Col. George Morgan on the 10th of April, as Indian agent for the Middle Department, to adjust any local jealousy or conflict of jurisdiction, which might have existed between Butler and Gibson.
On the date of Morgan's appointment, Congress resolved -partly on the petition of Coquataginta or Captain White Eyes, then on a visit to Philadelphia-to employ a preacher, a schoolmaster, and a blacksmith, to live among the Delaware Indians in Ohio; to provide for the entertainment of their
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
chiefs whenever they should visit Fort Pitt, and that a treaty should be effected with the Indians to the westward by the Commissioners of the Middle Department !
The first letters of Col. Morgan, after reaching Pittsburgh, indicated a critical state of affairs on the Ohio frontier. Under date of May 16, he alludes to a council of the Six Nations, then being held at Niagara by Col. John Butler, a British agent, from which he apprehended unpleasant consequences. The proceedings at that conference were well calculated to excite alarm. Nearly one hundred Indians, representing the Six Nations and " a number of the back nations," were induced to visit Col. Guy Johnson at Quebec, after pledging themselves to Butler to "support the King's peace or government." Gen. Schuyler wrote, on the 17th of July, that " one Cajughsoda, from some town toward the Ohio, inveighed bitterly against Butler, on this occasion, for attempting to make the Indians parties to the war." This was undoubtedly the Guyasotha, who is so prominent in the contemporary annals of the Alle- ghany region.
One William Wilson seems to have been a trusted agent of the United States among the Ohio Indians at this time. Col. Morgan hearing that the Niagara conference was soon to be followed by another at Detroit, which Governor Ham- ilton would be sure to manage with even less scruple than Butler had exhibited, sent this Wilson in June to prevent the attendance of the Shawanese, until Morgan should visit them. When the latter arrived, he was referred to the Wyandots (by no means a favorable indication,) and in July, Wilson, accompanied by Cornstalk, a chief called Hardman, and several others, started for the Wyandot towns, with a message from Morgan inviting the Indians to a treaty at Pittsburgh.
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EMBASSY TO DETROIT.
This party first proceeded to a small Shawanese town, about ten miles from the principal towns, where they re- mained ten days. Hardman remained at this village, to meet the " Shade" (another Shawnee chief, who was expected soon to return from Niagara,) while the rest continued their journey to Pluggy's town.5 Here they heard a rumor that the Kentuckians had killed two Shawanese, and it was after- wards ascertained that a party of Shawanese and Cherokees had killed two men, and captured a woman on the Kentucky River. Immediate pursuit was made by the whites: the savages overtaken : two Shawanese killed, and the woman rescued.
While at Pluggy's Town, a French blacksmith residing there overheard the Mingoes plotting to make Wilson and one Joseph Nicholson prisoners and carry them to Detroit; whereupon Cornstalk advised that they should escape by night to Coochocking. They did so, and remained with the friendly Delawares eleven days, King Newcomer (Netawat- wes) dissuading Wilson from going to the Wyandot Towns. Captain Killbuck was sent thither with Col. Morgan's invita- tion, and returned with a message that the Wyandots of Sandusky must first consult their chiefs on the other side of the lake, but desired that Wilson should come on, assuring him of safety. Accordingly, Wilson, the Delaware Killbuck, and two young men started, but were turned back, after going ten miles, by the sickness of Killbuck. Captain White Eyes took his place, and at Winganons Town, six miles from Coochocking, the party was joined by the half-breed, John Montour. Arrived at Detroit, whither Montour piloted them
5) We incline to the opinion that Pluggy's Town was on the west branch of the Muskingum, near the junction with the Vernon River, or Owl creek. See the narrative of Smith's captivity, ante pp. 82, 86.
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
"by a nearer way than Sandusky," Col. Morgan's message to the Wyandots, " the purport of which was to ask their assistance in brightening the chain of friendship with all the western tribes of Indians, and inviting them to a treaty to be held at Pittsburgh in twenty-five days from that time, or the 2d of December," was delivered with a belt by Wilson, and was at first favorably received by the chiefs assembled at the Wyandot village opposite Detroit. As soon, however, as governor Hamilton heard of the arrival and message of the American deputies, he induced the Indians to return the belt, and at a subsequent council held in Detroit, addressed the Wyandots as follows :
" CHILDREN, I am your father, and you are my children. I have always your good at heart. I am sent here to repre- sent the great king over the waters and to take care of you. Those people from whom you received this message are ene- mies and traitors to my king, and before I would take one of them by the hand, I would suffer my right hand to be cut off. When the great king is pleased to make peace with his rebellious children in this big island, I will then give my assistance in making peace between them and the Indians."
" With that," says Wilson, "he tore the speech and cut the belt to pieces, and contemptuously strewed it about the council-house." The governor then made a speech on a tomahawk belt in French to the Wyandots. Their chief delivered the belt to the Cornstalk, who was asked by the governor if he knew what it meant. Cornstalk answered that he did not, and Hamilton then informed him that the belt was put into the hands of the Wyandots in March, desiring them to request the nations who lived next the river from Presque Isle downwards, to be watchful, and inform him if any army attempted to cross the Ohio, but now the belt
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CONFERENCE AT PITTSBURGH.
had a greater meaning, and referred Cornstalk to the Wyan- dots for an explanation. He added that the Cherokees had joined the general cause.
The Mingoes present then produced a black belt, which they said was received from Guy Johnson, in the spring of 1775, and intimated very clearly their hostility to the colo- nies.
Hamilton had previously ordered Wilson to return imme- diately, and he now ordered White Eyes "to leave Detroit before the sun set, as he regarded his head." He told him " that he knew his character well, and so did all the nations present"-adding " that he would lose the last drop of his blood before he would suffer any one nation to come there and destroy the union which was brought about by so many nations."
The Half King of the Wyandots-Pomacan of Sandusky- was at Detroit, and while drinking with John Montour, ex- pressed himself hostile to the Big Knives ; he had accepted a tomahawk belt from Hamilton, but believed that one half of the Wyandots would not join the British. The Cornstalk and Hardman avowed their concurrence in the sentiments of White Eyes, and, upon the whole, Wilson returned to Coo- chocking and thence to Pittsburgh, with a report not so unfa- vorable as was apprehended.
Still, it was not until the last of October, that the council was convened at Fort Pitt. The commissioners-Messrs. Thomas Walker, John Harvey, John Montgomery and J. Yeats-were in attendance early in September, and on the 25th, wrote to a committee of Congress that the frontier had been alarmed by a rumor that fifteen hundred Chippewas and Ottawas were about to rendezvous at Tuscarawas, but which proved unfounded. A letter from Col. Morgan to the
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
president of Congress, dated November 8, announces that the Six Nations, Delawares, Muncies, Mohicans and Shawa- nese had assembled to the number of six hundred and forty- four, with their principal chiefs and warriors, and gave the strongest assurances of peace and neutrality. The most troublesome band in Ohio was an assemblage of "Mingo, Wyandot and Cockanawaga warriors at the Kispapoo town, (as they are described by the commissioners in their letter of September 25) the chief part of whom consist of a ban- ditti, headed by one Pluggy." Col. Morgan thus describes them : "About sixty or seventy families, composed of most of the different tribes of the Six Nations, and a few of the lake Indians, but principally of the Senecas, who removed from near the mouths of Cross creeks, on the Ohio, a few years ago, and are now seated on the heads of the Scioto,6 have been the perpetrators of all the mischief and murders committed on the frontiers of Virginia since the last treaty." Notwithstanding their hostility, he writes that the cloud which threatened to break over the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, had nearly dispersed, and the winter of 1776-7, passed in comparative quiet.
We have elsewhere sketched the Indian administration of Col. George Morgan, and shall hasten to the consideration of the more prominent negotiations with the Ohio tribes.
In 1778, an expedition against Detroit was contemplated, and on the 17th of September, Andrew Lewis and Thomas Lewis, commissioners of the United States, obtained from Captain White Eyes, The Pipe and John Killbuck, Jr., a formal stipulation that the United States might have a free passage through the Delaware country for any expedition against British posts. The treaty also contained an agree-
6) Pluggy's town was probably on the Muskingum.
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TREATY WITH THE DELAWARES.
ment by the United States to construct a fort in the Delaware country, and the tribe are guaranteed all territorial rights as bounded by former treaties.
There are provisions for the mutual forgiveness of offences ; of perpetual peace and defensive alliance-that neither party shall inflict punishments on the citizens of the other, without a fair and impartial trial by judges or juries of both parties, as Congress and Delaware deputies shall prescribe-for the delivery of criminal fugitives-that the United States will appoint an agent to trade with the Delawares on the princi- ples of mutual interest-and, finally, "it is further agreed on between the contracting parties, should it for the future be found conducive for the mutual interest of both parties, to invite any other tribes who have been friends to the interest of the United States, to join the present confederation, and to form a State, whereof the Delaware nation shall be the head, and have a representative in Congress. Provided, nothing contained in this article to be considered as conclu- sive until it meets with the approbation of Congress."7
The treaty is signed by the commissioners and chiefs, as named above, in presence of Lachn. McIntosh, Brigadier General, commandant of the western department; Daniel Brodhead, Colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania regiment ; Wil- liam Crawford, Colonel ; John Gibson, Colonel 13th Virginia regiment ; A. Graham, Brigade Major ; Lach. McIntosh, Jr., Brigade Major ; Joseph L. Finley, Captain 8th Pennsylvania regiment ; John Finley, Captain 8th Pennsylvania regiment.
It is a sad commentary upon the beneficent professions of these " Articles of Agreement and Confederation," that Col. Morgan, who was absent in Philadelphia, should write in the following January, that "there never was a conference with
7) United States Statutes at Large, vol. vii , p. 14.
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
the Indians so improperly or so villainously managed," and that he is " only surprised it had not worse effects."
The friendly Delaware chiefs were occasionally the guests of Congress at Philadelphia, and their territorial claims, on these visits, were very fluctuating. In March, 1776, Captain White Eyes thus defines the grant to the Delawares by their uncles, the Wyandots : "The Ohio River on the south, the west branch of the Muskingum and the Sandusky on the west, Lake Erie on the north, and Presque Isle on the east;" while on the 10th of May, 1779, the Delaware chiefs com- municate the boundaries of their country, "From the mouth of the Alleghany River at Fort Pitt, to Venango, and from thence up French creek, and by LeBoeuf, along the old road to Presque Isle, on the east ; the Ohio River, including all the islands in it from Fort Pitt to the Onabache, on the south ; thence up the river Onabache to the branch Ope- comeecah, and up the same to the head thereof, and from thence to the head waters and springs of the most north- western branches of the Scioto River, thence to the head westernmost springs of Sandusky River, thence down the said river, including the islands in it, and the Little Lake, to Lake Erie, on the west and northwest; and Lake Erie on the north."
Allusion has already been made, with sufficient particular- ity,8 to the submission of Doonyontat, a Wyandot chief, and Keeshmatsee, a chief of the Maginchee, or Machacheek tribe of Shawanese, to Col. Brodhead, which occurred September 14th, 1779, at Fort Pitt, on the return of that officer from his expedition against the Seneca towns. The mediator on that occasion was Kelleleman, or Killbuck.
Very soon, there was no room for negotiation with the
8) See Chapter xix., p. 308.
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TREATY OF FORT STANWIX.
Western savages. Except a few Delawares-who were be- come a minority of the tribe-the whole wilderness of Ohio succumbed to British influence ; and it was not until after the peace of 1783 with Great Britain, that the humbled tribes, abandoned by their ally, rekindled the council fires.
TREATY OF FORT STANWIX IN 1784.9
The site of Rome, in New York, was the scene of a highly important negotiation between Oliver Wolcott, Richard But- ler and Arthur Lee, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the representatives of the Six Nations, which continued from the 3d to the 22d of October, when the treaty was signed.
The attitude assumed on this occasion by the commission- ers was closely connected with the history of the West during the next twenty years. A full abstract of their transactions will therefore be presented.
On the first day, the commissioners met several of the Indians from the different nations at the council place, and announced their official character and purpose. The usual formula was varied so far as to add, that they proposed to " give peace and good counsel to those who have been un- fortunately led astray by evil advisers." It was stated that the head men and warriors of the Western nations would attend in a few days, when they would speak more fully. Meanwhile, the Indians were desired to " hearken to the voice of Kayenlaa, the Marquis de Lafayette, a great man among the French, one of the head warriors of the great Onondio," &c.
9) The following particulars of this important negotiation are gathered from the Journal of Gen. Richard Butler, preserved in that valuable histori- cal compilation, Craig's Olden Time, vol. ii., p. 40.1.
18*
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
The reply of Kayenthogle, an Alleghany chief of the Sen- ecas, was dignified and courteous, responding appropriately to every topic of the commissioners' address, except the sug- gestion, that the Indians had been "unfortunately led away by evil advisers."
Most of the time until the 11th of October, was occupied by efforts to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors to the Indians. The commissioners directed Lieut. John Mercer, who attended them with a detachment of New Jersey troops by resolution of Congress, to seize and store all spirituous liquors until the conclusion of the treaty. For the execution of this order, a writ from a court of Montgomery county was issued for his arrest, but the commissioners would not suffer any compliance with its mandate.
Another collision, which might have been more serious, took place before the Indians were fully assembled. The Legislature of New York had already manifested a disposi- tion to expel the Six Nations from all the country within the bounds of the State, which had not been ceded by them pre- vious to the war. This state of feeling had excited much concern in Congress and elsewhere, and the commissioners were probably prepared for some annoyance, if not palpable interference, in the discharge of their duties. In a letter to the President of Congress, dated Fort Stanwix, Oct. 5, they state, that notwithstanding due notice to the Governor of New York, that he might transact any business with the In- dians under the patronage of the United States, the governor chose to hold a separate treaty with the Six Nations. This procedure is contrasted with the course of Pennsylvania, whose commissioners were in attendance, with credentials and instructions entirely satisfactory to the Continental com- missioners.
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TREATY OF FORT STANWIX.
It happened that a Mr. Peter Schuyler was present at Fort Stanwix, and soon attracted the attention of the com- missioners. He also assumed an official character, and was notified on the 6th of October to desist from all interference with the Indians. Schuyler produced a paper to the Secre- tary of the Commission, of which no particulars are given, except that it was without seal or signature, and " directed the said Peter Schuyler, together with one Peter Rightman, as an interpreter, to attend at Fort Stanwix during the time of the Commissioners of the United States holding their treaty with the Indians, to observe the conduct of the said commis- sioners, and to oppose and frustrate any of their proceedings which might eventually affect the interests of the State of New York." After this discovery, particular care was taken to include Messrs. Schuyler and Rightman in the execution of the liquor ordinance, and to exclude them from the councils.
On the 12th of October, the commissioners made an ad- dress to the sachems and warriors, in which they asserted their authority from the Congress of the United States to treat with the Indian Nations, and that the latter should not listen to any overtures made by any person or body of men, or by any particular State not authorized by Congress-ex- hibited the definitive treaty between the United States and the King of Great Britain, expressing the readiness of Con- gress to "give peace to the Indian nations upon just and reasonable terms, and to receive them into the friendship, favor and protection of the United States"-called particular attention to the sixth article, whereby the King of Great Britain "renounces and yields to the United States all pre- tensions and claims whatsoever of all the country south and west of the great Northern Rivers and Lakes, as far as the
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
Mississippi," making no reservation in favor of any Indian nation, but leaving those tribes to seek for peace with the United States, upon such terms as the United States shall think just and reasonable ; and, after impressing upon them, that the delivery of all prisoners, white and black, was es- sential to any peace, the commissioners closed by asking the tribes present at the council, to propose such a boundary line between the United States and themselves, as would be just for them to offer and the United States to accept. It was intimated to the American allies-Oneidas, Tuscaroras, and Caughnewaghas-that the foregoing address was not intended for them.
At the opening of the session, Capt. Aaron Hill, a Mo- hawk, who had just arrived, explained that his tribe had received frequent messages from the Governor of New York to meet him in council, but they were unwilling to partake in any but a continental treaty, and that the message of the Commissioners of the United States had been received so recently, that it was difficult for many to attend, and impos- sible to deliver the prisoners at this time, but Capt. Brant would instantly collect and send down the latter. He added, that numbers of their brothers to the Westward, the Wyan- dots in particular, had returned home, by reason of the ad- vanced season of the year, after coming as far as Niagara, so that themselves and their brothers, the Shawanese, were only present.
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